Chapter 16

*I do not own Skyrim, but I do own Juheena and Juheena owns Farkas*

"Hail Sithis!" Babette echoed. This was going to be one fine event. Rarely, if ever, did assassins work in a group because honestly, it defeated the purpose. But this was different. The plan was that each person was to take on an individual task.

Arnbjorn was going to take care of Amaund Motierre and receive the payment. Nazir and Babette were going to find and defeat the Penitus Oculatus scouts in the area, for the ship would be well guarded for miles. Farkas was to track down Commander Maro and plant some nefarious evidence on his corpse for 'daddy' to find.

Irileth had engaged it as her own initiative to take out the phony Emperor. As it turned out, his security guards had planted a decoy in Castle Dour to get the real man out of Skyrim safely. Anja decided that she would be the dedicated chef's assistant, seeing as how Irileth could barely boil rice correctly without the result being a huge mess. The dark elf would need her culinary expertise if she were to pose as 'The Gourmet".

Veezara was to board the ship with Juheena and take care of the deckhands and rogue guards. She could handle them on her own, but why not make it quicker and more efficient? She could slip in and off the Emperor, and everyone could be on their jolly way.

The payment was going to be absolutely divine. Not just the money, oh no. The Dark Brotherhood would rise again. They would be on top, feared and respected. The name would perpetually resonate down dark alleyways, through households whispered in hushed tones, in taverns between gossipy barkeeps… They would be re-immortalized.

Gabriella and Festus had bravely volunteered to stay at the sanctuary and quell Astrid's temper. The others shied away from the job; they would rather take their chances unarmored in an arena full of angry Mudcrabs. Not that they were blamed, of course.

The next evening arrived after an antagonizingly slow wait. Swords, daggers, shields, and arrows had been polished, sharpened, and polished again. Leather straps on armor had been replaced, rips and tears stitched up. The assassins looked positively shiny and new.

All the better, Babette thought. They would be even more terrifying! They would be seen as invincible; not a scratch on them to be found! She licked her lips. She wouldn't have to feed for weeks after this! It would just be more time to spend leisurely strolling around her hidden garden, picking out especially venomous plants. She hadn't realized the absolutely delightful poisonous qualities found in Crimson Nrinroot, and she was thankful to Festus bringing her some from his travels through Blackreach. It was a place she had, regrettably, not had time to explore.

Oh well, she thought as she slipped her blue cloak around her dainty shoulders. Plenty of time to do that later. She stepped out of her room, accidently kicking a skull down the hallway.

"Oops! Sorry Adam." The little girl picked up Adam and set him back on her nightstand. Anja sat in the corner, looking on in amazement.

"And I thought Cicero was just crazy…" She mumbled to herself. "Oh, that's right. He is."

"Humble Cicero has heard his name!" The Jester popped out from behind a door, making the two little girls jump.

"Cicero!" Babette yelled, quite unhappy.

"Where have you been Cicero?" Anja asked, noticing his absence for the past few days. In fact, he had only been seen since the day he turned the cabbage catastrophe into a dessert paradise.

"Cicero has been out shopping!"

"Shopping. I see." The girls shared a look, then made a unanimous decision to not ask any questions. They didn't make it out of the room, however, before Cicero realized he was being ignored.

"Do Cicero's friends not want to know where Cicero has been shopping?" He asked, obviously hurt.

Babette made a move to say something quite rude, but Anja interrupted, "Sure, Cicero. Of course we do." She ignored the seething glare coming from the vampire, difficult as it was. As it turned out, she actually kind of liked Cicero. When he wasn't being a pain, that is.

"Cicero was out getting these!" He presented two bags for them, with their names written on a piece of parchment tied around it.

Babette took hers, looking wary. Anja was less suspicious, if only not to hurt his feelings further. When the girls opened the bags, they were pleasantly surprised. Within the folds of burlap, there lay a snoozing enchanted gold sculpture of a dragon.

"Cicero! Oh, they're adorable! Thank you!"

The jester blushed profusely, before saying, "Humble Cicero merely found the sculptures in a shop. He enchanted them himself!" He looked proud.

Babette smiled at him while playing with the little dragon. Perhaps he wasn't so bad after all…. Oh look! She thought, he is about to sneeze! How adorable!

The creature, adorable as he may be, was still a dragon. And dragons breathe fire. The little thing made the sweetest face, making the girls lean in before…. *FOOF*

Babette was the lucky one. She couldn't catch on fire with her ivory-like vampire skin. Anja, however, was not so fortunate.

"I'll get you for this Cicero!" She yelled as she ran down the hall, and jumped into the freezing cold pond.

"Cicero did not know that his presents would catch his friends on fire! Apologies! Apologies!" The jester hid behind Babette's bed.

"Don't hide from me, Cicero. If I were you, I'd find Juheena and hide behind her."

The jester followed suit.

XXooOooXX

The assassins were ready to leave. Irileth tapped her foot impatiently, scowling. "Where are the girls? We have been waiting for over twenty minutes!"

"Well here comes one…." Nazir trailed off.

"Hey kid… you're missing some eyebrows…" Farkas pointed out, then quickly shrank behind Juheena when Anja threatened to knee him in the groin.

"What happened?" Juheena asked.

"Cicero happened."

"Oh."

"Here comes Babette! Thank the Nine, let's get going already! The emperor is not going to be here forever, you know! I, for one, am not tracking him all the way to Cyrodil." Irileth grumped.

"Agreed." The group of Assassins began their journey.

*Author's Note:

Another short chapter, but the next few are going to be done a bit differently. The journey is going to be told in the point of view of each individual person on their special mission, but then things will get back to normal.

Thank you all for reading! Leave me a review and tell me what you think!