Dear Reader,

Just as the Dragonborn was close to completing her punishment job, her good fortune was shattered by the arrival of a dragon...

Now she must fight, not only to return the Statue of Zenithar to Mercer but for her life too...

Stolen Heart

By Anonymous

~Chapter 8: Maven's Revenge ~

Powerful winds whipped the floor and dust flew upwards, forcing Cathryne to shield her eyes as the dragon swooped in on the small valley. The mansion trembled under the sheer force of each wing beat.

Cathryne threw herself to the ground and barely avoided a swipe from the dragon's razor sharp talons. She looked up as the dragon wheeled around in the sky for a second attack. She gripped the sack containing the statue in one hand and readied an ice spell in the other.

The dragon roared at her baring rows of jagged, blood stained fangs. Its eyes burned with pure elemental fury, keenly locked on its prey. It lashed out with claws and fangs, she threw herself to the ground again and rolled away from the attack.

To her right she could hear several awe struck and terrified voices, the Mercenaries were starting to exit the mansion to see what the commotion was about.

"Crikey! It's a dragon!"

"What's it doing here?"

"I'm not paid enough to tangle with a monster like that!"

"If that thing burns this mansion down, we'll have more to worry about than our pay…"

"Are you telling me to fight it?"

"Yes I am! Now get your bows out! Quicker than that!"

Arrows flew through the air like razor sharp rain, and pelted the dragon deeply in its thick scaly hide. It hissed out furiously and landed, felling a few trees under its impressive claws. It struck the ground with its tail causing a tremor to run through the floor, throwing the mercenaries off their aim. Then, whilst the men were recovering, it turned its head towards the mansion and the mercenaries. It's voice was like the howl of the winds and it spoke out in Dragon Tongue, shouting; "YOL TOOR!" plumes of fire and smoke were expelled from its gaping maw as it roared savagely.

Cathryne began to pick herself up slowly from the floor, the dragon was raining fire down on the mercenaries and at the same time she noticed that the fires were spreading across the dried grass and quickly approaching the mansion.

"…Shit." She muttered as the flames swept across the grass and swiftly consumed the Black Briar mansion. The logs that formed the outer shell were starting to burn and a thick black smog rose up in to the air.

The mercenaries laid in a bloody mess beneath the dragon's claws, the beast craned its sinuous neck to the side and looked at Cathryne with luminous golden eyes.

Cathryne clutched the sack containing the Statue of Zenithar tightly in her hand. The beast reared up and began to move towards her, she took a deep breath and ran forward towards it.

The dragon crouched down, jaws open wide "YOL!" it shouted, firing another great wave of flames.

She lunged to the side, her clothes were singed slightly by the flames but she had avoided the majority of the attack. With a great shout of exertion she swung the sack with both hands and smacked the dragon firmly in the snout.

The beast recoiled, wings beating and tail thrashing, blood splattered in to the air from the thick, heavy blow it had received.

Cathryne quickly ran around the beast to flank it from behind, as she approached it the tail whipped out and struck her squarely in the stomach, she fell back from the blow with a loud cry of pain. A red hot flash of agony swept through her. The pain was centred in her chest – she was sure she had broken a rib. Her hand clutched at her waist, she knew she had to do something to try and ebb the pain and finish the fight. Raising her free hand she tried to recall the few healing spells she knew. The magic numbed the pain enough to enable her stand up and when its tail had calmed she limped towards the dragon and climbed up it. She made another decisive blow with the anvil and struck it down firmly in to the dragon's skull.

The beast reared up, making a feeble groan as it was bludgeoned under the anvil. It collapsed unceremoniously in to the ground before the burning mansion. Cathryne fell off the beast as it began to smoulder and dissipate. She clutched her waist once more and groaned out in agony.

"Not now… I can't fail here…" she thought wildly, looking around for inspiration.

The mansion groaned behind her, the wooden fixtures began to collapse, which caused the whole structure to tremble and cave in. A powerful gust of hot air and ash swirled around her.

As she laid in the grass, trying to move, she heard the sound of footsteps nearing her. She looked up as the sound stopped and her eyes widened as a familiar face looked down.

"M-Maven Black Briar…"

"I wonder. What are you doing near my mansion? More importantly, why is it on fire?" Maven's tone was surprisingly level as she looked at her smouldering mansion.

Cathryne wanted to speak, but one of Maven's bodyguards had swiftly dashed over and placed a foot on her chest to keep her in place. White hot pain flooded her and she was plunged in to darkness as she fainted.

Time passed, but she had no idea how much, she could hear voices but her vision was foggy.

"Lady Maven, she was carrying this."

"I see."

"What should we do with her?"

"We'll take her with us for now…"

Once again consciousness eluded her and she passed out…

The next time she awoke, she found herself sitting in a bed. At first she sighed in relief and assumed that all had gone well. She had escaped the mansion and was safe. Then, the sting of her ribs reminded her of her last moments and that she should either be dead or in a prison bed. The room she was in did not look like the Sovngarde of yore, nor did it look like a prison.

"Where… am I?" she muttered to herself.

"You're in my other mansion." Came the sharp reply of Maven Black Briar as she sat down near the Dragonborn's bedside, her glare was intense.

Cathryne bolted up out of bed and shouted in pain as her ribs penalised her for the sudden movement. "M-Maven!" she uttered.

"Good. You deserve to suffer." Maven folded her arms and glared.

"… You found it, then." Cathryne looked down at the floorboards.

"Do you know what I fail to understand in all of this…" Maven said, more to herself than to Cathryne.

"It's how a two bit guild rookie even knew that the Statue of Zenithar existed and that it would be the only thing worth stealing from that room of wealth where it was kept." The cold gaze of the Black Briar matriarch settled on Cathryne. She reached out and caught the girls face, forcing her to look in to her cold eyes. "How did you know about the statue?"

"… I doubt you'd believe me." It was the truth, she figured that Maven and Mercer were very close.

"Well. Tell me anyway. I have my suspicions." Maven's grip tightened on Cathryne's cheeks.

"Mercer…" Cathryne returned Maven's glare with one of her own "Mercer wanted to punish me so he told me to steal the Statue of Zenithar from your estate."

"It's as I thought." Maven clicked her tongue "Mercer you idiot."

"You believe me?" Cathryne asked, dumb founded.

"Yes. Mercer is the only person in the Thieves Guild that I confided in… I told him that I had acquired the Statue and that as a courtesy I would allow him to pass flawed gems to me for improving, provided I received either a cut of the gems themselves or the profits he acquired from them. It would seem he got too greedy and disregarded our arrangement."

"Oh…" Cathryne was speechless.

Maven smirked ruefully "It seems even a firebrand like you can be silenced. That stupid look on your face is almost as amusing as the terror in your eyes when you first saw me at the mansion."

"…Damn…" Cathryne looked away.

"you know… the other curious thing I saw at the mansion, was that gigantic skeleton." Maven looked down at Cathryne with an appraising look in her eye "All of my men were dead but you were very much alive. Would I be right in assuming that you defeated that over grown salamander?"

"… So what?" Cathryne had a bad feeling. A very bad feeling.

"Well. If so, then you might just be able to earn a pardon from me."

"Earn a pardon? You mean… you won't lock me up to rot?"

"That's right." Maven folded her arms "I believe what you've told me so far, that Mercer was the mastermind but you're still implicated. You should have come to me with this plot. The fact that you failed to do so means that you are just as guilty as he is of trying to deceive me."

"B-But…-"

"However." Maven cut Cathryne off with a sudden silencing gesture of her hand and a raised voice "If you would be willing to deal with a dragon-related problem I've been having, I would be willing to over look your involvement. What do you say?"

"Tell me what the problem is?" Cathryne replied, as a small flicker of relive ran through her.

"My attempts to deal with the Heartwood Mill have all ended in chaos. Every caravan I've sent to collect timber has been razed to the ground and my horses devoured. It's becoming costly." Maven poked Cathryne in the abdomen "You kill that dragon and I'll forget that you were ever involved with Mercer's scheme. I think it's fair, either you kill the dragon or it will kill you."

Cathryne hissed in pain as her tender abdomen was prodded "A-Alright… I'll kill it!"

"Very good." Maven stood up "You may use this time to recover for now. After all I do want that dragon dead. Mercer has no idea that you're alive. I told him I found a charred corpse and that the burnt thief appeared to have saved my precious statue."

"Wait." Cathryne stared up at her "The Guild think I'm…"

"Dead. Yes."

She threw the sheets off like something possessed and lunged out of bed, her side flared up furiously and she clutched it tightly but it did nothing to stop her moving towards the door. "No!" she uttered, pulling the door open "They can't think that!"

"Calm down you wretched child! What is this overreaction!"

"If Mercer thinks I'm dead…. Then…. Brynjolf will…"

"Oh." Maven rolled her eyes "You? And that fool Brynjolf?"

Cathryne glared at Maven "He's no fool. But I have no doubts Mercer will be making a point of telling everyone… and telling him… that I'm dead… I can't…—"

"I know what you mean you stupid girl." Maven stood up with an unceremonious sigh "Fine. I shall pay my respects to your Guild and offer my condolences to Brynjolf that his thick headed woman still seems to be alive…"

Cathryne grinned widely and murmured "You're actually quite nice, when you want to be..."

Maven shuddered "Say that again and I'll have you both thrown in prison." Then she left, with a slam of the door.

Cathryne staggered back to the bed and collapsed in to it, she looked up at the ceiling and whispered "Brynjolf… don't do anything rash."

~ End of Chapter 8 ~

^^ I must sound like a broken record by now but honestly; thank you so much for all the reviews, favourites and subscriptions for story alerts. It really is spurring me on to do my very best!

See you in Chapter 9! :D