Winter Shadow - A Skyrim Snippet

• Posted by Batman April 19, 2012 - 865 views

  For Blake O Rafferty,

  (written 22/10/11)

  In and out, in and out you pace your steps in time to your breaths, the over head sun is hot but the cool south winds temper its rage, it will still be some weeks before the snow is able to last past the dawning light, for now you just contend yourself with avoiding the muddy puddles scatted across the busy courtyard.

  ten paces to your left and 6 paces ahead of you is a man. If you had never met him before you would think him unremarkable, with his plain face, limp brown hair and a slightly larger waist then a man his age should have, no doubt owning to the large quantities of ale he consumes every evening and his over indulgent lifestyle.

  You chide yourself silently as you keep your calm pace moving ever so slightly to your left, you should not be thinking about his life, it no longer belongs to him after all it was signed away to you some weeks before.

  The man is stopping now, several people have approached him. though they are too far away to hear, their faces and hand gestures give away their displeasure with the man. Anyone else would think it strange to see the these high dressed nobles arguing with a lowly peasant of a man, but several guards soon appear and begin to converse with the nobles, quietening them down before any attention is given to the scene, outraged faces quickly turn to pale at the ensuing conversation and the nobles quickly follow the guards.

  There is no better time, you must act now! weeks of planning, of bribes and late night disappearances are riding on this one moment, this single act that will change the course of history. You quicken your pace and take several more steps left angling towards the man who is distracted by the nobles departure.

  Silently as a whisp of air from your breath you unsheathe your blade, mottled black as pitch with no glint of gold or twinkle of gems, simple in shape and wearing the thinnest of blades it is the very embodiment of Sithis himself. No glitz, no glamour just the Inevitability of the final cold embrace. You cover your last steps in the passing of a heartbeat, a blink of an eye and your blade slides home, through the armour, past the ribs and straight into the heart. Close as you are to the man, for a split second you can feel both of your hearts dance to the same beat before they both suddenly stop. An eternity passes in a second but when it returns only one heart continues to dance.

  The dead weight the man has become, pushes your blade free as he collapses to the muddy ground. A sudden shout of alarm reaches your ears, there is no time to act, no time to think only time to run. Swift as the gales that swarm down from the mountains you flee into the quickly panicking crowd blending in here and there as the guards rush by.

  As you reach the stairs that will take you from the courtyard you hear the panicked cry of one of the guards. "The High King is Dead!!"