To Kill An Empire
{Closed with @dragxn-heartxd!}      Breath coming in hard, rattling gasps, the assassin burst from the tower’s lesser known exit and stumbled on to the road. It was deserted for now, but he had but a precious handful of moments before it was swarmed with armed guards looking to spill more of his blood.      Damn it all! A set up! It had all been a damn ruse! And now more people would die for it, if he didn’t hurry. But who would sell him out? What idiot would trust Maro, of all people? Not even Cicero, for all of his madness, was fool enough to do something so hairbrained as this. Even if he’d wanted revenge, he wouldn’t risk the last of the brotherhood and his precious Night Mother. No. It had to have been someone else.      It had to have been---      Pain swept away the name before it could even fully form in his mind. He staggered and coughed, hands flying to his wounded belly and side. He’d been lucky that Maro’s arrows hadn’t pierced his heart or a lung, but... Shit. He was hurt pretty bad. And judging by the way his muscles seized around the wound, the way it burned and caused his lungs to ache, they’d been coated with a slow-acting poison, too. Maro hadn’t been taking any chances.      He wouldn’t make it. Not as far as Falkreath, not like this. He needed to find a place to hunker down, tend to his wounds, think. There wasn’t time, but he didn’t have a choice.      Keeping close to the wall, he followed the path northward. There were many nooks and crannies to hide away in further along this way. It took him further away from Falkreath, yes, but he wouldn’t be much good to his brothers and sisters if he wound up dead before he got there. He hoped they would be alive to forgive him.      Several agonizing minutes later, he’d managed to reach the first of the many caves along this route. Had he been in better shape, he would have skipped it. Too obvious. But by now, the poison had begun to spread. He was seeing doubles of everything, his head was pounding, his stomach and side were on fire. He went as far as he could into the deep darkness before collapsing against the rock wall and sliding to the floor. He fumbled for his satchel, clumsy, numb fingers trying to find the Cure Poison potion Babette had cooked up for him before he’d left. Dammit. He should have drank the thing sooner. Now he couldn’t seem to find it as his vision began to fade in and out.      Was this how it was to end? Had it all been for nothing?      A sound from... somewhere. Deeper in the cave, maybe? Outside? Or perhaps it was right beside him---he couldn’t know. It didn’t matter. He didn’t even have the strength to care.Â
