Published at 30th of July 2022 8:28 am

Chapter 667: Akara's Dilemma

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"So… speak." Jon sat on a chair facing Hemming Black-Briar who was on his knees.

"I… I don't know the exact location my mother is… but that Wizard Mecinar is the one who took her." Hemming said.

"I can figure out that much on my own." Jon's eyes turned from their usual calm to a menacing glare as he leaned forward.

Hemming immediately continued to add as much information as possible.

"The Wizard and my mother had some sort of an agreement about saving her. He took her away despite my protests and Mercer Frey seemed to be answering to him." Hemming said.

"So this guy… he is the one giving orders now? I thought he was only working for Maven." Jon frowned and analyzed the information in his head, "But it still doesn't make any sense. If he is an Arch Wizard the same as I, he must have accumulated a decent amount of wealth and influence. Why work for Maven? What is his true motive?"

Jon's question made Hemming's face brighten up for some reason.

"I know that!" He said joyfully.

"Then you should have started with it!" Jon smacked Hemming's head with zero patience.

"Yes! I'm sorry!" Hemming cowered while answering, "That wizard was looking for an Artifact that was rumored to be here in Riften."

"Fuck off!" Jon held his head, "That damn rumor from half a year ago?"

Seeing Jon dissatisfied, Hemming lost his words as he tried to say something.

"It… it was… at first, that was a scam." Hemming said.

"A scam?" Jon frowned.

"Yes. A scam!" Hemming nodded like a chicken, "My mother made up that rumor in order to draw out Mercenaries and treasure hunters from all over the holds. Once they deplete their money looking for a treasure that didn't exist, they would willingly accept her help and become her men."

"Fucking…" Jon wanted to curse and cuss but he end up being baffled, "Why didn't I think of something like that?"

"But what mother didn't know was that… there is actually an artifact hidden in the Rift." Hemming said making it sound like a big deal.

"Duh!" Jon nodded, "I know of several Artifacts scattered around the Rift myself."

"Yes, but from what I could overhear, Wizard Mecinar was looking for that Artifact in the Rift a couple of years before the rumor."

"So Maven caused trouble for his operation?" Jon asked.

"On the contrary, they saw eye to eye and decided to form a front in order to solve each other's problems." Hemming corrected.

"Aha! Me, being your mother's problems, and the Artifact being Mecinar's problem!" Jon understood that situation.

"Indeed." Hemming was happy he corrected Jon.

"But still, Mecinar is an Arch Wizard, you can't reach that level without being someone with money and status. Why did he agree to help Maven against someone like me? To me, he wouldn't gain as much as he would lose." Jon kept pressing on.

"That…" Hemming couldn't reply for a second there and kept thinking but a bitter expression appeared on his face.

"He was sleeping with her?" Jon asked.

"… I don't know." Hemming answered in a frustrated voice.

"She betrayed you, didn't she?" Jon smiled and leaned forward, "You were her favorite toy boy, right? You dirty swine did your own mother?!"

"What the…" Hemming shuddered from what Jon said, "Not true!"

"I did my research. You're almost 35 this year. Your mother gave birth to you when she was 16. After you were old enough, she had you in her bed, and thanks to your retarded inbred genes, you gave her two more retards. Sibbi, a sociopath that doesn't feel any guilt or remorse, and Ingun, a psychopath with no emotions nor humanity." Jon described Maven's last two children to Hemming, "I killed Sibbi because he was a bother but Ingun left the family the moment her mother was no longer of use. Please, feel free to correct me."

Hemming looked at Jon with blank emotions covering a lot of agony. The things that Maven has done to him and the things Jon kept digging around him, it was all so suffocating.

"Don't get me wrong, Hemming. I know you are one of Maven's victims. She loved Sibbi and Ingun and you were merely a tool. You know that and I don't want to keep bringing it up." Jon played his words carefully and watched Hemming's expressions switch and change, "So… shouldn't you do anything about it?"

Hemming remained silent for a while before looking at Jon again.

"Do what?" He asked.

"What do you desire, Hemming Black-Briar?" Jon asked then started to marvel how that sentence really rhymed well.

Meanwhile, Hemming didn't notice it but Venus of Lust was already behind him, holding his shoulders softly and giggling with no sound.

"I… I want… everything." Hemming replied.

"Go on." Jon sent Venus back and made sure that Hemming's mind isn't too deluded with side thoughts.

"I want to be as powerful as her. I want her to look at me and know that I… I am better than her."

"Atta boy!" Jon put on a wide grin, "You want to surpass her?"

"Yes. She was just a thug. She pushed people around with money but she had no real vision other than making her money grow. She was the kind to hoard money, not use it right!" Hemming's tongue was set loose.

"Nice. But she's still out there." Jon said, "You can't do anything from here too. Last I checked, you only had some weak guards while she controls a legion of mercenaries on her deathbed."

"Yeah." Hemming nodded but then with determination, he said something that pleased Jon, "I know how to put a stop to that."

"Truly?" Jon's eyes lit up, "How?"

"She's still drawing money from Riften. She has proxies and shell companies that provide her with gold and information." Hemming said.

"So you can control that?" Jon asked.

"All I need is to get control of the Meadery. When that is in my hand, I can spread the rumor that she is dead and dumb the money somewhere else." He said.

"Good plan." Jon nodded, "But make sure to do it slowly. Doing it too fast will cause your associates to know that you're turning against Maven."

Jon had the perfect plan and thanks to Hemming, he can now execute it. Never did he think that Hemming Black-Briar would be this useful.

"Alright. I am releasing you back to Riften, Hemmie. Make sure you report to the Thieves Guild and inform them of your plan. I'll send a word about you." Jon said, stood up from his chair, and raised his hand as he cast his arcane energy to lift Hemming Black-Briar up from the ground and make him stand.

Jon then started to fix Hemming's coat and dusted off his shoulders.

"Off with you, there are horses in the back. Hurry now, will you?"

He even cleared the way for Hemming to move away.

"Yes, yes. I'll go…" Hemming nodded and retreated away not daring to give his back to Jon.

Still, one thing on his mind made him stop and look back at Jon.

"My mother… will you… kill her?" He asked.

"Maven's death should be the least of your troubles because I already killed her." Jon said, "I think you saw how she turned into nothing but a husk that is void of life. What I want to do is to make sure that husk doesn't turn into a ghost and haunt everyone. And I also want to settle the score with her lover Wizard."

"I… I see." Hemming seemed to have understood that there is no way out of this and left Jon immediately.

Technically, Maven is already dead but who knows? The Arch Wizard by her side may be crafty enough to figure out a thing or two about these conditions. But even Jon can't help with fixing an Astral Damage that goes to the point where Maven would age like dried grapes. The case of Astral Damage he put himself into when he was meditating with Natural Magicka was nothing like the one Potema of Envy can cause.

Anyway, Jon was pleased with the results of getting his hands on Hemming Black-Briar. Soon, Maven's mercenaries will start leaving her side en masse when Hemming dries up her funds. Then, it will be easy to find a mercenary that knows where she is and will receive payment for information. Moreover, Jon's main goal was to get rid of the ones who supported Maven from all her underlings to her business associates since they should be made an example of, Hemming Black-Briar should be the best tool to do so in association with the Thieves Guild.

But this and that aside, Jon turned his face in a certain direction and smiled.

"Come out, come out, whoever you are!" He called out playfully.

Standing away from the main road to the Black-Briar estate, a figure emerged whose eyes were feline and fur was white. Jon saw her and seemed to have sensed her presence for a while.

"Akara." Jon smiled at the young khajiit lady.

"I am sorry, Jon." She approached him apologetically.

"What for?" He frowned.

"Akara didn't heed your warning about seeking revenge." She said.

"What's wrong?" He asked and walked over to her while trying to take a good look at her face.

"Akara has been tracking the Fang Clan for a while… they seemed to have joined hands with the adventurers that were roaming the Rift." Akara reported.

"They did anything to you, girl?" Jon asked with a serious face.

"No. Akara killed some of them in a few places but the last one is what turned into a huge mess." She said, "For some reason, they attacked a Dawnguard patrol that was transporting a captured Vampire. Akara intervened but soon after, we ran into a strong foe whom you seem to be after. It seemed to be Mercer Frey from what Commander Jullanar told me."

"You fought Mercer?" Jon got worked up immediately, "When and where? How did it go?"

"Akara was on the losing end but as all the Dawnguard people got killed by the Fang Clan hounds and the other mercenaries, Akara was left to fight back to back alongside that Vampire they were trying to capture. Strange enough, the vampire woman threw me away from the fight and let herself be captured. She also told me to find and report to Jon in Riften."

"Serana!" Jon realized who the vampire woman was, "She can't be captured! She is far stronger than Mercer and a few mercenaries."

"Akara reported all she could for now." She said and lowered her head, "This one is sorry that her vengeance interrupted your work."

Jon narrowed his eyes since Akara isn't normally this polite. Her attitude, which she inherited from her caravaneer parents, is her worst trait since she is mostly deceptive and sly. Still, her emotions were indeed riled up by what happened.

The Fang Clan is a group of bandits whose leader is a Wood Elf called Erthor the Bear Master. This gang was known to tame animals to fight for them, such animals would start from regular hounds to saber cats and bears. They may sound a lot like the Firemane clan that also tame animals but unlike the Firemanes, the Fang Clans are outlaws and train their animals using a mixture of herbs to turn them very feral during fights and keep controlling them with these herbs until they expire.

Akara's parents were killed by these animals 16 years ago. According to the guards of Riften back then, they were so mutilated and eaten that they were put on a single grave piece by piece since no one was able to tell which part was which. If not for Akara being locked in a barrel by her parents back then, she would have met the same fate.

She was a fast girl to recover and learn how to channel her anger into revenge but the situation was against her now that the Fang Clan is one of the forces under Maven.

Jon held Akara by the back of her head and hugged her closely and she hugged him back. He knows how frustrated she is right now and the only thing he can do is offer her his help.

"I will help you with the other bandits. Make sure you slay as many of the Fang Clan bastards as you can." Jon said.

"Right." She agreed to his help.

"As for the Vampire they took, I don't know what she is thinking but that couldn't be the one that was being transported."

"Why?"

"First, she was just with me in Riften, meaning that whoever was being transported, she saved them. Serana wouldn't save a vampire of her kind since I am her only ally… unless that was Babette… or maybe I am overthinking it." Jon said, "Second, the Dare Industries sold those reinforced carriages to the Dawnguard. They are made of two chambers, the first where the Vampire is locked and the second where a troll is locked. It is a very complicated thing and the Vampire is constantly getting mutilated by the troll as the two keep regenerating until the vampire is drained. No vampire can fight after that."

Jon and Akara parted from each other's embrace and she looked at him as he thought for a while.

"I don't know what Serana is thinking but if Mercer and the Mercenaries are trying to capture a vampire, there is no other reason for it unless it is to inflict Maven Black-Briar with Vampirism. This will reform her damaged Astral Form with a Daedric Animus." Jon added.

"So… is it bad news?" Akara asked.

"Depending on how good Serana is at turning people into Vampires. Maven's condition is severe enough that I don't think she would survive and Serana hasn't converted anyone to a Vampire before so there is a big chance for her failure." He said.

"So… we need to get back to the ambush site and start tracking them. After all, you are not one who wastes chances, Jon."

"I love how much you know me, Akara." Jon pumped fists with her and the two seemed to be on the same page.

Jon and Akara, friends for nearly 16 years, are now joining hands in their own little adventure that may or may not end them in bed together… I mean, who knows?!

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