Good day everyone! (Or night depending where you are) I hope you'll enjoy my new story. For anyone worried about my other story, don't worry. I did not abandon it, that wouldn't be cool. R&R everyone. Enjoy!
Snow continued to fall heavily on that day in Skyrim. Catro walked along, angrily brushing the flakes off her arms. She glanced upwards, staring at the sky in anger. "Why does it always have to snow?" She asked, shaking her head to rid more of the flakes and the pulling her leather hood up quickly. "Because you live in skyrim." Arien remarked, walking behind her. "And if I had a choice, I would not be walking along a mountain trail in the middle of absolutely no where, hoping my compass doesn't freeze over and that we don't die in the snow." He laughed. " Oh calm down will you? I'm sure your compass isn't going to freeze." seeing that she was still angry, he jogged up beside her. "Hey I was only kidding" he said rubbing the back of his neck. "Listen, how about we just find a place to camp for the night? Its nearing sundown anyways. Maybe a cave, one filled with bandits!" he said enthusiastically. She turned her head to look back at him, smirking slightly at his comment. "Sounds good, I could use a de-stressor." She pulled the map out of her jacket, checking over it for an nearby caves. "Well there's one not to far from us actually. Cragstone Cave, sounds cozy." She tucked the map back into her armor, pointing in the direction they were to go. He nodded, and they were off.
Catro drew her bow, glancing around the large boulder at the bouncer outside. He was bent over, seeming to be messing with a crate. She watched for a bit, observing carefully as he stood, a chunk of raw and dripping venison in his hand. He seemed to be muttering something to himself, tossing the piece into the wolves cage. The beast was on it in a second, ripping strips off as the other growled in its cage, begging for food and attempting to fit its snout between the bars in a failed effort to steal from the other. The first wolf snapped at the second, moving into the far corner to finish devouring the bloody meat. The bouncer, still muttering to himself and the wolves, picked up another chunk of the meat from a crate, tossing it to the other wolf. She drew an arrow, keeping it focused on him, watching his movements, craving the right moment to strike. Then he made a mistake. He stood fully, turning to the cages and staring into the iron bars. He crossed his arms, his guard clearly lowered. She drew in a breath, steadily letting it out, and shot. The arrow whizzed through the air and an astounding speed. It only took milliseconds to reach him, piercing his neck and portraying out the other side. His knees gave out, and he slumped to the side, blood spewing from his fatal wound, splattering the ground. She stood, walking over to his corpse and looking down. A perfect shot, flawless in its flight and providing a sudden and painless death. She let out a sigh, turning to see Arien walk up behind her. He was glancing over at the wolves, who were still to distracted with their food to take notice of the two new faces, and the one dead one.
"So what do we do about those two?' He walked over, checking for a lock and seeing that it could be easily picked. "Apprentice lock." He said, scoffing. She looked down at the body. "Better not waste the lock picks. Let see if our friend here had a key on him." She checked each of his pockets carefully, finding a small fortune of seventeen gold, three lock picks, and one small key. "Worth a shot." she said. "Keep your bow drawn at the cage door, when I open it, fire." He nodded, pulling out the bow and a sharply tipped iron arrow. Fastening it into place and giving her a thumbs up. She nodding back, unlocking the cage and grabbing the bars tightly. The wolf looked up, snarling, suddenly aware that she was not the same person who fed it. She yanked the bars upward, and the wolf was on its feet, bolting out. Before it could get very far, the arrow pierced its skin. The wolf fell, thrashed for a few seconds, and then went limp. He pulled the arrow from its neck, reloading for the next cage. The next wolf had long since realized what had just happened, and was now throwing itself against the cage door, snarling angrily and barking. She unlocked the second cage, preparing the lift the cage. Suddenly it lifted itself. She stumbled back, realizing what had just happened, she grabbed the dagger from her belt, just in time to. The wolf lunged, pouncing on her and knocking her off her feet. Arien had already fired the shot, and had missed. He threw his bow down, reaching for his sword handle and ripping it out of the sheath. Catro grabbed the beasts neck. It snarled, white foam flying from its mouth, as it desperately tried to kill her. Its snout was mere inches from her face, and she could feel its hot, sickly breath. She gripped the dagger tightly in her gloved hand, ramming it up deeply into the wolves neck. It yelped, losing most of its strength and giving her an advantage. She threw it off herself, and it hit the ground a few feet away with a thump. The dirt was begging to stain red, but it still stood, a trail of blood flowing from its mouth. Arien took the advantage, he ran up behind it, slicing his sword down the side of its neck. It fell to the ground, its soulless eyes going dark, and dead.
She panted, wiping its blood off her facing and catching her breath. She stood up, brushing dirt off her pants and ripping the dagger from its neck, re-fastening it to her belt. Arien walked over, a panicked look on his face. "Catro, are you okay?" He asked, clearly worried. She was slightly dazed, shaking her head to clear it. "Yeah" she said, her thoughts clearing. "I'm fine." they both looked down at the now dead monster. Silence filled the air, and the breeze blew softly, blowing snow against them. She realized again just how cold it was and rubbed her arms. "Lets just get inside and take out the rest of them okay? Nothing fancy, stealthy if you can." He nodded, and they walked to the entrance, pulling there bows out and stealthy heading into the cave.
After navigating there way in around a few boulders, the air began to change. It was oddly warm and scented with fresh spices and mead. They moved carefully and quietly, slipping around each corner with their bows at the ready if needed. She stopped, holding up her arm with a signal for him to halt as well. Another guard was up ahead. He was leaning lazily on the wall, arms crossed and eyes closed. He hadn't seen them yet, so they had an advantage. She held up her hand in a fist, a sign that she would take him. She drew a long ebony arrow, admiring the sharpness and precision of it, even after all the times it had been fired. Locking it into place she drew the bow back, aiming directly at his chest. There was a small gap in his iron armor, a small flaw, but if she fired at just the right spot it would hit his heart, killing him quickly and silently. She drew in deeply, letting the breath out steadily, and fired. The arrow did its job, finding the gap and piercing deeply into his flesh and striking his heart. He had no time to react, falling to the floor with a soft clink. She went over to him, checking for a pulse and seeing that there was none. She signaled to Arien the all clear. "Go ahead and check his pockets for anything useful" she pointed to the small wooden platform just ahead where light sound and smell were flooding in "I'm going to see what were up against." He nodded, crouching down and looking for any keys or useful items. She inched forward onto the platform, slowly standing halfway to assess there competition. A large area opened up below her, full of soft music and light. Observing each of them separately, she began to calculate each of there abilities. There was a large pit containing a wolf and a carcass of some sort. Seated around that were two gamblers, each talking in a low voice and occasionally laughing. In the far right corner she could make out a bar with a women seated at it and a tender wiping down a few tankers with a dirty looking rag. A few feet to the left of the bar, a man was singing in deep voice. "and some one had to die"
She pulled her hood off, then watched each of them, creating a strategy in her mind. The barkeeper had a steel dagger fastened to his hip. He was obviously very fit and didn't exactly look very nice. The woman seated had no weapon, and was drinking heavily from her cup. She finished all the liquid and slammed it down, silently demanding more. The tender set down his prior engagement, picking up a bottle of wine and filling her glass. The second he had finished, she began drinking again, and he went back to cleaning the mugs. The singing man continued to drone on, and with a closer look, she could see that he was tending to fire witch a pot hung over. The two gamblers continued to chat, each were slightly intoxicated, and she could tell that they were very off there guard. One had a glass dagger strapped to his belt, but was very under dressed for a fight. From the looks of it, there was barely a threat. The only two that seemed the least bit dangerous were the dagger wielding duo. Then her eyes caught something. The other gamblers clothes, they were mage robes. "That changes things now doesn't it" she thought. Arien tapped on her shoulder. She turned and crouched low to the ground. "What are we up against?" He whispered. "She motioned for him to look. They stopped at just eye level, enough to see the whole area but not be noticed in the process. "The bartender is defiantly a fighter. His only weapon seems to be a dagger but when combined with brute force, that can be deadly. And that's not our only concern, see the gambler farthest away from the bar? Mage robes. Those are the primary threats, after that there shouldn't be much of a fight." He stared down at them, and then looked back at her. I'll take out that bartender, you get the mage." She nodded back to him. "Sounds like a plan." They both silently drew there bows, knocking arrows and taking aim. "Ready when you are." She focused on his chest, lining the arrow up to strike his heart, and gave the command. "Fire."
The second those two fell all hell broke lose. All conversation halted, all the music and cooking, it was replaced by there rage and hunger to kill. Catro fastened the bow to her back, drawing the two ebony swords from her sides. Arien did the same as they charged down the ramp. The bard grabbed a nearby pickaxe, angrily raising it over his head and running at them. Catro was the first to react, she jumped onto the railing, sliding down faster then he could run. She reached the end, and planted her foot in the ground. He swung at her, a blow she easily dodged. He continued to swing at her like a mad man, yet she easily dodged each blow, weaving around him like a dancer. He swung hard at her head and she step to the side, coming up behind him. She pulled her swords back, gritting her teeth and jamming them into his back. He stopped struggling and she ripped her swords back out, spinning around to see Arien against the gambler. He was using the dagger and angrily slashing against her comrade. She bolted over, bringing her swords up and pointing them at his chest. Arien saw her coming, he deflected the punch the man threw at him, grabbing his arm and spinning him around. He pushed hard, sending the gambler straight into her swords. He flinched, then fell hard. They both turned to the drunk lady. She smashed a mead bottle on the counter, and pointed the jagged end at them, and flung herself forward. Catro grabbed her wrist, causing her to drop the bottle and look up in fear. "Now I know that you're not stupid enough to go picking a fight with me, so how about you drop all intentions of attack us and leave, making sure you never look back." She stood shocked, then fearfully nodded, taking off towards the door at a frightened pace. They walked into the next room, finding more wolf cages and taking care of the monsters inside.
Catro shook her head. "Lets see what they were cooking huh? I'm starved." He walked over, wiping the blood off his sword. "Yeah me to." She strode over to the pot, lifting the lid off and looking inside. "Well looks like our friends made dinner for us." She joked. "It looks great! They might have been bandits but they sure knew how to cook." He laughed, walking over to the bar. "Whoa full stock, nice." She walked over and sat on the stool. "Is there any Black Briar Mead?" She asked, putting her elbows up and the bar in her head in her hands. He crouched down, shuffling around some of the bottles with a soft clinking sound. "Lets see, Wine, Ale, Oh here it is, full bottle to." He handed her the bottle. She smiled and gratefully took it. She looked back over at the pot. "See if you can find some bowls to. He went back to rummaging around and she walked over to the pot. There was a long wooden spoon lying on a wooden plate next to it. She grabbed it, opening the pot and stirring. Arien walked over holding two bowls and spoons in his hands. She took one of them, filling it generously and then the other, handing one to him. He took it gratefully smiling. They walked back over to the bar, sitting to eat and drink.
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Arien took another swig of his ale, scarfing down the rest of his stew with it. "So what's are plan when we get to Riften?" He asked. She swallowed the mouthful of food, wiping her face. "Well we haven't been there in awhile, no doubt Mercer won't be happy about that. But I did finish that job he asked me to do so I'm sure his rage wont last long." He chuckled at that. "Okay anything else?" She thought about it for a moment. It had been about a month since she was last in Riften, and she hadn't seen Keerava in a while. "Well I want to stop into the bar and catch up with Keerava, she asked me to visit the next time was in town." He nodded, standing up and stretching. "I think its about time we turn in for the night, what do you say?" She stretched her arms. "I'm beat. Sounds like a plan." They stacked the empty dishes on the counter. Catro Grabbed the pack off her bag, unfastening a bed roll and setting up not to far from the fire, enjoying its warmth. Arien did the same on the opposite side, spreading out the animal skin on the ground. Catro set her bag next to a large rock, propping it up and pulling out a book. Arien pointed his sword up into the air, admiring its edge and pulling out a chunk of ebony he often used to sharpen it. The fire crackled in the dark cave, and tiredness began to grab her. She yawned, causing Arien to look up, lifting his eyebrow. "Sleepy?" He asked. She shook her head yes at him, crawling under the bed roll and looking at the fire. Call it a bad habit, but she always slept with her sword. A bad experience as a kid ensured she never went anywhere without at least a sword. Arien put his sword down, crawling under his roll as well. The fire began to die slowly, and the low light ensured that they both fell deeply into sleep.
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A soft scuffing sound awoke her. Her eye shot open but she didn't move, just listened. She glanced over to Arien, only to find with a horrific shock that he wasn't there. She gripped the handle to her blade, taking in her surroundings. The fire was lower now, only a few flames flickered in the pit and mostly embers remained. A dull orange light lit up the area, giving off an ere feeling. She still refused to move, waiting for anything that might give her the slightest idea to what was happening. Suddenly her ears picked a sound, faint but there. Someone was walking towards her, not fast but not slow either, just controlled. She could tell they had a sword, it scraped on the ground slightly. It had only touched for a second, but the sound was unmistakable. She readied herself to fight, holding tight to the swords, and waiting. They crept closer until she could feel them standing over her. She took the opportunity, rolling out of the bedroll onto the cold and dirty ground, holding her sword up just in time to block a blow that would have been fatal. She couldn't make out there face, but could tell that they were a man. She deflected another blow, this one aimed for he head. "Wh-who are you? And what's with the death wish?" she asked, struggling to hold his sword back. "He's strong I'll give him that" she thought. Suddenly the sword slipped, catching her arm slightly. She jumped back, grabbing her arm and realizing that blood was now staining her gloved hand. She whipped her head up, a new fire burning in her eyes. "Alright," she said, drawing the second sword. "No more child's play." She moved her foot back, raising one of the swords high above her head, her signature stance. The figure flung himself at her again, his swords were close together like one giant spear. She jumped to the side, expecting him to crash into the rock wall behind her. He instead twisted his foot, lunging at her again. He caught her side slightly, but she ducked in time for it to be minor. As his arms went flying over her, she grabbed his legs, flipped him over her and causing him to crash to the ground.
She stood, realizing suddenly how bad her arm hurt. He didn't give her much time to react, jumping to his feet again and slashing at her. She raised her sword, deflecting his blow to the side. "Something about the way he's attacking is so familiar…damnit where's Arien when you need him!" She thought bitterly. Raising her swords again, she motioned for him to attack her again. He slashed his sword sideways at her, but she was quick to react. Raising her left hand, she used the sword to absorb the blow. She planted her left foot deeply into the ground, stepping closer with her right, and bringing her right handed sword around at him. It should have cut right into him, but it didn't. Somehow he saw the move coming and blocked it. Before she could react further he head butted her. She stumbled back, grabbing her nose that was now spewing blood. He came at her again, but she was ready this time. He slammed his sword down, creating a loud clinking sound. It echoed off the walls each time there swords came in contact. They continued this sparring game, each waiting for the other to slip up, to give them an advantage, but it didn't come. Catro began to get angry, she waited for him to strike again. He brought his sword down hard, she deflected it off to the side, grabbing his wrist and kicking him hard. He jumped back, each of them heavily panting. She readied herself again for another match, but to her surprise, it didn't come. He stood fully, and backed into the darkness. She looked to where he had been, refusing to drop her guard. She looked around, searching for any sign of where he had gone. She glanced around desperately, her blades still drawn and ready for action. A rock fell from somewhere in the darkness, and she turned swiftly, glancing through the darkness for any sign of life.
A boot suddenly collided with her stomach, sending her flying back where she hit the wall. She fell to the ground next to the dying fire. In the dull light, she could see that he was walking towards her. She grabbed her sword, standing up and then slumping on her knee. He held a sword and her shoulder. "Who..who the hell are you?" She asked, amazed that he could so easily predict everyone one of her moves. "Oh Catro, if only you weren't so trusting." She nearly stopped breathing, everything in the world seemed to halt. "No.." was all she could whisper out. "Yes." He said back. Arien stepped further into the light, smirking evilly down at her. "Oh so trusting, how else would someone know all your moves." She stared up at him, her mouth hanging open. "But, Arien, why? Why do any of this?" His smile widened. "Why? Because I'm tired of playing the hero's side kick, I'm thinking of going solo. Who knows, maybe I'll even change the world." She would have been mad. She would have angrily grabbed her swords, and lunged at him, but she couldn't move. He was her best friend, they had become so close, such good friends, and he had betrayed her. Just out of random they were no longer friends. He intended to kill her, and there was nothing she cold do but watch. He raised his sword suddenly, aiming to bring it down and strike the fatal blow. Her body reacted on pure instinct, she grabbed the swords, pointing them upward and jamming them into his chest. But he hadn't completely failed. His sword had struck her shoulder, leaving a deep cut that began the bleed profusely.
He dropped down onto his knees. Shocked at her reaction, she pulled the swords out. He calmly looked down at his chest. Blood began to pour out and pool on the ground. He looked back up at her. He coughed, spraying even more blood on the wall and on her face. He fell, and she could tell from where she sat that he had stopped breathing. Her best friend laid on the ground in front of her. Hours earlier they had eaten diner, laughed joked. They had cleared the cave, fought together, and now he was dead. She crawled over to him, checking for a pulse. She sat for a few minutes, feeling nothing. The last of the fire began to die. She tried to stand, suddenly realizing the amount of pain she was in. The slash on her arm and side were combing with the sharp pain in her shoulder. She forced herself up anyways. Stumbling over to her bedroll, she picked up the bag, slinging it over her good arm. She glanced over, feeling sick but reluctantly picking up Arien's bag and heading up the ramp. She stumbled through the cave, hitting the morning air. She fell to the ground on her knees, dropping the bag. She held a hand over her mouth, trying to hold down her dinner, and failing. She hacked at the ground for a good ten minutes, wanting to scream and cry all at the same time. She looked up at the sky where a few morning stars twinkled, wishing she could take the night back. But there was no going back now.
She stood, taking the bags and heading off down the road. She clutched her should that was still trickling blood. Willing the pain to stop, she looked down the road. "Okay, focus. I'm not that far from Riften, I'm sure I can make it that far. No, I have to." She shuffled forward, stumbling a few times but managing to stay upright. "Alright Catro come on, you can do this. Just put one foot in front of the other and you're halfway there." She shuffled off towards Riften, wanting desperately to leave the cave, the night, the fight, everything behind her. But I sudden loneliness and feeling of pain shot through her heart when she turned out of habit to check for Arien, and he wasn't there.
Wow. Dark. I promise the story gets better J I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Immediately after I post this I'll be working on the second one. Leave a review if you liked the story! New chapter up soon!