Katelyn stared at her hands. They were coated in thick, burgundy blood, but it wasn't hers. It belonged to the mighty beast in front of her, whose tongue was hanging dully out of its mouth as it took its final gasp of life. It slumped into the ground, eyes wide and still. Katelyn moved to get a closer look, hardly believing what she had done. She was slightly frightened to reach out and touch the thing, still unsure what exactly it was.
She reached out a slow and shaking hand, running it gingerly over the beast's muzzle. It was defiantly dead, that was for sure, not that any creature could have survived such a hideous amount of blood lose. She would have moved out of the way of the blood pooling around her ankles, had the morbid curiosity of the thing not taken hold of her completely.
Its skin was rough under her touch, like holly prickles, and it was freezing cold, as if she were dipping her hand in a snow bank. She shivered slightly as she rubbed her fingers along the beast's head, trailing her hands down its body. She stepped around it, leaning over to touch the lumps on its spine. She ducked under its wings, looked at the muted sunlight through their dusty, glass skin.
It was the strangest thing in the world, looking both too spectacular to be from Tamriel but too horrific to have come from Sovngarde. Then in a split second all that was gone, as the body of the creature began to glow in a blue and orange light. Katelyn sucked in her breath, scrambling to move away from the thing as she feared it could spout more fire at her. She had been terrified when the thing had fallen out of the sky and landed in front of her, trying to claw her eyes out.
The light blazed off the thing, making little trails of colour fly through the sky towards her. The further she got away, the quicker it would follow her until she was consumed by it. It devoured her head to her toes, encompassing the whole of her as she was rendered speechless. Where the glowing tentacles of light touched her she felt the oddest warmth spread over her skin and then this great feeling of power. It surrounded her, taking her in and making her feel strong. She sucked her breath in as it crushed her lungs under its power, filling them with the light. She didn't feel the need to scream or run, even though the experience was oddly painful, instead she stood still, letting it do its magic.
Then very suddenly the sensation stopped. All in one second the light had stopped completely and she felt normal. She gulped in a huge lungful of air, gasping as a hand went to support her stomach. She didn't know what that had been but by the nine divines that hadn't been normal. Whatever that beast was it must have been magic and that magic must have tainted her. She looked at her fingers which seemed normal enough, if trembling a little. There were no noticeable effects, so perhaps it was some hideous nightmare she would wake up from. Yet it all had been too vivid to be a dream.
She straightened herself, glancing over to the body of the beast and then stopping in all movements when she realised that it wasn't even there anymore. Where had stood a colossal and beautiful beast was just a pile of bones, large ones granted, but nothing more than ash on the ground. Katelyn couldn't believe it, for she still had its blood on her hands and it still soaked the ground. She shook her head lightly, deciding it was best not to dwell on it.
She moved towards the bones, noticing how, to some degree, they still kept the shape of the beast. Gingerly she snapped off what once must have been a rib, then she slid it into the satchel around her shoulders. Sighing a little, giving one last fleeting look to the beast, she moved away. Skyrim held too many creatures for her to name, this was just bound to be one of them, if a rare one. The only thing the experience had taught her was that Ulfric had been right – the forests of Eastmarch were dangerous places.
She skipped over rocks and past the stream that ran by the walls of the city, trying to remove the image of the beast from her mind. For all she knew it could be a new weapon that the Imperials were trying to use against them. She would ask Night about it that evening for she was sure to give her a straight answer. Yet for the time being she had other places to be, one such place being in the war council with Ulfric, for which she was very late.
She darted along the wall, reaching the place where the rocks were crumbling a little. She had spent a long week carefully carving hand holes in that stretch of wall and could now nimbly climb it in around half a minute. She flipped up the stone, moving quickly until she was perched on top of the wall, looking out over the city and smiling a little at the place she called home. Windhelm wasn't a place for those who enjoyed the warmth, but for her, it had been more than she'd ever been supposed to have.
She stood, slowly ambling along the wall until she reached the palace, where she climbed one further wall and dropped into the tower that sat on its most eastern edge. She was now safely in her rooms and she dropped her satchel down the side of her bed, moving towards the looking glass, where she could attempt to remove the tattered pieces of leaf and mud from her hair. She then handled the brush that sat on her bedside table, running it through her hair and quite forgetting to notice the intricate detail of Mara which had been carved into its base.
She hummed lightly as she did so, arranging her dark locks around her face in such a way that was both pleasing and vaguely presentable. Once she was pleased with what she saw, she straightened her collar and began to walk, fast but not at a running pace, towards her door. She was charging down the corridors in no time, having not a second to spare on her grumbling stomach. Men had come from all around Skyrim for this particular meeting and Ulfric wouldn't be pleased at her late arrival. Still, he could never stay angry at her.
She bounded through those big, heavy doors which led to the council chamber, watching as the faces of twenty men sharply looked up at her as she did. Every important member of the Stormcloak war effort was sat around that table, including the would-be king himself, sat at its head. He raised his eyebrows slightly as she brushed herself off and steadily stepped towards him and she gave the smallest shrug. She took her seat beside him, the events of the day quite lost on her.
He coughed, purposefully, before speaking, "As I was saying, before Katelyn decided to grace us with her presence," He and Galmar exchanged a look and I bit my tongue from telling them both to get on with the meeting, "With Whiterun safely in our control, I believe we need to take time to rebuild our forces, establishing a heavier presence in Whiterun hold, with more ground troops and the occupation of forts in the area."
It always gave Katelyn a strange cold feeling when they spoke of Whiterun. It hadn't been a month since she had presented the axe to Balgruuf and watched him turn it down, a muted look of disappointment on his face as he did. She'd watched their armies tear through the city she had once belonged to, the city that had been the true beginning of her life. She had felt such resentment for them and yet, she almost understood why it had to be done. If Balgruuf had survived, which she doubted he had, he would be long gone from that place.
"Are we not setting off for Whiterun tomorrow Ulfric? Can we not make arrangements there instead?" She asked, looking him in the eyes and giving him a sly smile. She hadn't needed to go with him, leaving behind Windhelm, but she had other reasons to go besides his charming company.
He gave her a small smirk in return, "Of course Katelyn. We shall be there for other reasons aside from the bittersweet business of appointing a new Jarl. We shall have plenty of time to cover such things I have no doubt." He sat back a little in his chair, exchanging meaningful glances with the men around the room, "And as we have already arranged, the temple in Whiterun shall need to be prepared, not only for out victory celebration but for the ceremony of marriage that will follow."
The men around the table smiled and laughed, congratulating the both of them and wishing them the best for the day. Katelyn could not pretend her stomach was not aflutter with the strangest of moths at even the mere idea of marriage, but she tried to ignore them, as she always did before such important things. Marriage was not often a thing for love in Skyrim. People died young or in battle, so marriage was out of convenience, or fondness. She was very lucky in that respect then, as well as very unusual, for her wedding would be entirely based on love and affection. She and Ulfric had chosen each other for more than a simple need to have children and support one another. He loved her and he had saved her. She would always be indebted to him.
"We do deserve a break from this damned war I suppose, and what better way to forget hatred than to celebrate the opposite. It shall be a blessed day." She said, receiving a hearty agreement from the others, "Even in Whiterun, the ice will still run through our veins." She finished, smiling a little before allowing Ulfric to wrap his arms around her. She allowed herself to completely forget the day's earlier activities, not knowing what that beast was and quite honestly not wishing to know. Katelyn was not one to care about the things she killed, that much was obvious. If something was wanted dead then its death was justified, it didn't matter what life it had had before or what it was, its death was all she cared for. That was her philosophy.
"Then it is agreed," Ulfric said in a matter-of-fact way, "With those wise words from Katelyn this meeting is over and shall be continued upon our arrival in Whiterun. For now let us retire, while we still have our heads clear of drink and our minds untouched by tiredness." There was a mumble of agreement and the shuffling and scraping of chairs. Katelyn sat for a moment as Ulfric made the last arrangements with Galmar before he was left with a mighty responsibility.
Once the conversation was over and they had exchanged a mildly manly hug, he turned back to Katelyn, tipping his head to one side slightly, "Did you enjoy your time in the forest this morning." She sat up, about to explain herself when he held out a hand, "Don't worry Kate, I'm not angry. I can hardly expect to control you when I fell in love with this chaotic version of you. I was simply asking whether you enjoyed yourself, as you have never much liked the cold of the trees." He moved a hand over her shoulder, rubbing it slightly, "It is not like your home I know and it hurts me to keep you here."
She smiled, glancing up at him, astounded by this kindness, "I have not been to Hammerfell in years Ulfric, this is my home now, with you." She smiled, taking the hand on her shoulder and holding it in hers. "This is my home and I will fight for it just as you will. Every man has the right to his own opinions and beliefs. The elves fell very far when they started putting limits of the weight of a man's heart."
Ulfric slid a smile onto his lips in return, "No wonder I love you so much Kate, you always know what to say to make everything sound perfect." He slid a hand over her hair, tucking it behind her ears before laying a slow and steady kiss on her cheek, "Talos shall rule this land once more my darling and we shall have peace."
"Bless his name," she mumbled under her breathe, never having had a steady belief in the deity herself. Gods had always been too much bother for Katelyn, she had instead focused on the more pressing matters of reality at hand.
Ulfric sighed as he lifted himself from her, moving over to tuck in his chair and straighten out his robes, "You should get some rest, we shall be travelling the morning and I would not want you to fall asleep on the road." She nodded, giving him a quick grin before he left the room, taking away quite a presence with him. He always had a way about him, whether in his manner or in his speech, that seemed to capture the people. There was simply something about his presence that made you stop and listen, no matter who you were. It had been that alone that caught Katelyn's eye all those years ago and it was one of things that bore such a fondness for him inside of her.
She shook herself out of the casual line of thought, being far too busy for such matters. Night would be waiting for her and with all the excitements of the day still to process, she did not have time to diver and focus on love. There were matters of war afoot.