Author: Sorry for the late update on this. College is being oh so...interesting right now but I will try to put another update as soon as possible but that is if life plays along. So have fun.
Aela finally gave up target practice and turned to join her Harbinger. Valen woke up from the day dream as the thud of arrows came to stop and footsteps drew closer. Her old Nordic armored accentuated to sway of her hips and Valen was always a bit jealous of Skjor for being so close to Aela. After his death though, Aela withdrew from the group and only after Valen became Harbinger did she return.
"Hello, Harbinger." Aela greeted with a lax smile. She took her seat across from Valen and noticed his body was before her but his eyes seemed to be somewhere else far from this land. "What brings you down among us mortals?" Aela jokingly jested at him.
Valen only let out a slight chuckle yet his face returned to its emotionless nature once more as if the jest never occurred. Aela knew him to lack the humor of a Nord yet this attitude was still concerning to her. She could barely remember the last time he smiled and she could never recall the last time he did it sober.
"I decided to check upon the Companions and take up some jobs. My coin purse has grown light as of late. " Valen replied looking back into her eyes. Aela couldn't help but notice the weariness and the heavy bags that hunger his grassy green eyes.
"Are you having dreams again?" Aela asked knowing Valen was prone to nightmares and some episodes could be heard throughout the entire living quarters. She assumed his time in the legion contributed to it and she could guess being the Dragonborn didn't help in the least.
"Yes…" Valen admitted despite small mental protest. He didn't wish to go into details but the small act of admitting it made him feel a bit more at peace.
"I guess there is no chance of you wanting to talk about it." Aela already knew Valen was only going to decline and go about his business for Valen was never the man to talk about what was bothering him or getting too close to someone. It only got worse once he had assumed the duty of Dragonborn. No one saw him for two whole months. It worried everyone in Jorrvaskr. Once he returned everyone thought things would go back to normal but he only seemed more distant. Then followed weeks where he would disappear and reappear and stories would follow him about another dungeon cleared or a bandit camp destroyed or a vampire clan gone from history. It only seemed recently he started to become more social once more.
"You know me to well, Aela." Valen let out a weak smile yet he continued to just sit there. Aela smiled to herself that Valen was now at least trying to face his emotional turmoil, even if it meant not leaving the room to avoid further discussion. "Are there any contracts open? My sword arm feels rusty." Valen said in attempt to continue the conversation.
"Just a few and most are your usual fair of brawls or bandit hunting except one Vilkas wouldn't shut up about near Markarth." Valen's head snapped up at the mentioning. "Apparently the local farmers are complaining of weird movement in the forest and.." Aela continued but Valen had heard this exact phrase before whenever the locals grew disturbed of a nearby shadow and the guards grew sick of the constant complaints.
"and the guards won't do anything. It seems every time someone has uttered that phrase, there was more to it than a mere shadow or scampering deer." Valen commented.
"I know brother." Aela added. "The contract says there are mysterious noises coming from the nearby forest that sounds like a large pack of wolves yet the tracks they find are too big." Valen was now hesitant to take such job. He already knew where this was about to turn. "This sounds like feral werewolves." The subject of lycanthropy had become delicate in the halls due to Aela being the only one left after the last of the inner circle cured themselves and it took everything Valen had to make sure Aela never felt alienated and made it a promise he would hunt with her whenever they could.
"I need to give this thought before I think about taking it and that is only if you approve." Valen turned to her.
"You are my Harbinger. You are free to do what you wish." Aela replied. "But I thank you for concern." Valen sighed in relief. He felt he had just barely escaped the jaws of a dragon.
"I need to head to Breezehome now." Valen stood up. "I am fairly sure Lydia will not appreciate me returning without announcing my return to her." After exchanging their goodbyes, Valen headed towards Breezehome, taking each step slowly and just enjoying the beautiful walk to his official home in Whiterun.
He finally came upon the steps of the modest cottage and pushed open the door and closed it swiftly behind him and sitting around the fire pit sat two women. Valen cursed under his breath at the scolding he would receive. Both had dark brown hair but the woman on Valen's left was pale as a sheet and had soft golden eyes he remembered glowing at one point and the other was clad in steel armor. Lydia and Serana were chatting away about whatever women discussed when men weren't present. Both turned towards him. Serana smiled and Lydia frowned. Things never change, Valen thought.
"Where have you been my thane!?" Lydia roared as she leaped out of her seat and pounced on Valen. "You disappear for a month without warning or even a letter." Lydia frowned at him with disdain for his antics. "One day I see you in Whiterun socializing and the next, you are gone." Lydia threw up her hands and went to her quarters.
"That could have gone better." Serana laughed. She walked over and hugged Valen and Valen returned the same. She pulled away and smiled at Valen and retook her seat and gestured for him to join her. Valen took the spot at her side. "I am sure Lydia will forgive you, of course."
"She is the more passionate of the housecarls." Valen sighed. "Jordis acts like it is just a job and the others hardly see me enough to gain any sort of attachment." His face was still expressionless.
"So is the life of the Dragonborn." Serana laughed once more. "So how is Parthurnax doing these days?" In all of Skyrim, the only person outside of the blades Valen talked to about being Dragonborn was Serana. She was the sister he could turn too and she did the same. She even had been there when he released himself from Hircine.
"He is good." Valen looked over at her with a rare smile that only seemed to appear less and less. "We worked on some of my thu'ums and he showed me some of the dragon culture." Valen said nonchalantly as if talking to a dragon was the norm but when conversing with a former vampire who was the daughter of a powerful vampire clan; normality and some aspects of reality where quickly forgotten or ignored. "How have things been since my absence?" Valen asked knowing Serana was essentially interim Dragonborn while he was away and handled a good number of issues that arose.
"Everything seems to be at peace since the vampires have gone back into hiding in caves with necromancers." Serana stretched and yawned. "The only thing that worries me is The Reach." Valen raised an eyebrow at the coincidence. "Our contacts in Markarth keep reporting mysterious movements in the forest areas. This only started recently so it may just be a heard of deer or…"
"Werewolves…" Valen added.
"What makes you say that?" Serana asked puzzled by Valen's addition.
"The Companions have asked to look into the matter but their contract added that giant wolf prints were found." Valen slouched in his seat knowing he would be once again on the road just after getting off of it.
"I assume you are leaving in the morning to investigate?" Serana knew he would even before he answered. It was one aspect she admired and loathed about him. No matter where trouble popped up, he would be there but he hardly ever made time for himself and she felt he overestimated his resolve to carry on and wondered when the day would come when his body or mind faltered but never relayed these thoughts to him. He wouldn't listen to the concerns anyways.
"I am afraid I must." Valen let out another sight but his face still seemed cold and rigid and let out no emotion or weakness. "What will you be doing once you are done here in Whiterun?"
"I am off to Solitude see if Elisif needs help with the upcoming moot." Valen sighed in relief someone was going to do that. The divines blessed Valen as Serana was very good with the political aspect of Skyrim and covered for him in those areas as he took on the more brutish tasks. "Maybe clear a bandit camp or two for fun." Serana stood up and reached out her hand and pulled Valen to his feet. "But for today, we are going to go shopping. Belethor has some new books I wish to read. Apparently he got a new one about the exploits of the Dragonborn." Valen rolled his eyes as another novel had been written about his slaying of Alduin only reworded and misquoted something different.
"I guess if we must." Valen jokingly sighed.
"Like you don't enjoy shopping for new swords?" Serana glared at him with a questioning gaze. They both let out a quick laugh and Serana continued to smile as Valen had finally let out an emotion that wasn't rage.
The Reach was the meeting between the forests of Skyrim and the craggy mountains that jutted up and stabbed the sky and clouds. In the distance the faint roar of a dragon could be heard, deer ran across what open land was available until it met the vicious mountain sides and Vilkas was getting bored of it all.
Both men rode slowly through The Reach, Vilkas on a hazelnut brown horse while Valen rode upon a paint horse. Vilkas sported his usual wolf armor while Valen sported a full set Dragon scale.
Vilkas' face was distorted in boredom as Valen continued to scan the horizon for any action, shadowy movement or even the sound of a broken twig but the entire reach seemed to be cast in silence and that made Valen nervous.
"Shield-brother, I am starting to wonder if the milk-drinkers are just scared of their own shadows." Vilkas groaned annoyed as their two day adventure had begun to slowly drag on with the setting sun. Valen couldn't help but agree. Nothing seemed out of place except the silence. Valen couldn't hear birds or elk moving about. "I think it best we head back to Markarth and rest for a journey back to Whiterun."
"Does the silence not bother you?" Valen finally inquired as they continued to ride. "We are in the middle of Rain's Hand and the forest is quiet." Valen slowed and finally stopped. Vilkas followed up behind.
"We did just hear a dragon a few seconds ago. It probably frightened the animals in this area." Vilkas' tone was slowly growing annoyed. They had been searching for a day and a half in the area the reports claimed the movement and noise took place. They saw no tracks to follow and there were no animals running for their lives. "I am heading back to the inn unless you have any other ideas, brother."
"Rest up." Valen said relenting. "You'll head back to Whiterun in the morning and send Aela up here to help me scout." Vilkas sighed at the stubbornness of the harbinger. Valen was never the one to give up a contract so easily. "By the nines, I will find out what is going on here."
"You just said the nine." Vilkas chuckled at an Imperial soldier openly admitting to worshipping Talos.
"Are you the Thalmor?" Valen turned with a dark glare in his eye. Vilkas could almost feel the wrath swirling. Even though Valen was Imperial soldier, there were moments of question when a Thalmor agent would be found dead and Valen would have been on that exact road. Being Thane and a hero of Skyrim made it hard for anything to be proven.
"I shall be on my way to the Markarth now." Vilkas said and quickly road off. Valen sighed as he moved on without his shield-brother. His horse slowly tread as he continued to try to find anything out of place but nothing came into view except a clear Skyrim day.
Valen finally came up to a clearing just before hitting the primary mountain range in Skyrim and that is when things started taking a turn. No matter how much he spurred, his horse would not move or budge and kept shaking its head in protest and backing away from the road that went past the clearing. Valen knew something was here.
He jumped off his horse and tied it to a nearby tree. He slowly made his way to the clearing even as the sky slowly turned to a soft orange signifying the end of the day. Yet the silence bothered him and no game was even spotted. The forest was too peaceful and his experience as a military man told him the quiet meant one of two things. The battle was over or it was just about to begin.
Valen made his way slowly through the forest being mindful of any twigs on the ground as not to give him away to anything that would not see him there. Each step was slowly ebbing away at his nerves. The silence grew to the point not even the leaves rustled as the wind grew stagnate. He could feel a bead of sweat go down his brow. Each crunch of leaf brought the expectation of an ambush but it never came. Only the silence was there and that bothered Valen the most.
As clearing was slowly about to end, a mass was seen only a few feet away. Valen drew his blade, preparing for the worst. With every step he noticed more and more masses lying under trees, swords pinning others to the ground and then it dawned on him. He was standing on the border of a battle but the participants were nothing he had seen before. Some of the corpses had hard leather body armor with silver pauldrons and leggings. Others had more simple leather and deer hide clothing and markings that reminded Valen of the Forsworn he had fought a year back.
He walked over and approached one of the bodies clad in this mysterious armor. He was instantly reminded of the Dawnguard with the way the shoulders had multiple steel plates layered on top of each other and an intricate symbol on them. He took off the helmet revealing a young Nord with the usual blonde hair and blue eyes. The young man could have not been any older than nineteen and he still clutched his weapon in his arm as his eyes glared blankly and without life. Valen looked down at his armed hand and his heart stopped. It was a silver greatsword. Valen bolted up. He ran over to another armored body of a female Orc and she had silver arrows. Valen couldn't deny it any longer. The Silverhand had returned. Despite having all of their bases raided and leaders brutally killed, they had come back stronger and better equipped.
Valen swiftly ran over to one of the bodies clad in leather. This dead soul was an older Nord man in the middle of his now-ended life. Valen pushed aside red hair revealing, more face paint in the traditionally Nord style. Valen started riffling through pockets trying to figure who these people were. After only coming up with a bite of salted meat and a hunting knife, Valen stood up and looked around for the one thing that would justify the Silverhand returning and killing these people and it didn't take long.
At the very end was a black mass of fur. It was the size of a full grown horse with the head of a feral wolf. Valen approached slowly as not to be attacked by the beast playing dead. When he got within distance, he kicked the beast with his boot. It did not stir. With his safety guaranteed, Valen checked to see what killed the werewolf. He noticed a few slash marks with dried blood where it had been slashed at by a sword and two silver arrows in its head. Valen looked back towards the dead Orc and figured she killed the poor sod.
Valen moved back into the middle of the remnants of this struggle. From what he could tell, the Silverhand had ambushed a group of four hunters. The Orc woman was the last to die from bleeding as Valen had noticed the blood trail leading to her final resting place. Yet, it didn't explain the werewolf. If the beast wasn't with the hunters, why did the Silverhand lash out at them? They should have been innocent.
Nothing was adding up. Valen could only pace in the forests of The Reach as he tried to figure out how the scene before him came about. The Silverhand should have been destroyed but what lay before him said they were alive and even stronger than before unless this was a new threat but they had the exact same weapons as the Silverhand he fought. The hunters were nothing out of the ordinary except for the face paint and body markings yet there was a massive werewolf among them and all the cuts and wounds came from swords.
As Valen continued to ponder his surroundings he heard rustling. The leaves crunched under feet that were not his own. He did not ready his blade. He wished to see the intent of his guest. He continued to pace around like he didn't hear them. The steps were light and intently took their next position. Any hunter would have been proud at the lack of sound but he was soldier of war that had taken quieter and better men. The next sound was wood on wood and the stretching sound of a bow being pulled back ready to fire. Time slowed. Valen had been here so many times before and the sound no longer sent the cold chill down his spine. The only emotion left for that sound was determination.