Chapter 2 : Eyes on the prey not the horizon
"Does he always send the newcomers on errands?" I complained to the Companion's blacksmith as he sharpened Vilkas' sword. I was bored and tired from all the running around but the warmth from the forge was inviting as I draped lazily on the stone bench next to it.
"Don't loose any sleep over it, they were all whelps once. But don't always do what you're told either; nobody rules anybody around here. Kodlak is the harbinger, he gives guidance to us all but every man is his own, every woman her own." There's that word again. Whelp. Uhhhh.
"Well thanks for the life lessons but I'll have to be going now..." I trailed off as I started to turn away.
"I have a favour to ask. I've been working on a shield for Aela and I'd be much obliged if you could deliver it to her."
"Sure but who's Aela?"
"Well done. Aela will be down in the living quarters with Skjor. She's the one with the three lines of war paint on her face." And, making a mental note I wandered down the stairs of the Skyforge studying the intricate detail on the shield as I went.
As I walked along the grand hallway of the ground floor inside Jorrvaskr I heard the hushed tones of a male and a female. The voices must belong to Skjor and Aela because they were the only people down here.
"Aela?" I asked cautiously.
"In here." The female voice proved my suspicions.
"Aela, this is the newblood, I saw her training in the yard with Vilkas." The male voice informed as I walked through the door. Mental note: Skjor knows everything.
"Ahh yes, I heard you gave him quite the thrashing. Let's have Farkas show you where you'll be resting your head. Farkas!" The redhead screamed leaving a ringing in my ears.
"You called?" replied a familiar voice, followed by heavy breathing signifying that he ran as fast as he could to the call of his superiors.
"Who else icebrain? Show this new blood where the rest of the whelps sleep."
"Newblood?" He whispered between breaths. I popped my head around the door so he could see me.
"Ohh, errandgirl." He chuckled fondly.
"You two know each other?" Aela questioned looking from my face to his.
"Uhhh lets just say we share opinions. C'mon follow me." He turned on his heels not stopping to check if I was coming or not.
"Skjor and Aela like to tease me sometimes but it's all in good fun. I hope we keep you, it can be a rough life. Well here's your deluxe suite." He waved his hand across the room.
"Which one's mine?" I asked, eager to get the heavy pack off my back and to finally have a spot I could call my own.
"Just pick a bed and fall in it when you're tired. Unless you've got other living arrangements?" he questioned with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes.
"Unless you include the Bannered Mare as sleeping arrangements, I'll be here."
"Ha, well then I'll know where to find you. Come and see me or Aela for work and if you impress maybe you'll get work from Vilkas and Skjor. I seem to have misplaced your celebratory sweetroll but anyway welcome to the companions." He grinned as I was engulfed by a bear hug.
"Thanks." I mumbled amongst the fur in his armour. Still trapped by his huge arms I tossed my pack onto the nearest bed.
"Well I'm moved in, got any work for me to do boss?"
"I took care of the problem." I smiled as best I could with my numb cheek and increasingly puffy lip.
"By Shor, I can see that" he mumbled, concerned as he turned my head to look at my injuries. Examining my now brightly coloured bruise sprouting around my eye and my cut lip which was making it more difficult to speak as time went on.
"I told you just to ruff him up but I'm assuming you came out worse for wear huh? Sit down, let me get you something cold to put on that eye."
"There's some frost salts in my bag" I called out as he made his way down the stairs.
"Ha, wow I've seen deer carcasses with less blood on them than your face. Here pass me that rag and that bottle of wine, might sting a bit but you'll thank me later" Vilkas informed me as he sat down. That same moment Farkas came bounding up the stairs with the salts. I grabbed the rag from Vilkas and poured the salts into it.
"I've got this from here. Thanks Farkas, Vilkas." She smiled at Farkas and acknowledged Vilkas. I could feel them both watching me at I walked down to the living quarters with my makeshift ice pack pressed lightly against my face.
"I'm looking for work" I said a little more harshly than intended. It wasn't Farkas' fault his brother was an ass.
"Well you spring back fast, but I don't have any work for you. Skjor was looking for you earlier though. I don't know what he wanted but he said he needed to talk to you before you did anything else" Farkas grunted while he hammered some wooden pieces to the wall not bothering to look at me while he spoke.
"Ahh there you are." Skjor caught me as I was coming out of Jorrvaskr.
"You wanted to see me?" I questioned with a hint of curiosity in my tone.
"I did. Your time, it seems has come. Last week a scholar came to us and said he knew where we could find another fragment of Wuuthrad. I don't particularly trust his words but if he speaks truth then the honour of the Companions is a stake" he ordered without a hint of amusement of his face. This dude was strict.
"Sounds serious but what does any of this have to do with me?" I asked, my enthusiasm fading quickly.
"This is a simple errand. The time is right for it to be your trial. Farkas will be your shield-sibling on this adventure whelp. He'll answer any questions you have. Try not to disappoint...or get him killed." And with that Skjor walked off in a huff.
"I hope you've readied yourself." Farkas' kind tone was replaced with one that definitely meant business as he walked passed me to collect supplies. I followed after him trying to get answers.
"Why did Skjor call this my trial?" still unsure of what any of this had to do with me.
"I watch you to make sure you're honourable. If you are I can call you sister" he said with still no hint of his normal self. What had I done to piss him off so much?
"So this is Dustman's Cairn huh?" I asked as I looked around. We had walked down the western path from Whiterun and taken a sharp right along a dirt road which was still muddy from the rains the day before. This place was meant to be a Nordic burial ruin housing the dead from all different Nordic families.
"Yeah. Looks like someone's been digging here, and recently. Tread lightly" he cautioned looking towards the gaping hole in one side of the small room. We walked down a staircase and reached level ground with shin deep water along the bottom. Suddenly Farkas grabbed me by the waist and pulled me towards the wall, covering my mouth.
"Be careful around the burial stones. I don't want to have to haul you black to Jorrvaskr on my back" he whispered in my ear, sending chills down my spine. I slid out of his tight embrace and nodded. We moved silently around the crypts and crept into a large room with high ceilings and hanging moss growing down the walls. It had a gate across the door we needed to get through to proceed. I saw a lever in a small room branching off from the main. I walked over and turned around to notice Farkas absorbed in a book which seemed to be well preserved. It was a bit suspicious because it should have at least had mildew on it being in a damp place. I pulled on the lever, eager to move on and a gate lowered and split my little room off for the main chamber.
"Now look what you've gotten yourself into. No worries just sit tight, I'll find the release" Farkas chuckled. I didn't even mind, I was too absorbed that he was being happy again that I didn't care. But my joy was short lived because about 10 bandit-looking types ran into the room and formed a semicircle around Farkas with their swords drawn.
"Silverhand" Farkas whispered under his breath. He knew who they were!
"Which one is that?" an inquisitive blonde asked.
"It doesn't matter. He wears that armour he dies!" a man shut down her curiosity.
"Killing you will make for an excellent story" smiled a female Redguard. At that last threat I was mad but more importantly I was worried. They had closed in on him and were pushing him towards the cage door, towards me and a dead end. I was almost able to reach out and touch him when he growled, "None of you will be alive to tell it." He crouched down and brown fur started sprouting where skin once was. His face contorted and he was unrecognisable. His arms elongated, as did his face and a shaggy tail sprouted out of the small of his back. I was so terrified I couldn't move. I wanted to help him somehow but I was frozen. With his long, strong arms with claws as large as daggers coming out of them, one swipe and three Silverhand went flying, never to see the light of day again. There were bodies scattered along the bloodied, red floor, none of which were moving. Farkas turned around and looked at me with those same dazzling blue eyes and I could have sworn he smiled. He turned away and ran into the other room with all of his armour in his clenched jaws. My only thought was hoping he came back for me. A few minutes later he walked back out on two feet with all of his armour on and the only thing giving away what just happened was the Silverhand lying on the floor.
"I hope I didn't scare you" he chuckled.
"What the hell was that?" I asked in disbelief as the cage gate started to open.
"It's a blessing given to some of us. We can be like wild beats, fearsome." His eyes glowed with power.
"So you're going to make me a werewolf?" I demanded.
"Ohh no. Only the circle have the beastblood. Eyes on the prey not the horizon. We should keep moving, still have the draugr to worry about" he advised.
"Who are the Silverhand?" I asked as I avoided stepping on the bodies.
"Bad people who don't like werewolves. So they don't like us either" he admitted.
"I gathered that."
For the most part we went through the dungeon battling Silverhand with no problems, him with his greatsword and me with my bow. We reached a room with three Silverhand around a fire. We crept around, trying to get a better shot but an undetected sentry saw us and lodged an arrow in my left shoulder and I fell to the ground moaning in pain. A normal arrow wouldn't have hurt this much so I knew it had to have been poisoned.
"Tess!" Farkas cried, giving away our position. With rage surging through him, he finished off the sentry and the ones around the fire and came back to me. Just as he was preparing to pull the arrow out, a Silverhand charged in out of nowhere aiming his attack at Farkas' vulnerable rear. I mustered up all my energy and let out a painful shriek as I picked up a dagger one of the others had dropped and flung it. It hit its target and planted itself right between our attackers eyes. Farkas took his eyes off me only for a second to check our enemy was dead. I watched as the figure's chest shakily rose and fell. His breaths getting more and more shallow until stillness embraced him.
One arrow, three healing potions and a draugr later my shoulder was strapped and all was good again. Farkas kept glancing back at me to make sure I was still following him and not dead on the ground even after I insisted I was fine. We reached a locked door and had to search nearby urns and crypts and finally found it nestled in a spider web. I had no idea how bad century old undead smelt. To make my day even better we were greeted with skeevers and frostbite spiders. Farkas was in front so he had to dispatch the disease covered vermin. I poured some of the dead spiders venom into an empty mead bottle and coated some of my arrows in it. Farkas looked at me funny, as if he'd never poisoned something before but I knew it'd help me out later. We went though the large locked doors which lead to a big room with lots of coffins and an alter. We treaded lightly with Farkas and myself walking back-to-back towards the fragment. I picked it up and a trigger plate went off waking the draugr and popping open their coffins.
"You take left, I take right?" Farkas grinned.
"This is going to be fun" I grinned back.
As we walked through the moonlit streets of Whiterun everything seemed so peaceful. It was around midnight so everyone was in bed which is so desperately where I wanted to be too. We walked past the Bannered Mare and I stopped, briefly forgetting I didn't need to go to the room on the second floor anymore. I had somewhere nicer to call home.
"Tess?" Farkas' concerned voice broke my dazed state.
"Coming" I replied as I jogged up the stairs to catch up with him. I was about to go inside and sleep off my sore shoulder and still tender face when I noticed the lights out in the courtyard were brighter than normal. I went round the back and saw everyone standing in a circle by torchlight. I turned around to ask Farkas what was going on but he was already running to get in his place.
"Brothers and sisters of the circle, today we welcome a new soul into our mortal fold. This woman has endured, has challenged and has shown her valour. Who will speak for her?" Kodlak's powerful voice boomed.
"I stand witness to the courage of the soul before us" Farkas said as he looked at me. And for a moment I blushed.
"Would you raise your shield in her defence?" Kodlak's voice broke his stare.
"I would stand at her back, that the world might never overtake us" Farkas countered sounding genuine.
"Would you raise your sword in her honour?"
"It stands ready to meet the blood of her foes" Farkas started off by looking at Kodlak but slowly turned his gaze to me.
"And would you raise a mug in her name?"
"I would lead the song of triumph as our mead hall revelled in her stories" he grinned and quickly looked away.
"Then the judgement of the circle is complete. Her heart beats with fury and courage that have united the Companions since the days of distant green summers. Let it beat with ours, that the mountains may echo and our enemies may tremble at the call." Kodlak looked into the distance as if remembering a time like the one he described.
All of the Companions sung out at once: "It shall be so!"