Faster. He had to run faster.
The boy heaved a deep gasp of air as his lungs burned against the rising pressure in his narrow chest. The tall grass would not keep him hidden for long as he tried to put as much distance between himself and his would-be captor.
He would not be sent back to that awful place. He would run to the ends of Skyrim itself if he had to but he would not go back. They could not force him.
Summoning the strength to push himself onward, the boy scrabbled over a fallen tree as the deep neigh of a horse sounded out in the distance. The man with the axe was getting closer. If only that summoning ritual had never been preformed.
"Aventus!"
The boy flinched at the sound of his name as he frantically looked about for cover. If he could hide himself then he might have a chance of being overlooked in the undergrowth. But there was nothing...
No wait! There!
Aventus took in another deep breath before he bolted toward a large rocky outcrop a hundred yards to his left. He did not look over his shoulder as the heavy drumming of hoofbeats startled a flock of starlings into taking flight. A young fox kit barked in alarm before it vanished into the dry leaves with a swish of its bushy tail.
"AVENTUS! STOP!"
Another neigh bellowed out into the crisp morning air, more annoyed than the last. Aventus knew that what he had done was bad. Worse than bad. He had broken all the rules by performing the Black Sacrament, a forbidden act of death and black magic that had landed him in a world of trouble. And now he had to pay the price.
The boy's thin figure worked to his advantage as he scrambled behind a large moss-covered boulder and wormed his way between the rocks.
All he had wanted was to summon the Dark Brotherhood to help him achieve what he could not do on his own. He needed a monster to fight a monster and the Dark Brotherhood were the type that did not care about killing. They were the best assassins in all of Skyrim. All they cared about was blood and money. Money was something he did have and he could promise them blood.
But everything had gone wrong.
When the Jarl of Windhelm had issued the order that Aventus was to be sent back to that horrible orphanage in Riften it was said that the city was no place for an orphaned boy. But Aventus was determined to prove them wrong. He could survive on his own. If only the adults would listen for once instead of barking orders because they "knew what was best".
But who would listen to a child?
Aventus may be only twelve years old but even so, he knew by now that adults had absolutely no idea what was actually best for children. Because if they had, the order would have been given to burn the Honorhall orphanage to the ground a long time ago.
They had left him with no other choice but to go beyond the law. He reached out into the darkness and after weeks of waiting, it finally responded.
When the grey-haired stranger had turned up at his home two nights ago he completely ignored the summons. Aventus had done his best to explain himself, explain why he so desperately needed the Dark Brotherhood's help, but it had all been in vain. Not even the family treasure that he offered as payment could tempt the man in the wolf armour to side with his cause and accept the contract.
Instead Aventus had been dragged out of his family home against his will and tossed onto the back of a horse. He had fought back as hard as he could but he was no match for his abductor, who had not come alone. No one had seen them leave the city in the dead of night. That had been days ago. He had no idea if anyone had noticed that he was missing or had started looking for him.
Aventus Aratino was being hauled back to Riften and he would have none of it.
He waited and watched. That morning just before daybreak the perfect opportunity to give his captors the slip presented itself and he took it. Now he just had to make sure that they would not be able to find him.
"Child! Show yourself! This is no time for playing games."
A second voice called out, feminine yet harsh, as another rider joined the chase. It was the dark-skinned elf lady, the grey-haired warrior's companion, and she did not sound happy.
"AVENTUS!"
"Quit hollering like a wounded elk you great lummox. You'll have every marauding band of cutthroats in the forest coming to find out what all the fuss is about. And I am in no mood to fight off bandits today. Not until I've given that brat a good hiding."
Aventus ducked down and crawled toward a wide opening in the side of the rock mound that he had not seen earlier. He did his best to move as quietly as possible. The elf lady meant what she said.
"That boy is going to get himself killed out here."
"Then let him. As far as I am concerned he is worth more to us dead than alive. And hardly half the effort."
"Jenassa, you have the maternal instincts of a frostbite spider."
"Why thank you."
Two large horses snorted in unison as their hooves churned up the carpet of silver and gold birch leaves that littered the forest floor. The riders were close, close enough for Aventus to hear the jangling of bridles and the solid chomping of massive horse teeth against the steel bits.
"Where did he go?"
"Why are you asking me? You're the tracker. If you've managed to loose the boy already I would say that you were losing your touch. What's the matter? Catch a cold?"
Aventus heard the armoured fighter growl and he sounded just like one of those large war dogs that the Stormcloack soldiers from back home always travelled with. The ones that could kill a bear if they were angry enough.
"Head toward the river. The current is too strong for him to try to cross it on his own. See if you can cut him off before he does something stupid."
"You underestimate that child Felnore. He truly despises you. I would not put it past him to try to kill himself. At least it would make our lives easier."
"Jenassa, just do it."
"Fine. But this is going to cost you extra Greymane. I did not sign on to watch your back only to play nursemaid to an orphan. And a penniless one at that!"
A swift kick, a click of teeth and the rider Jenassa galloped off toward the tell-tale sound of rushing water. A curious whicker came from the remaining horse as it dragged a steel shod hoof against ground.
"I know boy. He's around here somewhere. I can smell him."
The horse's leather harness creaked as it shook itself before slowly trotting toward the base of the rocky outcrop. Aventus kept his head down and rolled the rest of the way through the opening and into what looked to be a fair-sized cave. If he could hide himself well there would be no way for either of the riders to even suspect that he was up there.
A deep-throated rumbled rippled through the air as something very large and very annoyed uttered a snort of surprise from within the shadows. Aventus looked up.
Two small deep-set amber eyes stared down at him from behind an incredibly large brown-furred muzzle. A large black nose twitched in curiosity, a curiousness that quickly became aggressive.
Oh no.
Without realizing it, Aventus had accidentally tumbled into the den of a cave bear. One that seemed to have woken up from its long winter's slumber. Aventus did not have time to scream for help as the massive brown bear lumbered toward him on stiff legs, its hot rancid breath pelting him in the face as it towered over him.
There was nowhere to hide. Not from those teeth and wickedly sharp claws that filled his vision.
Something whistled sharply over Aventus just as heavy "thunk" filled the cave like a thunderclap. The bear let loose an enraged roar that rattled the very nerves in Aventus' spine before a huge heavy paw slammed down on him with such force that it knocked the wind out of his lungs. The yell that had been trapped in his chest escaped with a startled whoosh as those long finger-like claws pressed into the red fabric of his tunic. Aventus was trapped under the bear's weight, pinned helplessly to the ground, and knew that death had just marked him for its own.
But the bear did not tear him apart like a buttered trout.
Instead the huge animal slumped onto its side with a dying groan. Its eyes were wide open and stared directly at him. He saw the light in them fade when the bear let out a final breath and grew still.
"H-...hel..."
It was impossible to form words with the weight of the bear's huge forepaw planted directly onto his stomach. He could not breathe much less call for help. He tried to summon the courage to lift the bear's forepaw off himself but his arms refused to obey. Shock had begun to set in and all he could do was lie there as a warm trickle travelled down his leg.
Another large paw, this one clad in heavy armour and thick leather, reached into the cave and grabbed the shaken boy by the shoulder. Aventus cried out in fear as he was hauled bodily into the air and held there, hanging from the hand of the large armoured warrior whose expression was as equally terrifying as the cave bear's growl.
"Next time boy," the grey-haired warrior gave Aventus a solid shake that rattled his back teeth, "I will leave you for the bear to feast on. Is that understood?"
The thunderous look in the man's eyes brooked no argument. Had Aventus been thinking straight he would have recognized the same dangerous amber gleam that he had seen in the bears gaze.
"Have I made myself clear?"
Aventus knew better than to stay quiet.
"Y-yes s-sir."
Those calculating eyes blinked twice before the intensity in them dimmed. The man shifted his gaze to the rest of Aventus to make sure that the boy was still in one piece. Satisfied that he was not missing any limbs the warrior, Felnore, loosened his grip and dropped Aventus in an unceremonious heap at his feet.
"Whatever fool's errand possessed you to run off like that ends here. You were lucky I was close by. Next time I won't be."
Taking care not to strike his head against the cave's low overhang, the warrior ducked inside and grabbed hold of the leather braided handle of his ebony throwing axe. The force that went into that killing throw was incredible in order to sink the blade deep enough to cleave through the bear's thick skull. The axe had wedged in deep and refused to be moved until a heavy booted foot was planted on the bear's board shoulder and the weapon was wrenched free.
Aventus flinched at the sound of the bear's scrambled brain matter spilling out onto the ground. The bloodied axe was lifted to the light and carefully inspected. Other than being covered in gore and tufts of brown fur it had not compromised its deadly edge when it struck home. The thick coopery tang of the bear's blood made Aventus gag but it did not seem to affect Felnore in the slightest. Instead of avoiding the smell, the warrior inhaled deeply and stilled, head tilted slightly in concentration.
A sound, a short snarl that was more canine than human, escaped the man before he caught himself.
"Boy, come here."
Aventus picked himself up on trembling legs and for the first time in days did what he was told. Careful not to touch the bear, he stepped over its outstretched forepaws and edged as close to the armoured figure as he dared to get. A moment passed before Felnore lowered the axe and wiped the blade across the bear's fur. Whatever thoughts of escape that Aventus may have harboured vanished entirely when the axe slid home into its leather loop at Felnore's waist. He was in trouble, deep trouble.
"Tell me, from one orphan to another, what would you do?"
Aventus looked up at Felnore in confusion. He did not understand what the warrior meant by that. A rough bark-like cry made him jump. Tucked behind the massive bulk of the fallen bear, at the far end of the den, was a small bundle of rich walnut fur. Two ink-black eyes blinked into existence as the fuzzy head of a baby bear came into view. The little creature was shivering with fright at the unexpected arrival of the strange smelling creatures that had intruded into its small world. The cub could not not have been older than two months and was too young by far to have ever left the safety of the cave.
Felnore raised his left leg in order to unsheathe a large stag-hilted hunting knife from its hidden sheath in his leg-guard. He eyed the blade before he handed it, handle first, to Aventus.
"Huh?"
Aventus stared at the knife.
Felnore said nothing. He waited for the full realization of what happened to sink in. And it did.
"No! No you can't!"
Felnore took the boy by the arm and placed the knife in his hand. Even though Aventus was tall for his age the hunting knife looked ridiculously large in his grasp. It was the tool of a seasoned warrior, someone who lived and died by the blade, not a child who had no real understanding of the consequences of his actions.
"I won't. But you will."
Felnore growled out the words before he crossed his arms over his chest.
"What!"
Aventus stared at the folded steel and worn antler handle.
"Since you are so eager to have someone murdered, then it's about time you had an innocent's blood on your hands. One who cannot fight back."
"It's just...but...it's just a baby. I-I can't hurt it. I won't."
The bear cub mewled in longing as it rolled onto its oversized footpads and waddled over to its mother's side.
"You already have. The moment you stepped into this cave. A place you had absolutely no business in being near."
"But I didn't mean for this to happen!"
Felnore cut him off with a stern look.
"But it did. Now you have a choice that only you can make. That cub's fate was sealed the moment you decided to run. Without its mother's protection and care there is no chance it will survive the season. There are no orphanages in the wild."
Aventus winched at the choice of words.
"Can't I raise him?"
Felnore arched a dark eyebrow.
"What do you know of the ways of the wild Aventus? You have spent your entire life within the comforts of a city. This cub is a wild animal, a predator, not a pet. It would be a cruelness to raise it among men, men who would not hesitate to kill it the moment it outgrew the confines of its cage and mount its head on their wall."
The cub butted its mother with its muzzle, bewildered. It knew something was wrong but could not figure out why its mother would not respond. Upset at being ignored the little bear uttered a loud cry of protest before it began to suck on one of its back paws for comfort.
"It is too young to survive on its own. Will you spare it with that knife, or leave it here to die? If its lucky, a pack of wolves will pick up the scent in a few days and come to investigate the kill before it starves to death. The choice is yours Aventus."
Aventus could not tear his gaze from the cub as it whimpered to itself. He swallowed hard as a hard lump suddenly formed in his throat. The knife grew heavy in his hands and when he made up his mind, he dropped it. There were tears in his eyes as he shook his head and bolted out of the cave.
Felnore did not stop the boy nor did he call him back. He watched him go and sighed heavily. Aventus was not his son. It was not his responsibility nor place to teach him the hard lessons that every boy needed to learn from their fathers at his age. Felnore had to quietly remind himself of this yet again as he bent over and picked up his knife. One day that boy would wield a knife to his without giving it a second thought but today he was just a child, a scared little boy lost in a confusing world of uncertainties.
Underneath that gruff imposing persona that had so easily frightened Aventus, Felnore had a pang of remorse for the lad. However there was a schedule to keep and a lesson to teach, as harsh as it was.
The taking of a life was not something to be judged lightly. Death was not a game. The results were permanent. It was something the boy needed to learn and should have been taught to him by his father, had the man still been alive.
To try to summon the Dark Brotherhood of all things in order to have a person murdered did not sit well with Felnore. The boy needed to face the resulting consequences of his actions however unpleasant they might be.
The knife was returned to its sheath before Felnore crouched down and gently lifted the bear cub off the ground. The little bear bawled in outrage at being held, fragile claws flexed in defence.
"Easy there little one."
Felnore cradled the young cub against the fur lined steel of his breastplate and stroked its back with calm measured caresses as he would a fussing infant. His youngest daughter had been a colicky baby who had done nothing but cry day in and day out for a solid six months. Patience, persistence, and significant loss of sleep had resulted in Felnore developing the magic touch that could sooth even the most difficult of babes.
A flat paw swatted at his face but there was no force behind the action. Tiny claws caught hold of his beard and held on with a firm determination. This little fellow was a fighter to the end. A cave bear through and through. The cub growled as it squirmed against the foreign feel of the armour and Felnore tucked in his chin in order to huff a breath into the cub's face.
The cub blinked in surprise and snorted back in response.
Felnore began to hum a tune low in his throat, almost bear-like in pitch, and the sound vibrated through his chest. Words were of no use but the tone of his voice and the gentle strokes along its fur soon produced a sense of calm that quieted the cub. It gave a distressed yawn before it burrowed its round face into the crook of his arm. Moving with the upmost care, Felnore fondled the bear's little ears before his fingers cradle the base of its skull. A soft croon came from the warm ball of fur as it took hold of a mouthful of wolf fur at his elbow and began to suck on it. On the exhale Felnore snapped the bear cubs neck, quickly and painlessly, with an expert jerk of his wrist.
"There you are now."
The cub's limp body was placed next to its mother and the two were left undisturbed as he exited the den. A pounding sensation had begun to take up residence behind his eyes. That was never a good sign.
Felnore closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head before he breathed in sharply and slowly exhaled. He needed to cut off the rising tension in his head before it reached his teeth. He could not afford to slip free of the collar of self-control that allowed him to keep a firm hold on his voracious appetites.
He had done enough damage for one day.
Aventus stood below at the base of the natural rock formation in the shadow of two large war horses. Jenassa, the dark elf clad from head to heel in full elven armour, watched Felnore with cold expressionless eyes as he picked his way toward them from boulder to boulder. For a Nord armed to the teeth in fur and steel he somehow managed to move easily where lesser men would have misstepped and cracked their skulls on the rocks.
"Pity." She sneered at Aventus as her horse, a well-proportioned bay mare with a thick white blaze down its face, danced to the side when Felnore approached. "He should have let the bear finish you off."
Aventus shrank back from her words which spurred a stinging laugh from the woman. Her horse snorted when Felnore got too close for comfort and pinned its ears back in warning.
She's right you know. The kid is bear bait.
The large heavy head of Felnore's mount butted against his breastplate as the woolly iron grey stallion shoved Felnore back a few steps with a well-placed nudge. The war horse was built tall, solid, and thick across the chest and hindquarters. A long dark mane and tail accented the heavy white feathering that curtained his massive hooves. Raido was the equine equivalent of a one rider battering ram on four hooves that could easily uproot a tree to get at the apples if he wanted to. It was a unique talent that had made an enemy out of many a disgruntled farmer over the years.
"Don't you start." Felnore grumbled under his breath as his horse swished his long tail with enough force to tag Aventus in the back of the head.
No skin off my nose Wolf but you might want to chuck him into the nearest pond. He reeks of fear and that is not something that is getting up on my back. And don't bother with Helgath, she dislikes the both of you, for obvious reasons.
Felnore glanced at Jenassa's horse and the mare squealed when they locked eyes. That mare had it in for Felnore and it was all Jenassa's doing. Of course the Dunmer would own a foul-tempered horse trained to attack anything that carried the touch of the beast on it.
It would seem that getting wet was now on the To-Do list for the morning. Well fine then. Maybe the shock of the winter run-off would be enough to quiet the throbbing in his head.
"How far are we from the city?"
Jenassa glanced skyward and noted the position of the sun overhead.
"A good half days ride of we keep a good pace and don't stop for distractions. We should be squared and settled before the evening crowd heads for the nearest tavern. I am looking forward to enjoying a pint or three by a roaring fire tonight. You're buying of course."
"Right then. We will leave in half an hour. Find the nearest clearing and break out the rations. No fire."
"What? What ever for?"
"I reek of bear and I'm hungry."
"Oh please. You've smelt of far worse and you are always hungry. That is no excuse."
Felnore did not bother to respond to Jenassa's jabbing remark as he grabbed hold of Raido's reigns and handed them up to her. The war horse bobbed his head in mirth and shoved his nose into Felnore's neck. The warrior shoved the whiskered muzzle aside as the stallion lipped at a long strand of his hair that had worked its way free from one of the braids that kept his mane out of his face.
"Quit it."
Heh, make me.
"The boy and I will meet up with you. Make sure you keep this idiot out of the saddlebags. Come Aventus."
Felnore motioned for Aventus to follow him as he stalked off toward the river in the direction that Jenassa had taken earlier. Surprised at being addressed Aventus tagged along at a sedated pace with a hangdog expression that shadowed every step. It was as plain as day to see how the death of the bear cub affected him. He tried to be discreet about it as he rubbed the corner of his eye with the back of his hand.
"Were are we going?"
Aventus was afraid of what the answer might be.
"Swimming."
"But I don't know how to swim."
Felnore looked over his shoulder.
"Today you learn."
