***SMUT WARNING***

Arianna slipped out onto the deck. The harbour was quiet and there was nobody in sight as she moved silently down the steps, She looked back over her shoulder. Argis was close behind.

"Stay close," she instructed, wading into the lake.

She swam far more slowly than usual making sure that Argis was still with her. She knew the landscape of the lake as well as she knew that Argis hated to swim. She kept them heading west until they were well past Goldenglow Estate and the sun was beginning to slip down the sky to be swallowed by the Throat of the World.

Arianna, hearing Argis's laboured breathing behind her, struck out strongly for the shoreline and reached it quickly. She turned to watch Argis's progress and saw that he was wading not swimming. The waterbreathing rings that they both wore allowed them to emerge from the lake as dry as when they went in, Arianna had know idea how it worked but was impressed by its practicality.

"Come on," she urged.

"Wait."

"We can't stay here." Arianna looked back towards the path. "Oh fuck," she murmured.

Three Stormcloaks were picking their way through the scrubby undergrowth.

"Dragonborn."

Arianna recognised the soft tones of the officer who had escorted her to Windhelm a few days before.

Argis stepped in front of her and the air was filled with the cold, ringing hiss of his sword sliding from its scabbard.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"Our orders are to intercept the Dragonborn." His lips twisted briefly. "I see that this is a very different prospect this time."

"Why?"

Arianna could feel Argis's fury radiating in almost palpable waves off of his body as she drew her own slender blade.

"This is on the order of the king, Dragonborn."

"He has no grounds," Arianna said, stepping forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Argis. "You act on a whim and you will die here if you press this." Arianna could feel the unease that coursed through the two soldiers. "I don't want to kill you but I'm not going to Windhelm." There was a drawn-out silence.

"Stand down," the officer said quietly to his men. The two men retreated to the path. "So what do we do, Lady? I have no desire to die at your hands."

"Wise choice."

"But I am sworn to the service of Jarl Ulfric, honour-bound to do his bidding and he wants you in Windhelm."

"Ulfric wants a lot of things. It almost makes me wish I'd supported the Imperials." Arianna nearly smiled at the look of horror that flashed across the man's face. "You could say that you couldn't find me."

"I can't do that, Lady."

Arianna stared at him. "You could deliver a message to him from the Dragonborn." She watched hope blossom in his eyes. "I don't want to kill you," she said, softly, leaving no doubt in his mind of the outcome should he decide to attack her. Three of them against the Dragonborn and her warrior would stand no chance at all.

The officer glanced briefly towards his two men and then nodded. "I will take your message, Lady."

"And if a few copies were to fall into the hands of the other Jarls, that wouldn't be such a bad thing." Arianna murmured, catching his eye deliberately. " Argis, could you find me some parchment, please."

Ulfric,

Your men are alive and delivering this message because we didn't fight to overthrow the Imperials for this. We didn't fight a war so that you could then throw our brave soldiers at a pointless cause. You need to stop. Concentrate on the threat that the Empire still poses to Skyrim, rebuild your army and leave me be.

Dovahkiin

"He's not going to like that much," Argis commented, reading the parchment over her shoulder as she carefully wrote out the third copy.

"What am I supposed to say? That if he sends any more soldiers after me, I'll slaughter them all? That we could throw Skyrim back into chaos if he persists in this." Arianna turned to look into Argis's face. "I didn't kill him. I took a beating from the man and didn't lift a finger against him."

"Why? I never understood that."

"Because, even though I despise him, I still think he's the best high king for Skyrim. If I had retaliated, his soldiers would have attacked me and I would have had to kill many. Men that I've fought with, men that are on the same side as me." Arianna glanced at the officer and saw that his eyes were like saucers as he listened to their conversation. "I just want him to stop. I'm married to you. There's no point in him pursuing this." She carefully folded the parchment and held it out to the officer.

"Is that what this is about then?" the Stormcloak asked. "Why we're under orders to find you? And you're already wed?" He shook his head. "Madness." He took the note from her outstretched fingers and tucked it away under his armour. "By your leave, Lady."

Arianna and Argis watched him rejoin his soldiers and heaved a sigh in unison.

"What have you done, my love?" Argis asked. "You risk making Ulfric furious enough to lose his reason completely."

"Soldiers gossip like you wouldn't believe. I'm hoping that embarrassment and the other Jarls will temper him. I won't go to him, and I don't want to hurt his men. It's an awkward position to be in and he knows it. "

"We could leave Skyrim."

"Would you want that?"

Argis thought for a long moment. "No," he admitted, finally.

"And nor do I."

Argis's face creased into a frown. "Are we going to do any more swimming?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Why?" Arianna frowned back at him, surprised at the strange question.

"Oh. Nothing."

It took them a day and a half moving swiftly across country to reach Markarth. Arianna had never been so glad to see the place. Argis bolted the door behind them and let his pack drop to the floor.

"Can we stay here?" he asked. "Will Ulfric send his soldiers here?"

"I don't know." Arianna moved into the circle of his arms and buried her face in his neck. "I'm sorry, love. I didn't imagine that the start of our married life together would be running away from a madman."

Argis's lips were soft on her hair. "Not your fault," he murmured. "Come on, let's get the fires going." He yawned widely. "And sleep. I feel I could use at least a week in bed."

Arianna grinned despite everything. "Sounds good to me."

It was a few days later and one of the rare mornings that she awoke before Argis. It had been a blessedly uneventful few days for which Arianna was grateful. Most of their time had been spent indoors revelling in the pleasure of being married and together with nothing else happening.

She carefully rolled out of bed, pulled on a light dress and padded barefoot out into the living area to tend the fires.

Arianna was engrossed in applying a water-breathing charm to a silver necklace when a thick arm wound around her waist and she felt the length of Argis's naked body pressed against her back and legs.

"Morning love," he said, his voice still clouded with sleep. His fingers brushed the hair from her shoulders and his lips settled on her neck. "Mmm, you smell good."

Arianna felt his cock hardening against her ass as one hand dipped into her bodice to cup her bare breast, his thumb and finger rolling her nipple gently.

The charm gently clicked into place, a spark into the silver, and the gem fragmented into fine dust

Arianna smiled in satisfaction and pushed back into his groin, wiggling her hips slightly, her smile widening as she heard him groan.

"That's not fair," he said.

Arianna dropped the necklace into her pocket and turned in his arms, his hand immediately travelled to her ass and squeezed as his lips found hers. His erection pressed insistently against her stomach.

"I want you," he growled against her lips.

Arianna ran her tongue across his lips in a teasing line, stifling a gasp when her lifted her easily onto the enchanting table, his hands dropping to her thighs to gather her skirt and bunch it around her hips. He trailed his fingers through her golden curls and parted her legs.

She gasped as she felt his thick cock trace the line of her sex and settle on her entrance, pushing against her tight resistance. "I'm not sure ..."

Argis growled in frustration and stilled. "Damn it," he murmured.

Arianna reached for him and wrapped her fingers around his hardness. He groaned and bucked into her hands. He came quickly, shooting his seed in an arc across her thighs. Arianna released him and looped her arms around his neck, her mouth seeking his.

"I'm going to do a little shopping," she said as she drew back from their kiss.

Argis stared at her, lust still etched on his face. "I still want you." He grabbed a cloth and carefully wiped his cum from her skin.

Arianna smiled and wriggled off the enchanting table. "I won't be long," she promised as her skirts swirled to her ankles. "Then we can go back to bed if you'd like." Her eyebrow lifted suggestively.

"You're going out like that? With no underclothes on?"

"No-one will know."

"I'll know."

"You won't be there."

Arianna was concentrating on getting up the steep steps to Vlindrel hall without dropping anything when she became aware of a blond man in Stormcloak uniform climbing the steps ahead of her and knocking loudly on the iron door. She hung back as Argis answered quickly and saw his expression turn to anger.

"Pardon me. I'm looking for the Dragonborn."

Argis scowled at him, his hand coming to rest on the pommel of his sword. "What do you want with the Dragonborn, Stormcloak?"

"You are Argis? I am Ralof, I'm a friend of Ari's."

Arianna's face broke into a huge smile as she realised who the visitor was. "Ralof!" she called as Argis came down the steps to meet her and relieve her of her shopping.

"Who is he?" Argis growled.

"An old friend. The first person I met in Skyrim in fact," she said. "And he helped me escape from Windhelm so I could come and find you."

"Come in then. Eat with us." Argis invited as he climbed back up the steps.

They settled around the main table. Ralof took a swig of ale from the bottle Argis handed to him and set it down in front of him. "You made it to your wedding," he said, looking from Arianna to Argis.

"Yes. I should formally introduce you. Ralof, this my husband, Argis."

Ralof smiled. "Congratulations to both of you."

"Thank you." Arianna's face sobered. "What are you doing here? What does Ulfric want now?"

"Things he can't have," Ralof replied, darkly. "But he has, at least, taken counsel and agreed to leave you be. I'm here to tell you officially that there'll be no-one coming after you. I would offer an apology but that would be from Galmar and me not Ulfric." He fixed Argis in his clear blue gaze. "I would be wary of assassins though."

"Were you supposed to tell me that?"

"No." He sighed and relaxed back in his chair, stretching out his legs under the table and clasping his hands across his belly. "There was a lot of discontent among the Jarls when the story got out about how he kidnapped you from your own wedding and beat you senseless. You not lifting a finger against him when everyone knows you could tear him to pieces and escaping in a seemingly magical fashion from a locked cell also helped your cause. I don't think he realised how far your influence and popularity extended. The Jarls have ganged up on him. One of your staunchest supporters is right here in Markarth."

"Yes. My Jarl is very grateful for the rapid decline in the numbers of Forsworn in the Reach."

"He told Ulfric that you and Argis had decimated them. Anyway, the consensus is that Ulfric does not have the right to haul you, the Dragonborn no less, into jail just because he feels like it. This is good news, my friend."

Arianna smiled. "Yes." She reached across the table and took Argis's hand. "And there always seems to be an assassin trying to kill me so that's nothing new."

Ralof stayed the rest of the day and left as night fell to get the carriage back to Windhelm.

Arianna watched Argis bolt the door behind him and retreated to her favourite chair beside the fire. She curled into it and grabbed a book from the pile on the table. Argis paced behind her chair and then came to squat on the floor beside her knees gently removing the book from her hands and taking them into his, his thumbs tracing gentle circles on her skin.

"Is that it? Is it over?" he asked.

Arianna shrugged. "Who knows what Ulfric will do but there won't be any more soldiers looking for me."

"That's something. Can I ask you a favour?"

"Of course."

"Will you make me something else with that water charm on it?" His face was very serious as he looked into her face.

Arianna smiled. "Why?"

His lips quirked into a rueful grin. "I don't like taking my wedding ring off."

Arianna groped into her pocket for the silver chain. "Something like this maybe?"

He laughed softly and took the chain from her fingers. "Yeah. Something like that."

It sounded to Arianna as if he was laughing at himself.

Argis rocked back on his heels and flowed to standing drawing her with him as he still held her hands. "You said we could go back to bed."

Arianna smiled and allowed herself to be lead back to the bedroom. Argis seemed intent of making up for the weeks of abstinence and she wasn't complaining one bit.