Chapter 12 – The Language of Metal

Jorrvaskr. My lips tingled as if they've just been touched. I began sauntering down the living quarters' hall. Shadows were heightened, obscuring any vision except that of ahead. The carpet before me seemed to glow with its own energy.

Suddenly the scent of flesh hit my nostrils. I froze but not before I had kicked something solid with my left foot. I looked down in to see someone lying face down. I pulled it back by the shoulders. Limp. Dead. I let the body slump back so I could see the face.

Ria the Imperial. A Companion I've hardly known, though my gut twisted. Her cold lips were parted, eyes opened and glazed. Her armor was ravaged, her exposed body, soiled. I backed up several steps, covering my nose and mouth from the stench of death.

A scream sounded further down the hall.

"Farkas!"

I knew that voice. Aela's. My eyes widened and I crept forward, keeping against the wall and to the shadows.

"FARKAS!" Her cry now held the tone of a growl. It was soon followed by a sound thump and a series of grunting and growling. I stopped before the small hallways that extended to either side of the main one, standing frozen in my spot. I waited to hear Aela's call again, but it never came. The shadows increased, the sound of my own heartbeat obscured my hearing, as the stench of death affected my sense of smell.

"Sometimes it takes much longer than expected to know a person. Don't you agree, lass?"

I whipped around to see a hulking form briefly before I was engulfed in a grip of searing muscle. Then all was descended upon my body.

"FARKAS!"

"Vai, Vai! Wake up!"

I felt someone shaking my shoulders and I leapt up, arms and elbows hitting flesh. I knelt atop the bed and gazed at Vilkas, whom was now standing at the side of the bed and rubbing his jaw. He looked at me. I averted my gaze.

"So you were dreaming about my brother." I stayed quiet, still numb in the mind from the sensation of a dream. Vilkas sighed and dropped his hands. "A nightmare, by the sound of it." I met his eyes but didn't say anything aloud. He terrified me, I tried to say. He...

"I was just speaking to the maiden that runs the inn," Vilkas continued, standing up straighter. "That Orc had left a letter and I showed the woman. I now know where the fort is, the homebase of these bandits. Just further north than where we were, out west of the Karth River."

I nodded slightly and turned my eyes to the open door. Vilkas must've rushed in here when he heard me. I got off the bed and studied my legs. Both seemed fine, so I unwrapped the linen. My previously broken ankle was now healed and pink with scar tissue.

"I'm ready to go," I said steadily. I took a step towards Vilkas. I suddenly jolted towards him, my leg feeling awkward. He caught me and I quickly pushed off of him. He raised a brow when he caught my eye.

"Let me just try out walking around a little," I muttered, shuffling out of the small room. Vilkas followed closely, holding his hands ready to grip me.

"I'm fine now, really," I assured, feeling awkward. After a few steps, both of my legs easily adjusted. "Would've been easier to balance if I still had a tail, though," I added half-bitterly. From the corner of my vision, I saw the maiden look up sharply and give me an odd look. I met her stare sternly and grasped Vilkas' arm.

"I'm ready," I repeated, tugging him towards the door to outside.

"No."

I glared at him. "Excuse me?"

Vilkas' serious expression broke into a grin. "You need to put on your armor and grab retrieve sword, lass."

I felt my face flush and quickly let go of him to walk back into the little bedroom. I closed the door and pulled on my special armor. When I exited again, Vilkas was ready nearby and handed me half a bread loaf. I took it and ripped at it hungrily as we left the inn.

Light snow and wind greeted my face. I blinked, adjusting my sensitive eyes to the white daylight. I located the sun and began the trek north.

"Let's just... get this... over with," I said between deep breaths. Vilkas nodded beside me. I watched him for a moment; he almost appeared to be struggling to keep up. I suppressed a grin.

About an hour later, a looming mass of walls was visible in the near distance. Vilkas and I stopped behind a boulder with a gnarled tree growing from it.

"I assume that's the fort?" I whispered.

Vilkas dipped his head shortly, eyes on the fort. "Aye."

I took a breath. "I want to use my beast form this time."

"Oh? I see no issue in that." Vilkas turned his gaze to me. "Though where will you safekeep that mysterious armor?"

I narrowed my brows in thought but began stripping my armor and clothes, facing my back to the Nord. As I was moving to place the curaiss of my armor on the ground, a small object dropped from within its folds. Curious, I reached down to pick it up. It was an amulet of swirling metal the same as on my armor and a thick chord at least thrice the length of a normal amulet's.

"What is it?" Vilkas questioned behind me.

"It just fell..." I trailed off as the amulet suddenly flashed silvery white. I dropped the object, and it flared even brighter for a split second. Then the light was gone – along with the armor I had removed from my body.

Could my armor be… inside it? I wondered. I tapped the amulet's cold surface and it flared to life again. A second later the missing armor appeared on the ground beside it.

"That's a marvel," Vilkas mused. "Now why couldn't most magic be tactful like that?"

After making Vilkas turn away, I removed the rest of my armor and clothing. I tapped the amulet again, and it took in every bit of the armor, including the boots. The only things left were my regular clothes I had worn beneath. At least they weren't worth much. I picked up the amulet, as weightless as if it did not contain every piece of my armor, and looped it around my neck. The extra length should fit my beast form's neck comfortably.

"I'm going in," I announced, calling for the beast blood within me. The yowling was easier to grasp this time, and within moments I felt the cat-like beast overtake my body.

I snarled at the sky in glee. Follow me if you can! I shrieked mentally to Vilkas. He raised a brow but readied his blade. I bounded away, my paws sailing through the air.

It didn't take long for the first posted bandit to call out my arrival. Without waiting, I crashed through the half-open gateway and pounced on the first bandit I came across. The impact was strong enough to dispatch her with a violent jolt to the spine. I swiftly leapt over the body and at the next bandit, whom I killed by swiping at the head twice with my paws, several-inch-long claws unsheathed. The end of my second blow met the flesh of another enemy. I whipped around and drove my talons further into the muscle. My vision was blinded by red bloodlust as I ripped apart whatever living thing I touched.

I was faintly aware of the sting of blades and arrow tips grazing my pelt. I bounded over several dead bodies, flaring my nostrils and taking in the thick scent of rural humanity. I opened my mouth, further tasting the scents on my tongue. Ah! There. One source bled authority. I blinked and centered my vision on the entrance that led into the fort. I charged towards the doors and rammed my way in.

Unaware bandits started and scrambled out of the way. I ignored them and bounded down the narrow hallways, following the scent. Several men attempted blocking my way further ahead. I grabbed one's throat within my jaws and jerked his body around, in the process knocking over the rest of the bandits with the body and my front legs. I sank my fangs into the neck, letting the hot blood spill into my ready mouth. The beast blood howled in ecstasy as I fed it with the blood and flesh. Without a moment wasted, I continued on my way.

"What the-" a large man began saying, rising from his seat beside a firepit as I tore into the wide room. The leadership scent rolled from the man and flooded my senses. Once again my vision flashed red.

"Damnable sabre cat," the bandit leader growled, readying two swords.

Sabre cat? I howled in my mind. Oh, but you see, it is not so simple…

And so claw and blade clashed. I admit, he did put up a fight and left some dark bruises and bleeding cuts – but one miscalculation allowed me to fling an arm and blade aside and snag my claws beneath his armor and into the soft flesh of a throat.

The bloodlust and adrenaline had left me after that last fight. I waited in the room until my beast form faded away into the background of my soul again, quickly cleaning my wounds with my tongue. When I had changed, I observed my surroundings. The firepit wasn't simply a firepit, but a small forge. Scattered on the floor were steel ingots. I remembered my long claws, and an idea flashed into my mind.

About a quarter of an hour later, Vilkas found me hunched over the forge.

"What are you doing…?" he asked cautiously, wiping the blood off his sword with a torn piece of hide.

"Forging," I muttered as an answer, crafting the steel with intense concentration.

"I can see that, but why now? …And what exactly?"

Smithing was obviously one of my weaker skills, but I just knew I could craft what I had in mind. "Wait," I murmured to Vilkas, not wholly sure if he could hear me. "Just let me finish this."

I am not sure of how much time had passed, but my shield-brother waited patiently, pacing the hallways and sifting through the bandits' supplies. When I had finished, I yelled out in glee and Vilkas came trotting over, alert.

Before him, I held ten sharpened shells of roughly fused metal, about half a foxtail in length each.

"They're… very nice…?" Vilkas said uncertainly.

"They're claws," I impatiently replied, easily reading his confusion. "For my beast form. I'll put them over my actual claws, and it will be like wielding ten daggers at once!" I explained, my excitement creeping.

"Ah." Vilkas studied them momentarily. Then his eyes glinted with a smile. "Clever and deadly. We can get Eorlund to perfect the idea when we return."

I absently began walking to the exit of the room, placing each metal claw over my fingers. They extended past my fingertips. I smiled darkly. "I wonder if they could actually become a part of my beast form…" I mused.

"What did you say?" Vilkas came up behind me.

I didn't repeat myself. I clicked the claws together a couple of times, then took them off and slipped them into a pouch attached to my armor. I felt a hot hand settle on my shoulder.

"You were a bit frightening, Vai," Vilkas spoke softly to me. "You should've seen yourself romping through the fort."

Romping… That word… Romping with Farkas… The sensations of my nightmare blazed through my head. Vilkas noticed me suppress a shudder.

"Come on," he continued. "Let us return to the rest of our shield-siblings."

I stopped to turn and face him. "After one more night at the inn," I added. "To… catch up on more rest."

Vilkas' metallic eyes shone. "Yes…"