Again I want to apollogise for such a long wait between these two Chapters. I am now working two jobs, and have less time to sit and write. But, gotta pay those bills somehow.
xxx
"I have to ask Aela. Why did you ask me to come with you instead of one of the other members? I got the impression you didn't like me all that much." Caillech asked the red haired Nord as the two women made there way down the south east road from Riften. The brightly colored leaves seemed dull and dismal through the thick fog that had drifted down from the mountains. The morning sunlight trying to break through the cover feebley.
"I don't really." the Nord said simply, keeping her eyes fixed on the road before her. "But you're strong, and quick witted, which are traits I admire, especially in a woman. And this is something that needed to be kept within the pack."
"I'm not part of your pack," Caillech spat at her. The corners of Aela's lips twitched,
"You seem to be intergrating yourself within us without an issue."
"Vilkas and Farkas are my cousins. Kodlak raised me. I vist every so often, but they know it will never be permanant." Caillech adjusted her steel shoulder plates, giving them a sharp tug. Aela turned her head and looked at her with piercing blue eyes.
"Does Morvan know that?" her voice was teasing, but there was honesty in her question. Caillech looked down at the toes of her boots, her brow furrowing. Morvan had joined the Companions thinking Caillech was a part of the Guild. Would he leave with her when she decided it was time to move on? She could tell Serana was, for the time being, becoming more and more homesick. The vampire had decided to stay behind in Whiterun, sitting out this particular adventure. She said she had some magic she was practicing with Farengar Secret-Fire, the court wizard. Would Caillech have to travel Tamriel alone once more?
"Not alone." Hircine's voice purred in Caillech's ear, and she closed her eyes, tightening her jaw.
"No, I don't think he knows."
Aela turned back to the road, not pressing Caillech further.
"I've seen him with other women you know," Aela said. Caillech glanced at her. "Morvan." she clarified, noticing Caillech's look of confusement. "I've seen him bedding other women around Whiterun, particularly our own dear Ria."
The metallic taste of blood filled Caillech's mouth, and she unclamped her teeth from the inside of her cheek. Her chest tightened as jealousy flared within her. Taking a deep breath she kept her eyes fixed on the cobblestones under her feet. The wolf inside of her snarled, her eyes flashing with anger. It was a confusing feeling, why did she feel this need to mark her claim over a male she had never had before?
"He can fuck whoever he wants. He hasn't fucked me yet." Caillech said, trying and failing to sound casual. She could have choaked on the bitterness in her voice. Aela laughed,
"That's my point. I have seen him with women, but I have never seen him look at them the way he looks at you."
Caillech glanced at her companion.
"He watches you with such intensity, like he's waiting for you to make your move. You haven't noticed this?"
Caillech shook her head,
"I guess that makes sense, you were unconsious for a long while. He didn't leave your side for the first three days, not until that elf sent him off the handle." Caillech looked back down at her toes. What was it with those two? Hircine couldn't have been the best father, but why were they fueding over something so trival as a female? They both could have anyone they wanted. Caillech secretly wished Hircine would lose his interest in her. His presense was draining.
"Who was that elf anyway? I know his name was Hircine, but that just means his father was a devote follower, right?"
"Just a half-breed, like Morvan."
"The two looked as if they could have been brothers. They certianly bickered like family."
Caillech smiled to herself, You have no idea, Aela.
"That's it." Aela trotted to a large boulder and crouched behind it, pointing up the side of a hill. Caillech crouched beside her, following Aela's gaze. Broken Helm Hollow rested above them, the large wooden doors marking the entrance into the cave. Caillech could barely make it out through the rushing water of the falls.
"I make out two of them guarding the doors." Caillech whispered to Aela, eyeing the Silver-Hands steel armor glinting in the sunlight. Aela pulled her hunting bow from her back, notching a steel tipped arrow.
"I can take those two before they even realize what's happeneing." Aela boasted rather annoyingly. Caillech stayed silent, not wanting to start a competition with the Nord. Aela drew back her arrow, carefully aimed and released it. She drew and let a second arrow fly before the struck. Both of the arrows hit their marks, embedding into the neck's of the two guards. Caillech's wolf bared her teeth as the sounds of the two human's choaking on their own blood met her ears.
"Impressive." she said nauchelantly to Aela, who looked far too smug for Caillech's liking. They trotted up the side of the hill together, stopping at the wooden doors. Caillech knelt by the two bodies, rumaging through the belongings on their person. Aela looked at her disapprovingly, but kept silent, as Caillech pocketed their bloated coin purses. She gave a brisque nod to Aela as she rose to her feet, twirling a shiney ebony dagger in her fingers before shoving it into the empty hidden sheath within her boot. Aela pushed the wooden doors open slowly, and the two women slipped inside without so much as a squeak from the old iron hinges.
"This is only going to be a few of the bastards." Aela whispered as they slunk down the tunnel. Caillech nodded as they neared a shaft of firelight across the soft dirt floor. She pressed herself against the almost moist cave wall, peering around the corner, carefully avoiding touching the array of animal bones that roped off the way towards the camp. She could see at least three people sitting around the fire, chatting with each other quietly. Caillech held three fingers at Aela, informing her how many she could see. Glancing further down the tunnel, Caillech noted there was a way towards them without risking being noticed. But if there was only three of them...
Caillech turned to Aela and gestured down the tunnel, telling her to make her way around to flank them. Aela nodded and slipped away silently. Caillech glanced towards the campsite again, no one else had appeared yet, and by the looks of it, these three were quite intoxicated. Through the stale musk of being underground, Caillech could smell the mead, and bottles were littered around the cave floor. Checking to see if Aela was positioned at the end of the tunnel, Caillech brushed herself against the bone chimes before slinking away into the shadows.
The voices silenced and the sound of metal being pulled from scabbards met Caillech's sensitive ears. Footsteps crunched over the ground, coming towards the bone chimes. Three men came into view, backlit by the fire, their armor glinted in he darkness of the cave. They all gripped long silver swords. Caillech almost snorted. The myth about werewolves and silver was one of the oldest, and was exactly that, a myth. Silver was a repelant for everything undead, including vampires and draugr. But werewolves weren't undead.
"Aiden, go see what that was." a gruff voice said, coming from the largest of the three men. A lanky looking archer look as though he wanted to argue, but he held his tongue and made his way towards where Aela was hidden. The other two stood as sentinals gaurding the ropped off entry way. Caillech looked down the tunnel as the scent of blood drifted towards her. Her wolf bared her teeth and began to salavate uncontrolably, and Caillech's limbs began to shake. She bit her cheek to keep a snarling growl from rising up her throat. Her nose flared as she breathed in the sweet scent, and she closed her eyes, knowing they must be beginning to glow.
With trembling hands, Caillech pulled her Nordic bow from her back, pulling a Nordic arrow from the quiver belted around her hips. Notching it, she drew the bow back lifting her arms taking a deep and steadying breath.
"Aiden? Is everything clear?" the man shouted, his voice echoing through the cavern. He was met with silence. Caillech opened her eyes and watched the two look at each other and then move together down to the other end of the cave. Caillech dropped her hands, letting out her breath that she didn't even realize she was holding. She slunk towards the bone chimes, and eased her lithe body over the rope, without disturbing the chimes. Raising her bow once more, she drew it back, standing to her full height. Just as she let her arrow fly, the wind was knocked from her body as something struck her from behind.
She stumbled and gasped, before shouting in pain as someone grabbed a hold of her braid, and struck the back of her right knee. Caillech roared in fury as her body collapsed from the force of the blow, dropping her bow. A boot crushed her calf to the ground just behind her knee, succesfully pinning her to the ground. Her scalp burned with pain as who ever had a hold on her pulled her head up by the long braid. She felt cold metal being pressed against the vulnerable flesh at her snarled in annoyance, she looked up with watering eyes just in time to see four more Silver Hand appear as if from no where, and knock Aela off her feet.
"Kill them..." Caillech twisted her head as best she could and saw a man standing on a ledge above them to her left. She heard Aela give a strangled roar of pain and anger. Caillech ran her hand down her leg to her boot, pulling the ebony dagger from the hidden sheath and swinging it above her head, praying to Hircine she would connect with something. The warm flow of blood gushed over her hand and her canine teeth elongated as she inhaled the delicious scent. Her captor stumbled backward and Caillech turned, launching herself at the man who had pinned her down. A gutteral snarl emminating from her mouth. Caillech's nails elongated to claws and she ripped through the scaled armor, forcing the man back against the cave wall.
She forced her hand through the mans chest, feeling his ribs shatter under her assult. Caillech wrapped her fingers around the soft pulsing organ she was looking for. She looked up into the Nord's wide brown eyes, relishing the look of pure terror. She could see the reflection of her glowing silver eyes in the dark depths. Caillech smirked at him, her teeth glinting ominously, she pressed her lips against the mans, before ripping his heart from his chest. Caillech turned to face the men now charging at her, their weapons raised. She smiled and lept at them, shifting to her wolf form in the blink of an eye.
xxx
The night air ruffled through her pale gray fur, as she trotted through the dense trees of the Rift on all fours. The waxing gibous moon above her washed the out the color of the forest, replacing it with silvers and blues. Caillech crossed over the cobblestone road, and down into the cover of the trees once more. Her fur was spattered with dried blood, and her muzzle was almost completely soaked. After she had mutialted each and every Silver Hand member within that wretched cave, her body was itching to run. Aela had been unconsious, but alive, without life threatening injuries.
Her legs carried her from Broken Helm Hollow, passed Riften, through a sleepy Shor's Stone, and now she was crossing into the hold of Eastmarch. She paused at the top of the rocky cliffside that was the border between the two holds. She flattened her ears and her hackles bristled as she looked down towards the field of hotsprings. The faint smell of salt and other minerals wafted up the cliffside and she drank in the refreshing smell. The distant hiss of steam and gysers met her ears and she pricked them forward, taking in all the sounds and smells of Eastmarch. She had never spent much time in this hold, and she forgot how different and vibrant it really was.
Slinking her way down the cliffside she slowed her pace as she spoted firelight in the distance. A low growl rumbled deep within her chest, as she flattened her ears, her lip curling up revealing her teeth. The sky was beginning to lighten as the first light of the sun began to break through the night. Darkwater Crossing lay nestled below her, the light of the inn and campfire outside of the mine dancing through the trees. She could see gaurds pacing back and forth, keeping their eyes trained into the trees and across the hotsprings, ready for any wolves or saber cats that might try to attack the little mining settlment.
Caillech dug her claws into the ground and lowered herself to the ground, flattening her ears and growling. She could almost taste their blood and feel their soft flesh between her teeth. For the second time tonight, the breath left her lungs and she was knocked off of her feet and crashed to the ground. She gave a startled yelp and whipped her head around, her teeth bared and eyes flashing. She lunged at the dark black body that had collided with her, sinkning her fangs into the soft fur.
The werewolf gave an angry howl and Caillech was forced onto her back, large strong paws pinning her shoulders to the ground. She snarled and roared at her advisary, looking up into the glowing green eyes above her. Morvan looked down at her, and the rage fled her body as quickly as it had come. They gazed at each other what seemed like an eternity, Caillech lost herself in the depths of the emerald green eyes. He was looking at her with such sorrow, almost willing her to come back to him. When had he lost her?
The sky above them began to lighten to a soft lavender as they shifted smoothly back to their human forms. Morvan's shoulder length dark hair caressing her face tenderly. He ran his fingertips over her face gently, wiping away the blood that smeared her face. His eyes were still glowing the beautiful color of gemstones, Caillech couldn't take her eyes from him. She wrapped her arms around his body, trailing her fingers over the smooth skin of his back. Morvan closed his eyes and gave a low moan, shifting slightly so their naked bodies caressed gently.
Caillech ran her fingers through his dark hair, curling her fingers into the dark tendrils. She parted her legs, bringing her knees up to Morvan's shoulders, offering herself to the beautiful alpha above her. Her eyes flicked down to the gentle curve of his parted lips. His breath had hitched slightly as Caillech pushed his hips down to hers with her heels. She wanted to taste that beautiful mouth of his.
"Lexy..." he breathed, his voice was almost pained.
"Fuck Hircine." Caillech said quietly, and Morvan's body trembled. He closed his eyes, hesitating for a heartbeat before opening them again. They blazed with pure desire and longing, making Caillech writhe in pleasure and her body heated.
"Fuck Hircine." he agreed and claimed Caillech's mouth with his own.