"Whelp, look."
The woman glimpsed to the direction at which Vilkas was pointing and was met by a green sheet that fluttered across the sky. Never had she experienced such beauty. In places where cold air touched the firmament, extraordinary phenomenon occurred.
"You know your name means 'northern lights'?" His voice was calm and deep. A very pleasant tone.
"Yes... I do."
"Skyrim is a beautiful place, isn't it?"
Aurora could not tear her eyes from the night sky. She had heard tales about northern lights from people in High Rock, but never seen it before. Enchanting, hypnotic, there were no words that could honour to the sight.
"Indeed," she sighed.
"Perhaps you should have been born a Nord."
She quickly turned her head to face him. He was not smiling, but he looked sincere. Thoughtful. It was almost as if he had meant it as a compliment.
Aurora gave him a short and insecure smile, which remained unanswered. Vilkas had managed to be rather agreeable since her slaying that Giant by herself. This was the way he treated Njada, and Aurora found that she could no longer hate him, but she still disliked him for the way he had been before.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a fort came in sight. It was in bad condition, and was probably once abandoned by the imperial soldiers.
Vilkas stopped his shield-sister by taking her arm.
"Let's go. For Wuuthrad!" He exclaimed.
"For Wuuthrad," Aurora repeated, smiling.
They were met by an archer who did his best to stop the pair, but he was a young and inexperienced man. Only a few years too old to be called a boy. Aurora took the lead and ran up to him, taking him down with a single swing.
It looked as if he was the only one of his kind outside, but when the woman stood on the top of what once had been a tower, she realised that they were two.
The darkness would have made it easy for them to do a sneak attack, but Vilkas insisted on screaming out loud when he raised his sword.
Why did bandits and other outlaws always put their weakest members to guard outdoors? If something happened – no, when something happened, they never stood a chance. Besides, neither could they warn the others, and Vilkas' yelling was not loud enough to be heard all the way down and inside of the fortress.
Aurora stood prepared when the Silver Hand woman attacked her with a two handed sword that was way too heavy for her. The first swing was blocked, but the force of Aurora's strike proved to be lethal. The Silver Hand was knocked backwards, leaving the Companion free to take her enemy's life.
Aurora did not even bother searching the dead bodies for loot. They never had anything of value. Instead, she would wait until the end of the fort to fill her pockets.
Vilkas let the woman take the first steps inside. It was obvious for her that he saw it as some kind of test for her. If she would manage – perhaps she would gain his respect, but in all honesty, she could not care less. Aurora regarded Vilkas to be a hopeless case.
They were met by an empty room with some stairs leading downwards. Aurora took the lead, sneaking down the steps. Once more, this tactic proved to be useless with a wolf brother. He could awake a sleeping bear from miles away by simply walking with those stupid boots.
The corridor turned left and then directly to the right, followed by a closed wooden door. Shutting them was a mistake – giving the Silver Hand a false sense of security. When the Companions attacked, they would be unprepared and lacking time to call for reinforcement.
A narrow hall lay behind the door. It had high ceilings, though, explaining all the stairs leading down. Since Vilkas stormed forwards, the woman did the same.
A swordsman tried to stop her, but ended up paying for his point attempt with the price of his life. Aurora blocked the first hit with her shield, and then bashed it in his face, forcing him to the ground where he was defenceless.
Suddenly, she felt the cold swish of an arrow that only just avoided her nose. She looked up and noticed an archer who had not been taken cared of. Aurora searched for Vilkas, angry for him not covering her back, and eventually saw him fighting another swordsman.
The archer who was useless at his job was hiding behind a pillar, afraid of facing the warrior. Aurora raised her shield and calmly sneaked up to it. As she approached him, she could hear his strained breath. He too was merely a boy, and it hurt Aurora to kill him, even though she knew that she had no alternatives.
Vilkas caught up with her when the hall led to another set of corridors. He took the lead and stormed forwards without saying a word to the shocked woman. She could smell his rage, being shaken by the intensity of it. The fear of him ending up in a difficult situation due to not thinking actions through swept over her once more. He acted as if he was unstoppable.
He kicked in a wooden door, exposing a new hall in two levels. Aurora wanted to sneak behind a woman on upper floor, but Vilkas was not quiet enough when violently bursting in. All attention turned to him.
His brutality shocked her. Aurora had always regarded Vilkas as, if not wise, at least something in that direction. He had been Kodlak's right hand, having late night discussions with the Harbinger. Now he started to look more like Aela after losing Skjor. There was no glimpse of sadness to him, though. Only revenge.
The woman only managed to cry out before falling dead. Other Silver Hands were running up the stairs, prepared with their swords over their heads. Vilkas elegantly handled his weapon, making the pitiless killing look like a mystic dance of vigour and manliness.
He was not Aela when it came to killing. Her shield-sister had stabbed dead Silver Hands repeatedly, but Vilkas was perhaps even more cold-blooded than that. He only did what was necessary to take a life. He was calculating, making it look like a colloquial task to hunt Silver Hands.
What was most frightening was nothing of that sort, though. It was not his emotionless look or strange way of killing. He looked gorgeous – that was the daunting part of the situation. Gods new she was becoming attracted to that man.
Farkas was impressive, but it was mostly due to his strength. Vilkas was superior when it came to balance, tactics and... virtuosity. His way with the sword made her realise why he had been so self-assured, and why her beating him on her first day with the Companions stung.
Those butterflies had to die before he understood something. There was no other reasonable option. She had already taken months of teasing, and if he knew she found his determination, strength and manly roars appealing, he would go from taunting to unbearable.
She bit her lip and went ahead. At least she would not see the striking hits and lion-like movements of the gorgeous man.
That, however, made her wish she had eyes in the back of her head. She could not refuse the urge to have a sneak look or two at him between the slayings.
When they had cleared the hall, he walked up to her. There was no trace of proudness or self-assurance in his look as she expected, but his gaze was incredibly intensive, making Aurora feel warm.
"Our killing spree is going rather well," she said.
"Killings? More of pest control," he smiled, but with a venomous gaze.
The woman did her best to force the thoughts of him away, telling herself that she should be concerned for his wellbeing as he obviously was not, based on the gallant actions of his.
Once they got down, they were left with many alternative ways to choose from. Vilkas wanted to go straight ahead, but Aurora was interested in a door. It was locked, but she easily picked it, gaining access to a chest. Vilkas was half as impressed as his brother had been. On the contrary, he looked as he wanted to get on with it as soon as possible. Aurora took the gold and followed him.
Moving downwards, they ended up in a new, narrow corridor. There was another locked wooden door to left, which Aurora set to pick, but Vilkas' angry look made her reconsider it. She could not argue with a man as determined as he was then. For the first time, she started to enjoy his temperament.
After a while, they encountered two Silver Hands that were quickly neutralised by Vilkas. He bashed on, killing everyone in his way. He only stopped when they saw that their path was blocked. Learning from her mistakes, Aurora scanned the room before pulling the leaver, which was located to the right of the vault. Vilkas could barely wait for the pikes to disappear before he threw himself onwards.
They ended up in a new corridor defended by a Silver Hand. She did not stand a chance against the shield-brother's sword. Meanwhile, Aurora examined some locked cages containing a dead werewolf. He had a distinctive smell, but she could not remember knowing it. Still hearing the battle continue not far from where she stood, Aurora turned to watch it.
He was truly skilled, that bastard. Perhaps the best one she had ever seen. Vilkas was somewhat better than she was, and she was good. The man made it seem so simple to control the sword, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake and swinging that last, deadly strike.
What made it even more attractive was the fact that he had done it all by himself. Farkas had his size working for him, but his twin brother had spent hours and hours on the training ground and in combat to master his weapon. It had given results.
When reaching what looked like a torture chamber, the man suddenly stopped. Aurora thought that seeing the blood traces on the floor would cause rage to boil inside of him, but she was surprised to find that he calmly observed the sight. Without a word, he then continued.
She had to run to keep up with his huge leaps. They were close now, she could tell. The last Silver Hand they defeated before reaching a new door proved to be a challenge, even for the two of them fighting together. Aurora had barely avoided being stabbed in the shoulder after dropping her shield due to a kick in her arm.
The woman expected some kind of speech from Vilkas before opening the door, but he did not even look at her. A second later, she was met by a handful of enemies.
They all attacked Vilkas as he was the first one in, but he quickly managed to dispatch two of them before their leader, who was wearing a special armour, decided to get rid of the intruders.
Aurora saw what was about to happen. The Silver Hands were about to surround Vilkas, distracting him with the leader whilst the other tree would stab him in the back. She threw herself forwards, placing her back against his whilst protecting them both from the silver swords that were swung at them at all times. Hearing the distinctive cling from behind, she knew everything was all right. Vilkas was yelling when striking or blocking, informing his shield-sister that he was still alive.
She could no longer just protect them, the woman needed to end the battle by killing them, but it would mean risking her or Vilkas life if she turned her attention to just one of the Silver Hand. It required careful planning.
Aurora did a manoeuvre and fooled one of the Silver Hand that she was planning a deadly strike, making her enemy step back. At that time, she swung at an unprepared kinsman of his. He did not die immediately, but at least he was wounded badly.
Vilkas was getting tired by then. He had to step between Aurora and a Silver Hand who had taken the moment of the Companion's temporary lack of focus to try to backstab her. Vilkas caught the force of the Silver Hand's attack on his shoulder armour whilst blocking another one from the leader.
When Aurora got rid of her second victim, she took over the battle with the leader and was surprised by his abilities. His swings were hard and often made her lose her balance. Vilkas noticed this and quickly came to her rescue upon killing the last subordinate Silver Hand.
Together, they surrounded the leader. Aurora hit him between the chest and back plate whilst Vilkas kept the leader busy. Her shield-brother gave the last strike, beheading the Silver Hand. The head rolled across the floor whilst the body fell straight down with a loud 'bang'.
Aurora caught Vilkas' gaze. He had his distinctive dark, cheeky smile that in this particular situation seemed more of an evil one. He was in his own world, so Aurora did not try to bother breaking in.
Her attention turned to the pieces of Wuuthrad. They lay spread across a broken table. What an unworthy place to put something as praised as the Wuuthrad on, she thought. It was sadness rather than anger that filled her when seeing that scene.
The woman walked up to the table and carefully picked up the few pieces, filling her pockets with them. Meanwhile, Vilkas had walked up to a dead body.
"What are you doing?"
"Taking a bow and some arrows. Thought it would be easier to hunt."
"Oh, right."
The man came to his feet, looking directly in her eyes. Then he proceeded to say:
"Let's go back to Jorrvaskr. We'll want to pay our respects to Kodlak's spirit."