Here's the next chapter everyone! I'd like to take this moment to start asking my readers to submit questions that I will answer at the end of this book and attach my answers to the epilogue. My next book is currently in it's planning stages and I hope to wrap up Sovngarde Beckons within 15 chapters. I'd also like to take another moment to give a shoutout to SkyrimJunkie who has written an amazing fanfiction that I absolutely adore and cannot get enough of titled, Hero by Mistake. If you haven't read it yet, I give it a 9 out of 10... Why not a 10? Cause I'm a little upset I couldn't figure out some future events by myself... She's too good at keeping me in the dark... LOL!
One more thing, I strongly encourage my readers to ask as many questions as possible in reviews. I love to hear from you guys and any questions I answer will be posted in the following chapters Author's Note.
I hope you enjoy this. Please remember to Fave/Follow/Review and be sure to share this story with your friends.
If you want to follow me socially, I have a Twitter account: NikkiNicole159 and I also have a Deviant Art account: Nicky-Nightmare
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kiraya stared at the now-locked door of her father's bedroom in shock, flinching every time she heard something crash and break or whenever her father snarled angrily. Behind her, Avyanna was standing over Farkas, healing his bleeding shoulder, and Rohan was lying on the floor unconscious. Everything had happened so fast that she was still replaying it in her head, trying to figure out what went wrong.
She and Rohan had just finished training out in the yard with Athis after the Dunmer had insisted they both needed to lay off archery for a while and focus on their swordplay. Her arms had been extremely sore after swing the heavy Skyforge steel blade all morning, so she asked Rohan to help her carry a tray of food down for her father. When they stepped into his bedroom, Kiraya could tell right away that something was wrong with him. He had been covered with sweat, his body extremely hot, his muscles twitching every few seconds, and a hungry, wild look clouding his eyes.
Kiraya and Rohan both walked up to her father, worried about him and asking him what was wrong. She knew that as a werewolf, her father couldn't get sick like normal humans and mer, so she had started to put two and two together when her father let out a strangled growl and started to change. She had never seen her father change into a werewolf before, and neither had Rohan, so to see it happen right in front of her both fascinated and terrified her. But any fascination she had disappeared when her father's roaring howl rang in her ears and echoed through Jorrvaskr. It was just pure terror at that point.
Seeing the wild, animal look in the werewolf's eyes, Kiraya didn't see a trace of her father and barely had enough time to register he was danger when he swung his razor sharp claws at her and Rohan. She managed to jump out of the way in time, but Rohan had gotten hit, and her father's greater strength sent the boy flying into the nearby wall, making him hit his head and fall unconscious. Keeping an eye on the dangerous werewolf, she moved to Rohan's side and grabbed his arms, attempting to drag him out of the room—a difficult task since the fourteen-year-old was easily twenty pounds heavier than her and any baby fat he had, had been replaced with muscle.
Her father snarled at her and tried to stand up as she slowly moved Rohan toward the door. She was mildly shocked and horrified to see him accomplish it, before his weakened legs buckled beneath him and he tried crawling toward her, getting closer with each pull. Kiraya was starting to panic when Fang ran into the room and launched himself at her father, the wolf and werewolf becoming locked in an angry fight full of sharp bites, yelps of pain and claws raking through thick fur.
"Someone help!" she shouted desperately. "Please!"
Her cries had been answered by Farkas, who approached with sword in hand and his face stricken with shock. For a moment all the warrior did was simply alternate his stare from the fight going on in the Harbinger's room and the unconscious Rohan that Kiraya was trying to get to safety.
"Farkas, please help!" she pleaded.
He shook his head and dropped his sword on the ground, easily lifting Rohan and carrying him out of the bedroom and into the anteroom, setting him down on the fur rug, the blood dripping from his head injury staining it. "What happened? Why did Einarr change?"
"I don't know," Kiraya told him, biting her lower lip. When she heard Fang cry out and turned to see the wolf, she saw that her father had pinned him down and was viciously biting down on his back. "Farkas, stop him! He's killing Fang!"
Farkas swore loudly and picked up his sword as he walked into the bedroom, stepping around the fighting wolves, trying to figure out how best to separate them. Finally, he lightly stabbed Kiraya's father and received an angry slash to his shoulder. But Farkas used the moment to kick the werewolf away and scoop Fang up in his arm as he ran out of the room.
"Shut the door!" he had shouted at Kiraya.
"Oh gods, Rohan!" Avyanna had shrieked, running down the hall.
Kiraya slammed the doors to her father's room and locked them with the key her father kept on the nearby table. Now, she just stood in front of the doors, listening to her father destroy his room while Avyanna treated Rohan and Farkas's injuries. Fang had run off to her room to lick his wounds, and Kiraya knew that she should check on him soon.
"What happened?" Avyanna demanded, having healed Rohan's head and moved over to heal Farkas.
"I don't know," Farkas growled. "Kiraya, can you explain?"
Kiraya turned to them, still in shock. "I-I don't know. Rohan and I were bringing him his lunch and he just . . . he was hot, like he had a fever, and he looked really uncomfortable. Then he just turned and hit Rohan."
She flinched when her father slammed into the door and tried to force it open.
"Will he be able to get out?" Avyanna asked, her voice filled with fear.
"Nay, I doubt it," Farkas reassured her. "But we best lock the anteroom doors too."
"Wait, aren't we going to help him?" Kiraya asked.
"There's nothing we can do for him right now, Kiraya. The only thing we can do is make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."
"He didn't mean to!"
"Aye, I know he didn't, but right now he's a danger to everyone here. In the few moments he's been a werewolf he injured Rohan, Fang and me. We have to keep him contained so he doesn't unintentionally hurt anyone else."
Kiraya looked down at the floor and knew he was right. Grabbing the key from the door, she nodded to the adults, and Farkas carried Rohan out of the anteroom, Avyanna right behind him with a hand on her bulging belly. Kiraya locked the doors and glanced over at the Farkas to see him frowning at her as well as furrowing his brow, as if trying to figure something out.
"You can put Rohan in my room," Kiraya offered.
Farkas nodded and carried him to his former room, which was now Kiraya's. The bar had been moved upstairs for everyone else to enjoy, and another bed now stood where the bar had been. Kiraya asked her father to have it moved there for whenever Rohan slept in Jorrvaskr so she and he could stay up late talking. Farkas laid Rohan down on the bed and Avyanna sat beside him, stroking his messy scarlet hair. Fang was hunched over in the corner, whimpering as he licked the still bleeding wounds on his body. Kiraya tried to approach him to check on the severity of them, but the minute she stepped too close, Fang bared his teeth at her.
"Be careful," Farkas warned her. "When a wolf is injured and vulnerable, that's when they're dangerous."
Kiraya frowned and knelt on the floor, holding out her hand for Fang to sniff it. "Come on, boy, I'm trying to help you."
Fang's ears twitched and he leaned forward a bit to sniff her open palm for several moments before licking it and laying his head on his paws. Realizing it was safe to approach the wounded animal, Kiraya crawled over to him and checked his wounds, earning a whimper whenever her fingers touched one.
"I know it hurts," she murmured. Looking up at Avyanna she asked, "Anna, could you try healing him? Aunt Rina did it once after she and Papa fought a dragon."
"I can try," was the reply the woman gave as she got off the bed and walked over to the injured wolf.
The golden light shone in her hands as she waved them over the wounds and left only scabs behind. Fang's tail wagged as relief washed over his body, and he lifted his head, trying to lick Avyanna to thank her.
"Farkas, why do you think Papa turned?" Kiraya asked.
Sighing heavily, Farkas raked his fingers through his hair. "I'm not entirely sure. Aela would be able to answer that question a lot better than I ever could, since she's Einarr's forebear. I do have a hunch, though I could be wrong."
"Well, what's this hunch of yours?" Avyanna asked.
"I think it has to do with the day."
"The day?"
"Aye, today is the Fifth of Midyear, otherwise known as Hircine's summoning day. Before we took the cure, Vilkas and I would go with Aela and Skjor to the forest on this day and change into our wolf forms. We'd spend the entire day as werewolves, hunting. We stopped when we swore to Kodlak that we'd no longer change, but Aela and Skjor still continued the tradition. Einarr has been a part of the last three hunts, but I never remembered changing without willing it for myself. Granted the urge to do so was much stronger on this day, just like it would be when both moons are full, but that's only because the beast blood would be more powerful. We never unintentionally changed."
"You said when a wolf is injured and vulnerable, that's when they're most dangerous," Kiraya suddenly said, drawing her knees to her chest. "Maybe Papa's wolf felt like that."
"Maybe. We'll know when he turns back to normal."
"Is Rohan all right?"
Avyanna glanced at her younger brother. "I healed his head, so he should be all right. He might be a little disoriented when he wakes up though."
"And what about you, love?" Farkas asked his wife, glancing at her belly. "Are you all right? You used a lot of magic."
"Aye, I'm fine."
Kiraya knew that Avyanna was advised not to use too much magic while she was pregnant, since it could be harmful to the baby, and she had been really good about it, having not used any healing spells for over a month and patching up the Companions the old fashioned way.
"You should still rest," Farkas insisted.
Avyanna rolled her eyes. "Aye, like that's going to happen. I have to watch all the children with Tilma." She glanced at Rohan again. "But I don't want to leave Rohan alone."
"I can watch him," Kiraya offered.
"Are you sure?"
"Aye, I want to be able to know when Papa turns back to normal, and I can hear him just fine from here."
"All right then."
"I'd best go explain to Athis what happened and try to convince Njada that all she heard was Einarr's Thu'um," Farkas said, leaving the room with Avyanna.
Once they were gone, Kiraya got up from the floor and went to sit at the edge of Rohan's bed. She felt really bad that he got hurt because of her father, but she knew that the moment she told him she was sorry he would just tell her it wasn't her fault. Staring at his sleeping face, she could help but notice how he was already starting too look less childish, having grown even taller to the point where he now stood over a foot taller than her. His face had lost all its chubbiness and his whole body was starting to become firmer with muscle, his chest broader and his arms thicker.
Looking down at her own body, Kiraya couldn't help but feel childish next to him. While she had grown a bit in height, standing a little over five feet tall, the rest of her body hadn't developed much. What breasts she did have were small, and the rest of her body wasn't as curvy as the bodies of the older women in Jorrvaskr. Even compared to Mila and Braith, who were only a year older than her, Kiraya looked like a child. Braith was already getting curvy and her chest was large enough for the teenage boys in town to always be looking at her, even Lars Battle-Born; and Mila was tall, thin waisted, and had enough curves to get a glance or two.
Kiraya never got looks like that from boys. While her aunt and Avyanna told her that she was pretty—resembling her grandmother a bit, according to her father—she didn't feel pretty. She felt awkward and out of place, like she didn't belong anywhere. She knew boys in town looked at her, but when they did it was only because she looked weird. And she felt weird. Mila and Braith didn't have fur growing on the back part of their necks and down the rest of their backs or on their arms and legs. They didn't have Khajiit ears or a tail and feline eyes. They were normal, human. Not half-breeds like her. The way she looked, no boy would ever look at her like they wanted to kiss her or be with her.
She wiped away a stray tear that escaped her eyes, brought on by the negative thoughts whirling around in her head. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Kiraya took several deep breaths to compose herself and tried to reassure herself that maybe someday, some Khajiit man might want to be with her. But she knew she wouldn't be happy with a Khajiit man, since the boy she liked was currently unconscious beside her. She knew Rohan was already starting to take notice in girls, having caught him staring at Olfina Gray-Mane, Ysolda, and even the barmaid at the Bannered Mare, Saadia; and each time she caught him looking she felt like she would never be good enough for a human like him.
As if sensing her sadness, Fang padded over to the bed and laid his head down on the soft mattress, whining a bit. Kiraya flashed him a sad smile and shrugged.
"Don't really need a guy when I have you around, huh, boy?"
Fang gave a soft yip before laying down, his tail thumping on the stone floor and the sound of his panting sounding through the silent room. Behind her, past the wall she was leaning against, she could still hear her father crashing around his room, but thankfully she couldn't hear any snarling or barking. Sending a silent prayer to the gods and Hircine, she asked them to help her father, to see him through this unwanted transformation and to help him regain his strength quickly. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall, letting the sounds of Fang's panting calm and soothe didn't even realize she had fallen asleep until she felt an arm wrapped around her and felt soft breath tickling her ear.
Opening her eyes, she realized that she had laid down in her sleep at some point and crawled further up the bed to rest her head on a pillow. When she felt a tall, lanky body pressed against her back Kiraya realized that Rohan must have instinctively huddled against her for warmth while he had slept. Blushing furiously, she tried to get comfortable and just enjoy the feeling of being held by the boy she liked, but the moment her bottom brushed against something hard, her eyes widened and she scrambled to get away. In her efforts to get awake, she jostled Rohan and he sat up, rubbing his eyes and groaning in pain from the head injury he received earlier.
"What happened?" he mumbled.
"You hurt your head," she explained, keeping her back to him as she sat on the edge of the bed, she couldn't look at him after having felt that.
"I remember your father turning into a werewolf and then everything went dark."
"He hit you with his paws and your head hit the wall behind you."
"Oh . . . are you okay? You aren't looking at me."
"Aye, I'm fine, just sorry that my father hurt you."
"It wasn't your fault, so don't blame yourself."
A smirk played at her lips and she nodded, still not looking at him. "I knew you were going to say that, so I already told myself not to feel bad."
"Then why are you still not looking at me?" She felt him shift closer to her.
Kiraya hopped off the bed and walked over to the doors. "I should go check and see if Papa turned back to normal."
oOo
Einarr could feel Aela's presence in his mind, in his dreams. Feeling their blood bond tugging him towards her, he ran towards his pack-sister, wanting nothing more than to enjoy a hunt with her. As he ran, his werewolf body easily clearing the distance in powerful strides, he took in his surroundings for the first time. It was completely dark, a thin mist hovering in the air and clouding the ground, giving the whole place an eerie feeling. Gigantic, glowing mushrooms grew high above him and the spores it released hung in the air, also glowing. When he looked up he expected to see the moons and the aurora above, but instead saw nothing but a vast sky of tiny twinkling stars. It took him several moments to realize that the sky above was not a sky, but the rock ceiling of an impossibly large cavern.
He only paused for a moment to take in the sight of the area around him a second time, finally comprehending what it was he was actually seeing. He was underground! He could smell the damp, earthy scent all around him, combined with the sour smell of Falmer and Chaurus. Confused and curious, Einarr continued running through the strange place, wondering where in Oblivion he was. But those thoughts soon disappeared when Aela's scent filled his nostrils.
Running around the immediate area, Einarr found where his forebear's scent was coming from inside a Dwemer-style building. The heavy doors were slightly ajar and he could see the glow of a fire coming from within. He cautiously made his way in, immediately smelling the scent of blood, both human and werewolf. Fur fluffed in alarm, he ran forward until he found Aela lying beside a campfire in her wolf form, dried blood crusting the fur around a nasty looking shoulder wound. Beside her was Vilkas, examining a long fresh scar across her belly and sporting a few bites and slashes on his arms.
"Damn it, Aela, why didn't you tell us?" Vilkas cursed, pushing back some fur to peer more closely at her belly.
Einarr inched forward and tasted the air, a sour scent coating his tongue. Wrinkling his nose, Einarr looked down at Aela's belly and could clearly see her veins against her skin. They were dark and discolored, as was the skin around the scar. He knew what he was looking at and what had happened to Aela. She had been poisoned.
Aela began whimpering painfully, trying to lift her head. When she managed to lift it just enough, she began to wretch, a foul-smelling bile splattering on the floor.
"We have to get you back to the others," Vilkas said as he gently stroked her fur. "Finverior has one poison cure potion left; you just need to get up."
Einarr watched as his brother-in-law tried to help Aela back onto her feet, but the moment he got her upright and steady, she just collapsed onto the ground again. Vilkas swore loudly and tried helping her up again, but couldn't do it; Aela had passed out. The moment the huntress had lost consciousness, Einarr could see her begin to change back to a human, the fur shedding from her body and her limbs breaking and resetting back to their normal position. When it was over, Aela was lying naked in a bed of her own fur and the bright veins on her belly were even more apparent.
"At least now I can carry you," Vilkas growled as he wrapped her in a bedroll and picked her up off the ground, cradling her in his arms like a child. "You're going to be all right, Aela. I won't let you die."
Vilkas walked toward the doors and out the building at a quick pace, one that Einarr wanted to follow but couldn't. For some reason he found himself frozen in place, unable to move or even blink. Just as he was beginning to panic, the world around him started to fall apart and he could hear Kiraya's voice echoing nearby, calling for him, urging him to wake up.
oOo
His eyes flew open and he sat up, clutching his throbbing head and groaning loudly.
"Papa, you're awake!" Kiraya said, kneeling beside him on the floor.
"Fuck . . . what in Oblivion happened?" Einarr asked, looking around the room and seeing it had been completely destroyed.
Shards of broken glass lay strewn about the stone floor, along with piles of straw that had been torn from his now-shredded mattress. His bedroom doors had claw marks running across the wood, and he could see a small bit of blood staining the nearby wall, as well as a few droplets on the floor.
"You turned into a werewolf, papa," Kiraya told him. "We had to lock you in the room, and you've been tearing it apart for hours. It's nearly midnight."
Groaning some more, Einarr pushed himself up, thankful that his linen trousers were still hanging loosely on his hips, albeit extremely ragged. Grabbing onto his bed, he pulled himself onto it and sat on the edge, resting his forehead in his palms and propping his elbows on his knees. His mouth was dry, and he felt so tired and achy. Spotting his waterskin lying on the floor next to the upended nightstand, Einarr stood up on two shaky legs to bend over and pick it up. Drinking deeply, he glanced at Kiraya and saw her staring at him, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped.
"What?" he asked her groggily.
"Papa-"
Rohan had appeared at the doorway at that moment and his face had a similar look on it as Kiraya's. "Whoa, Einarr, you're standing!"
Einarr looked down at himself, and his whole body went tense when the realization that he was standing on his own two legs finally hit him. He was so shocked that he dropped his waterskin and grabbed onto the wall, terrified that the realization would make his body weaken and he would fall to the floor. Kiraya stood up, and her look of shock was replaced with the happiest smile he'd ever seen on her face.
"You're better!" she cried out, jumping up and down. "Try and walk!"
Einarr managed a quivering smirk, but deep inside he was still terrified. He was too scared to take a step, let alone walk several of them. Just a few hours ago, he could barely feel his legs, and now he was standing on his own? Had turning into a werewolf triggered some form of healing? Was it possible that during his transformation his muscles repaired themselves back to their original strength?
"Come on, Einarr, walk a bit," Rohan urged.
Swallowing a huge lump in his throat, Einarr took one step forward, keeping a hand on the wall just to be safe. He didn't fall. Feeling a bit more confident, he took another step, then another, walking as he normally would until he reached Kiraya. His daughter was staring up at him, her eyes beaming with joy and relief.
"Thank the gods," she said, wrapping her arms around him.
Einarr smiled and held her even closer, though a little nagging thought in the back of his mind troubled him. I don't think it was the Divines that helped me.
It had to have been Hircine. The Daedric Prince was always a bit too interested in Einarr, mainly because he was the Dragonborn. Perhaps the lord of the hunt was mainly looking out for his best interest, since Alduin was the World-Eater and might not be bound to just the world he was currently on.
"So are you back to full strength, Einarr?" Rohan asked, walking into the room.
"Nay, I don't think so," Einarr replied. "I may be able to walk again, but the longer I'm standing, the more tired I'm getting. Honestly, all I want to do right now is sit down and rest my legs."
"Then do it," Kiraya said a bit forcefully. "If you're tired, don't push yourself."
"Alright, kitten."
He managed a couple more shaky steps so he could sit on his bed and looked at both Rohan and Kiraya, who were just staring at him. Einarr felt a bit uncomfortable, but then he noticed some dried blood in Rohan's hair.
"Rohan, what happened to your head?" he asked, alarmed. "Were you injured?"
Both adolescents exchanged concerned looks, as if silently debating whether or not they should tell him something. They both looked like a pair of deer caught by a sabre cat, and Einarr was beginning to suspect what had happened to the young lad.
Rohan rubbed the back of his head as he began to speak. "Well, you see, what happened-"
"You knocked him into the wall," Farkas said as he stepped into the bedroom. "After you had changed, you took a swing at both of them and managed to knock Rohan into the wall."
Einarr's whole body went stiff with shock and his mouth hung open in horror, gaping at Rohan, who refused to meet his gaze. "Rohan . . . I-I didn't . . . I would never have-"
"It's all right, I know you weren't in control of yourself," Rohan quickly interrupted. "I just banged my head; I'm fine."
"Nay, what I did was inexcusable. Please know that I'm sorry."
"Einarr, honest, I'm fine. I'll probably bang my head a lot more times before I die. Anna healed it and it doesn't even hurt or feel sore."
"Could have been worse," Farkas commented. "He could have been slashed by your giant claws like I was."
"I attacked you too?"
"Aye, but I stabbed you first, so I could get you to stop ripping Fang apart."
"Gods . . . is Fang alright?"
"He was pretty hurt," Kiraya told him honestly. "But Anna managed to heal him, and he's resting in my room."
"I'd imagine Avyanna is pretty pissed at me for hurting her husband and brother."
"Just a bit, but she'll get over it. She doesn't understand what it's like to be a werewolf, and you're pretty discreet about it, so it's easy for her to forget what you are."
Einarr nodded and remembered how Farkas's wife had reacted when she found out the Circle were all werewolves. It was only a couple of months after she and Rohan had moved to Whiterun from Solitude, and he had been hunting in the forest with Aela and Farkas. They had all split up to find some game to hunt and Farkas had run into Avyanna, who had been terrified to see a werewolf standing in front of her. When Einarr found the two, he ordered Farkas to fall back with an angry growl, but not before he had seen Avyanna staring at him, no longer from fear, but from confusion.
The next morning she had asked Einarr if the Companions could hunt down the beasts she had encountered, and he had quickly brushed her off by saying that werewolves weren't real. Farkas's wife was a smart woman, though, and had managed to figure out the identities of the werewolves she had seen because she recognized their eyes and the hagraven scar running across Einarr's face. She had been furious at them for not telling her what they were and angry at herself for allowing her younger brother to hang around monsters on a daily basis. But after Einarr had a long talk with her explaining the complicated situation on how they came to be werewolves and the fact that they were in full control of their instincts, she had forgiven them.
Now it seemed she was angry at Einarr for lying about having control over himself, and frankly, he didn't blame her. What he did was unforgivable, and it would bother him for the rest of his life.
"So why did you lose control like that, Einarr?" Farkas demanded.
Einarr's eyes flew wide as he remembered his dream, or rather vision. "Aela!"
"Aela? What about her?"
"She's the reason I turned. Aela lost control down in Blackreach! She's been poisoned and—"
He broke off when he felt a burning pain in his gut and his head felt lighter.
"Einarr what is it?" Farkas demanded. "What's wrong with Aela?"
Einarr looked up at his friend, his face grim. "She's dying . . ."
I'm also thinking of adding two more Companions to the ranks, so if any of you have ideas for a character to add to the Companions, feel free to PM me a detailed Bio and I'll take them into consideration! I'd be very interested to see some characters that aren't Nord or Bosmers. Like Argonians, Khajiit, Redguards and Bretons would be badass!
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and remember to Fave/Follow/Review!
Much love,
Mirage