Chapter Thirty-Three:

Same Difference

Fredas 23 Evening Star 4E 199 11:54AM

Taryn, Hiemdall and I arrived in Helgen at a little bit before noon. We rode our own horses, seeing as how it'd be faster (and cheaper) if we did, despite having to purchase the feed for them. Taryn rode next to me, her eyes focused on something off in the distance although not betraying what it was. Her Imperial bow and steel arrows were slung across her chest and back, making her look slightly more threatening (which had her on par with a rabid deer, I estimated), and she was also wielding a Skyforge steel sword (a gift from Eorlund for her sixteenth birthday, from what I heard). Hiemdall rode in front of us, his Skyforge steel greatsword glinting in the late-morning sun. He'd polished it before he left, which made me role my eyes. My own bow and arrows were in their usual places, as well as my iron sword. Altogether, I figured we could pass for some adventurers, although Hiemdall's blade (and Taryn's although it was easier to miss) marked us as otherwise.

I began scrutinizing Taryn as we rode. She was wearing adjusted leather armor (to get rid of the skirt, which she despised) and a hood to cover her face. To me, it was as if she didn't want to be publicly associated with the Companions. Either that, or she was trying to protect her identity due to her mother's occupation as an Imperial Spy. The two did look awfully alike.

Ace snorted a few times, mostly because of the distant howls of the wild wolves that lived in the woods that surrounded Riverwood. After I'd calmed the stallion down, he seemed to understand that as long as I was with him, he wouldn't be in any (immediate) danger.

Speaking of danger, this contract was suppose to be just Hiemdall and myself, but Taryn decided that she needed to get out and kill things (which made me laugh) and asked if she could join us. I didn't mind in the slightest. Three Werewolves versus a whole fort filled with Vampires? I wasn't a fool. But having never really seen Taryn in action against anything other than as a big mass of fur and teeth, I had my worries. Still, if Kodlak and Elana could let her leave Jorrvaskr, they must have been confident in her abilities. Or, at least, in ours (meaning Hiemdall and myself).

I ran a hand through my russet-colored hair which was hidden under my brown hood. I was wearing my new armor, mostly because this was a contract, and frankly Tralen had no decency to go into a store to replace the armor that his little mutt decided to destroy. The nerve.

My thoughts drifted back to Hel as the gates of Helgen came into view. She knew I was going out for a contract, and she knew that she wasn't able to come with me. But that look in her eyes reminded me of a pack of wolves that I crossed some years ago: the pup watching its mother leave it to hunt.

"We have at least another two and a half hours before we reach Falkreath," Taryn muttered, effectively pulling me from my thoughts. "And on top of that, we have to find this fort—this, Bloodlet Throne."

"It'll be easy to find the place," I said lightly. I was secretly glad that Taryn spoke; she'd been oddly quiet since we left Whiterun this morning. Her mood swings seemed to have lessened, but all it would take was the slightest nudge in the wrong direction and she'd snap at either Hiemdall or I. And considering that she was angry enough to land a hit or two on Aela, I really had no desire to agitate her.

Taryn turned her head to face me, her face concealed in shadow by the hood that she wore. "How so? Even Aela doesn't know where it is and she's been all over Skyrim."

I offered a wry grin. "We'll just follow the stench of death and blood. Or ashes, if the Vampires decided to sacrifice one of their own."

Taryn offered an amused smirk. "You have an odd sense of humor."

I chuckled, whipping Ace's reins to tease him into a steady trot. "At least I understand what humor is, now." I sighed. "I'm still learning sarcasm, though."

"No, really?" Taryn smirked as I rolled my eyes, but smiled. A few guards in blue-grey regalia wielding blue shields that had a stag's head painted on it greeted us as we passed them, warning us to stay out of trouble (considering how many times I'd heard guards in general say that, I had to wonder if that was their catch-phrase or something).

We entered Helgen shortly after, and Hiemdall led us to a stable that held straw and water for our horses. Ace greedily drank the water (which earned him a eye roll from me) while Taryn's wandered over to some straw. Hiemdall's mount seemed torn between the two, but eventually settled on joining Taryn's horse.

"You'd think Skulvar never feeds them," I muttered.

Taryn cracked a smile. "I agree. Now come on—Hiemdall wants to get this over with just as much as you do."

I grumbled under my breath as Hiemdall led us into a quaint little shop, slightly smaller than Arcadia's Cauldron back home. I eyed the various bottles for a time, wondering what they were, until I breathed in through my nose and nearly gagged at how strong the scents were in there. Taryn elbowed me in my ribs, narrowing her eyes at me in disdain and her usual, "keep-your-damned-comments-to-yourself-or-you'll-blow-our-cover" look.

"Yeah, that's human," she commented.

I glared at her. "Forgive me," I replied. "My sense of smell is better than most."

Hiemdall offered me a sympathetic glance. He wasn't happy either. Taryn was fine with the smells because her senses weren't as strong as mine or Hiemdall's (but then again, she'd been human the longest out of us. And she matched most of her wolfy blunders with her mother's incredibly terrifying sense of absolutely no direction). The Circle member of our troop walked over to the counter and rang a bell that was set there. Moments later a tall Altmer woman with snow-colored hair, golden skin, and green eyes stared at the three of us.

"Welcome to my shop," the Altmer said with a smile. I could see the tips of her canines peeking out from beneath her upper lips. My wolf bristled at the sight, but I had to quell the beast for the moment. She wasn't a threat (she stunk, but that wasn't enough to provoke a slaughtering). "I'm Erissa. What can I do for you?" Her eyes moved from me to Hiemdall.

Hiemdall offered a friendly grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Erissa. Name's Hiemdall and that is Taryn," he said while pointing to my friend. "The woman next to her is Skadi. She's one of the newer members of the Companions." Taryn gave a small wave to the High Elf, while I settled for raising my head slightly to acknowledge the mer. "Ria referred you to us."

Erissa's eyes brightened at the mention of the Imperial. "Ah, Ria! How is she?! I haven't seen her in a while."

"She's well. Training and such." Hiemdall exhaled loudly. "The three of us are on a contract and it'd be easier if our scents were masked."

Erissa offered a glance. "What're you after that would require the lot of you to mask your scents?"

"Sorry. I'm afraid that's Companion business," Hiemdall said. "Are you able to help us?"

Erissa nodded before walking around the counter and scanning a shelf for a moment, then she picked up a small vial and presented it to us. "This is made of lavender, dragon's tongue, and nightshade." She uncorked the vial and dabbed a bit of it on her wrist, and then stretched her arm out so the three of us could smell it.

"It's strong," Taryn muttered as Hiemdall took a whiff of the stuff. I could smell it from where I was. My eyes watered from the scent, my wolf whimpering automatically. It was unnatural. I knew what nightshade, dragon's tongue and lavender smelled like separately, and what was seeping up from that bottle didn't resemble any of those.

"Indeed. But would it be too strong?" Hiemdall asked Taryn.

I let those two debate whether or not our targets would smell us coming if we wore that poison on our armor and skins. Taryn eventually won out (as subtly as possible, considering Erissa's presence).

"Do you have anything that smells more… natural?" Taryn asked.

Erissa's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure I understand what you're asking, Imperial."

I huffed. "She means do you have anything that won't give us a headache?"

Taryn shot me a lethal glare at my rudeness. I shrugged. Hey, I never said I was going to be polite. I'd tolerate the mer, but that was about it.

"Forgive my shield-sister," Taryn said after a moment. "She's not very social."

Erissa sniffed once before vanishing into the back of the shop. Hiemdall was browsing a shelf when Erissa returned, her moss-colored eyes resting on me as she handed me a smaller vial.

"I hope this appeases you, Nord." I took the vial and uncorked it. "It's made of pine bark, drops of morning dew, and some wildflowers that grow around these parts of Skyrim."

I inhaled once, subtly as to not get the full brunt of the stench, but I was surprised to see that my nose didn't wrinkle at the smell. In fact, it smelt more like the wilds of Skyrim than it did an actual perfume.

"Well, my Jarl? Does it satisfy?" Taryn grumbled.

I glared at her, and then offered her the vial. She sniffed once (and a hundred times more human-like than I'd done), her eyes widening at the smell. Hiemdall sniffed it next and a smile broke out on his face.

"I think we found us a perfume," Hiemdall said. "How much?"

Erissa's scowl turned into a smile. "Fifty Septims."

Once Taryn paid the High Elf the gold the three of us hurried out of the shop and back to our horses. After we thanked the stableman for taking care of our mounts, we raced off towards Falkreath.

While we rode, Taryn decided it was time to play "mom" and start scolding me on how being rude to Erissa was "wrong" and that I should've "apologized" to the mer for my attitude.

"I never said I'd be nice," I retorted.

"And I didn't say I wouldn't shove an arrow up your ass!" Taryn sighed, and then groaned. "Skadi, the people in Helgen don't know you like the people in Whiterun! First impressions mean a lot when you take contracts. If the person we are helping sees a well-mannered Nord woman, they're more likely to pass along the information to others." Taryn huffed. "Ria helps Erissa out a lot with scouring Skyrim for plants for the perfumes, and in return, Erissa passes along the word of Ria's skills."

"Frolicking in the meadow isn't something I do," I growled.

"But I would pay a lot of money to see that," Hiemdall piped up from ahead of us.

I growled sharply at the Companion, which spooked all three horses (but Ace seemed more comfortable with it of the three). "Maybe if I was still human I would've done that. If I was drunk enough."

I felt Taryn stare at me for a time. "You don't…?"

"What?" I said.

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just don't growl like that. My horse isn't used to being in such close proximity of wolves." Taryn leaned forward and hugged its neck. "Isn't that right?" she asked it playfully in that stupid pet-voice of hers.

"A wolf is riding your horse right now," I pointed out.

Taryn flipped me a rude gesture before she teased her horse into a faster trot. I matched her and lowered my hood to let my hair breathe for a bit. The mist that usually surrounded Falkreath was long gone, the sun know peeking through the slits between the pine trees.

"Ever meet a Vampire?" I asked Taryn after I finished observing the area.

Taryn shook her head. "No. Not even when I went on contracts with the others."

"I wonder what would happen if you were bit by a Vampire," I mused.

She rolled her eyes. "Probably the same thing that'd happen to you."

I smirked. "But the difference is that you've got Werewolf in your blood."

"Think, 'sweetroll'," Hiemdall said, smirking back at us. "She'd be Tamriel's first Werewolf-slash-Vampire hybrid!" Hiemdall piped up.

"Shut up," Taryn growled. "I get enough from being hairy from birth, all right?"

Hiemdall stuck his tongue out at Taryn before he raced ahead, likely to preserve his life a bit longer. She glared daggers at his back.

"What about you?" Taryn asked as we stayed at the pace we were at. "Ever have a run in with Vampires?"

A smug grin appeared on my face. "Actually, I never had the honor of meeting one." I met Taryn's shocked gaze. She must've thought I'd seen everything, since I'd lived in the wild. "Well, I did meet one, but not in the heat of a bloody battle." I rubbed my chin. "I was camped near Dragon's Bridge—it was after I helped Elana find her way, actually." I chuckled. "Anyways, I was in the town looking for food (don't ask me why, but I wanted human food at the time) and it was an overcast day so not a lot of people were out and about."

Taryn kept listening intently.

"So, I browsed the meat stand until I smelled him. My nose had wrinkled instantly and within seconds, the Vampire was upon me. I'd turned to face him, ready to rip his throat out, but the way he appeared—well dressed, finely groomed—he didn't appear as threatening as I knew he could be." I sighed. "He was an Altmer…" I cleared my throat for a moment. "He was perplexed that I 'smelled like a wet dog'.

"Of course, I wasn't pleased with the remark and growled an insult back to him, which made him laugh. I wasn't too pleased with his reaction, but he was nice enough to buy me some of the food and we walked through the town. He explained the situation he was in, but I kept my mouth shut over my little predicament."

"What was his 'situation'?" Taryn asked.

I glanced at her. "Thalmor were after him. He was one of them once, a Thalmor, but he left when he realized what the Thalmor were planning on doing to Skyrim…" Taryn's eyes seemed to want to know that information. "Don't bother asking me what they plan to do; the Altmer didn't tell me a word."

"Sorry…" she mumbled.

"It's fine." I sighed again. "Where was I…?"

"This Vampire was a Thalmor?"

"Right!" I exclaimed. "Anyways, he told me that he had stumbled into a cave that was home to a bunch of Vampires. He pleaded with them to spare him, but as with Werewolves, Vampires never let prey live."

"They intended to drink him dry," Taryn said.

I nodded. "Yeah. But this Altmer told me that Molag Bal had manifested in some form and chose him as his champion. I don't know how that Daedric Prince's mind words… I barely understand my own Lord's."

"So it's true then!" Taryn said with a grin. "You worship Hircine!"

"Of course I do!" I snapped. "I'm not a saint!" Taryn chuckled. "But the Vampires turned him, and now this Altmer scours Skyrim, killing in the name of his Lord."

"Sort of like how you kill in the name of Hircine?"

I snorted. "If I killed in the name of Hircine, there'd be a lot more bodies." I shook my head. "I haven't seen him since."

"It's… odd. I mean, you're telling me these stories of when you were in the wild and I can't imagine living like that for so long. Didn't you get lonely?"

I shrugged. "I'm not a wolf that wants a pack, Taryn. I'm a lone wolf, but I will settle with a pack, so long as I'm not bound to them for anything."

"You don't plan on staying with the Companions?"

"I meant that I don't owe them anything. No debts."

Taryn nodded, continuing the rest of the trip in relative silence. We passed through Falkreath pretty quickly (about an hour and a half later), not stopping as we barreled through. We passed a bridge with two bandits (that were quickly dispatched thanks to Taryn swiftly firing some arrows at them), and then a home that had some wood stacked up in carts. As we were moving away, I caught the smell of blood on the air. Hiemdall had stopped up ahead, obviously noticing it as well.

"Aye," Hiemdall said as we caught up with him. "Looks like we'll have to walk on foot from here. I caught a whiff of death and it seems to go up this incline." He pointed to the hill.

I narrowed my eyes. "It seems there's a trail here," I noted. "Very well hidden, but it's here."

Taryn rolled her eyes as she tethered her horse near Hiemdall's grey gelding. I glanced at the sky for a moment. It was closer to one in the afternoon by then.

I patted Ace's thick neck before I dismounted. "Go home, boy. I'll be back soon." I had to wonder if Hircine gave Ace the ability to think freely because the stallion nudged my shoulder, snorting as if to say, "You said that the last time and you were gone for two weeks!"

"I promise!" I insisted to the stallion. "If I'm not back in three days, you can be Taryn's horse." Ace eyed Taryn for a moment before staring at me, snorting again. "Fine. If I'm late, I'll buy you four bushels of carrots."

Taryn chuckled. "That horse has more attitude than you do."

Ace shook his head, snorting proudly.

"Go home," I growled to the animal.

Ace snorted one more time before galloping off towards Whiterun. Taryn was staring after it. "Your horse is possessed."

I shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me. I need a run after this contract is done with, anyways."

"Aren't you the least bit worried about Ace getting killed?" Hiemdall asked.

"He lets me ride him. I don't think he knows what fear is."

The three of us started walking up the incline, only to have Taryn stop us. "The perfume."

Right.

Hiemdall uncorked the vial out and dabbed the places where his scent would be the strongest. Taryn and I imitated him. When I finished, I followed Hiemdall and Taryn up the incline until we reached a stone fort. The scent of those miserable bloodsuckers was fresh, and I had a feeling they wouldn't be too pleased with the arrival of three Werewolves. I began to scout out the perimeter of the fort, and then a scent that seemed almost familiar to me entered my mind. My brow furrowed for a moment before the memory of the bastard that turned me hit me full on.

"For the love of Talos!" I hissed.

Taryn tilted her head. "I thought you worshipped Hircine."

I glowered at her. "It was an expression! Tralen's scent is all over this fort, along with the Vampires."

"How peachy," Taryn said. "Who sent this contract anyway?" she asked Hiemdall.

Hiemdall went through his pack and produced the contract. "Some bandit chief that's camped out in a nearby fort."

"Figures," I growled. "Vampires tend to camp near bandits and roads because of the endless source of food."

"But a Vampire's bite is just as infectious as a Werewolf's," Taryn said. "So it's likely there's a whole coven in there."

I groaned. "Looks like we're not so different after all..."

"What's so different?" Hiemdall mused.

I glared at him. "Werewolves are alive and Vampires are dead. Not to mention we change shape!" Taryn stood there, grinning madly. "Let's just get this over with before I decide to head home. I don't want to spend anymore time here than I have to."