Farkas and Aela crouched in a grove of trees near the entrance of Halted Stream camp. Aela had tracked Vilkas' scent to the stream just outside of the camp. It had taken some convincing for Aela to agree to track Vilkas, but now that she was here she was glad she hadn't sent Farkas alone. The camp was crawling with bandits and a few Silver Hand. If they had captured Vilkas, if he was still alive-he wouldn't be for long.
"How do you want to do this?" Farkas asked.
"Can you create a distraction and draw them to the gate? I should be able to take out most of them one after another because the morons will all try to go through that narrow gate at once," she said, shaking her head at the inevitable idiocy and bloodbath that was to come.
Farkas nodded and shot her a crooked grin. "I'm gonna go introduce myself," he said, standing up and walking in the opposite direction, arcing his way toward the front gate without giving away Aela's position. She had climbed up one of the trees and perched herself on a branch with her bow ready when she heard, "Hello boys! How are you guys doing this fine day?" She rolled her eyes at the corniness of what he said, but she had to admit it had gotten their attention. She took aim and took out the two archers perched higher up along the fences. The others in the camp had done exactly what she predicted, and they were pushing each other through the gate while yelling insults and threats at Farkas. He stood still with his greatsword unsheathed as Aela focused on taking out the clearly defined members of the Silver Hand. If any bandits got close enough to Farkas, he took their heads off with his sword.
Once the Silver hand members had fallen, Aela shifted her focus to the six remaining bandits that had managed to surround Farkas. She shook her head and jumped to the ground. Farkas was working his way through them, but there was one that he didn't see, and she loosed an arrow that hit him directly between the eyes just as he had lifted his axe to swing it at Farkas' head. Farkas killed the last of his attackers and dodged the falling axe just in time. He grinned at her again. "Thanks, shield-sister," he said.
"Anytime," came the gruff reply, "now, let's go find your brother before he gets himself killed."
The duo entered the camp and made short work of the remaining bandits. Aela had purposely wounded a member of the Silver Hand and was working on making him talk as Farkas scanned the large room for any signs of Vilkas. He saw nothing, so he closed his eyes and focused on the scents. He sniffed the air and could smell the coppery stench of dried blood, body odor, and rotting animals. He concentrated harder and it was just barely there, but he thought he caught the scent of another wolf. He followed it to a section of wall with no door. What in Oblivion? Then he remembered how the door mechanism to the underforge worked and he pushed on the wall with almost all his weight. It didn't move, but Farkas heard a faint moan coming from beyond the wall. He turned to Aela and said, "Finish him off and come help me. This is a door of some kind and I can hear moaning coming from behind it."
Aela took out her dagger and the Silver Hand captive started begging for his life. "We were only keeping him here until Krev told us where to move him to. Apparently it was a big deal to capture a member of the Circle. I didn't know what she wanted him for, honestly," the man pleaded. Aela rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"You knew exactly what you signed up for and if you didn't you're a damned fool." She drew her dagger across his neck and his pleas instantly turned to gurgles as the life drained from the gaping wound. She wiped the dagger on the dead man's cloak and went to help Farkas.
It took some doing, but they finally found the mechanism to open the door mounted on the underside of a table nearby. As the rock rolled out of the way, it revealed a small room lined with several cages. At the same time, Farkas and Aela heard the moan again and both ran toward the last cage in the row farthest from the door. It was dark there, but Farkas could see his brother's shape without any problems. He laid naked on his right side, curled up on the floor of the cage with his back to the door. Farkas tried the door, but it was locked tight and no amount of strength could pry it open. They'd have to find a key.
The duo split the room between them, checking the corpses for keys that would fit the cage. Aela found one on the first bandit she'd killed after entering the camp. Farkas searched drawers and found a tunic, trousers, and a cloak to dress Vilkas. Aela grabbed a torch from a sconce on the wall and they headed back to the cage. Once it was unlocked, Farkas dragged Vilkas out and laid him on the ground. Vilkas moaned softly and he was drenched with sweat. His hair hung loose and clung to his face. Farkas took the torch from Aela and examined Vilkas' body. He had some pretty bad bruising, but what concerned him the most was the open wound on the left side of his chest. He had been stabbed with something, and the wound had gotten infected and there were burn marks spidering from the wound like a poison and he could smell silver. Damn it! How long had he been here like this? Farkas cursed himself for not getting worried sooner. He dressed Vilkas in the tunic and trousers he had found and then hauled Vilkas up onto his back and settled him across his shoulders. Vilkas moaned but showed no signs of waking up. Farkas nodded to Aela who turned and led them out of the camp to where they had hobbled their horses. He thanked the Divines that Aela had demanded they bring them. At least now he wouldn't have to carry Vilkas all the way back to Jorrvaskr on his back.
They settled Vilkas across Farkas' horse and he took the reins, leading the horse back to Whiterun. It was midafternoon now, and he thought if they didn't run into any trouble they should be back at Jorrvaskr by sundown. Aela rode along beside them, watchful eyes alert for danger. They made better time than he thought and there was still about an hour before sundown when they stopped their horses at the Whiterun gates. Farkas then carried him through the city gates and up the streets to Jorrvaskr while Aela led the horses back to the stables.
Farkas kicked open the doors of Jorrvaskr and everyone seated at the table for the evening meal went silent. When they realized Farkas was carrying Vilkas and not a deer, the hall erupted into chaos. Ria ran ahead of Farkas to open the doors to the living quarters and others rushed around gathering healing potions and whatever else they thought could be useful. Ria opened the door to Vilkas' room and laid him on the bed as gently as he could. He moaned and mumbled something unintelligible, but his eyes remained closed.
Farkas stepped back as Kodlak and Tilda examined Vilkas. They had determined the wound had indeed been made by something silver.
"And you guys call me ice-brain," Farkas muttered. Kodlak ignored him and Tilda went about cleaning and dressing the wound. She poured several healing potions on the wound, but it didn't seem to be improving. She shook her head and said to Kodlak, "we're going to need the Priestess, the potions aren't enough this time." Kodlak nodded and turned to where Farkas was standing but he was already gone, headed for the temple.
Lunara was curled up on a bench ready a book about the alchemical properties of metals when the temple doors burst open and Farkas entered, slightly breathless. His eyes spotted her, and she could see he was worried and more than a little scared. He crossed the room and without greeting said, "We need the Priestess at Jorrvaskr, where is she?"
Lunara put the book down and said, "She isn't here and doesn't plan to be back for several hours. I think she is helping one of the farmers wives give birth. She may not even be back until tomorrow. What's happened?" Her voice was filled with worry and she fought to keep herself calm.
"He may not have that long. You'll have to heal him," he said, grabbing her wrist and starting for the door. She resisted and he tugged harder. With a final jerk, she got loose from his grasp. She rubbed her wrist and said, "First of all, don't grab me like that. The last two men that grabbed me ended up with a dagger embedded in them. Second, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who is hurt?"
"Vilkas," he replied, "he's been poisoned."
Lunara felt like her breath had been sucked away. Her mind filled with the memories of her sister and Silas and she froze. She snapped back to the present when she realized Farkas was still speaking to her. "It was sliver. Tilda has given him all the different potions we have and he's not getting better. Something is different and she doesn't have the skill to heal him." He reached for her again and she backed away. She snorted and said, "You think I have that kind of skill? While I am flattered you think that highly of me, I assure you I can't heal him. I will probably do nothing but make things worse. No, I can't do it. I will go and find Danica and let her know he needs her, but I can't heal him." She was shaking her head now, tears filling her eyes. No, she couldn't, wouldn't. Not with Vilkas. There was no way she could risk his life like that. Yes, she'd been practicing on herself and she was improving. She had even managed to heal a small scratch on a child that had come in two days prior. But a small scratch was not the same as a life-threatening injury.
Farkas started to insult her but thought better of it. He could see that she was scared to death. He grabbed her face in his hands and forced her head up to look at him. She closed her eyes to hide the tears and he said, "Look at me. Look at me now. You can do this. He saved your life twice; you at least owe it to him to try to return the favor. He deserves that much don't you think?" He didn't bother to keep the anger out of his tone. She opened her eyes and he could see the barely restrained fury held there.
"You think I don't fucking know he deserves that much? He deserves so much more than that! He deserves a healer who has the skill to actually save his life and not end it sooner!" One tear from each eye dripped down onto her cheek and ran down her face. Farkas growled in frustration.
"Fine, we've established what he deserves. Now let's talk about what he has. He has a scared little girl that can't even find the courage to try and help him after he saved her life multiple times without even thinking about it. Let's talk about that shall we? Or how about all the time he's spent barely eating or sleeping, pacing the hallways here and in Jorrvaskr just waiting to see if you would wake up, knowing there was nothing he could about it if you didn't. If you don't at least try to help him now, then you don't deserve him, and he wasted his time saving your miserable little life." His grip on her face tightened and he spat the words at her.
"Fuck you Farkas, you don't have any idea what you're talking about. I didn't ask him to do any of those things. What you're asking, no demanding, from me I am not sure I can give. What if I try to heal him and he dies anyway? You're telling me that it'll just be alright?" The tears were freely flowing now but he didn't let go of her face. They stared at each other for several moments and he dropped his hands with a sigh.
"Of course it won't just be alright, Lunara, I'm not saying that. But if you don't do something and he dies anyway it's going to hurt both of us a lot more, and I think somewhere deep down you know that. Please, I'm begging you, just try to heal him. You are all he has, and he needs you now."
Lunara's shoulders slumped and she stared at the floor. Silent sobs wracked her body and after a few minutes she lifted her head and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"You said he was poisoned with silver?" she asked, making a mental checklist of possible antidotes for metal poisoning. Farkas nodded as she crossed the room to her alchemy table and started shoving things into her satchel. "I'm ready, lead the way."