Author's note:

I wasn't planning to post anything else until next week, but then I realized that my few, faithful readers probably deserve a little Christmas present ;) Hence, here you are with a new chapter and my best wishes for the upcoming holidays.

As usual, I sent a heartfelt thank you to everyone who's reading/following/favoriting this story. Of course, I also thank Elspeth for their review. I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter and I hope you'll like this action-packed instalment, too.

Enjoy!

As Agda left the safety of the inn, she firmly believed she could reach Anise's cabin without problems. The fight of the afternoon had refueled her courage and awoken her Nordic pride, so that the young innkeeper now felt perfectly capable of tackling the wilds on her own.

After the events of that long day, the people of Riverwood had already fallen asleep. As Agda left the village, Orgnar was quietly snoring in his bedroom, whereas Sven had retired to his house to look after his mother. Lucan and Camilla had barricaded themselves inside their shop, while Faendal was the only one careful enough to keep watch on the border of the village. Gerdur, Alvor and Hod, on the other hand, had gone to Whiterun to tell the Jarl about the dragon's attack. Given that Dorthe and Frodnar had been terrified by the sudden appearance of the beast, their parents had decided to spend the night in the city, where their children were feeling much safer. As a consequence, that evening Riverwood was almost completely empty.

When she noticed Faendal patrolling the main road, Agda hid in the shadows. Frowning, she drank an invisibility potion and sneaked out of the village without anyone noticing her. The girl was sure she could reach Anise's cabin and be back within the hour- unfortunately, she soon realized that she had put too much trust in her luck.

As she reached the big dragon skeleton in the middle of the southern road, Agda noticed that a few men were seizing up the remains of the beast and arguing about selling the bones to a nearby shop. Judging from their looks, those warriors were probably related to the bandits who dwelled in Embershard Mine.

When she heard their voices, Agda had to do her best to suppress a shiver and go on with her plan. I can do this, she thought to herself. I have to do this. For Erik, and for Steinarius too.

Agda hadn't forgotten the way the Imperial had begged her to save his friend; therefore, she was ready to go miles to prevent Erik from risking his life.

As she noticed that the bandits were standing right in front of the Guardian Stones, the young innkeeper furrowed her brow. She was hidden in the shadows, therefore the criminals still hadn't been able to spot her. Unfortunately, Agda needed to bypass them in order to reach her destination.

While trying to slow down her heartbeat, the young woman carefully moved towards the bank of the White River. Once there, Agda crouched and slowly got past the point where the bandits were standing. When she understood that the criminals hadn't noticed her, the innkeeper felt a huge wave of relief wash over her. With a satisfied smile, Agda later straightened her spine and started walking across the forest that stretched along the shores of Lake Ilinalta. It was a wonderful spring night and the young innkeeper soon found herself admiring the beauty of Skyrim.

The winter snow had melted over the previous days, so that the soil of the forest was still wet and smelled like earth. The twin moons were shining on the tall pine trees, whereas a nightingale was singing from the shadows. As she left the shore of the lake, Agda felt as though she was living in a dream. When she reached a road she had never seen before, however, the young innkeeper stopped contemplanting the landscape and focused once again on her mission.

With a curse, she realized she had just got lost in the wilds.

As soon as she stopped insulting herself, Agda tried to understand what had gone wrong. She was sure she'd followed the right direction and couldn't understand why she had ended up in a place that clearly had nothing to do with Anise's cabin.

Agda would have liked to use her newly acquired magical skills to find her destination, but she knew that the magic paths traced by Clairvoyance spells would have caused every creature nearby to notice her presence. Therefore, although that part of Skyrim seemed completely safe, the girl decided to rely only on her instincts.

With a sigh, the young innkeeper turned her back to the road and ventured once again in the forest. She'd been walking for a few minutes when she caught a glimpse of a very weird scene.

In a clearing not far from Agda, two human forms were entangled. One of them, a woman, was lying on the grass. The other, a man, was leaning down to kiss her.

Agda was startled by that sight. Who could be so mad to couple in the forests of Skyrim in the middle of the night?, she wondered while raising an eyebrow.

However, when the woman didn't betray any emotion at being passionately kissed on the neck, Agda realized that the people in front of her weren't imaginative lovers looking for a thrill in the wilds – they were something completely different.

As the man slowly straightened his spine, Agda could see the unsettling paleness of his face, which shone in the darkness like a full moon. There was something dark around his mouth – something that the young girl immediately recognized as blood.

That weird creature wasn't a passionate lover who was making love to his woman – quite on the contrary, it was a vampire who was feeding on his prey.

With a shiver, Agda took a few steps backwards. The vampire still hadn't seen her, therefore she believed she had enough time to get away from that clearing, to find shelter behind a bush or a tree or a cabin like Anise's. She just needed to be…

Careful.

As Agda stumbled on a tree root and fell to the ground, the word mockingly echoed in her head. Startled by that noise, the vampire stood up and abandoned the lifeless woman he'd just fed on. A second later, he grinned.

He had just seen Agda.

When the creature cast a spell in her direction, Agda miracolously managed to dodge the attack. She got back on her feet, then she started running like a mad woman.

Agda felt a branch open a deep cut in her cheek, she felt the unsettling laughter of the vampire behind her, she felt the way her lungs shuddered with every intake of air, in and out, in and out, until she couldn't take it anymore.

Her foot collided with a fallen tree and Agda found herself once again on the cold ground of the forest. This time, unfortunately, her enemy was much closer.

The young innkeeper could do nothing but watch as the vampire closed in on her. Agda noticed his red eyes, his pale complexion, the fresh blood that was still dripping from his fangs. She could feel the vampire's gaze on her body and was shivering violently at the thought of what was about to happen.

With the sheer force of desperation, Agda closed her eyes and cast a weak spell towards the undead. There was a laugh, then a few scornful words reached the girl's ears. Nonetheless, Agda didn't catch their meaning – all she could focus on at that moment was the deadly stench reeking from the vampire, the way his hands had just grabbed her leg, the way the creature was yanking her towards him.

In a weak attempt to save her life, Agda took hold of a tree and tried to resist the force of her attacker. After a few seconds, however, she realized that the fight was uneven.

When the vampire laughed again, Agda felt tired and scared and vulnerable. As she let go of the tree root, she muttered a prayer to the Divines and inwardly cursed her imprudence – because of her decision to venture in the woods alone, Erik would probably succumb to his disease.

As Agda prepared for feeling the vampire's fangs against the delicate skin of her neck, she tried not to think about her parents, about her siblings, about the life she was about to leave behind. She tried not to think about the dragons, about Steinarius, about Erik, about…

All of a sudden, Agda heard a sudden noise and noticed that the vampire had let go of her leg. As she turned to look at him, the girl let out a surprised scream.

Her attacker was fighting against the hugest wolf the young innkeeper had ever seen.

The vampire had been taken aback by the unexpected appearance of the wolf - after receiving a particularly strong bite, he even lost his balance and fell to the ground. Nonetheless, when the animal jumped over him, the vampire was quick to stab it once, twice, thrice, causing the wolf to let out a pained whine. Yet, right when the undead seemed about to get back on his feet and win the fight, a loud snap echoed through the forest.

With a last, desperate bite, the wolf had managed to kill the vampire by breaking his neck.

Agda had no time to feel relieved – caught between a hungry vampire and a huge wolf, she didn't know which creature could offer her the least painful death.

With a scared cry, the young innkeeper tried to run away from the animal. Nevertheless, she stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she heard a series of low whimpers. When she turned her head, Agda realized that the huge wolf was standing on its rear legs and was looking at her with its huge, golden eyes.

Only then did Agda realize that she was dealing with a werewolf.

With another whine, the creature took a tentative step in the girl's direction. Agda noticed that it had a very light grey coat and that its left arm (did werewolves even have arms?) was completely covered in blood.

The creature was wounded – deeply, painfully wounded.

Agda didn't know why she didn't run away. There was something familiar in the way the werewolf was looking at her, in the way it was whimpering, in the way it was silently asking for her help. Agda could swear she had already seen its sad golden eyes before, but she couldn't remember where.

Hoping that the werewolf was rational enough not to attack her, the girl slowly walked towards it. The creature whined again, then crouched on the ground. A moment later, it closed its eyes and suddenly went still.

Agda was worried by that fact. She reached the werewolf, then carefully touched its pelt. It was soft and warm and had a good earthy smell. Before the girl could cast a healing spell, however, something weird happened.

Agda couldn't stifle a surprised cry as the body of the werewolf started shaking. Its claws and its pelt disappeared, whereas its fangs retreated inside its mouth. There was a last violent spasm and the werewolf finally shifted back to its human form.

When she recognized Steinarius, Agda felt as though her heart had just stopped beating.