Ria practically jumped out of bed in excitement for her job today with Vilkas and Skjor. She dressed herself quickly and the commotion woke Kaiah. She rubbed her eyes as she watched the bubbly Imperial run around the room packing her knapsack. She remembered that Ria's job was today, and she seemed very excited about it. The Redguard sat up in her bed.
Ria looked over and saw her, "Oh sorry, Kaiah, didn't mean to wake you!"
"Seems a little early, yeah?" Kaiah inquired. Ria continued packing her bag, "Well Vilkas and Skjor are already upstairs waiting."
Kaiah chuckled, "You better hurry up then." This early? Well they were traveling to Eastmarch, the next hold over from Whiterun. Maybe they wanted a head start?
Kaiah got out of bed and followed Ria upstairs to say goodbye. She was still in her sleeping gown which she had bought from the market the other day. A long tan cotton dress that she could just throw over for when she slept. As she went up the stairs she saw Skjor and Vilkas waiting for Ria by the front doors, ready to go. Ria rushed over and Kaiah followed behind her. Vilkas looked over and saw Kaiah in her nightgown. He had to admit, he couldn't stop staring. He's only ever seen her in her dirty leather armor, which did a good job of hiding her curves. The gown, however, left little for his imagination. He could see her breasts poking through the fabric and her scent… gods, her scent was nothing he had ever smelt before. Like a warm river with Dragon's Tongue.
"Bye Kaiah!" Ria interrupted his thoughts, "See you later."
"Have a safe journey, Ria." Kaiah gave Ria a brief hug before letting them go. She looked at all of them and made eye contact with Vilkas. He quickly broke it as he thought she had caught him staring. Kaiah thought his behavior was strange but didn't think it was anything worth noting. She thought he was a strange man after all.
Kaiah watched as they all exited the hall. She didn't know how long they'd be gone for, but she was glad she could enjoy her day of rest. She went over to the table and sat down, eating a nearby boiled cream treat. She picked up a book, Battle of Sancre Tor, and started reading. Kaiah enjoyed reading in her free time. She had read many books written by swordsmen and women, but her favorites were always historical fiction. As she flipped through the pages she noticed a tall and slender figure approaching her.
"Didn't know we had another scholar in our ranks."
The Redgaurd looked up and was surprised to see Aela, already wearing her favorite armor. Kaiah thought her armor was rather revealing for the harsh weather of Skyrim, but she was a Nord after all, and perhaps she didn't feel as cold as Kaiah usually did. "I'm no scholar," Kaiah chuckled, "just like reading."
Aela took a seat next to Kaiah, "I always found reading to be so turbulent."
"I find it quite relaxing."
Aela laughed, "Ha! You sound like Vilkas."
Kaiah cocked her head when she heard his name. She didn't much like being compared to him, however, she was more surprised that he liked to read as well. Kaiah didn't assume much from Nord warriors, though she admitted it sounded somewhat prejudiced. 'Anyone can read, Kaiah'.
"You know," Aela started, "If you have the time today, I'd like to spar with you." Kaiah grinned, "With me?" The Nord woman shrugged innocently, "Sure, I have yet to see what you're made of. And anyone that can make Vilkas as riled up as he was after a spar is worth testing for themselves."
Kaiah smiled softly, folding a corner of the page in her book before closing it. "Okay, you're on."
Kaiah went downstairs to her quarters and changed into her armor. She grabbed her scimitars and decided to strap them on her back today. She found that they were less in her way if they were on her back. Afterwards she made her way to the training yard and saw Aela already there, a sword and shield in her hands. Kaiah approached her slowly. "Grab and shield, sister."
Kaiah raised her eyebrows and grabbed a nearby steel shield by the weapons rack. It was a little heavy, but Kaiah was no stranger to using shields. She preferred dual wielding, but she had a lot of experience with a shield as well. Though this particular shield was a little heavier than what she was used to. She unsheathed one of her scimitars and readied herself. Aela was the first to strike this round. She swung her sword and Kaiah was able to deflect the blow with her shield. Aela was staggered and Kaiah took the opportunity to swing her blade at her abdomen. The Nord backed away just in time, narrowly missing the tip of Kaiah's blade.
"I admit," Aela panted, "you are quite fast."
"This isn't even me at my fastest."
Kaiah struck first this time, from the side. Aela deflected with her sword and pushed the Redguard away from her. Kaiah lifted her shield in preparation for a potential attack, but nothing happened. She lowered her shield to look at Aela, and in almost an instant she felt a large steel surface bash her in the face. Kaiah saw stars. She fell on her back and placed her hand over her nose, which seemed to take the brunt of the force. When she opened her eyes she saw Aela's blade mere inches from her face.
"Never anticipate an enemy's attack," Aela said, grinning. Kaiah's eyes rolled to the back of her head, "I'm usually good at it, honestly." Aela sheathed her sword and held her hand out for Kaiah's. The Redgaurd accepted and Aela helped her up from the ground. She removed her hand from her face and saw it was covered in blood. "Damn." Aela walked over to the nearby table and grabbed a rag. "You'll be fine." Kaiah took the rag and wiped the blood away from her nose, "Still hurts though. Been a while since I had a busted nose."
Aela chuckled as she picked up Kaiah's scimitar off the ground, "That was a good spar. You certainly have talent." Kaiah took her sword and sheathed it. "So do you." The Redgaurd placed the steel shield back over to the weapons rack. She gestured to her nose, "I better clean this up." Aela watched as Kaiah went back into the hall. She would make a good candidate, she thought. She was strong, fast, resilient… she would take the blood nicely. With Kodlak spewing nonsense about a potential cure, and Farkas and Vilkas jumping behind him, they needed new blood. She would speak to Skjor about it when he came back.
Ria was growing irritated with Skjor and Vilkas' bickering. When they took the job, the client explained that the den of necromancers was beneath a waterfall in Eastmarch. Unfortunately, Eastmarch had many waterfalls. "The den is underneath the waterfall in the south, that's what the map says." Vilkas took the map and pointed to western Eastmarch, "No, old man, the client said that he heard rumors of necromantic activity from the west. Maybe you would have heard him if you weren't going deaf!"
Ria sighed as she sat down by a nearby wooden tree stump on the side of the road. They were already in Eastmarch, close to the border of Whiterun hold. She was hoping this wouldn't be a long trip, however, those two idiots were making things much more complicated than they needed to be. She slouched over on her hands when she noticed a strange noise coming from a waterfall nearby. She stood up and walked closer to the sound, and lo and behold saw a dark figure wearing black robes retreating behind the waterfall. She thought it was rather suspicious, and maybe this could've been the den they were looking for.
"Hey guys!" she called out, getting both their attention. She pointed over to the waterfall, "I think this may be it!"
Kaiah spent most of her day off reading. The sparring session she had in the morning with Aela was enough for her today. She suddenly remembered her conversation with Amren in the market the other day. She promised she would retrieve his father's sword from a bandit encampment nearby. Truth be told, it wasn't that far, close to the border of Eastmarch and Whiterun. It would take her only a couple hours if she was quick. She closed the book again and grabbed her knapsack next to her bed which had her potions in it. She wouldn't dare adventure without those.
The journey there and back was fairly quick. She was surprised to find only three bandits in the entire camp. They didn't put up much of a fight, probably mere common thieves looking
to pawn Amren's sword. After retrieving the blade she made her way back to the city. The sun was setting and it would be dark soon. She looked into the pine forest in the distance, and saw the rivers and small waterfalls coming from the mountains. She thought about exploring there, seeing if she could find a small river or a pond to take a bath in. Gods know she needed it, and she didn't care much for sharing a tub with a bunch of other dirty men.
Kaiah made it back to Whiterun and returned Amren's sword to him. He was very appreciative and offered to cook her dinner for the trouble. She respectfully declined, explaining she had other plans for the night. She went back to Jorrvaskr and gathered her nightgown, which she packed in her knapsack. She planned on changing into her nightgown after bathing, relaxing by the pond before putting her armor back on.
By the time she left the city the sun had almost set, and it was getting dark out. She strapped a lantern to her side and lit it before leaving so she had some light as she wandered the forest. She followed the stone roads that lead to the river. She then deviated from the roads and followed the rivers deeper in the forest. She saw some rabbits and foxes, and luckily nothing else like wolves. Not that she couldn't handle a few wolves anyways.
She finally found a small pond that connected two rivers together. It had some larger rocks around it and was fairly far from the roads so she wasn't worried about other travelers seeing her. She saw some reminisce of other foot traffic and figured that other people may have used this spot before. At this time of night though she hoped that she would be the only one out here. She set down her knapsack and started undressing, smiling as she was looking forward to this bath.
Ria felt exhausted after clearing the necromancer infested cave. She had to admit it was one of the most difficult jobs she's ever done, and she had help. If it wasn't for Skjor constantly talking in her ear the whole time she probably would've enjoyed it more. Vilkas was there of course but he just kept to himself, and since leaving the cave he's been very quiet. The Nord was maintaining a distance behind Skjor and Ria. He felt very uneasy since leaving Whiterun this morning, and he thought killing some Necromancers would help take his mind off of it but it seemed to only suppress it temporarily.
He needed to shift. That much was known to him. He'd been trying for days to hold back, to practice his breathing like Kodlak suggested. But to no avail, the beast kept clawing at him, trying to escape. He could hear every little thing, like Skjor and Ria's footsteps and the leaves rustling in the distance. He saw a large elk in the corner of his eye and he couldn't help but fixate. His wolf needed to hunt. It needed to chase.
And it needed to do it, now.
Ria turned around and saw Vilkas was gone. "Where's Vilkas?" Skjor turned around as well. He sensed Vilkas' unease since they left Whiterun this morning. He was wondering how long it would take before he gave in to the wolf. And it appeared that time was now. "Probably went to take a piss," Skjor said, "he knows the way back. He'll be fine." Ria shrugged and followed Skjor, wondering in the back of her mind where Vilkas really went.
Kaiah settled in the cold water. It hit her like a thousand needles, and her skin certainly wasn't used to it. But once she got used to the cold water it felt great on her muscles. She had still been sore from the day prior and this bath was just what she needed. She dunked her whole body in the water, allowing her long and thin dreads to get wet. She brought her oils with her so she could treat her hair since it had been a while since she did so. She reached into her knapsack and pulled out a vial of lavender oil and castor oil. She stood up and rubbed a bit of the lavender oil on her body before moving on to her hair. She put some of the local castor oil on her locks, running her hands gently through.
Kaiah's attention was suddenly averted when she heard a rustling in the distance. She left her lantern near her knapsack but she couldn't see very far in the distance with the light. She shrugged it off as a rabbit or something else. She heard another rustle, which started to make her feel nervous. "Who's there?" she yelled. She narrowed her eyes to try and see who or what was making the strange noise. But nothing was there. Kaiah knew better than to stay much longer, so she did her best to finish up as quickly as possible and get back.
The wolf was finally set free once more. It had waited so long to feel the freedom of the hunt, and it longed for a good chase. The several elk it had killed was not enough to sate the hunger it had, deep down. It needed more.
Suddenly, a gust of wind carried the scent of something sweet and floral. The beast was intrigued by the unique scent, and felt compelled to follow it. On all fours it followed the scent with its nose which it had close to the ground. It wasn't long until it led it to a small pond where it saw a human woman. 'A woman?' The scent was human? The wolf didn't seem to care as it started to crawl closer and closer, trying not to alert its prey.
Out of sheer recklessness the wolf stepped on a branch, which alerted the woman. She turned to head and tried to look for the source of the noise. The wolf retreated on its stomach, trying to hide from the sights of its prey. When she felt comfortable once more, the beast looked through the shrubs it was hiding behind, licking the blood from its previous prey off its lips. The woman was unclothed, standing helplessly in the pond. So soft and tender, the beast thought, the perfect prey. And the scent was so intoxicating. It needed to taste it, but not yet.
The wolf was too close to the shrub and accidentally rustled the leaves beneath it. The woman looked up once more. "Who's there?" It heard her yell. If she wasn't concerned before, she certainly was now. The beast retreated once more, but not breaking contact from its prey. The woman then quickly made her way out of the pond as she stepped closer into the light. The light showed her wet and naked body which she tried to cover quickly with a cloth nightgown. The wolf licked its lips once more, taking in the glorious view it had of its prey. But the woman looked so familiar.
'Kaiah?'
Vilkas was aware of who the woman was before him. He lost sight of what the wolf was hunting and it took seeing her face that he finally realized who the wolf was so fixated on. The human woman was Kaiah. She had quickly put on her dress and slid on her leather boots before tossing her armor in her knapsack. She picked up her scimitar and knapsack and started walking away briskly. But the wolf wouldn't let its prey get away so easily.
The wolf jumped from over the shrub line and in front of Kaiah. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide as she tried to observe the creature before her. It was a wolf, but none like she had ever seen before. It was large, larger than any creature she had ever seen. Its hackles were up, the wolf inching closer to her as it growled with a deep hunger. 'No! Stop!' Kaiah tried to make a run for it away from the beast. She knew better than to try and fight whatever in oblivion that thing was. She heard the beast following behind her. She may have been fast but the beast was much faster.
Kaiah felt a sharp claw against the back of her leg. She let out a cry as she fell on the ground, dropping her knapsack and sword. The wolf was towering over her, taking in the fear from its prey. 'Don't hurt her, please!' Kaiah reached over and grabbed her sword, swinging it over her and slicing the beast in its abdomen and chest. The wolf whimpered in pain and Kaiah tried to make another run for it, but her leg was injured. She couldn't run. She tried to limp away as fast as possible while turning back to see the wolf following behind her. The beast scratched her again in the front, leaving three deep wounds across her stomach and chest.
She fell on her stomach and felt large claws seeping into her back. The sheer weight of the beast was enough to nearly crush her. She let out a cry of pain and could feel the tears running down her cheeks. She was about to die. She never thought it would end quite like this. And all she could think about were her parents back in Hammerfell, how her last words to her mother was an ugly argument. She felt the beast's hot breath on her neck as it prepared itself to sink its teeth into her tender skin.
'No! I won't let you hurt her!'
Kaiah felt a weight being lifted off her back. She looked up and saw the beast backing away from her quickly. She turned on her back and propped herself up with her elbows as she watched the wolf shake its head back and forth. She didn't understand what was happening. She looked into the beast's eyes and saw a familiar gaze of guilt and shame. They looked so familiar to her but she couldn't quite place it. Her attention quickly averted to the pool of blood that was forming beneath her. She was bleeding out.
The wolf tried to step forward and reach out but she backed away, petrified with fear. The beast whimpered as it retreated backwards once more. Kaiah thought the behavior was strange, the wolf seemed almost scared of her now. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Skjor bash his shield into the beast's head, forcing it to the ground. Amid her shock she hadn't realized Ria was right beside her, trying to help her up. Kaiah flinched when she felt her touch. "It's okay, Kaiah. It's just me."
"Ria!" Skjor called out, bashing the wolf with his shield once more, "get out of here! Both of you!" Ria picked up Kaiah's knapsack and scimitar and threw it over her back. She then gently helped Kaiah get on her feet. The Redguard hissed in pain when she put pressure on her wounded leg. Ria ushered her back towards the path to Whiterun as fast as she could. Skjor stayed behind, trying to chase down the wolf that just ran away.
Vilkas ran as fast as he could, trying to find a safe place to shift back. He was naked now, alone in the cold near a small river stream. He placed his hand on the wound that Kaiah gave him earlier. She sliced him good, and he deserved it. Gods, he couldn't believe it. He almost killed Kaiah. His heart felt heavy with shame and guilt. The terror in her eyes, how she trembled in fear beneath him, and the beast enjoyed it. His nightmare became reality. And didn't know if he could ever look her in the eyes again.
