Chapter 12. Of Wolves and Horkers
A/n: 4 more chapters 'till Larka! Please review, as I completely enjoy them, a lot.
The on the boat docked, and Vvardenfell looked for the first time at the island of Solsthiem. It was beautiful.
She shivered and wrapped her emerald cloak around herself and the Mudcrab. She watched as a flake of snow fell from the sky. She reached out her hand, caught it, and watched as it melted in her hand.
She had a look around. Looming in front of her was a large fort. To both sides of it there were strange white crystals covering the ripening green grass. Strange plants with red berries rose up from all around, and spiky trees dotted the rolling hills.
She started off into the forest, and watched as her feet made strange prints in the ground.
"What am I doing here?" She asked her Mudcrab friend, who had hopped down from her arms and was sniffing a pine tree suspiciously.
"You find wolf and Horker fight, save Horker, and then get prophecy." Said the Mudcrab.
Vvardenfell could only guess as to what a Horker was, and she had a feeling, with Azura up there somewhere, that she would be finding out very shortly.
As if on cue, she saw a wolf bolting out of the forest snarling, and running into the water, snapping at a very alien looking creature.
Vvardnfell re-summouned her dagger and looked at the Mudcrab.
"Is that a Horker?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows.
"That Horker." Returned the Mudcrab cheerily.
Vvardenfell turned her head once more.
"N'wah!" She shouted, running down the icy slope, slipping, and falling in. The water hit her like a large stone thrown at her face, the near-frozen chill sinking deep into her bones.
Fighting through the pain of the bitter cold, she pulled the wolf out of the water and slit of part of it's furry ear. Whimpering in pain it ran, leaving a fresh trail of red blood in the pure-white ice crystals.
Vvardenfell then heard clearly in her head,
Hirstaang forest,
A full moon.
There is hunger in the fang,
And death in the claw.
Vvardenfell knew very well what this meant, for she had heard many tales of these frightening creatures, human by day, werewolf by night.
"You find who werewolf, kill go home." Said her Mudcrab.
"I'm here to kill a werewolf? What good does that do?" She thought to herself, picking the Mudcrab up and walking thoughtfully back to the fort. She stopped and sat down on a clear patch of ground, her finger churning the ice into a swirl.
"I think you need a name." She said to the Mudcrab, who was rolling awkwardly in the snow. "How about Skooma?" She asked it.
It stopped shuffling itself around, and sat down thoughtfully.
"I Skooma?" It asked. With a quick motion it began to knaw at itself visously.
"No no no!" Vvardenfell shouted, desperately trying to keep it from eating itself. "Skooma's your name, you aren't the food." She said, realizing that she made no sense but hoping Skooma would grasp the concept.
"My name?" said skooma. "No Skooma?" He began to make a strange wailing noise, and Vvardenfell could only guess that this haunting noise was Skooma crying.
"It's okay," Vvardenfell said, trying to comfort the shaken animal. "When Skooma man comes you can get lots of Skooma!"
The pitiful animal stopped crying and looked up at her as she lifted him in her arms and walked into the fort. The random passerby would stare at her strangely, most likely thinking that she was insane. She was talking to a Mudcrab, and if that wasn't enough, she was calling it Skooma!
A/n: Wat can you say about a talking mudcrab named Skooma with grammer issues except Awwwww. Heh heh, anywho, the button's right here, so ppppllleeeaassee rrreeevvviiieeewww!