I don't own anything except the OC and the plot.
2
The smell of roasting meat filled the cave. The large chunks would need at least a few more hours but the smell already made his mouth water. Borkul sat by the firepit that was basically the main area of the camp and watched the flames lick the meat.
Six days had passed since they had went to Mor Khazgur and the Forsworn were quick to return to their daily routine. Braig's death had been unfortunate but the Orc had learned that these people didn't mourn their dead like the rest of Skyrim. Once the soul had left, the body was nothing more than a mere shell to them and so Braig's heart had been removed as it was a valuable component to many rituals before the rest of him had been burned. Borkul knew most cultures liked to keep their corpses in some sort of tomb but – just as expected – it didn't bother him at all that the Forsworn tribe handled things differently.
Across the flames he saw Aoife talk to the Briarheart, whose name he didn't recall, and Madanach. In the last few days he had watched her more closely to see how she coped but beside the anger she had shown, he didn't notice anything different in her behaviour. However, he had seen the result of her bad mood the day after Braig's death as she had let her frustration out by hacking into a trunk not far from the camp and he was pretty sure that the tree wouldn't recover from that. Her mood after the incident wasn't the only reason he was watching her. Shortly after that Madanach had approached him. So far Borkul had served as Madanach's bodyguard which was something they had agreed on many years ago. At first the King in Rags had hired him, paying in whatever wares were available at the prison at the time, but after a few years Borkul had started to follow his course no matter what. From there on the step to join the Forsworn hadn't been that big. That loyalty hadn't changed now that they were finally free again and Madanach had asked him to watch out for his daughter the same way Borkul had watched out for him – even if Borkul was pretty sure that Aoife knew nothing about this agreement.
He rose from his seat by the fire to walk over to the group.
"... we don't have enough as it is now", he heard the young woman say as he closed in.
"As I said before, I won't allow you to go to that filthy Nordic settlement."
The Briarheart grunted to support the king's words.
Aoife threw her hands in the air. "Fine! Then let him go", she said and nodded towards Borkul.
Curiously he stopped beside them. "How about a trip to Karthwasten?"
He shot her a confused glance. "Why would I want to go to Karthwasten?"
"Because we're nearly out of ale and because we think it'd be appropriate to celebrate the return of the king."
"By we she means herself", Madanach interjected with a crooked smile.
"It would boost the morale."
Madanach sighed. "Fine, we will celebrate..." A smile flashed across his daughter's face. "...but you won't go. Borkul will." The smile died. "In disguise", the king added towards the Orc.
Borkul nodded. He could work with that. Karthwasten wasn't far away and even with the additional weight on the trip back, he should make it back in a few hours. The idea of letting him go was actually quite smart. It wasn't likely that anybody would link him to the Forsworn – the people of the settlement would rather associate him with the stronghold. Unfortunately they hadn't any orcish armor that could emphasize the disguise and a simple leather armor that had once belonged to a Nord had to do.
It nearly took him all day to get to Karthwasten and back again. The trip down the river wasn't difficult at all but the way back was more tricky. Borkul had tricked the man selling the barrels into lending him his handcart – he didn't intend to return it – and the way up towards the mountains would have been difficult enough without the impractical cart.
Borkul was soaked in sweat when he finally reached the level where the hideout was. As he maneuvered up the path to cave's entrance, he cursed through grinding teeth. He didn't know how that girl had managed to get barrels of ale all the way up here but he swore that she could do it again by herself if needed.
He dropped his load at the entrance. Someone else could care about getting the barrels inside, all he cared about was washing the sweat off right now.
Footsteps made her look up. It was unusual that someone cared to come all the way up here to talk to her. The tree right on top of the hill above Druadach's entrance was her favourite spot to hang out when she was in the mood for solitude. The others knew about it and most of the times they just shouted up the hill if a matter demanded her presence.
Aoife looked up and saw Dana approach her. Besides Kaie, the young blonde was another woman she had grown up with and cared for like a sister. Dana was younger than her – she had only came of age two summers ago – and her personality was in many ways the opposite of hers, but nevertheless they got along well.
"Here you are." Dana smiled and sat down beside her. Aoife gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "I think your father wants to speak to you."
"I'll be down in a moment." She faced the valley below them. It was her favourite time to be up here. The sun was setting and painted the meadows in an orangey light. The Reach never looked calmer and wilder at the same time.
"Enjoying the view?", Dana said and Aoife heard the smile in her voice. When she looked at her she saw that the younger woman's eyes weren't set on the hills surrounding her but on the river banks. She searched the riverside for the reason why and found a set of armor carelessly tossed across some rocks. Beside them a huge greenish figure was about to immerse in the water.
Aoife looked over to her friend who watched the scene through half-closed lids.
"Dana... no."
The blonde smiled mischievously. "He's quite a sight, isn't he?"
"Just.. no", Aoife repeated and shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe you even consider that." Dana was known for being maybe a little to passionate about Dibella and despite her young age she had probably more experience than Aoife. She was always the first when it came to traveling to other tribes; mainly because she loved to meet new people – new men, who found the way into her bed most of the time. It wasn't something considered immoral as it was common among their people to worship the bodies the old gods had blessed them with; never would they think of condemning someone for sharing their body with someone else, but this...
Aoife let her eyes wander back to the bathing Orc and wondered what had caught Dana's attention in the first place. Trying to see over the obvious flaws – his race – there wasn't much to catch a woman's eye. True, he was strong which might be something that Dana considered attractive but most of his features were unsettling at most. A broken tusk and opaque eye on the right side of his face, a piercing red eye on the other – no, Aoife didn't like him looking at her.
"I mean, look at his teeth, his skin.. he has horns", she said sternly.
Dana looked at her with dreamy eyes. "Exactly."
"He isn't one of us."
"You don't trust your father's judgement, sister?"
"He wasn't born as one of us, he's no Reachman", Aoife said stubbornly.
"You wouldn't say that about any Breton who decided to join our course, would you?" The blonde woman winked at her. Aoife was always baffled by the way her sisterly friend managed to invalidate her arguments. It happened more frequently than she liked to admit. The two woman where so different in their way of thinking that Dana's bright temper often got the better of her.
She got up and brushed of the dust from her backside. "I'm going inside. You're coming?"
"I think I will stay a while and watch the sunset."
"Sure, the sunset..." Aoife shook her head again and started her way down the cliff.
Outsiders often called the Forsworn the Witchmen of the Reach. Some Imperials even referred to them as madmen, not understanding their rituals and culture. Most of their habits were still strange and new to him as well, but Borkul had to admit that they definitely knew how to have a good time. The party around the firepit was something he hadn't seen before – and he had been in many drinking sprees in his years as a bandit. But the thing with bandits was that they were mere communities of convenience, lacking the closeness a Forsworn tribe had. The people around him showed no sign of the aggressive undertone towards each other like a group of bandits often did. Neither did this party threaten to suddenly change into a drunken brawl which was something he had experienced many times before.
Everyone was having a good time drinking the ale he had brought from Karthwasten, talking in small groups or simply tapping along to the sound of the drums – well, everyone except that Briarheart. The man stood at the cave wall overseeing his people. Borkul had noticed that no one had offered him a drink, but he was sure that he would refuse anyway. He hadn't fully understood the concept of the Briarhearts but had learned that Cathal was something like Madanach's second-in-command because it usually were the Briarhearts who were leading the tribes. Yet, the eyes of the man unsettled him more than the clearly visible hole in his chest. When he had asked Madanach about them, he had called Cathal a "vengeful spirit of the Reach" but Borkul wasn't sure what to make of that explanation.
On the other side of the cave he saw the king's daughter laughing with another woman. In the last days it had become a habit to regularly check on her and he was glad that she hadn't decided to roam to far from Druadach Redoubt. As long as she stayed at the camp, it was easy to keep an eye on her, but as soon as she decided that it was time for another trip into the Reach, carrying out Madanach's orders would surely attract her attention – and definitely her wrath as well.
Apparently his observing hadn't been as stealthy as he thought it had been, for the two women stopped laughing and after a moment's hesitation Aoife walked over to him. Even if she showed every sign of not wanting to talk to him, her eyes seemed determined to at least trying to show good will.
"Are you enjoying the party?", she asked politely.
Borkul wasn't one for small talk but if she could show good will then he could at least try. "It isn't what I'm used to. Less bloody."
"Oh we sometimes like to invite some unlucky Nord to join us", she said lightly. "That's probably more to your liking then."
To hear her joking about them slaughtering someone for entertainment was a bit unexpected, but put him at ease and he looked at her amused.
"Look, I wanted to thank you for going to Karthwasten", Aoife said with an apologising smile. Thinking about the struggle it had been, he wanted to tell her where she could stuff the barrels the next time but "You're welcome.." was all that came out of his mouth. He furrowed his brows and opened his mouth to try again but was interrupted by the blonde woman Aoife had spoken to before.
Madanach's daughter looked at her sharply while the other woman threw her an innocent smile and Borkul didn't know what to make of that short exchange. An awkward silence stretched between them for a few moments.
"Don't you want to introduce us, Aoife?", the blonde said and looked the Orc up and down. She had a twinkle in her eye that caught his attention.
"No, I don't think I..-"
"Then allow me to introduce myself", she was interrupted with a cheerful laugh. "I'm Dana, pleased to meet you."
Borkul looked down to the hand she offered and slowly took it in his own to shake it. "Borkul."
"Yes, I know. You have really big hands."
Next to them Aoife murmured something unintelligible and downed her ale in a few large gulps. The Orsimer still wasn't sure what was going on but the way Dana smiled at him and straightened her back gave him an idea. The woman was young and beautiful for a human, her blonde hair fell over her shoulders and the revealing Forsworn armor she wore showed all her features. On her breasts was clearly visible Dibellan amulet. Borkul decided that this had to be his lucky day.
"So, Borkul..", Dana said with a teasing smile that he returned.
"Aoife, do you have a moment?", Madanach called from the other side of the firepit.
"Oh, no.. I.."
"It's okay, you can go. I think Borkul and I won't get bored." Even though Dana spoke to Aoife, she didn't break eye contact with him.
"But.."
"Seriously, you can leave us." This time Dana's voice was a little more annoyed and Borkul couldn't suppress a chuckle.
With a last sharp look, Aoife left them and walked over to her father.
"So, where was I? Right.. Borkul, I've heard they call you the Beast. Care to tell me where that comes from?"
He cocked his head and smiled down to the woman. "No. But I can show you..."
"...and take them outside to Ieawa and Revvach?", her father said while he shoved two filled plates into her hands.
"You called me over to bring food to the guards?", Aoife asked with a sober voice. She glanced back over the fire to Dana. The young woman briefly touched Borkul's arm while she spoke and Aoife saw that she also had moved closer. She wasn't sure why it bothered her so much despite the fact that he was an Orsimer. It was nothing out of the ordinary that Dana tried to hook up with somebody but in this particular case Aoife had the feeling that she had to protect her young sister.
"They volunteered to keep watch all night so everyone else could attend the party you wanted", Madanach answered sternly.
Aoife sighed. He was right. All of this had been her idea but someone had to guard their camp nevertheless and it was only fair to bring them some of the freshly roasted meat. Besides, she only had her father back for a week and the last thing she wanted was an argument.
"Are you at least enjoying yourself, daughter?"
"Of course I am..." Her eyes wandered back to the other side of the fire but she saw neither Dana nor Borkul. She frowned but was quickly distracted by Kaie who joined them with two mugs of mead.
"Have you seen Duach?" Duach was one of the men who had escaped Cidhna Mine and over the past week Aoife had seen him and Kaie talk quite a few times. Right now he came towards them with two mugs in his hands and stopped in his tracks when he saw Kaie holding mugs as well. They laughed at each other.
"You're trying to make me drunk, woman?"
"You don't need me for that", Kaie said with a laugh and tuck her arm under his to walk him to a bench.
Madanach eyed them and mumbled into his beard. When Aoife looked at him questioningly, he nodded over to the two Forsworn who tried to get rid of the surplus mugs by downing them.
"At least they are taking care of the survival of our kind." His daughter grimaced at his words but he kept talking. "I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that no grandchildren greeted me when we arrived."
She rolled her eyes. Kaie had tried to talk her into this a few times in the past, often under the aspect that Aoife had turned 26 this year. "Don't get me started on the potential fathers. None of them was worth a second thought."
"Did Cathal raise my baby girl into a picky woman? I might have to talk with him.."
"I thought that it was every father's dream to have a daughter who won't let the first admirer impregnate her? You should be glad." The plates in her hands started to weigh down her arms and she turned around to finally bring them to their destination.
"The final word has not yet been spoken, daughter!", Madanach called after her but he sounded amused.
The young woman shook her head as she walked through the celebrating people, carefully balancing the heavy plates, and left the party down the path by the grain mill. Meannán, the domesticated goat Dana had raised by hand a few years ago, greeted her excitedly and Aoife had to rise the plates to avoid her curious snout. She shooed the animal away before she continued her way across the bridge and through the tunnel that would lead her into the open – and nearly dropped the plates.
In front of her, right where the tunnel widened, were two shapes in the faint light of the only torch. She stopped dead in her tracks and couldn't turn her eyes away. The massive figure of Borkul faced the wall, one of his hands supporting him against the stony walls while the other hand was buried in the blonde hair of the woman kneeling in front of him. Her brain couldn't process the scene she witnessed, even if her eyes took in the details – like his heavy breathing or how his armor laying in a bundle at his ankles – it didn't seem to reach the conscious part of her mind. She was brought back into reality by an angry voice.
"Either you join in, princess.. or leave us the fuck alone!", Borkul gasped out but whatever Dana was doing, it made him tilt his head back with a groan.
Aoife finally unfroze and felt the blood rise in her cheeks. "Oh don't mind me...", she muttered and was about to turn around to run back into the cave when she remembered why she had taken this way in the first place and scurried towards the exit and out into the fresh air.