I don't own anything except the OC and the plot.
5
Borkul had been right. Hacking at training dummies for hours on end and repeating the same attack and defense patterns over and over again was after a while the most annoying thing Aoife had to do.
She was doing this for weeks now; getting up in the morning, go out to train, meeting with the Orc in the evening and repeat. But she had to admit that she made progress. At first he had made her show him how she trained every evening, had overseen her movements and corrected her if necessary. After two weeks he wanted her to fight him again and every evening she thought she got better. Her attacks were more fluent, she knew now when to block his attacks and when to avoid them and even within the short time, she felt herself getting stronger.
Cathal had forged her a new sword, distinctly shorter than the usual Forsworn blades and it had improved her skills a lot. She still wasn't able to defeat Borkul, but sometimes, when he had beaten her and she was on the ground trying to catch her breath, she saw him nod approvingly – and actually felt pride.
Aoife didn't want to let him know, but she could finally see his place among her people. Most of them had accepted the Orc way more willingly than her, but she had to admit that he was actually really useful around the camp. He was willing to work for the tribe, didn't complain about tilling the field, went hunting with the others and was more hardworking than she had thought possible at the beginning. But beside his usefullness, she had got used to his character as well.
Sometimes they even sat on the thick walls of Deep Folk Crossing after training and Aoife tried her best to explain some of her people's ways to him. In a way it was like she tried to repay him for her training. Today was one of these evenings and Aoife enjoyed letting her sore legs hang loose over the edge of the bridge. The water streamed underneath them and the sun warmed their backs.
"...sometimes we travel to Deepwood Redoubt if the matriachs perform an important ritual, but to answer your question, no, we don't have our own altar here. Well, not anymore at least...", she added quietly.
Borkul leaned back, his arms supporting him. "You had one?"
"Mh.. yes, a few years ago.."
"What happened?" As it turned out, the Orc was very curious and now that she had started to answer his questions, it appeared he had a lot of them.
"That's... kind of hard to explain. But I can show you?", she suggested and swung her legs over to the other side.
Borkul chuckled. "Now? The sun's nearly down."
"Oh believe me, we don't want much light for this...", she mumbled and waited for him to join her on the solid side of the wall. "It's not far from the camp, come on."
Aoife led him down the hill and towards the cave but before the reached it, she turned right and followed the path south. Borkul followed her quietly. The sun had disappeared behind the mountains in the west and darkness settled over the Reach. But Aoife knew the land around her and would even find her way in pitch-black night.
Behind a rock she stopped and turned around to him. "I don't know how quiet you can be, but from now on you have to be even quieter, alright?", she said.
She heard his soft chuckle in the shadows. "What exactly are you showing me?"
"You will see. But I'm serious, if you can't be absolutely soundless, we're dead. Do you understand?"
"Alright, alright." His voice was lower now. "Lead the way."
She lead him through a small valley until the dark silhouette of a building came into view.
"W-" With a panicked look, Aoife spun around and put her hand over the Orc's mouth. It wasn't even close to covering all the teeth, but it was gesture enough. She shook her head, but wasn't sure if he could even see her in the growing darkness. At least he was so surprised that she had just touched his face, that he stopped talking right away.
Instead of answering, she took hold of his wrist – taking his hand would be way too awkward – and with a gentle pull, made him follow her up the hill towards the building. Pressing agains the cold stones, Aoife moved towards the edge and very carefully, peeped around the corner. She stepped away and signaled Borkul to do the same. They switched places and the Orc looked around the corner like she had done before. Aoife still held his wrist, just in case he moved too far – not that she would be able to hold him.
She felt him freeze beside her.
"That...that was... that was a fucking.."
"Dragon, yes", she tried to help him out. They were back at Druadach Redoubt and Borkul didn't think he had ever been happier to be underground or inside a cave. The small stream ran behind the bench they sat on.
"A dragon", he repeated with a hollow voice. The young woman beside him looked at him sympathetically. He had never seen a dragon before. The so called Dragonborn had been inside Cidhna Mine and even escaped the prison with them, before leaving them as soon as they had managed to get out of the city, but Borkul had believed the woman was just another who tried to make herself more important and influential than she actually was. Now he felt like he owed her an apology for shrugging the talk of dragons and the Dragonborn off as superstitious nonsense.
"Where did it come from?"
Aoife shrugged. "We don't know. One day it was charging from the sky and killed everything it saw. The hagraven and a few others were doing the ritual of the upcoming season that day... none of them survived."
"Have you tried killing it?" Borkul looked at her with a strange look. If it had been there for a few years now, shouldn't they had taken back the place by now?
"Yes, we tried", she said with a frown. "And failed, as you can see. Why do you think our tribe is this small, hm?"
She got up and left him to his thoughts. Borkul looked after her and saw how she clenched her fists. She had such small fists... his thoughts wandered back to when she had grabbed his wrist and put her hand over his mouth. Unconsciously he licked over his lips and imagined that he could still taste her. Of course, he couldn't, but he wondered how it would be.
Watching her train and fight him day after day, had made him see her in a different way than before. Well, even before he had sometimes appreciated her body, but not like this. Now he was glad that he had a reason to watch her every evening and let his mind wander off from time to time. More than once he had thought about bending her over the side of the bridge when she had fought him particularly fierce or her eyes tried to spear him after he had defeated her. But she was Madanach's daughter and the king was very protective. He surely wouldn't like it.
Besides, Borkul had to admit, that he liked the way they could talk now without her losing her temper everytime, it was light and simple and would probably stop as soon as he made a move. He furrowed his brows as he watched Aoife walk up to the upper levels of the cave, his eyes following the light swaying of her hips before he tore them away. It wasn't just that he was attracted to her, the fact that he didn't want to destroy the fragile relationship that they had only now established, said enough. He actually liked her and that gave him a headache.
Getting up, he decided that he had to search for Dana if he wanted to sleep tonight at all. The blonde and he had met a few times after Aoife had stumbled upon them. It was a very uncomplicated arrangement, whenever one of them felt an urge, they met somewhere to get rid of it and that was it. Borkul knew for a fact that Dana had that arrangement with at least two other men at the camp, but he didn't care. She was doing this on her own account and he happily accepted the opportunity.
He found the young woman near the forge where she was in a deep conversation with another woman and he managed to catch her eyes. With a nod he signaled her to meet him outside. They had decided that it was better to leave the camp to avoid any disturbance. Of course, the guards saw them leave and come back, but they didn't try to keep their meetings a secret and mereley seeked some privacy.
Around some rocks, Borkul waited. It was the perfect spot, the river was close enough to drown out any sounds and it was secluded. He didn't have to wait long until the blonde joined him.
"Rough day?", Dana asked with shiny eyes and a knowing smile. She was already loosening the bindings of her clothes. "I heard you visited the old wall?"
Borkul followed her lead and ditched his own armor on the ground. "Yes, it was... interesting."
"Exciting?" She tilted her head and shamelessly looked at his arousal.
"Definitely", he answered and stepped towards her. She was a beautiful woman, with full breasts and inviting hips that she knew how to use to get what she wanted. Lifting her up on a rock, he lowered his head unto her neck and took a deep breath. He could smell someone else on her, but it didn't bother him. Her skin wasn't his and therefore she didn't had to smell just of him or herself.
He opened her knees with his hands and pulled her closer. Like all the times before, she was already ready for him and with a deep growl, he pushed himself inside her.
Aoife woke up later than usual. The men and women of her tribe were already up and busy around the cave and someone was already roasting meat. She had stayed up later than usual, too, sharing stories around the campfire with the others. The short trip to their old ritual place had brought many memories throughout the entire tribe and especially the older ones liked to share whatever connected them to the old wall. She had heard stories about sacrificing Nord hunters to the old gods, about Cathal becoming a Briarheart – which was something she actually remembered – or, as the evening got later and some had more than enough mead, stories about fertility rites that nearly made her blush. But it were evenings like these that made her love the people around her even more.
Her father greeted her at the great fire. Kaie and Dana were beside him and they squeezed up to make space for her on the bench. Aoife let herself sink next to her sisters and helped herself to some bread.
"We had a visitor this morning. A messenger from Lost Valley", Madanach said and pulled a roll of paper from his belt.
"Oh..?" Aoife looked at him questioningly while chewing on her bread.
"It's from Niall."
"Oh!" Her eyes grew wide and she gestured him to hand her the roll while she tried to swallow the dry bread. Dana wordlessly handed her a mug of water to wash down the crumbs.
"Apparently he had agreed to let the hagravens perform the ritual and turn him into a Briarheart", her father said as she read through the roll herself.
"That's a great honor", Kaie agreed and sipped on her tea – or whatever steaming brew was inside her mug.
"He asks me to witness the ritual", Aoife said after she had finished the letter. Niall had grown up at Druadach Redoubt just like her before he had decided that he wanted to strive for more than being a simple warrior. There had been no prospect of another matriach joining their clan in the future, so he had moved to a bigger camp where his chances of becoming a Briarheart were increased.
"He always was a good boy", Madanach grumbled into his beard. "It's good to hear that his wish is about to come true."
"It is...", Aoife agreed absently. "I would love to go to Lost Valley. I haven't been there in years."
"It's a long journey." Her father looked sceptical.
"We have to maintain our relationship with the other clans, father. It's something I've been doing for years. I can travel in disguise."
"I think I have one of those dresses somewhere...", Dana said and looked around the cave like she was trying to remember in which chest she had stuffed the clothes.
"Perfect! And before you say anything, father... Borkul can wear some armor, so he will actually look like my bodyguard."
Madanach smiled at the young women's attempts to convince him. "You agree that he should accompany you?"
"I don't, I can make the journey on my own, but I know you will insist, won't you?" Aoife returned the smile.
"Oh, I would love to visit Lost Valley Redoubt", Dana said with dreamy eyes. "It always sounds so... impressive."
The king furrowed his brows when he looked at the young blonde. "I can't ask Borkul to look after the two of you", he said but his tone was strange, like he expected a different sort of trouble if he let Dana travel with them. "Besides, the invitation is for Aoife, isn't it? We can't exploit their hospitality any further, it will be difficult enough to convince them that Borkul also comes."
Dana looked disappointed but she didn't dare to object.
"The ritual is scheduled in a fortnight. I think you should depart in about a week?"
"Yes, that should do", Aoife agreed.
"I will inform Borkul. And I think you have some training to do, don't you, daughter?"
With a sigh she got up and ruffled the other women's heads as goodbye which earned her a squeak from Dana and a curse from Kaie. She crossed the cave and saw her father approaching the Orc on the side. Throwing a greeting wave his way, she left the camp. Training outside was a little less boring, at least she had the wind and the sun – and sometimes rain, which made it worse – but it helped her focus when the task became too dull. She had worked her way up to more difficult combinations that she could only use in specific situations and she tried to get into her muscle memory. Even though she wasn't sure if she would ever have to defend herself against someone who fought with only a shield and a spoon, Borkul had insisted. According to him, he had been in that situation, but Aoife wasn't sure if he had only been making fun of her because she had added the spoon to the image.
She trained for several hours before taking a break and then trained some more. It had become her daily routine now, with a few exceptions when she had accompanied other for a hunt or helped Dana who had made it her task to maintain everyone's clothes. Spinning around the training dummies was strangely relaxing, in the beginning she had to concentrate on every movement, every step, every twist of her wrist. But now her body knew what to do and she could let her mind wander off.
The journey to Lost Valley Redoubt would be a welcomed distraction from her everyday life. It had been a few month since she had last visited another clan. Having good relationships with others was crucial if they ever wanted to clear the Reach of the Nords, none of their tribes could do it on their own. The invaders were too many and even though they held them at bay for now, Aoife knew that most Nords didn't feel threatened enough. The city of Markath had already felt the Forsworn's wrath, when they had taken it many years ago as well as in the last few years where they had focused on attacking trading caravans and carriages.
But it wasn't only because of the diplomatic relationship that she looked forward to the journey. Seeing Niall again, even if he would be changed after the ritual, was exciting. They hadn't seen each others in years when as children they had been inseparable. And seeing the ritual itself also played a part. The Briarheart ritual was one of the most impressive ones and Aoife had only witnessed Cathal's so far.
Hopefully the week of waiting would be over soon.