Chapter 4
Farkas and Nihren had been traveling toward Falkereth for two days now. There was a drizzle falling since morning, and they were already soaked to their bones.
They arrived the city around noon, the smell of food luring them to the inn. As soon as they entered the room they were sure something was wrong. The place was practically empty. At this time of the day it was supposed to be full of workers eating lunch, drinking and talking. Instead, there were only the barmaid and a old man off to the side, who seemed to be dead drunk.
Farkas went forward to ask for a room while Nihren went back to the horses to get their things, all the while looking for signs of what was going on. She could see further on the road what seemed to be a gathering in the cemetery, but it was too far to hear anything besides the raised voices. She went back inside and toward their room. Farkas was already inside, so she came in and closed the door.
"So, what do you think?" He asked while taking off his wet clothes. She took a little while to answer, distracted by his naked back.
" Well, I don't know what is going on, but there is something wrong in this place. Just saw a bunch of people in the graveyard. I'm thinking of going there to find out."
He nodded, finishing putting a dry set o clothes. She quickly changed herself, and they went back to the common room to order lunch, saying they would be back soon.
The rain had finally stopped, and the sun was starting to appear from beneath the clouds. They walked over to the gathering, trying not to draw too much attention. It seems the gathering was a funeral for a small girl who had been murdered by an outsider, who was arrested at the scene.
Nihren was curious, something in the story didn't fit in. A few of the town's people had said the man had tear the girl apart, but no normal man could do that. And if he could, what was stopping him from leaving the jail?
They went back to the inn for their lunch. The food was ready so they sat in a table off to the side, where they could keep on eye to the door and who came in.
"What are you thinking about hun?" Nihren asked in a low voice. She had noticed the tense set of his shoulders while they had walked around the town.
"Well, I'm not sure... But I think there is a ..." He looked around to see if someone was trying to listen to them. " ...wolf here. His smell is weak, but it's definitely here..."
"Are you sure? I can't smell anything..." She sniffed to prove the point, not smelling anything beside the food and the other occupants of the room.
"Yeah, I'm sure... You probably can't notice it yet because you have just joined..." Well, she didn't want to argue with him, but she didn't agreed. She hadn't " just joined", after all she was already the companion's Harbinger, and that hadn't happened in one day. She frowned but stayed quiet.
The thought that another werewolf was in town made her think. A normal human couldn't tear apart a little girl, but a wolf could. She nodded to Farkas, showing that he had a point. Maybe they should visit the city's prison.
The prison cell that the men was on was a strange one. It was build like an arena, with its middle and the first step filled with water, making prisoner always remain inside the water.
The man was dressed in dirty rags, and looked as if he was about to faint from exhaustion, with black circles under his eyes, something that was very common between werewolves thanks to their lack of sleep.
As soon they had entered the prison they were sure that that man was one of them. The smell didn't lie. Nihren went forward and started to talk to the man, who said his name was Sidding. He told them his story, about how he had stolen the ring from Hircine so he could learn how to control his wolf form, and how it hadn't worked. In the end he gave them the ring, so they could give it back to the Hunter's Lord by killing " The Great Beast".
Nihren wasn't worried, after all it was just another easy "give something back" request. Besides, the only problem would be the spontaneous transformations the ring caused, but both she and Farkas had been werewolves for a good while now, she was sure they could control themselves easily. If not, she just had to be sure to not put the ring on her finger.
Then, the man transformed and escaped through the hole in the ceiling without the guards noticing. Whoever had designed that cell didn't have ever imagined that a beast like that would have been arrested in it, or he wouldn't have put that hole.
She slipped the ring in one of her pockets, and turned to Farkas, motioning with her head to the door.
They returned to the inn and sat down for a while in the same table as before, drinking Ale and talking in low voices, enjoying the night, until they were feeling sleepy enough. Then, they retreated to their room for a good night of sleep, or at least, as good as beast could sleep.
It was in the middle of the night when Nihren woke up with a strange feeling. She looked up at Farkas, but he was sleeping deeply and snoring softly, undisturbed. She raised herself on her elbows, looking around the room. There wasn't anything out of place, and no one to be seen.
Slowly the sensation started to go away, she probably had imagined it. She laid back down and raised her right hand to rub her eyes. But then, something cold touched her cheek. She looked at her hand and chill went through her body. A single silver ring laid in her third finger, the wolf's head shined in the glow of the only candle in the room, its fangs glowing softly at her in a snarl. Hircine's ring.
She gasped, how had that ring gone to her finger?! She sit up, whispering Farkas name while she tried to pull the ring off. There was no success.
Farkas got up startled, quickly looking around the room, half way to standing, searching for any possible threat. Finding none, he looked at her, seeing how desperate she was trying to pull the ring off her finger.
" What happened?!" He asked, moving so he could help her.
" Dunno, I woke up and the ring was on my finger! And I can't take it off!"
He grabbed her hand, and tried to pull the ring off, having no success, he got up, going for their bags and picking a few items, such as a bow of mammoth cheese ( the thing was really greasy), the oil they used to polish their swords and a few potions. It didn't matter what they put to try to pull the ring off, nothing worked.
After a while, they sat in the bed, looking at her hand and the possible threat. Nihren signed in resignation " I guess we have no other option..."
"What do you mean?!" Farkas was starting to imagine the worst case scenario, trying to imagine how loud she would scream, and how mad she would be if he cut her finger off.
"We have to kill the Great Beast as fast as possible!"
Well, Farkas thought, that would be easier than cutting her finger...
-
They left the inn before the dawn. The mist was still around, and only the guards were in the streets. As they passed on their horses, the guards looked at them with suspicion, wondering why the outsiders were leaving in the middle of the night.
Farkas yawned, he was tired. Nihren had woken him when he had finally fallen asleep. It was really hard for him to fall asleep in other places aside from home, after all, he was always expecting to be attacked, his wife being the dragonborn made her quiet feared by a few people.
He looked at her, there were no sleep in her eyes and she was alert as ever. They had agreed that if she felt anything strange she would tell him, but what he was supposed to do they didn't knew. Maybe run, run would be good...
They left the city through the east gate, up to the mountains, toward where the man had said the beast would be. They didn't know what this great beast was, a dragon? A bear? Perhaps a wolf? Or a troll? What could it be the beast that the Lord of the Hunters used as a symbol?
A few miles away from the city they stopped. Up in front of them there was a construction, like observations towers with a bridge connecting both sides, and beneath them where piles of rocks tied, ready to fall over travelers. The bandits didn't seem to have noted them, after all, no arrows were flying toward them.
Nihren dismounted and tied her horse to the side of the road, in the shadows, and so did Farkas. They kneeled behind the trees, and watched for any movement.
"I count two of them. You?"
" Yeah, just two."
Nihren nodded and pulled out her bow and arrows. Pulling the strig she aimed for the one who was awake, and let go. The arrow hit the man in the back, and he fell over he bridge. If the arrow hadn't killed him, the fall sure did.
The second man woke mumbling something, he was sitting in the tower on the left, behind the wooden guard-rail. She tried to aim, but she couldn't hit him. She shook head, so Farkas stood up and pulled out his sword. She put the bow and quiver back, and pulled out her own sword.
As quiet as possible they left the protection of the shadows and moved toward the only visible way to get up in the tower. By this time the other bandit was already awake and searching for the attackers. He saw them when they arrived the at the top of the tower on the right. He pulled out his own bow and aimed for them.
Nihren ran forward, there were no point in being discreet anymore. As soon as she arrived the bridge the men let go of the arrow. It passed close to her head. She jumped forward using a shout to get to the other side faster and slammed herself against the man, who fell. She pulled back a few steps and raised her sword ready to kill the man in one blow.
An arrow missed her chest by centimeters thanks to Farkas, who had grabbed the back of her armor and pulled her back. The archer was down the tower, hidden behind some trees, where they couldn't have see him before.
The first men stood up, grabbing his sword and moved forward swinging his sword toward Farkas left arm. Farkas moved fast, raising his own sword to block the attack. The two continued to fight. Farkas was much bigger than the bandit, and so he had a bigger reach, and, being in such a small space as the top of the tower, that meant a lot. He slashed the man's arm making him let go of the sword. As he was moving to make the kill he heard the call.
"Farkas!"
Her voice sounded pained and grave. He turned and saw her crunched around herself, and for one moment he feared that an arrow had found its way to her stomach. But as soon her bones started to crack and fur started to appear he knew he was wrong.
She transformed. Her dark fur and white fangs were shining in the light of the lone torch. She let out a long howl and growled at them. Her blood red eyes were looking straight at him, as if she was challenging him, and he felt his own beast fighting for control so it could show her who was in charge.
She took a step forward, but before she could do anything else, an arrow hit the guard-rail, making her turn her attention to it. The archer had clearly missed her and with that he had made himself a target. She turned toward him, and before Farkas could stop her, she jumped down the tower and went toward him. With one sweep of her claws she opened the men stomach. He fell to the ground and with that she was over him, ripping pieces and eating the man alive.
Farkas stood still, watching the scene. He knew he had to do something, but he didn't know what. It was only when the second bandit passed running by him, holding his injured arm , that Farkas managed to take action.
He moved forward, sheathing his sword , and going down the two levels of the tower so he could reach her. He stopped a few steps from her left, breathing fast from the adrenalin.
"Nihren!" He called her in a rushed voice, as if not to scare her. But she didn't even paid him attention, continuing to eat the man corpse.
" Nihren!" He tried again, this time putting more strength to the call. She turned to him, mouth and front paws full of blood. She stared at him before starting to snarl and taking a step forward, hesitating. She knew he was also a wolf, and she could tell he was stronger than her, but that wouldn't stop her from attacking.
But then, the attack never came. An arrow buried itself in her left thigh, making her howl and turn toward her attacker.
Under the bridge, holding a bow, was the last bandit. As soon that she turned, he let go of the bow regretting the attack, and started to run. As she went after him, Farkas tried to grab her as she passed, a curse leaving his lips when all he got was a hand full of fur. But before she could reach her prey, she stepped on the trap under the bridge, making all the rocks fall over her.
She jumped to the side, trying to escape from the rocks, but one of them hit her in the back and another hit her head. She fell down, with few of the smaller rock still hitting her back, and stayed still, returning to her naked original form.
"Nihren!" Farkas screamed her name, reaching for her, and turning so he could see her face and check her heart. She was still alive, but her head was bleeding and who knew what kind of injuries she might have had. He looked around but there were no signs of the last bandit, and Farkas didn't had the time to look for him.
He picked her up, and ran to where they had left their horses. He put her down in the soft grass and pulled her old cape that was still humid, on top of her. He quickly went to their bags, searching for a healing potion. Because Nihren knew a few healing spells, they didn't carried many potions. They preferred to sell them all, so if he found any, it would be luck. Maybe they should change that.
He went for his own bag, remembering having a small healing potion somewhere in there. He found it in one of the smaller pockets and moved over her, to make her drink as much as he could. After he was sure she had swallowed most of it, he picked her up and put her on the horse, mounting it right after.
They had to leave that place as fast as possible. Who knew where that last bandit had gone to? And who he would bring with him.
They left with the two of them on top of Farkas horse, with him holding her with one arm and her horse being pulled along. Farkas didn't knew where to go. He couldn't go back to the city, what if the news that she was a werewolf had arrived there? No, that wasn't a option. He had to find somewhere safe.
Slowly, Nihren started to return to her conscience. The first thing she noticed was that everything hurt. Everything. Her head, back and thigh were pounding worst than the others, and she could swear a mammoth had danced on top of her.
She could hear someone moving, trying to be quiet, and immediate went alert. Trying to not alert the other person of her awakening, she slowly opened her eyes, keeping her breath steady. Everything was a blur at the beginning but things were starting to form. She could see the sky between the trees, a lazy breeze was moving the leafs, hiding and revealing the sun. She snapped her eyes shut when a sunshine hit her eyes, making her head pound harder. She took a deep breath to make the pain go away, also noticing the smell of her mate, revealing who it was that was sitting nearby.
She raised her hand to her head, feeling the bandages around it, growing softly when her fingers found the wound. In a few movements Farkas was beside her, holding her hand, preventing her of touching too much.
" Wha-" she cough, her troath dry, and had to press the balls of her hands to her head as it pounded again.
" It was the ring. It made you transform." Farkas answered in a low voice. He picked a tankard with water and brought it to her lips, helping her to raise her head, letting her take a small sup.
She signed. What did I got myself into... "You okay?" She asked him. He nodded, his hand lingering on her hair, caressing it. He stood, telling her to sleep, that he would stay watching, and she gave in. She was tired and sleep would do her good.
On the next day they got up early. She still had pain all over her body, but that wouldn't stop her from getting rid of that dammed ring. They left camp, searching for any type of clue. The region was known for its forests and the huge number of deer. They searched for the beast all the morning, stopping only to eat a quick lunch.
The sun was starting to set when first saw it. It was a completely white elk. It's fur giving him a eerie glow in the sunset light, and it was almost twice the size of a normal elk. As soon as they put they eyes on it, they knew that was the great beast they had to hunt. The kill was fast and clean, just one well placed arrow to the heart.
Nihren stood beside it's body, with Farkas taking her back, noticing how the glow of the fur slowly started to leave the body, moving so it would take the form of a man. The ghost of Hircine, the Lord of the Hunters, stood in front of them, arms open, clamming how a great hunt that had been. He congratulated them and Nihren took the opportunity to give his ring back, apologizing in Sidding's name.
"Oh no! I cannot just ignore such offense! Hunt that beast and bring me his hide my Champions!"
The ghost disappeared, leaving them alone, staring at nothingness. Nihren signed " Remind me, why did I accepted to help again?" But Farkas only answer was a annoyed noise as they returned to their horses.
-
They traveled to the cave where Hircine had told them Sidding would be without much surprises. In order to control the beast, Nihren made sure to transform in her own accord and hunt to keep the beast seated, but in order to prevent new surprises, Farkas would also transform so he could control her if she lost it.
They arrived at the sanctuary, as the locals called it, in the following day. They could see others had already arrived, and the smell of blood leaving the cave was strong. They entered with their swords out, looking for possible traps. And were faced with a camp full of bodies of a group of hunters. One of them, a kajiit, was still alive, breathing hard and bleeding from claw wounds in his stomach. He warned them about the beast inside, but they weren't worried. After all, Sidding didn't have a chance against two other wolfs.
Farkas stood to the side while Nihren talked to the man, trying to find the smell of their prey. After she was done, Nihren stood and followed him to a path to the side of the main cave. They didn't even try to hid, after all, if they could smell Sidding, it was sure he already knew they were there. It didn't take too long for the ex-prisoner to show up in front of them, up in a rock.
He tried to convince them to let him live, promising he would stay away from humans, but Nihren knew that wasn't possible. The man himself had admitted not having control over his beast, and she was sure someday, when he was hungry perhaps, he would lose himself, ending up killing another innocent.
And so Sidding run. Nihren and Farkas quickly went after him, but not before he killed others two hunters that where in his way. Quickly Nihren lost her patience and allowed the beast to take over. If it was a hunt Hircine wanted, it was a hunt he would get.
Following his wife, Farkas changed to his beast form, and went a separated way in order to corner their prey. Having hunted and fought together many times they already knew how the other would move, and so, soon they had Sidding cornered.
Farkas was the first to attack, trapping the other male's movement and stopping him from hitting his mate. An once again, the kill was fast, but not so clean. With one sweep of her claws, Nihren ripped the man's throat, making him drown in him own blood.
With his death, Hircine's voice sounded over the cave, congratulating them for the great hunt and accepting the ring back. Nihren rubbed the place where the ring had been with relief. Before he was gone, Hircine ordered them to skin the wolf and made a armor form his hide. And with that he was gone.
Signing, Nihren turned, giving her husband a tired look. She picked up the armor made by the hide and put it on, feeling it's enchants and testing her movements. It was kind of disgusting to wear, but it would do for now.
She heard a disgusted noise from Farkas and turned to him with a question on her lips, but the look he gave her made her stop. Farkas wasn't the jealousy type, but smelling another wolf in his mate made him want to kill the man again.
Grumbling, he said " Let's just get out of here." Turning to the way that would take them back to where their stuff, and clothes were
"What is it Farkas? You didn't like my new armor? " Nihren asked playful, running a little to catch up with him. But his only answer was a grow.
She chuckled and continued " I don't know, this is pretty comfortable, maybe I should only wear this for now! "
Farkas stopped, looking back at her with a scowl, and before she could react properly he had her chest pinned against a rocky wall while his fingers quickly removed the hide from her body.
"Wha-!?"
Pressing his face to her neck, he snarled in her ear "I hate this bastard's smell over you, so take it off, now!"
Nihren's knees went week in arousal and her wounded leg let go. If Farkas hadn't been holding her, she would have ended in the floor.
As fast as she could, she removed the wolf's hide from her body, with Farkas only giving her space to turn around. And so, her naked breasts where pressed hard against his hot chest, and she couldn't stop a wanton moan from leaving her lips.
Farkas hands gripped her hips and his head bent to her neck, where he took a deep breath, taking in her smell.
He pulled back, seeing the desire in her eyes and in the way her body shivered for his touch. He hid away a smirk, and whispered in her ear in a low voice " Remember the rule honey, sex only back home." Before letting go of her and moving for his clothes, leaving her panting against the wall.
"Oh, and I bet I can get faster to the horses than you!"
Hey guys! :) So, this is the new chapter... yeah... I'm not sure if I liked it, but this was the initial idea that made me want to write this story, so I HAD to write it... I hope you guys liked... There were some missions that I believe that had a lot of potential in the romance department, so I think I will try to write some of them. That is, if you guys don't mint it... Sometimes, reading about the quest get really boring and wearisome, so I'll try not to stick so much to the game.
Oh, and if there is a quest you wanted to see, please tell me! I'll try to write it!
Well, I hope you guys liked it! :)
Please read& review! :D