The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim - Chapter 26: Meeting Hircine
It's the Great Hunt time woooo
What's this? A upload one week after the next one? I had this pre written for like 2 weeks, this will be a very very rare occurrence and may not happen again.
After Link left the inn, he wandered down the path until he encountered Mathies at what was presumably the man's house. He was in the back, working the various crops that were growing in the soil.
'How do I approach this?' Link decided to just walk up to the man and hope for the best. "Hello, are you Mathies?"
"Yes. Name's Mathies Caerellia." Mathies leaned against the hoe he had been tending the crops with and looked down at Link thoughtfully. "You're the one that's been running around dealing with the dragons, aren't you?"
"Yes. I'm sorry to trouble you about what occurred at the graveyard earlier." Link briefly hesitated. "What happened to your daughter?"
Mathies sighed. "Lavinia was ripped apart by a laborer named Sinding, now rotting in jail for his deed. I'd go question him myself, but I'm certain the murderer himself would be dead by my hand before morning. The only saving grace he has is that my daughter didn't suffer."
"I could ask him for you, if you want."
"You would do this?" When Mathies saw Link nod, the grieving mad smiled a bit. "Thank you. He should be housed in the village jail, which is located in the barracks."
"Where would I find those?"
"I'll walk you there myself." Mathies set the iron hoe against a nearby wooden barrel and motioned for Link to follow him.
Several minutes later, Link found himself in the basement of the Falkreath Barracks. A lone guard walked up to him. "A new face, don't see many of those around here very often, what can I help you with?"
"I'm here to question Sinding on behalf of Mathies."
The guard scowled. "Him? He's sitting in the northeastern cell, awaiting his death sentence. He already confessed, not sure why Mathies wants you to talk to him, but fair enough."
After heading in the direction pointed out by the lone guard, Link soon came across an occupied circular cell with a large grate in the middle. A man was sitting on the sorry excuse for a bed behind the bars, which was located on a small raised platform accessible by a wooden ladder.
Before Link could say or ask anything, the man noticed him. "Are they sending Legion soldiers to question me now? What do you want?"
Link shifted from side to side slightly in the hallway. "…I just arrived in Falkreath not too long ago and came across some people over at the graveyard. I asked them what happened, and they revealed that apparently… You killed their daughter. …You are Sinding, aren't you?"
The man sighed and nodded, confirming his identity. "Believe me, it wasn't anything I ever intended to do. I just... lost control. I tried to tell them, but none of them believed me. It's all on account of this blasted ring."
"Ring? Of what sort?"
Sinding got up and lumbered over to the bars, then looked down the hallway for any passing guards before he pointed to a ring he was wearing. "This is the Ring of Hircine."
Link inspected the ring from where he was: it was being worn by Sinding on the man's right ring finger, the ring itself was steel, adorned by swirled carvings and a small carved wolf's head. "Does the ring serve a purpose?"
Sinding nodded. "It allows lycanthropes - werewolves - to be able to turn whenever they want, whenever they want. Unlimited transformations."
"Sounds pretty useful to me - wait you're a -"
"Quiet!" He hissed. "Don't let the guards hear you." The shapeshifter interrupted Link, who realized his error and nodded in return. "To answer your question, yes. I stole the ring from Hircine himself, to try to control my transformations. Due to my actions, Hircine discovered what I had done, and cursed the ring."
"Then what happened?"
"My plan backfired, and I was standing before Lavinia, and then… I turned. The girl never stood a chance. I have a plan to, not necessarily fix the current issue, but to at least get rid of the ring. I've been looking for a way to appease Hircine. There is a certain beast in these lands. Large, majestic. It's said that Hircine will commune with whoever slays it. I tracked it into these woods, but then I had my... accident with the child. I want to beg for his forgiveness. Give him back the ring. But while I'm stuck in here, the beast wanders free."
"I could take the ring off your hands if you want."
Sinding blinked. "You would do this? For me? A complete unfortunate stranger?"
Link nodded. "I'm not exactly like you, however…" He looked down the hallway - no guards were nearby - then quickly turned into a wolf and shook himself.
"This is absolutely wonderful." Sinding seemed delighted with the outcome, and as Link then returned to normal, the prisoner reached down, took the ring from his finger, and held it towards the Hylian. "Here. Take the ring, I don't ever want to see the wretched thing again."
Link took the ring from Sinding. "What happens now?"
Sinding moved back from the bars to the middle of the cell and looked up. "You must seek out the White Stag. It wanders the nearby woods. Kill it, and Hircine may appear before you if you win his favor. As for me, I'll take my leave. Thank you, and if we meet again, perhaps it'll be a favorable meeting for both of us."
Before Link could respond, a blackened mist or fog started to surround Sinding, he appeared to almost fold in on himself as he wildly waved his arms about - and then there was a massive bipedal wolf standing in the cell.
The Hylian took a step back from the bars. 'Seems painful, but do the benefits of the form outweigh the negative ones…' He watched as the beast growled and sniffed in his direction, then lumbered towards the bars.
Link waited in silent apprehension as the werewolf gazed at him with unblinking golden eyes. The beast then nodded towards the Dragonborn, looked up, then leapt towards a wall and climbed it. Sinding then vanished from view, dust raining down on the now empty cell from the disturbed wall.
'Guess I should leave now.' Link thought to himself as he looked at the ring in chain in his hand. 'Sinding said the ring was cursed, will it also affect me?' There was only one way to find out, and so, Link took the ring and slid the metal piece onto one of his fingers.
As he moved away from the cell and started to walk down the hallway, Link fell forwards, and when he landed on the mossy dirty floor of the barracks, he was a wolf.
'…Well this is a problem.' The transformed human thought to himself as he instinctively shook his furred body. He then looked around, then started to trot down the hallway, hoping that no guards would find him.
When he rounded the corner, however, Link felt himself shift, and he managed to catch himself against a wall to keep his balance. 'How frequently does the ring activate? Didn't Sinding say it was uncontrollable? This is worse than when I first appeared in this world. …Seems like I need to find that stag as soon as possible.'
Link waited a few seconds, then pushed himself away from the wall and continued to walk towards the barracks exit.
A passing guard noticed him and approached. "You... I saw that you were talking to that murderous savage. And then he escaped somehow. What are you hiding?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Link.
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Then how did he escape?" The guard pressed, setting a hand on the sword at his side.
'What do I say?' "He climbed the wall."
"Climbed the wall…" The Guard repeated. "Stay here. I'll go see if what you say is true."
Link let the guard pass and watched as the man walked around the corner. A minute later, the guard returned. "There are claw marks on the wall. Alright, you're free to go."
The Hylian didn't stay longer than was necessary, and quickly left the barracks. He then headed off for the stables.
Fortunately, the ring hadn't activated again until after Link had retrieved Epona from the stables. Thankfully, Link hadn't been injured by the sudden transformation, and no one had seen it happen.
"Are you alright?"
"That depends on what specific topic you ask me about."
The horse and wolf were resting in a grove some yards away from Falkreath, who were now in arms over an escaped werewolf and "rampaging beast."
Link was grateful he could finally talk to his friend, and she responded back in a conversation. This hadn't happened very much back home, so he decided he would take this opportunity whenever he could.
"You've been quiet."
"Yes. And?"
The mare moved closer to the wolf and attempted to hug him the best she could, by essentially trapping him with her front legs and bending her head to rest upon his. "I'm worried about you."
Link allowed the horse to hug him as he rested. "You have every right to."
The two were interrupted by nearby branches breaking.
An animal with a coat the shade of white stepped into view of Link and Epona, then began to drink from the small pond.
"That's it."
"Him." Epona blatantly pointed out with a nod.
"Ah, yes… him." Link corrected himself and stood, feeling awe at the sight of the White Stag. "…Do we follow him?"
"That Hircine fellow told you to hunt the stag, correct?"
"Yeah."
"Then let me help."
Link turned his head to gaze up at Epona. "Are you sure? What if you get hurt, or if you fall, or if -"
The mare reached down and nuzzled the canine reassuringly. "I'll be fine. When have I ever been in danger?"
"…Too many times to count." Link responded before he felt himself shooting upwards -
He fell forward, managing to stay upright by grabbing onto Epona's coat. "…This accursed ring…" Link muttered before he regained his balance and vaulted onto Epona's back.
Link then adjusted himself and checked to see if the White Stag had noticed his movements.
The creature had lifted his head and was gazing in Link's direction, but hadn't moved yet. But then the White Stag threw his head back, and made a noise - something like a howl or bellow - and took off at a gallop up the mountain.
The chase was on.
Epona took off after the stag without any guidance from Link; it was as if she intended to keep her earlier promise to help down the creature.
The stag led them through forests and over streams, always a bit too far in distance to down efficiently. However, over the course of the run, this changed. Perhaps the stag was growing tired, as he was now slowed down compared to when he had first started the chase.
"Try to keep up." Link told Epona as he reached behind him, got out his bow, got an arrow from the quiver, notched it to the bowstring, raised the bow towards the fleeing stag, and let go.
The arrow sailed through the air and hit true, as it sank into the right hind leg of the White Stag. The stag bellowed and slowed slightly, then continued moving at a much slower pace.
They were almost side by side now, and Epona slowly gained the small distance; as the horse did so, Link got an idea.
The Hylian drew Dawnbreaker and readied himself, then freed himself from Epona's saddle, waited, then took a leap of faith towards the stag.
Mid air, the ring's curse activated, and Link landed on the White Stag's back as a wolf, the sword landing somewhere nearby. He quickly lunged forward and sank his fangs into the back of the stag's neck, and hung on as best he could as the creature bucked and jumped while trying to throw him off.
To no avail, for as the stag's strength slowly waned, he fell to his front legs, then to the ground as Link leapt from the creature's back, then ran around to the White Stag's front and went for the jugular.
Hot blood sprayed in all directions - mostly landing on Link - as the fangs tore into muscle and bone. The stag died moments later, which caused Link to step back and try to clear his vision of blood, slight panic threatening to overwhelm him.
As he sought a water source to clean himself, the turned Dragonborn failed to notice something rising from the stag's corpse.
A few minutes later, the wolf returned from having found a small pond and thus cleaned himself of blood. Link then felt himself return to his human form, and only then did he notice the thing floating in the air. "What are you?"
The ghostly stag turned to face Link. "I am the spirit of the hunt, just one glimpse of the glorious stalker that your kind calls Hircine."
"Are you able to remove the curse from the ring?"
"I may consider it. But you must first do a service for my glory. The one who stole it has fled to what he thinks is his sanctuary, what mortals refer to as Bloated Man's Grotto. Just as a bear climbs a tree to escape the hunt, but only ends up trapping himself. Seek out this rogue shifter. Tear the skin from his body, and make it an offering to me."
"And if I refuse?" Link asked as Epona walked up beside him.
"It would not be wise, child. Either you do so, or someone else will do as I command." The stag spirit faded away and the two were left to ponder over what the Aspect of Hircine had said.
The grotto wasn't that hard to find. Link left Epona outside the entrance, and when he stepped inside, he was greeted with trees and waterfalls. There was a small pond nearby and - were those bodies?
As Link crossed the clearing, he looked up and saw that the sky was red. Somehow, there was a moon in the sky that was the shade of blood. 'Wonder what that is.'
He reached the bodies and found they were all Khajiit, and that one was still alive.
The fatally wounded cat noticed Link. "The prey is strong. Stronger than the hunters. But more will come. Bring him down, for the glories of Lord Hircine." The Khajiit smiled. "Do not worry about me, I go now to the Sands Behind the Stars." Then the cat closed his eyes and went limp, having passed away.
'These must have been the other Hunters Hircine sent here. Did Siding kill them?' Link briefly examined the bodies and wasn't able to come up with a true answer. He left the bodies alone, then checked the camp.
There was a locked chest behind the camp, when unlocked, it held five minor healing potions, a steel sword, and 100 Septims. Link took the items, then noticed there was another chest nearby the waterfall.
It was easy getting to the chest; this one was unlocked, and held 200 Septims, a major magicka potion, and an orcish bow.
Link took the items, then stood from the chest and made his way across the small lake back to solid ground. After that, he followed the nearby path until he happened across a rock ledge.
Then the beast appeared with a howl. A massive bipedal wolf was peering down at Link with golden eyes; he was standing on the rock ledge. "You. I know you, you helped me escape from that cell. Why are you here? Did you take back your promise and plan to slaughter me?"
"…Hircine told me to do so." Link responded.
"I can't stop you if that's what you want to do. Hircine is too powerful. But if you spare me, I can be a powerful ally to you. And I would promise to never return to civilized life. I know now that I can't live among people. I shall await your response." The werewolf said before he suddenly leapt from the rock ledge and landed before Link, who had to step back and tilt his head to look up at the beast.
'I don't want to kill him.' He decided. "I'll go against Hircine and spare you."
Sinding tilted his head to the left. "You will?" The werewolf asked. "Wonderful. Thank you for doing so, I was afraid you weren't." Sinding stepped closer to Link and bent down to eye level. "I sense it. I remember, back in the cell, you turned… Turn for me, and together, we shall take part in the Great Hunt."
Right then, the cursed ring activated, and when Link's vision cleared, he was sitting before the werewolf as a wolf.
Sinding seemed delighted as he circled Link, sniffing loudly at times. "Yes. You shall do. When you are ready, follow me, and we shall hunt our prey." The werewolf bounded a few feet away, over to a moss covered carved stone stairway.
'Not as if I have a choice.' Link got up and silently followed Sinding, who was always a few feet ahead of him as the two wandered down the path.
Then Sinding stopped. "Quiet. Do you hear them?"
Link stepped up next to the werewolf and strained his hearing…
Three hunters leapt down from the stairs and surrounded the two beasts. One stayed back and started to shoot their bow at Sinding, one stayed midrange, and the other went for Link.
Link let Sinding deal with the two other hunters while he started to circle the Khajiit that had chosen to attack him.
The wolf paused, then darted away once the Khajiit leapt at him with drawn daggers. He then leapt at the cat's hands and managed to knock the daggers away, then Link started to claw at the Khajiit's chest, hoping to get past the armor the cat was wearing.
His vision flashed red as the Khajiit racked sharp claws across his face, which caused Link to back away and try to clear his vision.
'This isn't going well. If only I had more training, I'm used to fighting as a human, not a wolf! What am I going to do…' The Hylian turned wolf eyed the Khajiit, who was advancing towards him.
'And they got back their daggers, great.' Link inwardly groaned in annoyance as his tail lashed back and forth. '…Think, there has to be some way out of this.'
Sinding threw the body of one Nord towards the Khajiit, which knocked the cat down. The Werewolf then went back to fighting the remaining Nord.
'…That works.' Link thought as he rushed up to the fallen Khajiit and leapt, aiming for an unprotected part of the cat's neck.
He then bit down, and didn't let up until the Khajiit stopped thrashing.
The remaining hunter saw this and charged Link, but Sinding grabbed the Nord and clawed him to death.
"Are you well?"
Sinding's voice reached Link, and the wolf moved away from the Khajiit and sat down. "…No." He eventually told Sinding.
The werewolf dropped the dead Nord and headed over to Link, then checked him over. "The ring's curse should turn you back soon. Heal yourself, then we will move on."
"…I'm fine. Let's keep moving." Link stated as he got up and waited for Sinding.
"Very well. Follow me."
The werewolf led Link further into the grotto, and soon they reached another clearing. At this point, the cursed ring activated and Link became human again.
He went ahead, trying to be silent as he crept on the hunters that had made camp in the clearing.
They saw him though, but they didn't attack.
At this point, Link heard sticks and leaves being broken and crushed behind him, and he half turned to see Sinding rushing towards the clearing with fangs and claws bared.
There was a yell of "werewolf" and "there's our prey!" - and then Link found himself being grabbed, his head tilted back and cold metal at his bare throat. "You thought you could distract us while the werewolf attacked, didn't you?"
His attacker was the Nord, and as Link struggled to free himself, he noticed movement to his left, some sort of weapon being swung towards him. He twisted his body away from the Nord, feeling a slight pain as the dagger ran across his throat, then looked back to see the Orc had injured the Nord.
The pain was growing worse by the second, so Link used Heal on himself and hoped that would be enough.
Sinding was fighting the Redguard, which left Link to face the other two hunters by himself. He quickly realized that he had no choice but to fight for his life, and begrudgingly reached to his side and drew Dawnbreaker.
The Orc charged first, Link easily side-stepped and then swung Dawnbreaker to the side, catching the Orc in the lower abdomen, which sent him to the ground.
Link ignored him as the Hylian then ducked, then rolled away from the Nord, who had ditched the dagger and was now holding some sort of war axe. "You're dead, kid. And the werewolf too."
"Not if I can help it." Link got up out of the roll and raised Dawnbreaker and the wooden spiked shield, then began to circle the Nord.
"Maybe after we're done with the werewolf, we'll have some fun with you - before we kill you." The Nord grinned and then laughed maniacally. "Oh, that'll be exciting."
"You're insane." Link responded blunty.
"We're all insane here, kid! You're just lucky we haven't killed you yet. In fact…" The Nord grinned. "Oh, hello, Eriana." He said delightfully.
Link spun around and caught a glimpse of the Redguard standing in front of him, only to be disarmed and forced to the ground after something struck him from behind.
As he tried to make sense of what was happening, he felt someone take hold of his helmet and start to try to remove it. "He's part of the legion, it seems like. Are they so desperate that they're recruiting kids now?" He couldn't tell who's voice that was.
Link tried to get up, or at least find Dawnbreaker, but he was pinned to the grass and couldn't move. But then suddenly he could move, and once he got his bearings, he saw that Sinding had launched himself at the three hunters and was now fighting them.
'Do I help him?' After a moment of thought, Link decided to heal himself. He risked removing his helmet and searched through his pack for a healing potion, and then downed one when he found it.
He then again used Heal on himself, then grabbed his helmet, donned it, then stood and searched for Dawnbreaker.
As soon as Link picked the sword up, the Redguard was there, and she tried to disarm him. Link realized that he needed to end the fight very quickly, or both he and Sinding were going to be overwhelmed. So he decided to stop 'being nice' and started to ruthlessly attack Eirana, who kept trying her best to stab him.
She got a lucky hit in, on his sword arm, but Link ignored it and side-stepped the Redguard's next attack, then spun around with Dawnbreaker outstretched and -
Eriana was ran through.
The Orc slammed into the Hylian and sent him flying as the Orc caught Eriana before she could fall to the ground.
Link managed to catch himself as he was knocked down, then he got up and spun to face the hunters, not sure as to where Sinding was.
He quickly found out, as Sinding threw the corpse of the Nord at the Orc and Redguard, which knocked both of them down. He then stopped beside Link. "Stay here, I shall deal with them." Then the beast was running towards Eirana and the Orc.
The Dragonborn had the notion to turn away from the scene, and he did his best to ignore the sounds that started a few seconds later. He instead focused on healing himself and checking his gear.
Soon after, Sinding returned to Link's side, loosely holding Dawnbreaker. "I believe this is yours."
"It is." Link took the weapon and tried his best to clean it of blood; as he did this, the ring activated.
Dawnbreaker fell to the ground as Link turned into a wolf, and before he could get his bearings, three more hunters appeared.
A female Orc ran towards Link with some sort of war axe primed to come down on him. Fortunately, the wolf was faster, and he ran to the side as the war axe slammed into the ground.
While the orc was distracted, Link turned and leapt for her throat, deciding to no longer have any qualms about killing in self defense.
The wolf's fangs sank into the orc's throat; Link hung on as best as he could as the orc tried to pry him off, and soon the orc woman fell to the ground, no longer breathing.
Meanwhile, Sinding was fighting two bandits at once, two male Nords. Link leapt up and ran over to help the werewolf, but was kicked in the side by one of the Nords and sent spinning away, down into a nearby ditch.
Link looked up just in time to roll to the side as the Nord brought down his weapon where Link had been.
'I'm not prepared for this at all. My attacks aren't coordinated or clean, I'm practically just dodging and hoping Sinding can kill them all…' The wolf growled in frustration as he got up and spun to face the Nord.
'Wait… Will it work?' A tiny bit of inspiration hit Link. 'Let's see…' "Sparks."
To the Nord, the wolf before him had just barked. But yet, Link started to feel something start to creep up through his fur.
'….What is that…' The feeling wasn't unpleasant, but he had never felt it before.
The feeling continued to grow, Link felt all of his fur start to stand on end, and he got the feeling of as if he was about to be struck by lightning.
'What the -' The building energy suddenly released in a bright flash, Link heard a scream, then when he could see again, the Nord was lying before him, covered in burns.
'…Did… Did I somehow channel Sparks?' Link thought in bewilderment. And then he slowly grinned. 'I can do so much with this.'
A ball of electricity sailed over Siding's head and slammed into the remaining Nord, who stumbled, then turned to face a fast approaching Link.
Link then leapt up and channeled Sparks again, feeling his fur become a bundle of lightning as he collided with the Nord hunter.
The Nord fell to the ground and didn't get up. Link landed a second later and shook himself, then looked up at Sinding.
"What did you do?"
"I can channel my spells! Isn't that great!"
Sinding smiled slightly. "You sound like an excited small child. Though I do suppose you being able to somehow use your magic as a wolf is good."
Link nodded, and then followed Sinding further into the grotto after he awkwardly picked up Dawnbreaker in his jaws.
"There are more hunters still." The werewolf stated. "But you fight well, they shall be dealt with swiftly and effectively."
"I'm not sure about that." Link said to himself, not caring if Sinding heard him.
Sinding's ears flickered, but he didn't respond to Link. He then suddenly leapt forward and knocked Link to the ground as an Argonian nearly missed skewering the wolf.
Three more hunters leapt from the shadows towards Sinding.
Link waited until Sinding let him get up, then he dropped the sword, found himself facing an advancing High Elf, and thought about summoning Sparks again, but then decided against it. 'Let me try this…' "Summon Flame Atronach."
Nothing happened, so he tried again, envisioning the lava fields and brimstone mountains and spires of Oblivion.
An Oblivion portal appeared, causing the hunters to fall back slightly as a woman made of flames appeared in a burst of molten fire.
'Yes, it worked!' Link thought as the Flame Atronach looked around, then spotted him and flew over.
She seemed to check him over for injuries, then floated up and turned in mid air towards the hunters. The flame woman gazed at them coldly, before she summoned multiple fireballs and started to throw them at the hunters.
The Argonian leapt towards Link once more, but he chose to dodge, and then thought of summoning Ice Spike.
It didn't work the first time, nor the second. Link dodged another sword slash and tried to focus. 'Ice. Huge massive sharp icicles.' He grew frustrated. 'Come on - work -'
The Argonian was impaled by a shard of ice and they fell to the ground.
'Alright. That's progress.' Link thought as the High Elf leapt towards him again and he dodged the attack, then paused as Sinding appeared and clawed the High Elf to death.
The Flame Atronach had caught a Nord hunter in her attacks, and she soon was summoned back to Oblivion by a portal. It closed, and the Nord ran towards Link with his battleaxe poised to swing.
Link waited, then somehow backflipped away and landed on his hind paws. He then dropped to the ground, as he did so, the ring activated.
The Nord paused, which allowed Link to pick up Dawnbreaker - which was lying nearby from where he had dropped it earlier as a wolf - and run the man through.
He kicked the dying man off the sword and spun it in his hand as the final hunter approached, having been wounded by Sinding at some point. The Redguard charged, going into a slide to try to knock Link off of his feet.
The Hylian was faster, managing to leap over the sliding attack. He spun around as he landed and met the Redguard's sword with his own.
The two were locked in a standstill, neither one able to best the other. This is when Sinding appeared behind the Redguard, and skewered their chest with his sharp claws.
The distraction allowed Link to get the upper hand, and he slashed his opponent across the chest.
The Redguard fell to the ground as both Link and Sinding stepped away, and the two took a few moments to rest.
"We shall head for the entrance. Try to keep up." Sinding eventually told Link, and the werewolf bounded away.
Link followed Sinding, and soon realized they were heading back to the campsite, and when he and Sinding reached the camp, they found it was occupied by seven hunters, four of which had bows.
The remaining three that didn't have bows, consisting of a male Nord, and two Khajiit - one of each gender - got up from the fire and charged Link and Sinding.
Sinding caught the female Khajiit and ran his claws up her front, which cut into her armor and left gashes in her fur. The Khajiit fell to the ground and the werewolf pounced towards her, taking an arrow to the side in the process.
Meanwhile, Link was ducking and weaving to try to avoid both the Nord and Khajiit's attacks - as well as the multiple arrows being fired at him. Out of desperation, he swung the spiked shield towards the Khajiit and impaled his chest. The Nord moved in to deal a finishing blow, but Link saw this and twisted away, which caused the Nord to kill the male Khajiit instead.
Link freed the spiked shield from the now dead Khajiit as an arrow pierced the shield, and raised Dawnbreaker as the Nord turned to face him.
The Nord didn't bother speaking to Link as he raised his own sword, and ran towards the Hylian.
The two blades met in a clash of sparks, but Link didn't get to fight the Nord for very long before he was grabbed from behind by Sinding, and lifted into the air.
Link quickly got out of the way, and Sinding threw the Nord away from him. The Nord hit a nearby tree head first and fell to the ground, his neck broken.
As soon as this happened, the four hunters that had been attacking with bows on a ledge leapt down into the campsite, and they swapped to other weapons as they ran towards Link and Sinding.
The ring activated once more, forcing Link into his wolf form as a Breton hunter reached him. The hunter kicked Link in the face, then in the side, then before Link could retaliate, another hunter, this one a female Nord, ran up and struck him over the head with something.
They must have thought he was dead, because the two hunters ran off to deal with Sinding instead of checking to see if he was still alive.
'…That could have been worse.' Link tried to heal himself with one of his healing spells, but it didn't work. He tried a second time, no result.
'This isn't working. I'm thinking like a human when I should be thinking like a wolf… let me see…' Link imagined the healing magic coursing through his changed body, his bones, his muscles…
He then felt the pain fade, and the fog of battle dissipate. 'It worked.' Link got up and shook himself, then ran over to the remaining hunters - Sinding had killed one of them already - and dodged a sword swing from an Argonian.
Link then got an idea, and attempted to summon the snake Familiar.
The spirit snake appeared before Link and eyed him curiously, flicking its forked tongue as it weaved back and forth.
Link then got an idea, and he gently picked up the snake in his jaws, then tossed the snake at a nearby Nord.
The snake landed around the human's neck, and the creature started to coil around itself, thus constricting the Nord's neck until they fell to the ground, unconscious. The snake then sank its fangs into the Nord's neck, the poison quickly killing them.
The ring activated again, causing Link to return to normal. This startled the Khajiit that had been sneaking up behind him, and Link was able to avoid being stabbed by the cat's sword.
Link felt the spirit snake wrap itself around one of his arms as he drew Dawnbreaker and spun it in a circle, eying the Khajiit as the cat raised his sword and charged.
Sparks flew as the two blades clashed amongst the fighting, the Khajiit baring his fangs in a snarl.
Link chose to stay silent, risking a glance towards Sinding to see how he was faring.
The werewolf was fighting an Orc, and Sinding seemed to be winning, thankfully. The werewolf ducked under the swing of a battleaxe, then clawed at the Orc's face.
Link was brought back to his own fight by narrowly avoiding a face slash by the Khajiit's claws. The Hylian stepped back, then kicked off the ground and slashed downwards.
The Khajiit's body fell to the ground, minus the head as it sailed through the air and struck the Orc in the chest. This distracted the Orc long enough for Sinding to claw out their throat.
Sinding relaxed once the fight was over, then looked down at the dead bodies strewn at his feet, and then nodded towards Link. "Thank you for your help. I will make my home here, away from anyone I might hurt."
"There might be more that try to hunt you."
"Let them come, then. I shall deal with them." Stated the werewolf. "I shall walk you out, it is the least I can do." Sinding motioned for Link to follow him.
When Link left the grotto, he was greeted by the ghostly stag of the Aspect of Hircine. This caused Link to become slightly defensive.
"Greetings, child. You continue to amuse and impress me." Stated the Aspect.
Link looked at the ghostly stag in confusion. "I stopped the hunters from doing what you wanted." 'I wonder why he's impressed…'
The Aspect continued. "You helped the beast slay my hunters... By bringing down my other Hunters, you turned the chase inside out. And they were no base prey." The spirit stag kicked at the ground. "Though you did not do as I initially commanded, there is no doubt that I find you worthy. Go forth, with my blessing." The Aspect nodded his head again, and a blue tendril snaked out from the ghostly stag and into the cursed ring.
"The curse is removed. I shall allow you to keep the ring, as your reward. Perhaps we will meet again." The ghostly stag then vanished, leaving Link alone at the entrance to the grotto.
He soon found Epona, who was very happy to see him, as the horse wouldn't leave his side for one second as they slowly traveled back to Falkreath…
Once Link returned Epona to the stables and walked under the gate to Falkreath, a few guards walked up and greeted him as he passed by.
"Did you see the rogue werewolf?" One of them asked.
Link stepped walking and turned to face the guard. "I happened to run into the creature out in the wilderness and slew it." 'I hope they don't go investigating.'
"Good. One less beast to worry about." The guard nodded and stepped aside.
As he made his way towards the Jarl Longhouse, Link saw Runil and Dungeir and made his way over to them.
Dungeir saw Link first and raised a hand in greeting. "I heard you've been dealing with a werewolf. How did that go?"
"Well enough." Link replied. "What were you two talking about?"
Before Runil could answer, all three of them heard some sort of roar, and they looked up at the sky.
A dragon was flying high above them, swooping and soaring amongst the clouds that were over Falkreath.
The three weren't the only ones to have seen the dragon, as the people of Falkreath started to leave their homes, panicking and running about.
Runil spoke up. "…You… do slay dragons, don't you?"
"Part of the profession." Link responded as he ignored the commotion around him and watched the dragon's movements.
He put a hand on the hilt of Dawnbreaker. 'I just hope the guards can get everyone out of here if the dragon does land.'