The Breath of Kyne - Chapter 1: Company

  • Fjorrod held his breath, not moving an inch. The elk looked up, alert. After glancing around, and determining there was no threat, it resumed grazing. Letting out a soft, slow sigh of relief, Fjorrod eased an arrow onto the bowstring. Holding his breath once again, he let it out as he let his arrow fly.

    The elk looked up at the exact moment the arrow was released, embedding the arrow in a different part of its body than the killing blow Fjorrod desired. It still knocked the animal over though, and after coming out of the bush in which he had been hiding, he ended its pain with a quick slice of his steel knife.

    "This will be a good carpet for my gloomy old house," Fjorrod muttered to himself while he skinned it. "It will be good meat too, and the heart will attract wolves into snares if I set some up. Now, what do I do with the-"

    He was cut off by a rustling sound coming from the bushes surrounding the clearing where he crouched. Multiple rustling sounds, enough that a pack of wolves seemed unlikely. Looking around, he nervously nocked an arrow, bringing his bow it up, ready to shoot.

    "Jarl, it's just a woodsmen," He heard a voice mutter, before being cut off by another.

    "Fool! He heard you. Ah well."

    "You can come out now," Fjorrod stated, aiming  his bow toward the sounds.

    A man emerged from the trees, a frown on his face.

    "You can lower your bow, and show some respect. You’re speaking to the Jarl of Windhelm."

    "Ulfric Stormcloak?" Exclaimed Fjorrod, lowering his bow, "My apologies, I had no idea."

    There was more rustling in the trees, then Ulfric Stormcloak, along with some other soldiers, trudged out of the forest into the clearing.

    "Well met kinsman. Tell me, what brings you to the border?"

    "I always felt too... crowded in the big cities. I wanted the open space of nature. So I left, and wandered Skyrim, until I found a clearing, just a couple hundred yards that way," Fjorrod stated, jerking his head to the west. "It felt like home, so I built my house there, and never looked back."

    One of the men surrounding Ulfric drew breath to speak, but was stopped by Fjorrod.

    "Is that the smell of... smoke?" He asked. Looking above the treeline, he could make out a thick trail of smoke dancing above where his house was situated.

    "No…!" Fjorrod began to run off, only to be stopped by an arrow narrowly missing him,  burying itself into the ground but an inch from his feet, quivering.

    Suddenly, Imperial soldiers burst from the trees. There was fire everywhere, the battlemages might as well have been dragons for the roaring inferno produced by their hands!

    Leaping into action, Fjorrod drew and nocked and an arrow. Aiming, he shut out the sounds of battle, focused, and released.

    Success! The arrow bit into the fleshy part of one of the battlemages’ calves, reducing the fierce illusionist who had been making his foes run in terror into a crying baby, desperately pulling himself away from the sounds of battle.

    Fjorrod took another arrow, but before he could even nock it in his bow, an Imperial stabbed him in the side. Clutching his body in pain, he collapsed, succumbing to the temporary relief of his sensations becoming void, of the pain fading away, his last sensations being screams, fire, and the smell of death. Unbeknownst to him, he would experience much more of this in the time to come.

     

    General Tullius took a look around, and nodded, satisfied. The Stormcloak uprising is about to meet its end, he thought. Looking up, he witnessed one of the last Stormcloaks being dragged onto a cart, unconscious. General Tullius frowned, for the Nord wore no armor marking him as a Stormcloak. He shrugged, Stormcloak or not, that man was friendly with them, and that was enough for him.

    Author's Note: This series is coming from one of the most fun playthroughs of Skyrim I did, which is still ongoing, using Edana and Legion's build, and several mods, including Requiem, Hunterborn, Frostfall, iNeed, and more.

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Comments

18 Comments
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 26, 2016
    Fixed, thanks!
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  February 25, 2016
    In line 4 of paragraph 4 you have a double space between seemed and unlikely.

    Once more the buttons are all over the place.
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 5, 2016
    Course I don't have Aela, so
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 5, 2016
    That is.... actually a pretty good philosophy.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  February 5, 2016
    "One arrow shot calmly and correctly is better than 20 arrows fumbled and missed."
    I've a different philosophy...

    Shoot twenty arrows as fast as possible.
     Stand back and watch Aela ‘one shot’ it!!!
    Duck before she slaps the...  more
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 5, 2016
    Thanks a lot, and oh no, I forget the tags.
  • Paws
    Paws   ·  February 4, 2016
    This is fantastic, I love seeing the blossoming of an inspirational flower, it's the Bosmer in me I guess. In truth I think it is the backbone of this site but it is rare to see people embracing it. I remember Shinjin once posted an event with that idea, ...  more
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 4, 2016
    I happen to love Archery. Ever read the Ranger's Apprentice series? Read it, I have a build on it too. It's just so cool, I love it. (The series, not my build. I love that too though)
  • Edana
    Edana   ·  February 4, 2016
    Very wise indeed, Lyall. You were so meant to play this character. :D
  • Lyall
    Lyall   ·  February 4, 2016
    "One arrow shot calmly and correctly is better than 20 arrows fumbled and missed." - Lyall