Sotek’s eyes flicked open to be met with the overwhelming glare of the lit lamp. His eyelids slammed shut, banishing his eyes to darkness. Beside him, he could feel the warmth of his naked mate, or rather the warmth she left as she had already moved from his side. One eye flicked back open and his tail slithered across the furs to wrap around the she-wolf’s wrist, protesting at its abandonment. With a smirk, Sotek pulled the she-wolf back to his side.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to leave.” He said with a wily smile.
“Your permission? I’m not a caged wolf.” Aela replied, trying to play the alpha. She might have succeeded in her threatening gaze had it not been for the warm lustful smile on her face.
Sotek thought back to the night before. They still lay on the fur on Aela’s floor, arms and legs still sprawled out. The scene of their lovemaking. ‘Lovemaking’ Sotek thought. He chuckled to himself as he pictured Aela on her hands and knees. She done everything he wanted, whether he asked her to or not. When he had finally finished with her, he withdrew from his mate and stood over her. His foot rested on her ass cheek and as he spoke, his voice dominated the room.
“You fuck like an animal, so you can sleep like one”. Despite Aela’s burning furious eyes, Sotek pushed against her raw backside with his foot, shoving the prone she-wolf on her side, forcing her down to lay on the fur.
She had curled up where she fell, submissive and compliant with her master. Her head moved back, and she gave one last final howl as she felt his body lay behind her, his tail wrapping around her aching thigh and his hand cupping around her heaving breast as he gave it a loving squeeze.
Now was the morning though, the night had passed and all too quickly. Still feeling in the predominant position, Sotek voiced his threat, forcing his mates’ hand.
“Back to bed and if I hear one more whimper or howl from you, then I’ll force you on your front and I’ll go again”.
Aela’s teeth bit hard against her lip and her hearts own beat increased as she fought against the sensations from her mates hand as it lowered down her back to rest on her backside while his other hand slid over her breast.
Having no other choice, she settled back down and rested her head against his shoulder where she promptly bit into his chest. His hands quickly retreated, leaving her breasts free to sway in front of his face as she lifted her torso up over his head.
“My turn to play alpha Sotek. Today you answer to me”. Backing up her claim, her fingers wrapped around ‘Mr Wolf’ forcing him to yield his position while her heaving chest held his wantful stare. “Yeah, you’re all mine today”.
“That’s an empty threat. Tilma’s shuffling about with her broom”. Sotek stated as he pointed to the door.
“Fuck.” Aela said as she growled at the corridor where she too could hear the broom as it was pushed back and fro across the stone flooring of the Undercroft corridor.
“We did that already.” Sotek smirked. He soon hollered out as the she-wolf’s fangs bit into his chest a second time. He retaliated and slapped her backside, before digging in his fingertips, causing scratches along her ass cheek.
One of the Whelps once commented on the state of Sotek’s chest when she saw scratches and teeth marks on his chest. Sotek’s answer was to force Aela around so he could show off her wounds; scratches, bite marks and hand marks where he had forced her down on the floor hours before.
This was met with a rebuke from Kodlak.
“In my youth, I used to use such things as kisses and caressing strokes, not fangs and claws. You two play too rough”.
“You should try it”. Aela grinned, before shrinking away with Sotek to the training yard.
A female yawn, or rather a howl brought Sotek back to the present.
“Yea, I’m feeling it”. Aela yawned again and scratched herself under her breast, causing Sotek to gaze at her chest once more.
“Don’t stop scratching on my account” He said as he watched her ‘pups’ bounce around as she tried to relieve herself of the itch.
“Oh. Don’t worry, I won’t”. She stated. She laid down and tightly traced her fingernails downwards from Sotek’s throat, tracing his scales as she made her way to his stomach. Sotek’s back slightly arched as he enjoyed the sensation.
She went to repeat the process, fully knowing the wolf in Sotek loved the sensation it caused. Her hand was quickly seized, stopping her from wooing her mate.
“Do that again and I’ll fuck you. No play, no love. Raw sex. Like last night”.
Aela desperately wanted to say yes, she loved being his bitch. To most, she was a Nord and he was Argonian but Kodlak knew the truth and respected it. They were always like this; two wolves, passionate, wild and unrestrained. Before she could even reply ‘yes’, her door flew open, causing her to throw a fur over her naked body.
“Tilma!”
“Why are you two still down here?” She suddenly realized they were both naked, despite the furs strewn upon them. It’s midday? Enough of that. Oh, by the Nine this room stinks”. She slammed the door and banged against it with her broom. “Get upstairs you pair of upstarts. And Aela, leave your door open…”
“My room doesn’t smell, thank you”. Aela shouted back before filling her nostrils. She fell silent and murmured with a big grin as if it was an achievement. “Stinks of sex”. A wolfish grow forced her to face her mate before a strong hand pushed her head down into the fur and two fingers glided over her backside before invading her ‘lair’.
A few minutes later, to Tilma’s disdain, a female howl echoed down the corridor as Sotek once again took his mate.
“Are those two dogs up yet?” Kodlak asked as he entered the Undercroft from the stairway. His question was met by a wave of Tilma’s broom and a second howling cry. “Wolves will be wolves. I’ll get them in half an hour. I’ve something planned for those two hounds”.
The peaceful tranquility in Aela’s room was broken by the pounding of a heavy fist upon her door. The two Companions awoke with a start and scrambled to their feet to the sound of a hollering voice.
“Hey, Red, Leave Scarface alone. The Harbinger wants both of you to get your backsides out of bed and in the courtyard! It’s mid afternoon you lazy cow”.
“Vilkas! You bastard, shut up”. Aela shouted. She then turned to Sotek and laid the blame of their rude awakening at his doorstep.
“See? This is all your doing, you blasted reptile”.
She moved across the room but she suddenly screamed as Sotek grabbed her by the hips and pulled her back to him.
“Get off me”. She cried out in fits of laughter.
“Not until I get a kiss”. He stated, while he adamantly clung on to her hips, refusing to let her go.
She turned around to face him then closed her eyes as she moved her lips towards his. When she could feel his breath upon her skin, she opened her eyes. Sotek sat there with his eyes closed, fully expecting a kiss from her.
With an evil grin, she lightly slapped him in the cheek, making him flinch.
“Haha..... The Harbinger probably wants to see you fight. I’ll make a deal with you. If you do well, you’ll get more than a kiss tonight. Do badly and I’ll pin your tail to my wall… while it’s still attached to your ass. Move it”.
With the threat laid out, Aela began putting on her armor then, after fighting Sotek for rights to the washbasin, she ran along the corridor while Sotek was snapping at her heels. Before they reached the stairway, Sotek stopped by his room door and called Aela back.
“You don’t use the Dragonbone Bow in training. Why not?”
She smiled back at him and pulled off her traditional Hunting Bow. As she talked, she traced along the shaft with a fingertip.
“This isn’t enchanted, I love that bow you gave me, I really do but…”
Sotek disappeared inside his room for a few moments then came back outside to the corridor with a second Dragonbone Bow in hand.
“There’s times when a Huntress finds the enchants a hindrance. Here, this one’s un-enchanted. You’ll get on better with this when you hunt on the plains”.
Aela marveled at the workmanship in the bow and found herself unable to speak. When words finally came to her, she whispered back to him timidly.
“I tried to find a way to tell you about the other bow. It’s great it really is but the enchants…”
Sotek kissed the top of her head then took her by the hand and led her to the stairway. He shrugged off her words with a few of his own.
“It’s not a hunting weapon, it’s a killing weapon. There’s a difference in what you do when you hunt and when you kill Aela”.
Aela nodded back at him and quickly spoke before they reached the stairway.
“You’re right. Who taught you that?”
Sotek chuckled as he grinned back at her.
“You did. You told me to study my prey”.
She nodded back at him until she realized what he had actually said to her.
“I’m your prey?”
His eyes fed off her body, giving her cause to shudder although it made her heart flutter with passion. He could see Aela’s chest raise up as her breathing increased which in turn caused the tip of his tail to curve around. Fighting back his desires, he beckoned her towards him and opened the stairwell door to the hall. He hissed back a short reply which confirmed what Aela had already come to know.
“Yesss”.
When they entered the courtyard they were greeted by a bright clear sunny day. Sotek started blinking heavily due to the sudden change from the subdued light from Aela’s room to the training area. Fortunately for him though, the sun had already passed overhead.
The first thing he noticed was the extra target dummies that were set up in a seemingly scattered deployment around the yard. Three of these were by the Skyforge, two of them at the top and one on the ramp leading up to the forge.
As soon as Aela saw the yard her eyes light up.
“Oh cool! It’s the path of the huntress, you’ll like this”. She then slapped Sotek on the back of his shoulder and briskly walked towards the Harbinger. “Who’s going to show him how it’s done?”
The Harbinger laughed at her eagerness and gave Sotek to her as her student for the perspective training session.
“He’s all yours Aela. We’ll let Vilkas and Farkas have a go then you can try to beat your record. After that, put him through his paces”.
“Gladly, Sotek you’re with me. Vilkas, Farkas, I’ll walk him round the course first so he understands what we’re trying to do”. Then Aela headed to the path leading to the Skyforge.
Sotek shrugged his shoulders and pointed across the yard to one of the training dummies and stated a rather obvious fact, not realizing just how serious Aela was taking the session.
“I would presume we have to hit the targets”.
Aela spun on the spot and walked past Sotek in her short journey to the Harbinger’s side. She looked right in his eyes with a burning passion and fired off a single question.
“Sotek’s my student for the day?”
Kodlak felt a niggling sense of worry as he watched the intensity Aela so clearly displayed. Her whole demeanor left him feeling somewhat fearful but he decided to allow her the grace of her request.
“For the moment at least”.
Aela nodded back at him then proceeded to head towards the Skyforge ramp. As she passed Sotek a second time she clipped him on the back of the head.
“Stop being so stupid, this is serious. Follow me and pay attention”.
Sotek grudgingly followed Aela to the bottom of the ramp where she drew a line in the dust with the heel of her boot. She pulled him over the mark so it was between him and the ramp before explaining to Sotek exactly what it was they had to do.
“Right, this is a timed run. The Harbinger uses a five ball cradle as a means to count. It’s not perfect but its close enough for what we want. The objective is to ‘kill’ the ten targets as fast as possible in this order; first off you will start here at the edge of the path leading to the forge. As you can see there are three targets along here”. Then Aela led the way up the path towards the Skyforge.
Once they stood at the top, Aela beckoned Sotek to move alongside her so they were standing on the edge looking down at the training yard. As she explained the layout to him, she pointed to two targets that were positioned below them.
“From here we jump down and kill those two targets directly below us, then we take the two targets on the left and the right of the courtyard. It’s up to you as to what ones you go for first. Once they are dealt with, you have another two at the far end. There’s a single target just around the corner. Once you’ve taken them all out it’s a quick sprint across the line and you’re done. Simple really, good luck”.
Aela gave him a smile but he was too preoccupied with all the targets to see it. Just as she was about to walk away, she remembered something.
“Oh, by the way, there’s one more thing. The record is thirty-three seconds with all targets hit”.
Sotek looked across the yard at the ten targets. He easily saw how difficult it must have been for someone to have done it in that short time span.
“Who the hell did it in that time?”
Aela looked at him with a massive smile on her face.
“I did”. In the blink of an eye she threw herself off the ledge and fell to the stone flooring below where she landed perfectly on her feet. “Come on you, they’re waiting”.
Sotek followed suite but he landed hard and fell to the side. He picked himself up while under the scrutiny of everyone. Kodlak lightly shook his head and sighed at the Argonian.
“You are in so much trouble”.
Sotek brushed himself off and moved to the steps while Vilkas got himself ready. Inside, Sotek knew he’d never beat Aela’s time but he wasn’t prepared to step down either. He gave the Harbinger a matching stare and replied.
“Don’t count me out yet”.
Aela huffed in response then sat beside him so she could give him commentary on the two brothers while Kodlak sat the wooden five ball cradle on the table.
The Imperial Whelp watched the five balls which swung in time with one another and with an air of curiosity she asked the Harbinger about it.
“Exactly what does that do? I heard Aela say it counts down the seconds but I can’t see how!”
Kodlak beckoned her towards him and allowed her to start it off.
“It’s a simple device perfect for counting out seconds. Here, lift up one of the end balls and let it swing into the others”.
She followed his instructions and true enough the moment the ball hit the other four which were in a perfect alignment, the ball on the other end swung away then came back and sent the original ball off once more. She sat there watching it for several seconds as the balls ‘clinked’ together.
“Who invented this? It’s brill”.
Kodlak chuckled and shrugged his shoulders at her.
“I don’t know who it was, some Imperial philosopher I suppose. I don’t think his name was Brill though”.
Aela joined in on the conversation.
“I heard he invented the square wheel”.
“What’s the point of a square wheel?” The whelp asked as she screwed her face up.
Sotek came to Aela’s aid and butted in.
“You’re kidding? Have you ever tried to rest a handcart half way up a hill?”
The whelp nodded in wonderment and walked off happy in the knowledge that she had learned something.
“Oh right. Makes sense I suppose”.
Aela started sniggering as she watched the Whelp walk away and sit down by the other Whelps.
“I worry about her at times”
Kodlak stared at the back of her head and groaned.
“I worry about her all the time”.
Vilkas called out while he swung his two handed Skyforge Steel blade about in the air.
“I worry about if I’m ever going to get to start”.
Kodlak frowned at him and shouted out.
“Begin”.
Vilkas started running towards the ramp as he yelled back at the Harbinger.
“Hey, I’m not in position yet!”
Even as he moved towards the starting point he could hear Aela, Sotek and the Harbinger laugh at him. He called out to the Harbinger, notifying he was finally ready.
With the Harbinger’s yell of ‘Begin’, Vilkas ran up the ramp and charged towards his first target, then he lashed out at the other two. All the while Aela gave Sotek some commentary on the three of them.
“Vilkas is the slowest of us, but he’s also the toughest. He’ll have the slowest time, but the run doesn’t take into consideration any defensive or pure power attributes you may have, so Vilkas is the weakest for this”.
After about a minute Vilkas ‘killed’ the last target and successfully completed the course. the Harbinger congratulated him on his achievement despite the fact that he hadn’t beaten his best time.
“Well done, you nearly broke your record. You were two seconds out, fifty-eight seconds”.
The next one to take position was Farkas. Once the Harbinger shouted out for him to start, he ran up the path and swiped out at the first target with his sword.
Aela pointed out Farkas’s advantage over Vilkas, knowing full well he benefited far better as he was the nimbler of the two on such a course as this one.
“Farkas uses a shield and you yourself know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a shield bash. Here, watch”.
As she pointed it out, Sotek saw Farkas jump down to the two targets below the Skyforge. He swiped at one with his sword then shield bashed the other one, in as many seconds he was off charging towards a new target.
“See! He won’t lose so much time as Vilkas does but like I said Vilkas’s main attribute is attack power. His two handed sword is lethal”.
Once Farkas had finished his run, the Harbinger congratulated him for his effort.
“Well done, you were only out by a second, fifty-three seconds in all. Very well done indeed”.
Behind them, the doors to Jorrvaskr opened and two figures of Tilma and Eorlund came outside to join the group.
“We heard all the cheering so I was wondering how well he got on!” Tilma stated as she sat on one of the chairs by the Harbinger.
Kodlak chuckled at her inquisitiveness over Sotek’s training. He knew she had a soft spot for the Argonian despite the chases with her mops and brooms.
“No, the noise was from Farkas’s run. Sotek’s going after Aela. Speaking of which, Aela! It’s your turn”.
The Huntress slapped Sotek’s leg and pulled herself up from the steps. She gave her bow a quick once over, checking the torque in the drawstring before she finally mentally counted the arrows in her quiver which she then slung over her shoulder. With her new un-enchanted Dragonbone Bow in hand, she set off to the starting line after she called out to Sotek.
“Watch me!”
Her space on the step was filled by the large mass of Farkas as he sat next to Sotek. He pointed towards the corner of the hall where Aela had just disappeared from view.
“Aela’s the best at this, but no one can beat her”.
“Is that why it’s called the Huntress run?” Sotek asked as he eagerly awaited the Harbinger’s call, signaling for Aela to start.
“Oh no, it was named after the one who invented it as a training exercise”. Farkas said as he drank from one of the tankards which Tilma had the grace to bring outside for them all.
Sotek studied the layout of all the dummies and soon came to realize the effectiveness of such an exercise. Unlike basic sparring, this took speed of foot and agility into account along with weapon skill. He turned back to Farkas and asked about the inventor.
“Who thought of this as a training method?”
Farkas chuckled back and gave him wink.
“Aela”.
Sotek almost gave up on the spot. He envisioned Aela crouching down at the starting line, waiting for the one word so she could release hell.
They all waited with bated breath but just as the Harbinger was about to start Aela’s run, Tilma elbowed him in the side.
“I bet fifty septims that Aela beats her best time”.
Farkas looked back over his shoulder at the maid and laughed.
“Her record is thirty-three. There’s no way she’s going to beat that”.
Sotek looked back at Tilma who now seemed out of place and alone. He felt she needed someone to stand by her so he left the step and threw a pouch of gold on the table.
“I’m in, fifty gold says Aela can do it. She’ll beat her time”. The way he saw it was simple. Tilma now didn’t have to stand alone and at the same time he was supporting Aela and showing he had confidence in her. Even if he lost, he still won and all for fifty septims. “Any takers? Vilkas, Farkas, Harbinger?”
Vilkas threw down a bag of gold as well but he made sure it landed on the opposite side of the table.
“There’s thirty gold there, I’ll honor the rest”.
Farkas threw down a bag of forty coins and grinned at Tilma. He had a wicked tone in his voice as he replied to her outlandish bet.
“This is too easy; she’ll never do it. She hasn’t beaten that time since she set it a year ago”.
The Harbinger looked at the targets and shook his head. He couldn’t see Aela doing it in less time than what she had before and yet Sotek’s eagerness made him wonder.
“I honestly can’t see Aela beating the thirty-three second mark what so ever, but Sotek was way too fast to back you up Tilma, that worries me. Young Sotek has a habit of seeing what no one else can, I’m out”.
Aela, who had heard the whole conversation, stuck her head around the corner and yelled back at Tilma.
“What the hell is up with you two? I can’t beat that time, that was my best run I ever did”.
Tilma tutted back at her.
“Have some faith in yourself young lady. Not everything is as it was last year. Kodlak, start her run if you don’t mind”.
The Harbinger shrugged then called out to Aela who had once more disappeared around the corner.
“Aela, get ready”.
Several seconds later Kodlak shouted out a second time.
“Begin!!”
As soon as Aela broke into a run, an arrow head ripped into the first target, splitting the sack open, spilling out sawdust and straw. She literally flew up the ramp, the pounding of her boots a testament to her speed and without even slowing down she let loose two more arrows. By the time she was up the ramp the three initial targets were ‘killed’.
Much to everyone’s surprise, she shot at the target on the left side of the courtyard by the wall before she even jumped down to the training area. The arrow stayed true and thudded into the target’s chest. Without slowing down she jumped off the platform and brought her bow in a downward arc slicing into the first of the two dummies below her. As she landed, she spun around, slashing the head of the second target with the Dragon’s teeth that adorned her bow, ripping the face apart.
She instantly loaded and fired off an arrow at the target to the right of the courtyard, eliminating the ‘threat’ with yet again a single arrow. With no hesitation or any doubt in her ability, Aela broke into a run and fired off two arrows to the far side where two of three dummies remained. Both projectiles found their mark, both near perfect kill shots.
As she ran past the seats, she jumped up and grabbed hold of a support for the roof of the porch with a single hand and swung around the corner. She let go and dropped to all fours but instead of just landing on the ground, she rolled forwards, bypassing the final target. Just as she neared the finish, she turned around in mid run and shot the dummy in the back. In a blur she crossed the line, marking the end of her successful run.
Aela bent over, resting her hands on her knees while she caught her breath.
“Damn, ‘pant’ that was hard”. She drew a few deep breaths then walked back around the corner to the training area and met Sotek who was coming the other way to join her.
He brushed the hair off her face and pulled her head to his chest while gingerly prizing the bow out of her hand.
“You done great, you really did. Harbinger, how well did she do?” As he waited for her time to be relayed back to them, he whispered in her ear; his words causing Aela to cling even tighter to him. “Doesn’t matter what the time is, I’m proud of you Huntress”.
The Harbinger struggled to take his eyes off Aela until a tugging on his arm gave him cause to look back at Tilma.
“Aela’s time? Thirty-one seconds. She did the whole run in thirty-one seconds”.
Aela couldn’t contain herself, she screamed out and jumped up at Sotek who grabbed hold of her in midair. He lifted her up by the waist and spun around as she shouted out for all to hear.
“Yes!! I did it, oh yes”.
Her victory was almost tainted by the excessively noisy squabbling which kicked off between Vilkas and Farkas as they started arguing with each other, both blaming the other one for the loss of their gold.
Undeterred by their lack of interest in her, Aela approached the Harbinger and Tilma with a suggestion on how to break them up. She lifted herself up on tiptoe and whispered in Kodlak’s ear.
“Shall I get Scarface to separate them?”
The Harbinger looked over at Sotek with a horrified expression and shook his head at the very idea.
“OH no, no, no. No, don’t do that; no, perish the thought”.
Aela chuckled and headed back to Sotek’s awaiting arms.
“Oh well. If you change your mind just let me know”.
As Aela and Sotek talked between themselves, they were being watched by Tilma who studied them with a great deal of interest. Kodlak came alongside her and gave a casual glance at Aela.
“Tell me, how did you know she would beat her time?”
Tilma engaged with the Harbinger but her eyes never left the two Companions even as she spoke quietly.
“Hmm? Oh yes. Wolves!”
Kodlak gave a hard look at Aela and tried to see what Tilma had saw. He knew the She-Wolf had a drive to be an Alpha amongst the group which other’s seldom understood and often mistook for arrogance but Kodlak failed to see where actual wolves played any part in her run against the clock.
“Wolves? In what way? She held the thirty-three second record for a whole year. Why now?”
Tilma shook her head at him and smiled.
“It’s not just the male wolves who try to impress their mates you know. Not that it’s a case of impress, but rather pride I feel. She wants him to be proud of her, she wants you both to be proud of her”.
She then called out at the two brothers, bringing their argument to a rapid close.
“Farkas, Vilkas that’s enough!”
The confrontation which verged on the edge of a brawl came to a rapid stop especially when they noticed Kodlak’s owlish eyes peering back at them. They broke away from each other as the Harbinger called out to them.
“Well I did warn you both so you only have each other to blame. Now, Aela! It’s Sotek’s turn; let’s see what you are on about”.
Aela eagerly walked Sotek to the starting line, and gave him some last minute’s advice along with a few words for the wise.
“No magic, no shouts or anything, just your axe and your bow. This isn’t just about speed. Its accuracy and agility. Don’t go trying to impress anyone, we want to see what’s wrong so just go as you would do ok?” She then gave him a peck on the cheek for luck and moved to the corner where she could see both the Harbinger and Sotek.
Sotek gripped both axes tightly in the palms of his hands and crouched down then nodded to Aela.
She gave the Harbinger a wave of her hand signaling that Sotek was in position then Kodlak called out.
“Begin!!”
Comments