It didn’t take long for Sotek to find the camp, and as he suspected, Legate Rikke’s intelligence was wrong. Instead of having five soldiers to deal with he was faced with six Stormcloaks. Two were on sentry duty; one, who Sotek presumed to be the commander, was in the large tent sitting at a small table, drinking out of a flagon. The three others were resting in their tents.
The Argonian sat there watching them for a few minutes then he looked up at the twin moons. As he sat and peacefully studied the camp, the commander poured another flask out for himself. Sotek decided to wait until midnight before he attacked as he was hoping the commander would be somewhat drunk at that point so he backed a good few yards away. Waiting until midnight also gave Scarface another chance to play. For a moment he pondered on Red and Aela. He hoped she would go out and give Red a chance to burn off some energy but he knew she wouldn’t.
“As stubborn as a mountain and just as defiant”. He muttered to himself.
Looking around at the terrain he decided to rest at a spot where a few trees were clumped together. It was well away from the skyline but it did have a good advantage point to the camp. From here he could still see the two sentries as he now overlooked the entire camp grounds. He made himself comfortable by pulling out a fur from his pack which he wrapped himself up with to keep warm as he rested against a tree. There, he patiently waited for the moons to climb.
When the appointed time drew close, a blizzard set in. Not being one to be beset by the cold weather, Sotek sat content with the one fur although he was grateful for the extra cover the storm would give him. The soldiers below however stocked up the campfire in an attempt to protect themselves from the freezing chill. Sotek rolled up the fur exposing him to the elements. Icy wind and snow battered against his tail and armor like a winter storm raging across the mountain; all the storms fury wasted against the unflinching rock.
With a steady hand, he prepared for the attack by notching an arrow before aiming at the sentry on the west side of the camp. He took aim and tried to compensate for the strong winds but he knew it was too much to balance out. Aela could do the shot blindfolded after downing 10 bottles of mead. His marksmanship, although slowly improving, was a long way behind her skill. He decided to use the storm to his advantage so he broke cover and moved closer.
Sotek was now less than a hundred yards away from the camp yet he was still above it. The winds started dropping; leaving the snow to softly fall, hiding his position but enabling him to once again notch an arrow in his bow. His sight was further aided by the big roaring fire the Stormcloaks had unwittingly set up. It bathed the whole camp in an orangey light.
The Companion drew a deep breath then fired. The arrow shot through the air and slammed into the Stormcloak’s back, throwing him face first into the ground. A split second later Sotek re notched a second arrow and promptly dropped it in his haste. He closed his eyes tightly as he envisioned Aela stabbing his tail before taking a bit more care to prepare another missile.
Once again he took aim, this time at the sentry on the east side. He released the drawstring, sending the arrow off into the camp. His aiming hadn’t improved under pressure; something which was all too apparent when his arrow struck the Nord in the shoulder. The impact caused him to spin wildly as he fell to the ground but as soon as it hit him, he screamed out from the pain, alerting the entire camp to the attack.
The four remaining Stormcloaks formed a densely packed group in the middle of the camp. This gave Sotek an idea so he cast his Flaming Familiar as close to the group as his spell would reach. A bright blue misty portal appeared, lighting up the immediate area then the whole thing burst into flames, causing Sotek to cover his eyes from the glare as the flaming wolf appeared half way between him and his targets.
The wolf’s orange and yellow flames contrasted with the snow laden ground as it ran down the mountainside and bolted straight into the camp. Before they could split up, the wolf leapt at the closest soldier who battered it aside with a large mace. Within moments there was a horrific bang as the wolf disintegrated in a fiery explosion. By this time Sotek had moved across the mountain side and took aim once more.
One Stormcloak fell screaming from the burns, he rolled around the ground for a few seconds then fell silent while the others smothered the flames. Another soldier headed to the stores and lit three torches. He started throwing them around where Sotek previously sat to try and flush out the attacker. His reward for trying to uncover Soteks position was a swift arrow in the chest.
Having whittled down the numbers, Sotek decided to let Scarface loose so he began to change form. Scarface stood up and stepped out from out of the shadows but due to being covered in black fur, he was still unseen. Sensing their vulnerability, Scarface howled out then he charged down the hillside at the remaining Stormcloaks. The last soldier took the full bore of Scarface’s onslaught and was slaughtered where he was. With emerald green eyes filled with defiance, Scarface turned to the commander. This man however didn’t turn to flee and he was vastly different to the rogues Scarface faced earlier. The Commander drew his sword and spat on the ground; ground he would defend with his life.
As Scarface charged forwards, the commander thrust his sword straight at the beast’s side. The sharp tip cut into his flesh, causing a deep wound which was further aggravated by the commander ripping his sword to the side, cutting a big gash into the werewolf. Blood poured from the wound and Scarface howled out, spraying spittle and he lashed out with his paws, striking the commanders chest, ripping off chunks of his armor.
He fell back from the blow in a feint, drawing in the beast. He cursed at the creature and swung his blade in an overhead attack, hoping to end the fight and giving Ulfric a present of the beast’s head. Scarface moved far faster than what the commander had expected and with little thought for his own safety. He ignored the blade and leapt forwards, clutching the man’s neck. A clawed paw crushed the windpipe and with a powerful yank, Scarface ripped out the throat.
At the same time the sword bit deep just above his shoulder, cutting a massive slit in the side of his own neck.
They both fell to the ground, the commander dropped his sword and clutched his throat but nothing would halt the flow of blood as the red liquid escaped from his blood soaked hands. He slumped over with lifeless wide open eyes as the white ground turned a sickly red.
Scarface struggled to even stay on all four paws and blood pumped out from the neck wound, coating his fur, knotting it together in the sticky fluid. He felt dizzy and confused. His limbs felt weak as his strength left him. The beast tried to crawl over to the commander so he could feed but before he could reach the body his vision faded to darkness.
For over an hour Scarface lay on the bare frozen ground as snow started burying him. All the while the body’s energy was used to heal the wound and replenish the blood loss the beast had suffered. His internal temperature started to drop as the body was unable to sustain itself. The body’s own defence mechanism kicked in, causing him to snap out of unconsciousness.
Scarface’s eyes opened and everything seemed blurry. He struggled to focus on the body and slowly crawled towards it then he forced himself to feed while snow coated his fur as he hadn’t the strength to shrug it off.
As he started to feed, his body regained its strength. That in itself enabled him to eat more. Within ten minutes Scarface was up on all four paws, gorging on Stormcloak flesh. Soon enough Scarface got up on to his hind legs then stood up to full height and let out his fearsome howl.
Eventually Sotek changed back to find himself smothered in blood. He chose to ignore the gore, just temporarily and instead he rolled his shoulder and neck as he tried to shake off the dull ache. He cursed Scarface for being stupid and he vowed to start teaching his ‘inner wolf’ how to fight rather than just trade blows with people; if the brute would listen...
Putting such thoughts behind him, Sotek searched around the camp and he picked out a few swords to sell along with some potions and a few other bits and pieces. As he headed back to report his success, he stopped by a small stream he had come across earlier. He knelt down and cupped his hands in the icy water and proceeded to clean himself up; washing off the blood and gore from the earlier fighting. Once he had finished, he melted into the darkness and like a shadow he disappeared into the night. The only sound was of the horse’s hooves as it ran through the forest.
By the time he got back to camp it was well into the early hours; however as of yet there was no sign of the sun rising. Sotek made his way to Legate Rikke’s tent then woke her gently.
“Legate Rikke? Wake up”.
“Urhh wha, what? Oh it’s you”. Slowly she woke herself up then made her way to the table. She downed a glass of water then sheepishly spoke.
“How did it go? Any…” She stopped talking and just gazed off into the distance then her mouth opened wide enough to shove an apple in, or that was what Sotek thought as the Legate officer gave out a loud yawn.
“Urrrnnn! Don’t you know better than to wake up your superiors?”
Sotek stared back at her blankly as he thought of all the times she had recently woke him up. He started talking back in a sarcastic manner but his fluster quickly ran out of steam and ended up being laced with self pity.
“Superiors? Everyone keeps calling me the Dragonborn so I guess I have no superiors. The mighty Dragonborn, Dova... Dov... Doveakin... karn... Whatever; I don’t care”.
Rikke gave a small chuckle and shook her head at the Argonian.
“Well you don’t act pompous or superior to those around you”.
Sotek bigheartedly sighed.
“To be honest half the time I don’t feel it either”. He looked over his shoulder at the tent entrance and wished he was back in Jorrvaskr amongst his own; there he was just Sotek. Everyone accepted him for who he was; there was no questions about what, just who.
Legate Rikke watched him closely, watching any tells he might give away about himself.
“And the other half?”
“The other half wishes everyone would remember I didn’t ask for this. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t Dragonborn at all”. Sotek muttered.
“I never thought about that. It can’t be easy putting your life on hold while the whole of Skyrim watches you, resting its entire welfare at your feet”. Rikke tried to sound sympathetic and in some ways she succeeded but all she did was to cause Sotek to dwell on things more.
The Argonian rolled his eyes at her and bluntly replied back.
“Yes, thanks for the prep talk. I feel a lot better now”.
She laughed at his expression as he spoke. Rikke could see Sotek was shutting down so pushing things any further would yield little fruit. She raised her hands apologetically and changed the subject.
“Sorry, I didn’t think; Now that I am awake; tell me... how did the camp go? Any problems?”
“No; it went smooth enough but I couldn’t find any intelligence there. It would seem that they knew or rather expected that they were under scrutiny”. Sotek paused as he pondered on something. He knew it was unlikely but he had to ask.
“I have a request”.
Legate Rikke’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. She sat back down on the bed and gestured with her hand, offering Sotek the bottom end of the bunk to sit on.
“Oh? What is it?”
Sotek ignored the gesture and remained where he was. He fully expected to have his request quashed despite asking for clemency.
“Aela. She’ll be worried about me and giving the others some trouble. She’s pretty ermm, she’s a moody bitch at times; especially if she misses me. I know there’s a clamp down on communication but I really need to send her a letter or something, just to let her know I’m thinking of her”.
Upon hearing these words Rikke groaned and half buried her face in the palms of her hands. She sighed loudly, inadvertently telling Sotek all he needed to know. His request was denied.
“I really appreciate the help you have given us but I can’t allow any messages to leave the camp. I’m sorry I really am. If, at some point, I can send someone then I will but soon we’ll be moving camp. She’ll just have to hang tough like the rest of us. I am sorry Sotek but that’s the only answer I can give”.
Sotek reluctantly nodded and headed to the exit of the tent. One thing he wasn’t expecting to happen so quickly was the camp moving to a new location.
“I understand. You said we’re moving camp though. What about the fort?”
“Oh we’ll be taking the fort first. Once it’s captured we’ll be moving south past Ivarstead. From there we’ll be making our way through the Rift”.
“Ivarstead?” upon hearing the town’s name Sotek’s eyes lit up and his tail thrashed about, much to his annoyance. He glanced down at it and snarled.
Rikke instantly saw his reaction but she kept any thoughts she had to herself. She wasn’t stupid and she immediately had suspicions he would try to contact Aela and the other Companions.
“Yes, but I need you to promise you won’t try to send any letter or anything to Aela”.
He looked outside at the camp then his eyes gazed upwards to the moons. He hoped at that moment Aela was watching them too. It gave him some warmth, knowing they were both gazing up at Masser and Secunda.
“I swear I won’t try to send any message to Aela what so ever. However; once we secured the camp in the Rift I’m off for two days. Just so you’re aware”.
Rikke nodded as she watched the back of him.
“Once the camps secure, yes we’ll have other things to do. If you would like, I could spare you for three days but that would be it”.
He turned to face her. He watched her eyes, the smile on her face and her emotions as he tried to read what was really going on inside her head.
“Thank you. I would appreciate that. Now, this fort?”
“Yes; it’s Fort Dunstad. It lies south of Dawnstar. The attack’s planned for around midday. Scouts have been watching it and they are sure that the fort’s two patrols would have set out by then so that would cut down the numbers. The briefings at seven this morning so get your head down. There’s precious few hours left”.
With that Sotek gave a sigh as he faced another day with minimal sleep. He turned around then headed to his tent where he laid down. In the darkness his mind wandered back to Jorrvaskr, and to the Companions. The one that dominated his mind was Aela. He could see her having a go at everyone as her stress levels went way over the red line. He smiled as he closed his eyes then he whispered to her, although she was miles away.
“I love you Aela; try to remember that”.
Moments later he fell asleep but the rest of the night passed way too quickly for him. It felt that no sooner as he had shut his eyes that he was woken up by a soldier shaking him.
“Hey, get up it’s half six you got half hour then it’s the briefing”.
He answered sluggishly, half wishing to be left alone.
“Ok I’m up”. Sotek lifted himself up but moments later, under his own weight, he fell backwards onto the billet. He lay there staring at the roof of the tent and cursed. “Aww damn it all”.
Slowly he prized himself out of the bed and headed to the campfire where the other soldiers were all sitting.
Comments