U.O.T.W. Chapter 225 Fang

• Posted by Sotek June 26, 2017 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - #Sotek  #UOTW  - 1,132 views

  Chapter 225 Fang

   

  “Why did you wake Arcadia up?” Aela asked as she followed Sotek downstairs to the Undercroft.

   

  “I didn’t; well not intentionally. She woke up because I was banging on Belethor’s door to get the bowls for your cub. Have you thought of a name for him yet?”

   

  “Nope, I’ve got no idea”. Aela replied. When they entered her room, Aela placed the young wolf on her bed then she and Sotek prepared to head outside into Whiterun.

   

  “Bring him with us and we’ll sort out a collar and a lead. We might as well get Whiterun used to the idea”. Sotek stated as he watched the cub sit on the bed. It seemed fascinated with the pair of them as they got dressed.

   

  Soon enough they headed outside then went straight to the Skyforge. Eorlund was working on a few swords and repairing some armor when he looked up from his work to see the cub in Aela’s arms.

  “Ahh, that’s the little tyke. I heard about him from the Whelps. I’m surprised Kodlak allowed you to keep it. You must have a silver tongue Sotek”.

   

  “I hope not”. Sotek said with a cheeky grin. “Silver’s poisonous to me”.

  Aela chuckled at his comment then she held the cub up to introduce it to Eorlund. It started growling at him, turning Aela’s smile into a frown.

  “No, we like Eorlund. Be nice”.

   

  Eorlund grunted at the cub’s threat display and in response of it he held the back his hand to the cub. It backed it head away slightly then slowly held its nose to him. After he sniffed at him a few times he licked Eorlund’s finger but not before trying to bite it. 

  “There we go he does like you”. Aela said as she started smiling again.

   

  Sotek produced a few leather straps from his pack and wafted them under Eorlund’s nose. 

  “I’m going to make him a lead and collar. I just hope he gets on with it”.

   

  Eorlund curled up his lip and answered in a low negative disgruntled tone. 

  “Good luck with that”. 

   

  When Sotek was close to finishing the collar, Eorlund went to his box and pulled out a small buckle.

  “That’s one of the buckles I used when Aela was small. I used it for her armor set. It’s about the right size for a collar”.

   

  Sotek laughed as he goaded the Huntress. He knew Eorlund was on about a proper set of armor but he couldn’t let the opportunity to pull Aela’s tail slide by.

  “You played in a toy armor set when you were a kid?”

   

  “It was real. I didn’t play with toys thank you”. She said with a scowl. Aela turned her back to him and stroked the wolf cub, losing herself in her own world.

   

  “It was a full set of armor”. Eorlund explained. “She even had her own bow; it was nearly the same size of her. When she ran she would keep tripping up on it but she always got back on her feet”. As an afterthought Eorlund gazed down to the training area. He pictured the youngster going toe to toe with the other Companions during their archery competitions. “Even then she was a good shot with it”.

   

  Aela was thinking of another time. She looked down the slope and cringed. 

  “One winter I slipped down there; I didn’t stop until I hit the bottom”.

   

  Eorlund chuckled as he glanced over the wall where Aela was pointing. Heimskr was there as usual giving his midday sermons. 

  “Oh yes, she hit the preacher there; by the shrine of Talos”.

   

  “What with? An arrow?” Sotek asked as he smirked at his mate.

   

  Eorlund gleefully shook his head.

  “No; with her bow. She went into her usual rage and threw it over the wall. Of course once she did she regretted it but Katria, her mother, wouldn’t let her get it. She had to stay within Jorrvaskr’s grounds and Heimskr wouldn’t give it to her. She was miserable for the rest of the morning until Kodlak asked a Whelp to retrieve it for her”.

   

  Sotek laughed until he saw Aela’s face glaring at him, the grin was wiped from his face and he lowered down his head and resumed working on the collar and lead. 

   

  Soon enough it was ready and he began wrestling with the wolf cub as he tried to put it on while Aela held the animal in her arms. It kept wriggling and fighting against Sotek’s efforts giving him cause to chastise Aela.

  “Hold him steady will you”.

   

  “I am! He doesn’t like it! Stop it, you’re hurting him”. Some maternal instinct kicked in causing Aela to slap Sotek’s hand away.

   

  He nearly dropped the collar and huffed back at her before renewing his attempt at snaring the young wolf. After a few more failed attempts he finally managed to do the buckle up. All three of them could see the cub wasn’t happy; it started scratching at it and it whined constantly as it struggled in Aela’s arms. 

   

  Aela put it on the ground but it jumped up and down and span around and around as it fought with the alien object wrapped around its neck. 

   

  Eorlund shook his head as he watched the pathetic specimen struggle.

  “He’s not happy. Why not see if he follows you? Take the collar off and carry a scrap of meat with you”.

   

  Sotek’s shoulders sank as he knelt down. He unfastened the buckle, releasing the cub from its confines. 

  “I only just managed to get it on him…”

   

  “He’s not going to follow me is he!” The Huntress totally blanked Sotek’s complaint. She leant on one leg giving her typical attitude pose as she spoke.

   

  The blacksmith raised his eyebrows and peered down at Aela, disregarding her stance altogether. 

  “No? I thought from what the Whelps said that he never leaves your side”.

   

  “No he doesn’t but this is different, it’s ermm”. She became distracted by the cub which started sniffing around the ground. It moved several feet away then looked over to her and realized just how far it strayed. The wolf cub ran towards her whilst yapping to get her attention. 

   

  Sotek shook his head in failure. 

  “Well, if he won’t wear a collar you will need to name him and start calling him it. You’ll also need to teach him a few commands”.

   

  Aela looked horrified. She had no idea how to go about such things.

  “I’m no trainer! Where do I start?”

   

  Eorlund sat back on the edge of the forge for a few moments then had a thought.

  “I’d start with a visit to Whitewatch Tower”.

   

  Eorlund saying ‘Whitewatch Tower’ was the last thing Aela expected to hear. A blank, expressionless face turned towards him as she raised her hands up in confusion. 

  “What? Why? It’s a crumbling tower with a few sparse walls”.

   

  “Yes” Eorlund said as he resumed working a blade on the forge. “And a certain guard that keeps an orphaned dog there. He trained it himself”.

   

  Sotek and Aela both turned to one another and nodded in agreement. Both of them knew what the other was agreeing to; they needed to go to the tower. 

  “That’s only an hour to the north. Let’s go and see him; maybe he can help you with this… thing”.

   

  Aela took offence to Sotek’s belittling comment and promptly punched him in the arm with her fist using all the force she could muster.

  “He’s not a ‘thing’, you bloody lizard”.

   

  “Oi bitch!” He yelled as he recoiled from the blow.

   

  “I’m not a bitch either”. As Aela said it she gritted her teeth which only added to her ferocity. 

   

  Sotek gave her a smile while he rubbed his aching bicep. He flexed his arm to shake off the numb feeling and hissed back.

  “Oh no? Think about it. Hsss”.

   

  She frowned as she turned her back to him. After a few moments the Huntress looked over her shoulder and glanced at his arm. 

  “Ok sometimes I am, and sometimes I really am so for that I’ll let you off. Don’t call him a ‘thing’ though. I know he’s not popular around here but I thought you liked him”.

   

  She felt his hand on her hip and she freely turned around as he pulled on it so he was facing her. A light tap on her nose caused it to twitch.

  “You forget I found him. We can’t call him cub either; you need to name him”.

   

  “Yes, you’re right. Let’s put him down in the yard and see what he does. We can think of a few names for him then we’ll take him to the watch tower”. Aela picked up the cub then headed down with Sotek to the yard. There she sat on the ground and leaned back against Sotek’s chest and watched the wolf cub run around for a few minutes as she thought of some names.

   

  Barely ten minutes had passed when the door to Jorrvaskr opened, allowing Ebony and Saber access to the yard. They came outside to train with Farkas but the moment they went near Aela, the cub started growling and showing its fangs at them. 

   

  Farkas stopped the looked down at it. It gave a small bark at him, warning him off. He bellowed in a roaring laughter at the threat display and compared it to that of the Huntress. 

  “Oh look at the little rat! Aela it’s got your temperament”.

   

  Sotek laughed as well which only served to ruffle Aela’s ‘fur’ even more. She reached for a stone then threw it at the tip of Sotek’s tail and watched as the stone bounced over it. The tail recoiled under her leg for protection. 

  “You were lucky. As for you Farkas, you can shut up. He’s only a cub”.

   

  Sotek nodded back and scooped the cub up in his hand. He lifted it above him and watched the cub’s eager eyes look back at him as he studied it.

  “He is like you, you know. If Red wasn’t called Red, what would she be called?” Having satisfied his curiosity with the cub’s own characteristics, he placed the cub back on the ground.

   

  Aela sat there cross legged and shrugged.

  “I don’t know! Ermm, no; no idea. What do you think she would be called?”

   

  For reasons known only to himself, Sotek laughed. His hands slid up from Aela’s hips and moved across her stomach to finally rest with his arms wrapped around her. Aela’s eyebrows rose in surprise when she felt him kiss her on the back of her head.

  “What would I call a temperamental, snarling, clawing, full on attitude werewolf? ‘Fang’ what else”.

   

   Aela huffed and rolled her eyes in disappointment. 

  “That’s silly, you can’t call a female wolf fang! Let alone a female werewolf”.

   

  “And why is that?” As Sotek spoke he had a mischievous look in his eyes but as Aela had her back to him she never saw them.

   

  “Because it’s more of a boy’s name that’s why; you bloody moron”. She screwed her face up as she looked at him, then she glanced over to the cub. Aela took a small piece of chicken from the piece she took with her and held it out. The cub ran up to her then started snarling at it then he bit into it shaking it as Aela held on tight.

  She let out a heavy rejected sigh and mumbled under her breath.

  “I should have thought of that”.

   

  “Oh? Thought of what?”

   

  “Fang”. She said it dejectedly as she looked up at Sotek’s face while he was peering over the top of her head. 

   

  “Fang? Yes that suits him. Nice one Aela! See? You can pick names”. Sotek said excitedly whilst giving her a slight squeeze.

   

  “I didn’t pick it; you did”.  She gave him a light thump in the leg for being annoying before pulling herself up. As she bent down to pick up the cub, Sotek slapped her on the haunches causing her to gasp in surprise.  

   

  He darted forwards so she couldn’t strike back, leaving Aela to settle on a dagger like glare. This caused him to give her a cheeky grin as he knew she couldn’t retaliate. He knew it was he who picked the name and he didn’t want to take that away from his mate so he dropped a few other suggestions. 

  “No; I suggested it. There’s also, Tornado, Snarl, Savage”.

   

  “No. Fang, he’s called Fang”. With ‘Fang’ tucked safely in her arm, she took Sotek by the hand and lightly swung their arms in unison as she led him towards the market.