Author’s note: The chapter has not been edited except for odd mistakes and errors therefore the content may change at a later date although the plot will remain the same. The content you read now is as I written it in 2014-2015. I hope this fact doesn’t lessen your enjoyment.
As always, should you see an error or something you feel is off then by all means let me know.
Sotek Loyal Hound of Hircine
Within the hour, Sotek, Rikke and Aela were heading across the plains to the fort. Once they were in the vicinity of the fortress, Sotek and Aela made their way to the bridge. They both hid underneath it while Rikke made the rest of the way to the fort on foot.
As she neared Fort Greymoor, two of the Imperial soldiers who were watching from prime positions on the ramparts, readied their bows and took aim at her. At the same time, an officer called out from the gate house.
“Halt, identify yourself”.
Rikke called back up to him and tried to bluff her way in.
“Legate Rikke of Solitude. I’m under direct command of General Tullius”.
The Officer instantly recognised the name then nodded to her.
“Advance Legate Rikke. Open the gate!” Then he headed down the stairway to meet her.
As soon as she stepped inside, six archers swarmed around her and aimed right at her chest.
“What is the meaning of this outrage?” She yelled furiously.
The officer came over to her and slapped her across the face.
“Legate Rikke, you’re not under the General. You’re under arrest. Take her away, tie her up”.
Two soldiers came and dragged her to the stables and bound her hands to a rafter, leaving her dangling a foot above the ground. The pair of them started spinning her around, playing with her like she was some sort of toy.
“Let me go you bastards”.
One of them grabbed her by the chin.
“You need a lesson in respect”. Then he started ripping off her armor.
“Get off me you bastards! What the hell are you doing?”
One of the soldiers slapped her across the face a second time.
“Shut up whore! For fuck sake gag the bitch”.
“Get the hell off me!” The next second the second soldier punched her in the stomach, winding her. The two men stood back and jeered as she hung there by the arms which were tied to the rafters.
Both Aela and Sotek turned their immediate attention to the shouting. Sotek started walking cautiously towards the fort.
“That’s Rikke; something’s gone wrong”.
Aela started running as she called back to her mate.
“That’s more than wrong”. Moments later she ran at full pelt, leaving Sotek behind.
A few seconds later she heard a pounding of paws as Scarface caught her up. She stopped and turned to face him then side stepped. Scarface ran straight past her but as he did so she grabbed a massive handful of fur and pulled herself on top of him. As soon as she was on, he ran harder, gaining a burst of speed. All the while they rapidly closed the gap between them and the fort.
As they approached the north wall, arrows started to rain down. There was only a few at first but as they got close, more and more arrows came at them as the soldiers went on the alert.
As soon as Scarface got to the wall, Aela cursed.
“Bandits; look over there!” By the wall in between the rocks were the original garrison. Men lay dead; tied and bound with their throats cut. The women laid Strewn about with bound hands, stripped and beaten.
Scarface let out a long furious howl as he turned to the wall. Aela gripped his fur with both hands as tightly as she could. Moments later there was an ominous loud ‘creaking’ of wood as Scarface’s claws tore into the wooden defences as he scaled the wall effortlessly. Within moments they were on the ramparts. Aela slid off then started shooting at anyone that moved. Scarface jumped down and landed straight in the centre where unfortunately for them, three archers stood. Their faces were full of shock and horror as the mighty behemoth came crashing down on top of them. All three were crushed instantly on impact but it didn’t slow Scarface down one little bit. He saw Rikke at the stables behind two of the bandits. They both turned to him but within moments both fell as arrows slammed into their chests.
Aela came under fire from above as two archers rained down arrows from the highest tower. She started running towards Rikke shouting her orders as she ran.
“Scarface, get the tower! The tower!”
Scarface looked at her confused, until he saw the arrows hitting the ground where she ran from moments before. He looked up at the highest tower then bound over towards it. Within moments he was tearing out chunks of masonry and stone as he proceeded to climb his way towards the top. The archers started to fire at him by leaning over the edge, but Aela managed to keep them pinned down. Within a minute Scarface pulled himself over the embrasure then snarled menacingly. Two arrows fired at him, striking him full in the chest, but he ignored them, not even bothering to cry out from the pain.
Aela cut Rikke’s binds and removed her gag.
“Hey, are you ok?”
Without answering, Rikke took a sword and her armor from the two dead soldiers. One of them had a shield which she picked up as well. Once she was ready which seemed to take no time at all, she started following Aela.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Bandits. They took over the fort. The garrison’s dead, don’t ask what happened to the women, you don’t want to know”.
“Where the hell is Scarface?” In answer to her question, an archer from the tower screamed in terror as he was thrown off the battlements. Both Aela and Rikke stepped back a few feet as the Nord slammed into the ground just in front of them.
“You mangy dog! You did that deliberately!” Aela shouted as Scarface looked over from the top. He snarled at her then turned his attention to the stairway. As he headed down, his path became blocked by the door which was lightly fortified. He pounded with his fisted paws at the door to the tower. It immediately started cracking from the strength of the blows and within seconds his path was clear.
Aela screamed out to Rikke.
“Look out!” They both looked up to see the door fly off the tower to land in the courtyard below. Aela glared at the top of the tower and cursed. “That bloody fleabag”.
While Rikke gathered her wits, Aela turned her attention to the barracks. She felt the handle turn easily so she opened the door and headed inside. The moment she stepped in, two bandits seized her and pulled her arms apart so she couldn’t fight back.
“Let me go you pricks”. She hollered as she struggled to free herself from their grip.
“Oh, we got a live one here. They’re the most fun”. One bandit stated as he smiled evilly.
Aela snarled at them both.
“You want some fun? You really want to play? Fine, let’s play”. The next moment she started to change. The first bandit let go and ran for his life down the long passage way but the second bandit still had hold of her arm. His fear prevented him from letting go as he was rooted to the spot. Within a second he was thrown towards the other bandit knocking him to the ground. Red menacingly dropped to all fours as she slowly crept towards them, snarling like a rabid dog while saliva dripped from her mouth as she approached them.
The first bandit scrambled to his feet which just made Red charge. They barely got a few steps before Red was upon them; her claws ripped into the pair of them throwing them to the ground. She maliciously stepped on the back of the first bandit breaking his spine, but she kept her paws on him and grabbed the other one by his ankle.
She pulled the screaming bandit towards her then stood up to full height lifting the helpless bandit by his head as she has often seen Scarface do. He seemed to gain a sadistic pleasure when he lifted them up like that. He’d watch them for a few seconds with a morbid fascination, like he was studying their fear. But then after a few seconds he would tear their heads off. Red studied the bandit’s face as he struggled to lift himself, he felt the strain on his neck as he desperately tried to ease the pressure.
At that moment Rikke walked inside to see Red standing there with the bandit dangling two feet of the ground.
“Oh, by the eights! Hi Red, I’m Rikke. You remember me? Friend?”
Red turned to her and snarled, she then bit hard into the bandit’s face. Rikke watched unable to turn away at the gruesome sight of the bandit as Reds teeth tore into him. For a few seconds, the bandit’s arms and legs flailed about but then he fell still. Moments later there was a sickening crunch as Red’s fangs broke through the skull. Red lifted him up another foot as she watched the blood trickle down his body, but she lost all interest as he was now lifeless. She dropped him to the floor unceremoniously. As he landed his head, or what remained of his head flopped over. Rikke looked straight at it, his entire face was gone, just blood bone and ripped tissue was all that remained. She crouched down as she threw up.
Red looked over towards her, then turned her attention to the bandit she was still standing on. He was screaming from the agony of his crushed back so Red put him out of his misery by eating him; alive. A minute later Scarface approached from the corridor. Once he managed to get into the main section, he dispatched any he came across easily. Rikke managed to walk past Red and headed to Scarface, but as she past Red feeding she had to close her eyes.
Upon noticing his wound, Rikke rested one hand against Scarface’s chest as she gripped an arrow.
“This is going to hurt”. Scarface started backing away from her as he tried to protect his wounds. Rikke let go then slowly stepped towards him. “They have to come out, you trust me, don’t you?”
“He may trust you, but if you touch that arrow, he’ll put you through the wall”. With that Aela walked up to Scarface. She gently held the side of his face and pulled his head down to her. “Hey, she’s right, they have to come out”.
Scarface quietly snarled at her as she gripped the arrow.
“You may want to block your ears”. She held his chest with the one hand then tugged as hard as she could. The arrow head tore through his flesh and fur as she pulled it out, at the same time he gave out aloud high-pitched whine which caused Rikke to cover her ears like Aela had said.
“By the Eights, that sounds awful”. Rikke called out, as she watched Aela pull out the second arrow. “Is he going to be ok?
Aela cast a glance at Rikke.
“What, him? He’ll be fine, won’t you boy?” As she spoke she examined the second arrow wound. Within moments the wound started binding as it healed over. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug, as she did so Scarface carefully placed his arms around her.
Rikke walked over to them.
“Why don’t he change back?”
Aela looked up at his eyes, she could see the hunger in them. A hunger she knew all too well.
“He still needs to feed, he’s hungry”. She side stepped as she let him go then she pointed to the yard. “Go get them”. Moments later Scarface charged outside to the courtyard and proceeded to feed on the remains of the bandits.
Scarface was still feeding when Aela and Rikke entered the yard. Rikke couldn’t help but comment.
“By the eights he eats a lot, don’t he? I’d hate to see the Harbingers food bill with you two”.
“Oi cheeky cow, Red doesn’t eat that much. Just the one or two”.
“Yes well. He’s had about five by the looks of it”. Moments later a bandit on horseback rode past from the stable. As he headed to the gate he fired an arrow at Scarface. It flew straight and struck him in the chest. Aela pulled out her bow and started to take aim, but Scarface let out a dreadful whining and near instantly collapsed on the floor. She ran up to him as he laid there on his back screaming out a high-pitched whine, deafening both Aela and Rikke. The bandit struggled to hold his horse steady as he watched with curiosity while Scarface rolled on his side and promptly started coughing. At the same time, he vomited up blood and chewed flesh. The bandit turned his horse away and rode off across the plains.
Aela managed to roll Scarface over to his back, but as he rolled over he snarled heavily at her and snapped his teeth. Aela let him go in fright.
“Hey cut it out, you moron”. Only then did she see his eyes. Instead of the usual bright green shine, they turned silver. He rolled himself on his back lifting his head back as he did so, screaming out the same high-pitched cry.
Rikke came running over to them.
“What the hell is wrong with him? Why’s his eyes gone like that?”
Aela shook her head.
“Poison”. She slowly went up to him and gripped the arrow again, she tugged at it hard, ripping it out from his chest as he yelped and whined. His claws dug into the earth as his legs thrashed about wildly. As soon as Aela managed to pull the arrow out, Scarface clawed his way back to all fours and charged at the stables, venting out his pain, rage and aggression on the structure. Timbers and straw were sent flying in all directions until he collapsed on the ground. He laid there panting heavily, motionless as his body tried desperately to fend off the poison that flooded his system.
Rikke examined the arrow, she smelt the tip but couldn’t detect anything.
“What the hell affected him like that?”.
Aela took the arrow off her then realism dawned over her.
“It’s not poisoned. By Hircine, it’s silver”.
Rikke was astounded.
“Silver? Red was hit by silver, I pulled out three arrows from her side. They don’t affect you like this”.
Aela walked cautiously over to Scarface. He slightly turned his head to her as she approached. She rested her hand on his wound, which only helped unsettle him more, the wound showed no signs on healing what so ever.
Sotek changed back, he tried to get up but instantly he collapsed onto the floor, crying out in agony.
“The pain! It burns, agghhh!” He broke into a sweat as he tried to fend off the pain.
Aela took a bottle of healing potion and pulled off the stopper. She started pouring it down his throat, but he coughed and spluttered as he tried to swallow it. He tried to push the bottle away but Aela threw his hand off. She snapped at him as she proceeded to administer the liquid.
“Quit it! Drink you stubborn bastard”. Sotek laid still and followed her orders, guzzling down the potion.
Once Sotek finished it, the wound in his chest quickly healed over.
“What… was that?”
Aela pulled his head to her chest as he laid there, then whispered.
“A silver arrow. It was just an arrow”.
“It felt like I was poisoned; I felt it inside”.
“Sotek, it was just a silver arrow. Scarface is weak against silver, but I never thought he’d be that weak against it. Can you get up?”
“My legs feel numb, I feel numb all over. It burned, it felt red hot, in my chest, my limbs. I couldn’t see clearly, my head felt… like it was going to explode”.
Aela felt a tear on her face, she wiped it away as fast as it appeared.
“You’ve got to be weary of silver; it’ll kill you, do you hear me? No charging in, you got to be smart. Scarface has to be smart”.
Sotek staggered to his feet, he was surprised at how unbalanced he was, but he could see the concern on Aela’s face.
“I hear you, I’ll be cautious”.
Rikke started riding a cart towards them.
“Hey guess what I found”. Aela put on an Imperial set of armor and climbed on the back of the cart while Rikke stayed in the front. Sotek climbed on the back and laid himself down onto the cart floor, he used an old fur as a pillow, then closed his eyes. Within a minute he was asleep while Aela sat on the back. She took a few more furs and covered Sotek up in them then she stayed there watching over him, protecting him. Like all the times she knew that he stayed awake as he watched over her.
Comments
"Rikke watched unable to turn away at the gruesome sight of the bandit as [Red's] teeth tore into him."
“By the [Eight], that sounds awful”.
... more