C.O.T.W Chapter 12: The Bloodmoon Rises

• Posted by Hasir October 25, 2019 - Filed in TSC: Long Story - #TSC: Long Story  #Hasir  #C.O.T.W  - 1,258 views

   

  

  Inigo, Moonman and Quinchal walked past Jorrvaskr, down the steps near the gildergreen, past Arcadia's cauldron, pushed open the

  gates of Whiterun and out iinto the fields that ran for as far as the eye could see near the whiterun stables. 
  

   

  Inigo turned to Quinchal and inquired as to their exact destination.

  "Pardon my asking, but, where exactly are we headed?" 

   

  "I docked my ship, The Crimson Fang, at the Windhelm docks," Quinchal told Inigo and moonman with a smile, he then walked near

  a rock that was jutting up out of the ground diagonally from the stables. "We can either get there by swimming, walking or...we can

  ask this guy if we can hire his carriage." He smirked, pointing at Bjorlam with his thumb.

  

  He looked in the direction where Quinchal's thumb was pointing, in a sort of hitch-hiking gesture, and nodded.

  "That is a good, idea, my friend, I shall ask." Inigo stated. He walked over to the carriage that stood by a large straw topped

  building with three horse stables.

  "Excuse me sir, but my friends and I need to get to Windhelm and we were wondering if we could hire your carriage."

   

  Inigo smiled what he thought was a warm and friendly smile. Bjorlam nodded and said the journey would cost him sixty gold pieces.

  The blue khajiit said that they would be paying seperately. Inigo reached into his trouser pocket and brought out a leather bag tied

  tightly with string, pulled the string and tipped twenty septims into Bjorlam's outstretched had.

   

  Inigo pointed to the golden skinnedlizard sitting on the rock.

   "He also has to pay if he wants to go as well." Bjorlam said with a authoritative tone.

   

  Inigo called over to Quinchal who came over and pulled his coin purse out and gave the driver twenty septims for his journey to

  Windhelm. Moonman did the same as his friends.

   

  Bjorlam smiled broadly whle clapping his hands together.

  "Okay, the gold is paid, now, get in back of the carriage and we'll be on our way." 

   

  Quinchal, Moonman and Inigo clambered in back of the carriage and took their seats upon the wooden benches, Inigo sat next to

  Moonman while Quinchal took the bench opposite. When they were seated, they gave Bjorlam the thumbs up and he sped off into

  the night.

  

  The wheels of the carriage cruched over the cobblestones. While the carriage was in motion, Inigo glanced at Quinchal.

  "My friend, are you okay?" He asked, a little worried

   

  Quinchal nodded, "Yes, I'm ok Inigo," He pasued and took a deep breath and tented his fingers in front of his face trying to find the

  best way to ask his inquiry, "I wanted to asked you a question Inigo." He silently hoped the khajiit would not get mad. how did you

  get your fur as dark as the night sky?" 

   

  Inigo let out a small chuckle. He was not sure why Quinxhal thought this such an imposition.

  "That is not an insulting question, you are just curious, my friend, very well, I will tell you."

   

  Inigo recalled the story as if he had told it a million times before.

  "I got what you call "fur the color as the night sky' because where I grew up, in a small town by the name of Riverhold, in the

  province of Elsweyr, a blue furred khajiit is seen as a bad moon omen. Inigo sighed, "do you understand what that means, my

  friend?" Quinchal shook his head. Inigo pressed on with his tale, "Fearing that the gaurds would sentence me to death. My mom,

  Atala, spirited me and my brother, Fergus, away to a local orphanage in Elsweyr called Running Sands orphanage. There, I was told

  to wait for my new loving foster parents." Quinchal waved his hand in a 'go on' gesture. He did not want the story to end, he was

  enjoying Inigo's tale. Inigo smiled. "I am pleased to hear you enjoy my story, my friend."

   

  

  Quinchal shifted in his seat, "you're welcome Inigo. Was Fergus as darkly furred as you?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

   

  "No, my brother Fergus was born on a bright sunny day, my mom used to called us sun and moon because of how our fur color was

  derived from the lunar activities that perspired during our conception." Inigo chuckled a little at his own joke.

   

  As the carriage rumbled past roadsigns, over bridges and splaashed through rivers, Inigo told Quinchal about how he and Fergus

  were finally adopted from the orphanage after three days by a pair of assassins named Leia and Da Vinci. The khajiit told the tsaesci

  of how his parents brought them to their new home and wanted to train them to be assassins like his parents, but he and Fergus

  eventually found their own paths in life. He joined a bandit troupe and was successful at it until one job gone south landed him in

  Riften jail.

   

  "What about Ferguus? where did his path lead?" Quinchal asked Inigo

   

  Inigo's brow furrowed; trying to pinpoint exactly where his brother's path had lead him.

  "I am not entirely sure. After my parents let me and Fergus roam free in the world, I only know where my path took me." He

  lowered his head and shook it slowly, "I am not sure where Fergus ended up." Inigo said, sadly. Quinchal thought he had

  overstepped an invisible boundaries, so he switched topics. 

   

  Quinchal prodded Inigo's mind, "Inigo, mind if I ask you something?" 

   

  The khajiit nodded, seemingly coming out of the funk he was in when he talked about his lost brother.

  "Sure, my friend. What is it?" 

   

  Quinchal mulled over the answer for a long time like an artist who visualizes his art before he creates it.

  "In akavir, I was turned by Hasir into something I didn't want to become and I am still thinking about finding the cure." In his anger,

  he thummped the seat next to him with his fist. "My kind are not supposed to be werewolves, we were made as Molag Bal's children,

  not Hircine's."

   

  he then asked Inigo the same question he had been mulling over since Akavir. 

  

  "Do I want to be a werewolf?" Inigo said, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "well, it's better than living life as a filthy

  member of the undead." He looked over and heard a loud, disgruntly huffing noise come from Quinchal's lips, He quickly apologized

  to him, Quinchal thanked him. "My frame would look crooked as a werewolf, and I prefer my frame to be properly aligned." 

   

  To this, Quinchal's face screwed up in confusion. Inigo apologized, saying that is the way he speaks; in a kind of poetic way.

   

  As the carriage was passing high snowcapped mountains, Inigo told Quinchal that where he comes from, Elsweyr, lycanthropy is

  unheard of and furhtermore, he cannot see himself as a 'bottom sniffing fur licker.'

   

  Within minutes, the carriage arrived at windhelm. It took the road in front of the bridge and turned right to travel down a slope.

  Qunchal told Bjorlam to stop as his ship came into view. It seemed, at least to Quinchal, that it had been years since he had

  last piloted the Crimson Fang.

  "Okay, here we are, Windhelm, please be careful about getting out." Bjorlan said

   

  The tsaesci, the nord and the khajiit got out, waved goodbye to Bjorlam and headed for the ship.

  

  Quinchal waded into the icy water with Inigo and Moonman close behind. They got to the bow of the ship. Quinchal knocked on the

  ship's portside and ropes came tumbling down from nowhere, or at least to Inigo, it seemed that way.

   

  Unseen by Inigo, the ropes were attached to the mast of the ship and were tripped by a motion sensor tied to the ship's

  portside. The pair scrambled up the rope ladder and Inigo went through a door to the lower deck of the ship where he and Moonman

  took their seats on the third bench of ten benches, five on each size of the central pole that fixed the lower half of the ship to the

  upper half of the boat.Quinchal pulled the throttle towards hiim, making the ship's engine come to life. He turned the wheel so that

  the ship's bow was pointed east towards Akavir, he dialed in Zhoushin pass into the ship's compass.

   

  "Inigo, moonman, ready to find two more of Hircine's artifacts?" Quinchal said over the rushing of the waves.

  

  Quinchal sped the board towards Akavir. Inigo and Moonman laid back and closed his eyes as the gentle rocking of the boat lulled

  both of them to sleep. The waters were calm for a time, the ship cut through the waves like a knife through butter, then, the wave

  got rough and started battering the ship like a ram would headbutt another ram for dominance. Inigo was almost knocked off

  balance as a particularly large wave banged into the sides of the ship.

   

   

  When the got nearer Akavir, Quichal gasped when they looked over the portside of the ship. It looked as if the water was suddenly lit

  aflame by a carelessly aimed flame spell. Something orange and round was reflecting in the water's surface. He then looked up into

  the sky with that same freightened expression etched into his face.

  "Gods preserve us! It is a bloodmoon."

   

  Inigo asked what a bloodmoon was. Quinchal had to strain his ears to discern what the khajiit was saying both because he was

  seated far away from Quinchal, at least five benches away.

  "Inigo, the bloodmoon is often seen as a bad omen. It means bad things are about to happen, either that or someone has angered

  Hircine in some way."

  

  Inigo got up from his seat, walked past the rows of wooden benches and walked up the steps that lead to the front of the ship. He

  looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

  Maybe the bloodmoon is not as powerful as everyone thinks He thought.

   

  That particular thought entered his mind a little too late because the Nord and Tsaesci had begun to transform into their lupine

  forms.

  

  Once transformed, The black, tan and white wolf  lay on the floor, unconscious. 

   

  Why haven't I changed? The smart blue cat thought. Then he realized that he was only born under a bad moon, not taken over by it.

   

  A few minutes passed and Langshen awoke.Inigo walked up to him, bent down and began to pet him. 

  "Do not worry, my little wolf friend, I will be able to speak on your behalf. How did you come to be like this anyway?" The khajiit

  asked. He then looked up into the sky and immediately understood. 

   

  "Great," he said, sitting against the ship's port side railing with his head in his hands, now what am I to do? I have no idea how long

  the bloodmoon is up for, and on top of that, my friend is in wolf form and is incapable of piloting the ship in this state." 

   

  Seeing no other option, Inigo curled up into a ball and went to sleep.

  

  The sun peaked over the bow of the ship, Inigo yawned and started cleaning himself when he heard a noise coming from where

  Quinchal lay; no longer a wolf.

  "By the nines, Ingio. Can you at least turn away from when you clean your unmentionables?" Inigo blushed a deep crimson

  and apologized to the tseasci.

   

  Quinchal got up slowly, as though every bone in his body was on fire, which was, in fact, the case, and walked over to where the

  khajiit sat just inches from him. He found a chair on the deck of the ship near the khajiit and sat in it.

   

  He turned and faced Inigo.

  "Also, another thing,"

   

  Inigo llifted his head.

  "Yes, what is it? I am always here if you want to talk."

   

  Inigo," Quinchal sighed, "Why did you dream about chasing your tail last night?"

   

  Inigo went bright red.

  "Erm...sorry, I did not mean for you to hear that." He mumbled under his breath. Quinchal asked Inigo why he did not change

  under the influence of the blood moon.

   

  Inigo shrugged. He had thought he told Quinchal about that.

  "As I told you, I was already influenced by an unsual lunar ocurrence, remember?" Quinchal nodded. He then asked the khajiit if he

  felt anything odd when Hasir's wolf, frost, had scratched him. Inigo said he felt a little gassy but other than that, he did not notice

  any weird changes. He reminded Quinchal that the khajiit do not contract lycanthropy that easily. Qiunchal nodded and dismissed

  Inigo. 

   

  The khajiit returned to his seat below deck and noticed Moonman went through the same thing that the tsaesci went through.

  He knelt down and offered to helped his friend up, Moonman took his hand and stood up. Quinchal put his tail into the water which

  acted as a makeshift rutter and they were off for Akavir once more.