C.O.T.W Chapter 32: The Night of the Wolf Revisited

  • Rakel stayed by Hasir's side while he was fighting for his life. Ingio, Aela and the elf were also there. They had not moved since they

    had placed the uncoscious argonian on the table. Rakel would periodically check Hasir's vital signs to see if anything was out of the

    ordinary. Aela had stopped talking to Inigo because of their fight over why he would use silver and not know it was poisonous to

    lycanthropes. Inigo walked over and knelt by Aela's chair and begged for her forgiveness, but all she had given Inigo was the cold

    shoulder. She found it hard to believe anyone could be as thick, if not more so, than her. 

     

    Tears were streamiing down Inigo's face as he tried apoologizing, but Aela remained stone-faced. After minutes of Inigo trying to

    plead with Aela for forgiveness and her not wanting to listen, Rakel stood up and slammed her hands down hard on the wooden

    surface, she had had enough of Inigo's unyielding, one sided, pleas for forgiveness. 

     

    Rakel directed a sharp stare in Aela's direction,

    "Get your fucking head out your ass, will you. For howling out loud, Aela, Inigo is trying to apologize but you deny him his request?

    She gestured to the argonian laying on the table. "Not to mention our friend Hasir is fighting for his life against the silver poison that

    Inigo unknowingly introduced into his bloodstream."

     

    She sighed, brushing her hair back, which had gotten in her face,

    "I don't know about you, but, I am going to find something that fully explains what silver does to werewolves and how to cure a

    werewolf affected by the metal." She huffed at the angry companion got up from the table and disappeared behind a door and

    closed it, a bit too hard.

    Once inside the room, she walked over to a chair in front of a window where sunlight came stream through in long finger-like rays of

    light, sat down and placed her bag on the floor next to her and pulled out a black book with a wolf head with emerald eyes on the

    cover situated below the titled "The Night of The Wolf" which was written in silver letters. She had found this book in Hasir's bag

    when she picked up his bag from downstairs and brought it upstairs.

     

    Rakel placed the book on her lap and cracked it open, a plume of dust flew into the air when she opened it. She coughed a little. She

    skipped over the bits about someone turning into a werewolf, the description of said werewolf and continued flipping until she saw

    the section that she was loking for. It was called 'silver and the wolf' and on one page, it had a depiction of a wolf getting stabbed

    by a silver blade.

     

    She ignored this gruesome picture and started to read,

    "Werewolves cannot abide the metal known as silver was known to have some connection with the moon. No one knows how this

    metal came to exist but, some believe that werewolves rely on the moon so much, for transforming and aiding in the hunt that

    silver, an element previously known not the harm lycanthropes, became lethal to them because of their prolonged exposure to the

    moon.

     

    Rakels tore her eyes away from the book and threw her hands up in frustration,

    Argh! Hounds of Hircine, where is the cure for this? I don't need a history lesson, I need to find out how to deal with silver

    poisoning."

     

    She looked at the book once more and skimmed the chapter until she found what she needed,

    "Ah, finally, here we are, thank Hircine. In order to cure a person that suffers from silver poisonining, gather:

    1/3 clove of garlic

    1 stick of charcoal

    some sweet smelling berries (juniper would work nicely)

    Next, mix these into a potion using a mortle and pestle, until the potion is a golden sunsent color (for normal degrees of poisoning)

    or a deep purple color (for more severe cases) doubliing the recipe will have this effect. You must do this within the first ten hours of

    the victim being poisoned, however. If you don't, the potion will not work.

    Rakel slammed the book shut in frustration and put the book on the desk on top of a serving platter. She felt the weet, slimy tears

    slid down her cheeks and she thought of what horrors Hasir's body must be going through. She had to find a way to cure Hasir of

    the affliction the careless blue khajiit had brought upon him. She decided she would go back to Arcadia's Cauldron in Whiterun. she

    stood up from the chair, picked up the book, placed it into her bag and left the room. 

     

    Rakkel walked down the hall past the table near the kitchenette area and went to leave when something green and sllimy touched

    her leg. She shrieked and abruptly turned around and looked confused at Inigo, the cat raised his hands, shook his head and

    pointed to the unconscious argonian. Rakel followed his finger to the table and then down the length of the argonian until she came

    to his tail which was thrashing about wildly and must have wrapped around her arm as he was trying hard to either fight off the

    poison...or something else entirely.

     

    She smiled and kissed Hasir's limp hand, it did nothing, but Rakel did not expect much. She asked Inigo if he would accompany her

    on a small trip to Whiterun. Inigo nodded and vacated his chair and stood beside the female nord as the pair exited the house and

    went to get their horses. Well, Rakel had a horse and mounted up.

     

    Inigo craned his neck to look at her on her high horse, no pun intended, concerned,

    "Rakel, are you sure that is your horse?" 

    The nord nodded. The smart blue cat put his hand on a flap of the saddlebag and flipped it up,

    "funny because it says here," He gestur3d to the underside of the leather flap, "that this is Hasir's horse, airgo, you are stealing. You

    ahould have asked him before borrowing his steed." 

     

    Rakel opened her mouth to say that she assumed he wouldn't mind but Inigo interrupted her,

    "You assumed? No, this not right, you should not take something that isn't yours. Plain and simple. He looked at her with intense

    orange eyes. "We have two options," He stuck out two fingers, "Either we walk to Whiterun or we get a carriage to the city. I, for

    one, am not about to ride a steed, that is clearly stolen ten feet up the road."

     

    She nodded sadly and got down from the horse and thanked Inigo for talking her down. He smiled and said it was no problem. She

    decided it would be much easier to walk to the city than to catch a carriage. Inigo agreed and the two left the stable area, went out

    the entry gate and turned right and headed for Whiterun.

    It was around noon when the nord and khajiit got to the walled city. Inigo decided to walk in front of Rakel, his eyes went wide with

    amazemtn at how grand the city looked. He walked right past the guards watching from their towers making rude side comments

    about him, he walked past the drawbridge and right up to the city gates. He had never been to a city before, well he had been to

    Riften, but he had a hood over his head so he could not see much of anything, however, his nose and ears more than compensated

    for his lack of vision.  He had certainly never been to one this beautiful before.

     

    He began to push open the giant wooden doors but Rakel put out a hand to stop him, she turned to look at him,

    "Inigo, the people in this coty as will all cities in Skyrim are afriad of that which is different, try to keep you head down, ok?"

     

    Inigo opened his mouth,

    "So you are saying people will hate me because of my odd colored skin? Pssh, What else is new? My mother and father taught me

    too take pride in my appearance, if people have a problem with me being who I am it is their fault, not mine."

     

    Rakel nodded and patted him on the shoulder,

    "It's not only that, but people in Skyrim also look down on Khajiit as well."

     

    Inigo nodded in agreement,

    "Ok, shall we go inside now."

     

    Rakel grinned and nodded,

    "Yes, we can go inside now."

     

    The indigo khajiit pushed the giant wooden doors open wide to reveal a street with buildings hugging the edges of it, like they were

    protecting it from some unforeseen danger. Truth be told, Rakel had an easier time being here than Inigo because people of Skyrim

    welcomed their bloodkin with open arms.

     

    Rakel past by the buildings with ease, no one so much as batted an eye and even Adrienne cast her a friendly smile when she

    caught her out of the corner of her eye. Everyone treated the nord as if she had grown up on Skyrim. Everyone Inigo passed by

    stared at him, fearing an ill omen would befall them if he were to touch them. The Whiterun shop owners and passers-by continued

    staring at the khajiit  like he was an escaped slave with some uncurable and contagious skin condition until the two reached their

    destination.

     

    Rakel stared back at them and said, rather rudely that it is rather impolite to stare and watched the shop keepers and people of the

    streets start the shrink back and return to their daily lives. Rakel knocked on the door to the alchemy shop and shuffling of feet and

    a sound of broken vials could be heard as the potions mistress had bumped into one of the shelves near the door. She opened the

    door and saw Rakel standing there. 

     

    She shrieked and cowered, holding her arms in front of her face,

    "W-Who or w-what is that? His skin...no potion in Tamriel would fix that monstrosity!"

     

    Inigo just stared back and smiled,

    "It is nice to meet you too. Can we, erm, come inside?"

     

    A stunned Arcadia gestured them insde and closed the door behind them. Rakel noticed several broken potion bottles that spilled

    onto the floor, brown, yellow, pink, green and silver contents that were once in their respective bottles mixed together to form a

    toxic sludge that if inhaled could lead to a visit to the temple of Kynareth or worse. Rakel look for a mop to cleam up the slop on the

    floor of the shop while Inigo searched for a broom to sweep up the bits of broken glass. All the while, Arcadia stood there eyeing

    Inigo like a wolf who just had his llunch swiped by a rival wolf.

     

    In minutes, Rakel came back with a bucket with some water and a mop. She set them against the wall near where the spill was and

    went to see how Inigo was faring with his search. She found that Inigo had found a broom in an alcove in the back room of the shop

    amongst some hap-hazardly stacked boxes. Rakel returned with Ingio clutching the brooms and he swept up the broken glass and

    diposited them in a bin near the alchemy table while the female nord mopped up the spilled contents of said vials. Arcadia found it

    really hard not to follow Inigo's every movement like a hawk would its prey.

     After the mess was cleaned up, Rakel went over to the counter and asked Arcadia if they could talk. Arcadia asked what this was

    regarding. The female nord said she would tell all when they were sitting down. Arcadia agreed and came out from behind her desk,

    still eyeing the strange khajiit wearly. She said they, her and Rakel, could talk as long as that 'thing' stay behind. Rakel huffed and

    said Inigo is flesh and blood and should be treated as such instead of some daedra meant to be avoided. Arcadia sighed in defeat

    and she that that abomination can join in on their conversation as well. Rakel smiled with delight as they, Inigo included, walked

    over to the round wooden table with three chairs of the same make in the corner of the storage room.

     

    Arcadia got situated and folded her arms on the table, looking intently at Rakel,

    "So, what is this all about? Hopefully you are not going to tell me that thing has fleas." She gestured towards Inigo

     

    Inigo rudely interrupted her

    "Yes, I do have fleas, but I have them under control, thank you very much." Inigo huffed and turned away from Arcaida. "Oh, and

    one other thing, I have this skin pigment due to a lunar event, not due to some illness. I also do not take kindly to referred to as

    'thing' or 'abomination,' I am a sentient being and I demand your respect."

     

    Arcadia raised her hands in defense,

    "Sorry if I struck a nerve." 

     

    Inigo bared his teeth at her and growled. He went to lunge at Arcadia but Rakel grabbed his as he lent forward and grabbed at the

    air with his hands, that were meant to be around the potion mistress' neck.Rakel told him to calm down, Inigo did and apolgized to

    her saying that he had forgot his deep breathing excercises he used to came him down and lost control. Rakel and the fully

    composed khajiit turned back to Arcadia, who had recoiled from Inigo's failed attempts at attacking her.

     

    Arcadia sat up straight again and asked Rakel what she and, she swallowed hard, Inigo were doing in her shop,

    "We are here to find out if you know anything about what happens when silver enters a werewolf's body."

    Rakel noticed the shop keeper's perplexed expression. She asked the female nord opposite her why she was interested. 

    "I am interested because one whom I care for deeply is, as of this moment, in a sivler-induced coma with poison steady traveling to

    his heart, if we don't do something soon I am afraid he wil..." She could not finish as the thought caused her too much pain. 

     

    Arcadia reached across the small wooden table and patted her shoulder,

    "There, there, it will be ok. Now tell me, what is the unfortunate soul's name?"

     

    Rakel too a ragged breath, as if something were preventing her from breathing properly and told Aracdia that Inigo accidentally

    stabbed Hasir with a silver blade not knowing the side effects. Arcadia gasped and went to wring Inigo's neck but resstrained

    herself. She looked at the ground and said, sorrowfully, that she could not help As if it would help allieviate the situation, Rakel

    pulled the 'Night of the wolf' from her bag and passed it to Arcadia. The imperial flipped through it and read the same passage Rakel

    had about metal poisoning. 

     

    Arcadia shut the book and slid it back over to Rakel. The potions mistress shook her head and said she could not help them. She

    did, however point the in the direction of the mead hall,

    "Rakel, I cannot help you in this matter but go to Jorrvaskr and seek out Kodlak Whiteman. He will be able to assist you where I

    cannot. Rakel put the book back into her bag then she and Inigo both thanked the alchemist and headed for the door. Once outside

    the alchemy shop they headed straight up the stairs to the mead hall.

     

                   

Comments

2 Comments   |   The Long-Chapper likes this.
  • Hasir
    Hasir   ·  June 30, 2020
    Hi Long-chapper, I saw that you uploaded a rewrite of your story, Staag Rod. I got my inspiration for this story from reading Union of the Wolf. I started off by copying Sotek’s story, but Call of the Wolf has long since blossomed into my own story with a...  more
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  June 30, 2020
    Hi Hasir, been a while. When my shipment of coffee arrives on Wednesday, I'm gonna binge read your stories. Look forward to it.