U.O.T.W. Chapter 86 The Pack

  • One thing Aela noticed when Sotek had changed back was that the dark green tinting of his scales had lost their shine. She stroked the side of his face and gave him a quick kiss as a means to physically check on his wellbeing. Although his ‘skin’ wasn’t slippery like a snakes, it had a smooth yet tough feel to it. This time though his scales didn’t feel like that at all. It was like running your fingertips across sandpaper. Even his lips felt dry.

     

    Instead of being concerned however, Aela felt somewhat better in herself. She had seen him like this before and knew there was an easy fix. Drawing the stopper from her flask she took a big swig from it then passed it across to him.

    “Here, have a drink. It’ll do you good”.

     

    Sotek’s eyes seemed to light up at the sight of the flask and he guzzled from it greedily. Aela simply smiled as he passed it back almost apologetically.

    “Sorry, I drank half of it”.

     

    She started chuckling due to his manor which felt way over the top for their situation. Aela weighed the flask in her hand before brushing his apology off dismissively.

    “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of fresh water back at camp”. She then promptly tipped the rest of her flask over his head.

     

    Instead of being angry, Sotek’s shoulders lowered down as his head slowly rolled around while an almost rapturous look of joy formed on his face. Once the flask was empty, Sotek stood up straight and lightly shook his head to shake off the excess water. Aela could see the difference in his complexion and with every passing moment he seemed to become more and more alive.

    “Thanks. I needed that”.

    Aela rolled her eyes before she put the flask away. She then huffed playfully as she gave him a light thump in his good arm.

    “You don’t have to be so bloody polite you know. We’re mates, yes? We look out for each other. It’s not my fault that you need more looking after than I do”.

    Sotek’s answer was simple, he huffed at her then shoved her in the back. The result was that Aela lurched forwards by a few steps. She growled in retaliation but his smile caused her to laugh instead of snapping angrily at him.

    “You’re a bully. Wait till I tell my brother’s of you”.

    Sotek’s pace slowed to almost a stop and he turned towards Whiterun while a look of dread wiped the casual expression off his face.

    “Wait till they see Albino. I’m so dead when they see him”.

    Aela’s temperament went from playful to openly hostile in less seconds than it took for Sotek to say it. Her hands formed two fists while she followed his gaze towards the city of Whiterun.

    “They so much as think of starting on him and I promise you, they will regret it”. Straight after she had spoken however, her mood changed back to her previous cheerful state.

    A small while later when the outcrop was about a half an hour’s walk away, Aela drew her bow. She had noticed a herd of deer which were grazing to the north and picked out the stag in particular.

    “Hungry? I know I am”.

    Sotek looked across the grassy tundra to the three deer then back over his shoulder at the old fort where Red and Albino had gorged themselves, or rather Red did. Albino never seemed to suffer regardless of how many bodies he fed from.

    “The fort? We ate there”.

    Aela simply tutted playfully as she defended her own body’s hunger. Something which she felt she didn’t need to do but she gave an explanation anyway.

    “Red and Albino ate. I certainly didn’t. You’re cooking breakfast”. Seconds later an arrow shot away from Aela’s bow and streaked across the plains.

    As usual, Aela’s aim was perfect. The iron arrow struck the stag in the chest and punctured the heart of the beast. It gave a shrill cry and collapsed in a heap.

    Ten minutes later, Sotek was holding Aela’s bow while she was busy skinning the deer. Even with the one good arm, he managed to help roll it over so she could cut away the whole fur in a single piece. After Aela sliced off various chunks of meat, she broke off the two antlers and stored them in their backpack knowing full well that Sotek could use them for Alchemy later on.

    Once they arrived back at the overhang which was locally known as Greenspring Hollow, Sotek set to work building up the campfire and igniting it with his flame spurt spell. Although he had initially tried to use his left hand to cast the spell, the pain was too much to bear. Cursing loudly to himself he reverted to his right hand which fared far better. Soon the campfire was ablaze and Sotek set out the pieces of venison to cook up while Aela hung the fur up to dry it out. She then rubbed salt in the fleshy side of the fur to help with the tanning.

    While he sat there watching the pieces of meat slowly cook, he felt a tender hand rest on his bad shoulder. He turned towards Aela as he felt her fingers delicately trace the scarred tissue. Her face was staring at him intensely while at the same time she had a faraway stare almost like she was re living the few days as Red in the Undercroft.

    Before he could even consider asking her if she was ok, movement from behind them caught her attention. She quickly spun around while she drew her bow in one single fluid motion and pointed a loaded arrow at the intruders.

    Vilkas instantly raised his hands up as he looked on with concern, dropping Sotek’s gear on the floor in the process.

    “Whoa! Steady Aela... Damn you’re jumpy girl!”

    Farkas however had other concerns. The main one being his stomach. The moment his eyes fell upon the cooking deer meat he shoved Vilkas aside and promptly sat in a chair by the fire to warm his hands.

    “Grub’s cooking, great I’m starving. Tilma won’t let us eat until we bring your sorry asses back”. His eyes greedily fed on the meat as he pointed straight at Sotek. There was something in Farkas’s tone which caused the Argonian to gulp loudly as his tail thrashed about nervously.

    Vilkas happily added to his plight.

    “Tilma’s after you with her mop. She isn’t happy you left the temple. Harbinger’s not happy either. No idea what you’re going to tell them”.

    Aela turned a bit pale as she gazed wide eyed into space, however the moment Sotek’s twitching tail caught her attention, she promptly roared out in hysterics and wildly shook her head at him.

    “Well you can’t tell them the truth, that’s for sure”.

    Sotek chuckled back at her and sarcastically capped his hands together.

    “Oh well done genius. Now tell me something I don’t know”.

    Farkas, who was busy prodding the venison with his finger to see if it was cooked enough for him, looked up at Sotek and grinned.

    “Oh I can do that. Danica is annoyed with you as well. What was it she said?”

    Vilkas snapped his fingers together forming a loud ‘click’ drawing Sotek’s attention. He slowly nodded while he remembered the priestess’s reaction upon seeing them walk through the Wind District.

    “Ah yes. Now what was it? ‘Why did that young upstart simply up and leave without a single word? Not A word! No thank you for looking after him, no goodbye either!’ Yep, you need a good excuse to avoid the wrath of the temple. Good luck with that one too. And she’s fully aware that you left totally starker’s too. She is not impressed with you”.

    Aela decided enough was enough. She didn’t want the ‘high’ feeling she had from knowing Sotek was a werewolf to be ruined. She certainly didn’t want the day tainted by the trundle of Whiterun and Jorrvaskr’s life to dampen her spirit, or Sotek’s for that matter.

    “That’s enough. I’m in a good mood and I’m not having you two or that bunch of oldies trample over it”. She then sat by the fire and gently tugged on Sotek’s good arm to pull him towards her.

    Once he was sitting down too, Aela gently pushed him on his back then rested her head on his chest. She looked at him right in the eyes as she raised her eyebrows seductively.

    “Can I tell them?”

    Vilkas who was watching them both with a quiet curious glance, butted in on their conversation.

    “Tell us what? And why are you so happy anyway?”

    Aela went to reply but instead she prodded Sotek in the ribs, egging him on so he would answer for himself. He smirked slightly but the more he thought about it the more he laughed. He was enjoying the feeling just as much as Aela was.

    “Hircine, he’s finally...”

    Aela couldn’t keep it in any longer, she blurted out the reason for her good mood, cutting Sotek off in the process.

    “He has his werewolf form. Sotek’s a werewolf! He’s one of us. Red and Albino, they hunted together, out there! On the plains! Us!”

    Vilkas silently watched the two ‘werewolves’ for a few seconds as they lay together near the fire before nodding to himself.

    “You two? Your werewolf forms went off hunting together? Aela!!! You know... I’m not the Harbinger... This isn’t my problem. Sorry, I’m being a spoil sport. This is great! You might not realize it Sotek but she, our Aela and Red? They spent years hunting alone out here. Years... Wait a minute... Albino? You called your werewolf form Albino? He’s white?”

    The bright ecstatic shine in Aela’s eyes changed to an almost hateful glare as she growled at Vilkas. Sotek went to speak but a single hard slap against his chest stopped him in his tracks while Aela took it upon herself to defend Albino and she did so with her usual gusto.

    “Now you listen to me. Both of you...”

    Farkas seemed to treat the whole episode like it was a game and proceeded to give Aela a taste of her own medicine. Before she could say anymore, he interrupted her with his own rough voice which was just a little short of a yell.

    “What? Really? Oh wow, you got your werewolf form then. Good for you, Sotek. Can’t wait to see him”.

    Aela’s face filed with dread and concern despite her best efforts at hiding it. She nervously smiled at Sotek before she addressed the other Companions.

    “Ermm yea about that. He’s ermm, not your typical werewolf”.

    Vilkas laughed at her with little regard to the actual situation. Brushing her concerns aside he gave her a smile as if he knew the facts already.

    “Well with you guys, what else is new?”

    Sotek who had guessed that Vilkas didn’t have the slightest clue, mumbled quietly to himself. Deep inside, he was fully aware that Aela was right. The two brothers would rip into him and there was no avoiding it. Despite Aela’s close proximity though, she didn’t hear what he said to himself. Before she could ask him about it, he pointed to Farkas and suggested that she serve the meat while it was still edible as Farkas was prodding the pieces of venisonwith a stick.

    Aela huffed as she pulled herself to her feet then she promptly snatched the stick away from Farkas who she regarded as a child for playing with their food and threw the twig on the fire.

    “Get the hell away from it. Urgh, this one’s full of holes and it isn’t fang marks either. You’re having that piece Farkas, you great ape”.

    Both Sotek and Vilkas sniggered to each other while Farkas grumbled quietly. However he soon stopped when he saw Aela’s favourite cooking utensil being pointed straight at him. Sotek smiled at her as he waved his finger in her general direction.

    “Aela, put the dagger down please”.

    She promptly gave him one of her ‘looks’ then stabbed a piece of meat with the dagger.

    “I’m using it...”

    Once she served up the meal between them, Aela sat alongside Sotek and handed him his wooden plate. He gratefully took it from her but then a puzzled expression formed on his face.

    “I have three pieces? We cooked eight. That’s two each... Aela!! You’ve given me one of yours. Take it back”.

    Aela adamantly stood her ground, or rather she sat there and refused to take it back. Sotek had hoped she would just take it but he certainly wasn’t prepared for her argument.

    “No. You’ve been through a hell of a lot and you haven’t eaten much. Red biting your shoulder... getting shot in the leg... and as for the transformat.... Sotek, just eat it will you”.

    Both Farkas and Vilkas seemed to pick up on Aela’s underlying tone of concern but neither of them asked her about it. Instead they both kept out of the conversation which had all the signs of becoming the usual battle of wits between Aela and Sotek.

    Sotek grudgingly agreed but he kept a sly eye on Aela while she wolfed down her much smaller meal. Knowing this and being fully aware that Aela was hungry, Sotek deliberately left one piece of venison untouched. Once he had cleared the rest of his plate, he promptly offered the last piece to Aela. She kept refusing it however which started to pry on Sotek’s nerves. Eventually he sat the plate with the meat between them and half turned his back to it.

    Aela’s answer was a swift punch in his side but he ignored her in the hope that she would give in and eat it. Farkas had his own solution to the problem. He stabbed it with his fork and took it for himself leaving both Sotek and Aela staring at him.

    Aela snapped at him despite the fact that it was far too late to do anything about it.

    “Farkas... That was mine!”

    Sotek gave her a playful shove as he valiantly defended his meal despite the fact that Farkas was consuming it.

    “Hey... You gave it to me, remember”.

    “You didn’t want it, slime ball”. Aela was quick with the repartee and stuck her tongue out at him.

    Sotek accepted the abuse and drew a deep breath. At least he accepted the abuse for a few seconds before he dived at her and threw her on her back. Before he could take advantage of her though, he yelled out as a searing pain shot through his shoulder, crippling him once more. Aela helped him sit up then attempted to pass him his gear but the moment she picked up the pile of clothes, she knew something was wrong.

    “Vilkas!! This is just a pile of rags. What the hell are you playing at? Where’s his gear? His Axes?”

    Vilkas gulped then pointed behind him towards Whiterun.

    “Harbinger gave me that lot to give to you. No weapons though. He didn’t want you wandering off”.

    Sotek looked down at the fur which he was wearing then dejectedly shrugged at Aela.

    “We’ll we’ve no choice now do we. Let’s pack up then we can head for Jorrvaskr. I dread to think what they will say when I walk through that gate”.

    While Farkas and Vilkas cleared up the campsite, Aela tipped a few buckets of water on the fire so it wouldn’t become a hazard later on. She then stored the buckets at the back of the Overhang so they would be there for a later day, along with the wooden bowls and plates.

    Sotek, being a natural leader, but more so having a massive pigheadedness about him, automatically tried to take one of the packs but he quickly ran into problems with the straps.

    Aela sympathetically gave him a hug as she tried to take it away from him but Sotek was having none of it. As she bent down to pick the backpack up, Sotek demanded that she give it back to him.

    “Oh no you don’t... give it here” He sat it on one of the large boulders so it would be at the right height before standing in front of it so he could easily attach the straps. At least he was hoping it was easy. Life wasn’t always that straightforward though and now was one of those times. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t attach the left hand straps.

    Once again he realised that he needed help.

    “Aw rats! Ermm Aela, would you mind?”. She came around him and buckled up the remaining straps before helping him to his feet. Sotek cursed out loud as he adjusted the position of the backpack so it didn’t pull on his shoulder. Grunting with the pain, he turned to the others and signalled to them that he was ready to go. “Ok let’s get the hell out of here! Damn it I done better when I was on all bloody fours”.

    While they were heading back to Whiterun and Sotek’s possible demise under the fury of Tilma and her broom of pain and suffering, Sotek eyed an old tree trunk which had fallen over some years before. He tried to cast a fireball at it but the pain from the force of the spell was too great and he had to cancel the casting. Feeling somewhat dejected, he bitterly moaned out loud to the group, not once realizing that Aela was just as concerned as he was.

    “Oh wow, some Dragonborn... I can’t even cast a fireball at a dead tree, let alone anything else. The Divines help me now if the assassins show up tonight”.

    Aela grabbed Sotek’s hand, pulling him round to face her. However, in her anger she forgot as to which was Sotek’s good arm. It was a fifty, fifty chance but she still managed to screw it up and accidently tugged on the injured one.

    Aela jumped back in fright from Sotek’s agonising yell. She started to apologise straight away but it didn’t take her long to turn the ‘apology’ into a ‘telling off’.

    “Sorry, sorry wrong arm... I just grabbed the wrong arm. Listen to me! You’ve got to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start fighting like you always do. Do you hear me? You don’t quit for anything, or lay down... please, don’t stop now. When they turn up, we’ll sort them out. Somehow... please, don’t give up now”.

    Sotek hissed at her angrily as his tail slammed down in the grass but as he looked properly at Aela’s features, he could see she was genuinely regretting tugging his arm and she was far more worried than what she was letting on. He was under no illusion that she was concerned about him.

    “Fine, I won’t sulk about in self pity, but... please, if you love me! If you really... love me! Don’t grab that bloody arm again!!”

    Aela never said a word instead she just shook her head as a way of answering him.

    Sotek paused then carefully pulled her towards him. As he spoke he pointed back at the overhang.

    “Back there, earlier... Why did you say you were sorry?”

    Aela’s eyes flicked to the campsite and spoke timidly as if she was a child talking to a revered senior.

    “I... I never said to your face that I lov...”

    Sotek’s eyes rolled in their sockets. He huffed as he pulled her head around so he could look at her in the eyes.

    “Even now you can’t say ‘I love you’. Why?”

    Aela stared deeply into Sotek’s soul as a single word escaped her lips.

    “I...” The next instant her fist slammed into Sotek’s cheek bone sending his senses spiralling. He was dimly aware of Aela shouting at him as she angrily walked off back towards Whiterun by herself. “Because you played me. You’re a slimy jerk!!”

    Vilkas burst out laughing as he steadied Sotek before he fell over and then led the three Companions towards home, while tactfully keeping away from the fourth Companion. A huntress with a fiery temper.

    “Come on lover boy... She’ll calm down by suppertime”.

    Farkas started laughing as he gave Sotek a devious smile.

    “Yea, suppertime next week”.

     

     

Comments

7 Comments
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  November 2, 2015
    A chuckled a lot through this I like how natural your exchanges between the four feel. Sotek is so messed up right now, it sucks having to admit you need help.
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  November 1, 2015
    Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts Sotek. I shudder to think about what's going to happen when he gets back to Jorrvaskr, it's going to be like Aela's door all over again.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  November 1, 2015
    Yes, I wanted more friendly interaction at the camp. It's a great opportunity to show their characters and the differences between them. Dropped a lot of the armor problems as well. Just didn't fit the pace of the story.
     
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  November 1, 2015
    I see you added in that middle part that you left out in the 'editing group' or something like that, anyways, it was a great read.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  November 1, 2015
    Big wolves never tire...
    This is one of those settle down and consolidate chapters. Some bonding, casual chatter ect. Behind the scenes though there's a lot of groundwork being laid down.
    Let's see how long the peace lasts.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  November 1, 2015
    Sneaking about posting other chapters while I sleep. Naughty Sotek. Ah, the aftermath. Yours is going so... well. Everybody smiling and eating and there is laughter and stuff. Good for Sotek, he's one of the pack now.  He's earned it. I'm sure Albino will...  more
  • ShyGuyWolf
    ShyGuyWolf   ·  November 1, 2015
    Dang man, I was heading to bed when you posted this great piece. I was thinking on either writing a shot history on Jake's "Rightous Might" and his ability or Draw what it should look like other then what I had it set as in Ck, maybe both together.