U.O.T.W. Chapter 114 Raiders

• Posted by Sotek March 29, 2016 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - 1,094 views

  

  Leaving Aela alone to contemplate all the possible meanings of the word ‘signal’, Sotek scurried off along the edge of the river. The base was about a thousand yards upstream when Sotek slipped below the surface where he could approach the base unseen. Although he was surprised at how hard he found it swimming with just the one arm, he managed well enough as his tail gave him the extra thrust. With each swish of the tail he propelled himself through the water.

  His first target was a single sentry; he broke the surface of the water barely making a single ripple. Without a sound he grasped the Forsworn’s throat with his good hand. Within a second his clawed fingers cut through the flesh and tore apart the windpipe. Blood seeped through Sotek’s fingers as he kept increasing the pressure on the ever tightening grip. Moments later he was pulling the body down into the depths of the water’s surface and disappeared from sight.

  He proceeded to swim upstream with the body then made his way to a particularly rocky bank of the river. After hiding the corpse between a few large boulders, Sotek re-entered the water then moved to his next target. A Forsworn looter who lazily stood with his back to the water’s edge. Ten minutes had now past and he had killed three Forsworn without detection. Knowing that any moment the signal would start up again, he silently swam under a large platform and waited at the bottom of the river where he was out of sight.

  From where he was, Sotek couldn’t see the start of the signal, but he certainly guessed when it was discovered certain members of the tribe were missing. The whole camp became active as one. Frantic yet organized shouting called everyone to arms and the Forsworn quickly began searching the edge of the water for their missing comrades.

  Something seemed off for Sotek but he couldn’t put his clawed finger on it. The way the Forsworn acted was more of a military fashion than a basic tribal scattering.

  One Forsworn stood by the edge of the platform he was under. The man proved to be too tempting a target and Sotek slowly paddled himself to the edge then, like a leviathan breaking the water’s surface, Sotek launched himself upwards and lashed out with his axe, slicing the man’s stomach wide open in a single strike. Even before his victim was on the floor, Sotek had dived back down below the waters depths once more.

  Aela watched Sotek disappear from one area then within seconds he would appear somewhere else, quickly strike at one then disappear again. Each blow would maim or fatally wound an opponent. Three looters had massive gashes in their legs, crippling them from the main fight which was yet to come. The chaos and disruption was severe to say the least. Aela heard them shouting at each other as they desperately tried to maintain order

  The Huntress couldn’t help but laugh to herself at the commotion.

  “They think there’s more than one, they’re running around like crazy. Hahaha”.

  By now the enemy had guessed what was happening. Each tribal member stayed away from the edge of the platforms lest they became a target and scanned the surface of the river, watching for any sign or tell-tale ripple of Sotek’s location.

  All of a sudden, a flaming Familiar appeared on a platform and ran full bore into a group of Forsworn. It was felled in seconds as wicked barbed clubs and axes rained down upon the unfortunate creature. Little did they realise killing it was a big mistake. The resulting explosion of fire was massive. Five Forsworn were caught in the blast and smothered in flames. Two of them jumped in the water while the other three died screaming and writhing as they succumbed to the flames.

  Aela looked on as Sotek broke the surface of the river and dispatched the two who tried to jump for safety, then once again he was gone.

  Three arrows struck the surface where he was moments before. Aela glanced around and saw the archers by the forge. Vilkas was above them and preparing to jump down when Farkas cried out in fury and charged across the platform. As an archer aimed their bow at him, Aela let loose an arrow of her own.

  It struck true, piercing the Forsworn’s eye and embedding itself in the woman’s head. She toppled backwards and careered over the edge of the cliff.

  As Vilkas jumped down, he swung his greatsword over his head. The cleaving strike smashed through the bow used to try and block the strike but the weight and strength behind the blade was too much. A shoulder shattered and the chest of the archer crumpled under such brute force.

  By now Farkas had reached his target. Three arrows had struck his shield and stuck out like the spikes of a porcupine. As a fourth arrow was pointing straight at him, he continued his charge and shield bashed his opponent. The arrow slammed into the shield yet adding another spike but it did little if anything to slow him down. The side of the shield smashed into his adversary’s face, crushing the bridge of the nose and splattering blood all over the Forsworn’s face. He screamed as blood poured from a massive gaping wound where his nose was moments before but now just broken shards of bone marked the noses location. His head was thrown sideways from a second strike as the shield bashed him in the earlobe sending him crashing to the ground. He was too disorientated to react and due to the blood in his eyes, he didn’t even see the tip of the sword as it punched through his chest.

  Not being prepared to be left out, Aela took aim once more. This time her target was a Forsworn on the platform below near where she saw Sotek last enter the water. She drew a deep breath, drawing in fresh air, then exhaled. She paused her breathing, effectivly shutting down her lungs before releasing the drawstring sending yet more carnage to the fray. The missile struck a woman in the middle of her back causing her to crumple to the wooden platform. She started crawling along the walkway with her hands as she screamed in agony. Her legs lay limp behind her, confirming to Aela that her shot had indeed shattered the unfortunate prey’s spine.

  Leaving her for fate to deal with, Aela picked out a second target. The man was running to the edge of the platform where he could head towards the forge. From this distance, Aela knew the shot would have to be a good one. She fired but quickly cursed as she watched the arrow miss its target. Her second shot fared little better so she aimed a third time and paused. The man ran along a small platform then started ascending some steps. His pace slowed down giving Aela the opportunity to claim another kill. Claim him for her own she did.

  Vilkas however fell into trouble. Two previously unseen Forsworn had jumped out and grabbed him. They managed to force his sword free and threw it on the floor then forced him down on his knees. His arms were twisted round and the two Forsworn who held him forced his head lower down. A third Forsworn, a woman drew her knife and shoved the tip of the dagger against the back of Vilkas’s neck. She made the two men drag him towards the forge and threatened to have his head shoved in the red hot coals. Farkas closed in albeit cautiously as he watched his brother with concern.

  Aela saw it all happen and took careful aim. She prepared to fire the shot of her life. If she missed, then Vilkas would be killed or badly scarred. No amount of healing would prevent disfigurement if his face was shoved in the coals.

  She prayed to Hircine and let loose the arrow.

  It whizzed past the woman, missing her head by the fraction of an inch. Behind her a large wooden bucket which was used to feed the trough, fell on its side and spilt the water held within onto the forge. A great cloud of steam erupted smothering and choking Vilkas along with the Forsworn.

  Aela jumped in fright as a terrible cry of unimaginable pain screamed out but it was quickly followed by a second terrified cry. As the cloud of steam cleared, Aela looked on in horror but she soon felt confusion as she saw Vilkas standing in the forge apparently unharmed.

  From where she was, Aela couldn’t have known he was standing on the back of one of the Forsworn and his other foot was pinning the woman down on the red hot coals.

  The third forsworn gazed in shock at him as Farkas’s sword sliced through the back of his neck, decapitating him.

  The forge was secured but stank of burning hair and flesh. Below the two brothers, the fight still raged although it was very one sided.

  Three more times the Flaming familiar charged into combat, taking out groups of two or three. Aela gave up waiting to see what Sotek would do next and just started picking off the odd target, within a minute of her shooting, Sotek climbed the platform and signalled to the others. The base was secure.

  By the time they got to him, Sotek had looted several bodies. The three Companions just stood there looking at him. He turned to them and saw them staring at him.

  “What?” He then simply turned around and headed to an entrance.

  Aela ran up to him and held him tightly in her arms.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it! You were great! They didn’t know what the hell was going on”. Before he could answer, she planted a great big kiss on his lips.

  Vilkas watched Sotek just stand there as calm as he usually was. He smiled to himself then placed his hand on Sotek’s shoulder and pulled him around so he could look at the Argonian in the face.

  “Do you have any concept on what you've just done?”

  Sotek gave him a funny look then nodded.

  “Yes, we took the base. Are you ok?”

  Aela had by now fell back to her usual self. She backhanded Sotek across the face and glared at him.

  “The signal! What the hell is the point in telling us to wait for the signal when you don’t tell us what it is?”

  Sotek held his cheek and hissed back at her.

  “Ssignal? What ssignal?”

  Aela’s eyes narrowed giving Sotek more than enough cause to move away from any secondary strike. It was then that something occurred to him. He walked to a specific hut which had a fur draped over the doorway. He had examined the interior moments before the other Companions had joined him.

  “Aela, in here!! There’s something I want to show you”

  Farkas grumbled and sat on an old barrel.

  “That’s typical. It’s always sex with you two”

  Sotek stopped in his tracks. He hissed angrily at Farkas then beckoned them all over towards him.

  “Sshut up, you have no idea what you are on about. Hsss”

  As he threw the flap of the hut open, he pointed to a large weapons chest. He sat by the side of it and motioned Aela to open it. There was no mistaking the tone in his voice, he meant what he said.

  “We have a problem. These Forsworn? They aren’t what they seem. They’re Silverhands. There were bone weapons, Aela said the Forsworn used bone weapons. Well if they just use bone weapons then what the hell is this lot doing here? It’s all silver, the Silverhands are here. If it was captured weapons, then there would be different types but there isn’t. It’s all silver”.

  Farkas voiced his opinion and quickly headed for the exit of the hut.

  “We’re out of here! Pack up, we’re heading back”.

  Sotek just shook his head and quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him back inside the hut.

  “No! We are going to finish what we started”.

  Aela spun him around by his shoulder causing him to cry out in agony. She quickly let him go but she certainly didn’t back down. Instead she poked him in the chest, forcing his back to slam against the hut wall.

  “You did well, bloody well. For the love of the divines, Sotek… it’s a bloody trap”.

  Sotek laughed at her despite the throbbing pain.

  “Of course it’s a trap, that’s why we’re going in. There’s two entrances. Here’s how we are going, Aela take Farkas. Vilkas, you’re with me”.

  Aela grabbed him by the throat and pinned his head back. Her eyes blazed with a fury which they had all felt before.

  “Like hell!! We stay together, you’re with me”.

  Vilkas pulled her away from Sotek and turned her around to face him. He didn’t agree with Sotek but he knew why he had split the groups the way he had.

  “Nope. Both teams will need a range attacker, you’re the archer Sotek has magic”.

  Sotek straightened his armor from where he had grappled with Aela before he was prepared to discuss things further. When he did start speaking, he was careful to stand behind Vilkas although he knew Vilkas wouldn’t pose much of a problem and would in all probability happily move out of Aela’s way should she want to reach Sotek.

  “They will need us; sorry we have to separate. You two take that entrance, We’ll take this one. Farkas, if you can’t come out with Aela, don’t bother coming out. I’d hate to kill you myself. Stay sharp, stay together”.

  Aela turned around and studied the two entrances. Both were opposite each other and seemed to be little more than dark caves cut into the rock.

  Farkas shot Vilkas a look and gulped.

  “He’s joking of course, isn’t he?”

  Vilkas just shrugged and followed Sotek from behind.

  “Probably, kind of, maybe, ermm stay with her, yea?”

  “Yea, I’ll do that”. Farkas semi consciously stood nearer to Aela, who was very unhappy with the whole situation. She walked to the entrance given to her and watched Sotek disappear in his allotted cave.

  Sotek took point but as he walked in the darkness, Vilkas spoke to him.

  “We don’t have to do this”.

  “Oh you know we do; besides I’m waging most were outside”. Then as one they all entered into the depths below.