U.O.T.W. Chapter 122 Cold Waters

• Posted by Sotek April 17, 2016 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - 1,160 views

  

  Author’s Notes: Adult Themes

  The two remaining Companions ‘huddled’ together in the centre of the platform for safety on the off chance they would become Sotek’s next target. The Argonian however had his sights on much livelier prey. Aela thrashed about as she was pulled below the surface by just a few feet then Sotek was gone once more, hiding in the depths of the river. Water burst upwards as Aela broke through the surface to gasp for air. With a big smile on her face she screamed out playfully.

  “You bastard! Where are you?”

  Aela screamed out again when he lightly tugged on her foot. She decided everything was against her so she tried to play him at his own game. Taking a lung full of air, she dived below the surface in pursuit of his tail.

  Sotek twisted around and gave her a fleeting glance before his feet thrust him forwards at speed propelling him through the water. Aela gave up the pointless pursuit and resurfaced for air. As she looked along the river, she saw Sotek standing on one edge seemingly occupied by something else. She swam as fast as she could to join him but once she got there, she wished she hadn’t.

  Sotek raised a hand to her as a signal to stop where she was. Cautiously she continued onwards until she was by his side. He pointed to a large round hole filled with ash and charcoal. His voice seemed haunted and hollow, almost lifeless.

  “I’ve found them”.

  Aela scratched her head, she was dripping wet and despite being of a good Nord stock, she could feel the chill of the nearby mountains. She longed for a fire, not so much for the warmth but for the closeness she felt when she was in Sotek’s arms when they both camped outside. Usually she would happily go without that closeness she felt but due to recent events she needed it. She moved to the edge of the large dip in the ground and peered in so she could examine the burnt out fire more closely.

  “What have you found?”

  Sotek sadly turned away and headed along the riverbank onto the wooden ramp towards Vilkas and Farkas who had already saddled four horses. Half turning back to Aela, he called out to her.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here, come on you!”

  She ran forwards to catch him up then she pulled on his arm, turning him around to face her.

  “What is it? What’s back there?”

  Sotek’s breath slowed to a controlled rhythm. He was fighting back the anger he felt, a rage wanting to take over. Burying his emotions he looked over Aela’s shoulder and stared at the hole.

  “They are!” He pulled out from his belt a crude yet cruel looking bone dagger belonging to the Forsworn and slammed it in Aela’s hand.

  “It’s a grave... They burned the bodies, the Silverhands; they slaughtered the Forsworn, burned the bodies... all of them. They wiped them out. Men, women even children... those bastards, they killed them all”.

  Aela dropped the dagger in shock. Death was something she was used to; she had dealt enough death herself but this had an evil feel about it; something else was at work. She couldn’t help but shudder as she thought about it.

  Sotek glanced down at the dagger laying on the platform. He gave it a slight kick with the toe of his boot, sending it over the side into the water. A soft ‘splash’ marked where it had sunk to the bottom of the river. He studied Aela for the briefest of moments, wondering what else troubled her so much then he lightly tugged on her arm, bringing her back to reality.

  “The others are waiting. Least we don’t have to walk”.

  Aela looked across to where Farkas and Vilkas were. They had already mounted up upon two horses while another two mounts waited patiently for her and Sotek. She snorted at her mate in jest then broke into a sprint.

  “The stallion’s mine, you get the mare!”

  By the time Sotek had reached his horse, Aela was already riding hers halfway up the incline to the brow of the hill. From there it was a straight run across rugged ground known as the plains but each Companion was by now a seasoned rider so they made good time on their journey back to Whiterun.

  Sotek recognised specific landmarks which he often used to navigate around the plains and surrounding hillsides. The twin peaks on the southern mountain range, the Throat of the World Mountain to the east, and the centre peak which split the plains in two. He slowed his horse down to a standstill and watched the evening sun start to set beyond the western mountains then spurred the mare forwards in a slow steady trot.

  Aela, who was way in front of everyone else, glanced back over her shoulder and saw Sotek lagging behind. She turned her horse in a large circle while she kept the fast rhythmic pace of the stallion as it bolted across the ground.

  Vilkas called out to Farkas as he slowed his own horse down while he watched Aela circle around to head back towards Sotek.

  “Hold up! Where the hell is she off to now? Ahh we have a slow carriage behind us. We’d better regroup”. The two Companions both turned their horses around and headed back to where Sotek was waiting for Aela.

  As she approached the Argonian she smiled warmly and nodded to her own comment.

  “Shoulder? We’ll take it easy from here”.

  Sotek rolled the shoulder joint expecting it to give him some pain but it seemed to have settled, at least for the time being.

  “It doesn’t feel too bad actually. No, I was wondering on something else.... What’s the rush to get back?”

  Aela stared blankly at him as she thought about the pressing need to return until it dawned on her that there wasn’t one. She spurred her horse forwards and came alongside Sotek’s mare.

  “Ermm... Vilkas!! Why the hell are we charging back so bloody fast?”

  Vilkas rode his horse in the way of Aela’s own mount and blocked its path. He had a ‘cross’ look on his face as he pointed out a singular home truth.

  “The only one rushing back like they have the hounds of hell on their arse is you!! Ermm, why are you asking?”

  Sotek laughed as he turned his horse to the south. He left the three temporarily behind him as his mare slowly trotted off.

  “The lake’s not too far away, we’ll make camp there tonight and head back to Whiterun in the morning. Fish supper anyone?”

  Farkas smirked at his shield sister then lightly kicked his horse into a fast run to catch Sotek up.

  “That depends... Who’s cooking, you or Aela?”

  Sotek stopped his horse and glanced back at Aela while he laughed.

  “I will be. I’ve had enough of being poisoned today thank you”.

  A low growl spurred Aela’s stallion on as she chased after Sotek who’s own horse picked up the pace to try to escape his pursuer.

  When the two horses whose riders were hell bent on beating each other, arrived at the northern shores of the lake, Aela, who came alongside Sotek, reached across and punched him in the ribs. She rolled her eyes playfully before dismounting from her stallion.

  “Lizards... Humph!”

  Sotek tutted back and slid off the mare. He tied the horse to a tree which just so happened to be close enough to the water’s edge so the animal could drink. Sotek shoved Aela lightly in the back then sprinted off a few feet before she could retaliate.

  “Nords!”

  By now they were joined by the other two Companions. Vilkas gave Farkas the task of taking care of the four horses while he sorted out the children.

  “If you two keep playing up I’ll give you both a hiding and put you to bed, with my fist. Aela, firewood. Sotek, fish”.

  The two Companions both smiled and nodded. They pointed to each other and ‘corrected’ Vilkas in his assessment of the situation. Sotek started off while Aela laughed at him.

  “She’s not firewood. She’s a Nord”.

  Before Vilkas could say a word, Aela joined in.

  “And he may swim like a fish but he’s an Argonian! We can’t cook him... Mind you, Red could eat him raw!”

  Not being prepared to be out done, Sotek placed his own threat on the ‘table’.

  “Omega would eat you raw more like!”

  A snigger from behind Vilkas caused everyone to turn around. Farkas had a big cheesy grin on his face as he spoke.

  “I thought it would be the pair of you doing that, not your werewolf forms”.

  Aela growled softly as Sotek walked over to her. She snapped her head angrily to him and said.

  “Is he implying what I think he is?”

  Sotek nodded and handed her the dagger she had unwittingly left behind when she stabbed the bench with it. As she took it from him he replied.

  “Yess, I thinks he iss”.

  A second later the dagger whizzed through the air and embedded itself in a tree six inches away from Farkas’s head. He gulped as he stared at the blade until Vilkas pulled it out of the tree and slid it in his belt for safe keeping; mainly keeping Farkas ‘safe’.

  “I’ll hold on to this. Aela, get the firewood. Sotek, haven’t you got fish to catch?”

  Aela huffed and stuck her hip out as she argued about her task.

  “Why am I getting the stupid wood?”

  Vilkas smiled straight back at her and offered her his pack.

  “It’s wood or set up camp!!”

  Aela turned on the spot and dejectedly strolled off into the nearby forest.

  “Fine! What... bloody... ever”.

  Sotek smirked as he watched Aela’s backside disappear from view then he dropped his axe to the side and started taking off his armor. He sighed with relief when he unfastened the buckles used to attach the leather harness for his injured shoulder. The whole joint ached and his arm felt heavy.

  Wearing just an old pair of ragged trousers, which he kept in his pack, and armed with a single dagger tucked into a thick piece of string that he used as a belt, Sotek ran at the lake and dived in, causing a wave of water to crash against the shore line. He initially swam in a large circle, enjoying the cooling sensation of the water before setting on his task of catching fish.

  A few minutes later, when Vilkas was busy setting out the camp, a large lump of wood flew between two trees and landed with a ‘thump’ by his feet. He jumped backwards in fright, causing Farkas to chuckle at him. Angrily he yelled at Aela despite the fact that he couldn’t see her.

  “Oi! Watch it you stupid cow!!”

  Aela’s only response was a loud girlish laugh which seemed to originate by a dense copse of trees and bushes.

  By this time Sotek had gathered several fish from the lake. He ignored any salmon he came across for two reasons. He thought they had more of a flavour to them when they were trying to jump the small waterfall by Riverwood and also for the lack of additional benefits unlike Silverside Perch and Histcarp. Both of these fish gave an extra boost of energy, making them both a far better food choice. Whereas Cyrodillic Spadetail would actually damage the recipient’s stamina. He sometimes caught the odd one or two for Aela as she liked the taste of them and for the fact that they caused her to sleep far deeper than what she usually would.

  As Aela had stocked up a fair pile of branches for the fire, Sotek decided it was playtime and called out to her.

  “Aela, come and join me”.

  The Huntress appeared with an arm full of logs. She dropped them by the stack of firewood then walked to the edge of the lake. Dusk had already set in and the evening’s chill was descending upon them. She turned her nose up at the suggestion, mainly because she still felt rotten for the way Red and she acted in Scarface’s presence.

  “The waters freezing, no”.

  Farkas easily guessed Aela’s reaction was due to her self-imposed turmoil. He had already built the fire and set about lighting it with some dry moss and flint along with a few drops of oil to aid him. Although he was talking to Aela, he nodded towards Sotek as he spoke.

  “I’ll have a fire going in a minute. You’ll soon warm up. He wants you”.

  Aela skulked around Farkas and tried to discretely kick some debris in the fire in an attempt to put it out before it even started.

  “No it’s too cold”.

  Vilkas stood next to her and pulled her away from the camp fire so Farkas could carry on lighting it without coughing on dust.

  “That doesn’t usually stop you. He don’t want you Aela... he needs you. Go to him. Now!”

  Aela cursed to herself as she dropped her bow and dagger by her feet. She looked back at the two Companions and whispered to them despite the fact that Sotek was too far away to hear.

  “Months ago you two beat him up and told him to stay away from me”.

  Vilkas tapped her hard in the chest then shoved her towards the lake.

  “Yes and now we’ll beat you up and throw you in the water. Move your arse!!”

  Aela slapped his hand away from her body and raised her fist to hit him but for once her threats did little to improve her situation. Vilkas grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her close to him. He stared back at her defiantly and pointed to the lake.

  “Your move!”

  She wrenched her hand away then begrudgingly crossed the shoreline of the lake. When she waded through the shallows towards the deeper section where Sotek waited for her, she felt a shiver tremble down her back. On the chance that Sotek saw her, she commented on the temperature of the water to mask the real reason, her failing nerves.

  ”Damn it’s cold”.

  Sotek chuckled and swam nearer towards her then he turned around so she was behind him.

  “Hold on to my back”.

  Aela did as he asked. She wrapped one arm around his waist while the other was slung over his good shoulder so she could hold onto his chest. After she inhaled a lung full of air, she signalled to him by nodding. With a kick of his legs and a flick of his tail, they were away, coursing through the water leaving a rippling wake behind them.

  While the two youngest members of the Inner Circle of the Companions played in the water, the two brothers, Farkas and Vilkas both sat around the camp fire. They watched Aela’s and Sotek’s interaction with one another with interest while at the same time, keeping just a close eye on the six fish which were cooking on a grill overhanging the fire.

  Aela gave out a loud shrilling cry then dived under the water for several seconds giving Vilkas cause to comment.

  “Ha! So much for the water being cold! It doesn’t bother her much really does it?” From the corner of his eye he could see Farkas poking a fish with a stick.

  The only reply was a rumbling of Farkas’s stomach. He was hungry and yet the fish still needed at least a few minutes of cooking until they were ready to be eaten.

  Feeling disgruntled, he looked across the water to where Sotek was. Aela was under the surface; no doubt seeing how long she could hold her breath for.

  “Vilkas, what are we going to do?”

  Vilkas felt like groaning. He knew they had to talk about Red but he wasn’t looking forwards to the conversation. He snatched the pile of wooden bowls from the ground in preparation of serving up the fish. There was one fish in particular he had his eye on. A fat Histcarp had his name written all over it.

  “About?”

  Farkas threw the stick in the fire, causing a cloud of ‘fire fairies’ to rise up and scatter as they rode the fire’s hot thermals.

  “Oh you know damn well what about! Her and Scarface, who else?”

  Vilkas mistakenly took his eyes off the Histcarp as he turned towards Farkas and replied to him.

  “What she said was true. She tried to fight him off, so did Red. You saw it as much as I did”.

  While Vilkas was talking, Farkas slid the fattest fish on the grill along the edge and hungrily watched as it fell in his bowl. He glanced up at Vilkas whose chin was almost on the floor.

  “What? I want this fish!”

  Vilkas huffed to himself then picked two of the next biggest sizes he could see and claimed them for himself.

  “They can share the three smallest. They will probably go off and hunt anyway. Scarface... yes. Aela and Red could have tried harder but there’s some sort of hold he has over them both. There’s a presence about him, I felt it. We might have to politely warn him off”.

  Farkas almost dropped his fish in shock. He raised his voice and almost yelled across the campfire at his brother.

  “Warn him off? We are on about the same werewolf aren’t we? Scarface?”

  Vilkas’s only answer was to shrug his shoulders. He glanced back at the lake. Despite the darkness, with the help of the moonlight he could see Aela being thrown up high in the air. She spun around in a somersault and dived back in the water.

  “She was scared of Sotek finding out, about how she felt. With some luck we won’t have to do anything”.

  Farkas gawped back at him as he took a sip of water from his brother’s flask. He nearly choked himself and ended up spluttering.

  “With some luck? What the hell can we do? ‘Hey Scarface, this attraction you got with Aela and Red. Do us a favour and let it go, yea? No? Ok fair enough, we had to ask’. Vilkas, what the hell do you honestly think we can do?”

  Vilkas buried his face in the palms of his hand. His voice sounded heavy and full of worry.

  “I don’t know. I guess all we can do is put some faith in Aela, she deserves our trust”.

  Unaware of the current campfire discussion, Sotek swam up to Aela and nodded to her, signalling that it was time they headed back to the camp. She clung onto his back and tapped his leg with her foot, telling him she was ready then they shot across the water to the shoreline. Once they reached the shallows, he picked her up off the ground in his arms and carried her to the fire. Only when Aela could feel the heat of the flames, she gasped in equal degrees of excitement and shock.

  “Hey, your shoulder!”

  Sotek chuckled as he lifted her high in the air before dropping her down to catch her in his arms.

  “Yes, I noticed it when we were swimming. It must have been those potions I had from Arcadia”. His face was smothered in a beaming smile and his tail flapped about happily, kicking up clouds of dust.

  Aela laughed with relief and kissed him lovingly on the lips.

  “Great!! That’s such wonderful news... I’m so happy for you, for us! We’ll have a damn good training session tomorrow; get the strength back in that arm”.

  As an afterthought, she leaned into him and whispered in his ear. “Also, now I don’t have to do all the work”.

  Vilkas looked up at her with a bemused expression. Despite her whispering, he still heard what she had said.

  “It’s great his shoulders better but ermm... what work?”

  She looked down at him from Sotek’s arms while both Farkas and Vilkas sat there expectantly waiting for an answer.

  Aela’s eyes opened wide in embarrassment. She felt her cheeks redden so she buried her face in Sotek’s chest.

  “Ermm, oh just the little jobs that needs doing”. Then she whispered in Sotek’s ear even more quietly than before. “Like doing me”.

  Sotek raised his eyebrows in surprise and the tip of his tail started to curl around.

  “Aren’t you hungry?”

  Aela’s eyes narrowed as she glanced down at the two bowls of food and slowly shook her head. She looked at Sotek right in the eyes as she replied.

  “Not for fish!! Take me to the furs”.

  Obeying her command, Sotek effortlessly carried her over to where the furs were then knelt down by them while he kept a firm hold of her. With one arm around him so she wouldn’t fall out of his arms, she reached down to the pile of furs and seized three of the larger animal skins and wrapped them up in a bundle.

  “Up!”

  Yet again following her simplistic command, Sotek carefully rose back up to his feet then headed off in the direction which Aela was pointing in; the copse of trees where she hid from Vilkas earlier.

  Farkas watched the two Companions head off away from the warmth of the fire and called out to Aela.

  “Hey? Where are you both going? The camp’s here!”

  Aela shouted back as she grinned.

  “We know but so are you, we’ll be back soon enough”. Then she whispered into Sotek’s ear in her seductive husky voice.

  “But it had better not be too soon”

  “Oh no need to worry about that”. Sotek softly replied. Sharp Argonian teeth ever so lightly bit into Aela’s neck causing her to squirm as she squeamishly laughed.

  Author's Note: Thanks to Lissette for the screenshot.