Aela felt the horrific blow as the axe head slammed into her chest, the force of which sent her flying backwards. As her back hit the dirt, she knew. She knew she was dying, her own blood choked her as she tried to breath, but her lungs wouldn’t respond. She felt a hand by her side as she coughed up blood, but every second more blood filled her mouth. Then everything disappeared except a bright light which almost blinded her.
“Hey, you ok?”
Aela awoke up with a start. She was gasping for breath and her eyes were wide open. As she turned her head to her side, she saw Sotek kneeling besides her. His face was calm, but when he spoke his voice belied the emotions he held inside.
“What? Ermm, yea. I’m fine. Just a bad dream”. She tried to shake the nightmare off, but it stayed with her for a few minutes until gradually the dream faded and reality seeped inside her mind. She sat up as Sotek held her in his arms, giving her some comfort from the nightmare that decided to descend upon her that night. “I dreamed of your trial”.
“I guessed as much. I had that nightmare as well. The latest events at the Fighters Guild must have bought the memory back. But that’s something I don’t want to talk about. So, with no further ado, tell me… What can you smell?”
Aela looked up at him oddly for a split second then the full extent of reality slapped her hard like a big kick in the backside.
“Venison, your cooking venison. Oh Hircine, I’m hungry”.
Sotek chuckled as he decided to tease her slightly.
“Nope, your wrong”.
“But I can smell it”. You’re a bloody liar”.
“I’m not cooking venison, I’ve cooked it. Come on, it’s ready”.
With her nightmare forgotten, she jumped up and liberally ran to the campfire. Sotek had already placed a fur on the ground where they both sat together and ate. Once they finished their meal, Sotek laughed as he pulled a piece of straw out from Aela’s hair, making her yelp in surprise as she felt an unexpected tugging of her hair.
“Get off. What you doing to me?”
“Well, I gave my bedroll away didn’t I”.
“Yea, so?” Aela said as she brushed the tips of her fingers through her hair.
“Well I used yours last night”.
“So, what did I use?” She asked as she tried to remember what she slept on.
Sotek chuckled as he pulled out a second strand of straw from the back of her head and showed it to her.
“This”.
She stared at him for a few seconds then launched her attack on him. “You bastard, why do I like you?” She forced him to the ground then quickly pinned his arms down. Aela lifted herself up and dropped onto his stomach winding him slightly, but then she saw her bedroll still rolled up by the straw bedding. “You never used it at all, damn you”. She then found herself staring in his eyes, she leant down over his face and started kissing him, then she shifted her knees allowing Sotek to raise his arms. He gently held her waist then slowly started pulling at the armour straps but then Aela shifted her body, so her crotch was just a few inches from his face, taunting him with her scent. She leant back and slid her hand down along Sotek’s stomach to his groin and gently squeezed, adding to his arousal.
Just as Sotek lifted his head up to get his ‘prize’, Aela backed away and stood up, leaving a rather confused and sex hungry Argonian peering up at her.
“If you want me then you have to earn me. Let’s see what skills you have. I don’t just give myself to anyone you know. Grab your bow, you are going to need it”. As she spoke, she used her husky voice which she knew added to Sotek’s lustful state. Just to add to his dilemma, she gave a sultry smile then walked over to her bow, slowly swinging her hips as she walked.
It didn’t take them long to don their full sets of armor which only added to Sotek’s situation as Aela seemed to exaggerate all her curves as she knew he was watching her. When they were ready, she gave him a slight kiss on the cheek along with a delicate touch of his groin, keeping him in a perplexed state of arousal.
Moving several feet away from the overhang, Aela pointed out a small tree stump which happened to be about a hundred yards away. Nearby a stag was grazing and it proved to be too much of a temptation. Aela drew her bow and growled, forcing the seductive She-Wolf to the side and allowing the Huntress to resume full control of her emotions. With an arrow notched in her drawstring, she took aim at the stag’s chest and breathed slowly, controlling all her emotions and bringing her own passions and lust under control.
Mentally, she let go of the drawstring, letting loose the image of the arrow. She pictured it flying across the rugged terrain and striking the stag perfectly. Knowing such a kill was pointless as they had a plentiful supply of meat, she dislodged the arrow and lowered her bow. The stag looked up and bolted across the plains, not knowing that it’s life had hung in the balance on such a fine point as one of Aela’s arrows.
Turning back to Sotek, she smiled then reloaded her bow and launched an arrow at the stump. A dull ‘thump’ echoed out, as the arrow struck the trunk perfectly. Two more arrows followed in rapid succession, setting the bar of Aela’s expectations.
“Three for three. Your turn”.
Sotek drew his bow and took careful aim. He felt confident and eager to please his She-Wolf, so, after taking a breath, he fired.
His confidence was misplaced just as much as his shot. The arrow whizzed past the trunk by nearly five feet, missing it.
Aela burst out laughing and wiped a joyful tear from her eye. She couldn’t turn away from the trunk as she chuckled at the hapless Argonian.
“You missed… Completely! Hahaha!”
“Well…” Sotek mumbled as his bow fell to his side dejectedly. “You never set me up to shoot arrows. You set me up to shoot something else”.
“That’s disgusting!” Aela declared, although her face was beaming with a big smile.
Sotek cocked an eyelid and half turned towards her. With a tilt of his head, he replied.
“Don’t kid yourself. You are hungry for it! In more ways than one”.
Now it was Aela’s turn to feel the heat between them and feel it she did. Her face started to cringe on Sotek’s words but not due to the fact of him repulsing her, but more to the fact that she knew he was right. The more she thought on his words, the more her own desires rose inside her.
She found herself looking down at his groin and her tongue slipped across her lips, whetting them. Not being prepared to be thrown on her knees just yet, Aela growled a second time, amplifying the Huntress’s control.
“That may be, but sex and passion? Lust? It’s just the same as fear. You must learn to blot it out just as you would if you were afraid. You remember saying fear is a mind killer? So is lust. If your mind is set on screwing me, then you won’t be thinking on the fight and you will lose. Focus, Sotek. You need to focus”.
“Then stop flashing your backside at me and leave my groin alone! Howl is a man supposed to focus with you throwing every curve at him? And cut out the tone! That certainly doesn’t help”.
Aela ‘bashfully’ held her hands behind her back and swayed side to side like a temptress. She still spoke in her husky voice, winding Sotek up further.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you… I promise, my mate”. Just to add insult to injury, she blew a kiss to him, exaggerating the smack of her lips as she kissed.
Sotek’s eyes narrowed then he turned back to the stump and growled. Flexing out his arms, he tightened every muscle in his body, making himself rigid then he lifted his tail. He hissed out loudly and brought his tail down in a loud bang, like it was a trap that had been set off.
Now he was properly focused, he drew his bow and picked an arrow from his quiver. A few seconds later, after taking care to aim, he fired.
The arrow shot across the ground and flew past the stump, missing it by several inches. Sotek’s shoulders dropped and he lifted his arm up at the target in disgust.
“Aww come on! That should have hit it! What have you done to my bow?”
He turned around to Aela who was too busy laughing to even attempt to answer. All she could manage was to point at the target and at Sotek’s bow while her eyes streamed with tears.
“Hahaha… You… Missed…”
Sotek hissed back at her then drew a second arrow. It took him no less than four tries to actually hit the target but by that time Aela was too engrossed in her hysterical laughter to notice.
“Hey, I hit it! Aela, look! Aela? Aww forget it”.
Once she had asserted control over her hysterical state, or rather as much control as she was going to get, Aela moved closer to Sotek and tapped his Dragonscale chest armor.
“You never enchanted your own gear, did you? Why not? It will certainly help”.
“Kodlak. I spoke to the Harbinger for a bit on the subject and he is right”. Sotek said as he took another shot at the stump. By now he moved several steps closer to it but he despairingly sighed as he had managed to miss again.
“What about the old man? Sotek, lower your bow before you shoot yourself. Not that you’ll hit anyway”. Aela said as she grinned from ear to ear.
“I wouldn’t let him catch you calling him that. Anyhowl… Hahaha… Howl… Yess”. He looked back at his She-Wolf and took her hand then led her back to the overhang then sat her down om the fur before sitting alongside her. “Do you remember when you said you were glad I never arrived at Jorrvaskr with a spear?”
A flash of recognition as the memory of Sotek beating them with a spear came to the forefront of Aela’s mind. She eagerly nodded as she remembered Sotek teaching her a few moves.
“Yep. I nearly hit Ebony by accident”.
“Yess… Her face when it shot towards her. Anyway… Kodlak tried on the ring and amulet then he took a few shots with my bow. He struck the target perfectly too”.
“Well that’s great! You should use them!” Aela exclaimed excitedly.
Sotek solemnly shook his head and disagreed.
“No, I shouldn’t. Aela, there is nothing more I would like than to be able to go toe to toe with you in archery, Vilkas with a two-handed axe and Farkas with an axe and shield. There are enchants which would allow me to do this too. Therein lies the problem. If I use them, then I will rely on them. My shooting will never improve. You don’t use them… It’s all you, Aela. Every shot you take is one hundred percent, Aela the ‘shot a wing off a butterfly at a hundred yards’ Huntress. One day, I’ll match your shooting. Well, lets be realistic. One day I’ll be a worthy second to your archery. When I do Huntress, you and I will both know that it is down to just two things. Well, three, actually. One, me. Me taking my time in learning everything you can teach me about bows, arrows, fletching and shooting. Two, you. My Aela, giving me the patience and not giving up on me. Pushing me and my skills, stretching my understanding so one day I will be able to shoot well enough to deserve to stand alongside you in a hunt”.
Aela smiled back at him and gave him a loving hug. She rubbed her check against his chest armor as her arms wrapped around him affectionately.
“And, my loving, werewolf Argonian reptile… What’s the third thing? You said there were three”.
“Ahh…” Sotek said as he looked over towards the stump in the distance. “that would be me moving closer to the target, so I can hit the bloody thing!”
Aela glanced over her shoulder to the stump and burst out laughing.
Once she stopped laughing, she paused and glanced at Sotek’s gauntlets.
“How does the enchant actually work? Does it somehow increase your knowledge like reading a book about marksmanship?”
“Ahh!” Sotek said as he laid down on his back. He pulled Aela down with him and rested her head on his chest, so he could gently run his clawed fingers through her hair like he was stroking a dog. Each touch caused her to slowly move her head, as the enjoyable sensation of being caressed flowed through her. “This enters the realm of speculation but what I believe is that the enchants affects all the different attributes which a marksman, Huntress, depends on. Imagine you are about to shoot a deer. What skills and abilities are you using?”
“Well…” Aela said as she rolled on her back, so she could look straight up at the sky. She lifted her arms and pretended to shoot a cloud to aid in her imagery. “Strength to pull back the drawstring. Hand eye co-ordination so I know where my arrow is aiming. Eyes… Depth perception, vision. You need to be calm. You can’t rush a shot. Patience and a steady aim”.
“Wow, that many huh?” Sotek said as he raised an eyebrow.
“To name a few”. Aela replied.
“Now, it’s my belief that if I increased my strength using an enchant then I would be able to pull back the drawstring further, increasing power to my shot”.
“Ahh!” Aela said as she nodded in understanding. “But then you would still be unsteady, your eyes won’t be any better, or your nerves. Hand to eye co-ordination would still be the same too”.
“Exactly. Now a marksman enchant would fortify all these various skills and abilities, enabling me to shoot better. We both know it isn’t just a case of extra strength”. Sotek stated as he watched Aela release a pretend arrow. “Even when I imagine you shooting, you still hit the target”.
“Sotek… Are you going to remove all the enchants? Even the ones off my bow?” Aela asked as she turned towards him to cuddle closer to her mate.
“No. I can’t remove them. But yes, I’m replacing your bow, my bow and everything which is enchanted. I need to hone my skills, not cloak them in magical trickery. I want to be like you Aela. I need to hone my skills”. With that he kissed her on the top of her head.
“Speaking of skills…” Aela said as she started speaking in her husky voice. “As I am so pleased with your choice, you can choose”.
“Choose? Choose what?” Sotek asked as he raised a spiky eyebrow.
“On my back, or crawling on my hands and knees like an animal?” As the Huntress spoke, she flashed her eyelids at him.
Sotek grinned wolfishly, like he was the wolf that got the carcass.
“Oh, definitely animal. However, I was thinking to start with… You on your knees”.
Aela giggled and nodded. She eagerly got down on her knees as Sotek stood up then she started loosening his armor while her tongue lightly slipped across her eager, moist lips.
“Mmmm… You are right. I am hungry in more ways than one”.
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