C.O.T.W Chapter 26: Banished

  • Aela just sat there  as she watched open-mouthed as the three nords ride back to Whiterun without them. Aela decided she would

    take charge of both the group and their predicament. Aela got up, journal in hand and walked to where the nord and high elf

    sat around the fire and plopped herself down next to them. She gestured for them to come over, they did and she opened the

    journal. Upon cracking the book open, the female nord found a hastily scrawled note. 

     

    She ripped the note free from the book and read it.

    To whom it may concern, This blessing was passed down by Terrfyg to the companions of ysgramor and finally to the companions of

    Jorvaskr. You, the leader of the circle gifted with the gift of the werewolves, must keep this secret safe as in never transform in front

    of humans and only transform in Whiterun as only they already know our secret. Never transform around those not privy to our

    secret. Aela opened her leather bag which lay besides her, folded up the yellowing piece of paper and placed it neatly in her leather

    bag, careful not to crumple it. 

     

    Aela glanced over to the female nord and high elf.

    "Just so you know, Kodlak will not let us into Jorrvaskr until we right YOUR extremely grave mistake."

     

    The nord and high elf did not respond; they were too busy staring blindly into the fire's dying embers. Aela did not hear a reponse so

    she repeated the question again. The two werewolves still starred into the fire, blanking her question for a second time. One of them

    huffed while the other one rolled her eyes.

     

    Rakel finally took the bait and started to bite.

    "What mistake had we done?" She asked, blinking stupidly at Aela.

     

    Aela got so angry that she could feel Red growling and banging at the cage in her head that she kept her in. Aela tried to force her

    wolf to calm down; the last thing she needed were dead charges. She breathed slowly, trying to calm herself down before she did

    something she would later regret.

     

    Aela's anger abated and the wolf stayed were she was in her cage. instead of growling, she whimpered.

    "The mistake is that you morons showed blatant disregard for our rules." She barked at them.

     

    The two shrugged.

    "We weren't aware of any 'rules.'" They said, a tad defiantly

     

    Red banged on Aela's mind cage again, howling in rage. She beat it back.

    "The rules you heard from Kodlak? You don't remember them? By Hircine, you guys can be so thick sometimes." 

     

    The pair shrugged a second time.

    "Nope sorry, can we have a refresher?"

     

    This made Aela snapp, Red's banging became louder and more persistent, she needed to get out as she was hungry. She also

    wanted to protect Aela. Once again, Aela kept her on a short leash. Aela's breathing became slower, steadier. She stood up, grabbed

    the journal and her bag and sat on a log three feet northwest of the low burning fire so that she kept the two morons in her

    eyesight.

     

    She thrust her hand into her left pocket and withdrew the same yellow piece of paper she tore from the book moments before and

    read it out loud. 

    Rule #!: NEVER transform in front any member of the companions

    Rule #2: NEVER transfrom in front of guards 

    Rule #3: NEVER tranform into front of people of Whiterun

    Rule #4: NEVER tell a human you are a werewolf

    Rule #5: ONLY transform into wolf form in view of the circle

    She folded the paper and placed in back into her pocket and lifted her head up to yell at the nord and high elf.

    "There, happy?" She asked, glaring at The pair. "That iis why we need to follow the rules." She said as she smacked the book with

    her hand with every word she spoke.

     

    The Nord and High elf stared at her, dumbfounded. Rakel turned to Ceralyne and told her that Aela was right, they had to pay closer

    attention to lycantthropic law lest they want to see Hircine's bad side. The high elf just snorted at her in her continued defiance,

    "Ceralyne, you daft high elf, get your head out of your ass." She snapped at her, "Aela is trying to save us from ourselves, you,

    golden-skinned half-wit! Pay closer attention." She slapped the high elf with her hand, a well timed bag raise shielded Ceralyne from

    the nord's vicious slaps. 

     

    The female nord got up, walked over to the log and sat down next to Aela. The red-haired nord congratulated the brown haired nord

    for having a brain, unlike the moronic high elf. Aela grabbed her stomach and moned as she was getting hunger pains for

    not eating siince that morning. She looked up at the sun, which had shifted ten inches to the right signalling that it was now

    afternoon. 

     

    Aela straightened up and turned to Rakel.

    "Rakel, I am getting hungry, want to go hunt with me?"

     

    The brown haired nord almost fell off of the log from her excitement, no one really asked her to accompany with them on a hunt.

    She smiled and said she would be delighted. They both turned and stared at the high elf who was too concentrated on a burnt twig in

    the put-out fire. As such, she was quite oblivious of their laser guided eyes on her.

     

    Aela sighed and shrugged.

    "Oh well, at least you and I can go out and stretch both our legs and those of our wolves. We can leave this... erm, absent minded

    high elf behind." She waved a hand in her direction as if the high elf had the blight and Aela was shunning her for being 'unclean.'

    Rakel began to retaliate, but she shut her mouth as soon as she felt Aela's red-hot glare upon her. They got up, dusting themselves

    off from the dirt they had acrued from the log they had sat upon and headed out to the fields beyond the camp. Aela took point

    while Rakel followed. 

     

    When they were six feet from the camp, they saw a four hooved undulate grazing by a grassy hill not far from where the two stood.

    Aela crouched down using the long grass as cover so the deer did not spot them. She had a plan to train Rakel on how to track prey

    down. She was not sure whether Rakel had hunting and tracking training or not. She grabbed Rakel and yanked her down into the

    tall grass and asked Rakel if she had any hunting or tracking training in her youth. The brown haired female nord nodded saying she

    had been taught how to hunt down prey, how to track them and also how to use a bow to kill her prey by her father, Rugrud.

     

    Well, so much for hunting and tracking training she thought, disheartened. Aela pulled her bow from where it was perched on her

    back, ran up the grassy hill with the deer bouncing along beside it. She pulled an iron arrow from the quiver, nocked it on the bow,

    jumped so see slowly arced over the deer. When she reached the highest point of her arc, she fired. The arrow flew gracefully 

    through the air and hit the deer dead center in the chest, dropping it faster than any sword could do. Rakel parted the grass with her

    fingers and starred at Aela's graceful hunting. The way the fiery haired nord hunted reminded her of how her mother and father

    would hunt back in her homeland of Solsthiem. Tha was before-she shut her eyes hard as she tried to beat back the harsh memory

    of their ddeath, she did not want to think of it, she want to remember them in happier memories.

     

    Aela skinned her kill and hefted the deer carcass over her shoulders holding the front legs so that the deer would not slip off of them.

    Rakel's eyes snapped open and saw Aela walking back towards her wearing a huge grin on her face. Aela cross back over to the

    camp and resumed her seat on the log, Rakel came out of the grass and sat next to the fiery haired nord. Aela removed the deer

    carcass off of her shoulders and went to the now dead fire and decided to reignite it by picking up two rocks and beating them

    together like an argonian would to extract juicy bugs to eat. 

     

    For a moment, nothing happened and then an orange spark fell from the rubbing rocks and rest in the teepeed twigs, it caught

    immediately. Aela cut up the deer carcass into two equal halves: one for her and one for Rakel. She then put them in a pan which

    she had put on the fire. The smoke wafted over toward the sleeping elf. She decided to take a nap in one of the tents in the

    nords' absence. 

     

    Ceralyne's mouth watered, the smell of food caused her eyes to snapped open and she sat up and called out to the pair next to the

    fire.

    "Are you guys cooking without me? I fell alseep waiting for you guys to get back." She told the pair, somewhat disappointed.

     

    Aela tore her eyes away from her task and looked at the elf, even though she was well hidden in the tent, Aela could see her just

    fine with her enchanced sight.

    "Good for you." She said, a trifle rudely, "However, if you are hungry, go find your own food. This," she gestured to the cooking

    halves of venison, "is our food, go and hunt for your own food."

     

    The elf began to realize that she was not joking and slunk off silently to go hunt for her own food. The elf spotted a wolf and an elk

    prancing a few feet from where she stood. She unsheathed her bow, nocked an arrow, waited for her prey to be in a her line of sight

    and let loose the arrow. It whizzed about five feet north of its intended target, slamming into a rock.

     

    Aela looked up from her meal, which had begun to brown, and roared with laughter.

    "Hey elf, the prey is over there," She pointed to where the deer were grazing, "You hit a rock, well done, now try to eat that. Oh

    right, you can't." She hollered at the elf, rolling on the ground.

     

    The high elf sighed in defeat, she walked over to were Aela had pointed earlier. Again, she unsheathed her bow and fired. This time,

    the arrow rammed home. The arrow skewered a wolf that had spotted the deer and ran at them, its eyes filled with bloodlust. The

    elf put her bow on her back and walked triumphantly to her kill.

    She put her foot on the wolf's side and pulled the arrow free. She pulled a cloth from her bag and wiped the arrowhead; purging it of

    the wolf's blood. She put the arrow back into its quiver, and dragged the wolf back to camp

     

    Aela looked at the wolf and cheered.

    "Well done, elf, that is far better prey than a rock." She sneered.

     

    Ceralyne snarled at Aela. Once she got back to camp, she plopped the wolf down next to the fire. Aela looked, shocked, at the still

    furred wolf.

    "Erm, you know you're supposed to skin it before eating it right?" She said, ignoring the elf's disapproving scowl while she tended to

    her own meal.

     

    When the food was ready, the chops of venison were removed from the heat. Aela reached into her bag and pulled two lavender

    plants from her bag. crushed the flowers and sprinkled the finely crushed flowers over both venison chops. She also pulled a water

    bladder and two wooden mugs from her bag. While they ate and drank their water filled mugs, Rakel and Aela enchanged stories of

    their youth. 

     

    After they werre done with their lunch, Alea looked at the sky and saw that the sun was about to set.

    "Come on, Rakel," She called over to the high elf, "you too, you blundering oaf." Getting flustered about not being able to skin her

    kill, the high elf plunged the skinning knife deep into the earth, got up and walked over to the two nords.

     

    Aela yawned audibly,

    Rakel, you and I should go to bed as it is getting late. Tomorrow we will read more of the journal and see if it can tell us more about

    the bandits who attacked us."

     

    Rakel nodded and watched Aela go inside her tent and lay down. She was fast asleep by the time the nord reached her own tent.

    She too lay down and fell asleep. Ceralyne was left to take the third tent, which she had occupied earlier. She snarled in disapproval

    of Aela's disreputable attitude earlier that day.