“Wulfgar,” said the carriage driver “Hey Wulfgar wake your drunken Nord arse up!” I look up at the driver with one eye slightly open giving him a glare that could curdle mammoth milk. I asked “What do you want driver, aren’t you suppose to watch the bloody road?”
“Aye I am but it’s hard to concentrate when you have a bear with a broken nose snoring behind ya,” shouted the driver “and on top of it your un-bathed smell is startin’ to spook the horse!”
“I can assure you driver it’s not me that’s stinking up the air,” I said “last time I bathed was when we stopped in Falkreath when you traded them furs and veggies for food for us and your horse.”
A moment of silence passed when the driver was trying to remember if he did stop in Falkreath or not “Aye I guess your right then,” he agreed “then what by the 8 is that rotten meat and blood smell coming from?”
Slowly I closed my eyes and began to smell the air and hear everything around us for a sign of what in Talos it might be.
I then caught the smell and then opened my eyes and scanned the area around us, as we kept going I pulled my crossbow named Heartseeker off my shoulder and readied a bolt for whatever might be.
“Driver slow down a bit,” I warned him “We have a problem coming our way.”
He looked back at me with a confused look as if I’m in drunken stupor again.
“What are you going on about Nord?”
No sooner after he asked the cart got tipped over with a loud crash, over the sound of the cart being slammed a sound of the horse screaming with it’s last breath before a loud crunch that sounded of boned snapping silenced it. I was flung from the back toward the icy road that we came from, the driver was flung a good few feet away from the cart and me.
I looked into the ice, my green eyes staring back at me telling the stories of every fight and sadness that most warriors felt in their lifetime. I also noticed my silver hair has grown a bit too long for my liking, It use to be the color of the ravens when I was only a boy, as I grew my hair has went from black to a silver color and since I turned twenty-eight not one hair on my head is black.
As I kept looking at my hair I had a memory of when I was made fun of back in Bruma by a Argonian who was too drunk on Nord mead, he threw threats of death at me when I beat him in a game of drinks, no sooner after the threats he clawed at my face leaving four distinct claw marks, poor fellow though, after he clawed me I slammed his head into the counter of the bar and sent him to the healers temple.
As I rose up from the memories and ice, I looked over at the driver and noticed he was still out cold, I looked over at the cart and I saw something move. I crept closer to see what it was and saw a mountain of a snow bear, it was slowly eating and enjoying its fresh kill of the day, as I got closer it lifted its head up and looked at me with blackened blood covered teeth bared at me and before letting loose the bolt the bear was upon me.
It swept its massive paws at my head to either claw me or smash me down to the ice and snow, I ducked under its paw and back away from it to draw the only weapon on me which was my serrated hunting knife, I needed to get to my knapsack where my families axe named Frozen Flame was tucked away so the odds would be even.
As I ran for the bag the bear caught sight of what I was running at and cut me off before I was close and it swing another massive paw at me, this time it made contact with my fur armor, thank Talos it had chainmail underneath it or that would’ve split my gut open. That’s no way for a warrior to pass onto Sovngarde with, death by a bear is fairly embarrassing way to go. I shake my head of the thought and stood at my full height ready to fight this damn thing and take his hide to fix what he had torn of my armor.
The snow bear saw me rise to my full height and it probably thought “if he’s going to his full height maybe I should to.” It must’ve thought that because it stood up and was eight feet tall as I only stood around six foot, I looked at this massive beast and yelled saying “I’m going to skin the hide off you whether your dead or still squirming and make some new armor from it!”
As if it knew what I said it came charging at me at full speed and its blackened teeth opened in a roar that would scare an Orc berserker to piss themselves, as it charged at me I in turn charged at it with my own red rage of a roar, as we lessened the ground between us I took a chance and leapt up and over it as it kept charging past where I once stood.
After I landed I ran towards the pack to grab Frozen Flame, then I heard a screech of claws on ice as I’m guessing the bear was trying to stop from sliding to far from its challenger. As I reached into the bag and pulled Frozen Flame out and turned to ready a block from a claw that might be swiping at me I turned and saw the beast looking at me with a look of defeat and hatred of me, it took another look at the carnage it wreathed and it turned and ran back to wherever it originally came from.
I took a moment to gather myself and ran towards the driver to see if he was still out cold or dead, I shook him and a groan escaped his lips. I picked him up and started carrying him to the closest place I can think of in The Pale, Nightgate Inn I think the place was called. Along the way to the Nightgate Inn, I felt as if we were being stalked by the snow bear that I decided to name Black Fangs, once we got to the Inn and went inside I threw ten septims at the barkeeper and said “one room for the night and get a courier out to Windhelm to retrieve a healer for my driver."
The barkeep nodded and sent a courier that had been here for an hour since his last delivery and told him what I had said, I walked over to the fire and sat at the table next to the door and had my fair share of wine and bread, after I finished I paid the barkeep and returned to the room that the driver was in and sat in the chair, pulled out a blanket from my knapsack and closed my eyes, the last words on my lips before passing out was "one day black fangs I will get your pelt for my own."
