U.O.T.W. Chapter 59 Aela The Novice

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    Farkas was the first one to spot Aela and Sotek as they approached his group. He called out to them as he waved his hand high in the air as if to acknowledge their presence. In doing so he startled the Whelps who as one whipped their heads around in alarm.

    “Hey, it’s sleepyhead”.

     

    Sotek just smiled at him although Farkas couldn’t be sure if it actually was a smile. As Sotek closed in he examined the Whelps kills with a genuine interest.

    “Three wolves, nice”.

     

    “Yep, I killed one and the whelps took care of the other two between them. They did well”. As he spoke he pointed to the three whelps who had formed in a small group. Each one was smiling with an air of pride knowing that Farkas was pleased with their days hunting. “It seems the whelps are ready to hunt by themselves”.

     

    Aela shook her head while she voiced her own opinion on Farkas’s comment.

    “Not till they get more experience. I’m not explaining to the Harbinger that we lost someone because they got cocky”.

     

    Sotek backed up Farkas’s proposal by a basic statement which he thought added to his argument.

    “Yes… But they did take down two wolves remember”.

     

    He then saw the look Aela was throwing him and immediately switched sides.

    “But Aela is right, they still have lots to learn. Best let them out slowly. Else we’ll have a death on our hands”.

     

    Farkas looked at Sotek like he was a wimp.

    “Is that your honest opinion? Really?”

     

    As Sotek answered, he watched Aela carefully through the corner of his eye.

    “Bearing in mind my close proximity to a certain someone fully capable of shooting me in the ass with an arrow… Yes that’s my honest opinion”. Then Sotek shrugged his shoulders.

     

    “That’s settled then!” Aela smiled. “They get more training before they come out by themselves”.

     

    Sotek looked at their faces. He could see the frustration in their eyes. Then however he thought about what Aela had just said.

    “Ah, you said ‘by themselves’… So you got no problems with us taking them out more”.

     

    She snapped her head around as she growled at him.

    “That’s not what I meant. Don’t twist my words”.

     

    Sotek suddenly looked around the area as if some unseen danger had distracted him. He could smell something on the wind but he couldn’t be sure what it was until it came into view.

    “Hey look, a sabre cat… I bet it followed the scent of the three wolves you all killed earlier. Aela, stay here with the whelps. Farkas with me”. He instantly backhanded Farkas’s arm with his hand then took point. As they moved into position, he whispered to Farkas while their target approached them.

     

    Farkas drew his sword and shield before nodding to Sotek as a way of telling him that he was ready. They moved either side of the sabre cat so they would have the advantage that one of them would always be behind it. The cat roared at them then lunged at Farkas who blocked it with his shield. He countered by hitting it on the side of its head with the flat of his sword.

    “Damn it”. Farkas shouted out despairingly.

     

    Sotek came behind it and swung the back of his axe into the topside of the cats hind leg. To Aela’s dismay the blow simply bounced off doing no damage at all.

    “Hell he’s tough”. He yelled as he prepared to attack a second time. He lashed out at the back of the cat with the side of his axe. The blow did little other than to gain the mammals attention. Sotek raised his shield defensively, not retaliating but just blocking each of the sabre cats paws. Every swipe pushed Sotek back a few feet. “Farkas get it!” He shouted out in desperation as he tried to hold his ground.

     

    Farkas swung his sword at it clipping its back but just like before he failed to wound the beast.

    “I’m trying to damn it!” He yelled back to Sotek who was still blocking its attacks with his shield.

     

    The very next second an arrow shot past Farkas and slammed into the cat’s side causing it to burst into flames. Both Sotek and Farkas had little choice other than to fall back from the intense wave of heat which enveloped the animal. Suffering from horrific fire and ice damage, it fell to the ground as it cried out in agony. Before Sotek could even turn to face her, Aela let lose a second arrow which flew past him with mere inches to spare and tore its way into the sabre cats chest causing nothing less than a catastrophic injury. The second wound was too great and the cat succumbed to its fate. With the added elemental damage thrown in as well, the second arrow was a complete overkill.

     

    Farkas quickly glanced over to Sotek who was closing his eyes as he prepared for the inevitable rant which was currently heading straight towards him at speed.

    “That was bloody pathetic you morons!” Aela shouted at them both as she rapidly closed in upon Sotek. “What the hell was that supposed to be? You were meant to show the bloody whelps what to do… Not play bloody tag with the overgrown bloody thing!” She was furious and she didn’t care who knew it.

     

    Sotek cautiously walked up to her and held her by the waist as a means to turn her slightly around so she was facing him directly.

    “That was our kill… You were just supposed to watch over the whelps. Why didn’t you?”

     

    “You don’t give me bloody orders!” As she hollered at him she prodded him in the chest.

     

    He just spoke calmly back to her whilst totally disregarding her outburst.

    “Aela, I’ve been giving you three orders for the last few weeks. It’s not much fun being told to stand back and just watch from the side-lines is it?” Then he stepped back a few feet and just watched her. He could see his words going around her head.

     

    Her eyes narrowed as her whole body tensed up. She tried to think of some sort of comeback to his comment but her mind was completely blank. After a few seconds she snapped back at him with the only thing that came to mind.

    “You’re in your own room tonight you bastard. Where the hell is Vilkas?” As she spoke she kept her eyes on Sotek.

     

    Farkas who was relieved that he was seemingly in the clear, pointed across the plains.

    “He went off that way with the other two whelps. They were tracking a bear”.

     

    She turned to the direction he pointed to then just walked off.

    “Oops, looks like I got you in trouble”. Farkas murmured as he apologised to Sotek.

     

    Sotek just chuckled slightly as an act of bravado.

    “No worries, but tonight I think I’ll lock my door”. He said it in jest but a part of him was contemplating it as a serious suggestion.

     

    Farkas laughed at his forlorn hope.

    “Sorry, you’re out of luck there. Aela’s the only one who has a lock on her door”.

    Sotek groaned in response to the news.

     

    “And I suppose the Harbinger has the key?”

     

    With that Farkas burst out laughing.

    “Nope, Aela does. Good luck getting it”.

     

    Sotek sighed as he glanced across the plains. He momentarily hesitated before he started following Aela’s trail.

     

    She turned around and saw him slowly catch her up, so she stopped walking and waited. When he was close enough, she turned to him angrily.

    “I suppose you think your bloody clever!” Her whole demeanour was openly hostile.

     

    Sotek took a big gulp of air as he prepared to defend his actions.

    “All I’m saying is try to see it from their point of view. They have been out hunting, they feel the breeze and the thrill of the hunt. The same as everyone else… The same as you”. He gave a sigh, then stepped up to her. His arm reached out to her so he could hold her hand. He could feel her letting him, but he also knew it was begrudged. “Imagine your running across the plains. There in front of you is a stag and you’re hungry… For the kill. Your claws haven’t lashed out at anything for weeks. Your teeth haven’t bit into flesh for ages. It’s been far too long since you’ve tasted the warm blood of your kill... So you attack!!! You feel your claws tearing flesh as the stag tries to run, but you’re faster. Then you taste it, the kill itself. The sensation of the blood trickling down your throat. The taste of warm flesh in your mouth”. As Sotek spoke he had a faraway stare, like a half forgotten memory.

     

    Aela stood there listening intently.

    You sound like a werewolf”. Her anger was now completely forgotten. She stood right in front of him so she could look straight in his face. “Look at me”. She checked his eyes but they were the usual green although she couldn’t help but wonder about what he said and the way he said it.

     

    He just looked at her like she was acting oddly.

    “Huh? Anyway”. He held her shoulders and turned her around so her back was to him. “Now after that, imagine right now you’re in a cage. Your watching everyone else hunt while all you can do is sit and wait for them to return. That’s how the whelps will feel every day, if they can’t come back out”.

     

    Aela huffed as she slowly nodded in agreement.

    “I get it, you’re right... But not by themselves, not for a long while. Remember the students at the college? I’ll not be responsible for that”. She turned back around and gave him a slight hug. “You’re still a bastard and you’re still in your own room tonight”. She stood there for a minute silently thinking about the Whelps. “I’ll have a word with the Harbinger, depending on how Vilkas is getting on”.

     

    “Fair enough”. He smiled, then a secondary thought entered his head. “Hey! Does that mean I won an argument?”

     

    She smiled softly at him then thumped him in the chest.

    “Don’t push your luck”. She took his hand in hers and lead him off towards the area where Farkas pointed out earlier.

     

    In one of the various hollows a small trail of smoke loomed up and dissipated in the air. Both Aela and Sotek peered over the top of the edge to find Vilkas and the two Whelps all sitting together around a camp fire. Some inner sense forewarned Vilkas who gazed upwards to see their shapes silhouette in the skyline.

    “Hey guys, down here!”

     

    They made their way down an old track which led them to the base of the dip where they rested near the fire to share in its warmth. A good few feet away laid out alongside some old dried wood, no doubt placed there for the fire was a dead bear.

    “Oh you tracked it then”. Aela commented as her eyes trailed across the carcass.

     

    “Yes but we had a slight problem”. As Vilkas confirmed what Aela already knew, he pointed to a whelp who had a bandaged arm.

     

    “Sorry, I got a bit too close… The bear swiped my arm”. He grimaced as he apologised. His face looked twisted from the pain in his elbow.

     

    “Haven’t you got any potions?” Aela asked him.

    He just shook his head as he glanced to the ground so he wouldn’t meet her stare.

     

    Sotek cast his healing spell on his arm which fixed up the wound then he pulled off the linen wrap. However Sotek noticed straight away that the Whelp still looked groggy.

    “You're diseased. You’ve got a touch of Bone Break Fever... Probably from the bear”. Sotek could easily see it in his eyes. “That’s why you’re feeling so weak. Where are your cure disease potions?”.

     

    Again the whelp shook his head.

    “I didn’t bring any...” He was feeling bad enough as it was but now he had embarrassment and a strange sense of shame to contend with as well.

     

    Sotek wasn’t impressed and he let the whelp know it.

    “You’re a fool! You all are... Why do you thing they’re there? Just to fill a gap on a shelf? Or is it so I’ve got something to do in my spare time!!!” The next moment both Aela and Vilkas jumped along with the rest of the group as Sotek yelled at the injured Whelp. “When you’re told to gather up your gear, next time get your bloody gear together”.

     

    Then he thought for a second as his eyes fell upon the Whelps pack.

    “Well you’re not having mine”.

     

    Aela turned to him in surprise.

    “Give him it. Yes he’s a moron but they’ve all learned a lesson”.

     

    “Oh wow, you changed your tune fast”. Sotek stated as he smiled at her. “Nope. he’s not having it... And there’s a good reason for that”.

     

    Aela’s curiosity got the better of her. She wasn’t in the mood for games and yet she couldn’t help but to play along.

    “And what is that?”

     

    Sotek looked around the group as a whole then addressed them all at once.

    “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce... Aela the novice”. Then he smiled at her.

     

    “Pardon?” Aela had a confused expression on her face as she glanced up at him in surprise whilst at the same time she tried to work out what he was up to.

     

    “First thing you need my little apprentice is a dead hawk”. He bluntly told her as he pointed across the plains where a few hawks were flying in a slow lazy circle above a small copse of trees. As she climbed to her feet she paused as Sotek said one last word. “Fetch”.

     

    Aela threatened him as her finger poked him in the chest.

    “I will bite you”. She snapped her teeth together for empathizes then headed up the narrow track leading out of the hollow.

     

    While she was off getting the hawk, Vilkas gave Sotek a friendly warning.

    “She will ya know”.

     

    “Oh I can’t get into any more trouble with her so what the hell”. He said smiling with more confidence than what he actually felt.

     

    Aela remembered the parts Sotek collected when they hunted hawks months before, so she clipped its wings and collected its beak before she returned to the camp.

    “Are these what you’re after?” She went to hand out the feathers and beak to Sotek. But he shook his head.

     

    “Nope the feathers are what you're after”. He then handed her a stone mortar and pestle. “Grind up the feathers”.

     

    She followed his instructions then she gave the powder to the Whelp. He looked at the compound, distrusting Aela’s ability until he heard the tapping of her foot. That was when he unwillingly ate it. Within seconds he felt better but he was still tired.

    “Hawk feathers cure disease. However he’s weak so now what?” As Sotek spoke he watched Aela for her response.

     

    “Ermm, he needs Blue Mountain Flower”. She stated confidently as she clearly remembered what the plants initial property was when they walked past the stables that same afternoon.

     

    Sotek confirmed her answer with a slight nod of his head.

    “Yes... Now you got to find some”.

     

    “Can I have some of yours?” As she asked she pointed to Soteks pack.

     

    Sotek laughed as he waved his finger at her.

    “You’re supposed to go and find some. Not ask ‘Sotek’ for his”.

     

    She smiled evilly as she stepped towards him.

    “But I didn’t ask. What I said was… ‘Give me your flowers before I rip your bloody arm off and beat you to death with it’”. Then she gave him a big grin which Sotek found very unsettling.

     

    He grudgingly pulled his pack off his shoulders then retrieved the flowers from his herb bag to hand them over to Aela.

    “Alchemists don’t go threatening people..."

     

    “Well this one does!” After she snatched the flowers from his hand she walked over to the Whelp. She stopped mid step and half turned towards Sotek and promptly blew him a kiss.

     

    After breaking off the petals she shoved a few of them into the whelps hand.

    “Eat these”. She then pulled Vilkas aside for a quiet word. “How well did they do?”

     

    He glanced at the two whelps who were watching him expectantly. It was obvious that they had heard what he and Aela were talking about.

    “Except for that bear episode they did ok. We bagged two wolves as well”.

     

    Aela nodded her approval to him as she thought back to the other Whelps who were with Farkas.

    “We’ll have a chat later about all the Whelps. The others done well too, they killed two wolves between them as well”.

     

    Sotek turned his back on the Companions and gazed towards the setting sun.

    “Aela, Vilkas… Load up, it’s time we moved out. You Whelps skin the bear then we’re out of here”.

     

    The whelps started cutting off the fur while Aela and Vilkas gathered the remainders of the gear. Whilst they went about their tasks, Sotek divided up the wolf furs and meat from the kills between him and Vilkas.

     

    It was only then that Aela realized how much time had passed since they left Whiterun. As she started scrutinizing Sotek, she thought back to all the times when he actually did take charge. While she pondered upon it a faint smile started to form across her face. Sotek ended up standing over the carcass remains of the bear as a strange sensation came over him. He was hungry.

     

    As they headed back across the plains, they met up with Farkas and the other Whelps. They quickly reformed into a single group as Sotek took point and led them along the pathway towards Whiterun. Towards home.

     

     

Comments

12 Comments   |   Aela The Huntress likes this.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  April 2, 2016
    Sounds like Bloodmoon over Whiterun. Dark day indeed.
  • Relycs
    Relycs   ·  April 1, 2016
    Looks like that wolf inside him wants to get out. Hopefully there's none around when it happens.


    I remember the moment I turned the first time into a werewolf, after drinking Aela's blood. That was when I killed like half Whiterun, incl...  more
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  October 22, 2015
    I think you just misspelled "think" with a g at the end instead of a k. I just noticed I also misspelled "fill" with "feel" in the second line so I don't hold that against you.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  October 22, 2015
    Hi Ebonslayer
    I've fixed the first mistake however the second one I'm going to have a play with. I'm not so sure about the whole line.
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  October 22, 2015
    I noticed two errors in paragraphs 42 and 79:

    "Opps, looks like I got you in trouble". Farkas murmured as he apologized to Sotek.

    "You're a fool!!! You all are... Why do you thing they're there? Just to feel a gap on a shelf? Or ...  more
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  August 3, 2015
    Time wise he's actualy been with the companions for around 2 1/2 to 3 months. He is working through the ranks though isn't he.
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  August 2, 2015
    Dang, did that Sabre cat know stoneflesh?
    Definitely playing with fire with those jabs. He does have a way of quietly entering a group the next thing you know everyone is listening to his orders.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  July 21, 2015
    *Lissette.
    From here Whelps do start taking a bigger part however they don't become individual characters for a while.
    *Meli.
    Sotek does like playing with fire don't he . Thanks for pointing out that error.
  • Meli
    Meli   ·  July 21, 2015
    Oooh, patient, patient, manipulative Sotek, he's not an Aela expert yet, but he's doing well
    One little thing this time...
    “Your diseased - should this be You're diseased?
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  July 20, 2015
    Nice to see the whelps out and good hunting. Poor Sotek and gear, some Companions are notoriously unprepared.