U.O.T.W. Chapter 102 Midnight Feast

  • Authors Note: Contains Mild Sex...

    Sotek knew too much time had passed. The return journey took just over two hours let alone the time they had used up by making the poisons which he would be needing. All being told, they had been away for nearly six hours. As they approached the mine, he glanced up at the moons. They were for the most part, clouded over but enough light shone through to let him guess that the moons had indeed started their decent.

    Aela knew by a different way. She began to feel weaker. She always did once the moons began to lower in the sky. It was only slight, just enough to make her yawn but she fought it off with a quick shake of her head. Midnight had passed and she cursed to herself over the night’s loss. When she changes now, she would not be able to change later in the day.

    Farkas was asleep on his bedroll. He had two furs draped over him to keep the night’s bite away. Vilkas however wasn’t. He was wide awake and pacing around the camp swinging his sword angrily. Every so often he would side step or lash out with the blade as if he was training. Two rabbits were skinned and left to cook by a small fire which was built in a hollow Vilkas had dug out. He heard their approach and grunted his ‘greeting’ at them.

    Sotek expected the worst as Vilkas, who didn’t look overly amused, was busy kicking clumps of soil and rocks while he waited for an explanation.

    Knowing they had wasted enough time as it was, Sotek decided to grab the bull, which was in this instance a Companion who went by the name of Vilkas, by the horns and try to make his peace rather than drag it out.

    “Hi Vilkas, sorry we’re later than what we intended”.

    Vilkas slumped down on a log by the fire and initially blanked the two Companions. He picked up a long thin stick and started swishing it around at the ground in an attempt to flick up a dead leaf. After he drew a deep breath, he muttered to them.

    “Its fine... as long as you both haven’t been sleeping together, ‘cause that would be taking the piss!!”

    Sotek sat opposite him in silence at least initially giving him a moment to assess the situation so he could try to placate Vilkas. Aela on the other hand replied far more dramatically.

    “No we bloody haven’t! If you must know, we’ve been making poisons. Here, See!!” She almost ripped her pack open so she could grab a bottle of the poison Arcadia helped her to brew then she tossed it to the ground in front of Vilkas’s feet.

    Vilkas gazed at the black vial then gingerly picked it up off the floor and handed it back to her. As she went to take it off him, he never released his grip which forced her to look straight at him.

    “You’ve been a while, that’s all”.

    She placed the bottle back in her pack then sat alongside him.

    “Sorry about that... It took longer than what we expected”.

    Without replying, he reached over to the rabbits and offered one to her.

    “Here, you must be hungry. Eat, then we’ll get started. Sotek, the other ones for you”.

    Without even bothering to cut them into pieces, both Companions ravenously tore into the cooked rabbit, biting off chunks of meat which they guzzled down. Vilkas watched them for a few moments then nodded to himself.

    “So it’s true then, you haven’t been screwing. Hell everyone eats after sex. You look like you haven’t eaten for days. So what’s with the poisons anyhow?”

    Between biting and swallowing, Sotek replied in short bursts while he tried to take deep breaths. It was almost like he forgot to breath as he ate.

    “Albino... he’s not that strong... as you know... Just... need to...” He then carried on eating the rabbit leaving Vilkas just as confused and uninformed as he was a few minutes ago.

    Sotek pulled out the stopper to his flask and offered it first to Aela who guzzled down mouthfuls of water before handing it back to him.

    “That was daft of us. We should have resupplied”.

    Sotek grinned as he shook the now empty flask upside down.

    “Water’s everywhere. Vilkas, pass me that pot”. He set off away from the camp and lightly scrapped off some snow from a rock to fill the pan. Once he returned to the fire, he placed the pot on some hot coals.

    Aela chuckled as she watched the snow quickly melt.

    “Instant water”. She scuttled across the ground and gathered up more snow for them to melt.

    Once they had a pan full of boiled water, Sotek left it by the side to cool down. Fortunately, in the cold night’s air, it didn’t take too long which was a good job in itself as Aela had started pacing around.

    “Time’s moving. Can we go now?”

    Sotek quickly dipped his finger in the pot to test the temperature. When he was satisfied, he filled his flask up. Once the flask was secured on his belt, he took the vials of poison from Aela and stored them in his pack then he gave Aela a nod.

    “Yep. Time to move”.

    Aela walked almost casual like up to Farkas who was still sleeping and kicked him gently in the leg.

    “Wake up!! I’m starving!”

    Once Farkas had his wits about him, Sotek gathered everyone around and explained what he was intending to do, including the implications it would have with Red.

    “Listen up! All of you. Aela, this is important. Whatever Albino kills, Red can’t eat. So Aela, what Red hasn’t killed she has to leave alone. Ok?”

    Aela gave a simple nod but she couldn’t help but wonder what Sotek was planning to do. Farkas, on the other hand couldn’t resist a dig at Albino’s expense.

    “Got it, whatever the troll reject kills, we leave alone”.

    Aela scowled at his remark and gave him a shove, causing him to topple slightly forwards. To straighten himself out, he didn’t even need to take a single step. His response was a big cheesy grin which just rattled her even more.

    A heavy growl marked the end of her retort thanks to Vilkas who quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from Farkas before she contemplated using her dagger.

    “Farkas, that’s not fair and undeserved”.

    Aela screwed her face up and stuck her tongue out at Farkas while she thanked Vilkas for defending Albino.

    “Thanks”.

    Albino’s ‘saviour’ promptly burst out laughing as he changed sides.

    “Even Troll runts are bigger than Albino”.

    Aela stared at him in shock then she decided to give them both a thump. Within moments it turned into a free for all while Sotek propped his back against a tree and watched.

    Just as Farkas was beating Aela over the head due to her biting his arm, Sotek called out to them all, effectively stopping the fight.

    “I bet 200 gold that Albino kills more Silverhands than Red”.

    The three Companions just stared at him in utter bewilderment. Vilkas spoke to Aela while his eyes stayed fixed on Sotek who just smiled back at them.

    “Take him passed those trees there, shove him on his back and screw some bloody sense into him... owww”.

    He bent down and rubbed his shin where Aela had promptly kicked him.

    “Steady, that really hurt. Damn you bitch!!”

    Aela never answered him back, instead, she flicked him on the nose as hard as she could while he was bent over, making his eyes water.

    “And bloody deserved!” Then though she turned towards Sotek. “However, he does have a point. There’s no way that Albino will beat Red. What’s the catch?”

    Sotek shook his head at her and refused to give her any inclining of his plan.

    “Oh no! I’m not saying. However, you all think he’s less than capable, so prove it, right here, right now. 200 gold, or you back off and let him be”.

    Aela refused to bet that high. Although she was certain that Red would win, she wasn’t prepared to lay down that much gold to prove it.

    “No way, not 200 gold”.

    Sotek walked up to her then rested his hand on her shoulder. He smiled deviously and knew exactly what to say to make her bite.

    “Then just say that Albino is better than Red”.

    Her eyes narrowed as she pulled her gold pouch off her belt. She shoved the bag into Sotek slamming it against his chest.

    “There’s a hundred gold. I’ll honour the other 100 back in Whiterun. Red’s going to bury the furry bastard!!”

    Vilkas and Farkas looked at each other and grinned. Farkas spoke for the pair of them.

    “Oh She’s well pissed! We’re in”. They threw over their bags of gold to Sotek as Farkas called out to him. “Same here! Two hundred from the pair of us”.

    Aela’s whole demeanour never lost any of her aggressive nature. She shoulder barged him out of her way as she proceeded to head towards the mine, leaving Sotek and the two brothers behind.

    The first thing that struck them all was the state of the mine. It had been heavily fortified and was now more like an underground fortress than a hole in the ground. The walls were solid stone with heavy wooden doors that separated the various sections within.

    They had barely taken more than a few steps before they were detected. Two Silverhands charged straight towards them. One headed towards Sotek while the other one picked Vilkas out to hold the honour of fighting him. Desperate cries and shouts marked the beginning of the battle.

    Aela yelled at Farkas to help his brother while she fell behind Sotek so she could support him.

    The Silverhand who attacked Vilkas did so with a large silver great sword. He swung it about in several arcs while he grinned at his foe. Vilkas copied his move, swishing his own great sword in the air while he slowly circled around the cavern.

    The Silverhand fell for his manoeuvre and followed suit gradually moving his position so he was always facing Vilkas. It was only when Farkas bashed his shield with his own sword did the Silverhand realize how much trouble he was in.

    Farkas stepped in behind him causing him to break his stance but no matter what way he tried to turn, one of them were always at his back. With a single nod, Vilkas told Farkas exactly what to do. Their opponent was completely unprepared for the double attack and desperately tried to block Vilkas’s sword as it came crashing down at his head while Farkas charged in at his side. The Skyforge steel blade sliced through a weak point which Farkas had easily spotted thanks to years of fighting and training.

    Blood spurted out of the man’s mouth as his sword fell to the ground with a clang.

    Sotek however was having a much harder time with his opponent. He was facing a Nord who duel wielded two short silver swords. Sotek initiated the attack by bringing his axe down hard at the Nords shoulder but it was easily blocked. The Silverhand counterattacked with his other hand, leaving Sotek nothing to block it with. All of a sudden an arrow shot past him and slammed into the chest of the Silverhand, he burst into flames as he was thrown backwards. Sotek leapt upwards as he swung his axe and hammered the axe head into the man’s chest. Blood sprayed upwards as his armor split down the middle.

    Sotek cried out as his bloodied axe fell to the floor. He clutched hold of his shoulder while his head reeled from the pain. His back slammed against the cavern wall in a muffled bang as he leaned against the mined out rock for support.

    Aela pulled his head down to her shoulder and held him in her arms while her hand caressed his shoulder.

    “This is nuts. He can’t do this!!”

    Sotek grimaced from the pain but he still managed to lift his head up. He tried to look at her but the pain was causing his eyes to stay tightly closed. He had enough trouble trying to control his rapid breathing.

    “I’m ok. Honest. I just... damn this is going to be harder than I thought. Why the hell did I leap at him?”

    He managed to finally open his eyes to see the three Companions all staring at him. Vilkas waved a single finger at him while he pointed to a chair.

    “You’re out. Sorry but there’s no way you can continue. Sit there and wait for us. We leave him behind”.

    Aela was about to give him a wave of protests but she found herself unable to speak. She looked at Vilkas blankly then turned to Sotek with a pitiful expression.

    “He’s right... You better stay here”.

    Sotek thrust himself forwards away from the wall with a fortitude often seen in Farkas. At that moment he felt like the whelp of the group and if he was going to prove himself then he had to take back control and fast. Giving no one a chance to speak, he blurted out his orders in the hope that they would simply obey them and not argue back. He knew if Vilkas didn’t back down but instead pushed his argument hard then Sotek would have no choice other than to back off and sit it out.

    He had no intention in doing so.

    “Like hell I will. Farkas stay with Vilkas. You all know they use silver weapons so go careful. Aela, you’re with me and no, I’m not sitting the bloody hell down. Move it!”

    Vilkas stepped in front of him and blocked his path. He knew Sotek was determined but he underestimated the Argonians resolve.

    “No way. You’re done. You can’t carry on!”

    Sotek grabbed Vilkas by the throat and pulled him to the side slamming his back against the wall. Each Companion was surprised at his speed and strength but all he was doing was using the adrenaline and pain to fuel his anger. Sotek leaned into Vilkas’s face and hissed menacingly.

    “You just watch me!! Hsssss”.

    He let Vilkas go then cast his telekinesis spell on the axe that was still on the ground. It lifted upwards and hovered just in front of him. Sotek snatched it from the air and set it back in the harness before turning his attention to the group.

    “Farkas, Aela, see what these clowns have on them. Once you’ve checked them, we move out”.

    Vilkas shook his head sorrowfully but then he grinned back at Sotek.

    “You’re a stubborn bastard”.

    Sotek chuckled as he nodded in agreement.

    “Yess. He knows he is and for what it’ss worth... He’ss ssorry!”

    Before Aela knelt down so she could check the corpse, she rested her chin on Sotek’s chest and peeked up at his face.

    “Just make sure ‘he’ goes steady. I don’t want to lose ‘him’ ok?”

    Sotek nodded as he smiled broadly at Vilkas.

    “See! I knew she loves me”.

    Aela cast a confused expression at him and shook her head defiantly.

    “No I don’t!!”

    Sotek looked like he was taken aback and questioned her statement.

    “I thought you loved me?”

    Aela looked back at him with a straight face and shrugged her shoulders as she started going through the dead Silverhands pack.

    “What you think isn’t my fault is it!!” She the stuck her tongue out at him and laughed.

    After he hissed at her, Sotek had a quick look around the cavern. It proved to be nothing special in itself. All in all, it was quite small with no remarkable features in it. There was just one small table and a chair in a corner, while two passages lead off in opposite directions. One passage banked to the left while the other went right for a few feet then turned again. Sotek decided to head left.

    Aela informed the other two of her intentions as she watched Sotek disappear around the corner.

    “I’m with Sotek, you guys go to the right”. Then she hurried off to catch him up.

    As she turned the corner, she nearly collided with Sotek who just so happened to be waiting for her. He lingered at that particular spot because just ahead of them, the passageway had split at a second junction.

    Sotek knew she would protest so he tried to calm her fears before she even started stating them.

    “I’ll be ok, so stop worrying. Now, you want left or right?”

    Aela glanced along both tunnels and dismissed the pair of them as a suitable option.

    “I’d rather I stayed with you!!”

    Sotek quietly chuckled at her but repeated himself as he pointed to the left of the two passages.

    “You want left... or right?”

    Aela took a deep breath then grumbled out her reply.

    “I’ll go right but please go careful”.

    He held her tight in his arm to reassure her.

    “I will, but you do the same”.

    Just as he went to turn around, Aela grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face towards her. She went to kiss him and briefly closed her eyes. Sotek followed suit but the kiss never came.

    He opened his eyes again to see Aela’s face just a few inches away from him. She was smiling broadly and she pushed him away from her without giving him the kiss he was expecting. She murmured coyly while she chuckled at him.

    “You are so easy... slut!!”

    Sotek playfully huffed at her then he went off to the left and turned the corner out of sight.

    “You can talk... whore!!”

    Sotek couldn’t help but chuckle to himself over the banter between Aela and himself. Ahead of him, at the end of the corridor was a thick wooden door. He crept up to it and slowly tried to turn the handle to see if it would open.

    The handles resistance told him, as he suspected, that it was indeed locked. He pulled back a section of his chest armor and pulled out a lockpick which was previously hidden then set to work. The tip of the lockpick probed the mechanism, manipulating the pins one by one until he heard a satisfying ‘click’.

    Once the lock’s bolt rolled back, he replaced the lockpick in his shirt and straightened out his chest armor. With his hand resting on the handle, he slowly turned it and opened the door.

    The room beyond the doorway was adapted for a prison. Three cells were either side of the elongated room. Fortunately, every cell was empty. In the middle of the room sat at a large table were no less than three Silverhands. Sotek moved away and headed back down the corridor. He removed a bottle of the poison Aela had made earlier and pulled out the stopper. Bizarrely, he proceeded to tip the contents on the stone floor and watched the thick gooey liquid form a small puddle.

    The vial was promptly discarded as Sotek prepared for the next stage of his plan. After an agonising ten seconds or so, he transformed into Albino.

    Once the alteration was complete, Albino stayed on the ground for a few seconds until he felt steady. When he was able to, he stood up then made his way to where Sotek had tipped the poison out onto the ground.

    The werewolf dropped to all fours then trod in the puddle of vile poison which saturated his paws, coating the claws with venom. Only then did he burst through the doorway howling out as he ran. Surprise was complete as he struck the closest Silverhand across the back before he even had the chance to get off the stool he was sitting on. As Albino wasn’t overly strong, the damage was minimal but he ignored the man and rapidly switched targets.

    Without stopping, he swiped out at the second Silverhand tearing into his bare arm. Unlike before, the arm was badly bleeding. With no armor to offer any resistance, the claws did their lethal work.

    Albino leaped across the table to the third Silverhand, tearing at his throat on impact with his open maw. The first Silverhand drew his sword and charged from around the table while the second man screamed as he held onto his already throbbing arm.

    Before the first Silverhand could even reach the werewolf, he dropped his sword to the ground and held his stomach, clutching it in a tight grip. His guts seemed to burn like he had swallowed liquid fire. The first to collapse was the one who was struck in the back. He started shaking as his mouth foamed. A second later the other Silverhand fell and doubled up in pain. The poison acted fast, much faster than Sotek expected. Even before the Albino finished killing the last target, the other two Nords were dead.

    Albino stood up then surveyed the room. Along the far side was another corridor which seemed to beckon him towards it, almost like it was enticing him to move forwards. Ignoring the bodies as potential food, just like Sotek had instructed Aela to do, he prowled down the passageway on the hunt for his next victim.

    Aela followed ‘her’ corridor around a corner to promptly find herself by an open doorway to what seemed to be an old storeroom. Directly in front of her was a wall partition which was covered in shelves and boxes along with various sized baskets and bowls. Due to its positioning, it effectively split the room into two sections although the paths did in actual fact go around the wall obstruction to join up together again on the opposite side of the artificial wall. Aela silently drew her bow and notched an arrow before she carefully entered the room to look around.

    Whether it was mere apprehension, or in actual fact her worrying about her mate Sotek, the truth of the matter was thus... She wasn’t careful enough. Aela just saw the tripwire as her leg swung through it, setting off the trap.

    Behind her, a portcullis, previously hidden from view, rumbled loudly as it came crashing down with a loud bang, cutting off her escape route. Silverhands, acting on the pre arranged signal, charged into the room from around the various corners and corridors. Each one of them held vicious looking silver blades or clubs strewn with silver barbs.

    Aela lifted up her bow and fired, scarcely giving herself enough time to aim. The arrow shot past three Nords and punched through the man behind them, tearing a gaping hole in his chest. Knowing there was no time for a second shot, Aela threw her bow down then dropped to the ground as she started to transform. Seconds later, Red launched herself at two Silverhands, biting and clawing in a frenzy of wanton destruction until heavy clubs hammered into her. She fell sideways in a daze and growled out at the attackers. Drawing a deep breath, Red howled out at the mob that yelled and screamed at her like she was nothing but a wild animal to be hunted and killed. She growled and swiped out at anything which came too close while she backed up until her backside was pushed hard against the portcullis. With nowhere to run and her escape route cut off, Red prepared to charge into the mob.

    Red was in trouble and she knew it.

    She sprang forwards, swiping out at the closest Silverhand when out from nowhere, two white paws lashed out by her side as Albino attacked from the side passage. She turned just in time to see Albino rip into one Silverhand and systematically tear out his throat. Without stopping, Albino attacked again.

    Red, filled with new vigour and hope, laid into another attacker. She tore into the Nords armor, ignoring the blows that rained down upon her. Lunging forwards, she managed to bite into an arm. She held it tight and tried to force her jaws shut, straining against the armor, limbs muscles and bones. Something in her maw snapped... blood started to pour into her mouth as a Nord screamed out in agonising fear and pain. Red wrenched her head sideways flailing it about until she managed to rip off the arm from its shoulder.

    The woman fell to the ground and screamed out once more as she saw Red rear up before she came down with all her weight and stamped on the woman’s chest, crushing her ribcage as her torso imploded. One swipe was enough to break through the armor so Red could feed.

    She could feel her own body heal itself while she fed but then a shadow of a Silverhand towered over her. Just as she looked up, she saw a battleaxe swing towards her and she cowered back. Within an instant a white blur tore into the assailant’s side, bringing him to the ground in a petrified scream. The axe fell to the wayside and clanged on the stone floor.

    Fangs closed in upon the Imperial berserker and with a frenzied flailing of his head, Albino ripped out the man’s throat then he smashed and chewed his way into the corpses chest.

    Having dealt with the last attacker himself, Albino bit into the leg of a corpse and pulled it towards Red. He growled at her several times as he clawed at the body, breaking off pieces of shattered armor as a way of indicating to her that she was to feed. She knew without any doubt that Albino turned the tide of battle as she was too outnumbered. She was fully aware he saved her life.

    Red took out her hunger on the corpse, tearing away clumps of flesh and meat from the body. Various puddles of blood mingled with one another forming one big pool of red sticky liquid.

    While he was watching her eat, Albino fed off a second corpse. His maw crunched through bones as he pulled off lumps of soft fleshy tissue.

    Once their need for food had been sated, Albino prowled across the room sniffing at the other bodies before turning back to Red. She stayed there watching him as he moved slowly towards her. When he drew near, instinct took over. Without even thinking, Red lowered her head submissively bowing down to his dominance. His dominance over her.

    Both werewolves stood there looking at each over. She felt something, a primal urge. She knew that Albino was feeling it too. Her mind drifted back to the troll cave where Aela literally pulled Sotek on top of her. But this time there was no Aela, no Sotek. Red dropped to all fours then stood there while Albino rested his head on her back. She felt his head lay there, but she gave no resistance.

    Red growled out at him as her head lowered down once more while Albino moved behind her. Moments after she felt his paws take a strong steady grip on her waist, she lifted her head up and howled.

     

     

Comments

7 Comments
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  January 19, 2016
    Yep, that worked. Only other way I thought of was to have someone else apply the poison, but that would have ruined the surprise.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 19, 2016
    Hope my answer was plausable for you Exuro. It seemed the best method to me at the time.
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  January 19, 2016
    Doggy style?
    I saw this coming as soon as he started mixing poisons instead of fortify type potions and the hint about not eating his kills confirmed it.  I was wondering how he would apply the poison though.
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 12, 2016
    Hahaha... So I definitely spelt defiantly right :)
    Fixed the errors, thanks for pointing them out.
    I hope Farkas and Vilkas don't walk in as well... Awkward!!!
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  January 11, 2016
    In paragraph 6 you misspelled later as latter.

    In paragraph 74 you added an apostrophe to nuts.

    In paragraph 86 you misspelled adrenaline without the e.

    In paragraph 98 you finally used defiantly correctly.
    more
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  January 11, 2016
    I wonder how many readers knew that was on the way...
    Oh yea, Sotek's 'Keep it to yourself' attitude. That does provide a few 'back of head slap' moments...
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  January 11, 2016
    Lots of action, for everyone! In more ways than one. 
    Very clever of Sotek to use the poisons. One day though, one day not telling them a plan is going to bite him in the arse. One day.