U.O.T.W. Chapter 256 A Change for the Worse

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    Author’s note: The chapter has not been edited except for odd mistakes and errors therefore the content may change at a later date although the plot will remain the same. The content you read now is as I written it in 2014-2015. I hope this fact doesn’t lessen your enjoyment.

     

    As always, should you see an error or something you feel is off then by all means let me know.

     

    Sotek Loyal Hound of Hircine

     

    Author's Note: Adult Content

     

     

    The chamber was silent except for Scarface’s breathing and the footsteps of the Huntress. Aela slowly circled Scarface as she studied him. Her hand lightly brushed against his fur as she held her hand up to his chest.

     

    Anger took hold of her heart and squeezed it far tighter than any vice. The calmness of the study was in direct contrast to the whirling emotions which ravaged Aela. If Kodlak thought for one second that Aela would be pleased with Sotek’s new ability then he was very mistaken.

     

    Her mood became all too relevant when her anger burst forthwith in the form of a ranting shout.

    “You changed! You can’t! We can’t. Harbinger? What the fuck!” Instantly her blood boiled, she thudded her fists in his chest as he stood there stunned at her open hostility. “You bastard, you bastard!” She started screaming at him uncontrollably. “You worthless dog”. 

     

    Under a barrage of blows, Sotek changed back. He grabbed her wrists as she tried hitting him in the chest again.

    “Let me go you bastard, let me go!” As soon as he released her, she punched him in the face.  

     

    The Harbinger grabbed her arms, pulling her back.

    “Aela, what the hell is wrong with you?” 

     

    “Wrong with me? What the hell was he? Nothing! Without me he was nothing! I made him what he is, and where does that leave me? Tell me, come on Kodlak, tell me? What the hell am I? I was the Alpha, the bloody Alpha. I was the top and now I’m nothing while he gets stronger and bloody quicker! Red’s fuck all now”. 

     

    The Harbinger tried to calm her down.

    “Aela, you’re over reacting. Well yes, I grant you it’s odd”. 

     

    “Odd? Fucking odd? I’ll tell you what; let’s have a vote to whether you should be the Harbinger or Sotek the almighty. When you’re out voted, you come to me and say it’s odd”. With that she threw a second punch at Sotek. He managed to doge it due to Aela’s drunken state. She spat on the floor then stormed off down the corridor. 

     

    Sotek turned to Kodlak but he was too stunned to speak due to Aela’s hostility.  When his nerves started to settle, he hissed out a feeble question.

    “Sso, what’ss been happening while we were away?”

     

    Kodlak shook his head and wearily wiped his brow then he headed to the small table where he sat on a chair while motioning to Sotek to do the same.

    “Start at the beginning. When did you find out that you could change multiple times through the day?” 

     

    Sotek sighed heavily.

    “Harbinger, I found out at the same time you did. I honestly thought I had the ring. We’ve been swapping it to and fro between the two of us for weeks now; I thought I was wearing it; so did Aela”. 

     

    “Yes Aela...” 

     

    Sotek gazed off in the distance.

    “She started getting a bit funny with Scarface outside Riften. I thought she was messing about but I’m not so sure now. We killed some bandits, tunnel rats from the Thieves Guild. That are when she was anti with me”. 

     

    Kodlak rolled his eyes. They had numerous problems with the guild and Aela. He huffed to himself, knowing that she had now involved Sotek; the two of them would cause triple the agro and complicate things further. He decided to deal with things one at a time. The Huntress was the first thing on his list so he tackled that. One thing Sotek said caught his attention. He looked up, sharply staring back at Sotek.

    “Over what? What was it that caused her to be like this?” 

     

    As Sotek went on to explain his voice quietened, Kodlak could feel the hurt in the tone as he talked.

    “I killed, or rather Scarface killed, two bandits. He just ran up to them and slammed their heads into the ground. Red couldn’t though, she had to fight them. One of them managed to hit her. Not badly mind, she yelped out but she killed them easily enough, then she fed. Her wound healed over, but from that point Aela seemed to get more and more anti”. 

     

    Kodlak sighed.

    “It would seem, she feels pushed out. That, with what you just said, confirms it”. 

     

    “Yes, but what the hell do I do about it?” Sotek asked in a hopeless voice. His tail shared that sentiment and whipped about.

     

     

    “The first thing is to calm her down. If we can achieve that then we might be able to fathom the underlying problem”. With that they both headed towards the study door which Aela had slammed shut when she left.

     

    Aela however was waiting for them. She stood by the door listening in on their conversation. As soon as they opened the door, Sotek's eyes fixed on her. She stood there, just a few feet from the threshold.

     

     Aela held nothing back and tore into the pair of them, Harbinger and companion alike.

    "Actually… the first thing is, you bastards stop talking about me behind my bloody back. She then promptly shoved Sotek back against the door. “The next thing is, you stay the hell away from me, Scarface stays the hell away from Red. We’re through, finished. No me and you, we’re over. I should have listened to Hircine when he first warned me. We’re finished! You and Scarface, you go solo from now on. We'll see how you get on by yourself. In future when I hunt, when Red hunts, we hunt alone”.  

     

     

    The Harbinger held his hand up to her arm and gently held her.

    “Aela, come with me, just for a minute and talk to me”. 

     

    She wrenched her arm away from him, and held her hand up threatening to slap him.

    “Don’t...... Just don’t”. She turned around then headed to the stairwell. 

     

    In a drastic move, Sotek went up to her and took hold of her hand.

    “Aela, please...” 

     

    “Get this into that fucking reptilian head of yours; you stay away from me. If I see you out there on the plains, if Red see's you, or Scarface out there, then you're forfeit, you're prey. The plains are mine, I hunt them, the plains are mine! Harbinger, you tell the prick. Tell him so he knows, so you both know. If I or Red see him out there, he’s dead! Go to hell”. With that she headed to her room and slammed her door. Three times it banged shut just to bounce back open until the latch managed to fall into place. 

     

    Sotek walked over to a chair in the Harbinger’s study and sat back down. He held his head in his hands as he sat there thinking.

    "Has she always been like this?” 

     

    Kodlak came over to him and joined him at the table.

    "Oh yes, she’s quick to anger is Aela, but she’s in constant conflict. Her wolf spirit, ‘Red’ is ever present, driving her. It's the same for you in some ways, you are dragonborn. You can feel it in you, directing you. Your decisions, the way you act; it’s the same for her, but as you put it, she's much more animalistic. She lashes out because the wolf in her is forcing her to. In some respects, she’s a slave to it”. 

     

    Sotek sat there slowly nodding, as he gathered the facts and placed them in some sort of order within his mind.

    “Harbinger, I’m going out for a few hours. I need to clear my head”. 

     

    “Take Farkas with you. Wait at the gate, I’ll get him to meet you there”. With that Sotek left the Undercroft and made his way down the path towards the main gate, from there he quietly sat on the wall while he waited for Farkas to join him.

     

    Kodlak headed upstairs and called out for Farkas but to his surprise, the hall was empty. He walked towards the yard doors only to see Ebony step inside. She held on to the door, keeping it open and greeted Kodlak in a rather timid voice.

    "Harbinger? Sotek, is he ok?”

     

    “Yes, he’s alright. Farkas?” He stepped outside to find all the Whelps were there in the yard.  

     

    Farkas weakly smiled at him.

    "Safety in numbers”. 

     

    “Yes, indeed. Sotek’s heading out for a few hours. Could you stay with him?” 

     

    At this rapid turn of events, Farkas looked worried.

    "Ermm is Aela going out?”

     

    “No, she’s staying here”. 

     

    The moment he said that, everyone volunteered to go with Sotek. Kodlak shook his head, rejecting their offer.

    “No, just Farkas thank you. Farkas, he’s waiting by the gate”. 

     

    Aela Stood there in her room, standing by her door which was slightly ajar. She still felt angry, it simmered like a volcano wanting to erupt, spewing hot laver and a hailstorm of rocks upon all in its path. As she watched Sotek head upstairs, she knew damn well that he was heading out across the plains. She shut her door and sat on her bed, fuming inside with rage as the walls seemed to form a cell around her. 

     

    Outside, Farkas walked up to Sotek and shrugged.

    "So, where are we heading?” 

     

    “The plains if that’s ok. I need to... Well Scarface needs to kill. He needs to feed; vent some steam as it were”. 

     

    “Sure, we’ll keep a bit to the south though just in case Aela decides to come out here. Am I going to need a horse?” 

     

    Sotek smirked, he wanted to laugh, but it was too much effort.

    “No, you’ll be fine, come on”. They headed out across the plains, but unbeknown to them a figure was watching. Aela slipped out of the gate then headed off away from the stables. She wasn't out to vent, she was out for a fight.

     

     

    The Huntress followed their scent across the plains. Soon enough she came across their trail. She couldn’t help but think Farkas was getting sloppy, leaving a trail of footprints like that. But then she considered that they honestly didn’t think she would follow. Not wanting to disappoint, she decided not to follow them, a swift change was all it took. Red followed them instead. 

     

    As they headed off towards the west across the plains, Farkas noticed two deer just to the north. He looked around for Sotek but he had stopped. He was standing still with his eyes fixed keenly on them. He became dimly aware that Farkas was talking to him.

    “You want to go for them?” 

     

    “Huh? Oh sorry, you mind?”. Without waiting for an answer, Sotek morphed into his werewolf form.  Seconds later, Scarface charged across the plains towards the two deer. They both broke off from each other but Scarface was relentless. He picked a target and ran it down, swiping its legs from underneath it. The deer collapsed in a heap. Seconds later Scarface was on it. He tore out a chunk of meat and fur from its side but instantly lost interest in the kill. Instead of ripping it to pieces and consuming it like a hungry wolf would, he left it lying there. He rose to full height which promptly unsettled Farkas, but then let out a loud desolate lonely howl which seemed to echo across the plains. 

     

    Moments later Red howled back. Aela didn’t want to but she wasn’t in control, Red was. She heard Scarface’s lonely desolate plea. She understood it perfectly, she felt the same. Red burst into a run, bounding across the plains towards him. Within a minute she was there a hundred yards away facing him. 

     

    Scarface wasn’t too sure on how she would act. He took a few steps towards her then dropped to all fours. Despite Aela’s feelings, Red cautiously approached him. She didn’t understand the hatred, the anger. Anger she knew about, only too well. But with Scarface though? Her mate? That was beyond her, beyond her understanding. All she knew was that she was hungry for the kill, for the taste of flesh, and for Scarface to be there by her side. She sped up, calling out to him in a longing howl as she neared him. Scarface moved towards her, to meet her half way. 

     

    The moment they were together, Red pushed her head into his chest as he held her in his arm, his paw pulling her closer. 

     

    Five hundred yards away they sensed a deer. The two of them started tracking it on instinct, as a single entity. Red broke into a run first, with Scarface rapidly gaining on her, within seconds they were running side by side. The deer bolted but it had nowhere to go. Within moments they had pulled it to the ground. Both werewolves started feeding off the corpse like they were sharing a meal on a single plate.

     

    Farkas watched with a strange sense of fascination. He saw over the years many werewolves hunt alone and in packs, but never have he seen two werewolves so connected like Red and Scarface were. From the tracking throughout the chase and even the kill, especially the kill. He really tried to see things from Aela’s perspective but he just didn’t see what was upsetting her. 

     

    Once they fed, Red moved towards him, rubbing her shoulder along his body, then she stopped, and waited, motionless bar her heavy breathing. Scarface gingerly rested his head on her back, watching for any sign of hostility. The only sign Red gave was when she lowered her head in submission. Scarface moved slowly behind her then she cautiously backed into him as his paws gripped her sides. 

     

    Farkas turned around and started walking off, muttering to himself.

    “By Talos she needs to make her mind up. First, it’s ‘Get away from me’ then its ‘hey, let’s kill something and eat it raw then we can have sex’. Un-believable”. He started gathering up some firewood, just as the silence of the plains were shattered by Red’s howling.  

     

    Half hour later the plains were still and quiet again. Farkas edged over a gully to see Scarface and Red both asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms.  

     

    An hour later Red woke up. She changed where she laid, not bothering to get up. Aela stayed there gathering her thoughts for several seconds under Scarface’s arm and leg then she shoved the arm off and got up. She felt dirty and disgusted. Farkas heard her shout out.

    “You fucking bastard”. He looked down at them to see her head off to Whiterun. She was clearly in a bad mood as she was screaming at a rabbit to move out of her way. Scarface awoke with the shouting, he stood up and watched Aela head off. After whining, he changed back to Sotek. Once he had his wits about him, he looked up to where Farkas was just to see him heading down to where they laid earlier. 

     

    As Farkas walked over to him, Sotek shook his head.

    “Aww crap”. 

     

    “Smooth, very smooth. I might be wrong but with her reaction, that was a bad call”. 

     

    “Hey, he didn’t plan that! It just sort of, you know… happened?” 

     

    “Yea? Well, she isn’t going to plan it! It’ll just ‘sort of’ happen when she rips that loved up heart of yours out of your chest and stamps on it. She is well pissed off”. 

     

    Sotek gulped then looked over to Whiterun. Farkas could feel the air of desperation over him.

    “Yes, I know”. Without another word Sotek headed back to face whatever was waiting there for him, with Farkas by his side. 

     

     

Comments

5 Comments   |   ShyGuyWolf and 7 others like this.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  July 7, 2018
    I always get a bit uncomfortable when Aela lashes out at Kodlak, it's such a disrespect to the Harbinger. And hehe at Red, she's clearly not received the "don't sleep with Scarface" memo. 
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  August 18, 2017
    "He managed to [dodge] it due to Aela’s drunken state."

    "It's the same for you in some ways, you are [Dragonborn]."

    "Aela [stood] there in her room, standing by her door which was slightly ajar."

    "spewing...  more
  • Karver the Lorc
    Karver the Lorc   ·  July 31, 2017
    Aela is very strange creature. Is it a jealousy that drives her here? Or fear of loosing control, fear of loosing the top position? Who can see into women's minds, right?
    • Sotek
      Sotek
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Karver the Lorc
      Aela is very strange creature. Is it a jealousy that drives her here? Or fear of loosing control, fear of loosing the top position? Who can see into women's minds, right?
        ·  July 31, 2017
      Aela's a rather complex individual. For her the werewolf way of life is everything. As you have said, jealousy at her own limitations, fear of loosing the top Alpha position. All these play a part. 
      She is very much in touch with her wolf spiri...  more
  • Aela The Huntress
    Aela The Huntress   ·  July 30, 2017
    I really do love the fact that Aela and Red have their own personalities and are treated as different characters. Same for Sotek and Scarface. It gives them a chance to break away.