Masser and Secunda [Book One Of Skyrim Fanfics]

A New Harbinger and Another Funeral

Vilkas

"We must get back Wuuthrad!! It was Ysgramor's!" Aela snaps. I nod, agreeing completely. "I will take Baiasma. We will go, kill the Silver Hand, take out the threat, and get back the shards of the battleaxe." Baiasma looks at me, flushing under her fur. I flush too, turning away to look at my brother and Aela. "If Baiasma agrees to this..." I mutter. Baiasma looks at me and nods, "I will go with Vilkas." Aela looks like she is about to fight to go but one look from Farkas makes her close her mouth. "I have been searching and the only remaining Silver Hand camp is in Drift shade Refuge, near Dawnstar. That must be where they took the fragments," Aela says softly. I turn to Baiasma, meeting her yellow eyes. She gives me a soft nod. "We leave as soon as we are ready to go." Everyone takes this as dismissal and gets up. I go down to the Living Quarters, getting my sword and my armor, a few potions and some food before returning to the Hall. Farkas pats my shoulder before going over to Aela. I watch them, shaking my head. He was going to be hurt, Aela loved no one but herself and Skjor. But she smiled at Farkas when he walked over to her, a full smile that was rare for her. "V-Vilkas?" Baiasma says softly, looking at me, blushing under her fur. "I'm ready, let's go." She nods and I hold the door out of Jorrvaskr open for her, which makes her blush brighter. I would have to talk to her before this mission so she didn't blush at my every word or gesture... I follow her to the stables and we both get our horses. It was a straight northward ride, toward the city of Dawnstar, but to the southeast of that city to where we need to be. "Vilkas?" Baiasma's voice is soft and shy. "Yes?" "Why did you volunteer me to go with you?" I look into her feline yellow eyes, "Because I trust you to have my back and I care about you and want you near me so I can protect you." She nods, her cheeks pink beneath her fur, "Alright." We ride out of Whiterun, northbound toward Driftshade Refuge. It isn't until there has been an hour or so of silence before I hear, "Vilkas?" I turn and look at her, "Yes, Baiasma?" She looks embarrassed and uncomfortable. "Why did you kiss me?" I think back and smile slightly. I had kissed her, something I had wanted to do for a while. "Because I wanted to. And it made you stop yelling at me." "Well, you called me a cat. And blamed me for Kodlak's death." I wince slightly, cursing myself for ever having said those things to her. "I shouldn't have called you that, it was horribly mean of me. And I shouldn't have blamed you. It wasn't your fault that Kodlak is dead. His time came and there is nothing any of us could have done to stop that." I meet her yellow eyes, willing her to understand that I meant these words. "I accept your apology, Vilkas." I smile widely, happy that she did. "How much further until we get there?" She asks. I glance at my map and tilt my head. "Oh, another hour or two." She sighs and leans against her horse's neck. "I hate riding for so long... Cats aren't meant to ride horses!" she mutters, making me laugh. She was truly the best woman I had ever met.

Baiasma

I must have nodded off because Vilkas woke me from the back of my horse. "We are here, Baiasma." He whispered softly to me. I slip from the horse and land in the snow, the cold waking me up fully. A small fort stood out in the white snow, some people outside of the entrance. "I see three of them, do you see any more?" Vilkas asks me. Since I see better in the dark with my Night's Eye, I looked around the fort. "No, just those three." He nodded and crouched, beckoning for me to follow him. We slowly sneak up to the refuge. Vilkas points to one, then to me, motioning that he would get the other two. A fierce, vicious smile overtakes his usually peaceful face as we sneak up behind them. I pull my Skyforge steel dagger from the sheathe and stand up behind my target. I smile, reaching around and slitting his throat, watching his body drop into the red snow at our feet. Another thud, then a soft cry of pain and a third thud follows. "For Kodlak," Vilkas says as we walk up to the door. I nod, cleaning my dagger on the armor of the Nord I just killed and sheathe it, pulling my two swords from the sheaths, pushing open the door. Inside are a few Silver Hand and we quietly slaughter them, looting their bodies and leaving them. We go down the stairs and lose ourselves in battle. I don't become a wolf, preferring to take my time with killing them, being close as they take their final breaths. We find a barred door that is impossible to get but leave it, finding the right path, further into the fort. After more slaughter and searching, I find a locked door. I smile weakly at Vilkas as I show off the skills my kind is known for, picking locks. Inside is another bastard Silver Hand, which I dispatch with a quick slice with both swords, severing his head from his body. The next door is blocked with spears but Vilkas finds a pull lever, releasing the offending spears and allowing us to pass through and into the cellar. "Let's rest a moment," I murmur to Vilkas. He nods, looking murderous but still attractive, covered in blood and gore, his lips pulled back in a snarl and his eyes wild with blood lust and rage. After a few moments of resting, we follow the only path out of the room we were in. There is a Silver Hand and a lever not far from me. It is only then that I see the spike trap. I smirk, an evil smirk, and pull the lever, watching the spikes pierce him and kill him. Up ahead, there is a cage. I look inside and a dead werewolf lies at the bottom. My heart stutters in my chest for my fallen BeastBlooded brother. I turn and there is another spike wall. "A pull bar," Vilkas says shortly, pointing to it with his bloody sword. I pull it and open a chest, only to jump back as spikes come from everywhere. Vilkas must have avoided them too because I don't hear them hit anything. I loot the chest, taking everything I want and pull another pull bar to get out, heading through a room to see two Silver Hand. I nod to one and Vilkas smiles as he takes the other, quickly killing them. This sneaking around was not getting me the satisfaction of a messy and painful kill. We go through a hallway and it opens to a snowy cave. The room is two leveled and that it all I see before Vilkas tackles me. I am about to yell at him when another arrow clatters not far from where we fell. "Dammit!" I mutter, cursing myself for wanting a fight. Vilkas pats my head and charges out of hiding, up to the second level, somehow dodging all of the arrows shot at him, and shoves his sword through the archer's chest. She dies with a croak. I go up to where Vilkas is cleaning his sword off on her hide armor. There is a few cages. I look inside one and jump back as a werewolf swipes it's claws at me. "I'm so sorry..." I murmur to it as it snarls and slashes at me again. "You have to leave it, otherwise it will attack us. They can't tell we are friends," Vilkas says softly in my ear. I nod and leave it, looking into the next one. It has a dead horse inside. I leave it locked and walk through the doorway into a torture room. After going through the room is a chamber, with a few people inside. Vilkas and I kill them all and search the room, getting coins and such before going through the only passageway. It leads to chamber with some Silver Hand, three of them. I kill them all while Vilkas watches, then we search the room. A chest contains some good loot, then I hear, "Here it is!" I walk over and there they are. The pieces of Wuuthrad. I slowly pick them up. "Wuuthrad, Ysgramor's weapon." Vilkas nods as I place them into my bag and we take the door to the south, leaving the fort. We find our horses and ride back toward Whiterun, blood covered but victorious.