Septimus rushed to grab his dingy bow, then ran upstairs, only to find Aela nowhere to be seen.
‘Where did she go?’ While looking around, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him down.
“Whoa!?” he almost fell but managed to keep his balance and turn around.
Aela was there, looking down at him.
“Come on, pup, told you to keep up, and also be more aware of your surroundings!” She let go of him and walked outside, Septimus following behind her.
‘Did I just get stealth-assassinated?
I didn’t notice anything when she approached; she could have slit my throat, and I would have been none the wiser!’
Now, outside, he walked to her side.
“What was that about?”
“Testing your awareness, it’s pretty bad.
I will warn you, from now until I say the hunt is over, I will keep ambushing you, and they won’t be as painless as the first one!”
He winced.
‘Damn, I knew it was too good to be true; it’s my stupid ass fault for expecting an easy outing’
“Understood.” He walked a few steps away, barely out of her reach.
She caught his movements and smirked.
“Let me tell you what we’re going to do and where, but first let me hear your best guess.”
“Well, as you said were going hunting.
Knowing you, it’s going to be something large but not too strong because you have a burden, that is me, with you.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“Knowing me, huh?
Well, you’re not wrong; I would love to go mammoth hunting, but it will have to be another day.”
‘Oops, slip of the tongue; I only talked to her once’
“The companions received a request from one of the farms.
A large pack of wolves appeared in the area; we are tasked with taking them out, so follow along and see if you can learn something”
They walked out the city gate, the guards giving them a nod as they passed.
“Do you know how many there are?”
Aela shook her head.
“No, but by how scared the farmers were, at least five, if not more.”
“Hmm, is it common for large wolfpacks to approach the farm areas?”
“No, it’s usually larger animals like bears and sabertooths that wander too close; wolves tend to stay away.
This is unusual.”
Septimus nodded, then focused on following her silently, eyes totally not on her backside as she walked.
====================
It took about one hour for them to arrive at one of the outermost farms.
Walking up to the front door, Aela turned to him,
“This is where the client lives; you talk to them, try to get as much information as you can.” Then she knocked on the door with her fist.
‘Great, just leave it all to me, why don’t you?
*sigh* It’s only talking, how bad can it be.’ This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The door opened, and a woman stood there; she was tall with dark hair, obviously Nord and very distraught.
“Yes?” She began, then looked at Aela and Septimus.
“Are you with the companions!?
You must help my poor husband; he went out yesterday to check on the animals and hasn’t returned since!”
She began sobbing.
“Hello ma’am, yes, we were sent to deal with the animal problem.
Please, calm down and tell us what happened; the more details, the better.
The woman ushered them inside; they followed.
“As I told the guards, we’ve been hearing howling at night for four days now.
At first we thought it was normal, but then some chickens disappeared.
I saw a hole in the fence, so my husband went out to look for them but hasn’t returned since!”
“Hmm, understood.
Could you guide us to where you last saw him?” She did, guiding them out the back door into the animal enclosure.
There was a large hole in the chicken coop, as if something large crashed into the wall and ripped a plank out.
“And which way did he head in from here?” She pointed towards the wilderness.
“Ok, and one last question: was your husband carrying any sort of weapon, and could you describe him to us?”
The woman quickly nodded several times.
“He was carrying an axe; we use it for wood splitting.
He is shorter than you but wider, very tan, short hair, a scar on his chin.
Oh please, you must find him and bring him back!”
Septimus looked at her face, messy from crying.
“We will do our best maam”.
Then they turned and left in the direction the man had disappeared.
Aela, who had been following him silently, spoke first.
“You did a good job, pup; you got most of the information out of her, but have you noticed?” She didn’t take her eyes off the surroundings while talking to him.
“I did notice a couple of things; first is, why would someone go out at night looking for a lost chicken when they know wolves are around, and second.” He turned to look at her.
“You told me the mission is to kill the wolves; you never mentioned finding someone, much less rescuing.”
She gave him a toothy grin.
“Exactly!
Vilkas was right about you; there’s a good head on those shoulders, pup!” She started jogging; he followed.
“There is no rescue mission because the husband has already been found by the guards, what was left of him at least!” She stopped to look at some tracks.
“Poor fool got mauled right outside the farm.
I’m sure the woman knows about it too.
The guards were alerted by the dead man’s screams after all; there is no way she didn’t hear them.”
Septimus winced.
‘After all this time, I almost forgot where I’m at; this is Skyrim, even leaving your house unprepared can lead to death.’
“I see, that’s unfortunate.
Where do we start?”
“I’ve already started, pup.
What do you think we’ve been following this whole time?” He looked down at the ground but couldn’t see anything.
“I saw you crouch and check some marks earlier, but I can’t see anything now.” They had been jogging for a while and had already climbed a grassy hill overlooking the Whiterun farms Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
“Those tracks have long since ended.
What I’m following now is the direction the wolves took in the tall grass.
Can you see it?”
Septimus did as told and looked around; the hill was full of yellowing grass, most stood upright, but some had a slight angle to them as if it was pressed down and back up again.
“I see it, but how do you know the wolves did it?
It could have been other animals too, right?”
Aela shook her head.
“No, turn around and look at our tracks, see how we stepped on the grass and broke it, leaving footsteps?
The wolves don’t do that, but they have large bodies that push the grass away and down, causing it to bend.
If they were smaller animals, they wouldn’t even leave marks.”
He looked intrigued at the grassy field around them.
“I see, that’s interesting.
How accurate is it?
I mean, what are the chances it wasn’t wolves but something else?”
She seemed to think for a moment before replying.
“Not very accurate; it just shows a path, and it only works in these types of places.
We need to combine all the clues we get, from paths to tracks and excrement and the like; you’ll figure it out as we go.”
They wandered around for a few hours, heading deeper into the hills, approaching the mountainside.
The ground became rockier as they advanced, until Aela eventually spotted something.
She grabbed his arm and pointed at some rocks.
“Look over there, do you see it?
The rocks are discolored; it rained last night, but these are bone dry.
Something large and furry rested on them and wiped them clean!”
Septimus stared at the rocks; he could somewhat tell the difference, if only slightly.
‘How can she spot that?
It’s just a slightly more gray stone, bullshit werewolf senses, I guess.’
“Keep up, pup; it means we’re close.
Keep an eye out; they most likely know we’re coming!”
She started jogging towards the mountains again, he following behind her.
‘How much energy does this woman have?
It’s been hours!’
As he complained in his heart, Septimus noticed something.
“Aela, there’s something caught between those stones!” She stopped and walked to where he was pointing, crouched down, and inspected the item.
Septimus did the same.
“It’s a boot.” She nodded.
“Not just any boot; it has fresh blood on it.” Suddenly she stood up, grabbed her bow, and looked at him with a toothy grin.
“Get ready, pup, something’s coming at us fast!”