WINDHELM BOUND
ADULT CONTENT. It doesn't go into great detail but it's there.
Faendal’s arms wrapped around me and pulled me into him. “Good morning,” he breathed. Shivers rippled down my spine. “I don’t remember getting here last night.”
I turned to look at him. “You would have been sleeping in the hall if I hadn’t brought you here.” I said booping his sharp nose with my finger.
“Waking up here is a lot nicer than waking up in the hall.” He kissed me. “I haven’t had jagga in years. I didn’t say anything embarrassing did I?”
I faked a look of surprise, “You get embarrassed?” I teased, “Ah, there you are, my love!” I called out as I jumped on him into a bear hug.
“I said that?” he laughed. I nodded. “Well you are my love.” My heart swelled with bliss. His lips met mine. The warmth of his lips sent electricity through my body. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in closer wanting more. But he pulled away and smiled. “As much as I would love to stay here with you I really need to get out of this college today.” I pouted but understood. He pushed himself out of the bed and stretched. Glancing at the table he picked up the letter. “Is this the letter from the jarl? What did it say?”
I shot out of bed and grabbed the letter. I had completely forgotten about it. “I forgot to read it!”
“How could you forget to read a letter from a jarl?” He chuckled.
“Yesterday was busy with….. archery practice.” I poked him in the side. I opened the letter and read the flowing letters. My stomach turned as I finished reading. I sunk to the bed. “Oh.”
“What is it?” Faendal sat next to me. I handed him the letter. He read over it as I told him what it said.
“The news of the dragon attack here reached Whiterun. The jarl wants to thank me. He thinks I’m the real dragonborn.”
“This sounds like a great honor. Why do you seem so disturbed from it?” He asked handing the letter back to me. The last thing I wanted was another responsibility added to my shoulders. My amnesia had not cured nor had I had any real memories of my past come to me since I saw that stone wall in the ruins. On top of that, I was the only one of my kind. The only information I could learn about the Falmer were either whispers of legends and myths or whispers of the “twisted abominations”. Being the dragonborn brought a whole new set of worries. But this letter gave us a reason to leave the college and I could already see the twinkle in Faendal’s eyes.
“Ok.” I exhaled deeply. “We should go to Whiterun. It’s rude to ignore the summons of a jarl.”
“We should head out right away! I’ll start gathering our things.” Faendal said a little too excited as he jumped up to his feet. I watched him leave with a smile. His eagerness to not be stuck in a stone building was cute.
I strapped on my leather armor, tied the cloak Faendal gifted me, and packed a few robes, potions, and food into my satchel. I braided my red hair in one long braid that draped over my shoulder. The last thing I needed was getting my hair caught in a fire spell. I made a quick stop at the arcanaeum hoping to pick up some books on Valenwood. Urag laughed at my wanting to take books with me but stopped with a pensive look. “I tell you what, snow elf. I have a list of books I’ve been looking for. You keep an eye out for them and send them to me and I’ll let you take a few books with you.” He said handing me a list.
“Sure, sounds fair.” I smiled.
I left the arcanaeum with three books: A Dance with Fire, Green Pact Bosmer: Observations, and War Customs of the Tribal Bosmer. I tucked the books into my satchel and headed for the entrance of the college. J’zargo stopped me to wish me well “and perhaps when you return J’zargo will win our competitions.” He said with confidence. Faendal waited for me at the entrance leaning against the stone wall.
“We’ll have to walk most of the way.” He said standing up when I arrived. “There aren’t any carriages here. But Windhelm is a day’s walk and we can hire one once we’re there. Part of the trek will be off path so stay close.” I nodded and followed him out the college. We became stuck in the town with townspeople asking us to have one more drink with them. We were able to continue once we promised we would be back.
It was a beautiful crisp day with no clouds in sight. The sun warmed the air just enough to make the walk comfortable with my cloak Faendal had gifted me. The right of us were sheer cliffs of jagged rocks that hovered over us. The left was an open barren field of snow and ice. Our boots crunched through the snow as we followed the path away from Winterhold. I enjoyed the light breeze hitting my face. It smelled fresh.
“What is the green pact?” I broke the silence remembering what Enthir told me the night before. “And why is it morbid?”
He smiled slightly amused, “It’s not morbid.”
“You said that last night but you didn’t elaborate.” I stated watching him.
“It’s not that interesting. One doesn’t eat or use the plant life of Valenwood. You only eat meat.” He told me.
“That doesn’t sound morbid.”
“The part that others don’t like is when you kill you must eat the fallen within three days.” It took me a moment to really comprehend what he meant. I gasped in horror. He only chuckled. “That’s usually the way people react when they learn about it.”
“How is that not morbid?” I demanded.
He shrugged. “How is it any more morbid than leaving the dead to rot?”
My thoughts went to the bandits we had killed at the ruins above Riverwood. Were they still laying there rotting? Maybe an animal had eaten them? “So, do you?” I asked unable to finish the full sentence.
“No.” He said with a laugh, “Only those who live in small villages deep in the forest still practice it.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. “I could eat you though.” He pressed his lips against mine. They were cold from the Skyrim breeze. Our lips lingered together warming each other.
“I don’t know if I should be turned on or creeped out.” I replied when we pulled apart.
“Which is it?” He asked with a smile.
I thought for a second. “Both?”
“That works for me.” He said with a quick kiss before parting from me. We continued down the path. The wind swirled loose snow around the land. My mind wondered to other questions I wanted to know. Before I knew it I was spilling out every question I could think of.
“How old are you? How long have you been to Skyrim? Why did you come to Skyrim? Were you really a military scout? Who were you a scout for? Where in Valenwood are you from?”
Faendal’s eyes widened at the sudden attack. “Did Enthir get to your head?” He asked. “I’m just a hunter who worked at a lumber mill.”
I watched him with doubt. “A simple hunter couldn’t survive a den of bandits.”
“Ask me if I’m a tree.” He requested.
“What?’ I was taken aback.
“Ask me if I’m a tree.”
I watched him for a moment not understanding what the request had to do with what we were talking about. “Are you a tree?”
He leaned in so close to me, our noses almost touched. “No.” He walked off laughing hysterically. I stared at him with my mouth agape. Was this the Bosmer humor? I smiled at how adorably horrible his joke was and chased after him. It wasn’t until later that I realized he never answered any of my questions.
Ahead the path vered to the right between two cliffs. Faendal, instead, kept straight and started off the path. “This is where we leave the path.” He called back to me. “Stay close to me. It’s easy to get lost here.” The land dipped down into a small icy valley. Pine trees covered in snow loomed over us. Remains of old nordic ruins dotted the area as we walked through. I hummed different songs as we walked towards Windhelm but Faendal face was furrowed full of concentration. Always looking out in the distance. I realized humming was probably not a great idea and stopped.
Faendal suddenly took out his bow, notched an arrow and let it loose. It flew through the cold air and hit a snow bear in the head. I did not even see the bear before it was hit. He went up to the bear and began to skin it. I couldn’t watch as he cut into the bear’s skin. I started to believe his story of taking down a bear in a blizzard. “This skin will get us a few extra septims.” He said tucking the skin away. “It’s a shame to leave the rest of him here but I’m sure he’ll make a hungry animal happy.” I nodded glancing at the bloody carcass and quickly looking away. So this is what he did day after day while I was at the college.
We left the remains of the bear behind and continued through the snowy field that slowly descended towards a river. Faendal took out his bow again and motioned for me to stay near him. That’s when I heard it. An almost unearthly sound as a creature slithered towards us through the air. An ice wraith. Faendal shot an arrow but missed. It was fast and could switch directions faster than I could keep up with it. It was soon next to me bearing it’s fangs. It grabbed onto my arm before I had a chance to react. The fangs pierced my skin. The bite was so cold it burned. I screamed and blasted a fireball at it’s face. It let go of my arm with a screech and shook it’s head. An arrow pierced it’s icy body. It disintegrated into a pile of icy shards on the snow.
My arm throbbed and burned where the ice wraith bit me. Blood began to ooze from the gaping holes. I couldn’t move my wrist or fingers. The movement caused pain to shoot up my arm and into my chest. I tried to heal myself but I couldn’t concentrate from the pain. Faendal gingerly took my arm and poured some water onto the wound clearing the blood. I gritted my teeth in pain. “I’m sorry.” He apologized seeing my face. He took out a bandage from his pack and carefully wrapped my injured arm. “The limitations of magic. You can’t cast a spell without being able to concentrate. And pain makes that very hard to do.” He said with a half-smile. He handed me a small vial of red liquid. “This will help with the pain. It’s what got me to Windhelm after the attack with the bandits.”
I took the vial of liquid and sighed as the pain melted away to a dull throb. I could move my wrist and fingers more without it shooting pain through my arm. After I thanked him he went to the pile of ice and picked out the fangs with a cloth. Windhelm wasn’t far from where we were. I could see the stone walls of the city peak through the pines. We walked around the wall of the city and entered the gate. The city was old. Very old. The stones were falling apart cracked or altogether fallen in some areas. There were many twisting alleys that I knew I would get lost in easily. But Faendal seemed to know exactly where to go and we were soon inside a warm tavern. I followed Faendal up the stairs into an open room with a fire roaring in the middle. A dark elf was singing in the corner. We took a seat near the fire to warm our chilled bodies.
“Let me check your injury.” Faendal requested as he gently grabbed my arm. He unwrapped the bandages exposing the bite wounds. I looked away. Looking at the wounds made them throb more. He pulled out a bottle of salve as he chuckled. “This will help prevent infection.” I gasped as my arm started to sting from the salve.
“That hurts!” I cried out as I ripped my arm from his grip and held it against my chest. People nearby glanced at us at my outcry.
Faendal looked dumbfounded. “I should have warned you first. Sorry. Can I finish wrapping it?” I reluctantly moved my arm back to him and he wrapped a clean bandage around the wound. I muttered a sorry after he was done. He only smiled at me.
“Here’s two faces I never thought I’d see again!” a deep gruff voice bellowed out.
“Oh, for the love of Y’ffre! What now?” Faendal sounded irritated as Soldin plopped into a chair next to us.
“Still don’t like me, wood elf?” Soldin laughed. “No matter. What brings you to Windhelm, Little Elf? There are rumors of a dragon being absorbed by a female elf”
I grimaced. The idea of being known throughout Skyrim bothered me. “We’re just passing through on our way to Whiterun.” I explained the letter to Soldin. “I thought you were the dragonborn.” I responded.
“Girl, you are smarter than those Whiterun guards!” Soldin roared. He leaned in to us and lowered his voice. “If you are going to Whiterun I wouldn’t stay there longer than a week.”
“Why?” I asked. Faendal sat up watching Soldin with suspicion.
Soldin shook his head. “Nevermind why. Just don’t be there within a week.” He sat back and burst into laughter. The sudden outburst made me jump and Faendal look around uncomfortable. “So, you two.” He leaned in towards us again giving us a sly smile. “Finally get horizontal?”
“Is that all you think about?” Faendal demanded. I could feel my face turn red from thinking about our time only the day before.
“You did, you sly elves! I can see it in your face, Rhew.” My face went even redder. “I told you I did you the favor all those months ago.” Soldin nudged Faendal’s arm.
A slight smile appeared on Faendal’s face as he glanced at me. “Perhaps you did.” And suddenly I wanted nothing more than to have him at that moment.
“Um, Soldin. It was nice seeing you but…… it’s late.”
Soldin looked at me skeptically. “The sun hasn’t completely set.”
“Well, uh, we did walk all the way here from Winterhold and….. um….. had a couple run ins with creatures…… and well,” I stood up and grabbed Faendal’s arm. “Goodbye.” I pulled Faendal down the stairs and into a room. Soldin’s laughter followed us.
“Rhew? What-” Faendal started. I pressed my lips against his interrupting him. My longing grew with every second. Our kisses became deeper and more intense. We started stripping each other. The excitement grew until I could take it no more. I wanted him now. I pushed him onto the bed and pounced after him. My legs wrapped around him as I gave into the pleasure.