Skyrim's Saviors

39: Ularik Stormcloak

Rune, Imarea, Lydia, Relfire, Sinbil, and I return to the Manor in Falkreath. When we walk into the manor, a girl is sitting at the table in the entrance, her feet propped up on the table, her black hair styled short, her blue-gray eyes on us. She's a Breton.

"Gwynlyn Jolham, at your service, o powerful Dragonborn!" she exclaims as we walk into the room together.

Sinbil chuckles and sits on the bed next to the chair and table Gwynlyn is perched on.

I blink, looking around the room before finally looking at Lydia.

"I think I might lay down," I say softly, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. I turn on my heel and jog upstairs. I can still hear their puzzled voices as I lay down on a large bed and close my eyes.

All these people are here to protect me. Allegedly, that is. But as I lay in bed, doing my best to ignore their conversations, I turn over and sigh. My back is to the door, but I can still hear their voices.

As I lay there, sleep finally takes me and pulls me under.

My legs ache from running so damn fast, and as I bolt between the trees of the Pine Forest, I hear my pursuers. I start to run faster, but my lungs are screaming. I am running for what feels like hours, breaking through the woods and into the field beyond. Then, suddenly, someone — or something — slams into me, knocking me to my side on the grass.

I gasp when I look up, and watch as the sky turns blood-red, and the person that hit me .... is half-wolf. He has longish black hair and blue eyes, but he morphs back into his human shape, and looks around. 

"Come on, we have to get you out of here, the living don't belong here."

"Where is here? Who are you?" I ask.

"Hircine's Hunting Grounds, and I am Farkas, a Companion who was a member of the Circle, until the Silver Hand forced me to die. They're werewolf-hunters, and they had me and some friends and my girlfriend trapped too. I would guess they're all alive, as they'd be here if not. But come on, girl, we have to get you to safety."

"Where is safety here?" I ask as we jog along, and head towards a large waterfall, and a stone bridge. As we head across the bridge, I realize I am not in the Pine Forest. Farkas was right, we are in the Hunting Grounds. Then, I see something in the pool of bloody-colored water below, something sticking out of the ground and out of the water itself.

"Uh, how did that get there?" I ask, gesturing to the item, and Farkas looks.

"Want to check it out?"

I nod, and once we have crossed the bridge, the two of us start to slip and slide down the bank next to the waterfall. As we approach, Farkas and I see that it's a sword.

Farkas and I reach the sword, buried in waist-deep water, and he pulls it from the thick, muddy ground.  He faces me, his eyes wide.

"What?" I ask him.

"This sword .... it has her scent on it."

"Whose?"

"Red. My girlfriend," he says.

Suddenly, wolves burst from the woods and shadows all around us, and they surround us. Their teeth bared, and eyes narrowed. I look at Farkas.

He hands me Red's sword and then morphs, turning into his wolf form. He looks at me, and I know he's telling me to run.

I don't.

I fight, and fight, cutting wolves down until one werewolf grabs my borrowed sword and throws it out of my reach. He pounces on top of me, and then, I snap awake.