Eclipse

Eclipse: Chapter 6

Eclipse: Chapter 6

by Spottedleaf9 and Dracanoth Dereal

(Valisilwen)

When we got to the woods outside Solitude, I was still vibrating with anger at the death of the young Nord man. He wasn't one of my kind, but he had lived in the same place as me and we had talked every now and then. I had known him in a way and it burned me inside that I had watched someone familiar just die so horrifically before my eyes. My heart continued to ache for Erith and I was worried that Aela might not have time for raising a child in lieu of also being the Harbinger to a whole longhouse full of our family; the Companions.

After Sven headed back to town and got the shipment of wood back here in a week's time, I simply watched Dracanoth building; guessing occasionally what it was as it began to take shape. It was a hut and as weeks went on and they built, I sat with my back against a tree, my knees drawn up to my chin. This is what most of my days consisted of, sitting back against a tree while they built by day, and sleeping under said tree by night. I refused to help them. I was a grown woman, but the gesture from my childhood still brought strength I much needed in that moment. It gave me security and resolve for what I was going to do next. The blood lust had been building in me for so long that I knew this transformation was going to be a difficult one to awaken from. I hoped I would have the memories of Dracanoth screaming in pain under the heavy weight of my lycan body as the long claws slashed tirelessly at his throat.

I felt that this would give me a sick kind of satisfaction that I both wanted and didn't deserve. Vengeance was wrong. Kodlak had taught me this through the incident with the Silver Hand and Skyjor. But I'd be damned if vengeance wasn't all I had eyes for in those moments. I wanted it so bad that my stomach twisted with a need for it. This was usually the point when I would change and feed on something small because just the thoughts the wolf part of me put through my head of eating other people were normally enough to make me vomit and I was not going to let myself appear any weaker than I already did to Dracanoth.

I watched him with half open eyes as he built; slitted with concentration and I was sure that if he looked closely enough he'd see the almond pupils in the center of my round, golden orbs becoming nothing more than black slits in the center of yellow, predatory eyes. I shook my head and refocused. I could easily slip into an early transformation by visualizing it like that and that was the last thing I needed or wanted at the moment. I needed the element of surprise to catch him as he slept and slaughter him. My mind began to drift away into that red haze and I shook my head again. I couldn't afford to change right there in front of them as they worked.

Stop it. You'll have your bloodshed soon enough. I tried to soothe myself and it sadly did little to quell the beast rising inside me. I resolved to never go two months without changing again. It was taking an odd kind of toll on me that I didn't much like. I shifted so much where I sat propped against the tree that I might as well have been literally vibrating with tension. This was what I'd feel only before taking on large groups of the enemy. This was the feeling I only got before some of the biggest fights and here I was going into this one alone. Some part of me was vaguely frightened of failure, but another part of me said that there was no way it was going to happen. I listened to that half; not wanting to think of what would happen should I die and never get to see Erith again.

Allowing myself to speak, I raised my head from my knees and spoke softly to Dracanoth, layering hidden danger into the quietness of my voice. "You didn't have to kill him. He was only a boy, not even a man yet. What you could've done was politely ask him to move. You murdered over some Arkay-be-damned tea!" When he ignored me and kept building I stood up, my knees shaking with the effort of holding back the beast. "Why did you kill an innocent boy? They don't know when to run. It wasn't fair!"