-General POV-
A comforting night veiled the cold lands of Skyrim, while a lone lightly armoured figure was pacing through the thick woods, tracking his prey
"AWOOOOO"
SWOOSH
THUD
A wolf was struck through the side of his head, the arrow piercing through and embedding itself in a tree that was behind the animal
The wolves that were beside him perked their heads up, their gazes falling towards the direction from where the arrow came in
GROWL
SWOOSH
A wolf bigger than any other in the pack dodged the arrow aiming for his head and immediately started sprinting towards the attacker, the other wolves following not long after
Sounds of grunting and climbing
The figure that attacked the pack showed a displeased expression as he climbed up a nearby tree, aiming to reach a thick branch for support in order to safely kill the rest
GROWL
More feral noises resounded between the wolves that have surrounded the tree, unexpectedly one of the pack suddenly sprinted off in an unknown direction, greatly confusing the lightly armoured hunter
Bright azure eyes followed the figure of the retreating wolf until he lost sight of it and getting back to the situation at hand
SWISH
SWOOSH
A series of arrows fell upon the encirclement, hitting some of the wolves while the rest dodged the steel armaments
An impasse settled upon the little skirmish, as feral eyes stared up into glowing azure ones, one of the Nirn moons could be seen behind the figure at this moment, shining its light through the thick leaves of the towering trees
-Volfir's POV-
'This is weird, how are they so nimble? I was pretty disappointed in losing sight of that huge Elk, but this situation is actually pretty exciting' I thought with a wild smile forming on my face
'Feels like a waste to drink the Fortify Archery potion, but this could become pretty dangerous… I could run away, but these wolves are a challenge I haven't stumbled upon in a long while…' I contemplated while seated on the thick branch of the tree
It's pretty interesting to see how the wolves continue circling around the tree, but their patience is something I see for the first time
'What a weird and exhausting day' I accidentally let my mind wonder somewhere off, a huge lapse of judgement that would have gotten me killed if not for my fast reaction speed
CRACK
I jumped away from the branch in shock, my eyes registering but a flicker of white fur and sharp claws. Before I could think about anything else, I could feel my legs start carrying me off back where I came from
"AWOOOOOO" cries even louder than before registered in my ears, along with the sounds of the wolves sprinting after me
I didn't even have time to look back at the unknown assailant, my mind blank with nothing but the instinct of survival
Sprinting at a speed I have never experienced before, my heart kept clawing at my mind, the constant feeling of the predators closing in on me making me panic, as I tried to weave between the trees and lose the chase
The fact that I couldn't even turn around to look if they were closer or further away than I thought is unsettling
GROOOWL
A deafening roar passed me by my side, as my eyes registered a leaping, huge bipedal white wolf, a cold feeling of something brushing off my cheek told me that the wicked smile on the creature's looking back face was the result of its claws nearly taking my head off
I instantly changed direction, going towards the mountain, aiming to lose the creature by luring it towards the local sabre cat's territory
"AWOOOO" but the sounds of wolves that were right behind me were telling me that my chances were lower than I hoped for
A huge and thick tree found itself on my path, a dangerous plan formed in my head as I discarded my bow, throwing it back, hoping for it to hit at least one of my chasers to by some time
Unfortunately no such thing happened, but I wasn't able to dwell on my disappointed feelings, as I unsheathed a steel sword given to me by Skjor
Disappearing behind the huge tree, I came to a stop and raised the blade over my head and in a decapitating motion, cold sweat ran down my face. Undisturbed, I swung towards the first head that popped into my vision
Slice
THUD
Not dropping my momentum, I turned my body in an upward swinging motion and swung towards another wolf that was coming from the other side of tree
Slice
THUD
One beheaded and the other sliced in half, I once again took off running
SMACK
Unexpectedly, my luck ran out and I felt myself flying back towards the thick tree from which I ambushed the animals
CRASH
COUGH
The air left my lungs, as I pushed my body to the limits and ducked the big wolf's lunge at my throat. Rolling away, I sliced my front in a wide arc, expecting another attack from the creature that hit me into the tree, but found the bipedal white wolf simply sitting and enjoying the show of my struggle with a wicked and feral smile
Changing my swinging motion into one of stabbing to the back, I leaned on my legs to the right side just as the big wolf once again missed my neck by coming from my left side
Sliiiiice
I felt my sword stabbing through its body in slow motion, immediately feeling the weight of the wolf on my hands, but my gaze never left the creature in front of me
THUD
I let the wolf on my sword fall on the ground, flicking away the blood that rolled down my favourite blade
The bipedal wolf in front of had a glint of amusement and hunger in its eyes, signifying its intelligence, rarely seen in their nature
"Werewolf?" I asked, seeking confirmation
The werewolf grinned widely, still seated, no sense of alarm ringing inside his body, a typical view in a predator that was playing with his prey
"...Peace?" I decided to try my chances, but another plan was already forming inside my mind as I caught bright yellow feline eyes skulking in the shadows not too far away
"Grr… one shot..." The werewolf threw my dropped bow towards me with a commanding growl
Understanding its intention, I picked the bow up and nocked an arrow, my sights seemingly aiming at the seated creature, while I was actually going to shoot at the sabre cat hidden in the shadows behind the werewolf
SWISH
I released the arrow, which passed the head of the werewolf, whose grin morphed its face into unexplainable glee, but before it could lunge at me it was taken by surprise
"MRAWR" the sabre cat had one of its eyes unexpectedly punctured, not wasting any time its aggression surged like a broken dam as it lunged at the back of the seated werewolf, who wasn't aware of its presence prior to the scene now taking place, most probably because its senses were intoxicated from smelling my fear
Not waiting to find out what's going to be the result of this battle, I once again started running away, relief coming over me
Sounds of growls and feral battle
"Fuck this, never hunting in these parts ever again" I made a verbal vow as I pushed my tired body to its limits, sprinting towards the Whiterun farms placed on the outskirts of the Hold
-General POV-
"You look like shit Volfir" spoke one of the Whiterun guards who were patrolling the outskirts in a group of four
"Yeah, I think I pissed my pants as well" nodded Volfir, who was busy gasping between his words, his hands placed on his knees, while he was barely standing
"Scared of the night, are you?" mocked one of the guards with no real heat
"Fucking werewolves out and about" the dirty and sweaty boy answered
""Crap…"" the guards spoke out at the same time, their hands placed on their weapons with hesitation and clear fear
"Fuuuuh… I lost its chase though, do you reckon a sabre cat can kill a cursed creature?" the boy asked
The guards visibly relaxed, letting their hands fall of their weapons which they were caressing
"No, definitely not" answered one of the group
"Whatever… I'm going to sleep, this night took all the wind out of me, can't fucking catch a break with all this crap…" grunted Volfir in indignation
"You do that, tell the guard captain at the gates to send some more men to the farms, who knows if the werewolf will feel lucky to raid our cattle" said another one, while patting the boy's shoulder
"Un…" Volfir answered with a tired voice, while wiping away the sweat from his face, the claw marks that should be on his right cheek already healed from drinking a Minor Healing potion
-Scene break-
"Alright, I'll prepare a tub of hot water for you, we have some leftovers from cooking today, you want them? It'll be half the price" an old Dunmer lady behind a counter was talking to Volfir
"Yeah, that would be great, thank you" the boy gave a tired smile, while slumping his head on the counter
The lady went to do her things, while a Dunmer male took her place and started talking to the boy sprawled on his counter
"Jenassa came back from her quest some time ago, even paid for a round of drinks for everybody who was up at the time" he said, while wiping a wooden mug with a dirty rag
"Mhm" the boy was definitely too tired to even talk, but the Mer was very interested to hear what happened for the usually energetic whelp to become this way
"What happened?" he asked
"Hunt gone wrong" Volfir answered in a short sentence
"Hmmm… meet a sabre cat?" the Mer continued
"Something like that" the boy continued speaking into the counter, not even lifting his head up
The Dunmer smiled wryly, perhaps he should really leave the boy alone, so he just contented himself with 'cleaning' the huge number of dirty tableware
It was extremely deep into the night, the sun would probably start rising in some hours, so the usually busy tavern was without any activity, just like the rest of Whiterun
Some time later the Dunmer lady returned and set down a few plates of cold roasted meat and some vegetables
"Thanks" Volfir smiled at the lady, making her nod and smile back with a pleased expression on her weary face
Not long after ravaging the plates of food, Volfir got up and walked after the female Mer, who was leading him towards a tub of steaming hot water
"Couldn't you heat up my food with that destruction magic? Like you did to the water?" Volfir decided to speak his mind
"I'll make sure to do that next time, I didn't know you like eating charcoal" quipped back the Dunmer lady and walked away with a chuckle, leaving him alone in the rather small room
"Guess that's a no…" Volfir spoke to himself with a wry smile, while taking off his armour and the clothes underneath, only unsheathing a sharp dagger to take with him into the tub
When he got into the hot water, his muscles visibly relaxed and he sprawled out, while letting his head rest on the rim with closed eyes
"Fwoooh, haha, I could have really died back there, it seems Ysmir is watching out for me…" the boy spoke aloud
When the temperature of the water got lower, Volfir opened his eyes and sat up straight, grabbing the dagger that he left to rest on the rim besides his head beforehand
After a session of shaving his growing body hair, he got out of the tub and went ahead to empty it out into one of the flush holes inside the room. When he finished, he wiped off the water from his body and put on clean clothes that he gave to the Tavern keepers since he stayed at this place a lot of times, the clothes smelled fresh and were prepared by the Dunmer lady before he came into the room
Without wasting any more time, he grabbed his things and went to the room prepared for him, already dreaming about the sweet sleep he was about to receive, no matter how little it will actually be, since morning is going to come soon