I stayed with the dog sled on the trip, It was a challenge to keep the dogs from running too far ahead of the mule cart. Karliene was a beast, and the other two dogs weren’t slouches either. In my mind it didn’t seem like three dogs, two dogs and a wolf really, should be able to pull so much weight so quickly, for so long. The mule cart kept the pace behind us for the first two hours, till the mule slowed to a walk. The dogs didn’t want to slow down, but a yell to Karliene forced the issue.
“What’s the hold up with the mule? Stubborn or tired?” I asked once they’d caught up to the dogs.
“Tired. We pushed him to keep up with you. We’re almost to our camp, see the rocks there on the cliff?” Angven pointed.
“I see it. you’re tucked into them?”
“On the small rise under them. Keeps us out of the wind. The horker beach is just down from the rocks, there’s a goat path we can use for most of the way, we’ve strung ropes off the side to haul the kills to the top.” That set off alarm bells in my head.
“What about the blood? Wouldn’t that smear the section when you haul them up?”
“We bleed them in the surf, the beach is rocky so it washes away pretty quick, just don’t go deeper than your ankles, or the slaughterfish will take a chunk.” Anglin eased that particular fear.
“Do you do any processing at the camp? Skinning, gutting, butchery?”
“No, not here. The beach isn’t just our hunting ground. Trolls and bears come around sometimes. The dogs will smell them before that’s a problem.” Angven seemed happy with himself.
“Not always. Keep checking your downwind, bears are smart enough to come at you that way. Trolls probably are too. You take the lead, I’ll follow you in.” I let them pass ahead.
They’d chosen a pretty good position with the rise. It was far enough from the cliffs that they didn’t have to worry about something climbing down directly on them, but close enough to stay in the wind shadow. The mule settled in to a pile of frosty hay while one of the brothers got a fire going.
“I’m going to take Karliene and get a look at the beach, see if the horkers are around. Watch after the sled dogs.” I spoke quietly. My mind was shifting to the task, just as it had done before I’d taken down Bonin.
“We’ll keep them close around here. The fire ought to keep most of the predators away. We’ll be along behind you in a moment.” The twins waved me on. My armor wasn’t great for sneaking around, but my cloak would at least keep the reflections to a minimum. I found the ropes for pulling up the kills, and a good vantage point beside them.
The beach was pebbly black stone, ice and salty surf. It seemed like our first day was going to come up dry, until I saw one of the lumpy grey rocks move. I’d been looking at the beach for a solid five minutes, and hadn’t realized that every single one of the big boulders was a horker. There were dozens of them. A low growl sounded beside me as Karliene locked on to the seal flopping in the surf.
“Easy girl, keep it low and slow. We’ll get you a tasty treat. C’mon.” I slid back off the rock, only to jump out of my damn skin. Angven was inches behind me. It took all of my willpower not to put a hook into his temple.
“Damn it boy! Don’t do that.” I suppressed the shout.
“Thought you were some sort of master hunter, that’s why old Galteir sent you along, right?” Angven whispered.
“He sent me along to keep you boys in check.” I growled at them both. Anglin was a few feet farther away.
“Horker’s can’t see worth a damn you know, it’s noise that spooks them. How good of a shot are you with that bow?” Anglin smirked.
“We’ll find out, won’t we?” The fact they’d managed to sneak up on me wasn’t exactly surprising, they were young, light, and practiced hunters. It was the fact that they’d snuck up on Karliene too that really got me. The dog had bristled and growled at them the second she saw them, probably as close as I was to pouncing.
“If you’re good enough, we can take three at once, otherwise we’ll take two. The horkers well scatter as soon as one gets hit. We want the ones farthest from the surf, that way if there’s a bad shot, we can chase them down to finish it before they hit the water. It’s lost if it gets out to the water bleeding, Slaughterfish and Ice Fin will be on it in seconds.” Angven ignored my snide remark. I was starting to think that Galteir had lied to me about why he’d sent me out with the boys.
“I wouldn’t want to let fifty pieces slip away for a bunch of fish to eat, sounds like you two have a firm plan. I can’t promise I’ll hit a kill shot, but I can chase them down with my axe.” I nodded along.
“Fifty pieces? Try two hundred.” Anglin shook his head, only to catch an elbow from Angven. Bingo.
“Two hundred all together I mean, he pays us a bit more because we have the wagon to keep up with. Seventy five.” Anglin was quick on the uptake. I laughed.
“That’s why he sent me along. You could learn a thing or two from me.” I shot a wink to Angven. The boy realized he’d been had, he was the smarter one so far.
“How hard would it be to sneak up on one that has its back turned to the trail, like that big one there? If you can put arrows into two of them, that’d give me a small running start before I hit the beach to get him. We’re three for three if I put my axe in its neck.” I tried to work around my unproven archery skills. I knew I’d shot before, and well, but this was big business, and I didn’t want to take the risk.
“They’re slow, it’d take the big one twenty seconds to hit the surf, twenty five before he’s gone. That’s a bull though, I wouldn’t tangle with him if you miss your first swing or he turns around. Your risk.” Angven offered.
“Can’t be as dangerous as a troll. I fought one of them and lived.”
“Not nearly, but don’t underestimate him. That one’s got to be five hundred pounds, he’ll break your leg like a twig. Father almost died that way a few years ago, he hit a bull with three arrows and came in to kill it with a spear. It reared up and knocked him over, he was able to break its head with his axe.” I took the words seriously. If a veteran hunter could be played by a bull, I’d do best to watch my self.
“How about one of the smaller ones? Would an arrow slow it down enough for me to catch if you two land a second shot?” I looked to the smaller seals around the bull.
“Maybe, but those are his ladies. He’s just as likely to stand and fight for them. Go for the bull, just be careful. You see the rocks there? You can climb down, the hand holds are solid, then we’ll whistle when the shooting starts. You take off running the second our arrows land.” Angven settled our plan. The rocky point he suggested was well positioned. I’d be able to hit the beach twenty yards from the bull, and if it turned, I could break off for the goat trail. Karliene was waiting with me, she had skipped climbing and leapt down with the grace of a leopard.
“Easy girl, just a bit longer—” There was a whistle like a sea bird “—Ready, ready, now!” We both leapt down onto the rock as two horkers flinched, snorting and flopping in sudden pain. The bull must have been sleeping, because he was slow to rise. I’d gotten within ten yards by the time he turned and saw me. He hesitated, flopped forwards once, and then started spinning to face me.
“Karliene get his tail!” I ducked left, my dog went right. It confused the bull, but he settled for me. I slid to a stop as the bull reared, bellowing a war cry with his charge. I played hop-scotch left and right, giving ground as I went, to force the bull to turn slightly with each hop. Once I set the rhythm, I faked a long hop to the left. The Bull fell for it, putting his full force into a right turn. His tusky mouth came down, expecting to bite into my leg. My axe swung from high over my right shoulder, down for the back of his neck. It connected, a bright arterial spray fanned out and wetted my face. Karliene was coming around for a bite, but heeled instantly at my unconscious hand sign.
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“Easy girl, he’s down for the count.” The dog turned to look at the other horkers.
“Johannes! Left side, flopper!” One of the twins yelled from up in the rocks. My eyes tracked to a female seal crawling to the surf, a long trail of crimson following.
“Karliene, get her! Quick!” I pointed to the wounded seal. The wolf didn’t need a second command, we were both kicking up pebbles in the race for our prize. The wolf got to the seal first, clamping down on a flipper and dragging the wounded girl backwards. I was a few seconds behind, axe raised, slash. The horker’s entire head came off, bouncing down the beach. Karliene gave one last shake to the corpse before releasing it. The twins were down a few minutes later.
“That’s why Galteir sent you, by the divines you ought to be a companion! I’ve never seen a horker lose its whole head, you nearly took the bull’s off too.” Angven clapped me on the back with a big smile.
“I’m a better warrior than a hunter, but the skills overlap sometimes.” I beamed back at him. It was the work of an hour to drag the three seals to the ropes after we bled them out. The boys had the center rope tied like a noose, the horkers apparently had bones in their tail flippers that would snag well. The forwards flippers got hooks, and then the mule would draw the body up the side. It was all streamlined quite well, the boys had obviously gotten it down to a science.
Loading the horkers onto the mule cart was harder, they had to be half rolled, half pulled in by hand. The mule had to stay linked up to the cart as a counterweight, otherwise it would tip over. The job to load the bodies up took two hours, and the sun had started to dip.
“We’ll need to make fast time to beat the sun, is it worth the risk of traveling in the dark?” I guessed we had four hours.
“We’ll make it, so long as nothing hungry stops us on the way back. Wolves will smell these kills for miles. Trolls too. Fire won’t mean a damn thing if we stay here overnight.” Anglin nodded, but his pace had picked up as he realized how low the sun had gotten. The bull and one female went into the cart. The other female, the one I’d beheaded, was tied down to the dog sled much more quickly.
“Take the mule cart in front, set the pace with the mule.” I called over to the twins. Anglin had the reins, Angven had an arrow knocked on his bow.
“Keep close, wolves will try to separate us if a pack comes sniffing.” Anglin warned. All the friendly banter and small talk I’d seen them make on the first trip was gone, each one of them strung like razor wire as we headed back for the town.
I’d thought that the landscape had a sort of austere beauty on the ride out to the beach, but now I saw that for what it was. The ice plains, the rocks, the clear blue sky, the mountain foothills and the frosted peaks in the distance, it was all a siren song for the unwary traveler. It wasn’t a scenic vista to enjoy, it was a lure, a distraction. Every depression and snow drift could hide a wolf pack, every ice slick stone a troll, every small clutch of trees a gang of bandit archers.
It was that last realization that spoiled the ambush. Someone had been poor in their camouflage discipline, a glinting bit of steel caught out from the pines concealing the owner.
“Archers in the trees!” I called the warning. Angven saw it immediately, loosing his own arrow before the bandits could. A scream pierced the quiet, a writhing body fell into the snow with an arrow stuck in its chest. A cry rose up from the right side, bandits under white tarps leapt out of the snow, one of them hurled a javelin at me. Something possessed me to turn ever so slightly, changing the point of impact from my neck to my steel plated shoulders. The javelin skipped off with a spark, sailing off into the snow beyond.
Karliene picked up the pace after that first javelin, outrunning what I’d thought possible. The sled, my self, and the horker attached had to be nearly five hundred pounds. We were flying across the snow all the same, straight for the bandits.
“Karliene no! Left!” It was no use, the dog had been trained for battle, and battle had come knocking. I pulled my axe off the sled and got ready to jump. The lead bandit faltered as he realized what was happening, a massive warhound barreling down on him. He tried to turn away, bravery a distant memory, but Karliene ran him down like, well like a hound. He was still shrieking when my feet hit the snow at a sprint, a second bandit was trying to blindside Karliene.
“Hey fucker! Catch!” I hurled my mace at him, and caught him full force in the side of the head with it. He stumbled with the hit, he hadn’t managed to find his feet by the time I was on him. My plated boot drove the air out of his lungs just as he got to his knees. He flopped back into the snow, feebly trying to raise a sword. Fighting from your back gives pretty terrible leverage, as the man learned when my axe crushed through his guard. He made an awful gargling noise while I levered my axe back out of his ribs.
“Karliene? You still with me girl?” I turned to look for the wolf. She’d moved on from the first bandit, circling a pair of of them now with the sled and all. She was playing a very dangerous game, getting close enough for the spearman to make a jab, but far enough to dodge away. I’d closed to ten yards when the spearman caught an arrow in the head, he dropped dead on the spot. I let out a howl just before I got in range of the second bandit. He panicked, lashing out with a wild strike at neck height. I planted both feet on my last bound, ducked, and exploded up into him with my shoulder. The hungry looking bandit folded like wet paper, tumbling into the snow. He was rolling with the point of my pole axe in his neck before he’d had the chance to realize he was dead. A second thrust into his chest settled the matter.
“Johannes! Are you alright?” It was Anglin, driving the mule cart back around. Angven was slumped over next to him, his hand holding an arrow in his chest.
“I’m fine! Stop the cart! Karliene, here girl, over here!” I whistled at the dog. She came around without hesitation, the sled leaving a bloody track from where it had crossed a blood pool. My ruck had an assortment of potions in it, I pulled the two we’d need and leapt up the side of the cart.
“How bad is it Angven? You with me boy?” I patted him on the cheek. He groaned, but there was a lake of blood at his feet. The arrow had landed just above the heart.
“Anglin, hold him tight, he’s going to buck when I do this.” I set the potions down and went for the knife on my belt. The arrow had gone through his vest, taking it off wasn’t an option. I put a slice in the back of his vest, a long one, and then another in the shirt.
“Johannes, what are you doing?! He’ll freeze!” Anglin shouted.
“That arrow is lodged in his aorta, he’ll bleed to death before he freezes, now hold him tight.” I took hold of the arrow, and forced it the rest of the way through. Angven seized up, then started twitching as a more blood came out with every heartbeat.
“Snap the flights off! Quick!” I pointed the the feathered end of the arrow. I pulled the rest of the arrow out through the back and took up the healing potion. Angven wasn’t dead till he stopped breathing, so hopefully this worked. I dumped the potion into the arrow wound, it seemed to sizzle before the blood flow was staunched.
“Hold his head back.” I tossed the empty vial and took up the larger potion bottle, pouring a small amount into Angven’s mouth. He swallowed it, and stopped twitching a few moments later.
“Too close. You two need some sort of armor.” I corked the potion and looked over the small battlefield with a relieved sigh. Four bandits were feathered with arrows around the trees, four were dead in the snow where Karliene and I had fought.
“Damned bandits.” Grumbled Angven. Some color had come back to his face. I took off my cloak and forced the semi-lucid hunter forwards to wrap it over his shoulders.
“Angven? Are you feeling alright?” His brother asked.
“Alive. Cold.” He muttered.
“Get going, I’ll check over these bodies. Freezing is the problem now.” I took up my potion bottle and leapt down. Anglin nodded and called after me.
“Take their hands, bandits are worth a hundred pieces!” With that, he turned the cart and drove the mule forwards with a hard crack on the reins.
My first check would be on the ones Karliene and I had killed. I scrounged up weapons, coins, and a few ill-gotten gains in packs that had been left in the depression they’d risen from. There were silver rings, necklaces, pendants, among other things. It all went into my ruck, except for the hands. Those went into one of the smaller bags I’d lifted. The archers were more of the same, though two of them had quivers full of steel headed arrows. It was the last bandit I checked that turned my head. He was the only one that had been wearing real armor, a chainmail shirt that had lost the fight against Angven’s arrows.
He had a pouch on him, full of coins, gemstones, rings, and a rolled piece of paper. The writing was exceedingly well formed, more so than I’d expect from a bandit.
Black Tooth, take your band out to the west road, a caravan will be coming from Dawnstar with metal. You had better keep to our deal, If I catch you skimming again, I will add your body to the corpse parade. Meet at the usual place once you’ve taken the wagon, no later than 21 Evening Star. Do not disappoint me again.
-Merkin
That warranted investigation, but I’d leave it to the Jarl. The chance to kill a bandit boss, an educated one, was too good to pass up. I tucked the note into a pouch on my belt before taking up my place on the dog sled. Anglin’s cart was a dot off in the distance, and we had time to make up after the interruption.
“Come on girl, you can really let loose now. Mush! Yaw! Giddy up!” I drummed my hand on the sled. She looked back at me for a moment, as if to ask ‘Really? You REALLY mean that?’ before she took off. Even with all the added weight, the dogs were fast. I needed more dogs like Karliene.
The jingling from my ruck assured that I could afford it, as did the leather sack of hands. Winterhold was a hell of a place. Some part of my mind relished in the savagery, a part from my older life. Wild Winterhold wasn’t the place for those thoughts, the ice still held dangers.