Hunter Chapter 4: The Night’s Warmth

This is a Skyrim/Alan Wake 2 fic. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

This chapter has been edited due to content. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.

JASH

The campfire helped keep my scales from freezing. Though my crest pressed tight against my head whenever a slight wind briefly let the cold in. Unlike my black scales, my feathers and horns were unchanged from my transformation into a Daedric Prince. My feathers kept their white color and my horns still remained sickly looking.

I ate venison while seated next to Alex. The meat was fresh and warm. It was the most delicious delicacy I had ever tasted. But the companions I traveled with tended not to appreciate the flavor. Aela was now trying to hide her disgust at eating venison for yet another meal.

Alex did his best not to show any dislike of the meal. But from my many years with him I could tell that he didn’t like it. Though he was grateful for the fact that he had a warm meal, the way he nonchalantly pressed his side against mine showed the thing he cared most for was my presence.

“I took you away from something.” Alex said as he took a break from eating.

“I had been about to kill Maven Black-Briar.” I replied. “She seems to like her current location so it is unlikely she would have moved before I got to her.”

Alex turned to look at me with a confused expression.

“Why now?” Alex asked. “You’ve wanted her dead since you first met her. But you decided that death just meant her torture was beyond your control. So you made Maven a beggar and protected her so she wouldn’t die. ****, you leveraged your position as Listener to ensure that she would never be the subject of a contract.”

“Because now is different.” Aela said and the Nord seemed relieved about having an excuse not to eat. “It won’t be long now until High Queen Elisif makes Skyrim both independent from and an ally of the Empire.”

“When Maven had wealth and power, she sided with the Thalmor.” I said and my scales took on a greenish hue. “As a beggar only able to live on the outskirts of cities, she no longer has their support. But if she is able to change her fate and become useful to the Thalmor once again, she will have to be dealt with. Better to deal with her when she hasn’t harmed Skyrim and is easy to kill.”

Alex nodded and continued to eat. I was grateful that he accepted the ruthless parts of me. The parts of me that could talk about killing a person in the same tone that others talked about the weather.

“Who did you send to kill Maven?” Alex asked after he finished his venison. “You should have killed her and left me. I was about to escape on my own without your help.”

“You were about to untie yourself.” I agreed. “But what would you have done after that? Even if you managed to kill the bandits, where would you have gone afterwards?”

Alex stared at his plate as if another large piece of venison would suddenly appear. Aela laughed which made my love stare at his plate with an even more intense glare.

“I sent a Dark Brotherhood Initiate in my place.” I said. “I promised her a permanent place in the organization as long as she managed to kill Maven Black-Briar. That isn’t an offer I make often and so she’ll know how important my order is.”

“I’ll be glad when tomorrow’s night falls.” Aela said as she took her final bite of venison.

“Do you hate traveling with him, Aela?” Alex asked dryly.

“I like your husband’s company, Alex, but I also like a warm bed and food other than venison.”

I drank some more of my coffee. The drink, like usual, provided a calming warmth and a stimulating sting through my veins. In the cold night of the Reach, it helped keep me calm in a way that Spiced Wine and Skooma were unable to.

“We’re drinking vast fortunes.” Aela said as she drank her own cup of coffee.

“It’s just because Jash is the only one able to grow coffee.” Alex replied as he drank his cup. “Once someone is able to make a better version, Jash’s brew will go down in value.”

“But for now Saxhleel Vigor Coffee is the only way people in Skyrim can experience this.” I said with a wicked grin. “The others in Rorikstead haven’t been successful and it is not theirs to risk their own profits.”

“And they respect Daedric Princes far too much to anger you.” Aela pointed out.

“Maven would have found a way.” Alex said. “If you hadn’t taken her influence away.”

“Maybe she’ll be able to grow coffee beans in the Void.” I said and raised my cup in a mock toast.

The others joined in briefly and our laughter consumed the landscape around us. Then Aela quickly stood up and dropped the plate and cup in her haste. With a quickness my eyes could barely keep up with, she picked up her bow and nocked an arrow.

I felt Alex’s gaze follow mine as I tried to find what Aela had seen. My body relaxed as I prepared to kill in order to protect my husband and steward. My ears picked up the werewolf lowering her bow as the campfire brought light on the Courier.

“Jash?” The Courier asked and I stood up in response. “Two letters for you. Your eyes only.”

The Bosmer handed me two letters. Like usual, the Courier seemed tired but I knew he would hate to rest until he was in an inn. If he had to rest he would only do so in a warm bed with a belly full of mead.

“Did you receive both letters at their source?” I asked as I paid him double and thought about paying him triple.

“I was in Dawnstar and intercepted another Courier.” The Bosmer said as he put the coins in his purse. “Man had decided to travel from the College by following the shoreline.”

“Do you need anything to eat or drink?”

“I have enough to get to the nearest inn, Dragonborn.”

With that the Bosmer vanished into the night.

One of the letters was from Brina Merilis, the Jarl of Dawnstar. The other was from Tolfdir, Master Wizard of the College of Winterhold. Both dryskins had nothing in common so why had their letters arrived at the same time? Or was it just coincidence?

I quickly read over both and saw that they indeed talked about the same incident. Though Brina and Tolfdir used different terms.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“Both the Jarl of Dawnstar and the College of Winterhold talk about the same man.” I said and sat back down. “The same strange man that is in the fishing shack just outside of Dawnstar.”

“Why do they think he’s strange?”

“The man dies. He comes back to life. Then sixteen minutes later he dies again.”

We were all silent. There was a strange twitch to Alex’s face as if he was trying to put some puzzle together. Aela’s muscles tensed as if she could solve this mystery with brute force. And then there was me who had to give everyone directions.

“Aela, go to Jorrvaskr.” I said in a tone laced with certainty. “I don’t know if the Companions will be needed for this. But if they are, they need to be ready to act at a moment’s notice.”

Aela moved as swiftly as one of her arrows as she mounted her horse. Then the pair quickly disappeared into the night. My love was also caught up in the moment as he began to stand up but was stopped by my hand on his hip.

“Aela is a Nord, Alex.” I said once he was seated. “You have warm blood but it isn’t the same heat that keeps Aela from freezing.”

“And you’re cold blooded.” Alex said. “You depend on Skooma and Spiced Wine to not freeze to death. We’re going to leave at sunrise.”

“After a quick breakfast.”