As Sigried lay on the fur in the tent next to her offspring, she dreamt of her wolf running free along the plains somewhere far
removed from Solstheim. She was in HIS realm, the hunting grounds and she was hunting down Frea the nord, who has been given
the dishonor of being picked as the hare in this particular hunt. The nord ducked and weaved over gnarled tree trunks, high grass
and rock outcrops, yet no matter how hard she tried, she could not outrun the hounds of Hircine. She found a tree stump in the
middle of a grassy field and crouched done behind it, hoping against hope that they would not find her.
Sky stopped suddenly and sniffed the air, she knew that the nord was around here somewhere, the air was thick with her scent.
Sky crouched low in the grass, her eyes reflecting the blood red hue of Massar and Secunda that shone brightly overhead. Her ears
lay flat, she was on high alert for any sign of the hares position, even a small movement could alert the wolf to her location, the
nord had to stay quiet. A worm crawled out from under the stump and soon the stump was infest with bugs of various sizes,
crawling in and out of the holes and around the stump. Freda covered her mouth so the wolf would not hear her scream.
She let out a tiny squeal of firght, which it didn't matter if her mouth was concealed by her hands because Sky could hear it as
plainly as a human could the howilng of the wind. The nord heard the wolf approaching at fast speeds and started running. The
chase had begun again, Sky ran through the tall grass, adrenaline pumping in her veins, she was the alpha female and once the
nord was cornered, she would get the pick of the prey before any other wolf. She was twice as big as a normal wolf, in the hunting
grounds every animal was bigger than their Nirn counterparts.
Sky is also larger than a normal wolf, not just in the hunting grounds, but also on Nirn, she is at least twice the size of a normal
wolf, her paws are the size of human hands, she had pupils twice the size of a human's pupil. She also had greater speed and agility
to that of a human. Even while in her lizard form, she retains these unique properties. She also had greater healing capacities in her
argonian form that carry over into her wolf form. As she ran through the tall grass, she sniffed the air for any sign of the nord, the
hare of the hunt. She slowly padded toward a small rock overhang that she knew the nord was using for cover. She could sense it in
every bone in her body. Underneath the rock overhang, the nord cowered in fear.
She had only one thought running through her head What happens if the wolf finds me? Will I die or be reincarnated as one of
them? This particular thought had tormented Frea, even before she had known her fate as the hare. Sky was closing in on the scent,
she knew that, the nord's hair stood up of the nape of her neck. Immediately she knew she was dead meat. She could her the wolf
sniffing around on top of the overhangg, the nord tried to run for safety in a nearby bush, but she made the mistake of looking up.
Her face screwed up in terror as she was looking straight at the silver wolf with its muzzle pulled back revealing sharp pointy
teeth,that could easily crush human bones, staring down at her.
The nord started to have second thoughts about agreeing to do this. She did not have control in the choosing of participating in the
huntsman's game. He actually picked the hares for his hunting grounds at random. He also chooses from those who have
disappointed him, either in the past or recently by either their brash behavior or by disobeying a hunt. She did the latter. Hircine
reached out to her to hunt down one of her friends because he had disobeyed him and she refused, now she is stuck in this less than
ideal position.
Saliva dripped from the wolf's pointy teeth liked water drips from a cave cieling. TThe wolf used its strong back legs to propel itself
forwards as she efforlessly leap from the top of the overhang and landed on the forest floor. Its eyes glowed bright blue in the night.
The wolf was staring at Frea, its haunches lowering to the ground, the legs followed suit, preparing to strike. The nord could not see
anything but the wolf, it possesed her mind. She was paralyzed with fear, she couldn't move, even if she wanted to. The wolf sprang
forward and was on the nord in an instant, tearing the nord apart piece by piece. The sounds of screaming and bones breaking
mingled with the steady night air. The scene changed and Sky was feeding on her own daughter instead of Frea.
Sigried woke up, her face drenched with sweat, her pupils were the size of beach balls. She looked over to see her daughter, Rakel,
fast asleep in her fur cocoon. She looked up and saw that the sun had just begun its ascent over the horizon. She got up and walked
out of her hide tent and went over to the shrine of Hircine and prayed.
The nord bowed her head,
"Lord Hircine, I had a dream last night where I was running as Sky in the hunting grounds only to find I was killing my own
daughter, please tell me what my dream means, I beseech you, your loyal servant, Sigried."
Sigried opened her eyes, expecting something to happen, nothing did for the longest time, but then, a voice boomed for the shrine,
"WHY DO YOU CALL UPON ME HOUND?"
The nord's eye's were fixed on the gray shrine ddecorated with animal bones,
"Lord Hircine, I had a troubling vision. In it, I was in the hunting grounds tracking a nord, but my wolf got to the spot where she was
hiding and," She shed a tear which froze immediately, "The nordd was replaced by my own daughter, what does this mean?
The shrine went silent, almost as if it was thinking on her words, then it boomed back,
"My hound, this most likely means that you are having seconds thoughts on being one of my hunters, is this not correct?"
Sigried's face screwed up in thought,
"Y-yes..." She said, feeling uneasy, "I think this 'vision' means that I am torn between serving you and hunting and hurting Rakel
because I am serving you."
A blinding light obscured the nord's vision and then it faded, revealing a man with a hairy chest and a deer skull standing beside
Siegrid, He walked over to the tent were the tiny nord lay sleep, Sigried followed him. He turned to her,
"Hurting Rakel? Whatever do you mean, my hound?"
She gave the wolflord a look of confusion. She wanted to impart this thought to Hircine but was unsure if he would be angry or not,
"I feel that my willingness to hunt in you pack is taking me farther and farther away from her... making me more withdrawn from
her."
Hircine scowled as she said this. Siegrid's face darkened as she feared he'd had caught a whiff of what was whirling around her
mind,
"You're having second thoughts aren't you?" He asked. He strode over to a rock, sat down and fixed his eyes on the female nord,
"my hound, I grant this gift for my children when I sense greatness in them and also because I know the hunt is important to
predator and prey. When I hear one of my hounds seek to cure him or herself, it is like having one of my antlers or my skull torn
from my body. When that happens, I... I get very angry; almost as if Molag Bal had won." He turned away from Sigried in a huff,
"Fine, get 'cured,' but you will be forever denied the warm embrace of the the hunting ground."
The female nord's face fell. Hircine reached a hand over and caressed her cheek,
"Look, my hound, I am glad you care for your pup, I really am but you need to make a choice; Hunt with my hounds and I or get
cured and care for a normal, non-lupine offspring, your choice."
Siegrid nervously shifted her weight near the rock,
"Well... I want to protect Rachel, but, I can protect her by still serving you, can't I? I do have second thoughts but I still revel in the
idea of endless hunts in your realm for eternity. I will fight for Rakel's safety from anything... even from werebears and the silver
hand.
Hircine 'smiled' and nodded,
"My hound, that is quite admirable, I thank you for that. I forsee that you and your husband will meet a dismise before the next
complete phase of the moons. Rakel will become a fine addition to my pack even if she does not know her parnets' reasons for
ending their lifes on the ends of the claws of a bear."
Siegrid turned to look at him,
"What you mean? Can I curb mine and my husband's impending demise?"
Hircine turned to Sigried and 'frowned,'
"I'm sorry, my hound, but I had a coversation with Hermaeus Mora and he affirmed my greatest fear; there is only one way, you
must see these events to the end."
Sigried was listening to every word, but she had a question for him,
"My lord, will I survive this event that will someday no doubt happen? Is there a way to avoid it? Maybe find another path to avoid
our demise" She asked him, question marks etched into her face.
Hircine looked down at the nord with a look of deepest regregt,
"No. You cannot alter the timeline. By interfering with the flow of time, you could cause the collapse of the fabric of reality." His
'eyes' fixed unblinking on hers, "So sadly, you must let this come to pass."
With his final words, Hircine bade his hound a fond farewell and vanished into thin air.
Rakel turned away from the statue and walked back to her camp. It was around two in the afternoon when she got to the rock
outcrop. She could smell something very delicious cooking on the fire. Upon closer inspection of the fire, she saw a pan with a juicy,
mouth-watering chunk of venison cooking in it. Rugrud looked up after he was done prodding the piece of raw meat and saw Siegrid.
He smiled, which quickly faded when he saw her not smiling back. He got up from the fire and ran towards her, upon reaching her
gasping for air, he asked her what was wrong. At first she did not answer, instead becoming silent as the grave. He prodded
further, finally forcing her to open up.
She turned to him,
Rugrud, I was just communing with Hircine at his altar a short distance away and he told me the dream I had last night was a
vision."
Rugrud scratched his head, his forehead creased,
"Whoa, back up, what dream?"
Sigried told her husband about the 'dream' she had the night before, she divulged every details, making certain to not leave
anything out. Rugrund went over to the fire and extended a hand which was a sign for Sigried to sit down. She did so and told him
about her conversation with their lord. Rugrud's eyes when wide with shock and his complexion, which was usually bright and
cheery, went white as a sheet as her story washed over him like a death shroud.
Sigried got up and went to the tent, closely followed by her husband
"Sigried, this is bad, if what you say is true then we will need more pieces to the vision, like what is this horrific event that is
supposed to happen?"
Sigried, who was busy packing a bag with potions, furs and clothes for the journey, told him that she does not know but she was
told of a village up north that might have the answers.
Rugrud stared at her in disbelief,
"Dear, you cannot mean...the skaal? They don't abide outsiders to just waltz into their village. You know that!" He pleaded with her,
trying to talk her down.
Sigried shook her head,
"You will not dissuade me, Rugrud, I must go so I can finally put this ridiculous vision to bed."
Seeing that his wife could not be talked out of her foolish errand, he let the matter go. Sigried slung the leather bag over her
shoulder and set of in the direction of Skaal Village.
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