Dragonborn Rising Ch. 27

Chapter 27 - Dragonborn

*****

Aela originally wanted me to deal with everyone alone, or at worse, ask another Companion to help me. I suggested working alone was exactly what led to Skjor's death, which caused her to grimace, get a little upset, but also agree. I added that perhaps involving everyone else might not be the best idea. I was fairly sure Vilkas and Farkas wouldn't agree with what we were planning on doing, and did either of us want to be responsible for the deaths of the other Companions.

Aela relented, rather quickly to be honest, agreeing we would see it through together until the bitter end. Looking over the journal and paperwork we had, alongside maps of each region of Skyrim, we figured out where one of the Silver Hand operations was located. "They must definitely be located here," Aela stated, pointing at the location with a dagger, "I'd bet... well, not my life, but perhaps a bag of coin."

Leaning over the map, I looked at the name before glancing at her. "Fort Fellhammer?"

"Probably one of the many abandoned by the Legion over the centuries, and probably has no strategic value for the Stormcloaks."

It was a little too close to Dawnstar for my liking, remembering that is where I'd sent the survivors of the Dark Brotherhood, but I figured enough time had passed and I doubted they'd actually see me. We agree to leave the next morning.

If anyone had an inkling of what Aela and I were up to, they said nothing at breakfast the next morning. We were already armoured, ready to leave, and I'd been out to see the horses at dawn, our supplies already loaded. Before leaving immediately after eating, Farkas did ask what we were up to. Aela immediately stated we would be going hunting and perhaps one or two other things, in such a suggestive way, Farkas looked away embarrassed while I nearly burst out laughing.

"Promises, promises," I said once we were walking towards the gates.

"I didn't promise anything, but you already know what I think, Ragnar." She stopped, turning to look at me. "But part of me doesn't just want to jump into bed... Well, you're already sleeping in my bed, so I don't want to just start fucking."

"To be honest, neither do I."

"And I understand why." We'd done a lot of talking the morning we woke up, hungover and grief-stricken. I had to tell her the truth and she was the only Companion that knew everything. And I mean everything. I had thought long and hard, and believed if there was going to be any sort of relationship, and most importantly trust between us, then I had to be honest.

I was amazed that she hadn't judged, almost repeating the words Kodlak had said to me in the hours before the funeral for Skjor. She would judge me on my actions going forward, but she still figured I was a good man at heart. I still don't really know how they figured that, considering everything I'd done, but I was slowly working on restoring my pride and honour.

Mounting our horses, we first headed east towards the meadery before turning north, having already agree to keep our pace light, as we would camp before attacking the fort the next day. Having been to Winterhold before, though what felt like long ago, I knew the way as well as Aela, so we could at least spend time chatting away, only having to deal with wildlife dumb enough to try and attack us. Usually just wolves, but we did run into one bear walking towards us. Our horses wanted to turn and bolt, so we quickly sent a couple of arrows towards the bear. The giant beast was smart enough to run away.

I generally didn't like camping on snowy ground, but after leaving our horses tied to a tree and finding Fort Fellhammer, we pulled back and made camp in a dense clump of trees, hoping our fire wouldn't be seen. We huddled close together under a large fur blanket as a bitter wind blew, and despite the fact we were still dressed, the body warmth and close proximity of Aela did provide some excitement as we continued to quietly chat about anything that came to mind.

We went to bed early, continuing to huddle together under a layer of furs. Aela remained dressed in her leathers, but I couldn't sleep in my scaled armour, though she made no complaints about having to hug me close. I'm not sure how I managed to sleep as I had innumerable thoughts in regards to what I wanted to do with her, most involving removing her leathers.

Waking up just as the sun started to rise, we ate a cold breakfast of hard bread and cheese before dousing the fire and moving out. If we were lucky, the fort would be as lightly guarded as Gallows Rock. In the low morning light, we could see at least a trio of guards patrolling the crumbling walls. Armed with a bow and quiver of arrows, taking the three out silently wasn't difficult, finding two more in the courtyard, the gates of the fort having long since disappeared.

"Bit too easy, isn't it?" I wondered, approaching the main building.

"At least they're dead."

I grunted as I opened the door, both of us now armed with a blade. It was dark inside, only a few torches providing any sort of light. Moving as silently as possible, we found a pair of Silver Hand still asleep, neither of having a problem slitting their throats before moving on. Any hopes of doing it silently ended when a door opened as we almost ran into another one, putting a sword into their chest before we just started swinging.

That drew the attention of others, and we were soon fighting our way down a wide corridor. Having been woken up by our arrival, most were not completely armoured, some only carrying a sword without a shield. No matter what, they all died. Reaching the upper level, the commander of the fort was waiting for us. He knew who we were too.

Taunting us, Aela and I wasted no time putting him to the sword. We could have drawn out his death, perhaps performed a little torture, but I think we wanted to eliminate the Silver Hand with at least some modicum of honour. Once his body hit the ground, we immediately went searching for information. The one interesting piece we found was the fact there was a mine below us. Other than that, we grabbed a couple of journals, agreeing to read those later, before we headed downstairs.

I was expecting prisoners in the mine, figuring the Silver Hand had kidnapped people. But my assumption was incorrect, as we found Silver Hand busy swinging axes at the ore veins. They turned and attacked as soon as we came into view, but with chests exposed, and only pickaxes at hand, we made short work of the few miners actually awake.

Heading back across the courtyard and through the gatehouse, Aela grabbed me by the hand, turning me towards her. "Thank you," she said, far more softly than usual.

"What for?"

"For helping. You did so without hesitation."

I shrugged, not sure what to say, except that it was fine. I liked being with her. Then she stepped forward and kissed me. It took barely a couple of seconds for me to drop my weapons and wrap my arms around her, and how we didn't end up on the ground doing many other things, I think both of us were probably surprised. There was no doubt we were incredibly attracted to one another, and I think that kiss, as hot and heavy as it was, signified what we both wanted. Each other. Badly.

Finally breaking apart, as I had her pinned against the wall, our hands exploring each other, we stared at each other before bursting into laughter. Clearing my throat, I said, "Well, I think that clears that up."

Staying close, leaving her hands on my chest, she looked up and admitted, "It's been too long since I was with a man, Ragnar."

"Seriously? But you're... Well, I think it's obvious what I think about you."

"I'll be honest, most of the men in Whiterun are losers, married or... Well, you've seen them for yourself. And I generally had a rule about being intimate with a fellow Companion."

"But you changed that rule for me?"

"I've wanted to fuck you for quite some time, Ragnar. I assume you've felt the same way?" I nodded. "I don't want our first time to be in Jorrvaskr," she added, before smirking, "I'm not quiet."

"Good to know."

"And considering I know what you're packing, I'll definitely make some noise."

I pulled her forward and kissed her again before sliding my lips towards her ear. "I endeavour to make you scream," I whispered.

"I'm going to hold you to that one, Ragnar," she whispered back.

I kissed her again, this one much softer, tender, and I felt her smile as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Having been so long since I'd even kissed a woman, my body was having the usual reaction, and I finally had to pull away. Aela would have felt it as she was pressed against me. "We should head back," I suggested.

She held my hand all the way back to where we'd left our horses before we kissed one last time, mounted our horses, and slowly made our way back to Whiterun. It was very late by the time we dismounted at the stables outside the city walls, late enough that the fire was barely burning by the time we entered Jorrvaskr. Aela led me straight to her quarters, where she eagerly started to take off her leathers, a look suggesting I do the same.

Once down to my underwear, I gave her another look. "Listen, if we get naked, I will want to fuck you," I admitted, "Just being in our underwear will be difficult enough."

"What if I'm just naked?"

"Then that would be very unfair. And I'd want to do other things to you."

"Would you mind doing other things to me without sliding that cock of yours inside me?"

"I definitely wouldn't mind at all."

She took off her bra first, freeing a pair of breasts that were larger than I expected. Smaller than Haelga but they were still spectacular. But I definitely smiled when she slid her panties off. Looking up from her little feet, up those incredibly athletic legs, towards her sex with a patch of dark hair. Her stomach was flat, and I could see the scars of the hard life she had lived. I had plenty of my own.

Stepping towards me, her mouth only wanted mine as my hands immediately enjoyed the feeling of her naked skin, grabbing a handful of her arse, feeling her smile as we continued to make out, before I slowly led her towards the bed. Sitting her down, she manoeuvred backwards so her heads rested on a pillow as I hovered above her. "Can I admit something, Aela?"

"Of course."

"I absolutely love doing what I'm about to do."

The smile returned... My heart fluttered. The same sort of flutter I'd felt a couple of times before. "Well, I look forward to whatever you're about to do."

I lavished her body with attention before getting to the part I really wanted to taste. She loved the attention I gave her breasts, enjoying how hard her nipples got. She laughed as my beard tickled her as I kissed down her stomach and teased her, avoiding her sex as I kissed her thighs instead. I kept teasing her until she was begging for me to focus on her pussy.

I eventually had to relent, give into temptation, and taste her for the first time. We both made noises that suggested we enjoyed that very much. I knew after that first time that I'd want to do it again and again, perhaps for the rest of my life. Aela's back arched and breathed my name, the sort of thing that excited me quite a lot.

Once in my groove, she had no chance, looking up to see she'd grabbed a pillow, holding it over her face to stifle her screams and moans. That just made me double down on what I was doing, near enough dragging her body off the bed as, in addition to my tongue, I slid a couple of fingers inside her.

That made her move the pillow to cry out, feeling one of her hands move through my hair. "By Talos, where did you learn all this?" she cried, "Don't answer. Don't stop. Just make me cum."

So that's just what I did. I usually wasn't exactly sure what I did to bring about an orgasm, generally just following the general instruction or judging body language and noises made. Being my first time with Aela, I figured I could at least judge body language enough, particularly when her body began to writhe as I held onto her with my one free hand, but when she repeated 'Right there, don't stop', that let me know exactly what to do.

She had quite the orgasm, and once she'd recovered, she asked me to stop, managing to tell me that she couldn't take any more before she near enough passed out. Gently kissing up her body, I eventually just hovered over her again, waiting for her to focus and look at me again. When she did, another of those smiles formed that caused my heart to flutter as she leaned up to kiss me. "Well, you're definitely a keeper," she said quietly before reaching down to grab my obvious erection, "Would you like the favour returned shortly?"

"I'm definitely not going to turn down a blowjob."

"Give me a few minutes. You've worn me out."

Lying down next to her, she turned and wrapped an arm across my chest, and it was funny how natural it already felt. I think we already liked each other, though I tried not to wonder nor think too hard about any sort of future. Considering this was the first time we'd been intimate, I figured I should just enjoy it while it lasted, and if it developed into something more, we'd cross that bridge when it came to it.

Aela kept her word, and a few minutes later, she was happily licking up and down my shaft, and I took delight in watching her use her mouth on me. She certainly knew what she was doing, her eyes constantly looking up into mine. They were beautiful eyes. In one way, they reminded me of my wife. I tried not to think of her then and there, but it was hard not to. There were one or two similarities. Perhaps that's why I'd taken a real shine to Aela.

Since it had been a while, I was never going to last long, quickly warning her I was about to cum. She stopped and said, "I'll let you finish in my mouth this time. If I like your taste, that's what we'll do going forward."

"And if you don't?"

She smiled as she replied, "My face or my tits are always an option. Though when you finally fuck me, there's only one place you're finishing."

"Inside you?"

"Of course, Ragnar."

I finished inside her mouth not long later. She happily swallowed the entire lot and mentioned I tasted good. I made her laugh when I joked that we agreed that we both tasted good, so next time, we should do it together. She readily agreed, though we figured it was rather late, so we were quite happy to go to sleep. Aela happily spooned into me again that night, making sure I held her tightly in my arms. The fierce warrior she usually could be was a complete contrast to moments like that, snuggling against me, feeling safe in my arms.

"Ragnar?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"It's been a long time since... Well, since I was with a man. But also since..." She sighed. I think she had a lot to say but couldn't exactly articulate it.

"Let's just enjoy it for the moment. If things develop, we can talk about it."

She shuffled back into me as I kissed her cheek. "I can deal with that."

Yep, I really liked her too.

Waking up together the next morning, I think we both wanted to fuck, make love, or at least something like that, but we somehow managed to not give into temptation. I'm not sure why, to be honest. It was obvious we wanted to be intimate, though I didn't mind waiting either. If she wanted to be absolutely sure, then so be it, but considering what we'd done the night before, being intimate was simply the next step.

Wandering upstairs, we realised it was later than usual as no-one else was around, but Tilma happily brought us a plate each so we could enjoy breakfast together. In the morning light by the fire, it was unusual for Aela to wander around without her face-paint. Even the night before, it was still present, but she had cleaned her face before leaving the bedroom.

She was absolutely stunning. Her face was slightly pale, the slight freckling across her cheeks and nose a slight surprise, but she noticed me looking at her and blushed. "What?" she asked.

"I'm not sure what to say without sounding too corny."

"Well, I'll just interpret what your eyes and face are saying and be rather happy with that."

Having spent a couple of days away from Jorrvaskr, we agreed that constantly coming and going would draw attention, so we wouldn't leave Whiterun for at least a couple of days, though we would spend time in her room planning our next move. Looking over the map, we picked out more possible places of Silver Hand operations, but still couldn't figure out where their main base was. If we had that information, we'd already agreed that we would take it to Kodlak and let him decide. But, for the moment, we would continue to lay the groundwork.

Farkas was out on a contract, as were most of the others. Vilkas was around and made more than one suggestive comment about the burgeoning relationship between Aela and I, while I think he also had an inkling, if didn't outright know what we were up to regarding the Silver Hand. When asking him to be honest with me, he admitted he did know, but that it wasn't his place to involve himself, simply warning me to be careful.

"I understand Aela. Skjor was a good friend, and the pair took to the blood. But why you, Ragnar? Is it simply because you like her?"

"Skjor did not deserve that death. You saw his body, how he was mutilated. If they'd just killed him, we probably would have attacked them once and been content. But it was the disrespect shown to him, alive and dead, that has riled us both."

"The old man isn't blind, deaf nor dumb, Ragnar. I would be very careful about what you do next."

Any idea of Aela and I leaving to take out the next Silver Hand operation ended the next day.

*****

It was the second day after our return from Fort Fellhammer, perhaps around mid-afternoon, when my life changed forever. I was sitting down, Aela quite happily sitting sideways on my lap, the pair of us simply enjoying a little peace and quiet alone, when the doors to Jorrvaskr burst open, in striding a pair of guards, both coming straight towards us. I immediately thought they'd figured out who I really was, and had come to arrest me.

"You Ragnar?" one of them asked.

"Aye," I replied carefully, noticing Aela glancing at me with slight concern.

"The jarl requests your presence immediately."

I glanced again at Aela before asking, "For what reason?"

"A dragon has been sighted."

Well, good a reason as any, so considering I was already armoured, I grabbed Aela by the hand and the pair of us followed the guards up to Dragonsreach. The jarl wasn't at his throne, nor were we led into the court wizard's quarters. Instead, the guards walked up stairs towards the private residence of the jarl, finding the man himself in conversation with another guard, and the Dunmer I remember from before. I believe she was his housecarl. Farengar was also there, listening intently to the report.

From what I could hear, the guard was suggesting a dragon was sighted to the west of Whiterun, and it had already attacked a watch-tower. The jarl ordered the guard to return to barracks to rest before immediately turning to the Dunmer. "Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate. I will meet with them immediately and move out."

"Good. Don't fail me. I don't want to watch my city burn." He paused before adding, "One last thing, Irileth. This isn't a death or glory mission. I need to know what we're dealing with."

"Don't worry, my lord. I'm the very soul of caution."

Irileth met my eyes and nodded before she disappeared down the stairs, the jarl then moving towards me. He noticed Aela with me at the same time. "There's no time to stand on ceremony, my friend. I need your help again." My friend? I didn't think we were that close, but if I was on the good side of the jarl, that could only be positive. "I want you to go with Irileth and help her fight this dragon. You survived Helgen, so you have more experience with dragons than anyone else here."