The Silver Werewolf

Summary

 * Location: Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary
 * Author: Hildegard
 * Collection: Gold Coast Tomes

Content
One day, while hunting for rabbits on the slopes of Mount Trolhetta, the Silver Werewolf flicked her ears at the sound of mournful sobbing on the wind. Never one to ignore suffering, the Silver Werewolf threw her line of rabbits across her shoulder and lumbered toward the sound. Eventually she found a massive, bearded giant all alone at a snuffed out campfire, roaring sadness at the sky.

"Why do you cry?" the Silver Werewolf snarled, and the giant understood thanks to the Medallion of Gulibeg the Quick Fox that she wore around her neck.

"My mate gone. My child gone. Vanished, as I slept. There are many tiny tracks. I fear Goblins have taken them."

He was not wrong. The Silver Werewolf's keen nose detected the stench of at least a dozen Goblins, as well as the lingering scent of paralytic poison. The giant's family was not dead, but they soon would be, slaughtered to feed the hungry Goblin tribe. No one deserved that cruel fate.

The Silver Werewolf straightened and growled deep, a promise. "The Goblins will not keep them."

"Bring them home and you may ask anything of me."

"I will ask you to smile," was her only reply.

Nose to the ground, the Silver Werewolf tracked the Goblin stench down Mount Trolhetta, across the Smokefrost Peaks, to a massive Goblin encampment on the fringes of Lost Prospect. It held far more Goblins than she had ever seen in one place, which was why they had been brave enough to kidnap giants for food. A small tribe would never have dared anger the vengeful giants.

Even for the Silver Werewolf, who could tear apart a dozen Goblins without ruffling her fur, a camp of hundreds was too dangerous. She would have to be clever. Scenting a nearby corpse, an idea dawned on her. She shifted into her Nord form and cloaked herself in the dead woman's rags. Thus clothed and looking entirely harmless, she wandered into the Goblins' camp like a helpless Nord lost in the snow.

The Goblins came for her at once, but all they saw was an unarmed Nord woman dressed in rags. A fine prize. Rather than attacking, they eagerly trussed up the Silver Werewolf and took her to their food pens, where they kept all those caught until it came time to cook them for supper. Once there, they threw the Silver Werewolf into a makeshift wooden cage and left her to freeze to death in the cold.

As she'd hoped, the overconfident Goblins had played right into her hands. Even muffled by her Nord form, the Silver Werewolf's nose detected the smell of giants nearby. Now, all she had to do was wait until dark, and make her escape with the giant's family and any others who wished freedom.

Dark fell and the Goblins grew sleepy, leaving only their trained durzogs to prowl the edges of the food paddocks. It was a bad night for hunting, but a good night for sneaking, as clouds crept in to obscure the moon. The Silver Werewolf shifted forms in the dark and quietly snapped the bars of her wooden cage. While those bars would cage a Nord, they were no match for her bestial strength.

Silent as a shadow, the Silver Werewolf prowled the food paddocks until her keen nose detected one with giants inside. Just as quietly she opened it, crept inside, and slashed the bonds holding down the giantess and her little one.

"Your loved one waits where you left him," she whispered in a low growl.

"Thank you, Moon-kissed. We will see him again, or die trying."

On her way out, the Silver Werewolf spotted another paddock filled with Nords, moaning with piteous cries. Despite her distaste for these wolf-killers, animals who killed for sport and not for food, she knew they could be useful in their own way.

"Run now!" She snarled to the giantess as she tore into the Nord paddock, snarling and drooling as she menaced them with her claws.

Screaming Nords burst from their cage in all directions, alerting durzog and Goblin alike. In the commotion, the Silver Werewolf found the giantess and led her toward the camp's edge. Goblins challenged them, but were cut down by the Silver Werewolf's claws and teeth or smashed by the dozens at the hands of the vengeful giantess.

Soon only the durzogs pursued them, but one deafening howl from the Silver Werewolf sent the cowed dogs skittering back to their masters. A number of Nords had escaped as well, the Silver Werewolf saw, and she had no doubt they would return in force to smash the Goblins soon. That is what Nords did, and this time only, the Silver Werewolf wished them luck.

Under cover of darkness, the Silver Werewolf led the giantess back up Mount Trolhetta and there, at the campfire, the family was reunited. The lonely giant clutched his child and mate as he babbled his thanks in his guttural tongue. "How? How can I repay you?"

Thinking of her own pups, she repeated:

"I will ask you to smile, so I can see how you treasure them above all else."

And he did.