How can a Nord really feel like a 'true' Nord? Well, I once thought the answer was to join Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, 'the true high king'. And now? Ha! Now I laugh at the people who still think that Ulfric will bring them justice. My name's Jaltur Black-Dawn and my life truly started when I met the beautiful woman named Niliia Springwood. A bosmer yes, everyone thinks she's a useless piece of junk, but to me, she means everything in Nirn. Her life was worth more than anything and I went to war for her, and now the war took her away from me. She truly did believe in me, she was proud that I fought for Skyrim's freedom, but that pride brought her to her end...
Four years earlier:
"Hey! Lady! Look, I'm sorry I ran into you earlier, I was just in a rush! Look, I don't want you to be mad at me, it's just, I-I think you're really pretty a-and I don't want you to, like, hold a grudge or anything..." I stuttered as the lady turned around and looked me in the eyes. I started to see her blushing and I took a hold of her hands.
"Hey, I know you probably get this a lot, but uh, do you, maybe want to, go on a date with me?" I let go of her hands and she blushed even more.
"I-I, actually..." She started, "I d-don't get that a lot, everyone hates me because of my race..."
"Hey, listen... If you really don't want to, just say, but I really do want to..." I cut her off as she was speaking. She looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes, yes I will go on a date with you, you're the first person to ask me." I punched the air with excitement and took her hands again, I looked her in the eyes and said, "You're the most beautiful lady I have ever seen in my whole life. And I don't care what other people think but we'll give this a try, it'll turn out good, trust me."
3 years after that event:
"Alrighty! Time for your last present Niliia! It's your birthday today so I bought you something really special!" I said as I gently nudged Niliia's arm and she smiled at me.
"So... We've spent 3 whole years together and we met because I accidentally ran into you in Riften. I specifically remember a very small part of that moment, it was when I told you that this... You and me... Would turn out good! So, in celebration of those 3 years we've been together, I wanted to get you something more special than I've ever gotten anyone else in my whole life!" I told her as our hands intertwined and we smiled at each other.
"O-oh, Jaltur, y-you really didn't have to..." She started and I cut off by saying, "No, no I did have to, I had to prove I really love you." I smiled at her as I looked into her eyes.
My eyes started to tear up as I slid off the seat I was on and knelt on one knee. Niliia was busy looking at her other 2 presents I got her so she didn't see me kneeling down until I started to speak. I stuttered at first but I managed to gather myself together and speak clearly. "N-Niliia Springwood, we've been through a hell of a lot together and we only met because of a silly accident, but, that accident turned out to be the best thing that's ever happened to me, the moment I met you, the most perfect person in Nirn. So, I would like to tie our lives together forever and never leave you... Please, Niliia Springwood, will you marry me?" I choked up a bit at the end of my small speech and cupped my hand over my mouth as I started to cry more and more with happiness as she nodded her head and also started to tear up. I slid the ring I had onto her ring finger and she spoke, her words broken up at the end, "J-Jaltur, do you really love me th-that much? I... Don't know what to say!" She slid off her chair and knelt down on the ground in front of me.
"You said yes, that's all that matters." I replied to her as I shifted over to her and hugged her so tight, I didn't ever want to let go of her, I didn't ever want to leave this moment.
The next second, as soon as we were about to kiss, that's when it happened, that's when they came...
The door of our house swung open and slammed against the wall behind it. Five Stormcloaks rampaged around the house looking for people. One of them stopped in their tracks and stared at me and Niliia kneeling on the ground.
"There's people here! A Nord and a Bosmer, damn elf!" The Stormcloak yelled through to the other rooms where the others were.
"Good, grab the Nord, bring him to the army... As for the elf, beat her as you please." Their 'captain' spoke back angrily as two more Stormcloaks walked towards me and grabbed my arms. The first one walked towards Niliia and brought his fists up with an evil grin on his face.
"Finally, I get to deliver what the elves deserve!" He yelled as I heard Niliia scream and I yelled back at the Stormcloaks.
"You leave her alone! You goddamn bastards! Leave her alone!" The first Stormcloak stopped, put his fist down and turned to look at me, I was still being held by the arms by these other two Stormcloaks.
"You! You little snake! You ran away form the war! You piece of sh**! You sold us out to the empire, you told them exactly where we were, when we would attack! I'll kill you!" He raised his fist to me as I broke the two Stormcloaks hold and delivered a round-house kick to his head.
"Yes! Yes I ran away from the war! I ran away because I believe that fighting isn't the answer! I had someone at home waiting for me to return, someone proud of what I was doing for Skyrim! This Bosmer, Niliia Springwood, is the only thing I could ever care about! She means everything to me and if you lay a single finger on her... I swear to Akatosh! I'll kill you in the most painful way I possibly could!" I could feel the anger burning inside me.
Niliia's tears of joy had just turned to tears from the fear of what these Stormcloaks might do to her.
I walked over to her and knelt down beside her, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and told her everything would be okay. She buried her face in my chest and I kissed her forehead.
One Stormcloak started to walk towards us with his sword drawn. I glared angrily in his direction and he continued to make his way towards us.
He opened his mouth to speak and said, "You, Jaltur Black-Dawn, have assaulted a high ranking Stormcloak officer, pay your fine or come quietly." My eyes widened as I stood up, "Fine, I'll come, but if you even so much as think of hurting my Niliia, I swear I'll kill you all!" I spoke angrily to the Stormcloaks and I began to walk out of the door. I could feel the tears running slowly down my cheeks as I looked behind me and blew Niliia a kiss before the Stormcloaks shoved me violently out the door, still holding me tight by the arms. I continued to struggle to make them let go of me, but there was no chance of them taking their arms off me.
As we were nearly at the prison, I heard a loud, ear-piercing scream for help. My eyes widened as I heard the voice scream again and shout, "Help! Somebody please! No, No! No, please! Stop!"
As I heard this tears began barrelling down my cheeks as I realised what was clearly happening. I tried to force myself backwards to stop the Stormcloaks moving me, but all I did was topple over backwards. Although I didn't manage exactly what I wanted, I managed to relieve myself of the Stormcloaks grip. I stumbled to my feet and bolted as fast as I could back to the house. By the time I got there, it was all too late...
Blood was splattered everywhere, on all walls in the house, there were sword gashes in the walls and pieces of ripped clothing scattered around the floor.
I fell to my knees, exhausted from all the running, and sobbed into my hands. My heart started to thump faster and faster as I heard the rushed footsteps of the Stormcloaks and their angry voices draw closer and closer. This was my life, this was my house, I'd lived in Riften almost all of my life, I knew it like the back of my hand... I wasn't about to let a bunch of Stormcloaks ruin me and take me to jail... I ran... I got onto my feet and left, the back door was good enough. I darted past my bed and stumbled through the back door. I knocked a bottle of mead down from the balcony in my rushed panic. I stood up on the barrier and leapt from there straight into the waters below.
I swam away as fast as I possibly could and didn't stop for even one breath of air until I knew I was far enough away to hide.
I surfaced onto dry land and rushed to hide behind a tree. I lay exhausted with my back leaning on the tree, gasping for air. I cupped my face in my hands and began to sob more and more. I could hear the Stormcloaks yelling in the distance.
"Find him dammit! He can't have gone far! He ran into the house... FIND HIM!"
And from that exact moment, I made my goal to find Niliia and save her, no matter the cost. If I died trying, I'd finally be a proud Nord, I'd have tried my best to find her and that's all I would ever be able to do... My best...
Present day:
"Get him, dammit! Haraaf, use your bow and go for his legs! Hratar, run after him! And Narrla! Use that warhammer of yours and just kill him!" One very angry Stormcloak officer could be heard yelling the aforementioned commands at his soldiers. Two of them came sprinting towards me as fast as they could and I continued to dart away like the fabulous badass that I am. I ran, leaping over the bodies of their fallen comrades and to my horse, Brenner.
I leaped onto the saddle and we rode away as fast as Brenner could possibly run. I continued to duck while riding for obvious reasons, arrows.
About five minutes of non-stop Brenner awesomeness later, we had to stop. Thankfully, we managed to stop directly next to a river. Brenner managed to get a drink as he was utterly exhausted and so was I.
I sat down next to the river and put my sword down. I heaved my daedric boots off and sat with my feet in the running water.
"By the nine! That was tiring!" I groaned as the water cooled my feet. "Ugh, Brenner, honestly, how do you do it? You run pretty much all the time but still never cease to amaze me!"
Brenner looked up from having a drink and chuffed to me proudly. Brenner had been my horse for years, its just that until now, when I'm on the run from pretty much everyone in Skyrim, I trust him with my life.
A few hours later...
I sighed with relief as whe had finally managed to reach Nightgate Inn. I tied up Brenner on a post outside the entrance and went in.
"The finest mead anyone could imagine! Nord mead!" I staggered exhausted into the inn and sat in front of the inn keeper. "Jeez, Stormcloaks really take everything so seriously! I mean, I went over to their camp, joked about stealing their horses and then, just because they realised I betrayed the whole of their 'gang' (mwahaha) and sold them out to the Imperial Empire, then they decided to chase me down and try to kill me... Gods, the drama!"
"Heh heh, I know right? Gods, the Stormcloaks are honestly the worst!" The inn keeper joked back to me. "Honestly though, I really hope they don't win this war, then all the places in Skyrim will be run by Stormcloaks! Imagine, Ulfric, the high king!?"
I sighed as I plopped a purse of 10 gold in front of the keeper and slumped over to a bed. I flopped backwards into the bed and drank the mead he gave me.
"I swear I'll find you Niliia... I swear my life on it, I'll find you and kill all the Stormcloaks I can find!" I mumbled under my breathe. My eyes slowly started to drift shut and I fell into a deep sleep.
That night I twisted and turned in my sleep, I was dreaming about the day they took Niliia, and imagining what they have done to her. I came to a rude awakening as I remembered the sound of her scream as they dragged me to the jail.
The next day:
*yawn* I sat up on the side of the bed and stretched my arms out. I stood up and looked through a hole in the wall I found the previous night. I watched as Brenner munched on some grass outside of the inn, I stumbled backwards and fell back onto the bed. "Ugh... Damn, I need to get going." I stood back up and walked over to the inn keeper again.
"You got bread?"
"Yeah sure, you want a loaf?" he said politely back to me.
"Ya thanks... Ugh, I have to go the second I'm done though." I sighed as I spoke to him. "I need to get... Somewhere... I just don't know yet..."
"You mumbled in your sleep..." The inn keeper said as he placed the loaf of bread in front of me. "Niliia Springwood, huh? The elf that got captured in Riften?"
"W-what!? How'd you know who she was?" I asked him, extremely surprised.
"The whole of Skyrim knows... She was taken from her home in Riften as her boyfriend got dragged off to jail."
"Fiancé..." I corrected him.
"Huh?" He asked, confused as to what I was meaning.
"I mean it was her fiancé that got dragged off to the jail. Sorry, it was me who got dragged off to the jail. It was me who's been raiding all these Stormcloak camps recently, desperately searching for even the slightest bit of information on where they took her, what they've done to her, if she's still alive!" I shouted at the inn keeper. He staggered back with shock as I shouted the last word.
"S-sorry man, I get riled up if I talk, or even think about them."
"It's okay... I can understand the pain you are feeling." he said as he stepped forward and leaned over the table with his elbows on it and his arms crossed.
"I too had a loved one take by the Stormcloaks. My son, he fought in the war for the Empire, at a battle for one of their camps, my son lost his life. They found his body with and arrow in his right eye, arrows all over his torso and five sword wounds to the chest and throat..."
After he said all that, we sat in silence until I said, "I really must get going now though. My horse is probably getting impatient."
"Wait! I have this, I found it at the camp my son raided." The inn keeper said as he handed me a folded piece of paper. "I read it before you came here. It's a Stormcloak document about where and what they did with Niliia Springwood. I was going to give it to the Imperials but now, I think you would probably find more use with it..."
I stared down at the document in my hands and realised what the inn keeper had just given me. He just handed me the first piece of imformation I would need to find Niliia, the first document I needed to save her...
"Th-thank you... Thank you so much! Ahaha! Finally, finally the thing I've been looking for this whole time... The thing I will need to save her!" I jumped for joy and saluted the inn keeper goodbye as I raced out of the door and on to Brenner. We ran and ran to try and find the place marked and mentioned in the document... Until... We came to a sudden halt as Brenner had been spooked. I came flying off the front of him, over his head, and onto the ground.
"Ach! Brenner! In all my life I've never seen you spooked... What is it!?" I asked him as he reared back and neighed in my direction. He was even on the brink of galloping off and just leaving me behind he seemed that scared of what he'd seen.
"What is it?"
I scrambled to my feet, wiped the dirt off myself , and looked behind me, what I saw was horrific...
