The tattered rags that covered my body began to fall as they forcibly walked me to the block and swiped the previous body away before placing me onto my knees and laying my head on the already blood soaked stone. My head was placed into position as a faraway thunderous roar could be heard echoing through the mountains like an avalanche and I rose my head in order to see what the executioner and guards could see and the blood dripped down my face as I realized that my hair was stuck to my face but before I could move my hair the executioner shoved my head hard against the stone. Stars could be seen as my vision cleared and another boisterous roar could be heard but this time no one above me turned to look as the executioner raised his ax and began to lower it. I watched as the ax lowered further and the clouds began to darken as flames fell from the sky. The executioner dropped the ax, nicking my neck, and ran as a dragon appeared from the darkened clouds and spewed a long flame which overtook the city in minutes.
"You wanna keep sitting there or escape, Comrade?" asked an already untied Ralof. His calloused hands found mine as he led me to a tower where he picked a bow and arrows from the body of an imperial soldier whose head looked as though it had been smashed in. "Don't look. You don't need to see something like that," he rushed trying to shield me away from the body of the young soldier but the body was then covered by a mound of rocks and mortar that shot from the outside of the tower. Ralof attempted to move the rocks that stacked upon his leg until the head of the dragon that interrupted our executions revealed itself to the newly formed hole and spewed a line of flame between the two of us. The dragons head disappeared back through the hole and the sound of wings could be heard accompanied by the sound of screams erupting from the town. "I need to get these off of me and you're of no use to me here. Thanks to the opening you can jump to that farm house and meet me near Helgen's exit. Good luck to you, Comrade, and maybe we'll survive this long enough for me to catch your name?"
Even in our immediate situation, I had to laugh at the slight ridiculousness of his request but felt obligated to answer him. "Ralof, it's Nikolai. When we get out of here we'll do some proper introductions," I said smiling despite my anxiety at the moment. His reaction was lost to me as I jumped from the tower into the farm house but not before my rags caught fire and the flame licked my skin as though it was parchment. The pain was excruciating as I tumbled through the remainder of the roof and rolled into the center beam of the house and with a loud crack my head whipped against the beam with surprising force causing stars to appear in front of my eyes for the second time in such a short amount of hours. I regained enough of my balance to being stumbling out from the decrepit home only to catch sight of scorched bodies.
"Prisoner, are you still alive? Good. Let's see if we can find us a way out of this inferno," Hadvar reached for my hands and led me down a small flight of stairs only to let me go and reach for the sword that sat at his side. "Stay close to the wall." He said as the dragon landed on the wall and another line of flame engulfed the people attempting to run behind the now decrepit homes. The talons that stood out from the dragons wings was a sharpness that glittered dangerously and it became further known to me as it pierced my shoulder and deeply sank in before being ripped away and the sound of wings above us. I felt myself collapse against the wall as the steady stream of blood coated what little I still wore and puddled beneath my bare feet, creating a strange concoction. "Prisoner, we're almost there and then you'll be able to rest." He gently pulled me up from my slouching position and put his arm behind my back attempting to support me as my legs began to give out on me. We were able to stumble a few more yards before I completely collapsed onto the ground and wished that he would just give up on trying to help me. Hadvar let out a sigh as he picked me up the way I had only seen lovers do and carried me to a half-broken door.
"Nikolai! Imperial scum, what have you done to her?" Ralof let out a feral snarl as Hadvar gently laid me onto the ground.
"She survived the run here because of me and you're going to accuse me of hurting her? The only damaging thing that has happened to her in my care is the wound to her shoulder and the mental scarring of the burned and screaming people. You really want to talk about hurting her? She came out of that farm house disoriented and not even knowing where the hell she was. Prisoner, are you coming with me or one of the men who got you arrested in the first place?" Hadvars face was distorted with rage as Ralof approached us and reached his hand out to me. "She can't even walk on her own, Stormcloak. You couldn't help her even if you tried." He looked triumphant as the Stormcloak took a defeated step back.
"I don't know what this 'Imperial' and 'Stormcloak' business is about but I think that if we were going to move that we should do it now. That dragon still doesn't look very sated and we may become its next victims," I said beginning to tire of their banter and my fears were confirmed as the dragon swept down and landed a few houses down from where this stronghold was and began to crawl its way over to us bellowing flame as it went.
Rolaf stooped down to my level and quickly tore a piece of his woolen armor to tie it around my shoulder once. I winced as he pulled it a little to tightly for my liking but soon forgot that as he scooped me up in the same manner that Hadvar had and rushed to the half caved-in door that Hadvar was planning on taking us into but Hadvar turned quickly to go into the other door when he noticed what Ralof was doing.
"You should have just left me out there to be devoured by that beast," I said quietly while the door behind us shut securely and wishing that men weren't so damned stupid. He laughed quietly before lightly putting me on one of the cots that stood out from the wall.
"Do you mean that imperial or the dragon?" He laughed even harder as he watched the dumbstruck expression cross my face. "Now that we're done trying to survive that let us get you cleaned up. Do you mind taking that rag of a shirt off? I promise not to look but I am kinda worried about how deep the puncture is," Ralof said as he turned his back to me and fetched a bowl and what looked to be mead.
The rag that I was wearing was placed to the side as I quietly finished stripping it off and watched as Ralof also removed his shirt and began to tear it into strips and dipping half of them into the bowl filled with the mead and wringing them out until they were no longer the color of the sky but a deep brown that matched my shirt almost perfectly at this point but I couldn't help but watch as the muscles in his back rippled powerfully.