1. Unbound
A sharp jolt of pain through his head awoke him from his slumber. Blinking his eyes open, Harald Iron-Monger sat upright and looked towards the sky. Thick, billowing clouds blocked any form of daylight from reaching the cold, harsh ground below and threatened to drench those below in the rainwater that had been collecting over the warm summer months.
For the first time, Harald realised that he was sat upon a moving carriage, his hands bound by thin, but tough, leather straps. He began his attempt to wriggle his hands from their binds, twisting his wrists in numerous directions and trying to squeeze his hands out. Harald's vain efforts caught the attention of a heavily-built blonde Nord sat across from him in the carriage.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."
The man wore a smile on his face, but as Harald looked around, it didn't seem like the type of atmosphere for anyone to be cheerful in. Two other men sat in the carriage with them, one in rags like Harald, and the other wearing a gag over his mouth. Another carriage was ahead of them, filled with men and women dressed similarly to the smiling Nord.
"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us and that thief over there." He gestured towards the man in rags who sat next to him.
Harald opened his mouth to speak, but the thief responded to the blonde Nord first. "Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along, Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." Again, Harald went to speak, but was interrupted by the thief. "You there. You and me - we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."
The smiling Nord wasn't smiling so much anymore. "We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."
"Shut up, back there!" The Imperial driver of the carriage called over his shoulder.
Around three-quarters of an hour had passed and the air grew colder. The sound of the horses' hooves and carriage wheels trundling through the cold dirt could now be heard by those awaiting their arrival at their destination. The prisoners in the second carriage had been quiet for the majority of the journey, but the thief broke the silence.
"What's wrong with him, huh?" He said, gesturing to the gagged man who sat opposite him.
The blonde Nord across from Harald snapped his head up, glaring at the thief. "Watch your tongue!" He said loudly, his voice filled with annoyance. "You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King."
"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion." The thief face fell and his became full of worry and dread. "But if they've captured you..." The thief looked at Harald, tears threatening to fill his eyes. "Oh, gods, where are they taking us?"
Harald wanted to say something to console the thief, for he himself knew that wherever they were going, it didn't bode well for any of the prisoners, but the Nord rebel gave him a solemn answer first.
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."
Harald looked towards the front of the convoy to see if they were any closer to their final destination, but all he could see was more road and trees. He dreaded the thought that he might die here, but the amount of guards escorting the convoy of prisoners drove any of idea of escape into the ground.
The rebel sensed how distressed the thief was and attempted to comfort him. "Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?"
"Why should you care?" The thief said, his voice desperate and angry.
"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home." The rebel said warmly.
"Rorikstead. I'm... I'm from Rorikstead..." The thief stuttered and trailed off.
Harald had never really had a home. He began travelling across Tamriel at the age of 17, visiting the places his mother had told him about in her stories of the adventures she and his father had had in their younger years. He had never settled down. Even as a child, he had never had a stable home. His parents had fled Bruma when the Great War began when he was only three and they had lived in Windhelm for a while. But, after that, Harald had simply been travelling. The thought that he didn't know where his remains would end up both angered and worried him.
The voice of an Imperial soldier broke Harald's line of thought. "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"
Looking up, Harald saw a walled town with the Empire's banners hung outside and numerous Imperial soldiers guarding the gate and patrolling the walls. Harald assumed that the town was Helgen, the Empire's second major outpost in Skyrim, after the capital, Solitude.
"Good, let's get this over with!" A man, in what seemed like Imperial armour, stylised with gold, called as the gates were opened.
The thief began whimpering and begging the gods for help as the carriages drew nearer the town. "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me..." He whispered as he clasped his bound hands in prayer.
Going through the gates, the rebel next to the thief turned to look in loathing at the man in golden Imperial armour.
"Look at him, General Tullius, the Military Governor."
Harald looked at the man named Tullius as he spoke to a female Altmer in dark robes who was also on horseback. The Altmer glanced over Tullius' shoulder at the carriages.
"It looks like the Thalmor are with him." Ralof said, "Damn elves, I bet they had something to do with this."
Harald immediately recognised the robes the Altmer wore and he looked at her with hatred. He had lost both his parents in two separate incidents to the Thalmor and despised the idea that they were some how involved with his current situation.
"This is Helgen." Ralof said. Harald nodded in acknowledgement. "I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in... Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe..." Ralof trailed off in thought.
Harald wasn't listening, as he had just realised how many soldiers were currently stationed in the walled town. As the carriage turned a corner into the area where the executioner was waiting, Harald noted the presence of guards along the walls of the keep, archers on top of the towers and numerous foot-soldiers around the execution area. His concentration was broken by a small boy talking to his father on the porch of a nearby house.
"Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?" The young boy asked as he sat cross-legged on the porch.
His father, who was leaning against the wooden support posts of the thatched roof, moved over to his son and gently pulled him to his feet. "You need to go inside now, little cub."
The boy looked up to his father. "Why?" He asked. "I want to watch the soldiers."
His father opened the door to the house and pushed his son urgently through the doorframe. "Inside the house. Now." He said quickly.
Harald pulled his eyes away from the young boy and his father as the carriages began to slow. A woman in steel Imperial armour barked orders at the soldiers.
"Get these prisoners out of the carts... Move it!" She called, gesturing to the carriages of prisoners as soldiers crossed the yard.
The thief heard the order and began to look around in a panicked state. "Why are we stopping?" He asked, almost struggling for breath.
"Why do you think? End of the line." The blonde-haired rebel said to him.
The other carriage had stopped and the Stomcloaks were climbing off and standing in to lines, waiting for their names to be called out by the Imperial soldiers.
As Harald's carriage drew to a halt, the Stormcloak opposite him looked up. "Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."
The first to stand was Ulfric, who hopped down and moved forwards. Next was the thief, who called out to anyone who would listen.
"No! Wait! We're not rebels!" His pleas fell on deaf ears and he prepared to descend from the carriage.
"Face your death with some courage, thief." The Stormcloak, who was now behind Harald, called out to him.
Looking over his shoulder as he jumped from the carriage, the thief pleaded with the Stormcloak. "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"
The rebel was silent as the thief moved to Ulfric's side. Harald jumped down from the carriage and stood behind Jarl Ulfric. He saw the same Imperial in steel armour who was commanding the soldiers as the carriages entered the yard stood next to a soldier who held a large piece of parchment and a quill.
"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." The Imperial Captain called out in the same commanding tone she used when addressing her men.
Ralof hopped down and stood next to Harald. "Empire loves their damn lists." He mocked under his breath. Harald smirked.
The Nord soldier called out the first name. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm."
Ulfric moved to the left, towards the chopping block and silence fell. The Stormcloak soldiers watched with mournful eyes and the Imperials watched in loathing as he walked to his death at the hands of the headsman. The silence was broken by the Stomrmcloak next to Harald.
"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric." He called out as his leader passed. The rebels from the other carriage also called their praise to the Jarl as he walked by.
The Nord soldier paused as the rebel's shouts died down before calling out the name of the next prisoner.
"Ralof of Riverwood." He said, marking the name on his list as the rebel next to Harald moved to join his comrades at the block, leaving only Harald and the thief left. Looking up from the list, the soldier called out the next name. "Lokir of Rorikstead."
The thief looked up in fear. "No, I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!" His voice cracked and he sprinted forward, past the Imperial Captain and her soldiers, and began up the road towards the main gate.
"Halt!" Screamed the Imperial Captain.
Every soldier in the area turned to watch Lokir flee. "You're not going to kill me!" He shouted as he prepared to run round the corner.
The Captain pointed to Lokir as he fled. "Archers!" She roared.
Numerous arrows rained down on Lokir from the closest tower. He fell face down in the dirt, his bound hands leaving him in an undignified position as his body crumpled in a heap. The Captain turned to face Harald and the Stormcloak prisoners.
"Anyone else feel like running?" She asked, her arms spread wide in an aggravating gesture. Having received no answer, the Captain dropped her arms and moved to join the headsman.
The soldier who had stood next to her noticed Harald still standing next to the carriage. "Wait," He said. "You there. Step forward." Harald moved closer to him. "Who are you?"
"Harald Iron-Monger." Harald said, slowly, knowing he was condemning himself to death.
"You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinsman."
Harald almost laughed. "Apparently."
The Nord soldier looked down at his list, his eyes scanning it for Harald's name. Have found no-one by that name written down, he called to his superior. "Captain. What should we do? He's not on the list."
The Captain turned on her heels to face the soldier and Harald. She paused. "Forget the list. He goes to the block." She continued on towards the execution area, dismissing Harald like one would discard a piece of scrap paper.
"By your orders, Captain." The soldier turned to face Harald as he wrote his name at the bottom of the list before marking it like he had done with the others. "I'm sorry. At least you'll die here in your homeland." Harald scoffed at the soldier's attempts to comfort him. "Follow the captain, prisoner."
Harald joined the other prisoners, the Nord soldier following him. He watched General Tullius dismount from his horse as he approached. The General stood in front of his plight, Ulfric Stormcloak.
"Ulfric Stormcloak." Tullius said, his tone commanding and loud. "Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But, a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his King and usurp his throne."
Tullius was interrupted by Ulfric's muffled protests.
Tullius only spoke louder, rendering Ulfric silent. "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."
Ulfric began to grunt, but an otherworldly roar echoed from over the mountains silenced him. Everyone looked to the sky in an attempt to find the source of the strange noise.
The Nord soldier asked the question on everyone's minds. "What was that?" He looked to his General and Captain.
Tullius turned his back to Ulfric and went to back to his horse. "It's nothing. Carry on."
"Yes, General Tullius." The Imperial Captain said as she watched him climb onto his horse. She turned to the Priestess of Arkay who had been standing next to the executioner since the carragies entered the yard. "Give them their last rites."
The Priestess nodded and turned to the prisoners. She raised her hands to the gods and began her sermon. "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved -"
A Stormcloak near Harald grew irritated and stepped forward. "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with."
The Priestess looked annoyed that her duties had been interrupted and she put her hands down. "As you wish." She said, heading back towards the keep.
The Stormcloak stood at the block. "Come on, I haven't got all morning." He said irritably as the Imperial Captain moved up behind him.
The Captain placed a hand on the rebel's shoulder and forced him onto his knees. When he was on his knees, she placed a foot on his back and pushed him down further, until his head rested on the chopping block.
The rebel watched as the executioner readied his axe. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" The rebel asked. When he finished his sentence, the headsman's axe came down, cutting through the Stormcloak's neck with ease and his head rolled forward, into a waiting basket.
A female Stormcloak roared at the Tullius and his men. "You Imperial bastards!"
Numerous residents of Helgen retaliated with calls of "Justice!" and "Death to the Stormcloaks!"
General Tullius raised his hand in a gesture for silence, which fell almost immediately amongst the residents of the town. Ralof was the only one who spoke. "As fearless in death as he was in life." He said, bowing his head in respect, which his fellow rebels done also.
The Imperial Captain paid no attention to the Stormcloaks' acts of respect. "Next, the Nord in the rags!" She called, pointing directly at Harald.
Once again, the strange, echoing noise emitted from over the mountains, making everyone in the town look skywards.
The same soldier spoke everyone's mind. "There it is again. Did you hear that?"
His Captain looked at him in annoyance for asking an obvious question, but she quickly got back onto the matter at hand. "I said, next prisoner!"
Harald walked forward, slowly. If he was going to do something, he would have to do it now. He might be able flee before the axe was brought down, but his chances were slim.
"To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy." The Nord soldier called.
Upon reaching the the executioner, the Imperial Captain placed her hand on Harald's shoulder and he was forced onto his knees. Pausing, Harald had one more look around before the Captain's foot was on his back, pushing him forward. Readying himself to dive away from the axe, Harald took a deep breath as the headsman positioned himself.
Then, from over the mountains, flew a winged creature, as dark as the night sky, roaring the same ominous call from earlier. It was massive and everyone in Helgen turned to face it as it swooped over the mountain's ridge.
Tullius looked to the sky as the townsfolk fled from the beast. "What in Oblivion is that?!" He called.
The creature flew into the clouds as the Captain called to her soldiers for information. "Sentries! What do you see?!"
One of the archers who killed Lokir called down from his post. "It's in the clouds!"
The beast reappeared and landed heavily on top of the main tower of the town. "DRAGON!" A Stormcloak yelled as it landed.
Everyone now looked at the beast with pure terror. It fitted the description of one of the legendary creatures, but many considered them to be just that. A legend.
The dragon roared and the sky was ripped apart. Flaming boulders rained down on the town, slamming into the ground and buildings.
Tullius' horse had gone out of control and had thrown him to the ground. " Don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" He called as he got to his feet. "Guards, get the townspeople to safety!"
Harald got up from the block, his vision hazy and head sore. Blinking until he could see, he turned around, face to face with the executioner. The dragon had flown off, continuing it assault on the rest of the town and the executioner was infuriated that his prisoner was trying to escape. He swung his axe at Harald's head, who ducked and charged forward, ramming his shoulder into the executioner's stomach, sending them both to the ground.
Harald was the first to get to his feet, noticing the executioner's axe lying on the ground nearby. He scrambled for it, his bound hands grabbing the hilt. He positioned the edge of the axe blade against his bindings and severed the leather, freeing his wrists. Now holding the axe properly, he noticed the headsman getting to his feet. Harald rushed over to him and brought the axe down on his back, his spinal cord and a shoulder blade shattering under the force.
An Imperial witnessed the prisoner murdering the headsman and left his fellow soldiers to fight the dragon as he ran over, his blade drawn, determined to put down the dog who had the audacity to take the life of his comrade. Harald noticed the Imperial running towards him and swung the axe in a sweeping motion, striking and planting the axe deep within the Imperial's chest.
Harald noticed Ralof near a guard tower, sending a soldier to the ground with a single, powerful punch and stamping on his face.
"Hey! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" Ralof yelled to Harald, beckoning him to enter the tower. "This way!"
Harald decided to leave the axe in the Imperial's chest and let the body fall to the ground. Hurrying over, Harald jumped up the small set of stairs leading into the tower and through the door, Ralof slamming it shut behind him.
Ulfric Stormcloak stood near the door, unbound and ungagged, along with Ralof, as a Stormcloak tended to the wounds of another rebel at the bottom of the stairs.
Ralof looked to his leader for answers. "Jarl Ulfric! What was that thing? Could the legends be true?"
Ulfric looked at his soldier. "Legends don't burn down villages." Came his somber response.
Harald looked out the small, narrow window, seeing the dragon head towards the tower they were in. The others inside the tower heard the rumbling outside the tower, knowing the dragon was near. Ulfric jumped forward and pulled the Stormcloak away from her injured friend as the dragon sent the door off it's hinges, slamming into Ulfric's arm as he turned away and crushing the injured Stormcloak lying on the floor.
Ulfric, holding his broken arm, shouted over the dragon's roars. "We need to move. Now!"
Ralof hesitated before turning to Harald. "Up through the tower, let's go!" He said urgently.
Harald and Ralof headed up the stairs, Ulfric and the distraught Stormcloak following them up. As they reached mid-way up the tower, another Stormcloak hurried down the stairs from the roof, his hands covered in blood. He opened his mouth to speak to the group, but the dragon suddenly burst through the tower wall, rubble crushing the Stormcloak.
Harald, Ralof, Ulfric and the rebel dropped down, flattening themselves against the stairs as the dragon spewed fire into the tower. The flames passed over the heads of the group as they hid, the heat making it difficult to stay still. The dragon ended it's onslaught and flew away from the tower.
Ralof got to his feet and surveyed the situation through the hole the dragon left in the tower. He beckoned to Harald and the others to come up to join him.
"See the inn on the other side?" He said to Harald, gesturing to a semi-destroyed building below. "Jump through the roof and keep going!"
Harald looked at Ralof to see if he was being serious, but as the dragon flew towards the tower again, Harald was forced to take a leap of faith. As he fell, the dragon reached the tower and clung on to the side, sending fire from it's mouth inside. Harald hit the inn floor and rolled forward, unhurt. He sprinted forward hoping to reach the ground floor, but the floorboards gave way and he fell through, landing in a heap amongst broken floor boards.
Climbing to his feet and brushing splinters of wood from his rags, Harald noticed an old man, who seemed to have sprained his ankle, sitting on the floor against an upturned table. He moved towards him.
"Are you ok?" Harald asked.
The old man looked up. He wore an annoyed expression when he noticed Harald had been one of the prisoners. "My ankle's hurt." He grumbled.
"Come on, I'll get you help." Harald said. He held his hand out for the old man to take. The man hesitated before grabbing Harald's hand.
Pulling the elderly man to his feet, Harald put the man's arm over his shoulder and allowed him to take the weight off his sprained ankle.
The two men moved through a destroyed section of wall, out into the chaos. The dragon had ensured that no building in town had been left untouched and most were smouldering ruins and piles of rubble. Corpses littered the area, many with charred and mottled flesh, others crushed by the meteors that had fallen from the now normal, cloudy sky and rubble from the houses.
Heading round the corner, Harald saw the Nord who had written his name on the execution list trying to coax a the young boy he had seen earlier away from an injured man.
"Don't look up." He said to the boy. "Just focus on me. You can do it!"
The boy remained over the man's body, frozen.
The soldier saw the dragon approach. "Haming, you need to get over here. Now!"
The boy broke out of his trance when he saw the dragon and he ran towards the soldier.
"That a boy. You're doing great." The boy reached the soldier, who placed his free hand on the boy's head. "Torolf!" The soldier shouted over the noise of the dragon to the injured man Haming had been standing over.
The dragon landed and crushed Torolf, then sent a stream of fire down the road, in the soldier's direction.
"Gods, everyone get back!" The soldier shouted before he dived behind a rock, pulling Haming down with him.
The dragon took off, leaving the road scorched and burning. Harald and the old man reached the Nord soldier and Haming. The soldier recognised Harald as he approached.
"Still alive, prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way."
Harald sat the elderly man he had helped over on a small boulder close to the town wall.
The Nord soldier looked at the man. "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to join General Tullius and join the defence."
Gunnar looked at the soldier as he rubbed his ankle. "Gods guide you, Hadvar."
The soldier, Hadvar, set off across the road and headed down a small space between the wall of the keep's courtyard and a burning house, Harald following him. Looking up, Hadvar saw the dragon.
"Stay close to the wall!" He called back to Harald.
The two men pressed themselves against the wall of the courtyard as the dragon landed on above them. One of the dragon's wings was close to Harald he could have reached out and touch it. Harald could hear loud, guttural noises emitting from the dragon's throat, before it spit fire down a short, narrow alley in front of Hadvar and Harald. Harald could not see, but he heard the screams of an Imperial soldier, which ended a moment after the dragon took off.
"Quickly, follow me!" Hadvar ran up the alley once the way was clear, and through a demolished house. Harald followed him, the main gate through which they entered the town mere metres away.
General Tullius, alongside numerous soldiers, sending arrows flying in the dragon's direction, aiming for the underside of it's neck. "It won't die, it just keeps coming!" One soldier cried.
A man, possibly a resident of Helgen, lay on the ground in a pool of blood further down the road at a secondary gate. "Tell my family I fought bravely." He managed to say to the Imperial soldier kneeling next to him.
"Come on, give me your hand, I'm getting you out of here." The soldier said, holding the man's hand firmly in his own. The man looked as though he was about to say something,but was never given the chance, as the dragon seemed to aim for him and the soldier and it engulfed them in flames.
Hadvar hurried over from Tullius having recieved his orders and pulled at Harald's rags. "It's you and me, prisoner. Stay close."
The two men rushed into the courtyard of the keep. Harald saw Ralof scrambling over rubble into the area on the opposite side of the courtyard.
Hadavr saw him too and shouted angrily at him.
"Ralof! You damned traitor. Out of my way!"
Ralof had acquired a war axe, and he held it firmly in his hand as he spoke. "We're escaping Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time."
"Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!" Hadvar replied angrily.
The soldier and the rebel passed each other quickly, but wearily. Ralof passed Harald. "Come on, into the keep." He said urgently.
Harald ran to large keep door after Ralof, who had left it open for him. Entering the keep, Harald closed the door quickly. He turned to see Ralof kneeling in the blood of a fallen Stormcloak.
"We'll meet again in Sovngarde, brother." Ralof muttered. He got to his feet when he noticed that Harald was standing next to him. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." He said, looking down two adjacent corridors either side of the room they were in.
"We can't be. There has to be others." Harald said, rubbing his bruised wrists.
"I hope your right." Ralof said, turning to him. "That was a dragon. No doubt." Harald nodded in agreement as Ralof spoke. "Just like the children's stories and the legends. The Harbingers of the End Times."
"How can it exist? Even in the legends, the dragons were wiped out by dragon hunters. It can't be possible for one to be out there." Harald said, struggling to understand what he had saw.
"Well, it seemed real enough to me." Ralof said. "We better get moving." He said as he moved past Harald, to the dead Stormcloak. "Here. You may as well take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it anymore."
Ralof picked up Gunjar's war axe and handed it to Harald. Kneeling down next to Gunjar, Ralof removed an amulet of Talos from around the dead rebel's neck. He muttered a prayer to Talos under his breath in respect of his friend.
Standing again, he moved to an iron bar door nearby. "Alright, I'm going to see if I can find some way out of here." He tried the door, only to find it locked. "This one's locked. Let's see about that gate." The rebel didn't try to open the gate on the other side of the room, this time merely looking around for a way to open it. "Damn. No way to get this open from our side."
Harald joined Ralof at the gate, looking down the corridor beyond. He saw a shadow flicker at the end of the corridor. Someone was coming.
Ralof turned to Harald, alarmed. "Imperials!" He whispered urgently. "Take cover!" Both men scrambled to opposite sides of the gate as the Imperial Captain who was overseeing the executions turned the corner with one of her soldier.
"Come on, soldier. Keep moving!" She called when the Imperial she was with slowed slightly. The soldiers reached the gate and Harald and Ralof pressed themselves against the walls. "Get this gate open." The Captain ordered.
Her soldier pulled a chain on the other side of the gate and it opened, slowly. Ralof held three fingers up to Harald. Two. One. The gate was fully opened and the Imperials stepped through. Neither saw Ralof as he stepped forward and swung his axe into the side of the Imperial soldiers neck. Harald lunged forward as the Captain turned and drew her sword. Bringing his axe down, Harald could only dent the Captain's chest-plate. The Captain swung her sword, the tip catching Harald in side. Harald grabbed her wrist, forcing the sword away from him and he swung his axe at her arm, causing her to drop her sword in pain. She clutched her arm in pain, blood pouring from between her fingers. Harald struck her again with the axe, sending her to the floor. He stood over her and his axe pierced her armour again. The axe came down again. Then again.
The Captain lay dead, Harld covered in her blood. Ralof picked up a key that she had held in her hand and hurried over to the iron bar door. Hold the wound on his side, Harald tucked his war axe in the rope belt he wore and wiped the blood off his hands on the rags he wore as he walked over. Ralof opened the door triumphantly.
"That's it! Come on, lets get out of here before the dragon brings the whole tower on our heads." He said as Harald passed through. After slamming the door shut, Ralof joined Harald as he descended down the stairs.
They headed round a corner into a corridor where they could see three Stormcloaks at the other end. As they moved towards them, the entire corridor shook as the dragon flew over head. Ralof looked up to see a stone brick fall from the corridor ceiling.
"Look out!" He shouted, pulling Harald back as the ceiling came down, blocking them off from the Stormcloak rebels. "Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easily." Ralof said as Harald helped him to his feet.
Dusting themselves off, both men moved to a door nearby.
"Grab anything important and let's dragon's burning everything to the ground." Someone, possibly an Imperial, said from inside the room.
Harald opened the door silently and he and Ralof slipped in quietly. An Imperial Captain stood awaiting a soldier, who was rummaging around in a barrel.
"I just need to gather some more potions." The Imperial said to his superior.
The Captain stood with his hands in his hips and looked around. It was then that he noticed Harald and Ralof. He drew his sword and pulled his soldier away from the barrel. Upon noticing the two former prisoners, the soldier also unsheathed his sword.
Ralof charged forward, axe in hand and swinging at the Captain. The soldier moved to Harald, ready to run him through. Harald side-stepped the first swing by the soldier and punched him, sending him staggering across to a table that also sat in the room. Harald grabbed the soldier by the back of the head and smashed his face against the edge of the table. The soldier pushed himself away in an attempt to escape, but Harald sent a knee into his stomach and then another to his face. The soldier fell on his back and Harald, clutching his side in pain, brought his war axe down on his face. Ralof had somehow wrestled the sword from his opponent and slashed the Captain's throat. When the Captain fell to the ground face first, his sword was left between his shoulder blades.
"A storeroom." Ralof said, breathlessly. "See if you can find any potions. We'll need them."
Harald reached the barrel the Imperial soldier had been searching through. It was filled with straw used so that the potion bottles wouldn't smash. Pulling straw from the barrel and discarding it on the floor, Harald found a a few potions, three bottles, each containing a red liquid, one containing a blue liquid and two others that both held green liquid within. Picking up a small pouch on a nearby table, Harald stuffed the potions inside and fastened it to the rope around his waist.
Ralof leaned on the wall next to a door leading back out into the corridor, his arms folded. "Done?" He asked, seeing Harald with the bag of potions. Harald nodded as he came over. "Let's get moving."
Opening the door, Ralof and Harald stood out into the corridor, on the other side of the cave-in. At this end of the corridor, stairs lead downwards, further into the ground. Moving to the stairs, the two men heard fighting in a room at the bottom. Looking at each other, Harald and Ralof drew their axes and moved cautiously down. Sounds of steel hitting steel and lightning magic being cast.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, both Nords saw what use the room they had just entered had been put to in the past.
"Trolls blood!" Ralof exclaimed. "It's a torture room!"
The room did seem to have been used for interrogation before the attack, with blood splattered on the walls and floor and chains strewn across the floor. On a table near a cage, tools encrusted in dried blood were laid in order on a bloodied scrap of material.
"Come on!" Ralof said to Harald, entering the room and striking an Imperial.
Harald entered the room and was noticed by an elderly, hooded Imperial, who sent a bolt of lightning in his direction. Harald dived to his left to avoid the attack, the pain in his right side intensifying. Backing up against a column, Harald awaited the torturer to come find him. Seeing his shadow approach, Harald jumped from his hiding place and grabbed the torturer, head butting him. Taking the old man's arm in his left hand, Harald wrenched it behind his back, breaking it, gaining a loud, droning cry from the man. With his axe in his right hand, Harald brought it down on the back of the torturer's head.
Ralof and the three Stormcloaks they had seen earlier had dealt with the torturer's assistant, who lay with a gaping would in his chest and an Imperial soldier, whose head was probably still in the room.
Ralof moved away from his fellow rebels as he looked around for anything that might aid them in their escape. "Was Jarl Ulfric with you?" He asked, looking in the cages.
The Stormcloak soldier from the guard tower stood, wiping the blood off her greatsword. "No, I haven't seen him since the dragon showed up."
"Looks like there's something in this cage." Ralof muttered, looking into a cage that held a dead man in what looked like mage robes.
Upon trying the door, Ralof discovered it was locked and turned to Harald.
"It's locked. See if you can get it open with some picks."
Harald found some lockpicks and a knife on a table as Ralof and the rebels searched through the small armoury nearby. Moving to the cage, lockpicks in hand, Harald knelt down in front of the lock, firmly inserting the knife and pick into the keyhole. Carefully moving the pick within the lock, he moved the pins within with ease. It took only a moment before the cage door clicked open.
Tucking the knife and lockpicks in beside his potions in the pouch, Harald opened the cage door. Stepping inside, he gathered the few septims that had fallen from the dead mage's pocket. A spell book lay next to the corpse, which Harald picked up. The only bag he could find was on the mage's body, which he took, stuffing the book and his pouch inside.
Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Harald stepped out of the cage and closed the door. He joined Ralof and the three Stormcloaks near some cells in an adjacent corridor. He discarded his iron war axe in favour for a steel sword Ralof handed him and they set off down the corridor. Heading down some stairs, the group entered into a room with cages that contained dead prisoners suspended above the ground. Moving quickly through the room, they walked through a hole in the crumbling wall into a lit, man-made tunnel. Following the tunnel, the group reached an abandoned part of the keep, from which they heard voices.
"Orders are to wait till General Tullius arrives."
Imperials.
"I'm not waiting to be killed by a dragon. We need to fall back!"
Harald peeked round the corner to see who was arguing. It was an Imperial Captain and a soldier. Surveying the room, Harald noted three other Imperial soldiers patrolling the room. One Imperial began walking towards the tunnel Harald and the rebels hid in. Harald turned to those with him and urged them to get against the wall. Unsheathing his sword as the Imperial drew closer, he took a deep breath, and, when the soldier was close enough, Harald broke his cover and drove his sword through the unsuspecting Imperial's abdomen.
The other soldiers drew their weapons as Ralof and the Stormcloaks charged into the room.
"Death to the Empire!" One Stormcloak yelled, but his battle-cries were cut short as his head was cut off at the shoulder by the Imperial Captain.
Harald and one of the Stormcloaks ran round to the other side of the room where to Imperial archers stood, sending arrows their way. Noticing the oil that they stood in, Harald removed a torch from it's brazier and threw it from the cover of a column in their direction. Sure enough, the flames from the torch set the oil and, consequently, the Imperials alight.
Ralof and the Stormcloak he was with were busy dealing with the Captain and the soldier with him. Ralof parried a swipe by the Captain and sent a fist into the side of his jaw, which he then followed with a swift kick to the groin, winding his opponent. The Captain, now doubled over, slashed at at the air blindly, which Ralof easily avoided. As a reward for his attempt, he recieved an elbow to the back of the head from the rebel, his consciousness ebbing away. The other Stormcloak had severed the sword-arm of his opponent and was now planting his battleaxe into the soldiers shoulder.
Looking round from his cover, Harald saw the Imperials rolling on the ground, burning and screaming and he rushed over, driving his sword through the chest of one Imperial, ending his pain, while the Stormcloak he was with done the same for the other. The two were soon joined by Ralof and the other rebel.
"Alright." Ralof said. "You two wait here and see if Jarl Ulfric or anyone else comes through." He said, addressing the two Stormcloaks, who nodded in response. Ralof struck his chest with his fist. "Talos guide you."
Both Stomcloaks made the same gesture before Ralof moved to a narrow corridor.
"Harald, let's see where this goes." Ralof called.
Harald nodded to the rebels and joined Ralof at the corridor entrance. Moving along, the two men reached what seemed to be a wall made of wooden planks. Ralof found an old, rusting lever on the ground and grunted as he put all his strength into pushing it. The 'wall' turned out to be a drawbridge, which fell, leading across a large gap into a cavern.
Upon crossing the bridge, both Harald and Ralof ducked as they heard the dragon roar and the cavern shake. Then, the corridor they had been in collapsed, boulders and large amonts of dirt falling on the bridge, destroying it and blocking of the way out for the two Stormcloaks.
"No going back that way, now." Ralof said, before coughing up some dust he had inhaled from the collapse. Looking at Harald, who was also coughing, he gestured to a stream on the other side of the cavern that lead into a tunnel. "We'd better push on. The rest of them will have to find another way out."
Harald walked with Ralof hurriedly, his side aching after his coughing fit. They followed the tunnel and the stream, which continued through an unpassable gap, so the two men rushed down a path to the side of the stream into a cavern strewn with cobwebs and the corpses of unfortunate soldiers.
Frostbite Spiders, much larger than the average household arachnid, spat web and poison at the two men that had entered their nest. Harald ducked under one spider's attack, then rushed forward and drove his sword between it's mandibles. Another spider reared up on four of it's rear legs and attempted to strike Harald with it's forelegs, which he severed, causing the spider to screech in pain. It was quickly silenced when Harald forced his sword through it's thorax.
Ralof had quickly dispatched another spider when he looked to the cavern ceiling. He called out to Harald as two othe Frostbite Spiders, twice the size of the ones they had just fought, fell from the ceiling. Before the spider nearest him could attack, Harald slashed at it's eyes, causing it to writhe in pain. He stabbed the spider's thorax with his sword and twisted it around, before yanking it out and stabbing again. Ralof on the other hand, had aimed for the legs and the spider attacked clumsily, unable to stand properly from the loss of numerous limbs. Finishing it off easily, Ralof stood on the spider's mandibles and pulled his sword free.
"Hate those damned things. Too many eyes, you know?" He said to Harald, jokingly.
Harald chuckled as they both headed down another tunnel, finding the stream again. The cave they were in was lit, possibly by some traveller who had taken refuge inside, judging by the prescience of a ribcage and skull. Hopping over the stream, the two men found an abandoned cart, filled with old wine next to another pile of bones. Ralof looked across the cave and immediately crouched behind the cart, pulling Harald down with him.
"There's a bear just ahead." He whispered to an annoyed and confused Harald. "See her?"
Harald peered over the cart and, sure enough, there was a large, black bear lying, asleep, amongst piles of human bones.
"I'd rather not tangle with her right now." Ralof whispered. "Let's try and sneak by." Harald nodded. "Just take it nice and slow, and watch your step."
Harald looked at Ralof, annoyed that he had to be the one to go first.
"Go ahead. I'll follow your lead and watch your back."
Harald stood up, but stayed low as he moved quietly and cautiously across the cave. He kept his eyes on the sleeping bear, only looking away to see where he was going when he felt that he may lose his footing.
It took him longer than expected, but Harald was just glad to be away from the bear.
"Good work, come on, let's go." Ralof said, his voice low.
The two men moved to the top of a slope.
"A breeze." Harald said, his hand outstretched, feeling the gentle breeze blowing against his fingers.
Both men grinned as they moved down the slope and, as expected, at the end of the corridor, there was a way out. The sunlight poured in and small flakes of snow blew in.
Ralof laughed, forgetting that there was a sleeping bear nearby. "I knew we'd make it!" He said, slapping Harald on the back before rushing forward.
Harald stood for a moment, listening for the bear, but when he heard nothing but the cool wind,he grinned and ran out into Skyrim.