I am an Imperial, sitting in the back of an Imperial prison carriage with three others, all of them are StormCloaks, soldiers fighting for Ulfric StormCloak, they're rebels, fighting against the empire all because they believe Ulfric is the true king of this region, Skyrim, home of the nords. Skyrim is an icy wasteland filled with mountains, and valleys, with the occasional green forest. The cold is unforgiving, it nips at my ears and eyes, normally I have a hood covering my head, but that was pulled down when I was captured by the imperials. They seem to capture anyone in connection with the StormCloaks, even I, who was at the StormCloak camp to assassinate one of their lieutenants. This particular lieutenant was a horker; he was a fat and stupid man, much like the walrus-like creature that lived in Skyrim. He was responsible for forty-three rapes and murders of innocent women, including my own sister.
When I went to the camp, the guards assumed I was a prostitute my figure did lead to such hasty generalizations, doubled with my attire of dark leather armor and studded boots and gloves, the boots were heeled, and all of it was tight to my curvy figure, the only parts that could have given me away in the camp was my cloak and hood, which I know is normal to be worn, but not by prostitutes, who generally don't care if their face is seen, the other fact that could give me away was that my eyes could not truly be seen, for they glowed. It was a spell I learned from a Breton, he taught me to use an alteration spell to allow my eyes to glow to the brightness and color of my mood. During the trip through the camp to the lieutenant's tent, my eyes glowed a dull white, like the snow that covered the ground, cold and heartless, it didn't care about those who died in the snow, or died because of its freezing embrace. Once in the tent, the change in my eyes was almost instant, going from a dull white, to a very angry blood red, my hatred for this man knew no bounds, and out from its sheath came my favorite blade, Purge, the blade was slightly curved, and razor sharp, to add to its lethality it was covered in frostbite venom, the same kind of venom which felled an imperial as he frisked me for my weapons. I was quick to act as my blade entered his large belly and went upward coming out of the back of his neck, the only sound he made was a slight gasp of surprise as the blade pierced his flesh, and then went through his heart and finally his spine, ending his life almost instaneously. I would have enjoyed a slower death, but he had guards outside, and they were already wondering what was going on by the time I removed my blade from their charge, the two were met with a paralysis spell I had learned from the same Breton, and then as I was about to make my escape, the Imperials arrived and captured or killed everyone. I surrendered without much of a fight, due to the fact that I had no need of such a thing at the moment, and as they bound my wrists to each other, I did, however, show them how much I enjoyed their company by biting one of the guards' fingers off and spitting it in his face, for which I was met with a fist and then a rag tied tightly over my lower face, covering my nose and mouth. What they didn't know was that this helped me by keeping my nose and cheeks out of the cold and kept warm by my breath.
Now I am waiting for the right time to make my escape carefully watching the guards who never bothered to check my boots for the weapon I could currently feel still in its sheath for such an occasion. As if on cue, an ice troll slammed into the first carriage, mine being the last, and the soldier behind our carriage went to aid the others. I carefully slipped my foot out of my boot and at the same time with my other boot brush snow away from where my now naked foot would rest while I got my blade from my boot. Once I had the blade, I quickly put my boot back on and cut my bindings then also untied the rag and tossed that off the carriage, then I waited for the troll to be killed and for us to continue moving, which took about another fifteen minutes, by which time I had pulled my scarf over my nose and mouth to keep them warm and pulled up my hood as I reactivated the spell that hid my brown eyes from the world the glowing was white once again, as an assassin, I usually showed no emotion, hence the white glow. I pushed a bit of my light brown hair back behind my ears to keep them out of my face, replacing my hair band that kept my hair back, the only hair visible on my face were my bangs that were never visible from my eyes. With my view cleared I then hid my blade in my sleeve and put my hands back in their position, making it seem as if nothing had happened, I waited for nightfall.
Once the moon had risen in the sky, and the guards stopped to let the drivers and horses rest, they set up camp and got everyone food, mainly just soup with meat from whatever small furry creature they found and killed. I declined the soup, but they gave it to me anyway, so I gave it to another prisoner as the Imperials began going to sleep, I slipped into the bushes, silently as always, and went to the imperials' tents and began searching for the rest of my weapons, especially Purge. First I slipped into the weapons tent, where they had stored the weapons of the StormCloaks; I searched the chest and found many of my smaller blades, but not Purge. I then went through each individual tent, searching the chests that were inside, eventually I found my blade in the captain's tent, without second thought I took my blade and left his tent, sheathing Purge as I began making my way away from the road sliding down the slope we had been going up for some time during the day. I found myself back at the StormCloak camp and I took a tent for the night, keeping myself warm under the fur blanket as I allowed myself to drift off to sleep for the night.
I awoke to someone pulling at the blanket over me; I opened my eyes slowly to see a child, a fairly young child no older than the age of five, she was wearing simple clothes, of a green jacket over a blue shirt, and blue leggings, her blonde hair was covered in dirt and grime, her emerald color eyes sparkled, despite the low lighting in the tent. The eyes alone touched me, they reminded me of my sister's, who always gave you such a look you would do anything to please her. I sat up, slowly as to not startle the child.
"Who are you?" she asked me.
"I believe I should be asking you that question." I replied to the child
"I asked first." the child replied
"Very well, my name is Rega, and yours?" I asked the child
"I'm Vextalline, but most of my friends call me Vex" the blonde child answered
"And what brings a child like you way out here?" I asked
"They said if I got into trouble with the Imperials I should come here and someone could help me, but everyone seems to be gone." Vex answered
"They were captured by Imperials yesterday, I was among them, but I escaped" I replied to the child not reveling to her why I was at the camp.
"You don't look like a StormCloak." Vex commented
"I'm not, I'm an assassin." I replied
"Are you with the Dark Brotherhood?" Vex asked
"How did you hear of them?" I countered, normally children did not know about such organizations.
"They killed my father" Vex replied her eyes showing tears, I comforted her with a hug before I spoke
"Do not worry little one, I am not with the brotherhood" I assured her as I pulled her onto the bed and ran my fingers through her hair. "You need a bath. C'mon, let's head to my home, we can give you a bath there." I smiled down at her as I picked her up and held her with one arm I picked up the blanket with the other and put it over Vex to help keep her warm, she gladly took the still warm blanket and put it over her shoulders. I then stepped out of the tent, and saw the tracks she had made, they showed how deep she sank in the snow despite her size, and I carried her out of the camp and down the slopes to the plains.
I walked for some time before we stopped for lunch of bread and 'borrowed' sabre cat meat. Vex seemed to enjoy the lean slightly seasoned jerky of the sabre cat meat, and after lunch we continued down the road past the Valtheim Towers. I saw the bandits that lived there were peeking out of the towers observing us, deciding whether to rob us or not, they didn't, they either must've recognized it was me, or actually care if there is a child in my arms. After about another hour of traveling on the cold paved road, we came upon the stables of Whiterun. Vex smiled as she saw the large horses in the stable, telling me how much she wanted one. I told her when she was older I would teach her how to ride such a horse. We then went into the city and to my home, upon entering Vex noticed the array of books, trophies, and weapons scattered through the home, as well as the fire that was always lit in the middle of the home, keeping the entire house warm. I set her down to let her explore while I went to fill her bath.
I could hear her climbing the steps and heading for upstairs, then a startled scream from her as she came face to face with the man of the house (who I have no love relations with), Xerex, I could hear her coming back down the stairs hurriedly as she came into the bathroom and hugged me out of sheer terror for the one who was currently upstairs. Xerex, despite his appearance, was gentle until angered. We share the house due to the fact that neither of us wanted to sleep in Jorrvaskr, home of the Companions, so we decided to share a house. He became basically my bodyguard on adventures we had together, otherwise he chopped wood for the Bannered Mare, he gave the wood to the keeper there for a measly five gold per piece, half a log, which doesn't matter much, except that he chops wood from five am to nine pm and then goes to sell it, chopping at a rate of three logs a minute. He is most likely the richest orc in Skyrim, if not all of Tamriel. His appearance was always rough, he hardly bathed, he preferred to bathe in blood rather than water, his face was covered with blood red war paint, which I still do not know if it's actual paint, or blood, he has the front row of his lower jaw constantly protruding from his mouth all of which are filed to points, his two largest canines from his lower jaw jut out like tusks on a mammoth, only his left one his broken, and they aren't nearly as long. Out of his two eyes, the right one is blind, and the left one is blood red like his war paint. His hair is put up in a small feather plume, his hair is dark, like is dark gray skin, and instead of brows he has three bony spikes jutting from his brow. His apparel mainly consists of steel armor, and a steel horned helm. He wields two imperial swords he took off of two men guarding him after he killed them; he killed two dragons with those blades. He hates magic, and archery, as well as shields, he prefers to hit hard, fast, and relentlessly. How he keeps his rage and bloodlust under control is a mystery to me, but he never ceases to amaze me at how he fights.
Vex whimpered and mumbled about a monster being upstairs, at which point I heard the 'monster' coming down the stairs, wondering who just screamed at him, he came to the bathroom and knocked on the already open door. I stopped filling the tub to answer him by walking out into the main room and shutting the door behind me.
"Who is the child?" Xerex asked, always gruff, always direct, always himself.
"Her name is Vex, she's under my care" I replied pulling down my hood and scarf I forgot to remove until now.
"I didn't know you were starting a daycare" Xerex chuckled.
"I'm not, but she….she has my sisters eyes" I replied, not sure if I should tell him, I also wasn't sure if the child we were speaking of was listening in.
"I see, we should have the argonian see if there is a relation between you two" Xerex said. The argonian was a mage, a friend of mine, but not much to Xerex, due to him hating magic. The argonian was named Cretch, he had many spikes protruding from his scaly head instead of hair, his brow had more spikes, and he had three claw scars over his left eye, he has war pant that looks like more scars along his neck, going from back to front, he also usually wears his Nightingale armor and travels with an astronach, usually the feminine looking fire astronach. He is a brilliant mage, as well as a great warrior and friend to me, and like Xerex he was also a member of the Companions. Cretch was also a member of the Circle, the higher rank of the companions. He had what they called the "Beast Blood" allowing him to turn into a beast for a time of need, like a fight or a getaway.
"Yea, but I want to get her cleaned up first, maybe give her a bath and new clothes" I said before he went back upstairs and I went into the bathroom to find little Vex was looking in the still warm water. I smiled and sat her down at the chair next to the tub as I continued to fill the bath and got her undressed for her bath, before picking her up and putting her in the bath. Once in the bath, I got a brush for her hair and a second for her body, handing her the one for her body I told her to start cleaning herself while I cleaned her hair, I used a paralysis spell to completely numb her hair while I got the knots and dirt out of what appeared to be blonde hair. After about an hour of work and water changes from the dirt coming off of her, Vex was finally clean. "There sweetie, all clean, and now you have an actual hair color" I smiled at her as I lifted her out of the tub for the final time.
"Yay," she smiled looking at herself then looked up at me with her emerald eyes, reminding me that I had to get her clothes.
I smiled and handed her a towel before I instructed her to dry herself off while I got her some new clothes. I went to Belethor's store and bought some clothes for little Vex before returning to my home in time to see Xerex leave with a couple strangers I didn't know, but I knew who they were, unknown to the Jarl, Xerex was a Stormcloak, and the men he was leaving with were also Stormcloaks, meaning that this war was finally going to become an actual war. I said nothing to him as he did not see me as he and his comrades left Whiterun heading for Windhelm, oldest city in Skyrim, and also the capital of the rebellion.
I entered my home and went to the bathroom giving the clothing to Vex; she smiled and put on the clothes. "Okay Vex, we need to see a friend of mine, he's a mage, okay?"
"Okay" Vex answered simply still smiling happily glad to have a motherly figure to look out for her. I smiled and picked her up before heading for Dragonsreach, the keep at the top of Whiterun, where the Jarl usually was, as was Cretch who was usually with Farengar, the court wizard, learning off of each other as they did their experiments, Cretch was Balgruuf's Thane, the argonian was also a Dragonborn, known as Dovakhiin to the dragons they fight. Cretch had been taught by the Greybeards, monks who live on High Hrothgar, the tallest mountain in all of Skyrim, it was also known as the "Throat of the World".
I entered the keep and immediately went to Cretch with Vex in my arm. As usual, he was busy studying a tablet I had 'retrieved' from a group of Stormcloaks when I set Vex down on the tablet since he it was the only means of getting the argonian's attention. "Bah, who put this- oh, Rega, It's you…who is this, and what do you want?" Cretch asked, his light green reptilian eyes looking back into mine.
"Cretch, this is Vextalline, and I wanted to see if there is a connection between her and my sister." I answered his questions, with Vex giving a slight wave to Cretch at the mention of her name.
"Ah, very well, Farengar, please go study in your chambers, I must work on something out here" Cretch said to the court wizard who nodded and took the books he was translating back into another room. Cretch then took hold of Vex's hand, firmly, but gently as he pricked her finger with a small pin and collected the bit of her blood and used a spell to seal the wound again, then repeated the process with me, before he began working his magic, manipulating the forces of the Aetherius as the blood began to mix and change colors. Vex watched in amazement as it changed colors and soon formed a pure white color. "Vextalline is related to you by blood, Rega" Cretch spoke as he put the blood into a vial and handed it to me for keeping if I really wanted to, which now I kind of did. I had just learned that this poor girl I met only two days ago is actually my niece, and I would defend her with my life, though I would rather put someone else's life on the line to save her other than my own. She smiled up at me and we hugged, it was a great hug between us, I picked her up in my arms.
End of Chapter I.