PART 1
Chapter 1 – Joining the Rebellion
"I do swear my blood and
honor to the service of Ulfric Stormcloak
Jarl of Windhelm and true High King of Skyrim.
As Talos is my witness, may this oath bind me
to death and beyond...
...even to my lord as to my fellow brothers
and sisters in arms.
All hail the Stormcloaks, the true sons
and daughters of Skyrim!"
Galmar Stone-Fist lead the oath-taking for the new recruits with Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak presiding from his throne. The large group of men and women congratulated one another and the festivities in the Palace of the Kings continued throughout the evening. Galmar, however, spent the evening planning their next moves with Ulfric and a man known as the Dragonborn.
At midnight, the new recruits were ordered to retire for the evening. In the morning, they were to travel to their first assigned posts.
Eirin was the only new healer. She felt out of place among near two dozen war-ready men and women. As she did not go through a soldier's training, this was the first time she met these recruits. Still, she joined in on the feast, spoke with several of the men and women, and did her best to not look as uneasy and nervous as she felt.
Her training as a healer had been life-long and her skills were as good as any, but after she made the journey from her current home in Markarth to Windhelm to join the Rebellion, Galmar nearly turned her away. Healers were expected to act as reserves, or at least be able to defend themselves. Eirin was entirely untrained in combat, too weak to swing a sword more than a few times, and had terrible aim with a bow. It wasn't until Eirin showed Galmar exactly what she could do that he accepted her offer.
Just as any healer, Eirin had vast knowledge of medicinal herbs and could mix tonics that healed as easily as poisons that killed. It was her innate skill, however, that made her unique. When tonics, bandages, and stitches failed, Eirin resorted to energy manipulation. Others called it magic. Very few humans, particularly Nords, had innate supernatural abilities. Most people trained in Winterhold, learned spells and incantations, and attempted to match the level of the few natural practitioners, usually elves. Some humans, like Eirin, her mother, grandmother and so on, could manipulate energy. In Eirin's family's case, this energy was life, the force connected to the earth. Some could manipulate heat, creating fire; others, water, creating ice or even making it rain for a short time. Eirin never met anyone who could manipulate air, but she had heard of their existence. Those people could create strong gusts of wind, but the energy required for the process was said to be much greater than that of controlling the other forces.
Manipulation did not require chanting, magical scrolls, potions, or any other sort of enchantment. What it did require was a massive amount of energy expended by the manipulator. Eirin could only heal so many wounds so many times until she recuperated. Mortal wounds could only be healed partially, usually preventing infection, but the rest of the healing must be done the typical way.
Galmar did not believe Eirin at first. It was only when she took her own dagger, sliced her arm and healed it in front of the commander that he not only believed her, but practically begged her to join the Rebellion. "The only drawback is that you can only be in one place at a time," he had said to her.
As soon as the troops gathered for the next stage of the Rebellion, Eirin would be there at base camp, waiting to heal injured soldiers. She offered to trail the front line, hanging back to heal the injured before they were brought back to camp, but this was apparently the job of others, those who were able-bodied but for whatever reason could not fight. In any case, Galmar did not want to risk her being killed on the battlefield.
In an open space on the floor of Windhelm's great hall, Eirin laid out the bedroll she was issued. Instead of the typical Stormcloak uniform, she was issued a soft hide outfit that fit well and enabled her to move quickly, which may be necessary in the near future. In these clothes, she would be viewed as a civilian by the enemy, and would therefore be in less danger. She was allowed to keep her dagger, and was given a belt with a small scabbard and the same small pouch that all soldiers had attached to their own belts. She also received a large knapsack in which she would carry her healing supplies.
In the morning, Eirin would leave Windhelm for a camp far to the north-west. Galmar wanted her, with several other recruits, to accompany the Dragonborn on several missions before they joined the main troops. Galmar had been particularly insistent that the Dragonborn was a priority for Eirin's attention. One of the recruits was to be Eirin's bodyguard, and Eirin was to guard the life of the Dragonborn.
Thoughts of what the next stage of her life would bring kept Eirin awake most of the night. She nervously played with her necklace. The charm that dangled from the leather thong was a childhood gift, and she never took it off. Thoughts of the gift-giver relaxed her. Several hours before dawn, she slept.