By the Gods her head hurt. Groaning she tried to sit up and open her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the sunlight. She furrowed her brow in confusion when she realised that she shouldn't be facing sunlight, the last thing she remembered was falling asleep in a very dark tent.

Her eyes snapped open when she tried stretching her arms to realise that they were bound behind her back, and very close to going numb. Flexing her fingers, she counted no more than five loops of rope encircling her wrists.

"Ah. You're awake." The male voice spoke from across from her.

Tilting her head, she observed the blonde male. He was in soldier uniform, from which army she didn't know. The only army uniforms she knew of were the red ones, and those jackasses were driving this damn carriage.

"Wha- what happened?" her voice cracked as she asked the question, indicating that she had been knocked out for a few hours as she was in need of water.

"Ambush" he was about to say more before she interrupted him.

"Was there a man captured with me? Tall, dark hair looks red in the sun."

"Oh, you mean the one trailing behind us?"

At that, the man in question quickens his pace to come into view. His hands bound at the front and tied to the carriage. He had blood on his right temple, light bruising around his left eye and his clothes were torn in places to indicate a fight. His mouth had also been covered with cloth, had the carriage been moving any faster, he would be facing difficulties breathing while trying to keep up.

"Sorian!"

She struggled forward to get a better look at him, but when the carriage hit a bump in the road she was tussled and fell into the blonde male she had been questioning. The man grunted on impact but proceeded to ask if she was well.

"Yes, sorry."

Leaning her weight back she was able to get back to her feet and reseat herself.

Sorian proceeded to try and tell her off, which was difficult for everyone but her to understand with the cloth covering his mouth and muffling his words.

"Why is his mouth covered?"

"He wouldn't stop demanding an explanation for the capture and constant questions annoyed one of the higher officials so they gagged him and had him walk behind everyone."

Sniggering she sent a playful glare, "I told you that mouth of yours would get you into trouble." To which, Sorian just glared back.

Briefly closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she calmed herself so that when she opened her eyes she was able to take stock of the situation. Judging from the scenery she guessed they were about a day's walk from Whiterun. In the distance, she could see stone walls.

Falkreath? Riverwood? No, neither of them had that kind of structural protection. It must be Helgen; she thought to herself.

The man beside her grunted in discomfort and she turned to look at her riding companion. He had dirty blonde hair that came to his shoulders, wearing what she could only assume was a senior officer's uniform and he too was gagged with a piece of cloth. From the strange angle that they were sitting she could make out his broad shoulders and the muscles of his arm. He would definitely have been on the front lines with his people, you don't get that well-defined from sitting on your backside and telling others what to do.

Nodding her head towards him she asked the other blonde "Was he trying to charm the pants off an officer too?" Earning her a glare from every male on the carriage including her brother.

"This is Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the Stormcloak rebellion!" was the angry response.

"Oh" trying to keep the look of disgust off her face and obviously failing, "You mean the racist."

"Wha-!" the blonde man stuttered "How dare you!? This man is trying to free Skyrim from the clutches of the Empire and their filthy Thalmor lovers!" The man's voice rose with every word and you could feel his conviction to the cause at the end. Unfortunately, the carriage driver didn't appreciate it and they were told to,

"Be quiet back there!"

Her eyes steeled as she looked the man straight in the eyes, "But he is, and so is the rest of your army. What is your saying? Skyrim for the Nords! For every race that isn't Nord you treat as lesser beings, you even have a Grey Quarter in Windhelm! You say you fight against the Thalmor but in reality, you are exactly the same."

The bodies of both the men tensed and she would bet that if one of them had their hands free she would have been punched or much worse. She watched as their faces reddened in anger at her accusation. Sorian merely groaned and rolled his eyes.

Using the moment of quiet to her advantage, she started threading a small amount of mana to her opened right hand and a larger amount in the direction of the carriages in front. Although no one would be able to hear what she was doing, she didn't know if there was anyone amongst them that would be able to sense the slight shift in atmospheric pressure that would signify what she was performing. The only indication that Sorian knew what she was doing was by flicking his eyes to hers before starting to survey the scenery around them.

Summoning a small blade in her bound hands was no easy feat as she didn't want to accidentally stab herself, but she finally did it. As she gave Sorian a little nod she began to cut through her bindings. Finally, the blonde had gotten his voice back.

"How dare you compare us to those demons!" clearly outraged he didn't bother to keep his voice down and a vein throbbed in his forehead.

"Well, it's true. The Thalmor discriminate based on a person's beliefs, your Stormcloak army does the same based on race. Anyone who is not a Nord does not deserve to live in Skyrim apparently."

Ulfric tried arguing, but through his gag not much could be understood other than he was very angry. Both men were suddenly silent though when they realised that she had cut her bindings when she brought her hands around to her front and massaged her wrists, trying to get some feeling back in as quickly as possible.

"How-?"

"Magic. Another thing you idiots hate around here" she quietly stated as she slowly moved to the end of the wagon and cut Sorian's ties. Once cut, he was able to slow down before suddenly disappearing into the trees.

Turning she placed the dagger into the blonde's hand. Keeping her voice low so as not to notify the driver what was happening at the back of his carriage she stated "It's good for another minute before it fades back to Oblivion. I suggest you use it quickly and get out of here."

Looking up into their faces she could see nothing but shock. "Just because I disagree with how you treat people, it doesn't mean I disagree with everything that you stand for."

As she turned, bracing herself for her jump on to the road, a hand grabbed her shoulder. Ulfric, now unbound had been able to remove the cloth from his mouth.

"Wait! What's your name?"

"Faelyn."

That was the only thing she said to him before she jumped off the carriage and started running. Even as they witnessed it they realised that she had made no sound as she moved, her escape had been completely silent. As they watched her run, a wolf ran past the carriage and paced itself with her, a satchel in its mouth.

"Sir? Is that a-?"

"Yes. That's a familiar. She was able to cast that to collect their belongings and freed herself all while speaking with us and we never even had a clue."

Ulfric watched in awe as she continued running before she too disappeared. It was time for him to plan his own escape and those of his brothers and sisters.