"Nelli, wake up."
She jolted awake and stared at the young woman who had just shook her awake. "Shiloh, what's wrong?" Nellisane sat up and looked at her friend expectantly. If there was one thing she did not like it was being woken up for no good reason.
"I...I think I saw something. In the sky."
Shiloh was a young Breton in her early twenties, a hunter and good friend of Nelli. They had met just a few months ago while both hunted the same stag in the woods and instead of becoming rivals they ended up as a team, both getting their share of the hunt. Despite the age difference of thirteen years they grew close quite quickly.
"What did you see?" She yawned, got up and stalked over to the hearth. She filled a cup with hot herbal tea which was brewing over the fire. "Wants some?" She offered but shrugged as Shiloh shook her head.
"I thought it was a dark cloud. But it moved. Quite fast."
"Clouds tend to do that sometimes." Nelli sipped her tea, leaning against the windowframe and looked outside. "Sky looks perfectly fine to me."
Shiloh looked at her boots, shifting a bit. "I think it was a dragon."
Nelli blinked and turned towards her again. "Dragon? Dragons don't exist anymore, Shi. They're all gone for centuries. Are you sure it wasn't just a flock of birds or..."
She fell silent as a loud roar cut through the silence outside. The two women shared a concerned look. "Still think those are birds?" Shiloh said and went to open the door, but Nelli grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
"No! Wait, look!" She pointed out of the window towards the mountains across the river, the ruins of Bleak Falls Barrow looming eerily out of the mist. A huge, black shape glided through the clear blue sky. Its wings spread wide as it roared again. Finally, the beast vanished behind the mountains.
Nelli just stared outside for a moment, unable to find the right words. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through her hair and she snapped out of her daze as she realized that the door was open. She groaned, grabbed her daggers and followed Shiloh.
"How can that be?" Shi said. "I thought dragons are gone. Forever."
"Your guess is as good as mine. We saw where it vanished, but where did it come from?" She wondered and hurried up the path to the road that was leading to Riverwood the north and Helgen in the south. Her eyes grew wide as she spotted the dark clouds of smoke rising in the distance.
"Helgen. It must have attacked Helgen."
"Maybe there are survivors? We have to go and check on them." Shiloh said.
"I will go."
"But..."
Nelli looked at her sternly. "I want you to go to Riverwood. Warn them. We cannot be sure if the dragon is really gone. If it comes back they need to be prepared. They cannot defend themselves but they can seek shelter."
Shiloh nodded and hurried back to the cabin with her. They both packed their bags with some supplies. Nelli grabbed a few bottles of healing potion just in case she might find survivors. She shouldered her bag and hugged Shiloh.
"Be careful." She said.
"You too, Nelli." She replied and shouldered her bag as well. They waved goodbye and for a moment Nelli just looked after her friend until she turned to the opposite direction and sighed. Finally, she headed up along the winding road that would eventuallly lead her to the Imperial town.
The smell of burned flesh stung in her nose as she arrived in front of the gates to Helgen. The smoke darkened the sky and the silence that lay upon this normally lively town was heavy. Nelli walked through the gate and gasped as she saw the destruction before her. Houses collapsed, some still burning. Corpses lay scattered across the main yard.
"Hello?" She called and turned in all directions. "Is anyone alive?"
She received no answer much to her dismay. She crossed the yard towards the stone towers. She tried her luck at the door but it wouldn't open. "Damn." She muttered and looked around again. She squinted her eyes as she spotted something red lying next to a corpse near the town's wall. She hurried over and picked the book up. It was a journal bound in red-leather. She moved over to the steps leading to the tower and sat down, flipping it open. There was no name inside, yet a few short entries. Curiously, she began to read in hopes to find some answers.
"Hard to believe I filled up that whole journal already. I never realized how much of Cyrodiil I hadn't seen yet! So much diversity, yet so much destruction from the Great War. A lot of history has been lost here forever. The expedition is ending soon and everyone will be returning home. I have one last task to perform before I do the same. I'll send the other journal ahead with my supplies and the artifacts we recovered."
She flipped the page and continued with the second entry.
"I've received words from my contacts in Skyrim. All seem quiet for now. Probably for the first time since High King Torygg was killed. I should be able to make the crossing quietly enough during the night. So long as there are no Imperial patrols to deal with."
Nelli lowered the journal for a second, then shook her head as she continued with the third entry.
"So much for being discreet! I crossed the border near a small village called Helgen and made my way up to Darkwater Crossing. Unfortunately I can't get back to my camp now because the area has filled with Imperial patrols! It seems they are searching for someone. Someone very important. If I'm not mistaken, someone they intend to ambush here. This could be the very thing I am seeking here in Skyrim, but crossing the border in the dead of night without passing through the checkpoints has turned out to be a very bad plan."
She flipped the page again and continued.
"I woke early this morning with an Imperial sword pressed to my neck. A patrol found me camped under a rock outcropping on the edge of the volcanic marshes. I guess I wasn't as well hidden as I thought. I have no idea where they're taking us, but I've been stuffed into the back of a rickety old cart being pulled by an even more rickety looking old nag. At least they let me keep my journal for now."
Finally, she reached the fifth and last entry. Bracing herself she sighed and read on.
"Shor's bones, if only I had known sooner! The ambush, the captives in the cart with me. Stormcloak rebels! Led by none other than Ulfric Stormcloak himself! There's no time to explain properly. I scarcely believe it myself. If it hadn't been for the dragon, I'd not even be here to write this down. Yes, a dragon! Big, black, as large as the towers of the keep itself. It swooped in out of nowhere and laid waste to the village and the keep.
"General Tullius didn't take my head today, or the heads of several Stormcloak rebels, but that doesn't matter now. Hadvar and Ralof set aside their differences to help the survivors. They went into the lower keep hours ago. Something about caves with a back entrance. I don't think they're coming back. I'll have to see if I can get out of the city and down to Riverwood. Someone needs to warn them! This building won't remain standing for much longer.
"I still can't believe it. A dragon. Straight out of the legends! Nobody back home will ever believe me."
For a moment Nelli forgot her surroundings, the smell and the fact that a dragon was still on the loose. The tips of her fingers brushed over the written name. Ulfric Stormcloak.
"You're...alive?" She whispered as if asking him and not just herself. Her eyes flicked up and she stuffed the journal into her bag and pushed herself up. She knew the cave the writer had mentioned. Quickly she ran out of the town's gate and climbed over stones and slipped on patches of ice as she headed down the path that finally ended at the entrance of a dark cave. Its dark mouth loomed before her. Her heartbeat slowed down a little. Ever since that fateful day she didn't like darkness. But she couldn't let her fear hold her back. She had to check if there were still any survivors in the cave. Taking a deep breath she unsheathed her daggers and entered the cave. It was indeed dimly lit, the air was moist and the ground rather slick. She reached the main part of the cave and looked around.
"Hello?" She called, her voice echoed from the walls. As the echo died down she heard some shuffling nearby. "Is anyone in here?" She said and inched further inside.
"Over h-here..." A voice croaked not far ahead.
Nelli hurried over as she spotted a blond man lying on the ground, clutching his stomach. She knelt down. "Are you injured?"
"Just..." He coughed and looked at her. "Just a bruised rib."
She set her bag down and rummaged through it, uncorked the bottle and handed it over. "Drink it. It's a healing potion. It will take the pain and give you some strength again."
He reached for it and gulped it down in one go. He sighed contently as the warmth filled his body and the pain indeed vanished almost immediately. She took the empty bottle and put it back into her bag.
"Can you walk?" She asked and offered him her hand. He took it and slowly got up.
"Thanks. I'm Ralof. Who are you? You weren't in Helgen when the dragon attacked."
She shook her head. "No, I wasn't but I saw the dragon. I live not far down by the river. My friend already went to Riverwood to warn them and I came here to check if there are any survivors. Unfortunately, I only found you."
"And I'm glad I'm still in one piece. Let's get out of here."
Together they left the cave. Sunlight hit their faces as they stepped outside. Nelli turned to him.
"What's your plan now?"
"I'm going to Riverwood first. My sister, Gerdur, owns the lumber mill. I might lay low for a few days. Can't risk being seen on the road while the Imperials might still be swarming the area."
While they walked down the road they lapsed into silence for a while until they reached the bending which would lead her back to her cabin. She wondered if Shiloh had returned yet. She looked at Ralof and saw him look at her intently.
"Before we part ways..." She began and cleared her throat. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing."
"Is it true that...Ulfric Stormcloak was with you?"
"Aye, that is true. He made it out alive as far as I can tell. Once the situation has cooled down a bit I will return to Windhelm. You should do the same if you want to join the rebellion."
Nelli tilted her head. "I will think about it. Farewell for now, Ralof." She smiled lightly.
"Farewell, stranger." He winked, aware that she hadn't given him her name. Yet, he knew once he'd return to Windhelm he'd tell Ulfric about the mysterious woman that saved his life. The woman with eyes like two balls of fire.
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! If you did, please leave a review :) Favs and follows are also highly appreciated, of course! :D