Tales of the WinterGuard
This is my first attempt at FanFiction so be gentile on the story. It jumps around a bit at first, as I'm trying to set the foundations of the entire story, but it gets real interesting. This story takes place during the Skyrim events and for some clarification, the Dragonborn has defeated Alduin, but the Civil War rages on. The Holds of Skyrim and their poplulations have grown immensly and are thriving. A little bit of basic info but I hope you all enjoy. I do not own any of the Elder Scrolls or Skyrim series and this is just out of my imagination. Please read and review.
Chapter 1
4E 175, 30th of Rain's Hand
Battle of the Red Ring, Southern Line
4th Legion of the Imperail Army
"Get those arrows flying! We can't allow those damned elves to break through our lines!" the Imperial Tribune shouted.
Ulrik Ice-Mane had heard of the ferocity and savagery of battles before but never on the scale. The stench of death and decay filled the air and made him want to turn out last night's meal, and by the looks on some of the other legionnaires, they felt the same way.
They'd marched down from Skyrim knowing that they needed to retake the Imperial City. Now the Thalmor were pressing them in from the south and the west.
The explosion of a fireball snapped him back to his senses. He needed to get back to his duty. To Nords, duty and honor are among the highest of priorities. In his mind, Ulrik knew he could not bring shame to his ancestors and Nordic heritage.
At only five years of age he wasn't allowed to fight or to sign up with the Legion yet, however, at his brother's, Esken's, request he'd been brought along as an extra helping hand. Throughout the trip down to Cyrodiil, he'd mostly just helped the cooks and served as an extra pack mule. Right now though he was busy dispensing more arrows to the 3rd Archer Company of the 4th Legion, and with almost 250 archers making up the 3rd he had a lot of arrows to dispense.
Halfway along the lines of the archers he saw the face, he'd hope to see still intact. Esken's bow loosened arrows upon the advancing rows of Thalmor, as the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Infantry Companies readied themselves for the oncoming horde. They were as ready as they were ever going to be and thanks to General Jonna's brilliance, they stood a better chance of staving off the enemy advance.
Soon after the enemy's advance had first been spotted, General Jonna knew that they would be hit all on sides and quickly over run due to the enemies' greater numbers. So instead of marching out to meet them, he allowed the enemy to advance on their position and divided his forces to evenly to defend the main assault and the eastern and western flanks. He also kept back 3 companies of infantry and 2 archer companies as reinforcements to be dispatched as needed.
Ulrik at his young age hadn't quite thought of the reason for dividing up their forces like this, until Esken had slowly explained the situation to him. At that point he'd felt confident that the Legion would easily dispatch these elves, however, being in the heat of battle as he was now, he had the feeling at the pit of his stomach that made him wish he'd had parents to hold onto.
"More arrows!" came the shout from the archer next to Esken. Ulrik made his way over and placed another dozen arrows in the man's quiver. He turned to see Esken and their gazes met for a second. In that second, Esken's blue eyes and slight smile comforted Ulrik more than any hug or any words could ever make him feel. In that second he saw his older brother fighting proudly to defend an Empire that had dubbed them outcasts. In that second, a fireball exploded on Esken's chest.
Ulrik awoke sweating and panting. He never sweat, living in this ruin which offered some protection against the wind but nothing in the way of protection from the cold. He looked around as if expecting to see someone who wasn't there. He shook his head as if pretending not to know who or what he was looking for, but in the back of his mind and in the heart of his soul, he secretly hoped to see Esken standing before him as he was that day almost 27 years ago.
He got up and went to peer out the make shift windows of the ruin to see where the sun was. Out in the distance past the Sea of Ghosts, he could see the sun barely beginning to edge its way up into the sky and christen the day with its glow. The ruins, which he'd found about a year and a half back was of ancient Nordic design, built solely as a rest stop of sorts and had no windows and no doors. The single entrance faced east and led into a "hallway" that ran in a semi-circle and opened up into a small room. All along the "hallway" were opening's that could be mistaken as openings for a window but as to their main purpose, Ulrik could only guess. He covered the openings that were most exposed to the elements with plates of wood and wolves pelts. This served to protect him from the elements and to offer some minor protection against any who would try to attack him while he lay inside the room.
At the ripe of age of 30 his life had been filled with an excellent career in the legion, a few years of adventuring, and for the past year and a half working as a hunter, fisherman, and expedition guide for the ruins of Alftand. He'd even been made a Thane of the Hold for his many noble deeds and for his aid in the expansion and prosperity of Winterhold. It all seemed like a life well lived and worthy of a place within Sovngarde. However, for all this, he still felt emptiness in his soul. Perhaps it was the loss of his brother at an early age, or his reasons for leaving the Legion, or the fact that he longed to end his loneliness and have a family of his own. These things constantly plagued his heart and he often found himself wondering what purpose was left for him in this life. Why did he continue to exist in this remote corner of Skyrim?
He caught himself deep in thought again and realized that today was a most important day. It was the 11th of First Seed and he had made plans to spend the day with Malene for her birthday. He'd even gone so far as to have Birna special order a Silver and Sapphire Ring commissioned in Markarth. He spared no expense in its creation having had the necklace engraved with the words, "To the Soul that Warms my Heart" and got it enchanted with Sergius over at the College of Winterhold. It lay flat on a set of drawers as he stared at it carefully. He had hoped to give it to her not only as a gift but, as an engagement ring. His thoughts raced back to the time he' first met Malene.
He'd met Malene almost a year and a half ago after he'd met with her father, Arnskar Snow-Song, about bringing his shop and business, Snow-Song Shipping, to Winterhold. Back then Winterhold had been as close to a ghost town as a city came. With most of the city having fallen into the Sea of Ghosts, there wasn't much of a city to look at. However, the Jarl came up with a brilliant plan to help encourage the growth of the Hold. The first step would be to establish the Winterhold Port which would be just outside town at an area where the cliff, which makes up Winterhold, slopes down and meets the sea. Next they'd bring in several businesses and trading companies, both foreign and domestic to help encourage trade and commerce. Lastly he planned to establish smaller fishing villages within the Hold as well as a few small inland hunting and mining villages. However, the Jarl's plans had a vital flaw; he didn't have the coin to undertake such an endeavor.
In this Ulrik had been a huge help. It was around this time that Ulrik had first come to Winterhold in search of work. He'd taken on a job in leading a group of men to Mount Anthor to kill a dragon. They'd done the job and even managed to all come back alive. After this the Jarl, seeing that Ulrik could of much use to the Hold, had him stay around to help out with a few other tasks around the hold. Some of these were small tasks such as looking into the disappearance of a fisherman, to exploring the Dwemer ruins of Alftand. The latter being the solution to the problem of gold. Ulrik realized the wealth that lay within the Dwemer ruins, both scholarly and financially. It was with this idea in mind that he proposed establishing a village near the ruins to house archaeologists and excavators of the raw Dwemer materials within the ruins. With Skyrim being at war with the Empire, no one was monitoring the export and import of Dwemer goods, which would prove beneficial to Winterhold. The Jarl however, figured that there would still be the problem of getting the Winterhold Port and the village established near the ruins initially funded and setup. Ulrik having acquired a small fortune with his saved up Legion earnings and from his adventuring days donated the vast majority of his coin to the Hold. After this he was named Thane of Winterhold and was even offered permanent residence within the new village, which began to prosper almost immediately, and a portion of the profits from the overall project. He accepted both of these and additionally asked for a small plot of land outside of town on which stood a small ancient Nord ruin.
Since then the village, named Ulrikstag, named after Ulrik, grew from just being a village for archaeologists and miners, to a bustling and thriving town. Armed expeditions frequently go into the ruins and generally come back successful.
The Jarl's plans for expansion continued a few months after the successful establishment of Ulrikstag, with the establishment of two small fishing villages, Yisra's Port and Winter's Port.
Yisra's Port was established on the site of some sort of explosion which took the life of a woman named Yisra, as was discovered at the scene and told by her journal.
Winter's Port was established off near the eastern banks where the sea meets the lands of Winterhold. It was established rather closely to the Wreck of the Winter War, which was renovated and enhanced to serve as a lighthouse, and barracks for the coastguards there.
The Jarl, seeing the prosperity of the Hold and the new formed villages wasted no expense and time on establishing inland villages, formally establishing Glenden, which was on a cliff overlooking the Sea of Ghosts to the North and near an ancient standing stone dubbed The Tower Stone, and Snow Veil, which was setup near the ancient Nordic Ruins of Snow Veil Sanctum.
Throughout all this Ulrik looked on at the amazement and growth that he had helped to establish. He wondered whether or not the other Holds would even notice their sudden expansion, but this thought was laid to rest soon after when a discussion with a merchant gave him all the answers he needed.
The other Holds, seeing the success of Winterhold began to pour vast amounts of resources into establishing more villages and to encourage growth. Like Winterhold it seemed all of Skyrim was going through a boom. What once was a Hold of less than fifty people living within its borders, swelled to well over a few thousand. This seemed to be a reoccurring theme with most of the other Holds. Indeed it made Ulrik feel as if he had accomplished another worthy deed in the eyes of his Ancestors.
Ulrik looked back at the sun and realized it was well past the horizon and that he'd better hurry less he face the wrath of being late to meet up with Malene.
