Author's Note: This was inspired by a video detailing cut content from Skyrim where the beginning of the game would've given you the chance to follow Ulfric in addition to Hadvar and Ralof. I decided to turn the cut content into an alternate version of the original Attack on Helgen two-shot. Please note that this version begins just before Alduin appears, which was transplanted here from the original, and some bits and pieces after that point have also been lifted.
The man looked at Eriah, an apology in his expression. "To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy." he directed. Eriah's legs felt like rubber as fear started building again. She walked forward, still feeling the eyes of the Jarl and the Stormcloaks on her. While the strange roars caused concern to nearly overtake her fear of death, Eriah decided that it no longer mattered and she should prepare herself for the afterlife. Would she be welcomed in Sovngarde where Shor's Hall was said to stand tall before a whale bone bridge? She was a simple jeweler's daughter, trained in the ways of the sword by her mother. Shor's Hall was where the heroes of old gathered in the Nordic afterlife. What right had she to mingle with them? "Talos...watch over my family. Akatosh preserve them." she prayed silently as she was pushed to her knees and her head met the block, sticky with blood. She let her eyes drift to the headsman and watched as he prepared to take her head. That's when she saw it.
Flying around the nearby mountains was a gigantic, winged black beast flying straight for them. "By the Nine." her mind gasped, fear stilling her tongue. Something deep down reacted to the beast's presence but it was overruled by her terror. "What in Oblivion is that!?" someone shouted. "Sentries, what do you see?" the captain asked. Her question was made pointless as the beast landed on the tower behind her, causing those who were standing to stumble as the landing shook the very ground. His red eyes zeroed in on Eriah. "Dragon!" she heard a woman yell. Eriah herself couldn't even breathe as the dragon pinned her with his gaze. He opened his mouth and a shock wave from his jaws sent the headsman stumbling to the ground. It sounded like thunder. Eriah felt as if her body had been hit hard by solid force. Suddenly, her mind flashed back to when she was a child reading about dragons and their Voices, how they used Words of Power to do battle. As her tutor put it, a battle between dragons was a deadly verbal debate. In ancient times, dragons ruled Tamriel and Shouted down Man who tried to prove their Voice was also strong.
A small part of her realized the legends were all true and the force she felt when the dragon opened his jaws was a Shout. The sky above turned cloudy and fiery rocks started falling from the sky. The Imperial soldier who took her name got in front of her, his sword drawn. He meant to protect her from the beast. The dragon Shouted again and Eriah nearly blacked out from the sheer force. All hell broke loose. Eriah scrambled to her feet, her brown eyes on the black dragon as he took flight and starting raining death from above. She heard Ralof shouting for her and she focused on his voice. He called her from a tower on the opposite side of the one the block was in front of. Eriah tripped and nearly fell but Ralof grabbed her arm and all but threw her into the tower, slamming the door closed as he followed her in. Ulfric was there as well, free of his bindings and gag. Several other Stormcloaks, a couple wounded, were also there. "Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" Ralof then asked his commander. "Legends don't burn down villages." Ulfric replied solemnly.
Eriah tried to block out the sounds of death and dragon fire but with her wrists still bound, she couldn't manage it. She couldn't stop pacing, not even when someone said they needed to move. Ulfric reached out and took a hold of her arm, bringing her out of her panicked state and looking at him. He silently told her through his eyes that she needed to calm down or she would surely perish. Once more drawing strength from the man, the young woman took a deep breath and wrangled herself under control. "Ralof, I'll get this one out of the town. It's my fault she's here. Whenever you get the chance, help these wounded men and then run for it. Should you survive, I will not fault you if you never return to my service but if you choose to remain, make your way to Windhelm when you can." he said. "I'll not abandon my place in your army, sir. Good luck and be careful. Talos guide you." Ralof said. "And you as well." Ulfric said. Ralof was about to head for his fallen comrades when a hole was punched into the tower. Reacting out of instinct, Eriah ducked and Ulfric shielded her as well. The roar of the black dragon was followed by a Shout of fire before he pulled his lordly head out of the hole to continue his assault.
When he deemed it safe, Ulfric looked to the hole and down at Eriah. "Come." he said, pulling her towards the stairs. Finding her footing, she followed and they reached the hole. Below was a destroyed house. The drop was survivable with no serious if they were careful about it. "You need to jump." Ulfric said, his eyes going to the dragon circling the town. The young woman looked at him as if he were joking. "Are you insane!?" she protested. "I've come through similar events. Trust me. If you're as well-trained as I initially thought when I first saw you in Darkwater Crossing, you should have no trouble with this." Ulfric said, a hard edge to his voice that brooked no argument. Taking a deep breath, Eriah backed up a few steps and ran. She leaped out of the tower into the damaged inn. She fell into a roll, just as her mother taught her, and got to her feet. She got to the lower level before Ulfric had copied the fall-and-roll and he caught up with her. "This way." he said, running in the direction of the keep. Eriah kept low to the ground, her mother's training in full force. She kept her eyes on the rebel jarl and found a curious thought dancing in her head. Maybe he wasn't what the Empire said he was. He took on full responsibility for her getting involved with him and was now doing his best to save her from their current predicament. "This is a man I could follow." she thought.
They soon reached the keep with Ulfric pausing long enough to wrench the door open. As Eriah got closer, he took a hold of her arm and flung her ahead of him into the keep, slamming the door behind him. The two panted from the adrenaline of their escape but they weren't in the clear yet. Eriah started pulling on her bindings. "Here. Let me." Ulfric said, producing a dagger he must've lifted when she was keeping an eye on the dragon. He took her bound hands in one of his, slid the blade between her wrists, and cut them loose. "Finally." Eriah said, rubbing her wrists gingerly. She had a nasty rope burn. Now that adrenaline and fear weren't pumping through her veins, they started to sting. "We don't have much time before any Imperials in here regroup and attempt to fight the dragon." the Jarl said, before looking at the dead body of one of his own. "Gunjar...a good soldier. Take his armor and weapon. He'd want you to make use of them." he said. Eriah nodded before started pulling the armor off. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Ulfric stationed himself near the door to the keep, back to her. She slowly removed the rags she woke up in and got into the Stormcloak outfit. It was tad too big but it would do just well. She took the ax and placed it in the belt loop. "I'm ready." she said.
Ulfric crossed the room and took hold of the gate. "Locked. Figures as much." he cursed before voices at the end of the hall were heard. The two ex-prisoners ducked to either side. Ulfric caught her gaze again. "Let's see if you really know what you're doing with a weapon." he said, pulling an ax he had also procured when she hadn't been paying attention. Taking it as a personal challenge to do her mother proud, Eriah smirked and hefted the weapon at the ready. When the Captain and a couple guards entered, the two Nords engaged them and made quick work of them. "Now that that's set, let's move." he said, leading the way. Eriah followed, quietly. As they made their way deeper into the keep, taking out Legion stragglers and meeting up with other Stormcloaks, her thoughts remained on the man she was entrusting her life to. "Tell me about yourself. I'm curious about why you're here. Your accent tells me you come from Cyrodiil." Ulfric said, bringing her out of her contemplation. Kind of surprised that a man of such station was curious about her story, Eriah gathered her thoughts for a moment. "I'm no one, really. I was born in Skyrim but was raised in Cyrodiil. My father is a jeweler and my mother taught me swordsmanship. I came to Skyrim looking to get in touch with my homeland, maybe even find a home here to belong. Cyrodiil, especially with this war going on, felt less like home to me."
"So you're a daughter of Skyrim. Now I'm curious about your stance on the war." Ulfric said, subtly preparing himself to fight her if she expressed sympathy for the Empire. While expressing that Cyrodiil no longer felt like home to her, it could be on the basis of her being a Nord rather than her views on Talos' divinity. "I have no love for the Thalmor and their attempts to crush those of us who believe in Talos' godhood. Of that, you can be sure. I grew up believing in him. My family wasn't bold enough to proclaim it openly but if there is one thing about the Thalmor, it's this. They can't know what goes through a man's mind. We worshiped Talos in our minds and thus we were never accused of breaking the law." Eriah explained. That actually surprised Ulfric. Not only did her family worship Talos in the heart of the Empire but they managed to do it under the Thalmor's very nose. It didn't even bother him that they didn't do so openly because it would've been suicide.
They soon reached a natural cave after the way back to the keep was blocked, doubtless the dragon's handiwork. Eriah saw the bear before he did and grabbed his wrist. "Wait a second. We have a bear in the path." she said, keeping her eyes on the beast. Ulfric followed her line of sight and saw it was so. Eriah looked around and found a bow with an arrow nearby. "Allow me, Jarl Ulfric." she said. She knelt down, notching the arrow on the bowstring, pulled back, and let it fly. It hit right on target. The bear had only time enough to give a pained roar before she fell dead. Eriah went to it and skinned it. She had found a number of septims laying around the keep and figured the bear's pelt would add a little more to her purse. "Most impressive." Ulfric said, joining her. She cracked a small smile at the praise and they continued on the way out. Upon emerging, a roar sounded. They spotted the black dragon flying away from Helgen towards the mountains and ducked out of sight, Ulfric placing a hand on her back as he watched the beast fly off.
When it was safe, the two escapees finally took a moment to catch their breath. "So what now?" Eriah asked. "I have to make haste to Windhelm. Doubtless my men are going mad not knowing where I am." Ulfric replied. "What about the dragon?" she asked. "It looks like it was heading in the direction of Whiterun. Riverwood isn't far from here and they must be warned." the Jarl answered, as he started heading for the road. "So..." Eriah prompted. "I'm not welcome in Whiterun due to the war. But you, on the other hand, have a choice. You can either follow me all the way to Eastmarch or you can go to Riverwood to raise the alarm. Right now, I think it would be wiser for you to go your own way from here. You were already caught once on my account. I would not see that happen a second time." Ulfric said. Eriah nodded in understanding and they eventually reached the road. "Follow this road that way. It will take you to Riverwood which is just inside Whiterun's borders. I don't think the Legion will be bothering with escaped prisoners while chaos still grips Helgen so you should be safe now." he explained. Eriah looked over at him and they locked eyes. "I think I can manage on my own from here. It was an honor, Jarl Ulfric. Perhaps we'll meet again." she said, sounding almost hopeful. "Perhaps we will. May Talos guide you." Ulfric agreed. "And Akatosh preserve you." the young woman replied.
They parted ways there, Eriah following the road and Ulfric heading into the wilds so he could maximize his chances of making it to Eastmarch without being caught by either the Legion or the Thalmor Justicars. It didn't take her long to meet up with Ralof and both were relieved the other survived. He inquired about Ulfric's whereabouts and was elated to hear the Jarl had escaped and was on his way back to Windhelm. He and Eriah decided to stick together all the way to Riverwood where his sister, Gerder, and her family lived. From there, they could make their own plans about what to do next. Eriah knew she needed to warn the Jarl of Whiterun about the dragon so that was her first step. Hopefully, she'd be able to barter for better armor or even just a sword. She wasn't used to using an ax. It would be better if she managed to find a warhammer since she seemed to have a greater affinity for them. But until she and her companion reached their destination, she couldn't set anything in stone just yet. She had to take things one step at a time.