2. The Escape

"ALLENA! ALLENA, COME ON, WE HAVE TO MOVE!" Drake's familiar voice roared out. I moaned, trying to make the world come into focus, panic tugging at me again. Finally, as Ralof grabbed my arm, the world stopped being a mess of blurs.

"Hey, Bosmer, get up! Come on, the Gods won't give us another chance!" He yelled out, already giving me a tug and running. My flight or fight instinct took over, and of course, I took flight. Ralof kept yelling back over his shoulder at me, Drake and Ian close behind. Terror was everywhere; townspeople were screaming and panicking, soldiers were yelling commands and trying vainly to shoot at the dragon with arrows. Everything was burning, and I could already feel the temperature rising in the air that was thick with fear. Biting my lip and concentrating on my own need to survive, I ran forward with renewed gusto, Ralof leading us into a building, shutting the door behind us. Jarl Ulfric was with us, along with a few of the other prisoners.

An exchange went on among the others while I looked at Ian and Drake. Ian was stark white and likely shaking as much as I was when on the verge of being decapitated. Drake, however, while pale, had a look of determination. He was going to make it through this.

Ralof made way for the stairs, yelling as he did, everyone moving. "We need to move, now! Up through the tower!" The three of us sprinted up the stairs with him, pausing only as a wall crumbled, and Alduin stuck his great black head through the hole, breathing fire into the building. I yelped, stumbling back into Drake in surprise and terror. He grabbed onto my shoulder, his grip tight and tense. The dragon took another second before leaving and flying off, leaving my eyes wide and heart pounding. As the Dragon left, there was a large gap in the building left, leaving a window of opportunity to leap into the inn next door.

"Jump through the roof and keep going!" Ralof commanded, indicating they'd follow afterwards. Drake, ever the opportunist, swiftly got a running start and fearlessly jumped, landing skillfully on his feet. I let out a cry of surprise, recoiling from the window. Drake had made it, but I had neither his athletic ability, nor courage. Ralof urged me forward, as did Ian. Drake called out from the other side.

"Allena, just jump, you'll make it, I promise! We don't have time for this!" He said, trying to keep his voice calm. Swallowing hard, I too ran and jumped, barely making it inside, and landing on my knees. I yelped again as I made impact, but was glad to find I was unhurt. Drake quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, gently keeping his hands on my back, pushing me onwards towards a group of people.

"Everyone get back!" the soldier who had been reading our names from the list commanded, backpedalling away from some wreckage. He ordered a man and small boy to head for safety before looking at me and Drake, Ian and the others apparently lagging behind in the confusion and wreckage everywhere. I cast a wary look over my shoulder, trying to find him and Ralof among the fire. Drake gave a sharp tug on my wrist, which he then held onto like it was his lifeline, giving me a pained look.

"Listen, Allena, I'm worried for them too, but we have to keep moving if we want to keep ourselves alive. Let's just have faith they can keep themselves safe, remembering that Ralof is supposed to make it out of this alive" He added the last part under his breath so that the soldier couldn't hear. I gave him one stiff nod, and we turned back to the soldier, who Drake identified to me as "Hadvar" under his breath.

"Still alive, prisoners? Follow me if you want to stay that way." He said solemnly. I was pleased that he seemed to not want us dead. He swiftly turned and moved at a run towards another building. We sandwiched through a path that was between a tall wall and the building.

"Stay close to the wall!" he yelled back at us. Just after the words left his mouth, a mighty roar came from the skies, heading towards us as Alduin himself landed on the wall, his sharp wings just missing our bodies, which were pressed against the wall. I bit my lips to refrain from screaming bloody murder, knowing that drawing attention to us wasn't the answer here. Drake's grip on my arm multiplied in strength, effectively cutting off blood flow to my hand. The dragon caused a little more destruction directly in front of him for a little before taking back off, Hadvar breathing a sigh of relief. Drake's grip did not lessen. I soundlessly peeled his fingers back with much difficulty, him not even noticing until I had fully removed his hand and was circling my wrist around, trying to regain some feeling in it. He shot me a short apologetic glance before Hadvar led us onwards, towards the doors to Helgen Keep. Pleasantly enough, we ran into Ralof and Ian there. The three of us quickly recollected, exchanging looks of relief As Hadvar and Ralof exchanged harsh words. There was suddenly great commotion as Alduin flew overhead, blowing fire as he went. Ralof and Hadvar both split up, running for different entrances to the keep, both yelling for us to come follow them.

With all the smoke blowing, and destruction around, there was immediately some miscommunication as I bolted for Ralof. Hadvar had been nice enough leading us here, but I was a little bitter about nearly being beheaded, honestly. Ralof had been nothing but helpful so far though, so I figured Ian and Drake would be right behind me. I was in for a nasty shock when I turned around as Ralof ushered me into the keep to find I had come alone. Before I could even call out, he shut the door behind us, and I found myself alone with him, separated from Ian and Drake.

This day just kept getting better and better.

Xxx

Drake and Ian had just gotten through the door in a similar situation, finding themselves face to face with Hadvar.

"Shit, Allena..! We gotta go back and get her!" Drake's scared voice reverberated in the room they had entered. Hadvar shook his head.

"Sorry lads, but we're not going back out there. Maybe the girl and Ralof found a different way, but it looks like we're the only ones who made it. Was that really a dragon? The bringers of the End times? We should keep moving…" He glanced at Drake and Ian, both of them still with their hands bound.

"Oh, come here. Let me see if I can get those bindings off." He fumbled with a dagger he had hidden under his armor for a minute before finally freeing them both.

"There you go. Take a look around, there should be plenty of gear to choose from. I'm going to see if I can find something for these burns." Ian and Drake exchanged a look before heading for a chest in the room, opening it to find a few sets of extra imperial light armor, along with some simple boots and gauntlets. Not wasting any time, they threw the newfound outfits over the ragged leggings and tunics they had awoken in before crossing over to a weapon rack, both of them finding standard Imperial swords. Hadvar nodded at them and urged them on.

"We'll find a way out, so stick with me. Let's go."

Xxx

I bit my lip, looking thoughtfully at the door Ralof had just closed behind us, contemplating going back for Drake and Ian. However, what Drake had said earlier was right; I had to have faith in their ability to survive. I knew Hadvar made it out in the end, so hopefully they would too, assuming they were with him. So, I turned around and watched Ralof approach a dead Stormcloak soldier, muttering something to him before turning back towards me.

"Looks like we're the only ones who made it. That thing was a dragon, no doubt. Just like the children stories and legends…" He looked at me thoughtfully for a second, while I silently focused on my breathing. We were temporarily safe, and with that thought in mind, I tried to calm my speeding heart. I knew there'd be Imperials attacking us as we made our way through the keep.

"Come here, Bosmer" he said a little softer. "Let's get those bindings off you." I willingly walked towards him as he took a dagger off the dead Stormcloak, and carefully slipped it through my hands, finally separating my bindings. I rubbed my wrists, quietly thanking him. For the record, running for your life was hard. It was even harder without use of your hands.

"I have a name, you know. Allena." I said to him, meeting his eye. He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Allena. Let's see if we can get out of here before that dragon brings the whole place down, eh? Also… take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it anymore…" he said, glancing at the dead soldier. I felt sick at the thought of having to take the very clothes off of a dead body, but, well… welcome to Skyrim.

Sensing my distaste, Ralof sighed and helped me get the cuirass over the man's head, as well as take his boots and… Iron axe?

"Give that a few swings, lass, see if you can figure out how it works." He said, already examining the gates that were in the room we were in. I left him to that while I slid on the dead soldier's armor. It wasn't heavy, and I gave the axe a tentative swing; I knew immediately this wasn't suited to me and resolved to pick up a new weapon at first chance. The first gate was locked; and the second gate could only be opened from the other side. As luck would have it, however, as Ralof reached this conclusion, we could both hear Imperial soldiers approaching from the other side.

Ralof smirked as they opened the gate to attack us, having been recognized as the escaped prisoners. I readied the axe, tension bubbling in my stomach. The one in captain's garb rushed for Ralof while the other soldier ran towards me, sword in hand. I let out a yell of surprise as he swung mercilessly at me, while I barely blocked it with the head of the axe. Grunting, I pushed him backwards, before swinging viciously forward, catching him off guard and slashing him across the stomach. He grabbed his gut, stumbling to the ground, and Ralof quickly swung around, running him through with his sword, effectively killing him before finishing off the Imperial captain. My head was pounding and I dropped the axe; definitely not a weapon I liked. Instead, I quickly patted down both the soldiers, arming myself with an Imperial sword and simple dagger. Ralof looked at me approvingly, with a bit of sympathy.

"First fight, Allena? You look like a frightened deer. You did well though. Let's keep moving." He said gruffly, with an awkward pat on my back. My knees nearly buckled under the brute force he put into it. Oh, and I was also shaking still. He pulled a key out of the pocket of one of the soldiers before using it to unlock the first gate.

We kept moving further, two more small groups of Imperials confronting us as we moved along before the ground shook and we both lost our footing slightly, as the path we had just come from collapsed behind us, probably a result of something Alduin did.

He grabbed my elbow to steady me, both of us glancing uneasily at the fallen rubble.

"Lords almighty, that was fucking close." I croaked out, surprising Ralof. He looked at me a second before giving a few short laughs, releasing my arm.

"You know, Bosmer, I think I like you. Might as well keep moving."

We went through another door, and predictably, there were two more Imperials. By now, I was a little more used to, well, slaying innocent people, so my stomach didn't churn as much and the urge to burst into tears wasn't as strong every time. I still tended to let Ralof do most of the work though. We looked around, and I recognized the place as the storeroom where some potions and alchemy ingredients were stored. Ralof urged me to go around and collect supplies. The Stormcloak uniform I was wearing had many pockets and even a bag, so I didn't hesitate to collect all the health potions I could find, as well as a stamina one. I was surprised at how light they were, and how little they hindered my movement. I was wondering how it would be to run carrying books upon armor upon potions in game, but now could see how it was possible. For good measure, I grabbed a pile of salt I found on the shelf too, thinking it may come in handy later on.

Seeing me ready, Ralof nodded, and we moved along, moving further down into the keep. The next room we stumbled into was the torture room. I nearly gagged at the sight and smell. In the cages around the room, brutalized and neglected corpses lay. Stormcloak soldiers had been locked in even smaller cages, hung from the roof. Blood was splattered on the floor. I could feel the bile rise in my throat, and I moved to turn my head away, catching sight of some Stormcloak soldiers being cornered by who I knew to be the Imperial torturer and his assistant. Ralof and I didn't even need to communicate before rushing forward in unison to aid the soldiers; the disgust I felt at human torture driving me to anger towards the Imperials. I can honestly say I didn't feel much regret when they lay bloodied on the ground a few moments later.

The remaining Stormcloak confirmed that Jarl Ulfric wasn't with them, causing Ralof to frown while I remained silent, eyes locked on a cage where a dead man in mage clothes was left, his clothes hanging loosely around his malnourished frame. Ralof glanced at me and followed my gaze before striding over.

"Ah, there's something in here… But it's locked." He looked back at me, and beckoned me over, shoving a few lockpicks in my hand.

"I'm complete garbage with these, but you might want to try to get it open. We might need some of that gold when we get out of here."

I wasn't new to lock picking by any means. Between some pesky siblings at home who liked to lock me out of places, as well as a paranoid mother who liked to lock said pesky siblings out of places (like the cupboard where all the good snacks were), I was well learned in the art of lock fiddling.

While I usually used paperclips or bobby pins for lock picking, the pick itself was similar enough, and much better suited to the job. The tension wrench was the same. As a result, as I slid the lockpick in and carefully lifted the pins into place, I didn't experience much difficulty. Without so much as a broken lockpick, the gate opened. I carefully slid in, picking up some gold coins off the floor, and with some dismay, patting down the dead mage. While disturbing to me, if I was stuck in this bizarre situation of being inside a video game, I'd have to learn to cope. Off him, I got some more gold, though left the magicka potions. It was hard enough to wrap my head around wielding swords, I wasn't about to try and use spells. That was crossing a line of reality I wasn't ready to experience yet.

I turned back out, Ralof and the one surviving Stormcloak appearing ready to go. We exited the torture chamber, I casting one last weary glance at the dead bodies now on the ground.

'Remember, Allena… you'll just have to do it. You're in a very weird situation, and you'll need to adapt accordingly.'

Swallowing hard, I followed Ralof and the soldier into a great cavern. I could hear an underground waterfall in the distance. Predictably, we encountered two more imperials nearly immediately. The Stormcloak soldier that was with us let out an angry battle cry, running forward towards both of them immediately.

"No, wait…!" I called out, trying to draw out my sword as quick as possible. Ralof let out a similar cry of protest, drawing out his own weapons. We rushed in behind the soldier, however, just as he got in a swing on one Imperial, the other didn't hesitate to run him through the gut with his blade.

Ralof let out a cry of fury, immediately avenging his comrade; I held off the other imperial with a few swings, before Ralof turned and slayed him as well. Both of them on the ground, and both of us breathing heavily, we took a moment of silence. I definitely didn't know the soldier; just another nameless NPC. But, I still felt some kind of regret, because seeing them now in the flesh made it so much worse for temporary allies to die needlessly. I kneeled next to him, not knowing what to do or say. However, something then caught my eye laying on the ground- A longbow! I quickly grabbed it with a short gasp of excitement, grabbing a few arrows off both the Imperials as well. Admittedly, I'd never drawn a bow before, but I found this weapon much more preferable to close armed combat. Being kind of small and inexperienced in such made it rather scary upon continually coming across imperial soldiers who seemed eager to skewer me.

Ralof's voice then reached my ears again. "Alright, let's see if we can find a way out." He announced, not even acknowledging all the deaths we had witnessed and caused. Moving on, we came across a raised bridge, which would've been problematic if not for the corresponding lever right beside it. Shrugging, Ralof strolled right up to it and pulled, releasing the bridge. Without hesitating, we crossed to the next room; and good thing we did, as we heard more rumbling, and the roof over the bridge abruptly caved in. Ralof let out a shout of surprise, recoiling backwards, and I, admittedly, screamed, stumbling back into him. He caught my by the shoulders, steadying us both while the dust settled.

Yeah, I forgot about that part.

Releasing my shoulders and dusting himself off, Ralof shook his head and muttered, "Well, there's no coming back that way. I guess we're lucky that didn't come down on top of us. We'd better push on…" He glanced as me, as if checking to make sure I was alright. Just when I thought colour was returning back into my face, our latest near death experience had sent me back to being white as a ghost. I just shook my head, making an effort to steady my hands.

"I don't know how many more times I can handle nearly dying today, Ralof. I think we deserve some sort of break…" He laughed, and shook his head.

"Aye, it's been rough so far lass. But lady luck appears to be on our side, as we haven't died yet." He winked at me and I sighed, moving to go forward.

We next came across a path that led out of the area of the keep we were currently in. Unfortunately, by path, I meant watery stream filled with large, slippery, sharp rocks that screamed DEATH TRAP. I nearly groaned.

Even Ralof didn't seem that pleased, but lead me on anyways.

"Come on, lass. Since that cave in over the bridge, there's no other way. Nice and easy now, I'll help you…"

True to his word, he took a tentative step onto a rock, and held out his hand for me. I willingly took it, yelping as he gave me a pull and I fell into him, barely balancing on the slippery rocks. Hand in hand, and occasionally grasping onto each other for dear life, we slowly made our way along, somehow managing to follow the stream right to solid ground once more. By some miracle, neither of us fell in along the way.

"See? That wasn't so bad now, was it.." I gave him a stern look as he said such, causing him to laugh once more. I couldn't help but crack a bit of a smile in response; I was in a weird place, and a deadly situation, but at least I had one friendly Nord to help me through it.

The smile didn't last long though. We suddenly heard a strange clicking noise that sent a shiver down my spine. If my extensive movie knowledge was anything to go off of, that sound was usually indicative of…

"Those are some biiiiig spiders there. Draw your weapon, this can only mean trouble." He muttered to me, trying to not draw attention to ourselves. I bit my lip, glancing around; spider webs were everywhere, and there were about five of the frostbite spiders. Ralof was right; they were big. Bigger than I would've imagined them to be. My heart started pounding. I wasn't exactly scared of spiders, but… well, I wasn't fond of them either, and these one's were REALLY BIG. I'm talking at least half my size big, and holy cricket, I didn't want to be in this situation right now.

I drew my bow out, loading it with an arrow as quietly as I could. While it was true I had never shot anything with a bow before, something in me was making me confident than I was with the Imperial sword. Maybe it was just the fact the bow gave me a chance to fight as far away from the spiders as possible, or maybe it was because something in me seemed to think using a bow for the first time in a life-threatening situation was a really great idea.

Must be the Bosmer blood talking.

I slowly breathed in, and slowly back out, steadying my hand. And, with only a second's hesitation, I released it. The arrow flew through the air, lodging itself in the spider closest to me, killing it instantly. Before I could praise myself, or take a moment to be awed by what I just did, the others reacted. Suddenly, the other four were rushing towards us. Ralof let out a cry, slashing one to death. Panicking, I tried to shoot another one with an arrow while it was right in my face, but got knocked back as it lunged, causing me to release the arrow at nothingness. Ralof, reacting quickly, spun around and sliced it cleanly in half with his sword before jumping to the side, skewering another one. With one left, I drew my sword from my hip, letting out a whimper as I cut off its' great dirty head, the body of it collapsing as I did so.

With the five spiders eliminated, silence fell around us, only the sound of the underground waterfall in the background. Sighing, Ralof sheathed his weapon, looking at me with a small bit of concern as he did so.

I, apparently, had taken to shaking like a leaf again. Remember when I said I wasn't scared of spiders? Well, at some point in that brief fight, I decided to go with a change of heart.

He sighed, grabbing both of my shoulders, and looking me in the eye.

"Allena, it's alright. We're nearly out of here, I can feel it. Just stay strong for a little while longer."

I looked into his eyes for a moment, and in his dark blue orbs, I saw that same fear I was feeling, but I also saw something else. A mix of emotions with some doubt, uncertainty, concern, and most prominent of all, determination. It was the same expression I saw in Drake's eyes before he made the leap into the inn before calling at me to jump after him.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded quietly, sheathing my sword, and hanging the longbow off my back. He gave me a small encouraging smile and a small squeeze on my shoulders before letting go and turning around, ever determined to steer us onwards.

Inevitably, because I was having the worst day ever, it got even worse as we stumbled across a bear. I groaned softly, meaning to express my displeasure without getting us mauled by a large angry grizzly. When I had played Skyrim in the safety of my own home, I didn't ever stop to question why, as I moved deeper underground in the keep, there were numerous deadly spiders and a bear, but now, as I took it all in, I couldn't help but wonder why in the world they'd be residing in such places. The nine divines must already hate me, and I hadn't even been in Skyrim for a day.

Before Ralof could say anything, I took lead for once.

"Let's just sneak by. I don't think she'll notice us if we go quietly. After all that's happened today, the last thing I need is to fight a freaking bear." I whispered to him, causing his tense look to turn slightly amused. He nodded in agreement though, silently reaching out for my hand. I gladly took it, and together, we tiptoed close to the wall, trying to stay concealed by the numerous boulders in the cavern. He pulled me along the path, and finally, at long last, we reached an exit, opening out into the face of a rock formation.

We stumbled out into the sunlight, causing us both to cringe and shield our eyes, but, Ralof's delighted grin couldn't be concealed, and went along nicely with the cry of joy I let out at leaving Helgen Keep behind.

Being in a place like Skyrim, I was by no means out of danger, but such relief washed over me at putting that chapter behind me and living to tell the tale that I openly smiled and turned to Ralof, launching myself at him, hugging him tightly around the neck.

Xxx

Annnd… that's chapter two, ladies and gentlemen. :D

True to my word, I went back to the last chapter and corrected/tweaked a few things when it wasn't two in the morning. Nothing really noteworthy though, so no worries. C:

I have exciting news with the arrival of this chapter. And that is, I have a very very loose plan concocted for the course of this story! Yesiree, I started this story on a whim without a plan, but now I have something penned up, so I at least have some path to follow.

I'll try to get the next chapter up within the next 4ish days before I leave for a small vacation. As always, thanks for reading, and any feedback is greatly appreciated. Hope you're all enjoying so far!

-Irelia