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Unbound Pt. 2
General
Akvir simply raised his head from where it had been resting against the railing to look at the speaker. He knew it was the blond nord sitting in front of him; he couldn't picture the squirrely looking man beside him possessing the strong voice. And sure enough he was looking at Akvir intently. Akvir knew that the nord was sizing him up. He looked at him but did not say anything and let him make his own conclusions while he did the same.
He was well built and tall like most nords, however he was not overly muscular. Akvir could see from his equally broad and strong looking shoulders that he preferred two handed weapons. He couldn't see the rest of his arms as they were bound behind him like his. He could see the shape of the nord's chest underneath his chainmail which showed that whatever weapon he chose, he could swing it for a long time. Also he could see that this man was a seasoned warrior (since any farm boy could have the same build chopping wood) by the way he was looking at him. It was identical to Akvir's.
"You were caught trying to cross the border, same as us and that thief over there." he said, after the momentary inspection was done, nodding towards the squirrely man.
Akvir nodded and said, "Akvir."
"Ralof." The nord said nodding back.
"Damn you Stormcloaks. The Empire was nice and lazy until you came along. I could have stolen that horse and be half way to Hammerfell." the thief said, "You there. You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."
"We are all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." the blond said in a surprisingly calm tone. Most nords were very passionate about the things they believed in and were ready to fight at the smallest of slights.
"What's wrong with him?" the thief asked nodding towards the gagged man in front of him who just looked at the man.
"Watch your tongue! You are talking to Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm and the true high king of Skyrim." the nord said suddenly furious, causing the thief to flinch and shrink back.
"Nords." Akvir thought smiling to himself.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Leader of the rebellion?" the thief said, "If they have you….Gods, where are the taking us?"
"I don't know, but wherever it is, Sovengarde awaits." Ralof replied quietly and silence settled once again.
"No. This can't be happening. This isn't happening." The thief said squeezing his eyes shut as if to make everything disappear.
"Face your death with some courage, thief." Ralof said as if scolding a child for crying over a bug bite.
Akvir used this time to take stock of the situation. He figured that since Ulfric had been captured, General Tulius would be here to oversee his execution. Since General Tulius knows his father, he should be able to convince him to release him. However, if some unforeseen circumstance renders Akvir unable to do so, then he would have to release himself. For that, he would need the help of other prisoners.
There were five carts in total. Akvir was in the third from the front. The ones in front of him carried six Stormcloak soldiers each. The last cart had four prisoners. One of them was a young Nord, slightly older than Akvir. He had deep blue eyes and slightly red hair which were tied in a ponytail behind his head. He was bulkier and taller than Ralof. He just sat quietly and only once turned his head in Akvir's direction, catching his eye and giving him a small smile.
The man appeared to be calm if his demeanour was anything to go by. However the wildness of his deep blue eyes belied his calm exterior. To Akvir he looked like the ocean, calm on surface but raging torrents underneath.
"Now that's a man who won't just roll over and die," Akvir thought to himself, "He will do nicely."
He then shifted his eyes towards the Imperial woman sitting across the Nord. She had her head down and was looking at the floor continuously. However the Nord said something to her causing her to look up at him vacantly. He then tilted his head towards Akvir causing her to look at him. The first thing that caught Akvir's attention were her light brown eyes. However, it was not the colour that he first noticed, it was the look of absolute despair in them. As a matter of fact when she looked at Akvir, he noticed that her eyes held no semblance of emotion of any kind.
"That's too bad. She's must be about my age," Akvir said to himself shaking his head, "It's going to be a bother getting her out. Looks like she has lost the will to live."
When he looked up once again she had resumed the task of boring holes in the floor of her cart. He then looked at the person sitting beside the man. It was a Dunmer. He was sitting up straight looking towards the scenery in front of him, ignoring all the snide remarks and taunts thrown at him by the soldiers riding on either side of the carts. He form was lithe and he had a scar on his left cheek that could only have been made by a sharp object, which showed that he was used to the outdoors and was quick on his feet.
"Looks like he'll be able to handle himself well." Akvir thought nodding his head approvingly.
Then, he looked at the Khajit sitting in front of the dark-elf. She was wearing mage robes which were probably enchanted. She was still knocked out with her head drooping forward.
"Still knocked out and not yet in rags. Must have been grabbed on the way," Akvir said to himself, "A mage… and a Khajit? Heh heh. Two pretty strong reasons to help."
He chuckled to himself because out of all the people that he looked at, the Khajit girl would be the most likely to help. With his scouting complete, he turned to look forward and saw a gate a few meters away, wide enough for just one cart at a time, leading to a city which could only be Helgen as he was supposed to reach it anyway had everything not gone to Oblivion.
The city was surrounded partly by mountains and the rest by wall which looked about eight to ten feet high. Inside, he could see a couple of watch towers. It was heavily fortified for such a small town.
"Well it makes sense since it is so close to the border. Any invasion has to pass through it." He thought.
"What village are you from horse thief?" Ralof asked suddenly breaking the silence.
"What does it matter?" Lokir asked.
"A nord's last thoughts should be of home." He replied calmly.
"Rorikstead…. I'm from Rorikstead." The thief said. He started praying to the divines as we entered through the gate.
"General Tullius sir, the headsman is waiting." A guard on the walkway above the gate said.
"Good, bring the prisoners in." He heard the General's gravelly voice.
As soon as they entered, Akvir saw General Tullius, to the right, talking to an Altmer in Justiciar robes on horseback, with two guards on foot.
"Look at him. General Tullius," The name sounded like poison coming from Ralof, "And the Thalmor are with him."
"I used to be sweet on a girl from here," He said in a suddenly soft tone, once they turned the watch tower blocked the General and the Thalmor from view, "I wonder if Vilod still makes that sweet mead with juniper berries….."
Akvir didn't listen to the rest as he was busy marking the guards and possible escape routes should the need arise. He counted five on the walkway, two beside the General with one of them being a mage and of course the twenty guards riding with the carts. As the procession turned a corner, he saw about forty Imperial soldiers, their Captain, a priestess and a headsman beside a chopping block with his axe in his hand. They were all standing in the open area in front of a tower on the right side of the road. The soldiers cheered and hooted with some waving their weapons in the air, as the prisoners turned around the corner. The soldiers riding with the caravan also began cheering and raised their fists.
"Why are we slowing down?" the thief said in a terrified voice as the carts stopped in front of a wall in a single row, on the other side, with the first cart being the nearest to the cheering soldiers. The wall ran between the tower behind them and the city boundary wall on the other side of the road. The wall formed an arch over the road so as not to block it.
"Why do you think? End of the line." Ralof said quietly as they proceeded to get off the cart.
As he was stepping down, Akvir saw General Tullius and his guards emerge from around the corner and join the soldiers who had stopped their cheering. He dismounted the horse and gestured to the captain. The captain and a young soldier with a paper and a pen in his hands stepped to the prisoners and started calling out the names of prisoners from the first cart. One by one the prisoners gathered at the chopping block and were arranged by the soldiers in a line in order of their names.
Akvir took this time to slip among the occupants of the last cart to negotiate the escape with them. He also tapped the thief on the wrist and motioned him to follow quietly.
"Hey", he whispered once he was between his potential allies, causing them to shift their attention to him. He looked around to make sure no one else heard, then continued, "Do you want to escape?"
"Which one of us are you talking to?" The Khajit asked after no one replied to the previous question.
"To all of you." Akvir said taking eyes off the soldiers and looking at the others, "Well?"
"I do." The Khajit replied instantly.
"Me too." The Dunmer spoke next.
"We all do. Why do you ask? You got a plan?" the nord asked with a half amused smile directed at Akvir.
"Yeah." Akvir said smiling back.
"What about her? She doesn't look too keen at the prospect. She hasn't replied either." The Khajit said nodding to the girl who was still looking down, "She might—"
"She is coming with us regardless." Akvir said cutting her off.
"Not to sound selfish but won't she be a liability? She looks like she has lost the will to live." The Dunmer said.
"Yeah." said the thief.
"Either she comes with us or I don't tell the plan and we all die." Akvir said calmly.
"Fine then, I'm with you." The Nord said.
"Not like we have a choice." The Khajit said sighing and the others nodded.
"Good. Now, I have two plans. First I'll try to negotiate with the General," He said and before anyone could say anything he continued, "Don't worry, I'm the son of an Imperial noble who knows him well. If it works I'll talk to him and get all of you out too. It should be easy since none of you is a Stormcloak…. Right?" He said and they all nodded.
"Ok, if that doesn't work, then we escape. For that, you need to turn around." He said to the Dunmer.
The mer understanding the other's plan took a step back to position himself behind Akvir and then turned around. The Nord too understood the plan and stepped in front of them to block them from the view of the soldiers. Akvir untied the knots on the Dunmer's rope.
"Keep your arms in the same position and keep the rope around your wrists. Now untie me." Akvir said and the Dunmer complied.
Once Akvir was free he said to the dark-elf, "Ok now you untie the Khajit and I'll untie him. Then we untie the girl…. And remember to keep your hands behind your back and the ropes around them."
After everybody was free, Akvir took one look at the Captain and the soldier. They had finished executing the first cart's prisoners and were just now starting with the second group.
"Now what?" The Nord asked.
"Ok, here's the plan; I'll move forward as I talk to the General. If the talking doesn't work then I'll grab the General and hold him hostage with his sword. All of you have to make sure that those archers," He said nodding towards the five standing in front of the inn, "don't shoot me in the back. You will probably need to get past the Captain and the soldier as they will be standing in front of us. In any case keep the archers as your main priority, understood?"
"Got it." The Khajit said and the others nodded.
"Um… again, what do we do with her?" The Dunmer asked tilting his head towards the girl.
"We'll drag her with us, she'll be safer that way. Right?" The Nord replied looking at Akvir who gave him an approving nod.
"Next we tell them to keep quiet and not alert the other guards and also to drop their weapons. After that, we exit the city with the General in tow and release him once we've put some distance between us and them."
"Hmm", the Elf said stroking his chin, "and what about our guards? What do we do with them?"
"Take them as your hostages, we all won't be safe if we just take the General as a hostage." Akvir replied.
"The Redguard is right." The Khajit said.
"OK then that's it. That's the plan. And once we get out, we tie up the hostages and go our separate ways, agreed?" Akvir asked looking at them. Everyone but the Imperial girl nodded their assent.
Then turning back towards the Captain and the soldier he said, "Good. Get ready. But don't worry, it probably won't come to that."
The two were finished with the second cart and were halfway through the third group. Which they were done with, in a few minutes. General Tullius was watching the proceedings. Next, they skipped Akvir's cart and approached the last cart.
However, before they could call out the first name, Akvir stepped out and said, "General Tullius, sir."
The Captain tried to interrupt me and shouted, "Quiet prisoner! Get back!"
But Akvir ignored her and continued to talk to the General, "Sir, you know the head of House Wind-Word, don't you?"
The Captain once again tried to interrupt me but was stopped by the General who walked towards him and said, "Aaler Wind-Word? Yes of course I know him. So what's your point?"
"But you've never met his family, except for his wife, have you?"
He looked at me thoughtfully and said, "No. No I haven't. Again, what's your point?"
"Just that I'm Akvir Wind-Word."
The Captain said (more like yelled), "He's lying Captain! We caught him napping alone in a bed roll last night, a few metres away from Ulfric's camp. He is with them. Y–"
The General raised his hands to stop the Captain and said, "If you are who you say you are, then why were you alone? Didn't you come here with your caravan?"
"No sir. I'm here to learn the Way of the Voice from the Greybeards so I didn't bring a caravan with me….. However, I did have my papers which are probably under the Captain's custody now. However, I don't think she has read those, because if she had, then she would know who I am."
The General thought for a moment and then said, "Captain, his papers, please."
"General, you can't possibly bel—" she began but was interrupted again.
"His papers, Captain." The General said in quiet voice.
"Y-Yes sir. Bring the papers, Hadvar." She said to the soldier had been calling out the names of the prisoners.
"Yes Captain." Saying that he ran back around the corner from which we had just turned and returned after a few silent minutes, with five bags.
The General walked up to the soldier, Hadvar, stood beside him and said to Akvir, "Here they are. So which one's yours?"
"The one with the two swords and the bow. The swords themselves are the work of Pedantis, the blacksmith of the Cyrodil branch of Fighter's Guild. As you know they're very common in the capital. I'm sure you recognize the craftsmanship."
"Indeed I do", the General said as he opened the bag and began fishing through it, "But I think you know that that's not conclusive. You need to have– Ah here it is."
He looked at the papers for a moment. Then, he sighed and said to the Captain, "Captain, release this boy at once."
The woman had grown progressively pale with each passing moment. She had not bothered to read the papers of the prisoners not wearing Stormcloak uniform and had broken standard protocol. She had thought that all of the prisoners not wearing the uniforms were scouts and spies sent by Galmar Stone-Fist to watch and report Ulfric's situation to him so that he could provide reinforcements if needed. She never expected a noble to travel without an army of servants, guards and carts.
Also, the chances of the boy lying about something so easy to prove were almost void. Therefore as she walked towards the Redguard to release him, she realized that all was over for her and she could do nothing about it. Her greed for a promotion in the ranks had almost caused a catastrophic event; wrongful death of a noble at the hands of the Imperial Legion. But more importantly, she almost caused the death of an innocent man…., willingly.
In her dazed state, she did not notice that the rope around Akvir's wrists was already untied and Akvir was pulling at the ends to make them look tight. After Akvir was 'free', he rubbed his wrists as they were sore and whispered to the miserable looking Captain, "Don't be scared, you were just doing your job."
He raised his eyebrows slightly when she replied tiredly, "No, I wasn't."
"Please forgive me my Lord", the General said as Akvir stepped forward, "I apologize on behalf of the entire Legion."
Akvir said as he came up beside the General, "Sir if you know my parents then you know that our family is not exactly a stickler for that sort of thing."
The General regarded him for a few moments, then breaking into a smile, he said, "I've heard about you. You really are your father's son. Now if you'll excuse me. Hadvar, I am promoting you to Captain, effective immediately," the he turned to the former Captain and said, "And you will take his job for now. I'll deal with you later."
However before the General could walk away, Akvir spoke up again, "Uh….General, sorry to bother you again, but I couldn't help but notice that aside from me a few others are also in a similar situation."
The General looked back and saw Akvir waving his hand towards the prisoners not wearing Stormcloak colours. There were two Nord men, one male dark elf, one female Khajit and one Imperial girl. Everyone except the Imperial girl were looking at him expectantly.
"Are they friends of yours?" he asked the Redguard youth.
Akvir looked at the group for a moment before replying, "I don't know. But what I do know is that whatever their crimes are, none of them are guilty of treason or rebellion. For example," he pointed towards the horse thief, "this man told me that he stole a horse to get away to Hammerfell and got caught at the border. In fact he was mad at the Stormcloaks for the Empire's recent vigilance. I don't know what the punishment for horse stealing is, here in Skyrim, but it surely can't be a death penalty."
The General thought for a moment and then said, "You're right. It is not. So—"
"What was that?" somebody said as a distant but loud roar filled the sky. Everybody looked up and saw nothing but the clear blue morning sky.
"It was nothing," the General said after a few moments bringing everybody's gaze back down, "Now, as I was saying, those not wearing Stormcloak colours will be interrogated first and if they have committed any crime, they will be sentenced accordingly. Do you agree?"
The General was looking at Akvir when he posed the question but Akvir turned to the others and asked, "Do you?"
Upon receiving nods from them he turned back to the General and said, "There you ha—"
Once again the same roar filled the sky, only this time it sounded closer. Everybody looked up once again, however this time many looked nervous, for whatever it was, it didn't sound like any animal that they had heard. To Akvir, it sounded more like a shout than a roar.
"As I was saying," this time it was Akvir who interrupted the sky gazing, "since the concerned parties agree, let us begin… Oh and General, can I sit in for the interrogations please?"
"Fine." Said the General and then walked up to Ulfric Stormcloak, "Ulfric, you claim to be a patriot. But a patriot doesn't murder his King and usurp his throne. You've disturbed the peace here for far too long. And now the Empire is going to put you down and restore that peace."
"Hmph!" came the muffled grunt from the rebel leader.
Meanwhile Akvir looked at his 'escape' party and received smiles and nods from them. Suddenly, the roar sounded again. This time, however, it was followed by its source…
A dragon.
"What in Oblivion is that?!" exclaimed General Tullius as the black winged creature that Akvir had only heard about in tales, landed heavily on top of a guard tower, shaking the earth violently causing everyone to stagger.
"Archers!" the former Captain shouted, her recent demotion forgotten by everybody for the moment as the archers regained their balance and took aim.
The beast reared its head and let out a thunder-like shout. As soon as it did that, the serene blue sky was replaced by swirling grey clouds accompanied by a shower of fire balls, the size of horse carts. These fire balls destroyed the wooden buildings in an instant. However before anyone could react, the dragon once again shouted and knocked over many people, including more than a few Stormcloak soldiers along with Akvir and his group.
As Akvir lay flat on his back, stunned due to the force of the shout, a thought formed itself in his head, despite the concussion, "Was it speaking?"
After a few moments he was able to get up with a head clear enough to enable him to look for an escape. As he looked around he was surprised to see the destruction that had taken place within the few moments he was disoriented.
Almost all the structures within sight had suffered some form of damage. Many citizens got out of their homes in time and avoided being crushed. However not all were quick enough. Akvir saw a fire ball destroy the roof of a house and could see a man and a boy running out hand in hand, just before the house went up in flames. The mother was not with them, but judging by the child's reluctance to leave the house, displayed by the effort he was putting in to escape his father's grip, she was probably crushed on impact.
Akvir was snapped out of his thoughts by a familiar voice, "Hurry up Redguard! The Gods won't give us another chance."
He looked for the source and found that it was the Nord who was sitting opposite to him. He was right outside a watch tower that was attached to the city wall. As soon as Akvir spotted the man, he dashed towards him. On the way he looked to his right and saw that the other Nord, the one he had made the escape plan with, was pulling the Imperial girl back onto her feet. He instantly changed his direction and headed towards the pair.
"Glad to see you again… my lord." the Nord said with a smile and small bow. He left shoulder was burnt, probably from the splinter of wood that lay on the ground, a few feet from their position.
Akvir returned the smile and without a word grabbed the girl's other arm and the trio headed towards the door of the keep which Ralof, who had witnessed the whole scene, was holding open for them.
"Took your sweet time didn't you?" Ralof said once they were safely inside and the doors were closed. However, they could still hear the roars of the once extinct beast and feel the occasional tremor. The keep was occupied by four Stormcloak soldiers one of whom was lying on the ground groaning in pain.
None of the three replied as they were busy catching their breaths. Ralof then turned to the now unbound Ulfric and said, "Jarl Ulfric, could the legends be true?"
"Legends don't burn down villages", replied Ulfric in a voice which made it clear as to how the man could move the masses in his favour, "We need to move quickly."
"Up the stairs, go." Ralof said hustling the trio up a round flight of stairs which ran along the wall of the keep.
The three ran up the stairs with Akvir in the lead followed by the girl in the middle and then the Nord followed by Ralof and Ulfric. The stairs were blocked by fallen debris at a landing and a Stormcloak soldier was removing the rocks.
Akvir instantly moved to help the soldier remove the debris. However, as soon as he stepped on the landing, the wall of the keep blasted in and the pieces of the broken portion flew towards the two. The soldier was crushed, however Akvir was just pushed a few steps back as he was not completely in the line of fire. The flying debris was followed by a large black snout which then let out a blast of fire from it which caused the rocks to start melting on the surface. After that, the dragon pushed off the wall of the keep and flew towards other parts of the town. Akvir had saved himself from the fire breath by diving towards the group which was a few steps below with their backs against the wall.
As the dragon flew away it left behind a hole, huge enough to allow three men at once, in the wall. The group then stood on the landing and Ralof said, "Hurry jump through the roof of the inn across. Go and we'll follow when we can." It was the same building that the man and his son had escaped from.
Akvir looked at the Nord and the girl. Except for the Nord's burn shoulder, no other injuries were sustained. Akvir went to the edge and looked down. The inn was not very far down although the roof had completely collapsed. He looked at the Nord who gave him a nod which said that he was ready. So Akvir jumped.
He landed hard on the wooden floor of the collapsed building and looked back up. The Nord was there holding the girl by the shoulders and saying something to her. The girl then nodded and looked at Akvir who nodded back and jumped. Akvir caught her and softened her landing. The Nord followed next. Once they were all down, they made their way out through the door.
"Papa, get up please." They heard a young boy's voice as they stepped out. They were at the corner, and there were four people, two of which were standing behind the wall of the building. One was an old man in banded iron armour, one was the newly promoted Captain, and the other two were the father and son who had escaped from the inn. The soldier had his steel sword out and was saying to the boy, "Hamming, come this way."
However the child did not budge. The father who was down and bleeding profusely from the stomach said weakly, "Go cub, I'm done for. Stay strong."
The boy reluctantly turned away and walked towards the soldier.
"That's it Hamming. Good boy." The soldier said as he pulled the boy around the corner of the building just before the dragon suddenly landed behind the downed man and burnt him with a blast of its fire breath.
Once the dragon took off, the soldier turned towards the trio and said, "Still alive prisoners? Come with me if you want to stay that way."
Then he said to the old man, "Take care of Hamming, Gunnar. I have to help General Tullius and join the defence."
"Gods guide you Hadvar." The old man replied.
"Follow me, hurry." He said to the prisoners and ran towards a small alley between two towers. As the three started to follow him, Akvir noticed that the girl was holding the boy's hand in hers, as if to comfort him, and before she let go of it, she looked at the boy and gave him a small smile.
As they went into the alley after Hadvar, the dragon landed on the wall directly on top of them and unleashed another blast of its fire breath roasting a few soldiers who were taking aim at it with arrows and spells.
"Stay back." Hadvar said as the group stuck their backs against the walls. The dragon went up into the air once again and Hadvar gestured the three to follow him once again. They left the wall and exited the alley onto the open road once again.
There General Tullius was ordering the soldiers and coordinating the attack. At the sight of Hadvar he shouted, "Hadvar, into the keep soldier!"
Hadvar just nodded and looked back to make sure that the others were following. He led them down the road which led to a city gate. Hadvar started to head towards a big keep which formed an entire section of the city boundary. However they came across another man heading towards the same keep but towards a different gate.
The two soldiers' eyes met and Akvir could see hatred and sadness in Ralof's eyes which, he was sure was mirrored in the other man's eyes too.
"Ralof! You damn traitor. Out of my way!" Hadvar said, the anger in his eyes was reflected in his voice.
"We are escaping Hadvar. You cannot stop us. You three, follow me." The Nord said with just as much anger and without waiting for a reply, headed towards his destination.
"Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to sovengard. Into the keep, quick." The Legionnaire replied as he too started towards the other entrance. The three prisoners followed Hadvar into the keep without any hesitation.
"Here," Hadvar said closing the door, "We'll be safe here." Then turning to the other three he said, "Was that really a Dragon? The bringer of end times?"
"I don't know about the end times, but that definitely was a dragon." The Nord said.
"Here, let me get those off," Hadvar said taking an iron dagger from his belt, "You don't strike me as thieves anyway." Then remembering about Akvir, he suddenly turned to him in an apologetic manner, "My Lord, forgive me for not releasing you earlier."
"Hadvar please, none of that Lord business. Call me Akvir. I'm just here to learn." Akvir said.
Hadvar visibly relaxed and smiled at the young noble. Then as he moved to release him, Akvir held his unbound hands up.
"How did you do that?" the Imperial soldier said surprised. The surprise grew when the other two also held their untied hands, up.
"Wh—" Hadvar began but was cut off by Akvir, "In case the negotiations broke down."
He looked at him for a few moments then smiled and said, "Well played."
Akvir replied by a small bow and said, "We need to move now."
"Agreed. There must be some armour or clothes in those chests", Hadvar said pointing to the chests at the foot of the beds by the wall. Then, pointing to the weapons stand where a few weapons were hanging, he said, "There are some weapons too."
"This feels better." The Nord said swinging an iron battle axe. He had found a full set of Imperial armour in one of the chests.
Akvir also found a set of Imperial armour. He put all of it on except for the helmet. From the weapon rack, he took two iron swords.
The girl found some clothes in the cupboard and changed behind it while the men changed on the other side. Then she grabbed an iron dagger and an iron sword.
"You know how to use them?" The Nord asked her with a wide grin.
"Yes, I do." She spoke for the first time. Her voice sounded soft and young like her face. Her light brown eyes still had that look of despair.
"What is your name?" Akvir asked.
"Vila Storm-Herd." She replied looking at him.
"And how old are you? If you don't mind my asking."
"I turned seventeen last week."
Before Akvir could ask anything else, the ground started shaking and the dragon could be heard roaring and shouting.
"Ok, we need to get out or we'll be buried here." Hadvar said moving to pull a lever on the wall next to a gate in the next chamber.
"Wait, I hear something." Akvir whispered and everybody stopped to listen.
"Come on," a man's voice said in a Nordic accent, "we need to get out of here."
"Just… Just let me catch my breath." A woman's voice, also with a Nordic accent, replied.
The group neared the gate quietly to look through the bars. There were two people, man and woman, both in Stormcloak armour. The woman was sitting down on a chair, panting, while the man was standing next to her.
"Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them?" Hadvar said looking at the others.
"Maybe." The Nord said.
"Keep your swords unsheathed, just in case." Akvir said taking one of his swords out. The girl too took out her dagger. Once everybody was ready, Hadvar pulled the lever, and the gate opened.
"Now, listen, we don't want to fight. Let's just ca—", Hadvar said but was cut-off by the woman who had jumped up at the sight of an Imperial uniform.
"You Imperial bastards. Take this!" she said leaping towards the soldier with an iron sword and an iron shield and swung down. Hadvar sidestepped the attack, unsheathed his sword and swung in a horizontal arc. His attack was blocked by the shield.
"Please, listen to me." Hadvar said as he dodged another strike.
"What's the matter? Running from a fight? Just goes to show how spineless you Imperial dogs are." She said as she raised her sword for another strike among a flurry of others.
Hadvar sighed disappointedly and suddenly charged in before the woman could bring her sword down and drove his steel sword through her stomach.
Meanwhile, the man had engaged the other three. However he was focussed on Akvir. "Your head will make a nice gift for Jarl Ulfric." He said as he swung his blade horizontally.
Akvir said nothing as he dodged the battle axe. As the swing missed the Redguard and flew past his abdomen, it was caught by another axe from below, like a hook. The Stormcloak looked at the assailant and saw the Nord towering over him and holding the axe inverted with both hands. Their eyes locked for a moment before the Nord pulled the axe upwards, swinging it over the other man's shoulder causing him to twist his body to keep balance. As the axes swung, the Nord's axe circled around the pole of the other axe such that it pointed towards the Stormcloak soldier.
The next instant the Nord took a step forward and swung his axe impaling the other Nord's throat with the pointed end of his axe. Blood and gurgling sounds escaped from his throat as he struggled to breathe and his grip loosened on his weapon and it clattered on the ground. The Nord then pulled his axe free from the other's throat and held it beside him. The soldier fell and his eyes went lifeless in a few seconds as his blood gushed out steadily until there wasn't enough of it left in him.
However, neither Akvir nor the Nord dwelled on it as they turned to assist Hadvar. But it was unnecessary as they turned to him just in time to see his blade go through the Stormcloak's stomach. She drooped over his shoulders, her body going limp as the sword had probably severed her spinal cord. A mixture of blood and saliva dripped from her mouth. Hadvar twisted the blade to give her a quick death and then pulled it back after a couple of seconds. As he stepped back, the woman fell face down and blood flowed from her stomach to form a pool.
"What a waste…" Akvir said, the sadness obvious in his voice. The group stood silently, over the two dead bodies for a few moments, as Hadvar and the Nord wiped the blood from their weapons.
"Their reaction was hardly surprising considering the strain everyone's nerves have been exposed to, especially the prisoners who were about to be executed one instant and the next, were attacked by a dragon." Came the soft but cool (almost to the point of cold) voice of the girl. She had stood back for the whole fight.
"That's probably it." Hadvar said. Akvir, however, looked at the girl in silence.
"Quite accurate," he thought comparing the way she had held the boy's hand comfortingly, how she smiled at him as they left and how cold and calculating she had sounded a few moments ago, "Who are you?"
However, he did not voice those thoughts, instead he said to the Nord cheerfully, "You know, I never asked your name."
"Oh yeah. It's Congar. Congar Sea-Born." The said just as cheerfully.
"Let's keep moving." Hadvar said moving towards a door.
"Wait." The Nord said walking over to the corpses and going through their pockets. After a few moments of searching, he held up a small bag of coins from each of the soldier's sash. Akvir noticed another Stormcloak's body lying against the wall and walked towards it saying, "Now that you mention it." He retrieved a garnet and a small bag of coins from the body. And put them in the pocket of his armour.
Hadvar said nothing as he knew that all the possessions of the three were probably ash by now. Although he himself was not one to loot a corpses, he was familiar with the concept, as the practice was very common among warrior groups like the Companions and the Fighter's Guild.
"Ready?" He asked as the two finished tucking away their loot. They nodded and the group continued on their way to escape Helgen.
A/N: Well that took some time. Anyway, sorry for the abrupt ending. The chapter was getting too long. I'll do better next time. Meanwhile… reviews, reviews, reviews.