UNBOUND
The inside of the keep was void of people, save for a dead Stormcloak lying by a table. Ralof immediately ran up to the man, knelt by his corpse and mumbled something about Sovngarde. Sitheri looked around, struggling slightly with the bindings around her hands.
Ralof stood up again. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." He said, breathing heavily. "That thing was a dragon, no doubt. Just like the children's stories and the legends. The harbingers of the End Times."
Sitheri nodded and struggled a bit more with the bindings.
"We better get moving. Come here. Let me see if I can get those bindings off." Sitheri stepped closer and held her hands out. Ralof quickly cut them off.
"There you go. You may as well take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it anymore."
Sitheri took a look at the body. Gunjar was quite a bit larger than her, so she didn't even bother taking his armor, she only took the axe.
"All right, give that axe a few swings. I'm going to see if I can find some way out of here." Ralof said and she weighed the axe in her hand. It felt heavy and awkward as she swung it. She was more used to wielding two daggers or a bow, though she preferred to not have to wield weapons at all. Stealth was much more useful, and less noisy.
Ralof felt the gate on the one side of the room, to no avail. It was locked. He tried the other gate, but there was no way for it to be opened from their side. Sitheri heard footsteps and the clinking of armor, and stepped out of sight just as she saw two Imperial soldiers round the corner further up.
"It's the Imperials! Take cover!" Ralof whispered and crouched to the side of the gate with his axe drawn as the soldiers came walking up in the hallway.
"Get this gate open." Sitheri recognized the voice of the Imperial Captain that had ordered her execution, and smiled to herself as she drew the axe. She liked revenge.
When the soldiers stepped through the gate Sitheri and Ralof attacked in unison. Sitheri heard a sickening crunch as the axe dug itself deep into the shoulder of the Imperial Captain who went down before she could draw her sword. Sitheri yanked the axe out of the Captain's body and swung it at the soldier, hitting him in the back as Ralof's axe dug into his chest.
"Maybe one of these Imperials had the key." Sitheri was already kneeling by the Imperial Captain's body, looting her corpse of a key and some coins. For good measure she took the sword as well, much more comfortable with a blade in her hand. She left the axe by the corpses and unlocked the gate on the other side. The gate led to some stairs going down. She and Ralof walked quickly down them and turned around a corner into a hallway. Sitheri was just about to sheathe the sword when she spotted some Imperials on the other side of the hallway. The situation was swiftly ended by the dragon outside bringing down part of the ceiling.
"Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easy." Ralof commented and Sitheri silently agreed. Ralof opened a door and they found themselves in a storeroom, two Imperials digging through barrels. They hadn't spotted them yet.
"Grab everything important and let's move. The dragon's burning everything to the ground." One of the soldiers said.
"I just need to gather some more potions." The second one said and Sitheri remembered one of the spells she knew.
Holding lightning in her left hand and the sword in the other she snuck up behind them, stabbed one of the soldiers in the back and used the spell on the other one as Ralof cut him down.
"A storeroom." Ralof commented. "See if you can find any potions. We'll need them." Sitheri swiftly rummaged through the contents of the barrel, and then the room itself. There were a few potions there, but not much else of worth.
"This is all I can find." She said and held them up.
"That will do, let's go." Ralof nodded and opened the door he was standing by.
Sitheri looted a satchel off of one of the soldiers and put the potions in it before she followed him through the door.
"Troll's blood! It's a torture room." Ralof burst out just as they stumbled upon a fight between Stormcloaks and Imperials. Sitheri drew her sword and Ralof followed suit, rushing in to aid his comrades. The fight was over quickly, as the odds were in favour of the Stormcloaks.
"Was Jarl Ulfric with you?" Ralof asked his remaining brother-in-arms.
"No, I haven't seen him since the dragon showed up."
Sitheri looked around in the torture room, there wasn't much to it. Three cages by the western wall, a small official-looking area to the east… and of course the corpses of the two Imperials and one of the Stormcloaks
"Wait a minute... there's something in this cage!" Ralof said and examined the middle cage closely. Sitheri walked closer to the cage to see, and indeed there was stuff in it. A dead mage, by the looks of it, a book, a potion and some coins.
Ralof felt the door to the cage. "It's locked. See if you can get it open with some picks. We might need that gold once we get out." He handed her some lockpicks, and Sitheri took them. She'd make good use of them if she ever got out of here. Carefully she inserted the lockpicks and tried the lock once. She felt some resistance as she carefully rotated the lock, went back and changed the position of the upper pick on a hunch a little bit to the left. When she rotated the lock again it opened without any trouble.
Sitheri entered the cage and knelt by the dead mage's side, feeling his pockets and eventually decided to take his entire outfit and put it on. It smelt a little odd, and didn't fit her entirely, but it was better than the ragged tunic she was wearing and would at least provide some protection against the cold winds of Skyrim. She took everything else in the cage and found a knapsack as she went to join Ralof and the other Stormcloak. She took the knapsack and put it on her back, the more she could carry, the better – as long as it wasn't too heavy.
They continued their escape down a narrow corridor lined with prison cells, and arrived in a second torture room, this one free of enemies. There were still skeletons in the cages. Through a large hole in the wall they entered a cavernous area, yet there were braziers that lit the path.
"Orders are to wait until General Tullius arrives." Sitheri heard someone say and crouched by the wall and peeked around it. The path opened into a wide subterranean part of the fort, and there were several Imperial soldiers patrolling it. As she was peeking out into the open room, Ralof and the other Stormcloak rushed past her and immediately a fight ensued. Silently cursing them in her head, Sitheri joined them in the fight. Electrocuting and slashing at every enemy that came within her reach. Despite being outnumbered, the three of them survived without any wounds to speak of, though Sitheri was certain that Ralof seemed to be halting a bit. She herself could feel a bruise appearing over her ribs where she had been hit by the flat side of a sword.
"Let's go on ahead. See if the way is clear." Ralof said.
"I'll keep watch in case Ulfric comes through here. Talos guide the both of you." The other Stormcloak said as Sitheri bent down to pick up a longbow and one of the archer's quiver of arrows.
As they continued through the fort's lower part and caverns adjacent to it they could still hear the dragon outside. It even managed to bring down the ceiling right behind them, removing any chance of going back. They followed an underground stream, and found a couple of skeletons and coin purses on their way through the caves. Sitheri put the bow to good use on some monstrous spiders, the likes of which she'd never seen in Cyrodiil. Ralof explained that they were called Frostbite spiders, and even said how to tap them of their venom and reached down into a sack of some kind and brought out an egg saying how they were used in potions. "I hate those damn things. Too many eyes, you know?"
Sitheri took some of the eggs. She knew nothing of what they were used for, but her father had educated her on some poisons and other useful potions and how to discern the properties of ingredients without dying in case they were poisonous. She didn't plan on using them though, but selling them would surely fetch a good price.
They continued through the caverns, Sitheri used the bow again on a sleeping bear. She'd rather be safe than sorry. Merely kicking a small rock could cause the bear to awaken. Not long after they found the bear they found the exit out of the caverns. As they got close to the crevice in the mountain they seemed to be in Sitheri took a deep breath, breathing in the chilly air, and squeezed through the exit.
"Wait!" Ralof whispered, and Sitheri saw a huge shadow cover the ground and looked up. The huge, black dragon was flying overhead, heading north on swift wings. "There he goes. Looks like he's gone for good this time."
Sitheri was still gazing after the dragon as Ralof began to make his way down the path that led up to the cave.
"There's no way to know if anyone else made it out alive. But this place is going to be swarming with Imperials soon enough. We'd better clear out of here." He said and Sitheri followed him.
"I don't suppose you have a map? I don't know anything about Skyrim, as I'm sure you've figured out by now." Sitheri confessed as she trailed along behind him.
"My sister, Gerdur, runs the mill in Riverwood, just up the road. I'm sure she'd help you out." Ralof said and began to jog down the road. "You know, you should go to Windhelm and join the fight to free Skyrim. You've seen the true face of the Empire here today." He added as an afterthought.
"Why were you being executed?" Sitheri inquired as they followed the road.
"Seriously, you don't know? That was Ulfric Stormcloak himself." Yes, I figured as much…
"I don't pay much attention to current events."
"Oh, right, the said you were captured crossing the border… Still, I'm surprised you haven't heard of Ulfric. He's our leader – the leader of the Stormcloaks."
"Who are the Stormcloaks?"
"Surely even down in Cyrodiil people have heard news of the war in Skyrim?" Ralof asked, surprise in his voice. "The Nords are tired of spending our blood fighting the Empire's wars, and paying for the Empire's decadence with our taxes. Ulfric is our rightful High King. He's leading the fight to drive the Empire out of Skyrim, once and for all."
"How did you end up as Imperial prisoners?"
"I was assigned to Ulfric's guard. We were on our way to Darkwater Crossing, in the south of Eastmarch. The Imperials were waiting for us. As pretty an ambush I ever saw. We were outnumbered five to one, at least. Ulfric ordered us to stop fighting. Didn't want us all to die for nothing, I guess. I thought they were taking s south to Cyrodiil. Parade us in front of the Emperor. But then we stopped in Helgen, and you know the rest."
"You really think I should join up with Ulfric Stormcloak?"
"Damn right. You don't have to be a Nord to fight for Skyrim's freedom. If anyone will know what the coming of the dragon means, it's Ulfric."
"You think Ulfric knows where that dragon came from?" Sitheri asked in disbelief. She found it hard to believe that anyone cold know what a dragon of all things was thinking.
"Well… maybe not. Dragons haven't been seen in Skyrim for an age or more. But wherever that dragon came from, and whatever it wants, Ulfric will get to the bottom of it. You can count on that." He said with conviction in his voice. "Besides, you have your own score to settle with the Empire now. And with that dragon."
"You make a good case. Maybe I will go to Windhelm."
"I hope so. Skyrim needs people like you to fight for her freedom." They continued down the winding road.
"See that ruin up there?" Ralof pointed up to some distant ruins in a mountain quite a ways away from where they were standing. "Bleak Falls Barrow. I never understood how my sister could stand living in the shadow of that place. I guess you get used to it."
Their way to Riverwood was uneventful, to say the least. A couple of wolves attacked them but were no match for them, and soon enough they arrived at the small town. The mill Ralof had been talking about was situated on a small isle in the middle of the river, and that's where they found his sister Gerdur.
"A dragon! I saw a dragon!" Sitheri heard some old woman shout, only to be sneered at by someone.
"Gerdur!" Ralof said when he caught sight of his sister.
"Brother! Mara's mercy, it's good to see you!" The blonde woman who looked very much like the Stormcloak quickly dropped what she was working with and embraced him. "But is it safe for you to be here? We heard that Ulfric had been captured…" She trailed off.
"Gerdur, I'm fine. At least now I am."
"Are you hurt? What's happened?" Gerdur turned to Sitheri. "And who's this? One of your comrades?"
"Not a comrade yet, but a friend. I owe her my life, in fact." Ralof replied. Sitheri smiled sheepishly.
"Is there somewhere we can talk? There's no telling when the news from Helgen will reach the Imperials…" The Stormcloak continued.
"Helgen? Has something happened…?" Gerdur asked, worried. Ralof just gave her a look. "You're right. Follow me." Gerdur began to walk a little ways away from the mill. "Hod! Come here a minute. I need your help with something."
"What is it woman? Sven drunk on the job again?"
"Hod. Just come here."
"Ralof! What are you doing here? Ah… I'll be right down." Before he could come down though a boy came running with a dog in tow rapidly firing questions at Ralof. Sitheri sat down on a tree stump and tuned out the conversation until she was spoken to directly.
"Here's a key to the house. Stay as long as you like. If there's anything else you need, just let me know."
"Maybe some provisions? I'm planning on travelling further." Gerdur nodded and gave her a some bread, apples and ale that were in a bundle. Doubtless it was her intended lunch.
"There's something you could do for me. For all of us here. The Jarl needs to know if there's a dragon on the loose. Riverwood is defenceless… We need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun to send whatever troops he can. If you'll do that for me, I'll be in your debt." Sitheri nodded. She could do that.
"Thanks, sister. I knew we could count on you." Ralof said.
"I ought to get back to work before I'm missed, but… did anyone else escape? Did Ulfric…"
"Don't worry. I'm sure he made it out. It'll take more than a dragon to stop Ulfric Stormcloak.
"I'll let them into the house and, you know, show them where everything is…" Hod offered.
"Hmph. Help them drink up our mead, you mean." Gerdur sneered. "Good luck, brother. I'll see you later."
"Don't worry about me. I know how to lay low." Sitheri stood up and followed Hod and Ralof to the house, where she had her dinner in silence before going out into the town to explore what little there was to see before the sun went down.
I had totally not forgotten about this... :| Ironically when I first posted this chapter I forgot to add this author's note that I always put at the end of every chapter. The only reason I'm writing this right now is the fact that I had managed to miss the U and typed Y instead in a word, and we can't have that now, can we?
Anyway, reviews are always welcome and all that stuff~