Dar'adhavi looked around, startled. She had been in Cyrodiil, in her home in Bravil, and suddenly found herself seated in a cart, her hands bound, and there was snow falling gently around her. Her ears flattened as her tail twitched in annoyance.
"Hey you, you're finally awake," the Nord seated across from her said. "You were trying to cross the border, right? Same as us, and that thief over there." He nodded at the Breton beside him.
Dar'adhavi snorted and turned her head away. I'd bet my whiskers that was the Skooma Cat who sent me here. What have I done to deserve His attention?
The men seated across from her continued speaking, but she ignored them as another voice sounded in her mind.
Very good, little mortal! Most of the others never even figured out they were pawns. Now, be a good kitten and pay attention.
"Watch your tongue! You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!" the Nord snapped.
Surprised, Dar'adhavi looked at the man seated next to her. He was bound, like the rest in the carts, but a strip of cloth had been tied around his mouth as a makeshift gag.
"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion! If they've captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?" the Breton's voice rose in terror.
Dar'adhavi ignored him, and the Nord trying to calm him, as she looked around. She didn't recognize anything, unsurprising, since she'd never traveled to Skyrim before, but a sign pointed toward a town called Helgen. She sighed and watched the road ahead of the cart. There was a bend in the road ahead, and she thought she saw an Imperial general in the lead. This wasn't good, but the Skooma Cat dumped her into this mess, and it was well known that He didn't break his playthings pointlessly. She would likely have a single chance to escape, if she was clever. So, she would have to be clever.
She looked over the shoulder of the driver, and realized they were the last in a line of carts. The Jarl must have had his whole command with him. Why, though? She shrugged and kept watching. There were more of the rebels than Imperial soldiers, but she guessed that there would be more Imperials before long, especially if the wall ahead was any indication. She twitched her tail slightly as the cart went under the archway and she saw the general talking to some Altmer.
"Look at him. General Tullius, the military governor. And the Thalmor are with him. Damned elves," the Nord across from her snarled.
Her ears flattened a bit at that. The Thalmor had been making some problems in Elsweyr, but based on the response, they held more sway here. As the carts pulled to a halt, the prisoners were ushered off and into lines. The Breton continued to protest that he wasn't with them. She stood in her line, waiting for a decent chance to bolt. She was faster than the humans would be, but not faster than an arrow. The Breton's name was called, and he tried to run. Dar'adhavi sneered at his back. Fool. You won't make it five steps- Told you, she thought as the archers shot him down.
She stepped forward when the guard gestured to her, and the Imperial with the list seemed a bit surprised.
"Wait. Who are you?"
"Khajiit is called Dar'adhavi, of Elsweyr."
The Imperial turned to the Redguard woman beside him. "Captain, what should we do? She's not on the list."
The captain scoffed. "Forget the list. She goes to the block."
"By your orders, Captain," he said to her back as she marched off. "I'm sorry. We'll see to it your remains are returned to Elsweyr." He seemed genuinely regretful as he sent her to stand with the crowd of rebels.
She went without complaint, noticing the rebel leader was standing opposite the general. The general was berating the Jarl for starting the war, but Dar'adhavi thought she heard another sound. She ignored the crowd around her, jumping with the rest when a strange roar filled the air. The general waved it off as nothing, and the priestess of Arkay began the funeral rites. Dar'adhavi ignored them, only flicking an ear at the mention of eight Divines, as she watched a speck skim along the tops of the mountains.
Another rebel interrupted the rites, in the name of Talos, and demanded to be executed immediately. The captain agreed, and the man settled onto the block with a final sally about "not having all day". As the axe came down, she heard someone admire his bravery. She snorted at the thought, there was no bravery in going willingly to an early death, which likely attracted the attention of the captain.
"Next, the cat!"
She stepped forward, and paused as another roar split the air. Something's annoyed, she mused as she approached the block. She lay with her head in the cradle, and flinched back as a great black beast landed atop the tower behind the headsman. The force of the brute's landing knocked the headsman off his feet, and she hissed in pain as the axe caught her shoulder. Glancing around at the chaos the beast's arrival had made of the proceedings, she quickly sliced the ropes around her wrists with the axe and ran into the nearest open door, dodging flaming boulders that had started falling from the sky.
She quickly decided that that had been a bad plan when she saw the Jarl in the middle of the tower, commenting that "legends didn't burn down villages". She secretly agreed, but continued up the tower in the hopes of finding a back door. She had been arrested with him once, and that was enough. She froze as the wall ahead of her crumbled, the beast's head knocking down the solid stonework like straw, and she dropped when it opened its mouth to billowing gouts of flame. Were there words in that? She shook her head and rose when it left, glancing out the convenient hole.
Seeing the ruins of the inn below, she jumped through the gap, hissing in pain as the end of her tail dragged through some embers. She looked around and grabbed a knapsack that didn't look too damaged, and dropped through a hole in the floor to the ground floor. She saw the regretful Imperial and some of his fellows ahead. It looked as though he was trying to convince a child to leave the side of his father and join him. Briefly, Dar'adhavi felt sorry for the boy. His father was wounded, gravely, by the look of things, and that beast had landed just beyond him. She winced as the dragon, for there was nothing else it could be, again belched shouted? fire on the wounded man and flew off again.
She rushed forward, past the soldiers and the dead man, and down what had once been an alley. It was now a smoking ruin, and she was careful to avoid the parts that were still ablaze. She heard a noise above her and pressed against the wall. A soldier saw her, and moved as if to capture her, but the dragon on the wall above her flamed him down, before once again flying off.
It's almost as if it's looking for a particular person, but that makes no sense, she mused as she ran through the ruins of the house she had been hidden behind. She ignored the guards and the Thalmor as she made her way to the Keep. The general had been commanding his men there, so there must be a back way out. The guards were shouting invective at the dragon, apparently completely unable to slow it, let alone kill it. Dar'adhavi wished them well on their futile quest and entered the keep.
She found herself in the guards' quarters, surprisingly alone. She focused, and felt the warmth of the healing spell begin to speed the mending of her shoulder. Sighing, and briefly bemoaning her lack of magical skill, she studied the room. She quickly searched through all the chests she could, and found she was able to scrounge up almost a full set of armor. She shrugged and put it on, knowing that eventually everyone would realize that there were no Khajiit in the Imperial forces in Skyrim, but she was certain she could have a blade in their belly before they could say anything. She pocketed the small amount of coins she found, shoved a map into her pack, and moved on, sliding a dagger into her boot.
As she was finishing buckling on a sword, she realized she heard fighting ahead. She crept forward, hoping to avoid conflict as long as possible. She saw that the captain and a few other guards were locked in close quarter combat with some of the rebels, and she slunk past, glad of the distraction. She opened the gate on the far side of the room and kept on. She followed the wall down a flight of stairs and around a corner, jumping a bit when the ceiling in the hall ahead collapsed, crushing more combatants under the weight.
She opened the door to her left, relieved to find it empty, and even more to realize it was a storeroom. She quickly grabbed some potions, downing the first healing one she found and wincing at the burn in her shoulder as the magic took hold, fixing the rest of the damage. She shoved the others in her pack, ignoring the magika potions, and added a few apples and rabbits that were lying around. Moving past the far door, she was pleased to find herself past the cave-in.
Continuing down the corridor, she found more downward stairs, and a torture room. The guards and rebels had managed to end themselves before her arrival, and she checked the pockets of the fallen as she passed. Finding a few lockpicks, she grinned and headed to the occupied cell. She deftly tickled the lock, swiftly opening the gate, and relieving the corpse inside of his robe, which she thought was magiked, and the coin he still held. She paused at a small table and threw the book on it into her pack. She didn't know why, but she had learned to trust her instincts. She moved deeper into the keep, ears twitching at the sound of distant fighting. She cautiously eased down the corridor and peered into the cavern ahead.
More Imperials and rebels were locked in combat, but as she watched, the rebels won the conflict and fled down another hallway. She slunk out, grabbing a bow and as many arrows as she could carry from the dead and followed. She saw where a bridge had lain, though more stones had destroyed it, and she leapt over the gap. She found herself along the bank of an underground river and followed it a bit, veering off to check a side passage. No exit, but an abandoned coin purse, which joined her meager collection. She headed downstream, taking another side passage when the main way was barred.
She passed through a cavern full of dead frostbite spiders, shuddering at the thought of facing them, and on into a larger cavern. She spotted an abandoned wagon and hurried to it, finding a fat coin purse tucked in amongst some wine bottles. As she turned to move on, she froze, seeing a bear sleeping ahead. She cast her gaze around frantically, trying to see a way out, and finally spied one that she could reach without going too near the bear.
She slowly moved past the bear, hardly breathing as it looked around and went back to sleep. Finally, she relaxed and moved forward again, down a path that reeked of the bear and its kills, and out into the sunlight. She heard the dragon roar again, and hid under a rock as he passed. Once she was sure it was gone, she emerged. She saw a road ahead, and decided to find an inn. She needed to speak to Himself, and she needed to rest. She followed the sign to "Riverwood", and bid a farewell to the ruins of Helgen.
She glared at a ruin on the mountain ahead. She didn't know why, but it made her hackles rise. She shook it off, and paused at some standing stones by the road. She decided to rest for a moment and see what possessions she had. She upended the pack, separating all the coins into the largest coin purse she had. She was pleased to see a few hundred, and hoped to "find" more along the way. She had a decent stash of lockpicks, and took a few moments to hide some in the hems of her undergarments. No one ever checked there, and she would be glad of the use should she be arrested again. The rest were tucked into a small pouch in the pack. She tucked the healing potions to the bottom, and was pleased to find some mead and dried meat and fruit in the pack. He studied the map, as well, carefully following the roads and borders, and making a note of the capitols. She picked up the book she had found, and turned it over in her hands, but tucked it away with the rest of her supplies. Shouldering the pack again, she studied the stones around her. Intrigued by the carvings, she lay a hand against the Thief sign, jumping back, startled, when it lit at her touch. Considering, she continued on, seeing a small town in the distance. She paused and threw the robe and hood on over the armor, tucking the helm into her pack. She hoped no one would look too closely at her, and that the record of her arrest had burned with the town. The town wasn't large enough for a full wall, but there was an arch over the road. It looked like the whole town was gathered, watching smoke rise over the trees.
"Khajiit!"
She turned to face the man who had called out, a massive Imperial with a leather apron over well-worn clothes. She guessed he was the local blacksmith and nodded slightly.
"Hail, traveler. I don't suppose you know where the smoke is from?" he asked, as several other townspeople looked her over curiously.
"Unless there was a battle Khajiit is unaware of, Khajiit thinks you are seeing the smoke from where Helgen stood."
The closest townsfolk looked shocked, and a murmur rose from the crowd. There was one woman, though, toward the back of the crowd, who kept studying Dar'adhavi, almost like a predator, and she kept her awareness on the woman as she addressed the crowd again.
"Khajiit was traveling and had made a stop at Helgen for supplies. Shortly after her arrival, General Tullius arrived with several Stormcloak prisoners, including Jarl Ulfric. The Jarl was to be executed, but a huge black dragon landed and began destroying the town. Khajiit fled, and knows no more."
An old woman began crowing that it had been a dragon she had seen, and the woman who was watching Dar'adhavi with a hunter's intensity looked shocked and eased away from the crowd, heading to the inn. A rather muscular woman began quieting the townsfolk down, and turned to Dar'adhavi.
"I'm Gerdur, I run the mill, and mostly the town. I need to ask a favor of you, traveler. If Helgen fell, Riverwood is defenseless. Please, could you go to Whiterun and tell the Jarl what you saw? We'll see you resupplied before you go."
Dar'adhavi paused, considering. She had intended to rent a room to try and contact Skooma Cat, but she didn't want to try and sleep under the same roof as the Nord with the hunter's eyes. That decided her, and she nodded.
"Fine. Khajiit will need food, and supplies, and she will do this thing."
Gerdur and the smith, Alvor, managed to fill her pack with good food and enough coin to ease her way considerably. The smith also gave her a few pieces of jewelry, and she accepted, knowing that they could be sold in a larger town for more. As she was leaving, a young woman approached her.
"I know you're doing so much for us already, but please, my brother's store was broken into and our only valuable was stolen. It was an ornament, made of solid gold, shaped like a dragon's claw. Please, if you find it, could you return it? I'm sure Lucien will reward you." She tried fluttering her eyelashes, and Dar'adhavi stifled a grin.
Foolish humans, they think everyone is attracted to them. "Very well. If Khajiit finds your trinket, Khajiit will return it."
She turned and left, passing the inn. The woman with the hunter's eyes watched her go, and Dar'adhavi resisted the urge to hiss at her as she passed. Instead, she focused on the scent of the hunter, making a mental note to avoid her at every opportunity. She couldn't quite pin it down, but she mistrusted that one.
As she walked down the road to Whiterun, she tried to recall everything she had heard about the Skooma Cat, and wondered at what He had to do with the dragon at Helgen. She passed a meadery and some farms, making a wide berth around one that appeared to be under attack by a giant. Several warriors were fighting the brute with apparent enjoyment, and she left them to it. What's the point of living like that? A woman caught her gaze, and she laughed at the expression on the archer's face, as she was evidently thinking the same as Dar'adhavi.
She headed up the path to the main gate of the city, and was stopped by a guard.
"Halt. City's closed with the dragon about. Official business only."
She mentally sighed, but answered him. "Khajiit has come from Riverwood. They request the aid of the Jarl."
The second door guard sneered at her. "And why should we allow a Khajiit into Whiterun, anyway. Damned thieves, the lot of you."
"Khajiit saw what happened at Helgen. Khajiit thinks your Jarl will wish to know what she saw?"
"Fine. We'll let you in, but we'll be keeping an eye on you, cat." So saying, the guard turned to unlock the gate.
She was half-tempted to lift something from him, just to prove she could, but she was well aware that working guardsmen didn't carry anything worth the taking. She bowed in false subservience and entered the city. She decided it would be best to leave as quickly as possible, and bypassed several shops and the market as she made her way to the Jarl's palace. Several other guards saw her as she walked, and she was careful to keep an obvious space between herself and those around her. She didn't want to waste time being detained.
The second square she passed was crowned by a huge dying tree, overseen by a statue of a man standing on the back of a snake. She paused at the shrine to Talos at its feet, ignoring the preacher who was shouting about the injustices caused by the elves. Of course, they will make no mention of the injustices their people cause against mine, she mentally snarled, moving past the priest to the stairs to the palace. The guards at the door were surprisingly courteous, opening the great door as she approached.
That courtesy seemed to end once she was in the hall proper, however, as a Dunmer drew her sword and approached her.
"What is the meaning of this interruption? Jarl Balgruuf is not receiving visitors." she demanded.
Dar'adhavi raised a hand in supplication. "Please. Khajiit has news of Helgen, and a request from Riverwood."
The Dunmer huffed, surprised. "Well, I can see why the guards let you in. Come on, then. The Jarl will want to speak with you personally."
She sheathed her sword and led the rest of the way to the dais where the Jarl was seated, arguing with an older Imperial. The Jarl turned from the other man at their approach.
"Who's this, then?"
Dar'adhavi bowed slightly as the Dunmer introduced her. "She says she was at Helgen, and passed through Riverwood."
"You were at Helgen? You saw what happened?"
"Yes. The Imperials had captured Jarl Ulfric, and were to execute him. A great dragon came and interrupted the executions. Khajiit saw it fly away, but did not see the Jarl among the slain."
"I should have known Jarl Ulfric was tangled up in this." The Jarl seemed to forget her for a moment, and she coughed lightly.
"The town of Riverwood calls for your aid, my lord. They claim to be defenseless, and request what soldiers you may spare."
The Imperial began to argue, claiming that the neighboring hold would take it as a provocation, but the Jarl cut him off.
"I will not sit idly by while a dragon destroys my hold and slaughters my people! Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once."
The Dunmer bowed and left while the Jarl dismissed the Imperial and turned to Dar'adhavi. "So, you've sought me out, on your own initiative. I won't forget that. Now, there is something else you might be able to do for me." So saying, he rose and headed to a room off the main hall, and she followed, curious.
The Jarl addressed the man inside. "Farengar. I think I found someone who can can help you with your dragon project."
The wizard looked up, startled and the Jarl continued, "Go ahead and fill her in on all the details."
They both bowed as the Jarl left, and the wizard turned to study her. "So the Jarl thinks you can be of use to me? Oh, yes, he must be referring to my research into the dragons. Yes, I could use someone to fetch something for me." He seemed to consider this. "Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into an dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."
Dar'adhavi felt her tail twitch, but she tried to ask calmly, "Khajiit is... confused. You want what? And how would a tablet assist with dragons?"
He beamed at her, "Ah, no mere brute mercenary, but a thinker? Perhaps even a scholar? You see, when the stories of dragons began to circulate, many dismissed them as mere fantasies, rumors, impossibilities. One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible. But I began to search for information about dragons- where had they gone all those years ago? And where were they coming from?"
She nodded. "Khajiit understands. So, what do you need of her?"
He seemed thrown by the question. "I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."