A/N: Okay, I'm just going to go through who each person is writing every chapter. Helps not only me, but whoever may be reviewing this know who everyone is. So, Eleanor-Wallace/me, Arisae-Pancho, Theodore-Fingers, Ned-Shannon and new this chapter, Thedrid-Ant/ac.
As always, feel free to let us know what you think, the good and the bad.
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Scorched and bloody, Ned stumbled out the burnt gates of Helgen running for his life. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," He muttered as he dragged himself along the road. Since he was a little boy he always dreamed of being a great warrior. A warrior that would be sung about in taverns and in stories read to young children who would aspire to be him. He had no such luck. He never did. He looked back at Helgen smouldering away. What a sheer waste of life. He remembered the town folk, the small children who ran through the streets as the cart rode in. All probably dead and he didn't even have the honour to stand and fight to the end. This could of been his big break. "Ned the dragon slayer" he thought as he ran out to face that monstrosity. What hope did he have? He had never swung a weapon at anyone before so what chance did his early childhood training stand against a dragon? He had only killed one person in his life, and that was with the chest just before he attempted to defeat the dragon. He decided to evaluate his surroundings. Helgen was no more than a smoking heap of rubble now. "Where to now?" He mumbled he kept on the road until he came upon a road sign of rotten warped wood. It read Whiterun.
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Meanwhile, Eleanor had put on the dead Stormcloaks armour over her own ragged clothing. It was heavy armour, so she was really annoyed at how much it restricted her movements. It was all she had though, so she was going to have to make do. She personally thought that although Arisae had some really cool magic up his sleeve, he was a fool for not having some sort of last resort of defence. The armour was also a bit heavier than expected, and she knew it was going to slow her down a bit. Hopefully they just wouldn't run into anything dangerous.
She wasn't scared though. She knew how to fight. She knew a few spells that would get her out of a tight bind. The problem was, that didn't make the situation any less dangerous. She had actually placed herself strategically in the line going down to the dungeons. She was as close to the middle as possible. It was Ralof followed by Blythe, then Eleanor followed by Arisae. This way, she was protected in the front by the two swordsmen, with possibly the most dangerous of the group behind her.
In the distance, she could still hear the shouting of the people of Helgen, and the almighty roar of the dragon. She knew that where she was now was possibly the safest place in the immediate area. She heard a noise. The sound of wood scraping on floor, and all the people in the line froze. Ralof turned around slowly and indicated for them to unseat their weapons. As quietly as possible, Eleanor drew her sword and created a healing light in her hand. She was ready.
The bright light that the girl had conjured flowed smoothly within her hand. Arisae, with an impressed look on his face, decided to ready himself for the fighting he may soon have to do. If there was a time in his life to pull out his full repertoire of spells, it was now. He pondered his strategy for a moment, but ultimately decided on a simple thunderbolt to their chest should do the trick. This thought was interrupted by the hushing sound made by Ralof, signalling them to quieten down, and sneak to the threat. A mischievous look appeared on Arisae's face. Destruction magic was his specialty, and this was his time to shine.
The lack of light in the hallway would have meant that they were walking blind, but the spells both he and Eleanor had at the ready seemed to shroud them in a strange glow. The torches had been put out, and the hallway was quiet. A shiver went down Arisae's spine as they walked. He felt as though this was simply the calm before the storm. "If this is the calm, then this must be some storm coming." he told himself. Talking to himself had always gotten him out of a pressured situation, and he hoped that right now, that wouldn't change. 'There they are," Ralof said in a secretive tone. "You, elf, try to take one of them out before we barge in. This is going to be some fight." Now, with a deep fear in his eyes, he stood at the front of the pack, and cast thunder at one of the men.
There were only two people in the room, and Arisae had just dropped if not killed one of them. Eleanor prided herself on her speed, even when wearing big and clunky armour, and she felt now was the time to use it. Staying low, she darted forward and sank her iron sword into the chest of the imperial still standing. Seeing he was not yet dead and still had the energy to swing his arm, Eleanor pulled her sword out of him and pushed as hard as she could. He fell backwards into a distant wall, and slid to the ground. Blythe and Ralof both looked impressed. Blythe walked forward anyway and slit the man's throat to be sure of his demise.
"You two have some skill. When we get out of her you should join the Stormcloaks to fight for the liberation of these great lands." Ralof looked quite hopeful.
"I'll think about it when we get out of here." Eleanor replied with a non-committal tone of voice. She probably would think about it, but there was a time and place for everything. The next thing she noticed was everyone tensing. She span herself around to see what they were all looking at to find a man in black clothes looking pretty smug. "Who are you?"
"My name is Thedrid." After watching the girl move so quickly and quietly in for the kill, he thought of all the possibility, all the things he could teach this young girl absent of knowledge, perfect for his moulding. I saw the opportunity to me to have a partner, someone to join me in my mysterious deeds. As she looked into his eyes, he saw the image of a broken spirit a person who has seen many horrors. But this was an assassin's true power using their emotions to overcome problems.
Thedrid wonders the things that see could have seen, what thing had been that scary to leave her face as white as snow, he did not know what had taken place, but it had taken a toll on her. Thinking about what it could be, he thought back to why he became an assassin, why he took the path of the lone wolf. Remember the time that he had witnessed the death of his whole family by the hands of a common thief, a high elf for nothing than common gold. His father had been a common man, neither of power nor status, his mother of equal status. No-one cared about the child of a poor man until he met Knavish, a dark elf. She took him in, feeding him and looking after him. She had a secret, a dark secret. This secret changed his life forever.
As she got closer the noticed she was only about 20. He realised it wasn't just her, Thedrid knew they wouldn't just join him in the Dark Brotherhood. He was only an initiate there, but he felt confident in his abilities. He hoped that he could bring members to their dwindling Society.
Eleanor just looked at him. That didn't really answer any of her questions. She turned to Ralof. She thought that at this moment he was the one who knew what they were doing the best. He knew where they were going; he should probably know whether or not they should trust this guy. He seemed to just observe the man before him.
"Stormcloak or Imperial?" Ralof asked. Thedrid seemed to give this some thought.
"Both? Neither? I have no time to waste with matters which do not concern me." Ralof didn't seem to like this answer.
"Give me a side or you will not live to serve anyone."
"Which side is with the cruel Thalmor, I hate them, ironic I know but I'll help the Stormcloak free themselves from the Thalmor's grip." Ralof seemed happier with this response.
"Are you armed?" Eleanor was curious as to how Thedrid had managed to get here, but she was willing to let it slide for the time being though. Again, there's a time and place for everything and she felt like now wasn't the time for asking questions. That could come later, when they weren't fighting for their lives.
"I have a dagger. I will not use it on anyone here unless you give me reason to think I need to." Eleanor was happy enough with that. She looked at Arisae. He was no longer the only one she had to keep an eye on. They heard a distant scream of pain.
"What was that?" Eleanor readied herself for the next battle.
"I don't know, but that's the way we have to go. Everyone, at the ready." Ralof answered, pointing down the hall Thedrid had supposedly come from.
Arisae looked at this new character with a critical eye. He did not know who this man was, nor would he usually care, but upon further inspection, a mind passed through his head which he knew wasn't just going to be a passing thought. "He looks like... well, me." he thought to himself. The similarities were uncanny, but, his elven instincts pointed to the fact that he was of a different breed. He sensed a strong ally within him, but he also sensed a strong enemy. Arisae's relationship with this stranger would all depends on what happens during their hopeful escape, and whether he chooses to make a friend out of him. "Probably the wisest choice." he muttered.
The darkness shrouded the group with a veil of mystique. Their next opponents would come up soon, and then Arisae would get to see how this new stranger did in battle. "Light on his feet, nifty with a dagger." He told himself and he observed him twirling it around in his hand. This thought was once again, rudely interrupted by the sound of Ralof's voice. "Right, you, elf, there they are. Same plan as last time." This plan was slowly becoming more familiar in his head, and the notion of killing people became more of a comfortable thought. Arisae began to crave the adrenaline, and without hesitation, took another one down with his arcane skillset.
As the events were progressing all that Thedrid was thinking about is that he had to watch his back, just in case one of his new friends wasn't so friendly. He entered the doorway where he moved along the wall until he popped out slitting the throat of a guard quietly enough to not alert the other crouching by the fire. He signalled to Ralof to take out the other as he moved to the entrance of the long tunnel that leads into a cave, he would wait for the others though, he didn't need it but it felt good to have someone there to back him up if he needed it.
Thedrid felt as strong connection to Arisae, the fellow elf looked like a person people didn't understand, he could relate to this. His adopted mother had looked after him like a son but he still felt left out living with a dark elf family in Morrowind. He had preferred being alone honing his skills with a dagger, learning the best spots to strike a person to make it count. He has naturally tall like most wood elves and like the rest of his kin, skilled with a bow. But he preferred being in the action not away from it. As he heard the clattering of boots, as the others caught up, amazed by his skills.
"We are almost out of here. This tunnel leads to a cave. There are some dangerous things down there, but nothing we shouldn't be able to handle." Rolaf said, taking the lead once more. Eleanor didn't like the sound of the 'dangerous things', but she did trust the group to be able to deal with whatever there might be. She still hadn't seen Blythe actually do anything at all, but he looked more than capable.
Eleanor made sure to be behind Thedrid as they ventured even lower underground. She had been a little on edge about him when they were first allowing him to tag along, so about 30 seconds ago, and after watching him sneak and fight like that, her uneasiness only grew. There weren't too many decent people that were that skilled in execution killings, and the way he looked so comfortable doing it was enough to put her on edge about him.
When at the bottom of the stairs, Eleanor realised they were no longer in a building. It was cool and damp, with very little light. She could hear the sound of some water running somewhere a little further on and she could see moss and plantations growing on the dark rock walls. It gave her the impression that these 'dangerous things' Rolaf had spoken of were probably the inhabitants of this cave. That was probably a good thing, as it would be easier to outsmart an animal than any imperial.
It was always hard when it came to animals, he could never predict there movement, couldn't think like them to work out the best way to attack them. He noticed one thing entering the room; spider webs. From the amount of them, there were a lot of spiders. He knew this fight would be hard, he knew his best chance of survival was to keep moving, attack one then move back. But he still did not know what to expect. The group went silent entering this room, they all knew to get out of here, they had to go through the passage on the other side of the room. As they entered, they could only see small spiders, this inspired some confidence in the entire group, easily slaying them. But because they were too busy with the smaller one, they didn't notice the big spider coming from above until it was right on top of them.
They all the dived to the side, moving as far away from the spider as possible. All the different members had different strategies of attack; Ralof simply went in from the front digging his axe firmly in the spider's far eye. Blythe decided to flank it and attack from the back, his was ultimately successful but not very destructive to the spider. Thedrid decided to duck in, chop off one of the spider's legs and then move away. This made it ultimately easier for the rest of the group that finished it off. With a horrifying squeal, the spider died, as Blythe took his sword out of its back.
They all then moved to the next room, Thedrid taking point once again, the next room was quite large. Ralof then took them over a bridge; he then stopped behind a cart, signalling to them to stop. Thedrid thought that this was odd, but he hadn't seen the bear in front of him. He knew he could easily sneak past it but the rest of them couldn't. He also knew if he went to attack it alone, he would be clobbered to death.
Eleanor check inside the cart. Sure enough, it wasn't empty. There were two bows, some rotten food and about 50 arrows. She reached in and grabbed the bows. Blythe signalled that he would take one, so she gave it to him, with about 20 arrows. She took the rest for herself. She drew the string as Blythe did the same.
"Together." She breathed. He nodded. After some very small adjustments, he spoke again.
"Ready. On your mark." It was much harder to aim a bow wearing this clunky armour than she was used to, but she thought she had the shot lined up pretty well.
"Okay. In 3, 2, 1, fire." The both let their arrows go. There was a deafening roar as they both hit the no longer sleeping bear in its side. Eleanor quickly drew another arrow. "At will now, but we had better bring it down." She knew that against a bear they couldn't really rely on swords. Bears were much quicker than they looked, and had tough skin. The best option for them was to take it down with arrows.
Luckily, the bear was still trying to regain its bearings after it had woken up. It looked around stupidly for a few seconds, before zoning in on the group. As it started to race forward, Eleanor and Blythe had both gotten another arrow into its now profusely bleeding body.
"One hit to the head will take it down." Ralof was readying his weapons as the bear drew ever closer. Obviously he didn't have much faith in her archery skills. With her third arrow, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reopening them and taking her shot. It was right on its mark as it sailed through the air and buried itself in the bears head. By no means was it near the middle of the head, but it was still a good shot. She was rewarded for her shooting when the bear immediately fell to the floor.
The defeat of the bear was a tremendous achievement on the group's part; the way that they worked together brought the bear down, Thedrid thought. He could tell that they were at the end of their journey, the exit was near. He thought about all the possibility and events that could happen next. He could go with the rest of them, or go back to the sanctuary and tell Astrid that his mission was a failure. He didn't really want to do this but he would have to eventually. He preferred going with the group, so far it had been alright. He didn't want to go back the way it was before. But the exit was inevitable; he knew sooner or later he would have to decide.
The last tunnel felt like it went forever, the rest of the group felt the same. The first touch of light on his face was amazing, even though he used the shadow as his ally, it well good to get some sunlight on his face after being in the dark for so long. The decision he had to make was still looming in his mind almost splitting his head in half. He would decide depend on how they acted when they got out. He stepped into the light enjoying the light more than ever before, taking in the mountainous landscape, learning where everything was like he normally would do going to any environment. He had already made up this mind; he only had to put his plan into action…
"So where is everyone going now?" Eleanor asked as she squinted to get a look around. Being in the dark for so long was really bad for her eyes.
"We should all go to Riverwood. My sister lives there and she could probably give us a hand. Give us food, shelter, and a map for those of you who don't know where we are." He looked pointedly at Eleanor as he said that. It was probably him being sexist, but it was true that she didn't know where she was so she didn't say anything. "Follow me then." They set off down the road. Eleanor was more relaxed now than when she was in the tunnels, but she was still prepared for a wolf or another creature to make itself visible.
As they walked down the road, Eleanor noticed something off to the side a little bit in the undergrowth. It was some kind of weird rock formation. She looked to Ralof, but he merely shrugged. Her curiosity piqued, she slowly approached it. She stood next to it before looking it up and down, and then circling it. It wasn't just any old stone. It looked carved. It had a smooth surface and it looked like someone had gotten a four metre high ellipse, and shoved it into the ground. It had a 30 cm hole about ¾ the way up and underneath it, a picture carved into it of someone who appeared to be a thief.
Eleanor, against her better judgement, reached out. Her fingers less than centimetres away from it she stopped. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, she closed the gap. She could hear the gasps of the group, but she didn't dare open her eyes. There was a loud clap of thunder, and she felt like something had entered her body. She opened her eyes after a few seconds of silence to see a small, pale blue light had filled the hole in the rock. She shrugged. It was pretty cool, but further investigation would get them nowhere. They set back off, and within five minutes, they were at the gates of Riverwood.