"We need to move now!" Ralof said looking towards the stairs "up through the tower, lets go!"
"what's your plan?" Indovar asked "to jump off the top?"
"Hurry up! There's no time for foolishness."
Indovar didn't respond and followed Ralof as he ran up the stairs, as they got further up the stair Indovar saw a Stormcloak trying to clear rubble out of the way in order to continue towards the top of the tower, "come on, we'll have to help him clear this" he said as he started towards the rubble but just as he neared the Stormcloak the wall of the exploded inwards as the dragon smashed through it crushing the Stormcloak who had no chance of getting out the way, great, now there's more rubble he thought to himself as the dragon's mouth opened and flames erupted out scorching the rubble and the body crushed beneath, Indovar jumped backwards and into Ralof almost causing the two of them to fall back down the stairs. "at least now we can enjoy the scenery… well at least what's left of it" Indovar nudged Ralof as the dragon unlatched itself from the tower to torment and kill some other people unlucky enough to attract its attention.
Ralof cautiously walked towards the gaping hole in tower anxious that he might attract the attention of the dragon and looked down towards a nearby house which had a hole in the roof that had been made by a tree that had been uprooted and of course the dragon's generous helpings of fire "jump over to that house down there!" he said as he turned back to Indovar "it's our only chance!"
"Huh? You're serious aren't you?"
"Hurry you fool before that thing decides it wants to come back and finish us off!"
Indovar shuffled over to the hole and gazed down to his landing zone "this cannot be safe" he groaned as he prepared himself for the jump, if only I could levitate like the Telvanni Mage-Lords, this would've been a lot easier… not to mention safer as he thought this he decided that if he survived this horrific situation he would learn how to levitate it's got to make things easier, right? Finally he'd worked up enough courage and leapt towards the house, as he descended rapidly, too rapidly for his liking, he mentally readied himself for what was surely going to be a hard landing. As he crashed onto the floor of the upstairs of the house he tightened his body and made a desperate attempt to roll like he'd seen acrobats do when he was younger, he evidently was not as agile as an acrobat as he tumbled into a nearby set of drawers that were blackened from the blaze that was slowly engulfing the whole house. As he rose he rubbed his back and head, rolling had done no good, in fact if anything it had actually done him more harm than he would have received if he hadn't of rolled.
"Go on, we'll follow you down soon!" Ralof shouted from the hole above.
"Watch those drawers when you do, they hurt!"
"I'll keep that in mind" Ralof laughed as he turned back into the tower.
With that Indovar turned and headed towards a hole in floor and dropped down to the ground floor of the house and out through the remains of the wall towards the Nord Soldier from earlier accompanied by another Nord villager, they were shouting to a young boy.
"Haming! You need to get over here, now!" the Soldier shouted to the boy "that a boy, you're doing great". the ground shook violently as the dragon landed behind the boy as he ran towards the men, the Soldier grabbed the boy and pulled him behind some rubble as flames poured out of the dragon's gaping maw and crashed against the rubble, "You still alive, prisoner?" the soldier asked as he noticed Indovar was also behind the rubble.
"Barely," Indovar said with a grimace, "I have a name you know" he added as the dragon took off again.
"Sorry, Indovar was it?" the soldier smiled apologetically "I'm Hadvar."
Indovar nodded silently, he noticed the boy, Haming, was watching him with tears in his eyes "save those tears for later, there's going to be a lot more death before the day is over."
"Be brave, Haming" Hadvar added and then turned to the Nord villager accompanying him "Gunnar, look after the kid, I have to report to General Tullius."
"Gods guide you, Hadvar!" Gunnar offered in response and placed his hand on Haming's shoulder. "Indovar, you best stick with me" he said as he started to jog over the spot where the dragon had landed.
"I fully intend to!" Indovar shouted, before he ran off after Hadvar he turned back to Haming "be strong, kid, you'll get through this" he smiled encouragingly as Haming wiped his eyes and nodded bravely "take care of yourself, kid."
"Stay close to the wall!" Hadvar shouted as the dragon swooped down low over them and unleashed gout of flames on a nearby archer who was launching arrow after arrow in a vain attempt to hurt the monster. They ran through the wreckage of a house and reached a group of soldiers and Mages, whose faces were blackened and covered in sweat as they tried their best to harm the black behemoth that was so effortlessly destroying the town.
In the centre of the group was General Tullius, his grim face covered in soot and ash from the blazing inferno that once was Helgen, his armour's once shiny gold flourishes were now dull and indistinguishable from the bronze colour of his armour. Around the group lay the wounded, the dead and the unidentifiable charred bodies of those unlucky enough to taste the beast's fiery wrath.
"Hadvar, head into the Keep!" Tullius yelled "we're staying here to give any survivors a chance to escape!"
"Yes, sir!" Hadvar shouted as he ran towards the Keep "come on, Indovar, follow me!"
"Lead the way!" Indovar shouted in response.
As they ran towards the Keep a familiar figure appeared near a destroyed section of one of the Keep's walls and was running towards them, it was Ralof!
"Out of the way traitor!" Hadvar hissed at the Stormcloak.
"We're escaping, Hadvar, you're not stopping us this time!"
"Fine, I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!"
"You! Follow me into the Keep!" Ralof shouted to Indovar.
"with me, Indovar, let's go!" Hadvar shouted.
"It was nice to meet you Ralof, but I think I'll take my chances with Hadvar!"
"Suit yourself, dark elf, perhaps we'll meet again." Ralof said as he disappeared through a door into the Keep.
Indovar turned back to Hadvar and followed him through the door into the barracks of the Keep.
"Was that really a dragon?" Hadvar asked now they were in the safety of the Keep "The bringers of the End Times?"
"Who knows for certain?" Indovar asked in response "sure looked like one to me but I thought they were supposed to be extinct" recalling how his grandmother had once told him that the Cliff Racers drove dragons out of Morrowind millennia ago 'the one thing worse than a Cliff Racer is a group of Cliff racers' she used to say, I swear by Nerevar that I'd swap this beast of destruction for a Cliff Racer any day, he thought to himself. "Or so the legends say anyway."
"It matters little now" Hadvar looked down at Indovar's hands, still bound, "come here so I cut your bindings."
Indovar walked over as Hadvar drew a dagger and cut the ropes easily "thanks for that" Indovar said as he rubbed his wrists "now I can be of some help."
"You know how to fight?"
"Of course, my father taught me how to fight when I was younger, he is a retired Legionnaire in Morrowind and I spent some time as a Sellsword before I ended up here."
"My father taught me how to fight too; he was a Legionnaire as well."
"of course, my real talent lies in magic" Indovar said as he idly conjured flames into his hand and then let them vanish "I also know some healing magic, I can take a look at those burns of yours if you want."
"no it's alright, they're not that bad, I'll just bandage them, you might need all the magicka you have."
"Ah, you have a point."
"Look around, one of these chests should have some armour."
Indovar walked over to a chest beside a weapon rack and opened it, inside there was a set of the Imperial Light Armour, he took up the armour and put it on quickly tightening the belt and then he lifted an Iron Sword off the weapon rack and put it through the hoop on the belt and finally picked up four gold coins that were sitting on the table.
"You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." Indovar answered.
Hadvar pulled a chain beside the metal gate and it raised with a moan, as they walked down the corridor they heard talking, Hadvar held up his hand and instructed Indovar to crouch, they snuck along the wall until they got to a point where they could see the owners of the voices, on the other side of another iron gate was two Stormcloaks sitting nearby resting. Hadvar crept closer to the gate and pulled the chain to open it as the gate groaned Hadvar signalled Indovar to come closer "on the count of three" he whispered.
"One...two..." Indovar counted.
"Three! Now!" Hadvar yelled startling the Stormcloaks.
As the Stormcloaks leapt to their feet and drew their weapons Hadvar charged and rammed into one of them with his shoulder knocking him off balance and then swung at his arm, the man blocked in the knick of time, just barely deflecting Hadvar's blow.
Indovar had his sword in one hand and flames in the other, he lunged at the other Stormcloak, a woman wielding a giant battleaxe, she jumped backwards, Indovar's lunge narrowly missing and cutting the blue material over her chain mail, she raised her battleaxe high and brought it down fast and heavy, Indovar dived to the side and quickly launched a torrent of flames at the woman that engulfed her and set her ablaze, fear and horror spread across her features as she dropped to the ground writhing in pain and rolling to put out the unnatural flames that seared her body, Indovar used this to his advantage and quickly stood over and drove his sword downwards and straight into her chest, the woman eyes filled with agony she coughed up a mouthful of blood, finally her eyes emptied of all life.
"Bastard!" the man screamed drawing Indovar's attention, Hadvar had cut through his hand and removed his fingers causing him to drop his greatsword, Hadvar spun bringing his blade across the man's throat, the man gurgled blood and fell to his knees and then fell forward face first to the ground.
"This way! Come on" Hadvar said pointing to the gate on the other side of the room.
He put the key in the lock and turned opening the gate, he led the way down the stairs as they walked the ground started shaking and the ceiling collapsed through blocking their path save for a door to their left "that dragon doesn't give up, does it?"
"I guess we're going this way then?" Indovar asked as he pushed the door open.
As he led the way in he quickly realised that they weren't alone, up ahead searching through barrels for supplies were two Stormcloaks. "I don't think they've noticed us", just as Indovar said this the two turned and realised that they too weren't alone, "spoke too soon."
Before either of the two Stormcloaks could react Indovar threw his hands up and suddenly two gouts of flame shot from his hands covering both Stormcloaks in fire, Hadvar and Indovar ran forward as fast as they could and quickly struck deathblows on the two incapacitated men.
"They were looking for supplies, it seems" Hadvar said as he looked into the barrels "take what you need and then we'll movee on."
Indovar picked up an empty sack and put in three Health Potions, two Magicka Potions and one Stamona Potion that he got from one of the barrels the men were searching, he slung the sack over his shoulder "right, let's go."
Hadvar opened the door ahead and led the way again, as they neared a corner they heard the sound of a battle, they ran round the corner they saw two Imperial Soldiers, one casting magic and the other wielding a sword, fighting two Stormcloaks. As the Mage electrocuted one of the Stormcloaks, Indovar snuck up behind the other while he was distracted fighting the other Soldier and grabbed his head and slit his throat.
"Thanks for that…" the one with the sword started.
"What are you doing down here?" the Mage interrupted.
"can't you hear what's going on?" Hadvar asked "there's a dragon attacking Helgen!"
"A dragon?" the Mage asked disbelievingly "do you take me for a fool?"
"You are if you don't listen" interjected Indovar.
"Wait a minute, what is that?" Hadvar asking pointing behind the Mage at a cage, the inhabitant of which was a dead body in Mage Robes. "there's some lock picks, see if you can get it open" he said handing Indovar a bunch of lock picks.
After two attempts Indovar finally got it open "anything of use?" Hadvar asked.
Indovar removed the Robes from the body and replaced his Imperial Light Armour with them "this feels better" he said once he finished changing, he then emptied the contents if the sack he was using into the pouch that the dead Mage had as well as a Spell Tome that was lying beside the body, "this might fetch a bit of gold later".
"right, come on, let's get out of here" Hadvar said looking down a corridor which he was certain eventually led into caves below the Keep "you too" he added directed at the Mage Torturer and his Assistant.
"You have no authority over me, boy!" the Torturer hissed venomously.
"Forget the old man, I'm coming with you" the Assistant chimed anxious not to be grouped with the nutty old man who wanted to stay despite the dragon attacking the town.
"Suit yourself, die here then" Indovar said to the Torturer.
The three of them then ran don the corridor and onwards, eventually they reached the entrance to the caves, as they progressed they came a across a group of five Stormcloaks "what do we do?" the Assistant asked with his voice full of fear.
"We fight" Indovar answered, much to his horror.
"We need to be smart about this" Hadvar noted.
"I'll sneak down there and round" Indovar said pointing down to the small stream running through the cave. "You two go that way" he added pointing towards a bridge in front of them "try and funnel them on the bridge and I'll come from behind"
Hadvar nodded and the Assistant whimpered. Finally after a few minutes they were in place, Hadvar whistled and caught the Stormcloaks attention as Indovar climbed up behind them, he slipped in behind one Stormcloak with a bow and silently slit his throat, he then snuck up behind another one who also had a bow, the man turned and saw Indovar out of the corner of his eye but before he could shout his discovery Indovar rammed the sword into his mouth and out the back of his head. The remaining Stormcloaks funnelled on to the bridge to face Hadvar and the Assistant, Hadvar dodged and ducked the warhammer and parried the blows from the sword, moving deliberately and cautiously, wearing down the onslaught, the Assistant lacked Hadvar's ability and clumsily dipped and staggered until finally the warhammer met it's target and crushed the Assistant's skull, Hadvar used this unfortunate incident to remove one of his opponents by thrusting his sword into the owner of the warhammer's chest and then shoved the dead body towards the remaining two Stormcloaks and knocked them off their feet, Hadvar and Indovar pounced and swiftly finished them.
"Not far now" Hadvar panted.
"let's hope so" Indovar sighed.
They walked towards a bridge that led deeper into the cavern and pulled the lever to lower it as they crossed it the cave started to shake and rocks started to fall from above, they dived off the bridge as heavier boulders fell and smashed the bridge "I guess we're not going back that way" Hadvar wheezed as he regained his breath.
"We'll have to follow this stream" Indovar pointed to the stream ahead.
As they followed the stream they came to a blocked off part and were forced to follow another route that rather worryingly had massive webs decorating the walls. "Be alert" Hadvar warned as the entered an opening.
"I know…" a giant Frostbite Spider dropped from the ceiling and landed on Indovar knocking the wind out of him as three more smaller spider and another similar sized one dropped, Hadvar sprinted forward and jammed his sword right into the mouth of the one on top of Indovar and kicked it off him as Indovar jumped to his feet and started spraying fire at the spiders who recoiled from the torrents of flame but not fast enough as the three smaller ones got caught and died screeching painfully, Hadvar baited the last one, as it leapt through the air Hadvar dived to the side as it burst into flames under Indovar's renewed barrage.
"what's next? Giant snakes?" Hadvar joked half-heartedly as he got to his feet and patted himself off.
"That would be just our luck" Indovar conceded as he wiped the Spider blood off his face.
"down here" Hadvar started down a small slope and met up with the stream again "there's a Bear down there."
"It just isn't our day"
"What will we do?"
"You circle round behind it and I'll go at the front"
Hadvar snuck round behind it and waited for Indovar to give the signal, "now!" Indovar's hands erupted flames to cover the bear and Hadvar came from behind and jumped on to the top of the bear's back and stabbed as the bear raged towards Indovar who rolled to the side, the bear's massive charging figure narrowly missing Indovar, finally the bear gave in to Hadvar's stabs and dropped to the ground.
Indovar propped himself up against a nearby rock to rest and Hadvar literally crawled over exhausted and sat beside him. Indovar removed the Stamina Potion from his satchel and drank half handing the other half to Hadvar who gulped it down.
"Let's get the hell out of here now" Hadvar said finally after about five minutes of rest.
"Great minds think alike."
As they neared the exit a cold breeze came in and hit them both, "ah, I never thought I'd miss the cold air of Skyrim" whined Indovar as they exited the cavern.
"Get down!" Hadvar yelled pointing up at the massive black dragon that had destroyed Helgen flew over them far above "That thing might see us!" Hadvar ducked behind a rock and signalled Indovar to do the same.
"Glad it didn't see us"
"There's a Village not far from here called Riverwood, my uncle Alvor lives there, he'll help us out plus we need to warn the Jarl about the dragon"
"Riverwood it is" agreed Indovar.
