Jul

Lucius

The potions in my pack jostled as I walked. In the barrel had been – praise the Nine – useful items. Potions that would restore one's health, the flow of their Magicka, and their physical endurance. I had taken two of each potion, leaving one of each for anyone who may come after us. Hadvar picked up his pace and I followed suit. A few steps later, and I knew why the Nord was running: the sounds of battle rushed towards us through the otherwise quiet air of the keep. I drew my blade and brought the fire to my hand once more.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we saw two Imperial soldiers – a mage and a man with a mace – fighting off two Stormcloaks. Hadvar launched into an attack against the one that was closing in on the mage, and I ran off to help the other man against his attacker. As I neared the battle, the Stormcloak – a woman with her hair running in a braid down her shoulder – slammed her ax into the throat of the Imperial. The blade swung all the way through the man's neck, and his head rolled down his neck and bounced off his shoulder. His body fell forward and landed on his rolling head while blood gushed from his destroyed neck.

"NO!" I screamed. I shot a spout of fire at the woman as she turned around. She just turned her body slightly and the fire lapped at dry leather. She hid her uncovered arms and glanced just barely over her shoulder until I was closer. She twirled around quickly and her ax soared through the air towards me. I raised my left arm just in time to block the incoming weapon – painfully, might I add – with my steel bracer. I felt the bones in my left arm shatter and I growled in pain. The woman smirked at my discomfort and raised her ax to attack me again. I ducked beneath her first blow and did all I could to dodge the rest. Her ax swings increased in speed and savagery as she pressed her advantage against me. I backed away as quickly as I could, until I was eventually pinned on the wall.

"Die, Imperial bastard," she spat at me as she raised her ax to kill me. I snarled and lashed out with a magic that my mother taught me as a child – a rare spell only Imperials could perform that dulled an enemy's senses and tricked them into believing I was a friend. The Stormcloak woman's eyes glazed over and her ax drifted down to her side. I snarled and shoved the tip of my sword forward; the blade rushed through her chest and pierced her heart. The shock of the cut broke the illusion of my magic and the woman's eyes unclouded. She looked down with the last of her life, and her eyes glazed over with death. I raised my foot and kicked the woman off of my blade.

I sheathed my blade and raised my left arm. Pain shot through me, and I had to grab the broken forearm with my other hand – more pain shot through. "Damn," I growled. I quickly unbelted the armor from my arm, and the metal fell away covered in blood and bits of bone; I hissed as the wound was exposed to air. I altered the flow of Magicka to my left hand and a beam of yellow light arced around my shattered forearm. The bone snapped back into place and regrew in an instant, which was almost as painful as the wound itself had been. The skin and muscle then stitched itself back to normal and I had to resist the urge to scratch the itching sensation that came with the healing. I clenched my fist as the sensations running through my arm ceased, and found the muscle and bone were perfectly resealed. I looked at the top of my forearm, and smiled: there was no scar.

I looked down at my broken armor and sighed. "Should probably wear all the armor," I mumbled to myself as I looked down at the ax-borne gashes in my robe. I drew my sword again, and rushed to help Hadvar and the mage.

I had little cause to help them, however. As they came into my view, I saw Hadvar's blade rush through the Stormcloak's midsection and up into his chest. The man hit the floor, dead after only a few moments. "Damn. My assistant died," the mage said with a cursory glance over at the other Imperial man. He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to need another."

"How can you be so callous!?" I shouted. I stomped towards the man and grabbed him by the cuff of his armor. "He was a person!"

A jolt of electricity ran through my body and I dropped the man. I heard metal clatter against the ground – I still had my sword out when I had grabbed the man. I twitched from residual foreign Magicka rushing through my body before I picked up my sword and sheathed it. "He was a person," I snarled again. I looked over at Hadvar. "Let's get going." I looked at the mage beside me again and scowled.

"Yes – leave me be," the man said. He walked over to a metal cage with a counter and chair within. I felt my fist quiver as I stared at the disgusting excuse for a man that we had left behind.

"Don't mind him. Torturers are... a callous bunch," Hadvar said. He grabbed my shoulder and dragged me out of the room. I glared still at the torturer as we walked down a flight of stairs. "I hate them, too."

I looked over at Hadvar, who continued speaking, "But they're necessary, I suppose. The Stormcloaks are brutal traitors, and people – no, animals – like them only respond to force." He furrowed his brow and repeated his words. "They only respond to force." I believe, even now, that he was trying to convince himself of those words more than he was trying to convince me.

The two of us continued down the stairs of the keep, and passed through a cavern full of Imperial soldiers. "Hadvar, is that you?" one soldier cried out. The huge, blonde man rushed towards us, and his hand clasped Hadvar's. The two pounded chests and laughed heartily. "By the Eight, you're lucky to have gotten here!"

"Oh, I bet Sven!" my partner said. He glanced over at me and then back to Sven. "Do you have any extra supplies here we could grab? This man and I are looking for the General – and I have to warn my family down in Riverwood."

"So you're not going to stay," the other soldier said. He placed his hands on his hips and nodded. He gestured over his shoulder. "We have some extra armor back there. Some weapons, too."

"You aren't going to come with us?" Hadvar asked.

"No, someone needs to help guide out any civilians that come through here," Sven replied. He grinned and ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Besides, someone has to cover your ass, eh?"

Hadvar smiled. "I suppose." Then he turned to me and said, "Come on, Luc. We'll need to get you some new armor."

I nodded and followed Hadvar, who waved goodbye to his friend. I walked over to the pile towards which Sven had pointed. The heap of metal was Imperial in design, steel in material. Good, strong armor – if one was not prone to use of the semi-mythical armors that few in the world seemed to possess. Daedric armor? I'd seen a set once. Imposing, and strong enough to break steel.

I sifted through the discarded armor and exchanged my tunic for a steel lorica segmentata emblazoned with the draconic symbol of the Imperial military. As I fished for another gauntlet, I found my eyes would keep falling on the dragon. In my mind I heard the roar of the monster that had, well, saved my life. "Dovahkiin," I muttered to myself. I felt a low rumble pass through my flesh, then shook my head. "Wha?" I shook my head again. I reached into the pile again and pulled out a bracer for my left arm. For good measure, I even exchanged the iron sword at my hip with a steel one.

"Ready?" Hadvar drawled. I gave an affirmative nod.

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Sven asked Hadvar. The brown haired Nord turned his attention to his blonde counterpart.

"No, I'm sure. Someone needs to warn the outside world, maybe even get to Solitude and warn Rikke. I need to go, friend," Hadvar replied. He held his hand out, and Sven clasped Hadvar's forearm. The two shook hands and let go. "See you soon."

"Count on it," Sven said.

Hadvar nodded and walked away. I looked around at the soldiers for a moment, then turned to follow Hadvar into a cave system used for smuggling and escape. Despite the horrors these soldiers had endured, they retained a sunny disposition. Truly the Nords are a people who thrive on battle.

Hadvar walked through a short hallway and stopped shortly before a wall of wood. He pulled a lever to his right, and the bridge fell. He cautiously put one foot down on the ancient wood then walked quickly across the creaking, rickety thing. "Okay, come on," he ordered. I nodded and jogged after him.

As we went down the winding path, deeper into the caverns, the walls and floor slowly became completely covered in a white substance that crisscrossed and stuck to my shoes. Spiderwebs. "There must be tons of spiders here," I grumbled to myself. I swatted at the nonexistent spiders crawling on my arms.

I heard Hadvar gasp and basically ran into his back. He was staring at spiders. "Or..." Hadvar said. These three spiders were bigger than Hadvar. I drew my sword with a grin.

"Only three?" I boasted. "These, I can handle by myself!" I twirled the blade in my hand and rushed forward with a fistful of flames.

I dodged and ducked under streams of poison that the spiders were launching from their mandible-y mouths of horror. The gelatinous blobs of poison slammed into the wall behind me until I reached the first spider. The eight legged monster lashed out with one leg – a stupid idea, really. I raised my steel sword in defense and the incoming leg severed itself cleanly against the shining metal right at the joint. The spider recoiled as its primitive mind was filled with pain.

As I slammed my blade into the first spider's eight eyed face, I could see Hadvar slicing through the legs of another spider. I shoved the spider off of my sword using my left foot and turned to the third spider. This one was larger – almost as big as the other two had been combined. The hulking arachnid's soulless eyes reflected Hadvar and me eight times over. I made the first move and rushed at its legs.

The spider lashed out with its front limb and I brought my blade up to slice through the chitin leg. My sword, however, was knocked right out of my hand. The spider lashed out again, and I felt myself flying through the air. I collided with the wall and heard a sickening crunch. My head ached, and blood clouded my vision.

I mustered all the willpower I could, and focused a stream of healing magic into my right arm. The light flowed across my body and I heard, rather than felt, the bones in my head snap into place. Pressure in my skull disappeared, and the flow of blood into my eyes was stemmed.

As my vision returned, I saw Hadvar was struggling against the hulking arachnid. I growled and grabbed my sword from the ground next to me. I summoned a shower of magickal lightning to the hand holding the sword. The metal began to store the electricity running from my hand. The spider, as I was doing this, lashed out with its leg at Hadvar and the Nord stumbled to his knee. I snarled and threw the blade, full of magickal energy, at the arachnid. The magicka infused steel collided with the spider at the junction of its head and body, where the metal slid between the segments of its chitinous armor. The lightning within the blade exploded outward, then, and the spider seized up. The body began to smoke as the monster was cooked from the inside out.

I walked over to Hadvar and helped him up as the spider collapsed. One of its legs shivered momentarily as I collected my sword from its corpse. "Damn spiders," I cursed. I added in a kick to the now brittle chitin, and my foot was covered in cooked spider goop. "Gods..."

"Well, at least it's dead," Hadvar suggested. "But what's next? Giant snakes?"

I laughed. "Gods, I hope not."

We walked down the next winding passageway, unaware, then, that we had been passed by a certain elf and rebel.

Fahiil

Thera

"Two more of my brothers..." Ralof hissed. He ran his fingers across both men's faces to shut their eyes for the eternal slumber in whatever hovel the Nords use as an afterlife. Ralof sighed deeply and stood up. He walked over to the barrel next to his fallen brethren and collected potions for our later use.

"Do you ever think about giving up?" I asked as I stared at the bodies on the ground. Losing that badly... I would abandon the Thalmor if they were losing like it looked the Stormcloaks in the keep were. Of course, the Imperials did have a few Thalmor agents on their side "rooting out" the rebellion. They did their jobs to the best of their expert ability... unless ordered otherwise.

"Of course not!" Ralof responded. "Every drop of blood spilled from the veins of the true sons and daughters of Skyrim is blood that must be repayed!" He roared in anger and kicked the wall.

"I'm sorry," I supplied in my 'damsel' voice – I was getting pretty good at it – and walked over to the Nord. I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Aren't you afraid it will be you one day?" I leaned my face towards his.

Ralof snickered and pushed me off. "You're an ally – a friend. But you're still an elf. As far as I go, that's not sex material, woman." The Nord walked through the next door with a laugh.

"Well, that'll make controlling him harder," I muttered to myself as I followed. "Worth a try, though."

I walked behind the Nord, both hands ready to tear my sabers from their sheathes at the slightest show of danger. "I – I'm sorry about that," I explained. The Nord stopped, grunted, and turned to me. "It – I got caught up in the moment. I don't know why I – I'm sorry."

"Eh? Oh, don't worry. It happens to the best of us," he said. I let the awkward silence fester until it would become final – he would never bring the occurrence up ever. He would assume that our "friendship" would be crippled by such a thing. Through the silence, we heard the grumbling of an Imperial accent.

" – stards. Some even like the torture..."

Ralof's eyes widened and he turned to stomp off. I grabbed his shoulder. "No. If we're too loud, we could alert all the Imperials. Allow me." Ralof stared at me inquisitively as I said this. I smiled and bounded lightly off to the end of the stairway.

I placed my back against the stone wall and peered around the corner. Only one Imperial was sitting in the torture chambers, his only company two dead Stormcloaks and an equally dead Imperial soldier. The living man was sitting still behind a counter surrounded by an iron cage. I smiled condescendingly out of the corner of my mouth and crouched until I was sure that the Imperial would be unable to see me. I drew one of the swords from my hip and turned around the corner. I heard Ralof hiss, low and almost too quiet for even my superior Elven ears to hear. I walked slowly and daintily towards an opening in the metal cage. The torturer didn't even move.

I grinned again and crept through the opening in the cage. Just for personal flourish, I rolled across the ground until I was directly behind the Imperial. I put one foot – very slowly – in front of the other, over and over until I stood just a foot or two behind where the man sat. I raised my sword to shoulder level, and made my move. I grabbed the man by the face with my off hand, muffling his cries. The leather on my hand kept him from biting through my fingers as I held him silent. I brought my steel blade to his neck and, as slowly and cruelly as I could, slit the man's throat. There was a delicious irony in it, giving him a torturous death.

The man fell to the ground when I let him go. He began gasping for air and struggling to stand up, to drag himself upwards. He slammed his hand into the chair he had just been sitting on and tried to pull himself to a standing position. I pulled the chair away and watched his face slam into the stone floor. The man's blood began to flood out around his head, and the man died in a pool of his own filthy, human blood.

I looked behind the man and saw a collection of small daggers. I picked the four blades up and stuck them into my belt. Then, I walked out of the cage and slid my sword back into its place at my side. I made it a point to step on the other Imperial corpse on my way to Ralof's position. "It's done," I said.

"Good!" the Nord responded with a grin. I supplied one as well. Ralof pointed to a hallway at the other end of the room. "We should keep going. You first – you're sneaking will be useful for taking out any Imperials we find here on."

"Thank you for the compliment," I responded demurely. I followed Ralof's instructions and took the place before him. I made a point to walk slow enough that even the hulking brute behind me would be able to move quietly. It was painstaking.

Finally, we arrived at the entrance to a large room filled with boisterous Nords dressed in Imperial regalia. I signaled for Ralof, behind me, to stop and returned my attention to the Imperial soldiers. They were just... sitting around. They were doing nothing. Nothing at all. Talking about gods know what. Mead and phallic over-compensation?

Anyways, human foibles aside, the room was poorly defended in the extreme. Four of the soldiers sat in a circle, talking. Two others, equipped with bows, leaned opposite each other on pillars of stone. I looked around and grinned as I saw a piece of loose stone on the ground. I looked across the room and tossed the debris as far as I could. The stone collided with the wall on the far side of the room and the attention of all six Nords flew to the area across from our entrance. I quickly took two of my new daggers from my belt and lined up my throws.

The first dagger found its mark, the archer closest to us that no one was watching. The entire iron blade buried itself in the man's neck, cutting off any scream he could make as he died. The next slammed into the other archer's thigh – the man died screaming while blood flew from the wound like a river. The attention of all four surviving Nords was immediately cast about the room, looking for me. "Damn," I said. I turned to Ralof. "Usually my aim is better."

"That was fine," he suggested. He drew his sword from his hip. "But now the fun part!" The Nord rushed forward into battle with the four Imperials. I heaved a sigh and followed the crazed man.

I drew my twin blades and they glinted in the torchlight. I swung them faster than most humans could see and the blade in my right hand decapitated one soldier before any of the others saw me. Two-thirds of the remaining force then decided I was a greater threat than Ralof and turned their weapons on me. "You killed Sven!"one of the men shouted.

I laughed internally. "There's a lot of Imperial bastards that I've killed," I replied coldly. I deflected the two incoming blows and I realized that the fight I was about to enter was going to be child's play. I lazily twisted between the attacks that ached to send me to my death. I did not even bother attacking the two poorly trained soldiers until their blades eventually clanged together in a poorly conceived twin attack. As the partners arms became entwined and they struggled to escape the trap that their bodies had crafted, I raised my two swords and jabbed them forward at breakneck speeds – literally. My two sabers sliced through the necks of the men and crashed through the bones within. I allowed the bodies to slide off of my swords by fault of gravity and turned my attention to Ralof's battle.

The blonde Stormcloak was easily defeating his opponent – as I noted, poorly trained Imperials. Ralof's blade was smacking against the other man's sword and eventually knocked the iron from the man's hands. As Ralof raised his blade to kill the Imperial, I threw my sword and the blade cracked through the Imperial soldier's skull and into his brain, killing him instantly.

"Hey!" Ralof shouted indignantly.

I grinned at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were racing. I mean, I killed five before you even had the chance to kill one."

Ralof scowled at me, but that scowl quickly became a laugh. "Well, I think I've killed more Imperials in the long run, Thera."

I doubt that. I thought back to the glory days of the Aldmeri-Imperial war. Assassinations had been commonplace, and hundreds – if not thousands – of Imperials had fallen by my hand. Especially Blades agents. There was something fulfilling about murdering them, with their superior attitudes and indignant scorn for the Dominion.

"Well, we should get out of here," Ralof said. He glanced at a pile of weapons and armor in the corner of the room. He tossed his sword to the side and pulled a steel ax from the pile. He gave it a few good swings before sliding it into his belt. He slogged up the stairs and out of the room. I looked down at the Imperials at my feet with a slight smile. I could feel that it was a call of times yet to come.

With that, I followed the Nord as quietly as I could. We walked down a long flight of stairs and into a system of caverns. The walls and ceiling grew ever more covered by white thread as big around as my wrist. "Giant spiders," I said with a quiet laugh. I drew my twin swords and ached with anticipation for a fight. I saw Ralof with his ax in hand, the same bloodthirst running through his veins.

Unfortunately, the monsters were preoccupied. "Is that not another of the prisoners..?" Ralof asked. He turned to me as I watched the scene before us. The prisoner was cutting his way through a giant spider while his partner – one of our Imperial captors – dealt with another spider. Both of them were dressed head to toe in heavy Imperial armor.

I slid my swords into the sheaths on my hips. "Ignore them. We can go around them, escape Helgen while they deal with these spiders."

Ralof narrowed his eyes and I could hear the blasted movement of the thought through his tiny human brain. "Alright," he finally said. He slid his ax back into his belt and gestured for me to take the lead.

I walked past the Nord and watched as both the Imperial Soldier and the other prisoner were knocked away and out of our path by the spider. I smiled at the convenience and took off at a full sprint. Ralof followed closely behind me and the two of us rushed past the spider. Our movement attracted the unnaturally large creature, and it turned away from the fallen Imperial and towards its new prey – us. I glanced over my shoulder to see the Imperial standing again and attacking the spider's flank. The arachnid's attention was immediately diverted to the more immediate threat.

"I think that's the first time I have saved an Imperial," Ralof said as we came to a stop to catch our breath.

"Aye," I agreed with a laugh. I took a deep breath and looked towards the exit. Ralof followed my eyes with his own and grinned. He took off running. I followed behind him across natural bridges. We approached the final cross, when I grabbed the Nord's shoulder.

"What was that for?" he asked loudly.

I shook my head. "Look!" I hissed. I pointed across the bridge. Ralof's eyes widened as he saw the huge, sleeping bear sitting beside a lit brazier. The giant, brown furred creature groaned in its sleep and the chamber echoed with the lazy growl that belied its true strength.

"Well, what do we do now?" the Nord asked.

I took a heavy breath. My only way out that still fulfilled my mission was to kill the bear. I drew my swords. "Wait here," I said finally. To myself: "I hope this kills it."

I walked as quietly as I could across the bridge and turned my two swords around in my hands. I angled my hands and the blades rested against the backs of my arms, ready to stab into the slumbering hunter before me. As I neared the bear, I drove my blades forward and into the bear's right flank, eliciting an angry roar. I immediately flew back as the huge claw of the bear swatted me away. The bear lumbered upward with an angry grunt. Its dark eyes glared at me through the darkness and it limped towards me.

"I'll save you!" Ralof shouted. He ran across the bridge, swinging his ax. The steel sliced through the bear's ear on the first strike, and buried itself in the bear's right shoulder. The beast roared and its claw struck Ralof. He went tumbling through the cave. The bear turned back to me and began walking. I hissed air into my lungs and prepared for the end with open eyes. A coward, I was not.

The ax buried in the beast's shoulder had other plans for me, however. The bone of the creature must have ground against the blade's edge, or the ax must have shredded precious tendon; the bear fell forward before me. The massive beast crashed as it tried to stand again and rolled onto its left side, leaving my swords sticking straight into the air. I grinned at the good luck and walked casually to the bear's side. I collected my swords from the monster's hide, bringing another pained and guttural growl from its throat. I crouched by its head and it groaned again, almost pleading with me. I sneered and brought the blade of my sword through the bear's head.

Ralof trotted over a few minutes later. When he saw I was not hurt, and that the bear was dead, relief flooded his face. "Good. I was worried I had failed Jarl Ulfric," he said simply.

"Aye," I agreed. I sheathed my blades and tore Ralof's ax from the shoulder where it rested. I walked to his side and handed him the ax. "The exit's this way: come on."