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White Run-Dragonsreach Dungeon
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With a splash of water, Paige McCullers awoke. She shook the excess off her face and turned towards the source of the water. She was greeted with the faces of the Housecarl, the Jarl's Steward, a short man by the name of Byron, and the young woman from the field. The fourth man wore a dark hood and held the bucket and a wicked look upon his face. She took him in, memorizing his face as the Housecarl stepped forwards.
"Why are you here?" He asked in a booming voice, staring down at the daughter he had long thought dead and forgotten.
"I believe that has nothing to do with you, Housecarl McCullers. I am my own person. I have no allegiance to anyone. I am a free Nord traveling between cities. You have no right to arrest me. I have committed no crime, Housecarl." Paige declared as he shook his head and turned towards Byron.
"Your daughter, can she make a potion to make her talk?" Nick asked as Paige's and the young tan woman's eyes widened at the notion.
"We can ask, but the greybeards will be…" Byron began as Nick rolled his eyes.
"There is no dragonborn. Let alone one who is a known stormcloak member." Nick said as Paige's eyes found his again. She knew this wasn't the truth, she knew that there was no way he could've known that she was still under the thumb of the stormcloaks, let alone the person who created the weapons to take down the Imperials in battle, his very soldiers on more than one occasion. "In your belongings we found the bearings of a Stormcloak crest. We used our spies and confirmed you reside in Windhelm. That makes you a traitor to the Empire and to Whiterun. Far from innocent." The Housecarl said as Paige let out a chuckle, before feeling her arms hoisted up above her head, leaving her prone to the Imperials in front of her.
"If I am far from innocent, then it is you with the blood of an imperial born daughter left for dead in Windhelm. The blood of one daughter wasn't worth the blood of 100 hundred Imperial soldiers." Paige said as Nick sneered and spit at her feet.
"I have no daughter. Any such claim is false. She carried A Skyforge Battleax. That is Imperial property. Stolen goods for a Stormcloak. That's time in the dungeon. Add on trespassing, and processing stolen goods in Whiterun." The Housecarl said sternly. "Make sure she makes it to the dungeon." He added before leaving the room finally. The steward stared at her and let out a sigh.
"You were a young girl in an empire that was just starting to bloom. Your sacrifice bought us the time to form our armies." Byron spoke as he circled Paige. "But a dragonborn…had we known, he wouldn't have let you out of his sight." Byron said as he turned to the young imperial in the room. "Go on home to your wife, Garratt. Captain Fields can escort her down to the dungeon." Bryon said as Garratt nodded, and as he exited. Byron sat and stared at the Dragonborn in his presence. "We can offer you freedom, for your Stormcloak leader." Byron said as Paige smiled.
"As I stated, I am a free Nord, traveling through Whiterun. I had obtained the Ax from a friend in a legal trade. The stormcloak cloak, lifted off a dead soldier and brought with me for warmth through the mountains. I am no Dragonborn, I am just a woman, traveling around Skyrim, as I was left to do by my father." Paige assured again as Byron nodded.
"Well, Housecarl McCullers has me sending his daughter down into a dungeon for performing a shout." Byron said as they heard it. The Greybeards bellowed throughout Skyrim. The ground shook as the three held on to the gates as it stopped, confirming what Byron stated to the Housecarl. The first Dragonborn in over a thousand years, and she sat in the dungeon of the Dragonsreach. Emily looked at Byron and stepped forward.
"She must be released. The greybeards are the only ones who know the thumes and can teach her how to defeat Alduin. Once one comes, it is only a matter of time before he appears again." Emily said, reciting the very history lessons she loathed.
"Captain, we have our orders. Escort her down." Byron said as she nodded, and opened the door, grabbing the prisoner and pulling her up to her feet. Paige chuckled quietly as Emily led her down to the dungeon.
"I was born here. I played in these halls. I know every passage of the dungeon. How easily the Housecarl forgets." Paige said as Emily's eyes widened as Paige head butted her, and began running further down the stairs. Emily shook off the hit, and quickly ran after her. Paige made a sharp right and found a small grate. With her tied hands, she lifted it up, just as Emily reached the turn. Dropping down, she found herself in the tunnels, and sighed in relief. She began running, as the young Captain followed her down deeper. Paige made another sharp turn, and pressed herself against the wall. As the young captain made the same turn, she raised her bound hands up, and brought them swiftly down onto Emily, knocking her off her feet. She made a reach for her dagger, when Emily blocked her and kicked her knees, tripping Paige. As the blacksmith fell, Emily jumped up and drew her sword, pointing it inches from Paige's nose. Paige began to sit up as Emily brought it even closer, stopping the blacksmith from rising from her position.
"Stop. My whole life has been dedicated to this sword. I can kill you in an instant." Emily said as Paige laid still.
"I have, damn you. Draw back!" Paige yelled, catching the notch in the hilt. "The signature on your hilt. That was once a stormcloak's sword, correct?" Paige asked as her eyes stayed on Emily's.
"How could you possibly…" Emily said as Paige interrupted her.
"The metalwork. That was the signature of my former master, may Talos grant him peace." Paige said as Emily turned it, and saw it. She turned it back and aimed it back at the blacksmith on the ground. "If I'm lying, look at the sword of any stormcloak out there. They bear the same slashes in the hilt. The mark of the bear." Paige assured as Emily stepped back.
"Who are you?" Emily asked as Paige inched back slightly.
"Exactly as I've been said. I am simply traveling through the cities. I was meeting a friend her to help her travel back to Windhelm before traveling down to the Rift. I have no alliance to any region. Let alone the stormcloaks." Paige lied through her teeth as Emily watched her every move.
"That doesn't explain how you knew the master's mark." Emily said sternly.
"They weren't lying when they said I was taken by Stormcloaks as a child. The only difference is that I wasn't the child he mourned. That child was supposedly killed at the hands of the Stormcloak leader." Paige said as Emily moved closer as Paige kicked the sword and began to crawl away, and began trying to stand again. Emily reached her quickly ad knocked her over again.
"The friend, can they confirm your story?" Emily asked as Paige laughed.
"She's halfway to Windhelm by now." Paige said as Emily grabbed her bound hands. She started to drag her back towards the tunnel.
"How do we get out of here?" Emily asked as Paige chuckled.
"You're not from Whiterun…you'll never get out of here without my help." Paige assured as Emily frowned.
"We can go back to the grate." Emily answered as Paige smirked.
"And how will you lift me up it with my hands tied?" Paige asked back as Emily let out a frustrated sigh.
"And what? I let you go and you get me out of here? You know I'll have to arrest you again." Emily said as Paige again shrugged and leaned against the wall.
"You let me go, I lead you back to Whiterun's gate, and you tell them I escaped." Paige said as Emily shook her head.
"No way. I have only gotten to this post, I can't just let my first prisoner go the day I arrived." Emily argued as Paige let out a tired sigh and stood upright.
"Well, it seems we are at an impasse. You need a prisoner and I need to leave Whiterun. Yet I know how to get out of here, even with my hands tied." Paige said as Emily kept her blade squarely on the young Nord.
"And I have a blade. You will lead us out of here, and I will lead us to the dungeon." Emily assured as Paige shrugged and leaned back against the wall.
"The exit leads to a farm a mile outside of the city. There are over a dozen tunnels that lead to dead ends, and to the Rosewood River. Now that river is at least 15 miles from the gate. You're obviously not from Whiterun. You wouldn't have had the time or training to navigate back to Whiterun before sun rise. I'll have been missing in all that time." Paige negotiated and smiled at the Imperial in front of her. Emily sighed deeply and thought. The prisoner was right. There would be no way for her to get back to the city in time on her own, so if she let this girl go, she could get back before her presence was needed again. With that, it would bring a missing prisoner, and finally a failure of her first set of orders. She thought as Paige watched her intensely. The young black smith took great interest in the Imperial guard in front of her. She was a Redguard for sure, but with a clear Imperial lineage. Her coat of arms was a simple one, a sword over wheat. That of the commander that lead the charge against Jarl Francis and won some 15 years ago. Paige was a small child when her father returned from the front lines and was award the honor of Housecarl to the Jarl of Whiterun. This was before her capture, and imprisonment at the Palace of the Kings not too long after the battle for Skyrim ended with the Imperial victory. She took her in, the small details and the fact that she used a stormcloak weapon in her battles intrigued the young black smith. She stood still as the Imperial weighed her decision. There were dragons now, and the young Nord was called by the only people that could get her on the right track, and possibly back on the Imperial side of the war. Emily lowered her sword and watched the Nord.
"You need to get to the Greybeards then. If you're who Steward Montgomery says you are, than you know you have to go to High Hrothgar. You performed the shout, you go to the greybeards. Then, we return here." Emily said as Paige chuckled. She could easily divert them and get track to the closest camp. She could lose her on the pass. She just needed to get her hands free. She could easily do that.
"Fine. But free my hands. And we can go to High Hrothgar." Paige said easily, hoping that it can convince the Imperial to free her.
"Not a chance." Emily said as Paige shrugged.
"And we are at an impasse again. I can't lead you and track our way up to High Hrothgar with my hands tied. I'm sure you've never been either. Seeing as it's not exactly the prime vacation spot in Skyrim." Paige said as Emily frowned as rolled her eyes. She sheathed her sword and grabbed her dagger.
"Once we get out of these tunnels, then I will cut free." Emily said as Paige nodded and stepped off the way. She signaled towards a tunnel on the right, and led them away.
Xxx
Outside of Whiterun-Hasting Farms
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The two finally exited, and saw the city at a calm. The blacksmith stretched as the imperial looked towards Skyrim. She needed to get a message back to Spencer. She could get them to High Hrothgar easily. She knew she would want to join them on the journey as well. But how to get word to the jarl's daughter? She looked over at the prisoner she kept, and sighed inwardly. This was not how her start in Whiterun was supposed to start. She was helping a fugitive escape to learn how to defeat the Dragons. Paige stared out towards the direction of Eastmarch. She knew the closest stormcloak camp was only miles out. She could get them there, she could easily escape, and plead them to let the Imperial go. By the time Emily made it back to Whiterun, she would be in Eastmarch, and safe from capture again. It would only be a few miles. A few miles and she would insure her freedom, and then make her way back to the Jarl. Her only hope was now in the hands of the plucky blonde wife of the Captain of the Stormcloaks. Hopefully Hanna listened to her as she ran towards that damned dragon.
"I need to get a message to Whiterun. Then we can get started on getting to High Hrothgar." Emily said as she looked towards the Blacksmith.
"There's an Inn near the entrance of the camp. You can send a post through the keeper. It's no further than a couple miles. We can get there in less than an hour. As promised, we're out. My hands, captain?" Paige said as the Imperial guard nodded and pulled out the dagger, quickly cutting the ropes. The blacksmith rubbed her wrists slowly as she started down the path towards the camp. Emily quickly followed and continued to take in this Nord.
"Your hands, the burns, the knowledge of weapons. You man a forge, don't you?" Emily asked as Paige looked at her hands and laughed a little.
"It took you that long to see that?" Paige asked as she continued walking at a brisk pace.
"So, you were left to that blacksmith when they captured you?" Emily continued.
"The Jarl came to the barracks where they held captures. He read me the letter in my father's handwriting words I will never forget. The blood of one daughter wasn't worth the blood of 100 Imperial soldiers. The Jarl told me that the blood of a true daughter of Skyrim outweighed that of a 1000 Imperial soldiers. He had a young son, and we grew up together. I worked in the forge as an apprentice until my master retired. Once he did, I left Windhelm and traveled the realm." Paige said as she continued her pace down the path.
"So you know the Jarl?" Emily asked as Paige stopped
"Once I did. Now can we stop prodding and pointing into my life and make it to this camp so you can send your message?" Paige asked curtly, stopping Emily in her own tracks.
"Look, we are stuck together until I get you back to Whiterun. I can get you to High Hrothgar but you have to get me to the Inn." Emily assured as Paige nodded and continued towards the camp.
Xxx
Paige eyed the stormcloaks ahead. She knew that she was home free. She could get rid of the Imperial next to her, without hurting her and be back in Windhelm by week's end. She looked forward, and saw the blonde she sent to them. Hanna was still there. She looked at Emily, who was staring ahead of her. She saw the banner's quickly, before turning towards Paige. The blacksmith finally made her move, grabbing the sword from Emily quickly, and turning it on her. Emily's eyes widened as Paige faced the camp, and waved her arm towards the camp.
"Hanna!" Paige yelled, catching the attention of the blonde in the camp. A few stormcloaks saw the Imperial there, and followed down the path, towards the blacksmith assumed captured in Whiterun. "She's no threat!" Paige yelled, preventing any of them from drawing their swords. She looked at Emily and smiled. "Sorry. The stormcloaks gave me a home, and we have a camp close by." Paige said as Emily grabbed her dagger, and drew on Paige.
"Your father was right." Emily said as Paige shrugged.
"Sometimes he is. It has nothing to do with you, or anything Imperial. I was just helping out a friend. It's really nothing personal." Paige said quickly, as she stepped back. "Someone lead her to the edge of Whiterun and let her go. Let's get the fuck out of here." Paige said as she walked away, handing Emily's sword to the guard who stepped forward. "Make sure that returns to its owner." She commanded as Hanna walked over to her, joining the blacksmith as she shook her head at the blonde, before heading towards the camp. The imperial captain could only watch as the blacksmith walked away and as the stormcloak grabbed her, leading her away from the camp, and along the path they had previously traveled.
