Chapter 3: The Nightmare Before Rorikstead.

The ship rocked steadily side to side. The man stood at the window looking proudly out at the waving sea. He crossed his arms and sighed deeply, a keen sign that the man had accepted his fate. Lucas stood behind him, sword in hand. He was hesitant but the man was not, Lucas found that unsettling, unnerving even. There was no begging, no fighting. It wasn't right.

"Just do me one favour, well not one favour. A contract I guess." The man said solemnly

"Name it" Lucas replied, almost involuntarily.

"You'll do it? As a brother?"

"Of course."

"Him, the one that brought you here. Him."

Lucas nodded silently.

"Him, a contract...as a brother..."

The words swirled round Lucas's head, they span around and around. He began to feel sick, the room seemed to lose its gravity.

"Him, a contract...as a brother..."

Only the man, staring out the ships window seemed to remain still. He didn't turn, he didn't hesitate. Lucas approached him from behind, sword at the ready.

"Him, a contract...as a brother..."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry!" Lucas said out loud.

He bolted up right in his fur bedding, Lydia, who was sat to his left wide awake and eating a loaf of bread, jumped up and drew her sword. She quickly relaxed when she realized that Lucas had woken up yelling the phrase. He simply sat there, in a cold sweat, desperately taking in his surroundings. He calmed down eventually, his breathing slowed and his eyes settled. He looked across at Lydia, who was still half stood in the air. She had a sword in one hand and a half eaten loaf of bread in the other, she stared at him with a confused expression before sheathing her sword and sitting back down on her tree stump.

"Bad dreams, My Thane?" Lydia enquired, in an almost seemed condescending tone.

"You still awake? Thought I told you to go to sleep." Lucas retorted with a bit more edge than he had intended.

"I got hungry my Thane. Thought I would keep watch whilst I ate."

"Sure." Lucas said sarcastically, knowing that she had just ignored him again. He stood from his bedroll and a grabbed a piece cloth from his backpack and wiped his face of sweat.

"Would you like some food My Thane?"

"Huh? Um yes. Sure. Why not."

Lydia stood from her tree stump and walked towards the cooking pot above the fire. She took out some meats and threw them in the pot before beginning to stir it. Lucas continued to stare out of the campsite longingly.

"Are you ok my Thane?"

"Fine."

He seemed different now, this wasn't the shy quirky Imperial she had set off with. Not the calm, confidant and calculating Dragonborn that killed those bandits last afternoon. He seemed...not upset...just angry.

"My Thane..."

"What is it?"

"Would you like...to talk? You seem pretty distressed."

Lucas sighed deeply.

"You're the one who wants to always be formal My Housecarl."

Lydia continued to stir the pot.

"Yes My Thane."

Lucas looked down and turned towards Lydia who was concentrating on the cooking now. Lucas made a sound of apology before walking over to Lydia.

"I'm sorry, it's just a bad memory Lydia. Something that refuses to go away. But it's my own business, no need to worry yourself."

Lydia just nodded and quietly and went to get a bowl for the broth she had just created.

"Understood my Thane." She passed him the bowl of broth. "I hear many people see terrible things during their time in the Legion."

"Oh yeah." Lucas giggled. "I suppose you do. But those memories don't haunt me, not like that one. I was dreaming of a later time in my life. A regret, if you will."

Lydia only casually nodded, not wanting to make him angry. She wouldn't have thought she could have made him angry until that very moment. He seemed so laid back and carefree. But maybe he hadn't always been this way. Maybe something destroyed his seriousness a long time ago. This Dragonborn was turning out to be more than the scrawny Imperial she had first judged when he had entered Dragonreach three days ago.

Lucas blew the steam from his food and began to eat spoonfuls of it.

"Sorry my Thane, but it's mostly water. I did not want to dig into our supplies to much when we still got a day ahead of us."

Lucas smiled up at Lydia "No problem, its lovely. But of course not as good as the stuff I made earlier"

"Of course my Thane." Lydia replied sternly.

Lucas looked up at her at put the bowl down.

"No not Of course my Thane. It was a joke, a bit of banter. You know?"

"I see, I'm sorry my Thane."

"Wow, I guess as a rule servants can't have a sense of humour then?"

"Something like that my Thane."

"I swear to the divines, say my Thane one more time and I will scream."

Lydia stayed silent but couldn't help but smile at Lucas's joke. He to smiled, revelling in the victory of making his emotionless Housecarl smile.

"So what do your parents think of you travelling with an Imperial man?" Lucas asked cheekily

"My father died in battle when I was very young...My mother is proud to have a daughter protecting the Dragonborn." Lydia replied quietly sitting back down on her tree stump.

"I see. Sorry to hear about your father. I'm sure he was a brave man."

"What about you? You must have some very worried parents somewhere in Cyrodiil."

Lucas smiled as he continued to eat his broth "None to speak off. I was an orphan, raised in the Imperial City orphanage."

"Oh...I'm sorry to bring that up my...Sir."

"Please" Lucas chuckled "Never call me sir, that just feels wrong. And don't worry about it. I'm not ashamed of it, we cannot choose where to be born or whom too. I just got dealt a bad hand of cards to start with. I know it's surprising, you Nords think of all us Imperials as rich nobleman. Trust me...we have plenty of poor as well. "

"How did you end up in the Legion?"

Lucas finished his broth and placed the bowl down by the fire.

"Very few career paths open to an orphan in a big city, I fell in with the wrong crowds. Began stealing and fencing goods. Nothing major, just stolen jewellery, fresh food that sort of thing. Seemed the only option available to me at the time. When I was seventeen I got caught with my hand in some aristocrats pocket. It was either a lengthy service in the Legion or jail. I chose the Legion and glad I did."

"Why's that?"

"Well I'm an orphan like I said so I had no last name. When I was in the Legion there was this Nord fellow, big guy. Liked using this bloody great sword, called him Earth-Splitter. Nice guy, kind of took me under his wing. I seemed to be a natural with the bow and he always said I was the calculating fighter. He was a puncher but I, I was a Striker. He gave me my last name Stryke."

Lydia was quite astonished, a Nord had given him his namesake. This Imperial had more of a connection to Skyrim than she had first thought.

"What happened to Earth-Splitter?"

Lucas looked down and went very quiet "He was executed along with a quarter of my platoon for desertion."

"He deserted?"

"We all did. We got some orders that didn't sit well with us. Roughly half the platoon went AWOL. Around a quarter of us were caught...along with him."

Lydia wondered if it was him Lucas had been saying sorry to in his sleep, but he didn't seem to feel particularly angry or guilty about this Earth-Splitter. Not like he had done when he first awoke, he was in a panic then.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Lydia said apologetically "He'd be proud of you now though."

"Heh, I wonder that sometimes. But enough of old stories. I don't usually talk about this stuff..." Lucas stood up and walked back to his bedroll "It feel good to though. Thanks Lydia."

"I'm always here for you my-" Lucas turned his head all of a sudden, as if he was giving Lydia the warning don't say it. She laughed under her breath "It was no problem, Lucas."

"See wasn't that hard was it?" Lucas said jumping back into his bedroll. "And get some damn sleep girl, before sleep takes you whilst we're walking."

Lydia nodded "Let me just finish my bread"

"Yeah right." Lucas said rolling his eyes.

This Imperial was not a simple man, it had become apparent to Lydia that he had been through a lot even though he was still young. An orphan, a pickpocket, a thief, a soldier, a traitor... and that was just what he was willing to talk about. She wondered who he could have been saying sorry to in his dream and what regret would way so heavily on the mind of someone who had seen so much already.

XENDX