Cearbhail: Ok...not my best work. I took a final today so I'm a little brained burned. Anyway, I'm sure it will still rock the party to come.


Dear journal,

So…I guess this is not an appropriate time to write down my thoughts…

"Lydia, move!"

Hadvar yelled as tackled into me, throwing me down to the ground.

A large flaming boulder flew over our heads, exploding only a few meters away. He covered our heads as hot rocks rained down rained down on top of us. Once the flaming rocks stopped falling onto our heads, he glared down at me. "What were you thinking? We're in the middle of a war!"

I shifted uncomfortably underneath his bulky body. Were this any other circumstance, I'd probably be…well…still uncomfortable. He was right on top of me.

"Seriously, what were you thinking?" He asked a little more gently.

I looked down at my pinned arm. "I…I'm nervous and…I write when I'm nervous."

"Nervous?" Asger asked as he walked up with M'aiq behind him. "What's there to be nervous about?" He said right as a boulder exploded behind him. A head sized flaming debris flew up behind him, knocking him forward. "Thalmor! That hurt!" He said as he rubbed the back of his head. When he lifted his head back up, three arrows flew into his armored chest.

He saw me look at his chest. He shrugged. "Ah, come on! If you're afraid of a few arrows, then you aren't living yet." He stepped toward the fort. "Just stay behind me. I'll take care of everything."

Asger broke the arrows from his armored chest plate. "Lydia, take note of this day, because this is the day that we take over our first fort!" He bent down and grabbed my journal. He took my hand and lifted me up, pushing me behind him. He gave my journal back to me and said, "I want you to write everything you feel this night. I want us all to remember this day for the rest of our lives."

I nodded. "Sure thing."

I'm back, journal. It's the day we're invading Fort Greenwall. I've already almost had an arrow take my head off. Hadvar saved my life. I paused for a moment when I realized the position Hadvar and I were in after he talked me to the ground. It was very…it could have been romantic. Too bad the fate of my daughter resides in me having her with Asger and no one else.

Of course, we would not have ended up in that position if my great Thane had not ruined our chance for a surprise. We had everything in our favor. We had this fort taken for good, but someone had to ruin it for us. As we snuck up from behind the fort, we could hear the surprised Stormcloaks talking about his ice sculptures. One asked his buddy, "Hey…aren't those ice sculptures? Where did they come from?" His buddy replied, "I don't know…but what is that one? Is that a dragon riding on a horse?"

(sigh)…

Asger, of course, yelled out, "Hey! That's not a dragon, that's my mother!"

As soon as he said that, we were suddenly being filled with arrows, flying boulders, and released sabre cats that were trained to not bite Stormcloaks.

Cecilie is of course back at the camp, staying out of the fight. She wanted to come out and 'watch' me fight. I don't know how, but even though she's blind, she seems to be able to see just fine.

Well, I should go, I…have a bloody arm to pluck out of my hair…

Lydia.

I resisted screaming out in horror and I closed my journal. I put my journal away and brought my hand up to brush the bloody Stormcloak arm out of my hair. I could feel the warm sticky blood rolling down my forehead. I sure hope this Stormcloak lived a clean life…I did not want to wake up infected with something I did not deserve.

"Lydia! Stay behind me!" Asger said as he started climbing a staircase.

It was now that I got a good look at where we were. I was right in the middle of soldiers of different uniforms clashing blades. Arrows flew back and forth, catching people in the heads. Swords sung as they repeated off of shields and steel armor. And I was standing in the middle of it. Worst off, I wasn't moving, I was just watching. I looked up to see Asger and M'aiq just flying through some Stormcloaks. They charged right through the Stormcloaks with their bare fists like they had no problem with it. The Stormcloaks were falling three stories down as M'aiq shoved them off the pathway and down to the lower levels. The Stormcloaks screamed in fear as they plunged and then they were silenced with a loud smack sound.

"Lyds!" Hadvar called.

I snapped out of my bubble and saw that a Stormcloak woman was coming for me, her sword raised above her head. Behind her was a party of several other Stormcloaks.

I reacted without hesitation. I unsheathed my blade, it singing from its sheath until it connected with the Stormcloak's arm. My newly sharpened blade cut through it like I was cutting through air. Her sword fell from her severed arm. She did not go down at that, though. I actually finished by grabbing her and heaving her back into her buddies that were gathering behind her.

During their initial surprise, they caught her and helped her to the ground. I took that time to charge in, plunging my blade into one of them, and ramming my spiked shield into another. The first one croaked out as he died, the second one grabbed his eyes and screamed as my spikes blinded him.

The others weren't as slow, though. Two of them grabbed me and pushed me off of their group, shoving me into the wall. "Now, we're going to kill…"

Suddenly, his head snapped forward. His buddy looked over at him and his head snapped as well. I could see two perfect arrows stuck right in their heads. I looked up to see Rikke mock-saluting me before she turned her attention back to the three Stormcloaks in front of her. She caught a great-axe with her shield, spun underneath it, and swiped her sword vertically. The Stormcloak cried and fell from the platform, both his arm sliced off at the forearms.

"I could use some help!" Hadvar called from up above me. He had ten Stormcloaks surrounding him, pinning him on a small stretch of stone.

"IISS!" Asger called from across the fort.

I watched as the mist flew over my head and land of five Stormcloaks. They jolted like they were surprised, but after that, ice had formed around their bodies. Hadvar nodded his thanks for Asger and turned to face the other five Stormcloaks that were now flanking him. "Thank you, Dragonborn. I owe you a pint when we get to Riften."

I stood here long enough, I thought as I pulled out my bow and some arrows. I pulled an arrow back and took aim. Hadvar already was confronting the first Stormcloak, so I fired my arrow at the second one. My arrow hit at the knee, puncturing it upwards. The Stormcloak cried out in bloody murder, pulled his leg up, lost his balance, and fell onto his buddies behind him. They did not see it coming and neither did he. They were still watching Hadvar when it happened.

Hadvar charged through his opponent and then jumped on top of the surprised group of Stormcloaks. He placed his sword up to their throats. "Give it up, you're all that remains."

I looked around. Dead bodies of Stormcloaks and a few Imperials scattered the fort. Rikke, a few of her soldiers, Asger, and M'aiq were still standing. There were plenty wounded Stormcloaks and Imperials groaning on the ground. Seeing the painful looks on their faces: the look of defeat on the Stormcloaks, and the slight smile and eye glitter of victory for the downed Imperials, I could only let my sword fall from my fingers.

This battle was over. Rikke acknowledged it by walking up to the group Hadvar captured. She nodded to them. "We can do this the Nord way, or your way. If you talk, we'll spare your lives, if not…well…I'm sure you know the drill. The drill can't wait to meet you." She smiled as she pulled out an interrogation drill. It was a torture device to make as much pain as possible with as little blood as possible. It ran itself so the torturer did not need to stay awake to use it. It was a normal procedure to run them for days on end with no stopping, only adding more and more to various places, until someone cracked.

The Stormcloak with the shattered knee shook his head quickly. "No need, no need. I'll talk."

The other Stormcloaks all looked at him in disgust. "We will kill you if you say anything."

Rikke snapped her fingers. Four arrows were launched from the archers that were just now appearing at the top of the fort. The remaining Stormcloaks took the arrows to their heads. Now, the only one that remained was the Stormcloak willing to talk. Rikke lowered down and said, "Ok, talk. We'll start with…"

I sighed with relief. Rikke was still interrogating her new favorite prisoner. While she was busy chatting with him, we were scheduled with cleaning up the fort; scrubbing all the blood off the blocks, moving the bodies to the giant bonfire out behind the fort, and collected any and all possessions. Everyone who died was stripped of their armor, and all the Stormcloak armors were ripped apart to make new bedding pads for the new Imperial fort.

I was standing on the staircase where Asger breathed fire onto a couple Stormcloaks. Their bodies were melted to the stone, leaving behind a really squishy black resign that grossed me out.

"M'aiq smells yummy yummy. Can he has bite?" M'aiq called as he started climbing up the stairs.

I threw him the broom and said, "Have at it. I'm going to go throw up."

Rikke finally walked out of the main entrance for the jail cells, her face triumphant. "Ok." She looked over at her me and motioned me forward. Then she looked around. "Everyone form up! Time to receive our new orders."

Everyone hustled as fast as they could. Not having to mop up blood was more than enough reason to form up immediately. Everyone moved into perfect lines. All…ten of us.

She nodded to us. "I have just chatted with General Tullius via crystal ball. Our reinforcements will be here by morning. From there, we're charging to Riften and we're taking the city by force." She looked over at Asger. "I know this is a lot to ask, but if you can go into the city tonight and create some dissent, perhaps organize a riot within the city by first thing in the morning, I would appreciate it. I want to march into the city not having every guard breathing down our masks."

Asger nodded. "Jeez, I can't go anywhere without attracting attention. I'm sure I'll think of something."

I smiled. Yeah, I'm sure he'd think of something. Maybe more ice sculptures.


Cearbhail: XD I cannot wait to see whatever it is that I plan on unleashing onto Riften... I... I don't even know what it is yet, but whatever it will be, I am sure that it will be a lyical genius situation of chaos and uncontrollable laughter...I hope..