Attention. I have lost my muse. Updates will be slow. None of my stories are stopped. I have just run out of ideas on how to continue.
The weak winter sun shone coldly down on the slick cobblestones of the mountain road as a cold wind blew a light dusting of snow off the ground and into the frigid air.
The echoing creak of the wooden wheels of a caravan of wagons preceded the quiet convoy. Four to a cart, each pulled by a draft horse and driven by a single imperial soldier. A lone horse and rider followed the twin carriages, unsheathed weapon glinting in a loose grip as he alternated between watching for any escape attempts and staring towards the front of the convoy. His fond thoughts of a mug of ale and good food temporarily disrupted by the motion of the limp prisoner in the last cart stirring as he came to.
Might of been better for that poor bastard to have slept through the whole affair.
Hadrain groaned at the harsh throbbing he'd awoken to in his head. It almost overshadowed the cold he could feel biting through his well worn clothing. He could not remember how he got the injury, only that he was crossing the border into Skyrim and had been stopped. Now all he could think about was the splintery hard wood behind his back and the pain from his body, most of it focused behind his left ear, although he could feelthe new multicoloured bruises all across his body. The wood gently swayed beneath his limp body. With a groan he forced his eyes to focus on his surroundings. s
"Well, I am glad to see you are awake."
Slowly Hadrain's eyes fluttered open squinting as he dajusted to the light, looking around to find who had spoken. They settled on a young blond Nord. His arms spoke of strength with scars that littered his skin, and his blue eyes spoke intelligence. His voice was deep, eyes kind, and his body was clad in blue coloured leather with a fur-lined collar. His hands were also bound with oiled leather.
"Those Empire soldiers sure did a number on you. Why they would beat an unarmed man is beyond me. Even if you are some type of elf."
There was silence for a moment when HadHadriannced in pain after lightly touching his worst injury with his bound hands, the split, and a swollen lump on his head. He lowered his hands before he glanced at the Nord who spoke. The Nords of this period looked slightly different than the ones he was used to, Or at least this one was.
From his brief look around, it seemed there were members from another very similar race present in the cart, more slender with runner's body. They were built more for speed than strength. Like the Nords, their hair color differed from person to person. So did their skin color, more so than the Nords. Oddly enough, they all wore red studded leather chest armor of some type while the Nords wore blue-dyed leather jerkins.
"Where are we?" Despite his sorry state his voice sounded smooth, comforting, and soft.
The blond one chuckled, his tone humourless. "Honestly I have no clue, but I do know that Sovenguard awaits."
Humanity's heaven. The home of the blessed mortal dead.
'Just great. All I did was enter a country, and I am going to die.'
He briefly tugged on the leather binding his hands together. He knew that he could break out from his binds easily with his strength alone, but escaping the soldiers would be another matter. He glanced up from his binds at the lone person who was wearing prison garb like him.
"Damn you Stormcloaks. Damn you and your war with the Cyrodiil Empire. If they were not on the look for you I could have stolen that horse and already escaped to Hammerfell."
'Wait, what empire? Gods be damned. I was frozen for longer than the Elders planned. If the sensors released me from the time capsule there has to be a reason. Now if only I knew why.'
Hadrian's face furrowed at the lack of information. His eyes scanned the surroundings for anything that he could glean from sight alone. It seemed that this empire was less technologically advanced than his own was all that time ago.
'Or maybe prisoners get a deliberately rude transport.'
He thought wryly as the cart jolted over a rough patch of road and a town came into sight.
'Maybe not.'
All the houses in this place, Helgen, were wooden. All had thatch roofs, the only stone building was the keep, even from here he could see the formerly sharp edges of the masonry had been worn down by time and the weather.
'I wonder how they deal with fires.'
He mentally shook his head and focused on the present. If he was going to survive this with his head attached. He would have to pay attention.
All to soon the wagon stopped moving and everyone stepped down.
The thief had tried to run and had just got shot down for his trouble. The captain looked pleased at our uneasy looks.
"Anyone else with a thought of running." The other person that held a list looked slightly sick at the brutality. That man had simply buried his head in the list and started naming off people and what I would guess their home towns. When there was just me left and no one left on the list he looked apprehensively at me, running his finger down his list and reading them out again under his breath, before he turned back to his superior.
"Capitan, this man is not on the list. He is obviously a foreigner as I do not recognise his species. Should we get the general to find out what he was doing here?"
The captain just glanced at me with a vicious smug expression that set my senses on guard.
My eyes narrowed as she started orating.
"If he is here then he was caught with the traitorous Stormcloaks. That would only mean that he is a part of the rebellion. There is no need to involve the General over another petty thug. My orders state that anyone in the wagons are to be put to death. He goes to the block for his crimes against the Empire."
'Well you have just made a new number one enemy.'
It was clear the young man didn't share his superiors attitude by the remorse on his face.
"I am sorry, my friend. I will personally make sure that your remains are laid to rest in your homeland. Please follow the others. Prisoner."
With shaky steps he followed his commanding officer with only a glance at me full of sorrow, white knuckles clenched on his list.
I had slowly followed to where my fellow prisoners were and was forced to watch as the first man was swiftly beheaded. One of the other Nords made an approving noise at the cut.
"At least the imperials can still kill tied up and unarmed men well, they aren't utterly useless."
Tuning out the smattering of nervous laughter I softly began to pray to the deities for help in getting out of this.
It seemed like my prayers had been answered when I suddenly heard a soft feminine voice resonate through my mind. Her voice powerful and yet was still kind.
"Very well dragonborn. I will help you. In return I will ask the same."
My eyes widened as the voice faded back into my background thoughts. A faint roar sounded off in the distance, no one seemed to notice it.
I heard it again, closer and louder this time.
It was then my turn and my head was forced on the same chopping block, I could feel the splinters and stickiness of blood as I was roughly pushed onto it.
I could hear the one man who had felt remorse at my unjustified impending death tried to tell his superiors about the roar but they brushed him off until it sounded nearby. A creature of beauty broke the clouds and landed on the keep with a thundering crash, shaking the stonework and dislodging tiles from the roof.
She, for I knew it was a she from the gentle curves, looked down at me with golden honey coloured eyes, almost amused while everyone panicked around me.
"Dragon!" screamed one of the soldiers to my left. I chanced a glance upwards the headsman's axe was raised high as he stared in horrified disbelief at the dragon,
"I am going to cause a distraction, dragonborn, by destroying this village. Don't worry about the people, I will keep the deaths minimal. I need you to escape any way you can in the resulting chaos. To the north there is a small village. go there. You will be safe in it's inn. I will meet you there in two days."
With that her eyes turned blood red and she shouted something to the sky. As if she'd angered the very Aedra, fiery meteorites began to fall from the sky and panic redoubled all around me, the headman fleeing with his axe to the dubious shelter of the keep..
It was time to follow the plan given to me.
It was time for a jailbreak.