I had never been knocked out before.
In all my years of combat training and scholarship over the arcane arts, never once has it happened.
It's an odd feeling.
At first your thoughts are clear, your mind reassured into a false sense of security that lulls your body to follow in it's path. And then your body is broken in someway, either a blow to the head or a fall, it doesn't matter how. Because your consciousness is lost, your mind is no longer reassured, and your thoughts are a wild mess that envelops you in darkness.
I very highly doubt other people have the dreams I am cursed with when unconscious.
The snow peaked mountain seems to agree with me. The beast that lingers, that is prepared, with eyes as old as time. He agrees. Even the true darkness of my mind, of my soul, agrees. His roars piece me like a blade, and wreak havoc on my mind like no blow to the head or curse could ever do.
But before I fully comprehend is awful roar, or the beast that lingers, or the snow peaked mountain, my mind slowly begins to mend itself, and I am dragged into familiarity.
Consciousness.
I was uncomfortable, the seat I was on was cold, and wet, and wooden. I was sitting on a cart. I was moving.
My eyes opened, and cloud shrouded sunlight met my eyes. I looked around, my surrounding were fairly simple, I was in the last of three carts rolling down a pathway in a mountainside, the person holding the reins of each cart were all the soldiers in leather.
A pain filled my head as I sat up and turned around, my bound hands surprising me for a moment before I realised my armour was gone, replaced with rags and that I was sitting among the the men in blue, another man in rags who looked terrified, and a man in fine grey robes who was gagged.
Across from me was a blond Nord in blue. He smiled sadly as I looked his way, and said,"Hey you. You're finally awake!" he sounded a tad happy at his discovery, and leaned closer to me,"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there!"
I turned to the man in rags as he spoke up, malice dripping from his voice like venom,"Damn you, Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine until you came along, the Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." He met my gaze, and fear shone through his eyes,"You there! You and me, we shouldn't be here, it's the Stormcloaks the Empire wants."
"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now," the blond Nord, who I assumed was a Stormcloak (which is a very odd name), replied, with a calmness that one would not expect from a man in his situation.
There was a short moment of silence, and I decided that I might as well say something before I was imprisoned for nothing,"I wasn't trying to cross the border," they both looked at me perplexed as I spoke, probably not being able to place my accent, as Snow Elves sound much harsher that High Elves, while still remaining fairly posh."I was looking for a way to get medicine, and I couldn't tell which way to go, and then some of those - Imperials, was it? - harassed me, and one was racist, so I punished him for it."
"Sure it wasn't a Stormcloak who was racist towards you?" the horse thief queried, gaining a raised eyebrow on my part,"Because they hate elves."
"I'm not like that," the blond grumbled, shaking his head.
"From my experience anyone can hate anyone, it takes a special kind of person to be kind, especially in a bad situation," I stated, nudging the Nords foot with my own,"and it doesn't matter what action those around you make, it just matters what you do in return."
"Oh no, you're a bard," the horse thief grumbled.
"Just saying words of wisdom, friend," I sighed, looking down the path, seeing us passing a signpost, reading the word "Helgen".
The blond glanced at me and smirked, obviously curious, questioning,"And how did you gain such wisdom?"
"Harsh experience," I remarked, leaning back and glancing back at the gagged man, who seemed to be trapped in thought, and glancing around the hills and path, obviously hoping for some form of escape. He didn't seem that convinced, but kept his stern, furrowed brow of defiance, seemingly wanting to maintain a brave face through this all.
"Shut up back there!" ordered the guard driving the cart, who I now recognised to be Julius. He smirked as he saw the recognition in my eyes, and spat just shy of my shoulder, gaining him a glare from everyone in our cart but the man in grey.
At this point, the horse thief had lost interest in the conversation, and glanced over at the gagged man, calling over to the blond Nord,"What's wrong with him, huh?"
A fury and passion I had never seen before crossed the blond mans eyes as he bellowed out,"Watch your tongue! You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!" His words had a level of conviction to them that was respectable, but at the end of his statement his shoulders slumped, and a breathy sigh exited his chapped lips.
"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm?" the horse thief queried, his voice shaking and eyes widening, as a fear I had no understanding of claimed him,"You're the leader of the rebellion, but if they captured you - oh gods! Where are they taking us?"
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovengarde awaits," the blond mans solemn tone offset me and I knew one thing, a fact I had learned when I was very young from an old book at home. Sovengarde, the land of dead Nordic warriors, a place of honour, a place I had no intention of going, not now, not even after I helped my people.
"No, this can't be happening, this isn't happening!" the horse thief began to tremble, tears threatening to leave his eyes, as we approached rustic, stone walls, of what I guessed the Nord's called a town. I'd like to think that it was a peaceful place, a place among the trees and mountains, a place where you could raise children, where you could be happy. But, I was on my way to my death if the blond Stormcloak man was to be believed. I wanted to escape, but I was still bound and I was starting to panic like the horse thief.
That was until the blond mans soft voice sighed out a simple,"Hey. What village are you from, horse thief?"
The question struck me as odd, and it seemed the horse thief agreed, but nevertheless he accusingly replied,"Why do you care?"
"A Nord's last thoughts, should be of home," the blond man answered, his face grave, and eyes turning hollow.
His words may not have been targeted at me, but they struck me anyway. My mind drifted to Dragtha, she had wanted me to stay safe, yet here I was, bound to die. And what a horrid death it was to be. I was not in battle, or with those I loved, those I had failed. I had never had anyone but Dragtha and her family, I had never built one of my own, I had never achieved anything of my own. What a disgrace I was.
"Rorikstead," the horse thief croaked out, similar thoughts seeming to travel through his mind as he spoke,"I'm from Rorikstead."
Seeing this man choke out the name of his home filled me with anger, not for him though, for myself. This man had no power, it was clear as day, but I had not just my physical power, I also had magic and a quick head, I shouldn't die like this, not if I have a say, not if there are people who need help like the horse thief. The guilt and shame boiled deep within me but I had an epiphany, that if my last thoughts were to be of home, then best my last thoughts not be today. I decided then and there, I was going to live.
"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!" a man in leather armour called from atop the walls of the town we rode eerily towards.
On his own horse, a man in his own gold adorned leather armour replied,"Good, let's get this over with!" I assumed he was the General Tullius, as he exuded an aura of authority, if still reluctant. His armour did also help to allocate his position, because by his frame alone one would never believe he had such a position. Tullius proceeded to ride his horse through the main gate of the town, over to a group of Mer, who I assumed to be Altmer by their complexion and the fact they all seemed shorter than I was, who all sat atop their own horses.
We too began to enter the town, the blond and the gagged man called Ulfric both glaring at the collection of what I assumed to be their enemies. Next to the blond man, the horse thief began to frantically pray, almost begging the gods as he called out,"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh! Divines, please help me."
"Look at him," the blond man spat, his eyes burning with anger,"General Tullius, the military governor, and it looks like the Thalmor are with them. Damn elves, I bet they had something to do with this."
"No love for Altmer?" I asked, thinking back to his earlier statement of not being like his racist fellows.
"If you were abused by them as they have abused us Nords, you would hate them too," he answered, to which I scoffed. He had no idea of abuse, or justified hate, but still, I didn't know everything, so maybe he actually had good reason. We had a moment of low hanging silence as our carriage rode through the town, Julius happily guiding the horse in the direction of my death. The blond didn't seem to like the quiet as much as I did, as he spoke once more, this time with the softness I had become accustomed to,"This is Helgen, I used to be sweet on a girl from here. I wonder if Velod still making that mead with juniper berries... Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."
Pondering the mans words, I gazed ahead of us and saw a boy sitting on his porch, watching the procession of our carts in awe besides his father. He turned to his father, and asked in confusion,"Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?"
"You need to go inside, little cub," the boys burly father ordered, as he too watched our carts with keen eyes.
"Why, I want to watch the soldiers," the boy responded, not grasping the situation thanks to the innocence blessed to children.
His father didn't seem to like his tone, or his presence in this area, for understandable reasons, as he ordered once more,"Inside the house. Now."
The boy entered his house, and our carts were brought to a wall, one by one. I cared little for the wall though, as my eyes landed on the block and basket set on the ground a few feet away, with a large man in menacing black attire standing above it, a large axe in hand. As our cart came to a halt, I saw a woman in plate armour barking orders to the man who I spoke to when I got captured, Hadvar, aggressively yelling,"Get those prisoners out of those carts! Move it!"
"Why are we stopping?" the horse thief queried, his voice so frail it almost shattered from his own breath.
Besides him, the blond's solemn tone returned,"Why do you think?" he gazed at all of us with the cart, his eyes shining with tears he refused to let escape,"End of the line." We came to a full stop, and with a passion and focus that I respected immensely, the man across from me barked,"Let's go! Shouldn't keep the god's waiting for us."
I don't know why, but those simple words made me too feel a passion and a new found stubbornness like none other before. Maybe it was the reminder that I was to be with Auri-El in death, so I had little to fear. Maybe it was that I just wanted to maintain hope I could survive. It didn't matter though, I just held onto the feelings as we began to hop off the cart.
"No, wait! We're not rebels," the horse thief begged the men in leather on his exit.
"Face your death with some courage, thief," the blond man remarked behind me as we were lined up.
But the thief was obviously not accustomed to danger, as he begged,"You've got to tell them we weren't with you. This is a mistake."
"A mistake it may be, but if we don't cause trouble, maybe the gods will show us mercy, friend," I whispered into his ear, gesturing to the guards all over the area,"Escape is impossible with all of them at the ready, we should just hope that we are picked last and question us on our situations properly. Don't do anything stupid that could get you killed."
He nodded in agreement, as the armoured woman from before stood in front of us all, with Hadvar besides her, barking out,"Step towards the block when we call your name, one at a time!"
"Empire loves their damn lists," the blond man grumbled besides me, causing a soft chuckle to slip from my lips. Noticing my reaction, he whispered to me,"What's so funny friends?"
"Just your tone. In the face of death, you just have to complain about the way their doing it. I find that to be quite an admirable ability," I answered, gaining a soft shoulder nudge from him in appreciation.
Hadvar held a book in his hands that he started to read through quietly for a moment, before calling out,"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm."
The gagged man in grey stepped forward, and the blond beside me murmured,"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric."
"Ralof of Riverwood," Hadvar continued, to which the blond stepped forward himself. A moment passed, as a few people from the other carts were brought forward before Hadvar continued with a sigh of,"Lokir of Rorikstead."
For a moment, I fear the horse thief will run, as he flinches at his name being uttered, but he glances over at Ralof, who glares at him, and then at me, who nods towards him pleadingly, and steps forward briskly, not meeting any of the Imperials or Stormcloaks eyes.
After a moment, Hadvar once again read from the list, as he scanned it confused before locking eyes with me and ordering,"You there, step forward," I did as I was told and stood in front of the two Imperial soldiers, the woman looking at me with hatred burning in her eyes, but Hadvar had a guilt within him as he questioned me,"Who are you?"
That was a loaded question. I couldn't exactly say to him,"Hey, I'm Nesilvinear, a member of a dying race of elves that you Atmorans almost whipped out eras ago, then allowed to be enslaved. I was just travelling the outside world for the first time to save my people when I got caught up in this ambush of yours. Sorry for knocking out that prick Julius." I didn't trust this Empire, but also didn't want to die. I decided to use what lay on the surface for my answer.
My surface being my appearance.
As stated before, as a Snow Elf, I was both taller than Altmer, and had far paler skin, being as white a snow, with short, messy hair to match. However, I had a strong muscular body from my years of training and defending my people from the dangers of the caves. I also had a scar that ran over my left eye from the day my father contracted the sickness. To cover it up my scar, I had blue war paint on my eyes, and made sure to have a constant smirk to draw peoples gazes away from the wound. My eyes themselves were odd, being almost golden in colour, and dazzlingly beautiful as some had said. I was also more than willing to admit that I was attractive.
"I'm Nesilvinear, an Elf," I spoke slowly, noticing Hadvar's soft nods of encouragement as I spoke,"I was on my way to sell goods to the nearest Hold to my town, when I got lost and got caught up in the ambush."
Hadvar's face looked gave as he noticed the woman besides him wearing an unamused expression and before he could speak she asked,"Did you attack an Imperial officer?"
"Yes, but it was for no allegiance with the Stormcloaks, but for the fact he was suspicious of and harassing me for my race," I answered, standing firm, praying internally to Auri-El to save me.
"Is that true?" the Imperial questioned, Hadvar looking like he was about to confirm my story before she added,"Julius."
From the side, Julius stepped forward and saluted, not even acknowledging my existence before raising his chin and saying,"I noticed this man harassing Hadvar as we charged, and decided to mediate the situation, but then he drew his weapon on me, and my fellow soldiers had to arrest the culprit," behind me, I heard a few soldiers mumble their support and he was then dismissed, glaring at me with a small smirk of satisfaction as he walked away.
"Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list," Hadvar queried to the woman.
"Forget the list, he goes to the block," the Captain waved me off dismissively, marching towards the block. At he words, my bod felt like it shrank, as hope of my freedom fluttered away, it didn't help that she seemed to have my satchel on her shoulder.
"By your orders, Captain," Hadvar sighed, turning to me with an apologetic look in his eyes as he ordered,"I'm sorry, before you die, please tell us which town you are from and we'll send your remains home. Follow the captain prisoner."
So with that, I marched to the clearing dedicated to the block for executions. Everyone else from the carts was standing there, waiting, as General Tullius walked up to Jarl Ulfric and spoke with a profound level of disdain,"Ulfric Stormcloak, some here in Helgen call you a hero but a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne," his voice grew louder as he bellowed,"You started this war! Plunged Skyrim into chaos and now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace."
Off in the distance, a loud roar echoed, carrying all the way to us.
"What was that?" someone uttered, as everyone looked up in confusion, while I felt like I'd heard it before, it was familiar and or some reason I was far more terrified about whatever creature made that earth shattering cry than I was about my execution.
"It's nothing," Tullius answered, firmly, stepping over to the other side of the block from the prisoners, ordering,"Carry on."
"Yes, General Tullius," the Captain stated, turning to a Priestess in yellow robes,"Give them their last rites."
The Priestess nodded, raising her arms to the heavens as she cried out,"As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved-!"
"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with," a Stormcloak man interrupted, already stepping up to the block.
"As you wish," the priestess spat at the man, before he was brought to his knees before the bock, the headsman smirking down at him, axe in hand.
"Come on, I haven't got all morning," the man growled, venom seeming to seep from his words. He rested his head on the block and glared up at the heads man and spitting out,"My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" But with that, the headsman raised his axe, beheading the Stormcloak man in one fell swoop. His head landing in the basket at the base of the block, his body falling to its side.
To my left, a Stormcloak screamed,"You Imperial bastards!" while all the people in the town cheered at the sight, chanting for more of us to die, without trial, without checking if we deserved it. Lokir once more looked like he would run again, but his shoulder slumped and he lowered his head, finally accepting his circumstances, I could understand. We were going to die, if we ran or not, best face our death, as Ralof had put it.
Ralof, head hanging low, murmured,"As fearless in death, as he was in life."
Hope was driven from me in that moment, as the Captain looked at me, then barked,"Next, the.. uh - elf? - in the rags!"
Once more, a roar, unlike anything I'd heard before, yet still able to send a chill down my spine and a feeling of recognition to wash over me, cried out across the town, yet still emitting from far off in the distance. Hadvar, who once only looked shocked by the severed head at his feat, now stared up at the sky in fear as he called to his superiors,"There it is again. Did you hear that?"
"I said," the Captain grumbled, obviously not caring about whatever caused the noise,"Next prisoner!"
"To the block prisoner, nice and easy," the Nord sighed, his eyes apologetic and heavy.
Looking over at Ralof and Lokir, they too stared at me apologetically as I walked over to the block. To the side, I saw Julius chuckling softly so that his superiors couldn't hear his blatant disrespect. I glared at him as I was brought to my knees too, then looked up pleadingly at Hadvar as I mumbled,"In a mountain in the West of Eastmarch, there is a long forgotten cave, take my satchel and body, and lay them to rest within the cave. My people will spot you-" my head was suddenly forced down to the block painfully, as I grumbled,"My sister, tell her not to worry and that I'm sorry. Her name is Dragtha."
Tears were running down my face now as my words spilled from my lips, my pleas catching a few peoples ears as they started to boo, but Julius threatened them all to silence.
Above me, Hadvar crouched to my level as he whispered,"You're not a normal elf, are you?"
I could only nod my head to him. He nodded back to me and once more looked to his superiors pleadingly, but they said nothing.
For a moment I wanted to close my eyes, to pray to Auri-El once again, to beg to these Imperials that I didn't deserve this fate, but I knew they wouldn't listen. Ralof's words rang through my head as I turned my head to look at my executioner, as he once again raised his axe. I was preparing my last words, or parting thoughts, but what I saw soaring over the mountains stopped all thought.
Large, black, scaled wings flapped, and reptilian red eyes I could see from anywhere peaking from its head. It was terrifying. It was from my dream, the true darkness of my mind and soul. He roared once more, and I felt the pain from my dream. Something evil had awoken, I knew what it was, but I could not remember it's name.
Tullius seemed to have spotted it too, as he screamed,"What in Oblivion is that?"
The creature took no care to our fears or curiosity, as it perched atop a tower, and gazed down at us all, red eyes taring into my soul. The force of it's landing shook the earth, and all those standing stumbled, the headsman even falling face first, as a Stormcloak woman screamed,"Dragon!"
With that, the dragon released a Thu'um of energy as it blasted all those present, knocking the headsman down permanently as he shielded me from the majority of the blast. The sky turned dark, and chaos rained, people screaming and running for cover, as the dragon blasted them all with it's Thu'um. For the briefest of moments, my vision turned blurry, before I came too and saw the headsman's axe laying on the ground, the blade perfectly positioned to cut my bindings.
Quickly, as everyone ran for cover, I dove down and started to cut off my bindings, frantically running the rope along the blade. Within seconds I was freed, so I began to move away from the block, still crouching low to the ground to avoid everything going on.
"Hey, Nesilvinear!" a voice called from across the street, I looked over and saw it was Ralof, who was also keeping low to the ground as he waved quickly towards me,"Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance! This way!"
We both sprinted over to the nearest tower, where there were Stormcloaks, and an un-gagged Ulfric holding firm. As we ran I tried to avert my eyes from the fire and destruction the dragon was causing. By the entrance to the tower, a Imperial soldier lay dead, his sword lying by his side. Snatching it up, I ran through the door, standing at the bottom of a set of stairs next to a Stormcloak who was getting his wounds tended to.
Ralof stood opposite Ulfric, closing the door behind him as he questioned,"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing?" scream and roars were filling the air, and the blond Nord stepped closer to Ulfric,"Could the legends be true?"
"Legends don't burn down villages," the Jarl replied flippantly. Almost as if the gods wanted to challenge his arrogance, the dragon let out a powerful roar once more, which seemed to bring a touch of fear to his stubborn expression. He hastily ordered,"We need to move. Now!"
"Up through the tower, let's go!" Ralof barked, running up the stairs, me following at his heels. Noticing some of his allies weren't moving, either from injury or fear, the Atmoran once more yelled,"Let's go! With me, up the tower!"
Soon, we were at the next floor of the tower, and another Stormcloak stood sifting through the rocks and rubble that had fallen down the steps,"We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way!" he answered to Ralof's demand.
Suddenly, the wall next to us was smashed through, crushing the man in rubble, as the dragon forced it's head into the building, shouting,"Yol...Toor...Shul!" as it released a breath of flames into the building. I quickly pushed Ralof out of the way, both of us tumbling down the stairs from my efforts. Peering up, I saw the dragon pull it's head from the building, and fly off to continue destroying this town.
Grumbling, we both stood up, Ralof patting me on the shoulder in thanks as we climbed the stairs again, spotting a house with a hole in its roof line perfectly with our new escape route. The Atmoran had a mad gleam in his eye that I would have appreciated more if not for the fact that we were about to die ten times over,"See that inn on the other side?" he questioned, gaining a wary nod from me,"Jump through the roof and keep going!"
"What, no!" I screeched, tugging on his arm,"You're coming with me, we can help each other and everyone else down there!"
"Maybe," he sighed, gazing down at his comrades at the bottom of the stairs,"No, not yet. You go! We'll follow when we can!"
I guess I could now cross "jumping out of one burning down building into another" off of my bucket list. The floor was barely able to hold me up as I landed, whining as it tried to stay standing as the flames fought to consume the building. Dashing through the top floor, there was another hole in the building, which lead down to the ground floor. I quickly hopped down, and was met with a saddening sight.
Hadvar, was shielding an elderly man, who was himself holding back the boy who watched the prisoners earlier from running to his father, who lay injured on the ground as the dragon began to descend upon him. At the back of the group stood Lokir, shaking in fear. The Imperial soldier was backing up with the group yelling,"Hamming, you need to get over here. Now! Torolf! Gods... Everyone get back!"
The dragon was now on the ground, and I could tell it was about to breath fire again, but I couldn't let that boy see his father die. Screaming, I ran forward, and all around me wisps of snow and frost began to flow, shielding me from all the elements for a short time, and freezing anyone that got too close. Reaching Torolf, I yealled,"I hope you Atmorans still handle the cold well!" as I grabbed him and dragged him back to where Hadvar, Hamming, Lokir and the elderly man were hiding, as fire began to surround my temporary barrier of frost.
Upon seeing me save Torolf, the dragon seemed displeased, as for a moment I thought it would continue to follow us, but then an arrow flew and bounced off of it's scales, directing it towards a greater threat, that I saw immediately get destroyed. Once it was away, I rested the man against a wall and began to hold his wounds shut as Hadvar shoved a potion of heath down his throat. We waited a moment, before he grumbled out,"Oh gods, I'm cold."
"Yeah, sorry about that," I sighed, a small chuckle leaving my lips. A moment later, Hamming was hugging his father with all of his strength.
Lokir walked then up to me and patted me on the back, a small smile on his face too, before we heard Hadvar call out,"You two are still alive then prisoners? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way," he then turned to the elderly man and ordered,"Gunnar, take care of the boy and his father, his wounds may not be fully healed. I have to find General Tullius and join the defences."
Gunnar nodded towards Hadvar and croaked out,"God's guide you Hadvar."
Begrudgingly, seeing as I didn't know a way out of this place, and Lokir obviously didn't know what to do, we both began to follow Hadvar as we ran through the burning town. We got to an alleyway just as the dragon perched above us, Hadvar screaming,"Stay close to the wall!" as we dove in, making sure to stay away from the dragons wing as it stabbed it into the ground, separating us from the Imperial soldier for a moment. I watched in horror as the dragon let out another powerful jet of fire from its toothy maw, a cacophony of screams filled the air. "Quickly, follow me!" Hadvar ordered, running through the charred remains of a house.
What we walked into after was a mound of soldiers and mages, fighting desperately to survive while burning corpses lay scattered throughout the area in front of the gate. Tullius stood blade drawn, while besides him, Julius was drawing an arrow towards the dragon. That is to say, he was, until he spotted me, unbound and wielding a sword. He had his bow trailing me as I ran now, before Tullius, not paying attention during the battle, stepped in between of him and I, forcing him to focus back on the dragon.
"Hadvar!" the General cried, pushing a few soldiers towards our small group,"Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!"
Nodding in agreement, Hadvar guided Lokir, the group of eight soldiers and I towards the keep, passing by soldiers who were attempting to shoot the dragon out of the sky, but were failing miserably. As we ran, I noticed Julius glaring at me threateningly, seeming to think that he was more dangerous to me than the dragon over head, which was probably true, the dragon at least had the decency to attack other people and not make racist comments.
As our group made it to the front of the keep, a group of seven Stormcloaks arrived, with Ralof at the front, an axe in hand. Upon seeing the blond, Hadvar spat,"Ralof! You damned traitor," he marched towards the man and I got the sense that these two knew one another very well, as they both looked angry towards each other, but conflicted on fighting, unlike their allies, who all had their weapons ready. Sensing that a fight might break out, Hadvar barked,"Out of my way!"
"We're escaping, Hadvar!" the Stormcloak bit back, his arms spread wide to signal his soldiers not to attack as we attempted a stand still,"You're not stopping us this time."
"Fine," Hadvar yelled, his usually soft voice barely piercing the sounds of the battle around us,"I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovengarde."
Before the two men both ran into separate entrances to the keep with their men, I jumped between them, my arms out towards both of them as I screamed,"I think whatever problems everyone has with one another right now mean nothing! A dragon is attacking, get some perspective men!"
"What do you propose?" an infuriated Stormcloak bellowed, the side of his beard singed from the flames,"These guys will have our heads for what we believe!"
"You believe in killing kings for nothing!" an Imperial countered, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Hadvar,"You follow a man of cheap morals and character!"
"We follow a man who wants to save us from a failing Empire and devious Thalmor, who halt our religious practice and seek to rule all!" the same Stormcloak screamed, pointing his finger accusingly,"Ulfric's message may be corrupted by hate! But at least he's trying to save this nation, while the Empire sits on its ass and snivels like a mangy dog every time it fails!"
I grew tired of their debate, growling angrily as I raised my hand to the sky and shot a breeze of frost and snow into the air. Some of the Imperials shivered, while the Stormcloaks and the Imperial soldiers I could tell were Atmoran, like Hadvar, looked at me in shock.
"Alright, you guys don't agree on the politics of this land!" I bellowed once they were all paying attention, receiving only a grumble from those gathered,"Well, put that aside for a minute and think about what you do agree on! You all love this nation, you all want to see tomorrow and none of you want to die to the fire breathing dragon! So everyone who is willing to put asides their differences to survive, follow me through the keep!"
With that, I marched to a door that was behind the Stormcloaks and waited for a moment besides it.
For a second, I feared nobody would follow, but then Lokir scampered along besides me after an Imperial soldier who had been firing at the dragon was plucked up from one of the walls and thrown across the courtyard. Ralof then looked at his troops, then at Hadvar and nodded, walking over to me followed by his group. A few members of Hadvars group watched in horror as Hadvar and their allies joined me at the door too, until one stepped back and yelled,"Julius, Hadvar's a traitor!" and they all began to run back to General Tullius and Julius.
At the end of it, as we entered the keep, our group was made up of Lokir, Ralof, all six of the other Stormcloaks, Hadvar, three Imperial soldiers and me.
Sighing in partial disappointment, I opened the door and walked into the room behind everyone else. The room seemed to be the barracks, having beds and chests everywhere, but I didn't focus on those, as everyone seemed to be huddled around something, murmuring among one another. Walking up I saw it was the corpse of the Captain, who had horrible wounds across her body, that seemed to be burns. It appeared that after she got caught in a jet of dragons breath, she crawled in here for cover, but her wounds had proved fatal.
"Alright everyone, back up!" Hadvar ordered, surprisingly even influencing the Stormcloaks and Lokir with his command, however Ralof and I stayed with him. Ignoring Ralof, Hadvar turned to me and asked,"What should we do with her?"
I spent a moment thinking, before noticing that her armour, while not as good as my armour from home, was far superior to the rags I had on and she still had my satchel besides her. Picking up my satchel, I muttered,"Well this is mine naturally," before snatching a blanket from one of the beds and covering her with it, and approaching the only woman among us, a Stormcloak,"Would you please assist me in taking the armour from this corpse?"
"Don't you think that's disrespectful?" Ralof and Hadvar called out at the same time.
Baring a grim expression as we took the armour of the Captain, I replied,"She's not using it, and we have to use anything at our disposal to survive," I then began to put on the armour, as I addressed the group,"This goes to everyone! If you find something that could help you, grab it! Lokir, that means you pick up any armour you can find."
"On it!" Lokir said, digging through the chests, slyly pocketing some gold while putting on some spare Imperial light armour. Reminded of gold I checked my satchel and found all of my gold, and the ingots I brought for proof for the Jarl I was going to make the trade deal with.
As everyone got ready to continue through the keep, I spotted a table with a key, some lockpicks and a map of Skyrim. "Thank Auri-El!" I exclaimed as I pushed the map and lockpicks into my satchel and pocketed the key.
Over by the wall there was a chain that opened a gate to the rest of the keep, as when Ralof pulled it, the gate rose us into the ceiling. As a group we all walked down the hallway, until we spotted another gate, that lead to large circular room. On our approach, I heard a large number of footsteps running downstairs in the opposite direction from us.
Hadvar pulled the chain for this gate and I was the first to walk into the room. On one side, a dead Stormcloak was laying on the ground, who quickly got surrounded by his comrades as they said some prayers to Talos and some other guy called Ysmir, and on the other side of the room was an open door, where a dragons head was peaking in upside down.
"Take cover!" I screamed, running over to the door as the dragon began to release its breath. It burned the hair off of my arms as I used them to cover me on my sprint towards the door to shut it. In a desperate attempt to close the door, I pushed against it, being blocked by the dragons head. Realising the predicament we were in as the fire started to light the roof ablaze I bellowed,"Somebody help me close this damned door!"
Within moments, Lokir was at my side, with a couple Imperial soldiers, as they all helped me push back against the dragon until the door was shut. Pain then hit me, as I let out a scream at the sight of my burned arms, now grotesque and reddened from the fires. Quickly, I started to cast a healing spell on myself, watching as the golden healing energy filled my arms and brought them back to normal.
From what I could see in the room, no one else was as badly hurt as I had been, although Ralof had banged his head against a table from what I assumed to be Hadvar trying to push him out of the way of the fire and shield him needlessly with his body. Despite the act, the two of them still looked upset with one another.
"By Talos, that was a scare," one of the Stormcloaks grumbled as he started to walk over to the gate that lead to the stairs shaking them for a second,"Whoever lead that group of people down their locked the doors behind them. Bastard!"
"Don't worry," I sighed out, the pain in my arm having barely subsided reawakening as I held the key up,"This might work."
The Stormcloak put the key in the lock and turned it, unlocking the door with a satisfying click. We all cheered at that and began to trudge down the stair. At the bottom, we turned around a corner, and saw a group of Imperial soldiers running down the hall. I was about to call out to them, when all of a sudden the roof came down between us, burying the hall in rubble before me.
"Damn it!" Ralof yelled in frustration, punching the pile of rocks and logs before turning to see a door,"Oh, wait. Never mind, we can go that way." As a group, we laughed at that, all patting the blond on the back in pity as we all felt a burst of glee at his antics on our way to the door. He got very upset at that, until Hadvar nudged him on the shoulder with his own, teasingly. The Stormcloak seemed shocked by the action but followed along nevertheless.
The room we had held many crates, barrels and sacks, which the group all started to rummage through. I ignored the food and wines they discovered, and focused on very precious alchemy supplies that were either hanging around or on tables. On some cabinets there were even potions, which I grabbed quickly.
At the end of the room, another door lead back to the hallway, on the other side of the rubble. We walked down the hall, down the stairs, down to a room filled with cages and torture implements. As we entered, a crash of lightning barely missed my chest.
Looking over at the source I saw an elderly Imperial man, hands glowing with magika, glaring at us, screaming,"Traitors! The lot of you! Julius told me you'd be coming!" Behind him, a balding man who also appeared to be an Imperial had a mace out, ready for a fight. The elderly man glared at us all and screeched,"You shall not pass! Now get in those cages or else I shall kill you with all the vast powers of the arcane! And you will rue-!"
"Oh, for Akatosh's sake! Shut up you crazy coot!" the man behind him cried, prior to him hitting him in the back of the head with his mace, knocking the elderly man out. The balding man approached Hadvar and shook his hand, stating,"I trust you over Julius any day."
With that we started to check this room for stuff. Ralof picked up an iron shield, Hadvar found some spare heavy Imperial armour, that was missing the helmet, so I offered him the one that came with mine. I searched the room and found a more lockpicks and gold, then noticed that one of the cages had the corpse of a mage within it. I spent a minute aligning the lockpick properly on the cages tumblers, before I heard a click and the door opened.
Noticing a spell book, some gold and some potions within the cage and that the mages robes were definitely enchanted, I waved towards my new ally, asking"What's down that corridor?" pointing down to the only path we had left to travel, as I put the mages hood on myself, noticing a larger pool of magika enter my body as I did so.
"Well, Julius and the fifteen or so troops he brought with him, as well as a set of caves further down the line," the man grumbled, resting his back against a pillar,"What are you thinking your chances are?"
"Not good right now," I mumbled, holding the spell book close to me and reading it was "Sparks". I flipped through the pages for a second, then mumbled to everyone,"I think we should rest here for a moment. I don't expect Julius and his men to be civil, so we need to be on guard and at peak."
Hadvar, Ralof and Lokir all approached me as I read, the thief asking me,"What are we meant to do while you read that?"
"I don't know? Keep the troops in line? Strategize?" they didn't seem that impressed with my suggestions, probably because of the fact that all of the people with us were surprisingly cooperative, even working well together and there wasn't much to strategize for because we had no idea what to expect and I'd probably be in the front lines anyway. That's when I got an idea,"Why don't you explain to me why this war is happening?"
After an hour and a half, I had long since stopped learning my new spell from the book but was only just getting to the end of their explanation of the war, the Empire, and an abridged version of the history of Tamriel. Needless to say, I was shocked, things had gone crazy while we Snow Elves hid. Like some guy called Talos of Atmora, who later changed his name to Tiber Septim, started the Third Empire and then ascended to Divinity. Wild.
But once they finished speaking, they looked at me expectantly, as if they were hoping I'd suddenly pick a side in their war just based off of their explanations prior.
"I think both of your factions have very valid reasons to join them, but also to stay as far away from them as possible," I answered half-honestly, hoping that a measured amount would satisfy those among me. It did not, as they all booed in annoyance at my answer. Sighing, I continued,"The Empire seems to be in a state of rapid decline, with leadership either incompetent or working against one another. The one person described who does have the Legion and the people at heart is General Tullius, but I can also tell he grows easily bored at times. And yes, the Legion is trying to maintain peace and order, they've even been a bit successful at times, but with the Thalmor breathing down their necks and the White Gold Concordat weakening them, there isn't much hope for the Empire surviving long enough to defend itself against an attack from the Thalmor once this war is over.
"The Stormcloaks on the the other hand, claim to fight for freedom and religion, yet are lead by oppression and racism towards all those who aren't human. That asides, they do realise that the Empire is too weak and that the Atmoran - I mean - Nord people deserve compensation from the war with the Aldmeri Dominion and are right to believe Skyrim would gain more power from independence, however, not until the Aldmeri Dominion is dealt with," I took a deep breath in after my speech, grumbling,"Are you all satisfied? Because I pretty much called both of your sides equally dumb?"
All in the room stared at me, mouths hanging agape, some visibly thinking, almost so hard I could see the Dwemer Cogs turning in the heads. Lokir was grinning like a mad man, clapping joyously at my conclusion, before he patted Hadvar and Ralof on the shoulders, jolting them back to life from their stunned state as he proclaimed,"This guy just schooled all of you!"
Everyone chuckled at that. It seemed that everyone was starting to think about other factors of the war and reevaluate their allegiances, Hadvar and Ralof even taking a moment to talk in seclusion for a moment before we all continued through the dungeons hallways and rooms. After their private conversation, the two leader of their groups began to be more cooperative and friendly with one another. A reassuring sight to see before our confrontation with Julius.
At the end of a dark and winding hallway, we entered a large room, with water running through it, as well as sixteen men in Imperial leather armour, and one in heavy armour, like Hadvar and I, who I realised was Julius.
Julius was an irritating looking man. Tall for an Imperial and admittedly handsome, with long black hair and deep blue eyes, almost verging on purple, he also had a strong muscular build and an ever present, off-putting smirk. He had this kind of arrogance about him that stemmed from those factors. But what truly irritated me about this man, was his constant glaring in my direction.
He had his arm held up, to indicate to his men to not fire their arrows at us as he stared at me from across the room, sword drawn. There were four of his men with bows, and each of them shook from the nerves of having to hold their arrows for so long. I stepped in, ignoring the Imperials in front of me and called over to Julius,"I see you've grabbed some better armour for this fight, but it doesn't have to be like this. We can work together."
"I don't think so... Falmer!" he barked from his position on the other end of the room, gaining a gasp from all present. Julius smirked at everyone's reactions, his smile becoming disturbingly large as he saw my body tense at his words,"That's what you are, isn't it? One of those hideous, blind creatures!"
"Do not associate me with the Betrayed!" I screamed, drawing my sword and pointing it at Julius, still not acknowledging the Imperials ready to fight me. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I spat towards the arrogant Imperial,"Yes, I am a Snow Elf! But I did not fall to disease or corruption as they did! We Snow Elves persevered through our genocide, through our civilisation being destroyed, through our land being taken, through our enslavement! So never call me a Falmer! You ignorant, racist, bigoted bastard!"
The smirk remained on Julius' face as he lowered his hand, the archers to his side releasing arrows towards me. I barely dodged out of the way as they came towards me, and then all hell broke loose, as the sounds of screaming warriors filled the room, heightened by the roars of the dragon from above ground, still reeking havoc on the town of Helgen.
Hadvar and Ralof were the first to my side, cutting through two of the Imperial men before they could stab me, then the rest of our troops raced in. Across the battle, I could see Julius starting to cast a spell and ran forward, reaching out my left hand, releasing sparks of lightning from my palm, hitting the Imperial on the chest and sending him to the wall, temporarily stopping him from casting his spell.
Satisfaction at my minor victory brought a smile to my face as I ran to the archers, who were drawing their bows for another set of arrows towards the masses of soldiers. I slashed through one with my sword, while I shot fire at another, lighting him ablaze. As the soldier ran around, screaming in pain, I quickly cut through the remaining archers, picking up on of their bows and quivers, and all of their arrows. Looking behind me, I saw a wall of wood with a lever besides it, a possible way out.
"Everyone, on me!" I called to my men as I ran to the lever. The alliance of Stormcloaks and Imperials cut through their enemies, then met back up with me as I pulled the lever, causing the wall to fall and become a bridge. One by one, people crossed the bridge and entered a cavern, until it was just Ralof, Hadvar and I, waiting for Lokir to get to the bridge as he dashed across the room, having avoided the fight. Lokir had just made it to us when all of a sudden a blade pierced through his chest, his eyes dulling as he slipped off the blade and landed on the ground with a thud, blood filling pooling around our feet,"Lokir!"
Behind where the horse thief once stood, Julius stood, his sword still outstretched from his fatal blow to Lokir and his smile still wide. "You're not going anywhere, Falmer!" he bellowed, his words gaining a new weight as the dragon seemed to grow louder. He shot a precise bolt of flames at a puddle of oil I hadn't noticed on the ground behind him and altered his stance so that he was more prepared for an attack, before spitting,"You and I have much business to attend to!"
"Agreed," I growled, my knuckled cracking from how tightly I held my blade in my fury and grief.
No more words were uttered as we ran forward, our blades clashing and spells firing at one another. We dodge and parried one another's attacks expertly, neither of us able to get the upper hand on the other. It was incredibly exhausting.
At one point in our duel, I spotted a weakness in his stance, exposing a large portion of his chest, so I arced my sword towards it. However, at the same time, he brought his sword down to my left shoulder, having spotted that was the arm I cast spells from most of the time. I carved through the front of his chest, not deep enough to kill him, but enough to hurt him significantly, while he stabbed me though the shoulder, forcing the air out of my lungs at the sudden intrusion.
Fighting through my pain, I shot an "Ice Spear" from my injured arm in a last ditch effort to win. The ice shard hit Julius in the side of the stomach, sending him a couple steps back from the force of the attack. As he coughed up blood, the roars of the dragon grew much louder. Suddenly I felt a pair of arms picking me up and dragging me across the bridge. In my shock I looked over my shoulder in fear, but sighed in relief as I saw Ralof pulling me back and Hadvar pulling Lokir's corpse along with us.
Obviously not liking our bid for escape, Julius screamed in frustration, blood pouring out of his mouth as he charged forward, hand glowing with fire and sword ready to strike me down. Until another roar filled the air, just as we got over the bridge and the ceiling above the bridge collapsed on top of Julius mid charge.
That did not stop my new friends from continuing to drag me and Lokir's corpse through the cave, past a dead pile of Frostbite Spiders and into another large cave, where all of our allies had gathered. Once I was let down on the ground, I began to cast healing spells on myself until my arm was healed, all the while Hadvar and Ralof explained how Julius killed Lokir.
"Does anyone here come from Rorikstead," I coughed out as my healing stopped. An Imperial soldier raised his hand,"Did you know him? His family?"
"He didn't have any family," the soldier replied solemnly, before he sighed,"I know a spot next to a patch of trees he liked. Once we get out of here, I could bury him there."
"I'll join you on that quest," the Stormcloak with the singed beard grumbled, patting the soldier on the back,"It'll be easier to move him and bury him with two people."
With that settled, we continued to move through the cave, sneaking past a bear, before we reached an exit. As we stepped outside the cave, another roar could be heard, as the dragon flew over head. We all ducked behind trees and boulders for cover, waiting for the dragon to fly off in the distance before I heard Ralof ask,"What now? And what did he mean you're a Falm- Snow Elf?"
Authors Note: Welp, that was a lot. I'm sorry for the long wait, but my other story "Gifts" was getting a lot more attention, so I thought best to do all of those chapters, before doing this. What I think I'll be doing from now on is a couple chapters of "Gifts" and then one for this story, because it takes a lot more time and effort to write this story.
Anyway, thanks for reading this. I know there is only a couple of people who read this story, and you doing so means a lot to me. I hope you stay engaged with the story and give me some positive criticism on how to improve my writing.