panting, that's all that is heard, time slowed as Ralek breathed heavily after being knocked down from the dragon force cone again, he stared up at the sky, seeing the dragon flying overhead. The persistent ringing in his ears deafened an explosion in front of him, as two imperial soldiers went flying after a fireball landed near them, slowly his hearing started coming back, with someone calling his name. His sense of hearing came back in full, as the screams of the wounded and terrified were nearby, he heard his name get called again, closer this time, Hadvar came rushing in, kneeled down and helped him up.
"By the eight are you alright Ralek!?" Hadvar helped the wrist bound Nord off the ground and was surprised he wasn't hurt that badly, just some minor burns, scrapes and bruising.
"I'm fine" Ralek stated, still a bit shell shocked.
Quickly the two exited the ruined house and just on the road in front of the house was general Tullius's defense line, hadvar quickly rushed over to the general in hopes of what Tullius's orders were.
"Sir! Hadavar reporting, what are your orders, are we going for a final push?" Hadvar hopes that wasn't the case, but at the same time he wants to take it to the dragon.
Tullius while keeping his eyes on the dragon and sword ready quickly spoke to Hadvar regarding his orders "no, we're getting out of here, Helgen is lost, the imperial garrison here is wiped out. Now get to the keep! That's an order, we'll buy you some time out here and if there's any survivors tell them to evacuate."
Not wanting to be told twice both Hadvar and Ralek made their way to the imperial keep, the stone structure was the main fort for the empire here at Helgen and consisted of two wooden door entrances and a stone tower.
Vilon and her stormcloak escort ran as fast as they could in hopes to get as far from Helgen as possible, she quickly stopped, her lungs burning from all the running. Her escort rushed up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, he only got a nod from her signaling she was okay.
"I just need a breather" she said moving over and sat on a nearby stump.
"We're deep in imperial territory-" her escort replied, handing her a water skin, to which she drank. "-Come on-" he urged "- we need to keep moving". Helping her on her feet the two continued, but didn't get far as they were stopped.
"Halt! Stormcloak traitors!" standing there was an Falkreath guard, who was out on patrol, by their guess mostly for bandits and necromancers.
With quick thinking the stormcloak escort began to negotiate "wait, wait, we're not here to fight, but flee, we just seek safe passage is all". He hoped it would work, if not they would end up with two new holes in their stomachs.
"What are you fleeing from?" he demanded in his Celtic voice, they watched as his hand rested on his sword's pommel. His armor was similar to the stormcloaks blue armor if not a little more greyer in tint, his shield was a blue grey paint with a stag's head painted in white. "He quickly spotted the smoke in the direction of Helgen "shor's bones, are you escapees? Did you attack Helgen!? Answer me!" It was then he heard a roar, prompting him to draw his sword.
"We did not attack, but only escape, we had to if we wanted to flee from the dragon" the escort replied, the guard looking at him, as if he was on skooma.
"please-" Vilon pleaded "- we just want safe passage, that's all"
The guard looked at them suspiciously "how do i know you're not lying, dragon's went extinct thousands of years ago, you expect me to believe that dragons are back!".
"Please-" Vilon pleaded again "- we wouldn't be telling you this if we were". A roar was heard again, this time it sounded closer.
He didn't want to do this, but he had to, only to find out what in oblivion's name was going on "sod it all, go! I didn't see you. Leave before I change my mind." both Vilon and her escort thanked him and booked it through the forest, careful as to not run into anything non negotiable.
Climbing over the fallen debris wasn't easy, Ralof, Ulfric safely hopped to the ground safely on the other side, the two stormcloak soldiers accompanying them weren't so lucky. Ralof watched in horror as both of the soldiers accompanying them were incinerated by dragon fire, their screams dying out faster than their fiery death, realizing this Ralof heared Tanvrin's cries only for them to be silenced by gruesome tearing, sadly Tanvren was slain by the beast. It was just the two of them now he and Ulfric, with luck they might find survivors in Helgens keep.
-Minutes earlier-
Tanvrin stood limping his way into the open, wood and iron shield in one hand and an iron war axe in the other, Tanvrin began to smack his axe against the shield and call the dragon.
"HEY, SCALE BRAIN DOWN HERE!" He began to wave his arms and proceeded to give him the Iberian slap (also known as the bras d'honneur or the up yours arm salute) which in turn fueled the dragon rage and flew over to the nord. Was Tanvrin terrified truly, but it didn't dissuade him from abandoning Ulfric, or the other survivors who are now climbing the debris pile.
Slamming down in front of him felt like a mini earthquake, the dragon at him and in his shock began to speak "you have a lot of guts joor (mortal), too bad they'll be outside of you soon"
Tanvrin showed no signs of backing down, this was it, the wolves den "i have no fear of death, beast. My glory will be in sovngarde."
The dragon smiled inwardly at the joors notion "you are braver than you are foolish jul, airgo you death will be quick"
Tanvrin took a quick glance at the other stormcloaks, unknowingly the dragon saw this too, the dragon realizing he's been played "well played jul, well played, but it wont save them-" the dragon turned his head to the two rear stormcloaks that were nearly at the top -YOL'TOR'SHUL- the two men burned as the flames melted their flesh, their screams dying before they're heard.
The dragon reeled back his head to attack, Tanvrin knew with his injured leg he wouldn't survive, but knowing that Ulfric, Ralof and Vilon were safe it didn't matter now. The dragon lunged forwarded, Tanvrin dodging the best he could out of the way of the beasts snapping jaws, 'i did say i was going to die, but i wasn't going to make it easy for you' he thought, the fact the dragon was tricked enraged the beast, furious he swatted him with his forewing. Tanvrin after being struck by the leathery wing fell hard on his back, groaning he wasted no time and quickly stood up, but the dragon was faster than him. In a quick lunge the dragon nabbed Tanvrin by his legs, its teeth piercing his flesh, the nord screamed, throwing him down to the ground elicited painful snaps, the nord feeling his ribs, legs and left arm break from the force. Being battered and bloodied, the dragon wanting the nord to hurt readied for the final kill.
"Wh-who a-are y-y-you?" Tanvrin spurted up blood upon asking his question.
Smiling evilly the dragon lowered its head to the nords ear and whispered a name that would strike fear into the hearts of any mortal "I am Alduin".
Tanvrin screamed in terror upon hearing the name, only for him to be silenced when Alduin chopped down on his torso and with his talons tore the nord in half. Discarding the body, with blood dripping from his maw, Alduin roared a roar of his triumph and return.
-Present-
Running with one's hands bound was not easy, especially if one's running from a dragon, Ralek was cursing this day mostly for the fact of getting caught by the empire and running from a dragon. All the nord wanted to do was find his sister and inform her of their fathers doing, but at least he's back in skyrim, so there's a silver lining to it. Currently both Ralek and Hadvar pushed to the keep, they were nearly there when Ralof and Ulfric showed at the same time and obviously they weren't happy to see each other.
"Ralof, Ulfric-"Hadvar shouted, angered to see them alive "-damned traitors get out of my way!" Hadvar had his sword ready, the same went for Ralof and ulfric . all around them the town was being destroyed, the only imperial soldier who wasn't with them was on the wall firing arrows at the beast, only for the dragon to swoop down, pluck the poor sod off the wall and drop him. Once they were friends now turned enemies, both Ralof and Hadvar clashed, axe meeting sword, they pairied and blocked each blow they dealt, Ralof was to swing again, but was stopped by Ulfric.
"Another day Ralof, we must go" the jarl urged while shooting a glare at Hadvar.
"I hope that dragon takes you all to sovngarde!" Hadvar spat.
The roar of the dragon brought everyone to their senses and benign that the dragon is the greater threat decided to do a temporary, yet unsteady ceasefire. Both Ralof and Ulfric went to one of the two doors, the two stormcloaks entered the main entrance of the keep, while Hadvar went to the barracks door. Ralek was caught between the two, at first he wanted to go with Hadvar, but being a stormcloak supporter he wanted to go with Ralof and Ulfric. His choice of the matter was forced when the dragon slammed down to the ground, the beast looked at him in a way one was holding a grudge. Making his choice forced by fate he ran to hadvar, who of course held the door open and urged the nord in. Ralek didn't need to be told twice since he ran right in, the dragon plumbing its way over to the two furious its target was fleeing -YOL'TOR'SH- Hadvar slammed the door in the nick of time once he was in.
Flames licked through the cracks in the door, the dragon really wanted them, and both Ralek and Hadvar didn't know how long that door would last. For the moment the two breathed a sigh of relief that they were safe… for now, all that they need to do is find a way out of here and where to go next.
"Are you okay?" Hadvar asked, he was beginning to lighten up to the steelblade, even though he was a traitor.
Ralek gave his response of a relieved sigh "yeah, I'm fine".
Hadvar began to point to the door "By the gods that was a dragon, I thought they were extinct, let alone legends!".
"I'm just as confused as you are Hadvar, of course my head was on a chopping block!" Ralek exclaimed, putting more emphasis on 'chopping block'.
Hadvar, not proud of the events regarding the prisoners, nodded understanding Raleks bitter view of the empire and their treaty of the concordat. However now was not the time to slit each others throats, they needed to get out of here and fast. A thought came to Hadvar, Ralek needed armor and, gods willing, a weapon. It was then the nord noticed the other bindings, it was a risky move, but a necessary one he had to free Ralek and trust him, they needed to trust each other.
Taking a steel dagger out he pointed to Raleks hands "give me your hands, i'm going to cut you out of your bindings". The steelbalde looked at him as if he was serious, he winced as the rugged rope slowly started to get soaked by blood and chafe his wrists. Without a second thought he held his wrists out, grabbing them Hadvar cut the bindings, the ropes falling to the floor.
Rubbing his wrists in relief he looked at Hadvar, curious as to why he freed him and his answer "if we are to get out alive, we need to trust each other". Ralek gave a firm nod and shook hands, setting aside their rivalries for the time being, one the agreement was done Hadvar pointed to an unopened chest and a weapons wrack. "Theirs some armor in that chest-" he pointed to a chest at the foot of one of the barrack beds "-and a sword on the weapons wrack-" again he pointed, this time at a wall on the other side of the barracks next to the door going deeper into the fort "-when your ready we'll go".
Collecting the armor he ditched his rugged rags and began to slip and latch the leather imperial armor on, again he did the same for his rugged foot wraps and slipped on the leather imperial boots. He looked over himself. He didn't expect to wear an imperial battledress (similar to the roman battledress) the red and dark brown leather stood out, it wasn't a stormcloak armor piece of blue and grey, but he liked it. Next he went over to the weapon wrack and picked up the only weapon available, an iron sword. Wasn't really as good as nord steel, but it will have to do, giving it a few swings to get the feel, he sheathed it and went over to Hadvar.
"You ready?" he asked hoping he was, out of the corner of his eye he saw the door smoldering, flames licking underneath, yet he didn't hear the dragon. His hopes faded when the fort itself began to shake, the dragon was trying to bring the structure down around them.
Ralek looked himself over "as i'll ever be" he replied, not really proud of wearing an imperial uniform, but at least he'll be protected, as what his sister would say 'beggars can't be choosers'.
The fort shook again, parts of the soon began to crumble, not wasting anymore time as they headed down the hall. Voices were soon heard as they neared a small wooden portcullis, hadvar with hand signals, signaled two voices and told to get ready. Drawing their swords out, Ralek pulled the wall chain raising the gate and allowing them to go through. The room was a large rotundan room with a minor skylight of stone allowing the sun to shine through, looking closely both Ralek and Hadvar could see the billowing of smoke and dragon overhead.
"Imperials!"
Two stormcloak soldiers, one male the other female, were on the other side, hadvar with weapon drawn rushed in, while ralek froze, being a stormcloak supporter he couldn't kill them, what would his sister think. The second stormcloak took notice of the frozen Ralek, finding an easy target she charged the imperial. Ralek snapped out of his stupor and dogged a swing of her iron battle axe, readying his iron sword, he swung it slicing her arm. She groaned in pain and held her wound, furious she lunged at him again and swung her axe, blocking the blow with his sword he bashed her across the nose breaking it.
She spat blood "damn imperial you'll pay for that. VICTORY OR SOVNGARDE!". Charging she lunged at the nord in front of her, wanting to end this fight quickly, he dodge her strike and lunged his sword in her sighed. She screamed feeling the cold metal in her abdomen, pulling the blade out blood spilled to the cobblestone floor. Holding her side she dropped the axe and fell to her knees, she looked back at her comrade and watched Hadvar slice his throat, looking at her opponent more clearly with the light.
Shock was present on her face, being the advanced team to help Ulfric by sneaking in through a side tunnel, the jarl ordered them to stay behind if there were any other survivors. Yet who she saw shocked her standing in front of her was Ralek steelblade, holding her head in sadness she spoke "why- why did you join the empire, i thought you were one of us, a stormcloak ".
The said nord kneeled down Hadvar sheathing his blade knowing she was to bleed out soon, Ralek spoke in an uneasy tone "I had no choice he said, the dragon cut us off, i was here to find my sister, not join a war". Standing back up she spat on his boots.
"You already joined-(coughing blood)- when you drew stormcloak blood. If you're a true nord then finish me off and send me to sovngarde, pierce your blade in my heart". Ralek sighed, lining his sword up, she closed her eyes waiting for her end, grunting Ralek plunged his sword into her chest, blood spurted out of her mouth. Taking his sword out, blood pooled onto the floor, Hadvar placed his hand on his shoulder knowing it must have been difficult for him. Reaching down he picked up a ring of keys, motioning his head, Ralek nodded, unlocking a locked gate of iron, the two proceeded down the keeps stairwell.
Outside things haven't been well for the empire, the last ditch defense formed by Tullius began to crumble. Tullius was currently helping one of his men off the ground, about a half hour ago the dragon began to attack the keep and this was much needed distraction to evacuate.
"FALL BACK, FALL BACK" tullius's voice bellowed, less than a handful of the garrison survived, of the fifty they had at the garrison, only five survived and as for the civilians, only three survivors.
Smoke can be seen for miles, both stormcloak and imperial curious of the situation, though of course the empire blames the stormcloaks for the attack, those who are near the burning village can hear the roar of the dragon. Those that heard hid their children or fled indoors, some were even brave or foolish enough to check it out, of course they were a little of both at what they saw. As for the people of Falkreath, the guard captain immediately assembled the town guard, his men ready for anything and when they were about to move out, the jarl stepped in.
"Captain, what are you doing? What are you doing with my men!" Siddgeir the Jarl of Falkreath spoke in a pompous voice, the nord walked towards his captain who secretly glared at him. Ever Since he was 'given' the position as Jarl and replacing his uncle Dengeir the hold of Falkreath became more treacherous for traders and travelers. Siddgeir stood in front of his captain, not pleased with the formation of the guard.
"Captain Gerwhyn, what is it that your doing and why are my men formed for battle?" the captain gritted his teeth behind his iron made helmet, nonetheless he replied.
"Sir the people in Helgen need our help with a dragon, the village is within your borders, they're your people!" Yet to Gerwhyns shock, Siddgeir scoffed.
"Bwah, such lowly peasants, not worth my time, and a dragon pfft please, dragons don't exist, now-" he patted the side of the captain's helmet "-be a dear and order your guard to maintain their duties".
Clenching his fists he did as he was told, the rest of the guard disgruntled with the Jarls orders, other than Gerwhyn who was fuming on the inside.
"Good boy-" Siddgeir chided "-if i catch you doing that again, i'll kill you myself" with that the Jarl walked off back to his longhouse.
Gerwhyns lieutenant, lieutenant Tylla walked up to him, taking off her helmet, the imperial women spoke, her brown hair waving in the wind,
"Sir what's wrong? Is everything alright?" her blue eyes looked on with concern, he looked at her his brown eyes stared at her through his helmet and responded with a serious tone.
"Meet me in the barracks at dusk fall at the morrow. I'll speak no more. Tis clear!"
"SIR!" she saluted and walked off.
Traveling down the keep's halls proved to be quite treacherous for the two nords, both ralek and Hadvar were about to pass the keeps larder (storage room) and meet up with two other imperial survivors. Fate thought it unworthy, when the ceiling above collapsed upon the two surviving imperials, Ralek grabbed Hadvar and yanked him away from the falling debris, the two nords cursing their luck.
"Shit that was close-" Hadvar swore, he looked towards Ralek and patted his shoulder "-thanks, damned dragon almost got my number".
Taking an alternate route they went through the larder and fortunately for them it was unscathed, while unfortunately two stormcloaks were rummaging through the supplies and to their despair one was wearing heavy armor.. At first they didn't see them since the rebels were too occupied with looting the room, both Ralek and Hadvar drew their weapons, with Hadvar drawing a bow instead of his sword. Notching an arrow Hadvar being more skilled with a sword aimed as best he could, once aimed he loosed the arrow, the projectile flew and struck one of the rebels in the knee.
"Aahh sodding oblivion-" the stormcloak fell on her back knocking over some barrels "-shit, now i have to post guard duty!". Looking over to where she was shot she pointed to two imperials "get those bastards!"
Setting his bow aside and drawing his sword, the two engaged the heavily armed rebel who wielded a two handed steel great sword. Ralek knew this was going to be a difficult kill. The greatsword is a nasty weapon if put in the wrong hands, but a trusty one if one was well trained, the sword being heavier than a common one handed sword could easily cut a man in half. Ralek had to be careful, taking a quick glance he nated Hadvar trying to circle this brute and get at him at the rear, Ralek though was facing him directly to which he wasn't careful could be his death. He did have two advantages though, the brutes heavy armor and greatsword, the greatsword being able to be quicker than a battle hammer or axe still needs a great amount of stamina to ready and swing.
The heavy soldier swung, Ralek dodging it and hearing it thunk on the wooden support beam on his left, again the brute swung with a grunting roar and again Ralek dodged. Hadvar tried to fined a weak chink in the armor and thank the gods he found one, the side of the rebels heavy armor exposed his under arm, now all he needed was a over head strike. Ralek again dodged, he could hear the gasping of the brute behind him informing him he's almost out of stamina, at this point the heavy stormcloak switched to a one handed sword, while sheathing the greatsword on his back. Hadvar knew the time was now rushing in, he thrusted his sword into the stormcloaks unarmored side, roaring the brute smacked Hadvar away against the wall, dazed hadvar watched in time to see his sword get pulled out of the brutes side. Blood spurted out of the stormcloaks mouth, he was almost finished, if the internal and external bleeding from the lungs didn't kill him, then a well placed slash across the throat will.
Furious Hadvar was lifted by the brutes strength, taking his steel dagger out he began stabbing the heavy's helmet, hoping to get some form of purchase other than sparks of grinding metal. He was dropped after his attacker roared furiously, from a painful sunrise attack, Ralek managed to plunge his sword into an exposed part of armor on the lower back. Though it missed his spine, Ralek could tell he pierced his stomach, making him fall to his knees from two fatal injuries. Picking up his sword, hadvar again patted Raleks shoulder while mentioning "that's twice i owe you", Ralek taking the brutes helmet off, swiftly decapitated him once they locked eyes. It was a nords way, locking your eyes with your opponent was the nords way of honor and making sure he died honorably, so his soul can make its way to sovngarde.
With one opponent down, it was time to finish the other and being that an arrow in the knee, proved that it wouldn't be an honorable kill, for one her weapon was dropped and secondly her condition. The lass was pregnant, he noted a small bulge in her stomach, the chains in the armor just barely pushing outward, what was she thinking joining a raid while pregnant. Hadvar unsheathed his sword and lined it up where her heart was, but was stopped by Raleks' cry.
"No! Wait!"
Hadvar looked back at him, as if he went mad "why wait, she with the enemy!"
"She's with child" Ralek pointed, going over and lifting her chain up, again revealing a light bulge. He then asked "how long have you been with child".
"Five months-" she said, then pleading "-please don't kill me, the captain, captain Thorn frost made me. He said 'even pregnant wenches need to fight', please just let me go!".
Hadvar sighed at this, being a nord himself meant that he couldn't kill her, he didn't want a repeat of Helgen before the dragon attack. "Fine-" he loved his sword "- find yourself some linens and if you come across anyone tell them you're a maid, but be careful of stormcloaks. They might recognize you." she nodded and left to find a change of attire.
At this point Ralek swore under his breath after she mentioned thorn-frost, this caught Hadvar by surprise. "You okay Ralek, who is this guy? What'd he do?"
Ralek gave a quick explanation " Captain Turvin thorn-frost, is ruthless captain of the stormcloak army, when Ulfric stated that all nords are brothers and sisters, Turvin was zealous about it. One day Ulfric got a report of stormcloak casualties of a small skirmish, the report was given by a survivor of Turvins command, the casualties were only twelve years old."
Hadvar looked at him with shock "in Arkays name, he's not ruthless, he's vicious. I bet Ulfric didn't take it too kindly?"
Ralek shook his head "no-" the keep shook, reminding them that a dragon was trying to bring it down on them "-anyway we should get going!"
After the two gathered enough supplies with them including some health, stamina and magicka potions, the two made their way deeper into the keep. Fighting could be heard as they made a turn down a hallway and once they made it deeper, they found the source.
Hadvar could scarcely believe his eye's, he was disgusted at what he saw "by the gods, it's a torture chamber!"
The same disgust could be said the same for Ralek, seeing this torture chamber made his blood boil and seeing the tortureer, well, he wanted to put his sword through his stomach.
Fighting erupted between the torturer and his assistant and several stormcloak rebels and the rebels seemed to be winning. The torturer stood nonchalant as he blasted a rebel in the head with a lighting bolt, causing him to scream in pain and die seconds later with his eyes popping from the electricity. Another stormcloak readied herself cautious of her approach, but when she noticed two more imperials show up, she knew it was a losing battle, with the five they had and losing three to the mage it was an impossible victory. She looked towards her comrade "fall back" she ordered, as the two ran in hopes to report to their commander.
"It's a good thing you came when you did" the torturers assistant said in relief after crawling out from under a table.
"Oh please-" the torturer replied in a snobbish voice "-i clearly had them, besides this useless milk drinker just hid, such an embarrassment to the empire!".
"Hey listen, old man-" the assistant insulted "-i was helping for a little bit until those stormcloaks barged in, you instructed me to take cover, so i did."
"Listen!-" Hadvar interrupted the two "-we aren't getting anywhere with you two at each other's throats, right now there's a dragon out there tearing our garrison a new one. So either you leave with us, or stay behind" the room fell silent, yet Hadvars point held true, the fort won't last, even though they were deep underground at this point they still weren't safe, not with the stormcloaks around. The torturer's assistant went over and grabbed his pack, it was clear he was leaving with the survivors, his boss however was having none of it.
'Where do you think you're going!? He clearly was not thrilled with his assistant leaving him behind or skimping out on his work.
"I'm leaving and getting out of here, if i were you I'd set aside that stubborn mage crap and leave while you can!". He turned to Ralek "we retrieved some lock picks from our last torture session, you could use them to get any supplies you need in here. If you though I'd start with the dead mage in the cage, he had a spell tome on him, you may need it."
Taking the thought under consideration Ralek grabbed some lock picks on a nearby stool, along with a strange book, he looked at it as if was calling to him. reading the spine of it, it read 'the book of dragonborn' how has he never seen this book before and why did it call to him, shaking his head and setting the thought aside he went to the cell with the dead mage. After picking the lock he opened the cage door, what was in there was quite useful, a few gold coins (septims), a spell tome on destruction magic, a bottle of magicka potion and novice destruction robes he took off the dead mage. After getting what he needed he continued with the small party he was with and ventured further into the keeps depths and passed many hanging cages full of the ex-tortured who are now nothing but skeletons.
After traveling through a small cave symptom, they began to hear voices of more stormcloak soldiers, along with the survivors from the torture room. Peeking around the corner he saw them, a large group of stormcloaks. The room itself was a semicircle room made of cobblestone, two bridge platforms arched over two separate gaps leading to the only exit to the fort, in the center a small stair well went down to a small rocky creek.
"Are you sure it was him?!" a male nord asked, Ralek listened in, maybe they have information, about who that dragon was.
"Yes it was, i'm certain i saw Ralek-" Raleks heart skipped a beat when the nord woman reported to her sergeant, she continued with a request "-do you want me to send word to Ulfric and inform him of this treachery!"
"Yes send word!" Their conversation ended when she took her leave and gave her report to Ulfric.
The rest of the imperial group arrived, Hadvar kneeling down to get an assessment of the situation, "so, how many are there?" Ralek peeked around and noticed a good number of them.
"About six, seven earlier, but she was sent out as a messenger and reported my treachery to Ulfric." Hadvar swore under his breath, that messenger is going to be trouble and she's most likely long gone too.
Hadvar assessed their group, 'three of us and seven of them-' he thought '-wish we had a mage', they had to set up their attack accordingly, one wrong move could be fatal. They huddled and began to coordinate their attack; he only quickly looked at the enemy, but he had enough to notice three archers, one heavy being the officer and three light infantry. The light infantry should be easy to take down with stealthy archery, but the heavy will need to be direct and more than one person to take on, as for the archers, well a mage could come in handy.
Hadvar was about to coordinate the others, until the elder mage joined up with their unit "i've thought it through and decided to help, so what's the hold up?"
Hadvar grinded in delight and began the plan of attack "the three archers are going to be trouble-" he looked at the mage "-can you handle them?"
Chuckling the torturer replied sadistically I can shoot a victim's eyes out with a lightning bolt and freeze off their most value assets"
"Ok disturbing" Hadvar mentioned, but continued to the assistant "I need you to take out the footsoldiers, destruction magic should-" he was interrupted when the torturer started laughing.
"(chuckling) him!? He's trained in restoration magic, not destruction. He's useless against foot soldiers, it's one of the reasons I ordered him to hide.`` This information made Hadvar sigh, to which Ralek intervened.
"Hadvar, we could have the assistant stay back and heal. You and I can handle the foot soldiers, after that we'll take the officer all at once".
A bold plan, but Hadvar liked it, he thought Ralek didn't have it in him, but seeing him orchestrate an attack proved he's capable of being a leader, of course there'll be many more tests. Seeing as how they have a limited time to escape they launched the attack, with spells and weapons at the ready, they had nothing to lose.
The initial attack caught the stormcloaks off guard, especially when a rain of lightning bolts struck down two of their archers in their rear guard, but their surprise was quickly brought out of their stupor when their sergeant reorganized them. Knowing the stormcloaks, they had an inkling of the imperial survivors, but Hadvar and Ralek didn't expect the stormcloaks to recover from the attack so quickly. Unsheathing their weapons Ralek and Hadvar charged into the fray, a stormcloak swung his axe at Ralek, but he quickly dodged it and countered with a slash to the other nords stomach region. The wound isn't deep, but it slowed down the nord warrior significantly, he quickly recovered but he was too late when Ralek decapitated him, his head rolling towards the ledge and into a small rocky creek. Hadvar parried an attack from a stormcloak sword, shoving back the soldier he retaliated plunging his sword into the nords throat, blood squirted out of his neck and onto hadvars armor, he moved on as the rebel bled out.
With two archers down one remained and he proved hard to hit, the torturer growled in annoyance when the stormcloak archer dodged his attack, seeing him knock an arrow he smiled knowing he had him. Raising his hand he prepared to strike when-fsst-he looked at his hand then felt a slight headache, his magika was drained and had to recharge, this distraction proved costly-tlch-he screamed when an arrow pierced his right inner thigh. Staggering a bit and had enough now for one shot he readied a bolt, but wasn't quick when he felt another arrow pierce his shoulder, then a third one piercing his stomach.
"Master!" His assistant ran over and began to heal first by breaking the arrow shaft in his stomach, then carefully pulling the arrow itself out, one he did he put his palm on the stomach wound, a golden light emanating from it. With the stomach wound now treated he turned his focus to the other two-tlch-fear, that's what the torturer saw in his assistant's fear, followed by tears of pain and grief, an arrow just struck his assistant in the lower spine. The young boy of eighteen screamed and fell on his master, who quickly caught him, only to see and hear the wind get knocked out of him when a second arrow struck his back, piercing his left lung. The torturer has seen fear all his life from those he tortured, but to see fear in one of his students brought a new kind of realization to him...loss. His feeling of loss was numbed after the white gold concordat and from his role as a torturer, but now seeing his assistant with fear in his eyes, he lost his respect for the empire's role in the war, it wasn't the stormcloaks they should be fighting, it should be the elves. He watched his assistant give one final breath before passing into autherius, eighteen years old, just a young farm boy who wanted to fight for his belief, now laid dead in a pool of his own blood.
Anger swelled in his eyes as he slowly stood up, the stormcloak archer looked on in amusement at this mage wanting revenge, knocking another arrow and pulling the string back, he readied to end him. He was surely mistaken for ending the younger mage, not knowing he unleashed oblivions wrath on himself. He didn't have a second, nor did he have a chance to shoot when the mage unleashed a powerful ark of electricity, with no time to dodge he took the bolt to the head and started convulsing. The room filled with the screams of a man getting his brains fried, to those that heard it it was the cry of a banshee, the cry of death. The torturer ended the assault spending all his magika on the attack, he watched the nord archer fall back, his head nothing more than a charred skull now rolling on the floor.
It was almost over and both Ralek and Hadvar teamed up to finish off the stormcloak officer, going at him from the dise proved to be for the best since coming at him from the front would most likely kill them. Quickly they launched the attack charging in before the officer could counter, thrusting his sword Hadvar aimed for the nords neck, the attack was stopped dead when the officer did the unthinkable, stopping his attack by grabbing it by the blade. Blood seeped down the iron blade, the nord showing no pain, meaning only one thing he was a nord berserker, Hadvars sword was yanked out of his hands klanging down the steps, reaching for his dagger, he wasn't fast enough when he was thoroughly backhanded by the stormcloak, knocking him unconscious. Ralek stood there, he's heard about nord berserkers, but never actually seen one, until now and now he needed to think of something fast.
"Oh shit" he said ducking down and dodging a horizontal swing from the stormcloak's two handed war ax, the good news for him is he had one advantage, his light armor. Seeing the berserker's heavy armor slowed him down considerably, especially with his two handed ax, if he could time this right he could dash behind him and plunge his sword in the nords under pits where the armor is thin by mail. He counted the mage out, seeing as how he was too injured and slowly recovering his magika and emotions, but Hadvar he slowly started to come to, slowly and silently drew his steel dagger out.
Springing into action Hadvar lept on the officers back and began stabbing him in the side of the neck, blood gushed with every knife attack, but the berserker tried to shake Hadvar off. Seeing his opportunity Ralek joined in on the attack, when he saw the berserker's arms reach to grab Hadvar he took it, charging he thrust his sword into the nords armpit, catching bone but was rewarded when the lungs were pierced. To add more damage he twisted the blade which resulted in both tearing and breaking both flesh and bone, finally pulling out, Hadvar was flung towards Ralek knocking them down, quickly getting up the stormcloak berserker readied his ax only to stagger forwarded, fall to his knees and fall face first into the cobblestone path, blood began to pool from the open wounds of the now dead officer.
Sheathing their weapons, Hadvar panted nearing exhaustion from the fight, Ralek felt the same way, but he didn't show it, mostly due to his concern of his clan finding out he sided with the empire. Even though in his own mind he didn't, that won't stop them from exiling him or worse killing him, so it doesn't matter to them, unless he could convince them somehow, or he could ask for their forgiveness. That's neither here nor there, since they're mostly scattered throughout Skyrim and parts of Cyrodiil after he and his family moved to the imperial province when he was a young lad. He felt Hadvars hand on his shoulder, a worried look on his face, it was almost as if he knew about Raleks worry about his clan, nords were traditional in that regard and many in the empire respected that, minus the nobles who see the nords as barbaric dogs.
"We should get moving" Ralek broke the silence, letting Hadvar know he dint want to talk about it, to which Hadvar respected and being a nord himself his kind were quite stubborn when it came to feelings. Not wanting to divulge into Raleks thoughts, Hadvar rushed over to the torturer and check on his condition and by the looks of it, it didn't look good
"Ysmir's beard!" Hadvar looked at the elderly man's injuries, the man's skin was pale, his blood lightly pooling from his leg, he knew the arrow hit a vital artery and he wasn't going to last soon.
Hadvar knelt down to help, getting a healing poultice salve, but was stopped by the torturer "don't save your healing kits, I'm a dead man anyway" Hadvar knodded and put away his equipment, but spoke "I'm sorry for your assistant".
His breaths labored (wheezing) "he… he was like a son to me, yet i pushed him too far, that's when i realized the war those…(wheeze) those damn elves, go Hadvar you and your friend can make it out. Leave me to my final moments" the imperial nord patted his shoulder, we'll meet again in sovngarde.
A scream echoed from further in the cave system, both Ralek and Hadvar gave each other worried glances, nevertheless they ventured forth.
Traveling down the corridor and down some stairs, they made it to the main cave, though dimly lit by lanterns, the sound of rushing water on stone signified they were near an exit. Glad they were almost out, both nords continued through a narrow crevice, just narrow enough for them to walk through, taking a right; more screams were heard, but with a guttural sound, as if someones dying, cautiously they readied their swords. Turning left they arrived at a fortyfive degree slope down into an internal cave rove, but what was different worried them; it was covered top to bottom in spider webs. Being born in Skyrim evey nord was told about the spiders of the frozen north and that to Hadvars displeasure was the frostbite spider, medium sized spiders roughly the size of dogs scuttled to and from what appeared to be their latest catch. About five of them were around their catch and as the two nords got closer they saw what or who it was. On the ground was the nord messenger tasked with sending word about Ralek's betrayal and fortunately she didn't make it out. Unfortunately Ralek didn't want her to go out like this, her body was torn in half, and the spiders were now feasting on her entrails, a bigger spider the size of a horse came down from the ceiling and grabbed the body by the head. One of the lesser ones fought by pulling on the body only for her head to be torn off, it was a grueling site for anyone to see.
Ralek heard Hadvar lightly whimper and gave him a look of disbelief "seriously!" he whispered in a cynical tone towards Hadvars whimpering. He didn't hate the fact that Hadvar was whimpering, he too hated the frostbite spiders and how they ambush the most seasons of travelers or slaughter the most protective of farmers. It was mostly the part where Hadvar was whimpering, last time Ralek recalled nords don't whimper, or at least he thought they didn't, nevertheless this was going to be a tough fight. Why nords and all life in Skyrim feared these creatures is its deadly arsenal of weapons, to start the spider being brown in color and sleek like a jumping spider, but its mandibles were crossed with a camel spider. Now from its arsenal the frostbite spiders were both ambush and direct assault predators, their most deadliest weapon is their ability to spit venom, their second most is their second overhead serrated mandibles. To anyone fighting a frostbite spider is suicide and if ones ill prepared they can silence their opponent with little effort, but if one were to play the cards rightthey could get the jump on them.
It was then Ralek had an idea "Hadvar do you have a spare bow by chance?" the nord nodded and handed him a bow.
"What are you going to do with it, Ralek had a solution: before they left for the caves to reach here he scavenged the dead bodies and gathered a good collection of iron tipped arrows, some to his good fortune were elemental, of fire and shock.
"We're going to hit them at range," he said, knocking an arrow and taking aim. Hadvar, liking the idea, did the same, aiming at their own target, once they were in sight they fired.
Each arrow flew and struck the spider they were directed at, this though alerted the eight legged beasts and began to search for their prey for killing two of their broods. Not long after they began to search two more arrows struck two more spiders, the two larger ones were getting furious as now four of their younger brethren laied dead. One hissed in anger and alert, the others knew they found their target and began to creep forward.
"Shit!" Ralek swore, their cover was blown and now they had to go into melee combat to Hadvar's dismay. They were lucky though since there were only two frostbites left, that's the good news, the bad news is these spiders have a long reach with the second leg mandibles and to top it off they were ill prepared with no shield to help them. They had to be precise one wrong move or turn and they're both dead, but they did have one advantage in their favor. Separating the frostbites nest and the cave symptom to the fort is a crevice just large enough for one spider at a time, which would in turn make a choke point in their favor. Readying their swords, they moved forward and met the beasts head on.
Screeching of pain emanated from one of the frostbites, it's severed limb of one of its legs twitched on the ground. To the two nords, the choke point worked, the spiders unable to climb the sides due to it being too narrow, were forced to move through the crevice and engage in a frontal attack. Frostbite spiders, being ambush predators and experts at direct assaults, were not well in choke points or long range ambushes, but being as how both the nords and the spiders were in a direct attack on each other made it for being an even field. Proving formidable the spiders didn't stand a chance, with one of its limbs chopped off, the two nords easily finished the creature by cleaving its head, its green blood soaking their axes. The second spider, with all of its limbs proved to be a challenge and it showed it by assessing the situation and thinking of a plan to attack. What many residents of Skyrim hate about frostbite spiders is not just their ambush tactics but their ability to coordinate and assess their attack, making them the most lethal creature to be encountered. Both Ralek and Hadvar stood waiting for the spider to move, true they could easily take it, but with theses spiders it's a gamble, they both waited for the spider to move and that's when it saw it, Hadvar's fear, Ralek caught on to this and knew well spiders like these will go for the weakest of the group and its found it. Screeching it charged, getting in range it lept for Hadvar, who stood frozen, but his fear didn't last long when Ralek rammed the spider into a wall. A firm snap and screech of pain echoed through the cave, three of its legs now broken, it hissed in rage only for its head to be crushed by Raleks ax.
Breathing heavily he looked over at a Hadvar who stood in fear "Hadvar, by the gods, why did you freeze all of the sudden!?"
He shook his head, his fear dissipating as he came back to his senses "it knew i was afraid, i was glad i killed one up close, but when the last one laid its eyes on me, it saw my fear. I'm sorry, it won't happen again"
Ralek shook his head "all warriors feel fear, even i-" he placed his hand on Hadvar's shoulder "-but what's done is done, we need to move. An exit must be close."
Collecting their arrows from the spider corpses they ventured further into the cave system, until good fortune fell upon them, as they began to hear the faint sound of a small river. To anyone that only meant one thing, an exit, quickening their pace the two soon entered a large room in the cave, a skylight shining down illuminating the cave from a small hole. They were almost out, a light breeze brushed over them making them shudder in delight, rushing over a natural bridge over the small river, Hadvar immediately stopped and crouched, curious Ralek did the same.
"What's up?" Ralek asked, trying to see what Hadvar saw.
"Their-" Hadvar pointed "-fifty meters away there's a bear near the exit, we have two options: snake past or engage it."
Sure enough there was a bear, they had a better chance sneaking past it, but it was near the entrance and could see them and attack. If they attack it by surprise then they might have a chance, but Ralek's heard about bear attacks and how many have been killed by these strong beasts. Not wanting to stay a minute longer he made his decision, bringing his bow over his shoulders he looked at Hadvar and nodded, the imperial knew what he was going to do and did the same bringing his bow over his shoulders. Taking out a bottle of frostbite venom he got from the dead spiders, both he and Hadvar coated their arrow tips with the venomous liquid, giving them an edge to combat this beast. Once the arrows were coated, they knocked their arrows, pulled the string back and fired.
-THUNK-SCHLCK-
Roaring echoed from the other side of the cave as both arrows met their mark, the bear roared furiously upon getting two arrows stuck in its side, it attempted to get up, but took great effort and when it did it staggered. Venom coursed through its veins causing the creature to stagger and miss step, attempting to find its target two more arrows struck it, one in the shoulder and one in the neck. Blood poured quickly out of the creature's neck, an artery had been cut and was bleeding out, it was only a matter of time before the bear went to the ethereal plain. Both Ralek and Hadvar watched the creature fall to its side, its breaths labord as the body was losing to the venom, the two nords walked over to it, as hadvar began to walk off Ralek in a sense of mercy took out a iron dagger and stabbed it in the throat. Ralek heard the creature's final breath before passing, "I'm sorry" was all he said before leaving with Hadvar.
Sunlight that's what they were met with when they exited the cave, followed by the cool Skyrim air and the fresh scent of pine, a gust of wind blew past them, they were glad they were out. Joy however was short lived, heavy wings flapped from above as the two took cover behind a large rock, the black dragon, the one that killed so many in Helgen flew north towards the mountains.
"Good riddance!" Hadvar stood up, glad to see the dragon fly away, however it concerned him, it concerned the both of them.
"I don't know-" Ralek began voicing his worry "-i fear this is only the beginning"
Hadvar nodded "if so, then we must head to the nearest town. I know this place, been here when I was still a young lad. Riverwoods not far you can come if you like."
Ralek motion with his hand "lead on". As the two headed down the road Ralek looked back at the smoldering town of Helgen, 'it's just the beginning' he thought, he could feel it in his gut… something was coming.
Their you have it, Attack at Helgen part 2, sorry it took so long got caught up in a lot of things, but what do you think, let me know in the review if I missed anything.