Chapter One
Waking up the first thing he heard was a clip clop sound, that he faintly recognized as horse steps. Opening his eyes he nearly groaned as he realized how stiff his neck was. It seemed that he had been left in a sitting up position. Rolling his neck he noticed the other people in the cart all had their hands bound, and one even had his mouth bound.
He though was unbound, so that was good at least.
"Looks like you're finally awake kid," the blonde man sitting across from him said.
"Where am I? What's going on?"
"Imperial guards found you unconscious near the border, I guess they decided to take you with them, less a wolf or a bear gets you. The Imperials are taking us to our execution, not to sure what they are going to do with you though, I guess try to find whoever your guardian might be, though judging by how ragged your clothes look, I'd wager a guess you either run away, or that you now live by yourself, in which case they would probably send you to the Riften Orphanage."
Harry frowned, he never heard of the Imperial guards before, though now he remembered he had taken a portal away from Hogwarts, though he still didn't understand why he did what he did. "Where am I?"
"You're in Skyrim."
"Skyrim?" Harry parroted having never heard of the place.
The man gave a nod, "You were found near the border, seems like the imperials were originally going to parade us around, but it looks like they got new orders, bet those damn Thalmor are behind it."
Harry was just getting more confused, and was about to question who, or what the Thalmor were when the carriage driver said, "Shut up back there."
The blonde guy he had been chatting with snorted, "We're already heading towards our execution, what more can they do to us."
"Why are you being executed? And why are they taking us by horse and cart?" Horse and cart seemed a bit old fashioned, though if they were magical it would probably make more sense. Still Mr. Weasley had used a car even if it was enchanted.
The man gave him a strange look following his second question but started to answer them nonetheless, "I am a Stormcloak soldier a member of the rebellion against the empire, names Ralof. Next to you is Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King of Skyrim and the leader. And horse and cart is faster than walking."
Harry looked around and noticed it looked like they were arriving in a city. "Looks like we reached the end of the line," Ralof muttered.
"Oh Divines... I don't want to die." The dark haired man next to Ralof whined.
Ralof sneered, "Face your death with some dignity, milk-drinker."
The dark haired man glared back, "If they hadn't been looking for you damn stormcloaks I could've stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell."
Silence fell as they entered the small looking village. The cart came to a stop, "When I call your name please step down and line up," a guy holding a clipboard commanded.
"Lokir of Rorikstead."
The dark haired guy was shaking as he stepped down, "You can't catch me!" He shouted as he started running.
"Archers!" The female next to the guy with the clipboard shouted.
With a twang an arrow flew through the air and hit the guy killing him in one shot.
"Ralof of Riverwood." The list guy said with a strange expression on his face. Harry couldn't tell what exactly it was though. He sniffed the air and smelled a mixture of regret, anger, despair, fear, and determination. Though he didn't know which scents belonged to which people.
"Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm."
With his head held high the guy left the cart.
The list guy gave him a friendly smile, "Hey kid, sorry you had to ride with them. Let's get you somewhere a bit warmer, yeah?"
Harry just nodded and followed after the list guy, "My name is Hadvar, what's yours?"
"Harry Potter, sir."
Harry paused as he heard something, a roar, though it was faint in the distance. He looked around but didn't see anything. "There's an Inn right over here, we can get you something warm to drink and figure out what to do with you."
The roar was louder this time and even Hadvar seemed to hear it as he paused and looked around himself. "Shor's bones," Hadvar gasped as he looked up at the sky.
Harry followed his gaze and saw a giant black dragon flying straight towards the village. It landed on top of the tower. The dragon roared and the sky darkened and Harry could see rocks falling from the sky.
"Come on, we better head to the keep, it's more fortified." Hadvar said and started running off, Harry quickly followed after him. As they ran through the quickly falling apart village they witnessed the dragon destroying everything and killing people, while it seemed immune to all damage that the guards were doing to it.
As they made their way through the village the two of them helped the people they came across telling them to either get out of the village or make it to the keep. Eventually they came across a clearing in front of what had to be the keep. Ralof the guy from the cart ride was there running towards one of the keeps doors. He paused upon spotting them.
"Ralof you damn traitor!" Hadvar shouted at him.
"We're escaping, and there is nothing you can do about it!" Ralof returned,
"Come on lad, let's get into the keep." Hadvar said as Ralof ran towards the door.
"Kolos los Krenttiid? Zu'u haalvut ek, bo nol het! Briinah kolos los hi?!" He could hear being said by the dragon, and when could dragons speak? Yet the language sounded similar to those words he had used to create that portal.
They made it into the keep. "Could that really have been a dragon, like from the legends of old?" Hadvar muttered. With another rumbling of the building he shook his head, "You should grab some supplies, definitely a sword, you might need it."
Harry grabbed a sword with both his hands and instantly felt its weight, "Give it a few swings, it's not really made for a kid, so it's probably better if you use both your hands and pretend its a greatsword."
Harry looked over to Hadvar who had a similar looking sword in one hand. He swung the sword and nearly collapsed from the momentum. "I guess you never used a sword before, have you any combat training?"
"No sir," Not anything that could really be counted anyways.
"If we encounter any enemies stay out of the way then."
Harry nodded and followed after Hadvar as they started to make their way through the keep. "Stormcloaks... maybe we can reason with them." Hadvar whispered as they heard a couple voices coming through a gate.
He lowered the gate "Hold on now, we only want to..."
They draw their weapons but paused as they noticed Harry. "What do you want Imperial."
"Were trying to escape from the dragon, same as you."
"So what were supposed to just let you pass?"
"How about we work together to escape, once were free we go our separate ways."
"Why shouldn't we just kill you now?"
"Do you really want to kill me in front of the kid?" Hadvar retorted.
The Stormcloaks looked hesitant and shook their heads. "Fine, but only cause a lad like him shouldn't have to see death."
With that an uneasy truce was formed and the group continued on a stormcloak leading the front, Hadvar and the other stormcloak walking next to each other and Harry following behind. The building shook violently and the front stormcloak fell and rocks fell down from the roof, killing him and blocking the path forward.
Harry blanched at the pool of blood on the ground. "Come on this way," Hadvar murmured standing in front of Harry shielding his view. They went into the only door available to them and saw an imperial and a stormcloak glaring at each other weapons drawn.
They each took a quick glance and seemed surprised, "Hadvar, what's going on?" The female imperial soldier asked.
"Temporary truce so we can make it out alive."
"And you agreed to it?"
"I suggested it," Hadvar retorted.
The imperial nodded.
"Let's take a look around, see what we can find." The female stormcloak they had been working with suggested.
The group looked around, Harry started in the barrels and opened them, most of them were empty, but in one he found a few potions. Surprised he wonder if perhaps these people did know about magic, or was it just potions? "I found some potions."
"Good. Lets see, we got a health potion, a stamina potion, and a magicka potion." Hadvar said looking at the potions in Harry's hand.
"What does each of the potions do?" Harry asked, he could guess, but it was better to make sure that each did as he thought.
"The health potion will heal up minor wounds, though stronger health potions can save someone from death's door. The stamina potion can give you a bit of energy, so you can travel longer or fight longer. And the Magicka potion is generally only used by mages, it can replenish there Magicka stores so they can continue casting spells." The female stormcloak answered him.
"Anyone here use magic?" Hadvar asked.
Harry did, but he didn't know this places magic, perhaps he should learn. The new stormcloak nodded, "I've dabbled in the restoration school."
The black haired boy handed over the blue potion. "Stamina potions to our female members, and health for me and you."
Harry handed the green potion to the two woman, who each had giant weapons on their backs. "Can you tell me about magic?" Harry asked the guy.
"There are five schools of magic, destruction, which allows the user to harness the elements and harm opponents, the most commonly used elements are fire, shock, and ice. Then there is alteration, which allows you to change things around you, such as creating light, and masters can change metals. Illusion is the school which messes with the mind, you can either give people courage or make your enemies fear you. Restoration is the healing magics, allowing the user to heal themselves or others, and to protect themselves. Conjuration allows you to summon help, or to create a blade. It also has a branch to allow you to resurrect the dead under your command, but that's generally frowned upon. Then while not directly magical, most consider alchemy and enchanting to be things only mages do. Alchemy is the creation of potions, and enchanting allows you to put special abilities onto weapons and armours," The male stormcloak explained as they continued through the keep.
They came upon the scene of some stormcloaks fighting against some imperials. "Stop!" Hadvar called out causing the combatants to look at him.
"What's going on?" One of the new stormcloaks asked looking at the group.
"Since there is a dragon attacking we have a temporary truce so we can escape alive." The female stormcloak answered.
"Such nonsense. Why not just kill the stormcloaks or leave them for the dragon to devour?" An older imperial asked with a sneer, his outfit was soaked in blood. Harry shuddered and looked around, he noticed cages and tools. It was then he realized this was a torture room.
"Because we are decent human beings and don't want to have a kid see death and battle any more than necessary." The female imperial retorted.
"Whatever, do as you wish, I will be reporting this though." The torturer replied.
"I'll join you." The other imperial said.
The stormcloaks nodded.
"Look, a spellbook." The magic using stormcloak said pointing to it. "If your interested in learning magic that would be the way to start."
"Don't bother, I lost the key to that place ages ago, guy screamed for weeks."
"I bet he couldn't be bothered to just use some lockpicks. Or lost the key on purpose." The female stormcloak muttered under her breath.
"Lockpicking is a decent skill to learn, especially if you become an adventurer, many chests and doors have long since lost keys and will need to be picked open. Here watch me." The new male stormcloak said grabbing lockpicks off of the table. Harry watched as the guy maneuvered the lockpicks and picked the lock. "Go ahead, take what you want kid."
Harry grabbed the spell tome and the few coins lying on the ground, then he looked around and saw a bag and put the items in it and put the bag on his back so he could carry stuff. Then they continued on. Soon the group encountered a hole in the wall and an empty cavern. They made their way through and started to cross an old wooden bridge, Harry and Hadvar went first, followed by the Female Stormcloak and the Magic Stormcloak. Then as the female imperial and male imperial were crossing they heard a roar and rocks tumbled down crushing them, destroying the bridge and blocking the path back.
"Looks like there is no way back, I'm sure the others will find another way out."
The now smaller group continued on. After walking further through the caverns they came across a nest of giant spiders. Harry shuddered as they reminded him of acromantulas. The three soldiers easily dispatched of them though and Harry was able to just stay back. Then they exited out and came into a cavern with a bear in it.
"I'd rather we not tangle with her, what about you?" The male stormcloak muttered.
"We can try to sneak across, let's just take it nice and easy," Hadvar agreed.
They crouched down and started to creep slowly across, sticking to the walls. Harry followed there lead and soon the group made it out of the bear cavern and they saw a small crack with light pouring out of it.
The group exited just in time to see the giant dragon flying away. "Looks like we made it. Here's where we split," Hadvar stated turning to the stormcloaks.
They nodded and without a further word they went into the forest, quickly becoming lost to sight. "Alright, were going to Riverwood, my hometown, there we can rest and start figuring out what to do."
With that they started walking.
Translations: Kolos los Krenttiid? Zu'u haalvut ek, bo nol het! Briinah kolos los hi?! - Where is Krenttiid? I feel her, coming from here! Sister where are you?
A/n: I finally posted this next chapter, I hope you enjoyed! I'm not sure when I will next update this, could be from a few months to a few years, depends on when I get into a Skyrim mood.