Chapter 2 – Unbound
A/N: Quick mention that I do hail from England, therefore the spellings will be the British variants (e.g. honour instead of honor), so of there seems to be a letter missing etc. and you're used to American English, then that will likely be why.
17th Last Seed 4E 201
Jurgald slowly awoke to find himself bound and on an imperial carriage. Once his vision had fully recovered he quickly discovered that he was sharing the carriage with three other prisoners. The blonde haired man directly opposite was wearing a blue & brown cuirass, which was Jurgald had correctly guessed to be Stormcloak armour, based on what had transpired right before his capture as well as his current (rather limited) knowledge on the civil war. To the right of the Stormcloak was a brown haired nord in rags. Jurgald only paid a short amount of attention to him however it was clear from the nord's facial expression that he was petrified of the predicament in which he was in. To the right of Jurgald was who Jurgald believed to be the leader of the rebellion, which would mean he would be Ulfric Stormcloak himself. While all four prisoners found themselves bound, Ulfric had also been gagged by the imperials. Jurgald had heard the story of Ulfric "shouting" apart the previous high king. Jurgald believed these stories to be utter rubbish, however it would explain why they had gagged him but nobody else. With the leader of the rebellion gagged and the other two in a state of confusion, it turned to the blonde haired Stormcloak to break the silence.
"Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border right? Walked into that imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there" stated the blonde haired Stormcloak. Jurgald, feeling a mixture of negative emotion was in too much response to give much of a response, the horse thief however did give a response. "Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy" stated the horse thief, with disdain and annoyance clear in the town in his voice. He continued "If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." The thief then turned to Jurgald, "you there. You and me – we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants." Jurgald, failing to understand why the thief was telling him this when it would most likely not matter to their captors, elected to remain silent during the conversation. The Stormcloak simply responded with "we're all brothers and sisters in binds now thief." The imperial soldier driving the carriage, having gotten fed up of the prisoners conversing, snapped "shut up back there."
The thief, undeterred by the driver, turned his attention to Ulfric. The thief questioned "and what's wrong with him huh?" The Stormcloak spoke in a harsher tone, strikingly different from his previous friendly tone, spoke assertively "watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." This confirmed Jurgald's suspicions, which certainly did not bode well for the prisoners. The thief responded "Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion." Panic returned to his face as well as his voice, "But if they captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?" The Stormcloak calmly replied "I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits" hinting at their impending deaths. Upon this realisation the thief started to panic further, "No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening." A short and nervous silence fell upon the carriage.
The Stormcloak turned to the thief, and asked "what village are you from horse thief?" The thief responded "why do you care?" as he struggled to come to terms with what was about to transpire. The Stormcloak simply responded "a nord's last thoughts should be of home." The thief, still scared at his realisation, replied "Rorikstead. I'm…. I'm from Rorikstead." In the background an Imperial soldier could be hear stating "General Tullius sir! The headsman is waiting!" The General's response was simply "good let's get this over with". With a headsman present it was clear that the prisoners were going to be executed. The thief now turned to the Gods to save him, "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akintosh. Divines please help me" pleaded the thief. The Stormcloak spoke up in once again a harsher tone, "Look at him, General Tullius, the military governor". General Tullius appeared to be conversing with an elf, which also drew a response from the Stormcloak "and it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this" he stated with a clear resentment towards the pair.
With another heavy silence having descended on the carriage the blonde Stormcloak once again took it upon himself to break the silence. "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in." reminisced the Stormcloak. He continued to reflect on the past "Funny, when I used to be a boy Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe." Soon enough the carriage arrived at its destination and stopped within the centre of Helgen. The Stormcloak turned to Jurgald and simply stated "Let's go. Shouldn't keep the Gods waiting for us." Jurgald continued to maintain his silence. In one final act of desperation the thief pleaded "No! Wait! We're not rebels", his pleas however, fell on deaf ears. The Stormcloak, likely fed up with the whinging thief told him to face his death with courage. Desperately the thief called out "you've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!" however his begging would conjure no success. The female Imperial captain ordered the prisoners of the carriages and demanded that they step towards the block once their name was called. The blonde Stormcloak quietly quipped that "The Empire love their damned lists" although it was not loud enough for anyone that wasn't within close proximity to hear.
The soldier with the list first called out Ulfric Stormcloak. Upon hearing his name Ulfric walked toward the chopping block, but not before the blonde Stormcloak net Jurgald could declare that it had been an honour to serve him. The next name was Ralof of Riverwood, which caused the blonde Stormcloak to head towards the chopping block. Next was Lokir of Rorikstead, the horse thief. Lokir issued a final plea, "No, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" With his final plea ignored, leaving the thief in a hopeless situation, Lokir decided to make a break for it. Lokir started to run away claiming "you're not going to kill me!" The captain however, had other ideas. After her order to halt had been ignored, she simply called for the archers who fired and killed Lokir while he was in flight. The captain then turned back around to face the remaining prisoners (that had yet to be called to the block) and asked "does anyone else feel like running?" while directly looking at Jurgald. Jurgald was still in shock it what had transpired and couldn't even fathom attempting to run away. The soldier with the list noticed something was amiss, and called for Jurgald to step forward. The soldier then asked for Jurgald's name.
"Jurgald" came Jurgald's reply. Jurgald was not capable of saying anymore, as with a pending execution he was almost frozen on the spot in fear. The imperial with the list started to write something while telling Jurgald that "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinsman." He then turned to his captain and inquired "Captain. What should we do? He's not on the list". Jurgald slightly perked up at hearing this, as it gave him a glimmer of hope that he wouldn't share the same feat as Lokir and the other Stormcloaks. This glimmer of hope however, was soon squashed as the captain simply declared "forget the list, he goes to the block." The Imperial soldier turned his attention back to Jurgald, and looking slightly apologetic said "I'm sorry. At least you'll die here, in your homeland." Jurgald was then ordered to follow the captain, which he did so with no escape route letting itself known. All Jurgald could do was hope for some form of Stormcloak intervention to save their leader, since that's the only thing that could realistically prevent his death at this point.
Once all the prisoners were in place, awaiting their executions. General Tullius used the time to give a victory speech to his foe. Tullius opened up with "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." Ulfric Stormcloak tried to respond to the General's comments, however a she was gagged only muffled grunts came out of his mouth. General Tullius continued "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!" Right after General Tullius had declared this, a loud roar echoed throughout the area. The soldier that had the list questioned what had caused the noise, however the General quickly dismissed it and ordered the men to carry on. The captain requested the priestess of Arkaay to give the prisoners their last rights, however a hot blooded red headed male Stormcloak immediately stepped up to the block, demanded that the priest shut up and that they "get it over with". The priestess, annoyed by the interruption, simply said "as you wish" and allowed the executions to start. The captain approached the captive and forced him on his knees, then put her foot on the prisoners back forcing his head onto the block. "My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials, can you say the same?" spoke the red headed Stormcloak. Immediately afterwards the headsman struck the prisoner with his executioners axe, separating head from body, killing the prisoner instantly. Supporters from both sides would yell a few phrases before the captain would call the next victim. "Next the nord in the rags!" declared the captain, meaning that Jurgald's execution was next.
The distinctive roar from earlier sounded throughout the town once again, however the Captain was quick to keep the executions coming, demanding Jurgald to step to the block before anybody can start to question where the sounds came from. Jurgald, with no other option stepped up to the block, internally praying for anyone or anything to save him from his unjust execution. The captain, despite not having moved the previous body, forced Jurgald to his knees, before stepping on his back to force his head down to the block, which was soaked in the blood of the previous captive. The unnerving echo of the roar returned, however this time Jurgald spotted a flying black beast in the background. General Tullius had also seen this asking "what in the Oblivion is that?" in clear shock and awe of the beast. The beast landed on the tower behind the headman, shaking the very earth as well as causing the headsman to lose his balance. It became clear to everyone in the vicinity was that the unexpected intruder was a black dragon, whose menacing red eyes looked straight at Jurgald before what can only be described as "shouting", blowing everyone off their feet.
Ralof shouted towards the stunned Jurgald "Hey, kinsman. Get up! The gods won't give us another chance!" Jurgald, now having regained his composure didn't need a second invitation to flee the surrounding scene, as he quickly followed Ralof towards the tower on the other side of the street. Inside the tower was a few Stormcloaks, both alive and dead as well as Ulfric Stormcloak himself. Ralof likely shaken at the appearance of the dragon, while also likely feeling relief in having been saved from impending doom, asked Ulfric "what is that thing? Can the legends be true?" Ulfric Stormcloak, responded in a relatively calm manner that "legends don't burn down villages." Jurgald had quickly taken note of the fairly calm demeanour and it wasn't hard to understand how he had become a leader, after all maintain composure as a dragon rained fiery death was certainly a skill few people would like have in their arsenal. Another roar, sounding like it came from almost directly above the tower, broke Ulfric's composure somewhat, as he yelled at his followers to move. Ralof ordered Jurgald and the others up the tower. Despite still being bound, Jurgald quickly ran up the stairs, however before they reached the summit the dragon came crashing through, burying a Stormcloak under rubble and using his fire breath to turn the deceased remains to ash. Jurgald had been in position to back away from the assault, allowing him to remain unharmed. The dragon had left a gaping hole in the tower, which Ralof had ordered Jurgald to jump through. Jurgald, in a sense of anxiety, followed the orders and jumped towards the burning inn, whose roof had been virtually torn apart. Jurgald landed in a fire, scorching his lower body, however it would prove to be nothing major. Jurgald felt nothing, thanks to the adrenaline currently pumping through his veins.
Jurgald quickly made his way to where two adults were attempting to protect a child. The dragon came thundering down and launched a blaze of fire at the trio, however they were able to take cover behind the building, which provided protection from the blaze. Once the Dragon flew off the man dressed in imperial armour noticed Jurgald's presence. Jurgald was surprised to see that it was the same man who had stated that he was not on the execution list. "Still alive prisoner Stay with me if you want to keep it that way." Said the imperial soldier, "by the way, the name is Hadvar." After Hadvar had instructed to his ally to take care of the boy, Hadvar and Jurgald were soon rushing back towards the centre of the town of Helgen. As the dragon approached the pair from the air, Hadvar instructed Jurgald to stay close to the wall, an instruction Jurgald followed. This proved to be a wise move as the dragon landed onto the wall they took cover behind, with the Dragon's wing landing mere centimetres away from Jurgald. Had he not stayed right up to the wall, the wing would have likely penetrated his body, leaving him as a mere corpse.
Once the Dragon flew off, the pair ran through a burnt down house and soon approached the keep, which coincided with Ralof arriving at the same time. Hadvar, clearly not happy upon seeing Ralof, spoke first. "Ralof, you damned traitor, out of my way!" Ralof's response was straightforward, "We're escaping Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time." Hadvar replied in resignation as well as annoyance "Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde." Upon the conclusion of this "conversation", both instructed Jurgald to follow them into the keep. With most of the surrounding soldiers Imperial, and also figuring that there would be more Imperial soldiers than Stormcloak soldiers, Jurgald decided to follow Hadvar.
Once inside Hadvar, still struggling to comprehend that a Dragon was attacking, took to questioning whether it was in fact a Dragon attacking Helgen. Nevertheless, this didn't stop not Hadvar noticing that Jurgald's hands will still bound in front of him. Hadvar swiftly cut the binds, as Jurgald enjoyed having his hands unbound after spending a few hours tied up. Jurgald then searched a nearby chest and found an Imperial set of armour and weapons, which would help serve him escape the keep. Satisfied with Jurgald's armour and iron sword, Hadvar opted to delve deeper into the keep in order to ascertain if another exit existed. The duo quickly ran into Stormcloaks of equal number. Hadvar hoped to resolve the confrontation in a peaceful manner, however the Stormcloaks chose to engage without delay. The pair of Stormcloaks focused solely on Hadvar allowing Jurgald to cut the female Stormcloak to pieces from behind. The male Stormcloak soon fell as well, as with his focus on Hadvar Jurgald took advantage of an opening during his attack, thrusting his sword straight through the Stormcloaks chest, before performing a 360 spin resulting in the Stormcloak's body almost being split in two.
Jurgald would loot the fallen duo, and would switch his iron sword with an iron battle-axe. As they traversed the keep another roar shook the foundation of the keep, so much so that the roof crumbled and completely blocked off the corridor Jurgald and Hadvar was planning to go down, leaving the pair with only one option, go towards the torture room. Minor resistance was met along the way, however Hadvar was always the main target, ensuring that Jurgald (outside of a few burns) would remain unharmed. Upon reaching the torture room (a room which Hadvar dearly wished the Empire had no use for), it was discovered that the torture master was engaged in battle with several Stormcloaks. Hadvar quickly leapt to the defence of the head torturer, leaving Jurgald to help the assistant, who was currently being attacked by two Stormcloaks. Jurgald would quickly take out he first Stormcloak, who had taken several wounds at the hands of the assistant before Jurgald landed the finishing blow. With the second Stormcloak focussed on the assistant, Jurgald was able to get behind the enemy and drive his battle-axe into the spine of the enemy, resulting in death.
With the Stormcloaks defeated the head torturer spoke up. "You fellows happened along just in time. These boys seemed a bit upset at how I've been entertaining their comrades." With the torturer evidently having no clue with what was transpiring outside, Hadvar decided to enlighten him. "Don't you even know what's going on? A dragon is attacking Helgen." The Torturer however, having been inside the entire time, immediately dismissed the idea, "A dragon? Please, don't make up nonsense." Jurgald could hardly fault the quick dismissal of a dragon, as it was certainly an absurd idea, unless of course, you had seen it with your own eyes like Jurgald had. The torturer's tone did become less dismissive however once he had time to dwell on the situation, "Although, come to think of it. I did hear some strange noises from over there." Hadvar instructed the torturer to come with himself and Jurgald, however the Torturer was having none it, simply stating that Hadvar had no authority over him. With Hadvar's words falling on deaf ears, he quickly noticed something in one of the cages. The Torturer mentioned how the key had been lost for weeks, resulting in Hadvar turning to Jurgald, handing him some bobby pins and saying "see if you can get it open with some picks. We'll need everything we can get." "Sure, take all my tings please" quipped the Torturer. Jurgald quickly picked the lock on the cell and found a spelltome and some robes. These would have no use for Jurgald right now unfortunately, as Jurgald had no intention of learning magic, as he had a preference to melee weapons.
The duo decided to delve deeper into the keep, despite the torturer informing the pair that there was no way out the way they were going. They would soon encounter a group of bickering Stormcloaks, who had been unable to locate an exit. Wielding his two handed axe Jurgald quickly dispatched of the first Stormcloak, and was able to kill a second Stormcloak despite his erratic and frantic swinging, caused by a lack of combat training. Jurgald had to cross a view narrow bridges to make it to the Stormcloak archers which had engaged Hadvar in ranged warfare. Jurgald noted that they had stood in flammable liquid, however since Jurgald had received no magical training, Jurgald elected to continue swing his axe, forcing the Stormcloaks into a defensive position. Despite the Stormcloak's attempts to block the impact of Jurgald's attacks rendered their attempts to block futile, and were soon dispatched with haste. They encountered a small bridge that had been pulled up, however with the level right next to the bridge it was simple to get the bridge down as they entered what appeared to be a cave. As soon as they crossed the bridge, the Dragon's intimidating roar could be heard once again, as the Earth shook once again, which caused part of the roof to collapse, destroying the drawbridge and cutting off the pair's route back into the keep. With no choice in the matter, they started to progress through the cave.
A small stream ran through the cave which they followed until being forced to take a right. This would leave them to a more open area which was called home by a bunch of frost spiders, something that Hadvar wasn't fond of. Four spiders made themselves known and all went for Hadvar, who had entered first. This allowed Jurgald to start swinging his powerful axe behind the spiders, swiftly eliminating the threat. Shortly afterwards they encountered a sleeping bear. Fearful of the bear's might, Hadvar suggested trying to sneak past it to avoid confrontation. Hadvar did give a bow and arrows to Jurgald however, if Jurgald would rather engage. Jurgald, in a hot headed moment, decided to engage the bear. After all, he had dealt with combat easily thus far and not too many people can claimed to have killed a bear, and if he did so it could be something to boast about to others once after their escape. Jurgald drew the bow and fired an arrow at the sitting target. Despite the bear's size and lack of movement, Jurgald's lack of training showed as he fired short of the mark. The bear, having been startled by the noise of the arrow that almost hit its face, awakened from its slumber. Jurgald, now starting to panic having missed, quickly fired a second arrow before the bear could fully awaken, which would hit the mark. The bear was able to take the hit and started to charge Jurgald, who quickly fired a second shot which once again hit but didn't kill the bear. The bear lunged at Jurgald, attempting to take a bite out of the young nord, but fortunately Jurgald got a third arrow off in the nick of time as the bear fell dead right in front of Jurgald.
After nearly being mauled at the hands of a bear, Jurgald needed a moment to compose himself. Jurgald switched to a sword and shield due to fatigue, reducing the power Jurgald could get out of a swing and the pair continued to look for an escape. Eventually they found a source of light, indicating an exit. As relief fell upon the pair, they finally emerged outside the cave. As they emerged outside however, Hadvar immediately told Jurgald to wait and get down, as the Dragon which had burnt Helgen into nothing but ruins and ashes flew over them. With one final roar, which echoed throughout the hold, the Dragon flew away from the area, meaning that Jurgald and Hadvar were safe for now. With the danger passed, Hadvar said "Looks like he's gone for good this time. But I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back." Jurgald, having no knowledge of the layout of Skyrim, followed Hadvar who was heading to Riverwood, a small village situated in the Whiterun hold. Hadvar was heading to Riverwood to meet his Uncle, who was the local blacksmith.
On the way Hadvar suggested that Jurgald join the Imperial Legion. A bold suggestion considering they had almost chopped Jurgald's head off. Jurgald didn't respond. Once they had reached the path to Riverwood a mountain ruin became visible. Multiple archways towards the mountain could be seen as Jurgald took his time to take in the sight. Hadvar revealed the place was known as Bleak Falls Barrow and how it gave him nightmares as a child. Hadvar elaborated that the main fear was Draugr climbing into his room at night, which Jurgald took as saying that the Barrow was inhabited by Draugr, meaning it would likely be wise to avoid the place. Upon continuing their journey Jurgald saw three stones next to the path. Hadvar explained that they were three of thirteen guardian stones located within Skyrim. Hadvar then encouraged Jurgald to "see for yourself". Jurgald stepped towards the three guardian stones which were the Mage Stone, the Thief Stone and the Warrior Stone. Jurgald, having a strong preference in hand to hand combat, chose the warrior stone. Upon selection, the Warrior Stone shot a beam up high into the sky, however Jurgald didn't feel a thing. The selection of the Warrior Stone did make Hadvar state "warrior, good! I knew you shouldn't have been on that cart the moment I laid eyes on you." Jurgald was perplexed on how the choice of the Warrior Stone was enough ensure that Hadvar believed he was innocent of any wrongdoings, but Jurgald didn't mind, because of course, Hadvar was correct.
Upon arrival into Riverwood, Hadvar headed straight to the blacksmith. "Uncle Alvor. Hello!" greeted Hadvar. Alvor, somewhat surprised to see his nephew, stopped smelting and inquired "Hadvar? What are you doing here? Are you on leave from…" Alvor the noticed a few burns that donned Hadvar's body. "Shor's bones, what happened to you boy?" Hadvar, wanting to keep thinks quiet responded "shh… Uncle please, keep your voice down. I'm fine, but we should go inside to talk." Alvor, somewhat confused asked "what's going on?" before turning his attention to Jurgald "and who's this?" "He's a friend. Saved my life in fact. Come on, I'll explain everything but we need to go inside" replied Hadvar. "Okay okay. Come inside, then. Sigrid will get you something to eat and you can tell me all about it" was Alvor's response. Before Jurgald made his way inside an old woman started shouting "A dragon! I saw a dragon!" Of course had Jurgald not seen the dragon first hand, he wouldn't believe her, and judging how the rest of the village ignored her ramblings, it appeared nobody noticed the giant black dragon flying across the sky of Skyrim. "What? What is it now mother?" asked her son, whose tone sounded fed up, and hinted that it wasn't uncommon for his mother to start rambling about "nonsense". The old woman kept talking about dragons however this was dismissed as crazy talk by her son. Jurgald then made his way inside the blacksmith.
The inside of the blacksmith was surprisingly small by Jurgald's standards. The bedroom was what they had entered into, with the kitchen downstairs. It was certainly smaller than Jurgald's family blacksmith back in Cyrodil. Alvor informed his wife Sigrid that company had arrived and she came up from the kitchen. "Hadvar! We've been so worried about you! Come, you two must be hungry. Sit down and I'll get you something to eat" said Sigrid. Alvor, Hadvar and Jurgald sat around the table located in the living room. Alvor, still unaware of why his nephew was here asked "Now then boy. What's the big mystery? What are you doing here, looking like you lost an argument with a cave bear?" "I don't know where to start. You know I was assigned to General Tullius's guard. We were stopped in Helgen, where we were attacked by a dragon" was Hadvar's response. As one would expect, Alvor wasn't initially convinced. "A dragon. That's ridiculous. You aren't drunk, are you boy?" Sigrid was less dismissive of the story, "Husband, let him tell his story." Hadvar continued "not much more to tell. This dragon flew over and just wrecked the whole place. Mass confusion. I don't know if anyone else got out alive. I doubt I'd have made it out myself if not for my friend here. I need to get back to Solitude and let them know what's happened. I thought you could help us out. Food, supplies, a place to stay." Alvor, not concerned with housing a stranger, responded positively saying "Of course! Any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. I'm glad to help however I can." Alvor's attention then fell on Jurgald. "I'm glad to help, but I need your help. We need your help." After giving Jurgald a few bits and pieces he continued "The Jarl needs to know if there is a dragon on the loose. Riverwood is defenceless, we need to get word to Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun to send whatever soldiers he can. If you do that for me, I'll be in your debt."
With this being his first foray into Skyrim, Jurgald needed to ask for directions. "How do I get to Whiterun from here?" asked Jurgald, finally speaking since he had been wrongly accused of being a Stormcloak and sent to his death. "Cross the river and head north. You'll see it, just past the falls. When you get to Whiterun just keep going up. When you get to the top of the hill, you're at Dragonsreach, the Jarl's palace" answered Alvor. If Jurgald would have to address the Jarl, he felt it was necessary to have some information about him. "What can you tell me about the Jarl?" inquired Jurgald. "Jarl Balgruuf? He rules Whiterun Hold. A good man, if perhaps a bit over-cautious, bit these are dangerous times. So far he's manage to stay out of the war. I'm afraid it can't last though." With Jurgald currently wearing Imperial armour, Jurgald felt it necessary to ask what faction the Jarl supported (since if he supported the Stormcloaks, turning up in Empire attire wouldn't be wise. "I don't think he likes Ulfric or Elisif much. Who can blame him? But I have no doubt he'll prove loyal to the Empire in the end. He's no traitor." Jurgald, unsure of who Elisif was, made that his next question. "Ah, I forget you're new to Skyrim. Jarl Elisif, I should say, although only because she was married to Jarl Torygg when he was murdered." Alvor then explained how Ulfric had murdered Torygg, and how people say he used the voice to do it, however Jurgald had heard some of the stories regarding this, as his Mother took a keen interest in the war before deciding to leave the family home to join the Empire efforts herself. After obtaining all the information that was relevant, as well dodging Alvor's and Sigrid's daughter constant excited questioning of the dragon, Jurgald left to set off to Whiterun.