Sundas, 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201
Castras woke up with a pounding headache, wondering where he was. In a flash, everything came back to him, the ambush, the soldier who clubbed him. He heard people talking and kept his eyes closed, hoping they still thought he was unconscious. Did they know who he was? No, he was a long way from Morrowind and even further from Solstheim. His last name would hold no power here, especially not since Morrowind seceded from the Empire.
He leaned back and slowly opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings. He was in a cart with three other prisoners, a blonde Nord in blue armor across from him, a ragged-looking man who basically screamed terror next to the blonde, and a gagged noble sitting next to him.
"You Nords have a funny way of saying hello to foreigners," He said blandly, smirking at the Nord's expressions at his accent. "What? Cats got your tongues or are you simply basking in my appearance?"
"You're an Imperial, yet you speak like a Dark Elf," The blonde said, the surprise still on his voice.
"Well, aren't you a smart one! Yes I speak like a Dunmer, as is the correct term, because I am half Imperial, half Dunmer, satisfied? Good, now shut up." He turned to the noble and reached over and pulled his gag down so he could talk. "Listen, whoever you are, you're clearly a noble so could you please get us out of this mess and my possessions back to me before I start murdering everyone?"
The Nord just looked at him as if he'd gone crazy before looking at the blonde, and then back at him. Castras had to hold himself back from slapping the man,"You do realize that if you don't get me out of this, the first person to taste my Lightning Bolts will be you, right?"
That seemed to anger the Nord, as he practically bristled, and looked like he was about to argue when the blonde butted in, "Sir, your mouth is free and you can talk. More importantly, Shout."
Castras had no idea what the difference was between the two until the noble grinned at him and stood up, reaching toward the driver and wrapping his bound hands around his throat. The blonde jumped off the back on the cart, landing on the soldier behind them and wrestling him to the ground, headbutting him and knocking the soldier out. Once the noble finished strangling the soldier driving, he quickly took the man's sword and cut his binds, and took the reins, slowing the wagon to a stop.
Castras held out his wrists to be released when the Nord grinned at him wickedly, "Oh no, those robes and rings on you mark you as an elf of stature and power. I'm not taking the chance that you might be a Thalmor agent. Ralof, help me with this one."
The last words were barely out of the man's mouth before Castras was on him, choking him, sending small bolts of electricity through his body. He was pulled off him by Ralof, who Castras rammed his head backward into his face, swiftly turned around and kicked him in the stomach, then face, sending him into the ground. He turned back to the noble, who was getting up , quickly kicked him in the stomach and took the dead soldier's sword away from him. He cut his binds and started looking around the wagon for his stuff before he realized there was another prisoner still in the cart. He turned to face the man, who looked like he was about to faint.
"You with them?" Castras pointed at the downed soldiers. He almost laughed as the color drained from the brunette's face as he shook his head. "Good, then you get to stay conscious."
"Do you realize who you just attacked?" The man said in a shaky voice. "You attacked Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm, and leader of the Stormcloak Rebellion. He's going to kill you, if we make it out of this alive."
Castras laughed, much to the shock of the brunette, "Listen, whatever your name is, I don't care who these people are. They tried to take me prisoner and so they deserved what they got. Understand me? I would kill them but it would be wrong to kill an unarmed man, especially unconcious."
The brunette shook his head and jumped out of the cart, running back toward Cyrodiil. Shame, he was quite amusing, Castras thought, watching him go. He found his stuff shoved ungracefully into a bag hanging off the wagon. Strange.. Why hasn't anyone else come to get the cart, I mean if that Ulfric fellow is as important as the brunette said, shouldn't someone notice his disappearance? Castras thought as he pulled his leather armor on and covered them with his Telvanni robes. He pulled on his mother's ring, Neloth's necklace, and his Ebony sword belt on, keeping the weapon unsheathed.
He walked over to the Nord soldier Ralof had knocked out and kicked him lightly in the head, trying to wake him up. "Hey, you, brunette, wake up." The man groaned and rolled over as Castras kept kicking him, getting more and more agitated as the man wouldn't wake up. He finally gave up and bent down and sent a small volt of electricity through the man. At that, the soldier yelped and sat up, looking up to Castras glaring at him. "Come on, we're heading toward your superiors to explain this. Come on." The soldier looked at Castras confused and Castras sighed, threw his hands up and decided to leave the man there.
He started walking toward the way the wagons were heading, when he heard a roar he hadn't heard in over two hundred years. He froze on the spot, trying to decide whether the hit to the head had done more damage than he thought or a dragon was nearby. He started running toward the sound and rounded a bend to see a black, spiky dragon razing the entire village before him with fire. He ran toward the town, if only to be closer to the creature.
When he reached the gates, they were already burnt, clawed and torn to pieces. He ran through them to find a group of Imperial soldiers shooting arrows at the dragon. The arrows couldn't pierce the dragon's hide and slid off him and didn't even seem to bother the dragon as it- no he, a strange instinct told him it was a he, spread destruction across the village.
"What the hell? Where did you come from?!" Yelled a man in a general's set of armor yelled at Castras. The general looked over Castras' shoulder and yelled, "Hadvar! Where have you been? Get to the keep boy! You too! Go!"
"Yes, General Tulius!" The soldier Castras had left at the cart was already sprinting toward the keep and Castras stood there, staring at the dragon with wonder and awe. "I said run you idiot!" The general shouted, pushing him toward the keep.
Castras followed Hadvar to the keep and as they passed under a small gateway, the dragon picked up a soldier from the wall and dropped him, he landed next to Castras, covering his robes with the man's intestines. "Oh well now that's just plain nasty." Was all Castras could say before the dragon landed in front of them and let loose a wall of flame at them, that Castras blocked with a Ward.
Zu'u Alduin, zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!
Castras somehow instinctively understood that it meant,"I am Alduin, most mighty of any in the World!" He was puzzled by how he knew the words and even more by the words that came out of his lips.
"Zu'u los Castras, lif nu!" I am Castras, leave now! What the hell was wrong with him? How did he know these words?
He could feel the confusion roll off the dragon, which was quickly replaced by anger as Castras sent a Lightning Bolt at the dragon's face. Hadvar pulled him into the keep before he could do anything else to piss the dragon off.
Once inside, and peeking out to make sure the dragon was raging at the town instead of ripping the keep apart, Hadvar looked at him strangely. "Either stop staring or start talking," Castras said, tired of people staring at him.
"How did you know that dragon said and how did you speak that language?" Hadvar asked, still staring.
"I don't know, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you! Especially not after you knocked me out while I was trying to explain I wasn't with those damned Stormcloaks." Hadvar looked down, ashamed.
"I'm sorry about that.. You were wearing funny robes-" Castras slapped him at that, but he continued, unabashed, "I couldn't take the chance."
"You idiot! You nearly got me killed!" Castras slapped him again and walked past him, pulling on a chain and looked back toward Hadvar, who was still standing there looking at him with a dumb expression on his face and Castras sighed. "Are you coming or do you want to be eaten by Alduin?"
At the mention of the dragon's name, Hadvar's expression turned whiter than milk. "How... How do you know the dragon's name?" He asked. Was the dragon important?
"Well I understood what he said. Simple. Now move before I drag you." Castras said simply before motioning that Hadvar should move.
To Be Continued...