Author's note: Wow. I am a truly horrible person. I haven't updated in forever... I disgust myself. I'm sorry. I know it's a little short and slow, but I promise it'll pick up soon. And I WILL get better at updating. Seriously people, review. You people who did review the last couple of times freaken rock. I'm open to constructive criticism. Again sorry its short, but sometimes you need a good bridge.
The iron bars clanged loudly against one another when the door of Ralof's cell was thrown open. Two Imperials stood in the hall, waiting for him to get up.
"Prisoner," one of the Imperials said. "Come with us."
Ralof got groggily to his feet, his bones aching from being on the hard ground.
"Why?" it was more of a demand than a question.
"You're being transferred to Solitude."
"Ah… great," Ralof said with sarcastic distain. "Why not just execute me here in Windhelm?"
"Shut up," one of the Imperials snapped and shoved him down the hall. One too many questions. As they moved along out of the Windhelm prison, Ralof noticed all the other Stormcloak prisoners were being hustled out of their cells as well. Looks like everyone who wasn't killed in the battle was being moved to Solitude as well, he thought to himself. Ralof put his head and shuffled solemnly along with his fellow captives.
They walked shamefully through the city in lines, all chained and bound. Onlookers averted their eyes at the sight of them, while other Imperials cheered. Hot rage boiled inside Ralof and he felt like breaking one of these guard's skulls in. He forced himself to hold back and bit his tongue until it bled.
He spotted Susan shuffling along in another line a bit behind him. He was flooded with relief to see her alright. Besides a few scratches and such, she was relatively unharmed. Ralof tried to catch her eye and when he caught her attention he gave her a reassuring nod. She tried to smile, but it was halfhearted. The fire in her has been stamped out by defeat. This just made Ralof's rage flare ever higher.
They were loaded into wagons outside the city walls and Ralof found himself next to Susan. As they started to move, Ralof hooked a finger around one of hers.
"I'm going to get us out of this, m'lady," Ralof tried again at reassuring her. She sighed.
"What's the use? This end of the line. We've come so far and I think this is it."
"Now that doesn't sound like the Susan I knew 14 years ago at Helgen." Susan smiled more wholeheartedly this time and nodded. "Besides, I think I may have a plan in mind." She didn't answer, just looked straight ahead into space.
They traveled east then north along the road to Solitude. In the back of his mind, Ralof wondered why they were taking this route, as it was sure a good few miles longer. He did not care much, for it only prolonged his life. But he knew that if they didn't act soon, his time was surely running short. Very short.
About halfway from Winterhold to Dawnstar, the temperatures were below -20. For Ralof, it was barely noticeable. He felt fine, even in his sleeveless blue tunic. Susan on the other hand, wasn't fairing so well. Her face was as white as the swirling snow, and her ungloved fingers were blue. She was freezing. If she didn't get warm soon, he knew she wouldn't even make it to Dawnstar.
Ralof slowly sank to a state of blissful oblivion. His mind went into a sort of neutral, where no thoughts passed through it. He felt far away from the rest of the world, blocking reality out while he sat in the back of the wagon while Susan slowly froze to death. Only when the wagon bucked from hitting a large bump in the road and being flung from the wagon was he brought back to reality. Being in the back of the wagon with no side or railing to keep him in made it pretty easy for him to fall out, and he was aware that Susan had fallen out as well.
On instinct, Ralof lay motionless in the snow, letting the cold of it bite his face. After a moment, he heard the wagons come to a halt and a boot painfully prodded his side. He didn't budge.
"This 'uns dead," a gruff voice said from above him. "Must have been the cold."
"This one too." Ralof figured the other one was speaking of Susan, who lay a few feet away from him.
"What should we do with 'em?"
"Leave them. We haven't the time to bury them. If we do, the rest of the prisoners will freeze as well." There was a grunt of agreement and both men walked back to the wagons, their boots crunching loudly in the snow. Ralof's heart was in his throat as he waited for the carriages to be on their way again. Painful minutes passed, every second Ralof hoping against hope they wouldn't come back for them. After an agonizingly long time, the sound of creaking planks and hooves faded off.
Slowly, Ralof raised his head from the cold snow. They had escaped. Once again.
