Author's Note
This chapter is more action heavy than the previous one. It still adheres closely to in-game events, but once they make it out of the tutorial area and are no longer in danger I can try to be a bit more creative and divergent, and further flesh out Ivar and Edric's characters.
Chapter One: Unbound
"Dragon!"
Just like that, the world went mad.
The Dragon let out another roar, one that almost sounded like speech. The sky, once clear and bright, turned grim and cloudy, and fire rained down upon us. But the dragon did not relent.
"FUS RO DAH!" It shouted, and a wave of blue energy struck the mass of Stormcloaks, knocking them this way and that. Though Edric and I had not been struck directly, we were still close enough for the shockwave to overbalance us and send us to the ground.
"Guards, get the townspeople to safety!" I heard General Tullius shout, as swords were drawn and arrows were notched, the prisoners temporarily forgotten. The body of the headsman lay nearby, and I saw Ralof run forward to cut his bindings on the discarded axe. I pushed myself to my feet, and searched frantically for Edric.
He was lying only a few feet away. Ralof and I helped him to his feet, and he nodded his thanks. "Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" Ralof shouted. "This way!" He gestured to a nearby tower with an open door, which his surviving comrades were filing into. We quickly dashed for it, the Imperial Archers too focused on the dragon to bother attacking us.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!" I heard behind me, and the world suddenly became somewhat brighter as men screamed in agony. I noticed a Stormcloak lying on the ground, his neck and arm twisted at an impossible angle. In the corner of my vision, I saw a fireball rain down directly on an Imperial Archer, whose light armor quickly caught fire.
I continued onward.
I shoved Edric through the door before I entered, and Ralof came in behind me. Two more entered, dragging a man whose foot was twisted just a few inches too far to the left. There were ten of us in the ground floor of the tower interior, and only nine could stand.
Somehow, one of the Stormcloaks had obtained a dagger, and he wasted no time cutting loose those who had not done so already.
"Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" Ralof asked.
"Legends don't burn down villages." Ulfric's voice was deep, calm, and rich.
The moment Edric's bindings were cut, he knelt down next to the wounded man and with one hand twisted the ankle back into place. The man screamed, but then Edric reached out with his other hand and cast a healing spell. The injured Stormcloak's expression turned to relief.
My brother then rose to his feet. "He will walk, but he may limp for a time." He stated in a completely business-like fashion, though I noticed his body was still shaking from fear and adrenaline. Some of the Stormcloaks eyed him warily. We Nords were, after all, known for our wariness towards magic.
The dragon roared again.
"We need to move! Now!" Ulfric shouted.
Ralof turned to regard me and Edric. "You two, up the tower with me! We need to see what's going on!"
We wasted no time in following him, scrambling up the stairs as if our life depended on it. We reached the second floor to find that it had partially collapsed, with rubble covering the next set of stairs. One of the Stormcloaks had already made it up there, and he was frantically trying to clear the way. "We just need to clear some of these rocks!" He shouted to us.
The wall burst open, and the Stormcloak was knocked back, his legs pinned under a particularly large chunk of broken stone. The dragon's head poked through.
"Back!" Ralof yelled, pulling us back down the stairs.
"YOL... TOOR SHUL!"
The second floor of the tower was filled with fire. Even though we were out of danger I could still feel the heat.
Once the dragon had moved on, we climbed back up. The Stormcloak was nothing more than a blackened husk, partially buried by rubble. We looked away. Ralof approached the hole the dragon had left, and peered downward.
"You see the inn on the other side?" He asked, pointed down to a large building that was missing half its roof. "Jump through the roof and keep going!"
Edric and I exchanged glances, unsure if he was joking or not. But Ralof was serious. "Go! This tower is a death trap! We'll follow when we can!"
So, we jumped. I managed to grab onto the roof beam on the way down, which helped break my fall. Edric was not so lucky. I heard a snap and an anguished cry of pain. I looked over to see Edric clutching his now-wounded leg. Was it broken?
Thankfully, Edric was able to regain his composure and begin healing himself almost immediately. A golden light washed over his injury. He was much better at healing himself than he was at healing others, and soon he was as good as new.
"Come on!" I shouted, once he had recovered. There was another hole in the floor, but thankfully this drop was much shorter than the last, and we could jump down without incident. This time I managed to land in a surprisingly agile roll that would have made Beric proud had he been here. Meanwhile, Edric had landed on a table which helped break his fall somewhat, though it did collapse beneath him. Nonetheless, I helped him to his feet, and we stumbled out of the building and into the light, my knees aching ever so slightly.
The town was in chaos. Half the buildings were on fire, and the other half had all sustained some other form of damage. The screams of the scared and dying could be heard all around. Ahead, Hadvar and an old man were crouched beside a nearby building. In the middle of the street, another man lay wounded, a boy crouched over him.
"Haming, you need to get over here, now!" Hadvar shouted. At first the boy didn't respond, but then the dragon soared overhead, and finally Haming got up and ran to Hadvar.
"That a boy, you're doing great." Hadvar encouraged with barely disguised urgency.
Just then the dragon landed in the middle of the street. "Toralf!" Hadvar shouted at the man who still lay prone, but it was no use. The dragon reared its head back for another attack. "Gods, everyone get back!" Hadvar yelled, and we all hugged the building for cover as another gust of flame erupted from the dragon's maw. The child screamed.
When the dragon was finished, it got up and flew away, not even bothering to flush us out.
Hadvar turned to look at us. "Still alive, prisoners? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way." He turned to the old man. "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defense."
"Gods guide you, Hadvar." Gunnar said.
We followed Hadvar, passing the charred corpse of Haming's father. We ran down a side road, the town's inner wall to our left and the buildings to our right. "Stay close to wall" Hadvar ordered us.
Just then, the dragon landed on the wall above us. We stopped in our tracks, but thankfully it did not see us. We looked to our right, and saw an archer standing defiantly. He loosed an arrow at the beast, but it merely bounded off the creature's scale, and it responded with another blast of fire before once again flying away.
"Quickly! Follow me!" Hadvar shouted,
We did not object. We followed Hadvar past the body of the archer, and through a ruined house, before finally we stepped out into another opening. There General Tullius stood, surrounded by his own archers and mages, who were attempting to shoot the dragon out of the sky.
General Tullius turned to face us. He took one look at us, and seemed to immediately realize that our lack of ranged weapons meant we were of little use. "Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier! We're leaving!"
Hadvar wasted no time in obeying the orders, and we were right behind him. As we ran, I watched the dragon pluck a man from the walls, carry him into the air, and then drop him. I did not see him land, but I can't imagine it was pretty. We continued making our way toward the Keep.
The courtyard of Helgen's Keep had two entrances. Hadvar, Edric, and I ran through one, while a familiar face caming running through the other, axe in hand. He and Hadvar stopped only a few paces from each other, weapons drawn.
"Ralof, you damned traitor, out of my way!" Hadvar snapped, his voice venomous.
"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us!" Ralof yelled back.
"Fine, I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!" Hadvar spat, and then the two ran past each other. The Keep also, as it happened, had two entrances, and each man stopped at one. It seemed as if the gods had given us a choice.
I immediately ran towards Ralof. For all of Hadvar's personal virtues, I was not certain what he or his comrades would do to us if we made it out of Helgen alive. Edric was of a similar mind, though he seemed a bit more conflicted in his decision.
Together, the three of us pushed open the large doors, as the town burned behind us.
We stepped into a large, circular chamber. The first thing I noticed was a thin trail of blood leading the corpse of a Stormcloak on the other side of the room. There was an arrow in his back - it seemed as though someone had shot him while he was entering the keep, and he managed to stumble to the other side of the room before dying.
We approached his body. Ralof knelt, looked into the fallen rebel's cold, lifeless eyes, and then closed them. "We'll meet again in Sovngarde, brother."
Then, Ralof turned to face us. "Looks like we're the only ones who made it." He breathed. I realized I was quite tired as well, now that I was no longer fleeing for my life. "That thing was a dragon, no doubt. Just like the children stories and the legends. The harbingers of the end times."
He picked up the weapon of his fallen comrade - a one-handed iron war axe, and held it out towards us. "We need to keep moving. Which one of you is better with an axe?"
Wordlessly, I reached out and took it from them. I turned away from them as a safety precaution and gave it a few test swings.
"Edric, do you know any magic suited for combat?" Ralof asked. "We need every advantage we can get."
"I can handle myself." Edric nodded, which was enough to satisfy him.
"Come on! Keep moving!" A faint, familiar-sounding voice called out. The Imperials.
"Take cover!" I whispered. It came from a nearby hallway, the doorway blocked by a wooden portcullius. Edric and I took positions on one side, with Ralof on the other.
"Get this gate open!" The voice ordered - there was no doubt about it. That was the Captain who sentenced me to die. My grip on the axe tightened.
Some sort of lever or chain was pulled, and the portcullus was raised. We heard footsteps as the Imperials were about to cross through.
Suddenly, Edric sprang from his hiding place and placed himself directly in their path. He raised his hands and two cones of fire shot forth. The two Imperials at the front were engulfed in flames, as was the man behind him. An arrow soared past Edric's head, grazing his ear. He winced and stepped out of the way, retreating back to cover. "Seven left." He told us.
Ralof and I exchanged a nod, and then we rushed forward, leaping over the burning bodies of the screaming Legionnaires. We were each able to bury our weapon into a soldier, having caught them by surprise. My eyes widened slightly as I realized it was Hadvar who I had struck, my axe embedded in his shoulder, but there was no time for remorse. We pulled our weapons out, and our foes slumped to the ground, but the remaining five had readied themselves, and rushed forward.
Thankfully, in this corridor, numbers meant little. The first man's attack was easily predictable - I hooked his blade with my axe and disarmed him, before swinging the blade of my weapon across his belly. I noted that Hadvar still lived, and had begun to crawl away with one hand, but there was no time to finish him now that the Captain herself stood in my path.
She looked at me with an expression fury and anger. I feinted left and tried to strike at her right, but she saw it coming and parried it, before following up with her own strike which I knocked aside with my axe. I swung once more, my axe striking her in her armored chest, which only served to knock the wind out of her and send her staggering back. Before I could launch a follow-up, she recovered with surprising speed and thrust her sword at me. I narrowly sidestepped it and then embedded my axe into her windpipe. She looked at me with wide eyes and slumped to her knees as I stared down at her, grim satisfaction in my eyes. Ralof dispatched his own opponent to my left.
Only two remained uninjured. One of them helped the wounded Hadvar to his feet, and they retreated down the corridor, Hadvar glancing back at me as he fled. The other had an arrow notched and drawn on us, but he did not loose - he knew we would rush him if he did. "Stay back!" He shouted as he slowly backed away. None of us had shields, and it would be impossible to reach him before he shot one of us, so we had no choice to comply. We withdrew to the main chamber and out of his line of sight. Eventually the archer disappeared around the corner.
Edric looked down at the massacre with a sense of regret, then disgust, and suddenly he bent over and vomited. As for me, it was not my first time killing someone, but aside from the Captain I had no ill will towards these soldiers. Hadvar had even stood up for me not even ten minutes ago, yet I had attacked him all the same. The loss of life was regrettable to me as well, but right now we could not dwell on it.
"There is only three of them, and one is injured." I heard Ralof say. "We ought to finish them them off, else they might take us in the rear."
Edric shook his head, wiping vomit from his mouth as he regained his composure. "That's the way Hadvar came in. We need to head deeper in the keep if we want to remain safe from that dragon. Besides, they are probably preparing an ambush of their own, and they also have a wounded comrade to care for. Now, there's still another door we haven't tried."
"He's right." I said, somewhat impressed by Edric's tactical analysis. He had always been bright, but I never knew his interests had extended beyond magic or lore.
Ralof had no choice but to yield to the majority. I walked over to the other locked door and attempted to open it, but to no avail. "It's locked!" I called back.
"Check the bodies." Ralof suggested. Within a minute of searching, we found a key ring secured to the Imperial Captain's belt. I also picked up an Imperial Sword as a back-up weapon. "Let's go." Ralof urged as we opened the door.
We advanced through the Keep at a quick pace, encountering only scattered pockets of resistance which we quickly dispatched. None of us wasted more time than necessary; for all we knew, more Imperial soldiers could have entered the Keep behind us. We stopped only once to gather a few potions from a supply room.
As we descended yet another set of stairs, we heard the sounds of fighting ahead. We hurried downward, and stepped into a dimly lit torture room.
The fight was not going well. In the middle of the room, a hooded old man in an Imperial uniform - presumably the Torturer - was casting a Sparks spell on a Stormcloak soldier, who shook violently on the ground in agony. Another Stormcloak had been backed into a corner, as a thickly-built Imperial repeatedly slammed his mace against her increasingly damaged shield, and she had no weapon.
We wasted no time. Ralof threw his axe, which struck the Torturer square in the chest. Edric approached the Assistant from behind and sprayed fire across his back, allowing the cornered Stormcloak to rush forward and knock him over with her shield. I then stepped forward and finished him off with an axe to the chest.
Ralof knelt to examine the now unmoving body of the Sparked Stormcloak, and then shook his head. "Was Jarl Ulfric with you?" He asked the only survivor.
She shook her head. "No. I haven't seen him since the dragon showed up."
"Come with us." Ralof told her. "We need to get out of here."
"Wait." Edric spoke up. With an unusually excited expression he gestured to a nearby cage, where a recently deceased man lay, clad in mage robes and clutching a book close to his chest. "Give me the keys."
I tossed them to him, and he was barely able to catch them. The female Stormcloak sighed impatiently as Edric then proceeded to try key after key, until finally the cell door swung open. Then, before our very eyes, he began to strip.
"Edric!" I snapped. "We don't have time for this!"
"It will be worth it! Trust me!" He called back as he began to pull the robes off the dead man. I rolled my eyes, but then a shield hanging on a nearby weapon rack caught my gaze.
A minute later, Edric stood before us clad in the attire of a mage. I myself had taken the shield and now wielded it in my left hand. He shoved the book into a backpack on the table, which he then proceeded to sling over his shoulder. "Most mage robes are enchanted." He explained to us, as we proceeded onward. "This will help me with my sp-"
"Our orders are to wait until General Tullius arrives." The voice was faint and distant, but still audible. Edric immediately shut up and we came to a halt.
"I'm not waiting to be killed by a dragon! We need to fall back!" Another voice responded.
"Imperials ahead." Ralof whispered.
I peered around a corner, and saw that the hallway led into a wide open chamber, with a walkway carved out along the left side and an extremely shallow underground river to the right. There were perhaps six Imperials overall. "Let's make a plan." I suggested.
"Freedom or Sovngarde!" The Stormcloak who had yet to offer her name shouted out, as she and Ralof charged forward. They sprinted left along the walkway, and the Imperials immediately turned at the sound and drew their weapons. Four rushed to engage them in a melee, and they met at the bridge, while the two others prepared their bows.
"Freedom or Sovngarde!" Edric and I echoed, as we then chose to emerge. The archers turned and loosed their arrows at us. I raised my shield and Edric summoned a ward, allowing us to block both of them. Instead of going left, we went right, stepping down from the walkway and rushing across the river, careful not to slip on the rocks. The archers loosed two more arrows at us, and I blocked one while the second one missed Edric by inches.
Then we had climbed back on the walkway at the other side of the room. I made a left towards the bridge, where our allies fought a vicious melee, while Edric made a right towards the exposed archers.
I heard them screaming as Edric unleashed his fire, but I did not turn to see, and instead pursued my own objective. Ralof alone was now holding off three Imperials, his comrade now lying dead on the floor, but at least she had taken one of her foes out with her. One of the Imperials turned to face me, but I bashed him in the face with my shield and drove my axe into his stomach. I then pulled it out and struck a second Imperial in the back. Ralof seized the remaining Imperial by the collar and threw him from the narrow bridge, before leaping down and finishing him off with a downward swing.
And that was it. Six enemies dead at the cost of one of our own. Ralof looked saddened at the loss, but he had lost many other companions today. I did not know her, and though the fact that my plan led to her death weighed on my conscience, there was nothing I could do to change that.
So we continued moving, entering another tunnel with a wooden bridge. The other end led to a proper cave, with not a single human-built hallway in sight. No sooner had we crossed than did the bridge collapse behind us. Just our luck.
"No going back now." I muttered. At least nobody could follow us. We could only hope and pray that this cave led to an exit.
Our hopes proved to be correct. It took time, but after fighting a short yet sharp clash against some giant spiders, and narrowly evading a bear, we finally found an exit and stepped out into the light.