I edited some of Ralof's dialog toward Brea because of who she is, it wouldn't fit with what he usually says….not entirely at least. Changed some of Hadvar's too.
**Disclaimer** I do not own Skyrim or anything in it, I simply own Brea.
The bumping of the cart was what woke me up. The first thing I saw after my vision cleared was the bindings on my hands, I was still wearing my red dress clothes, being the daughter of a prominent General made me almost royalty.
"Hey you, you're finally awake are you?" Looking up I saw that it was the blonde Stormcloak from the forest, sitting next to him was the raggedy man and across from him was a man in dress clothes like me with a piece of cloth around his mouth "You were trying to cross the border, walked right into that Imperial ambush. You tried to warn us of course…" his voice faded out as he came to the realization that they got themselves captured because they hadn't listened to me.
"Damn you Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine before you came along, Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you I could have stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell by now!" he turned to me and I could see fear in his dark eyes, he was pulling at his bindings while speaking and sweat was dripping from his brow "You and me, we don't belong here! It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants!"
No doubt, if I had seen a man like this horse thief walking up to me in Solitude I'd have avoided him, but here I was, sitting in a prisoner carriage with a thief and two Stormcloaks.
"We're all brothers in binds now thief." The blond Nord said toward the thief as he turned to look at me "You think your father is going to give you the same punishment as us? I would hope not."
The thief looked between us "Who's her father? What are you talking about?"
I looked at the Nord's blue-grey eyes and sighed "I guess so." I muttered
"Shut up back there!" The driver said facing straight forward, I knew the soldiers my father had been close too but not all of them, his voice didn't seem familiar to me.
The thief looked toward the gagged man "What's wrong with him?" The man didn't look up; he sat with his eyes closed almost as though he was asleep. Thinking about sleep made my head hurt.
"Watch your tongue!" The blonde Nord growled "That's Ulfric Stormcloak you're talking too!"
"Ulfric?! The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion, but if they've captured you….oh gods, where are they taking us!?" The thief sputtered as he pulled at his bindings even more harshly.
Growing up with the rebellion, my father had come home with tales of Ulfric. The uprising had been going on for a while in Skyrim but it hadn't required my father until Ulfric murdered High King Torygg. The Emperor had sent my family to Solitude with the instructions to smash Ulfric Stormcloak….judging by how things seemed to be going for the Jarl; I'd say my father was quite happy right now.
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." The blonde Nord muttered, the thief started mumbling something about Nord gods but I wasn't listening, I was watching as a gate came into view "hey, what village are you from horse thief?"
The thief glared at him "Why do you care?"
"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."
"Rorikstead, I'm from Rorikstead."
"General Tullius, the executioner is waiting!" An Imperial soldier called out, I looked ahead and saw my father sitting on his horse Bethel with some Thalmor agents.
"Good, let's get this over with." I was shocked; I couldn't believe that my own father was going to have me executed! I was his daughter! His little B! Yet he was going to stand there and watch my execution, worse yet, order my execution!?
As we pulled into the town, the blond Nord looked around at my father and the Thalmor "General Tullius the military governor." He looked between me and my father then back at the elves "And the Thalmor are with him too! Damn elves, I'll bet they had something to do with this!" I couldn't agree more. The Thalmor were the ones who had ruined my life. It was their fault I was here, they're they ones who took my real father away from me. The man sitting on that horse wasn't the General Tullius I knew, that man had died a long while ago.
"Brea, get inside, now!"
"What is it mother? Is something wrong? Should I send the guards after father?"
"No Brea, it's alright. I just need you too-" An arrow whizzed through the air and came right through mother's throat, as she fell a Thalmor agent walked up to me, pulling out a dagger. I grabbed a sword my father had left lying on the table and before I could think about it, I stabbed, I stabbed the elf right in the chest, she crumpled to the ground….dead.
As I came out of my flashback I heard the blonde Nord mention something about juniper berries. We pulled up to the headsman's block and stood "Better not keep the gods waiting."
The thief was yelling about us not being rebels but I saw the stone cold look on my father's face as he glared at me, he wasn't listening to the thief and even if he was, he could care less.
"Step toward the block when we call your name." A female Imperial ordered while a man next to her whom looked very familiar ran his eyes over a piece of paper.
"Empire loves their damn lists." The blonde Nord said jumping down off the carriage and landing next to me. He was still looking between me and my father.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." The familiar looking boy called, Jarl Ulfric started toward the block standing straight and without fear. My father always said Ulfric was a fearless man.
"It has been an honor Jarl Ulfric." The Nord said following him with his eyes, a look of recognition gleamed on his face as he scanned the executioner's ax, he knew he was getting executed but the thought seemed to have just sunk in.
"Ralof of Riverwood." The soldier said with a shaky voice, the blonde Nord walked forward just as fearless as Jarl Ulfric.
"Lokir of Rorikstead."
The thief started screaming about being innocent then decided to make a run for it. A very foolish move, I knew better than to run from this many Imperial soldiers, I had gotten away from 5 of them and my father but not this many. Whining and crying about being innocent was one thing, it was another thing to try to run away when you can see three archers standing ready for you to make that stupid decision.
After the thief had been brought down, the familiar looking man who I now recognized as Hadvar looked at me in surprise. His father had been an Imperial soldier and my father had them for dinner several times. The Imperial captain next to him looked at me in shock too, all of the soldiers did.
"General Tullius…sir…uh…" The captain started before my father walked in front of me and glared
"I do know this is my daughter standing before you and frankly, I don't care. She has betrayed her Empire by murdering the Thalmor agent sent to kill the traitor I used to call my wife. She is as much a traitor as Ulfric Stormcloak and it only seems fitting she is executed with him." He then turned and walked in front of Ulfric while I was gestured toward the block "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 groaned which may or may not have been an insult directed at my father "You started this war! Plunged Skyrim into chaos! And now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!"
There was a loud noise from above, somewhere in the mountains I guessed. Everyone turned their heads to see but nothing was there.
"What was that?" Hadvar asked from beside the executioner.
"It was nothing, give them their last rights." Father said
"By your orders General." The captain said, gesturing to the priestess beside her.
The priestess started off about the divines and the same last right speech I had heard before multiple times.
"Oh for the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with." The soldier who had held me a sword point complained as he walked toward the executioner's block, he kneeled down and the captain put her foot on his back, forcing him the rest of the way "My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials, can you say the same?"
Ralof moved closer to me, perhaps he saw me shaking and trying to hide my face, I had avoided seeing the executions in Solitude and I definitely didn't want to see this one. As the headsman brought the ax down I turned away and buried my face in his shoulder, I didn't care at this moment who he was or that he was technically supposed to be my enemy, I just couldn't watch the execution.
"Next, Lady Tullius!" I looked at my father who suddenly thought his boots were quiet interesting. Of course he wouldn't want to actually watch his daughter get decapitated but ordering it was fine for him. The roar came from the mountains again and like before Hadvar pointed it out, my father shushed him though and the captain beckoned me forward. I took one last fleeting glance at Ralof; he was staring in horror at my father. I stood straight and walked toward the block. I wasn't going to beg, I wasn't going to cry. I was going to accept my death like an Imperial. I kneeled down in the warm blood of the soldier and nearly started crying again, this was what it was going to be, this is how I was going to die. In a nothing town, in front of people I'd been raised to hate, in a puddle of blood, by my father's orders. The captain put her boot on my back and pushed me down, a lot softer than she had the Stormcloak, the headsman raised his axe and I started praying to Mara.
"What in Oblivion is that!?" Father exclaimed, I opened my eyes as I heard the roar again but this time it was coming from the huge black dragon flying right towards us, it landed on the tower behind the headsman and made him drop his ax. It opened its mouth and said some words I thought I understood, must just be the panic setting in, I pushed myself up off of the ground and crawled over to the tower the dragon was on top of. Father was nowhere to be seen.
There we are, the chapters are short but hopefully I'll be updating a lot. I wanted to put in the shout Alduin uses to make the storm clouds appear but I didn't know which one it was, I do however know the fire breath one. I tried to make a character be in the Legion but I just couldn't do it, I love Ralof to much to follow Hadvar, and I love Ulfric too much to kill him, or Galmar.
