Chapter 2: A "warm" welcome.
(A/N: Thank you Myra the Sark for the tip! I'll space a bit more. I write this in Word, so I couldn't really judge the paragraphs ;P)
I can only stare at the beast, utter panic filling my entire body. The dragon opens its mouth, and a brute force erupts from its mouth, knocking me out of the way and killing the executioner on the spot. My head slams to ground and black spots cloud my vision. Suddenly two strong arms pull me up. "Hey! Wake up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" I blink a few times and Ralof's face comes into focus. I nod quickly, and Ralof pulls me along to another tower. Screams and explosions come from everywhere, along with the roar of the black dragon.
When we enter the tower, I see multiple people sitting against the wall, one or two laying on the ground. Ralof takes my wrists and quickly cuts my bindings. "Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" I look to the man Ralof spoke to. Ulfric seems older now that his gag is removed. "Legends don't burn down villages." He says in a deep voice. The entire building rumbles. "We need to move. Now!" Ulfric calls.
Ralof takes me by the arm. "Up through the tower! Let's go!" We run up the stairs, and I see another man in blue armour. Just a second after I see him, something breaks through the wall and the dragon peers inside. "GET BACK!" screams Ralof and we both jump back against the wall, just in time before the dragon roasts the poor man alive. The dragon flies away, and we look through the big hole in the wall.
Ralof points to the building next to the tower. "See that inn on the other side? Jump through, I'll catch up." I look at him, a thousand times thank-you in my eyes. "Don't you dare die on me. 'Kay?" Ralof chuckles slightly. "I won't. I promise. Now go!" I nod, and jump to the building. Sadly, when I land my ankle doesn't like that. I grumble and bite through the pain, limping outside.
There are two soldiers, one that I recognize as the man who read the list. He's trying to get a young boy to come his way. "Hamming! You need to get over here!" The boy whimpers softly, and I see why he's hesitating. His dad is lying on the pavement, apparently immobilized. Hearing the roaring of the beast coming closer, the boy runs up to the Imperial soldier. As soon as the boy is by the other soldier, the dragon lands behind the boy's father and burns him to a crisp. He then flies off again.
List-man notices me and smirks. "Still alive prisoner? Stay close to me if you want to stay that way." He turns to the older soldier. "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defense." Gunnar looks at him, respect in his eyes. "Gods guide you, Hadvar."
Hadvar runs towards an alley and I run after him. I suddenly see the dragon is preparing to land. "Stay close to the wall!" I push myself against the wall, feeling it rumble as the dragon lands on it. "Puny humans! You will all face the wrath of Alduin!" I freeze. Did that THING just talk?! The dragon breathes fire, frying another soldier to a crisp, and flies of. "Quickly, follow me!" says Hadvar, but I keep standing in the same place. He pulls me by the arm. "Come on!" This snaps me out of it, and I run after Hadvar.
After running for a few minutes, we stand in front of a keep. Suddenly Ralof runs into the scene. Hadvar grits his teeth in anger. "Ralof, you damn traitor.. Outta my way!" Ralof glares at him. "We're escaping Hadvar, there's no stopping us this time!" Hadvar glares at him for a second, then spits at the ground. "Fine! I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovengarde!" I can hear the dragon coming closer. "Guys…" I mutter in a panic. The two men sense the demon coming closer as well, and Ralof grabs me by the arm. "Come on! Into the keep!" I can just wave a quick goodbye to Hadvar as Ralof pulls me inside.
When we get inside, I see a man in the same blue armour as Ralof lying on the ground. Ralof walks towards him and checks his pulse. Finding none, he bows his head. "We'll meet again in Sovengarde brother.." Exhausted, I sit down on a chair. Suddenly the barrier I built up to cope with this situation breaks, and my vision begins to distort. I quickly wrap my arms around my waist and rock from side to side. "No.. Not now.. Anytime but now.." Images from my last episode dance through my mind, and I try to calm myself. I can't let that happen again.
*Flashback to 3 years ago*
"I'm sorry.. He.. He fought well." I stare at the blood-stained sword the soldier gave to me. "This can't be happening.. This must be a nightmare.. This can't be.." The words keep repeating in my mind. But I know it is true. My father is dead. My mother sobs quietly. "Did.. Did you find his body?" she asks. Her voice sounds like it's coming from a distance. The soldier shakes his head. "No miss. I'm sorry." Again the voice sounds from far away. The man puts a hand on my shoulder, but for some reason I can't feel it. The sword drops to the ground, and again I can't even hear it hit the wooden floor with a loud clang. My mom gives me a worried look. "Sarafina? Sweetie?" Suddenly I'm sitting on the ground, my vision turning woozy. "Sarafina?!" Something deep inside me snaps, and a high-pitched sound pierces my ears. Trying to block it out, I put my hands on my ears.
"Sarafina, please! Calm down!"
The noise gets louder. Suddenly my mom wraps her arms around me, and rocks me from side to side. The high pitched noise quiets down, turning to a soft whimper. "Ah.. So it's me.." I think. My mom begins humming a soft tune, calming me down. My vision clears again. I glance at my father's comrade, who has his hand on his weapon. "I believe I scared him.." I think quietly.
*End flashback*
"Looks like we're the only ones who made it. Come on, you can take-" Ralof cuts himself off as he looks at me. He lays his hand on my shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay?" I shake my head, and my breathing quickens. "No.. Not now.. You'll scare him.." I think. Suddenly he lifts my chin up, forcing me to look at him. "Hey.. It's going to be okay. We'll get out of here. Just breathe." I take a few deep breaths and my vision slowly turns back to normal. "Okay?" Swallowing, I nod. Ralof helps me up out of the chair and hands me a battle-axe.
"Here. You'll need to defend yourself."
I take the weapon, weighing it in my hand. It's a big heavier than a sword, but I can manage. Ralof begins looking for a way out, but both gates are locked. Suddenly he motions to me to get down. "Imperials! Take cover!" He hisses, and I hide out of sight. I hear the voices of two men and a woman, and the gate opens. As I sneak a peek at our intruders, my blood boils. The woman is miss 'Forget-the-list-we'll-kill-her-anyway ' herself. I grin sadistically, readying my weapon. Ralof bolts towards the two men, while I confront the captain.
"Hi there!" I say nonchalantly, and she jumps. Using the surprise, I slash at the weak spots in her armour. But the element of surprise hasn't helped that much. This woman is a captain, I'm just a commoner. But my advantages are that I'm quick on my feet, while she has heavy armour that slows her down, and she has a huge ego. Just when she doesn't block enough, I lunge at her neck with my axe. She quickly goes down, her blood splattered all over the floor. Meanwhile Ralof has killed one of the two men, and I come to help him with the other one. The man quickly goes down now that he has two attackers.
"These guys must have a key or something. Try to find it." Ralof says and he begins searching the two men. I walk towards the dead woman, giving the head a light kick, just to calm my nerves a bit. "That's for sending me to the block, you (INSERT CURSE-WORD HERE :P)." On close inspection I see a few keys hanging on her belt. I take the whole belt, along with her sword she dropped, and put it on. I hang the axe on the belt and just carry the sword as a weapon. It's lighter anyway. I give Ralof the keys, and he tries them on the gate. It swings open, and Ralof smiles. "That's it! Let's go."
The rest of our journey goes pretty good, though we find a few Imperials that died pretty quickly, until we enter a certain part of the big caves the hallways ended in. Ralof sinks into a sneaking position. "Hold up. There's a bear up ahead. See her?" I glance further into the cave to see a black bear sleeping. I shiver. Weren't the giant spiders from just now not enough? Ralof gives me a choice; Either try to sneak past, or kill the bear by surprise with a long bow he gives me. I study the weapon in my hands. Ah! There are the Woodelf genes kicking in! I grin, pull the string back with an arrow and aim. The bear moves its head, and I see that the arrow is aimed perfectly. Releasing the string, the arrow flies straight into the bear's brain. The animal dies with a loud roar. Ralof chuckles. "Not the sneaking type eh?"
I grin again, and go to retrieve the arrow. Pulling it out, I wrinkle my nose at the tiny pink pieces of meat hanging on the point of the arrow. I wipe it off on the black fur. Putting the arrow back in the quiver, we walk further. Suddenly we see sunlight coming from the end of the tunnel. Ralof laughs in relief. "There's the exit, I knew we'd make it!" My mouth curves up in a giant smile, and I bolt past Ralof to the exit, almost knocking him to the ground. "Watch it!" He laughs playfully, but I don't care. I'm out, free.
Stepping out of the cave, the first thing that I do is squint my eyes closed. Damn it sun, pipe it down! Ralof follows me and breathes in the cool air. Suddenly we hear the flapping of giant wings. We quickly both hide behind a rock, and watch how the black monster flies away. "There he goes.." Ralof murmurs. "Let's hope he's gone for good now.." I murmur back. We both get up and brush off the dust from our clothes. "And now what do we do?" I ask hesitantly. Ralof thinks for a second. "My sister Gerdur runs the mill in Riverwood, just up the road. Maybe she can help us out." I nod, and he smiles. "Let's go then, before this place gets swarmed by Imperials." And with those words, we're off.
A/N: WOO-HOO! Finally, I finished this chapter XD Reviews are welcome, as long as they're friendly ;) See you in the next chapter!
