A/N: I wanted to apologize for the mix up with the chapters. I have fixed Ralof's intro to the Stormcloaks. It was not a huge plot piece, but I did not want to just throw Ralof into the mix after giving Hadvar his own background. Now the Battle for Whiterun!

Ralof IV

I had been to do something I dreaded. I brought the war home with me. When we fought for Falkreath I was hesitant but the fighting was nowhere near Riverwood. Now we are marching north from Falkreath into the borders of Whiterun. We will not pass through it but we will come very close.

I was given a special mission, as a "reward" for our rescue of the soldiers in Fort Neugrad. I was given the axe to deliver to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. I respected the man, I had grown up traveling to Whiterun for trade and now I was going to bring death to his city.

On top of all of that, when the dragons began menacing Skyrim Jarl Balgruuf marched his soldiers into Riverwood and set up small defenses. Taking in my home village did not give him prestige, nor did he get enough from taxation to warrant him expanding his control. He just did it to help my friends and family. He was a good man. He is a good man.

I walked into the court of Whiterun to find the Jarl already waiting for me. Odd.

"Ralof of Riverwood. Your family helped found the village and have always been looked to lead it." Jarl Balgruuf leaned back in his seat. His head came to rest upon his large hands.

"I'm sorry. I was not expecting you to know I was coming, much less know my name." I stammered out. I never really spoke with Jarls before. I was a lumberjack before I became a soldier.

"Relax. I am sure you have brought me something from Ulfric." He tried to make my job easier.

"Yes, how did you know?" I handed the axe to the Jarl.

"A friend of yours from home came in yesterday. Told us to be expecting you, well your army. You have an Imperial informant in your camp. They told the Legion everything, where you are camped, who would be sent to treat with me, what Ulfric would be wanting, the number of men you brought. They told us everything." The Jarl held nothing back. I felt my blood boil.

"A traitor!" I shouted.

"Aye, I agree lad. Traitors should be left to rot." The Jarl agreed with me. Has my position in this world gone up and I missed it?

"Well sir, I would like an answer to give to Jarl Ulfric." If I had rose somewhere above lumberjack then maybe, just maybe, I could pull some weight and get a quick answer.

"Lad, we have checked into the reports that the Legion sent to us. They were falsified. I will seek out Elisif at once and speak to her about this, however, I cannot side with Jarl Ulfric. He is acting like a child who threw a temper tantrum when he did not get his way. He killed a man on his wedding day!" The Jarl yelled at me. "No I am a true Nord, but I know that Skyrim needs the Empire as much as the Empire needs Skyrim. One day we will retake our place and our gods will be worshipped how they were meant to. This is not the way to do that. You know that as well as I do." He handed the axe back to me.

The walls of Whiterun were covered in arrows that had found their way into holes it the wall. However tiny those holes may have been the arrows stuck. Not all stuck, the ground was as littered with arrows as it was bodies. The fighting had become more intense when we entered the outer walls. Men on siege weapons were bringing down the walls and barricades. Hopefully the innocents could survive.

My war hammer cracked the breastplate on an Imperial officer's armor. He doubled over in intense pain. I ended this fight with a swing to the head.

One of the men who served with the men swung down to slice in to me. I imagine he did not like his commander's head being smashed in like a melon. This man only brought himself a swift end. The leather the auxillary's wore did nothing to stop the haft of my hammer swinging into the man's sternum sending him to his knees. Then a swing from shoulder to shoulder brought my hammer's hear crashing into the man's neck snapping it instantly. I missed. I always aim for the head in moments like this. I saw Edric fighting with his sword in hand against two Legionnaires and rushed to help.

One soldier tried to get in the way. My hammer swept the man's legs out from under him and when he hit I swung into him like I would split a log. My hammer hit into the man's stomach. Everything inside the man came rushing out of both ends. No one ever tells you how they shit themselves. When we talk of glory no one ever mentions that.

Sovngarde is bound to be full of men who shit themselves as they died.

Then I swung into the man at Edric's right hand. The man deftly dodged my attack. He was smooth I give him that. Edric saw me and lashed out to his other person. We turned the odds to be in our favor as we fought these two tooth and nail. My man swung his iron mace hard enough that it split my haft in to. I took the broken end without the hammer and shoved it into the man's throat. Then taking my hammer in one hand and his mace in the other I turned to Edric's opponent. I threw the hammerhead at the man. It would hurt him but not seriously. The Imperial carried two short swords and could not block the hammer. It hit into him and took his breath. I grabbed his shoulder with my left hand and beat him with the mace in my right until his face was a bloody mess.

Looking at Edric I smiled and we went back to fighting until we heard it. The cry came louder than the battle itself. The death throes of hundreds of dying men were nothing compared to this. The Western Watchtower, which for centuries had been used to ward against the Reachmen, came down with a crash. The men fighting there were certainly at one of the deadliest places to fight. My rebel brothers had taken it to block Imperial help from the West and the Imperials had been trying to reclaim it.

The sound of the battle and the smell of the blood must have woken the dragon.

Out of the rubble of the watch tower a large serpentine shape came lumbering across the ground. It was shaking loose bricks and mortar as it walked. Its jaws bit into men of both uniforms as it marched on through our battlefield. An inferno burst from its mouth scorching men as they ran to fight this beast.

"Edric, do we have a plan for this?" I shouted to my comrade.

"We fight until it kills us, or someone manages to kill it." He shouted back.

Then from the walls of Whiterun and the lines of Stormcloak command we saw them both waving their flags symbolling parley. They wanted to negotiate.

"Well at least we won't be fighting each other." Edric tried to laugh. Only the problem was that with the roar of the dragon no one heard the trumpets call for a ceasefire. Our battlefield was men fighting each other while a dragon rampaged throughout us. Our blades did nothing against the beast.

"Edric, I don't know that we will walk away from this one.