"Mom I don't wanna leave!" Screamed a 9-year-old Benjen Sheothson.
Nera Fire-Leaf, a young woman with a heart of steel and the courage of a dragon, was finally broken. Trapped in a loveless marriage with a man who beat her and her daughter, all she wanted was for Benjen to have a normal life, and she got quite the opposite.
Her nose was broken and her eyes were filled with tears. She held in her bloody hand a pouch with gems and gold coins.
"Benny listen to me, you have to leave. Now! Or he will kill you." Said Nera, her words came out broken, and she had to contain her sobs.
After all these years, they found out who Benjen really was.
Who her real father was.
And her stepfather and his allies didn't like daedras (well, that was a very light way to put it).
Benjen took the pouch hesitantly, she didn't know what to do.
"Listen to me carefully: I want you to go to the docks, don't get distracted by anything. Talk to Anur, the captain of the Rosewater. He will let you board his ship. Go as far away from here as you can. And pay him in sapphires." Said Nera, trying to regain her composure.
"But what about you, mom?" Asked Benjen as she sobbed and cried softly.
"I will be okay, now go! Run!" Exclaimed Nera.
Benjen took off as quickly as she could, turning back one last time to see her mother.
She could see the fear in her eyes. And the moment she saw the door opening behind her, she knew that that was going to be the last time they saw each other.
But Benjen stayed strong.
And she ran.
She woke up with a start, a scream to the sky and a hand to one of her swords.
She sat quickly and tried to calm herself, holding Leah's necklace with strength.
The nightmares weren't unusual, she was used to them, but they still felt too real for her liking.
In her dreams, she could smell the fish from the fishery; the freshly baked bread from her home; and the exotic perfumes and spices from the marketplace of Coast of Fire, the city of her family.
But it was all gone now. Once the noble heir from a great house, now a confused little woman that murdered for gold and fun.
Growing up she desired to be a hero like the ones from the stories her mother told her when she was just a child, but she turned out to be the complete opposite from hero.
She could never be a hero, for she was born Cursed, no matter how many dragons she killed, how many bandits she slaughtered, or how many orphans she rescued, she was always going to be the strange little madwoman that desired to kill and torture soldiers no matter where they came from.
She was no hero.
Oh, but she didn't care.
Heroes are tied to morals and a very specific purpose, but she was free-folk.
A lawless woman with a wine bottle and a big open road of possibilities.
The crunching of dry leaves was what snapped her back into reality.
Standing up quickly, she held an ebony sword in each hand. Staring into every direction, looking for the source of the noise. She wondered if she was being followed by an enemy, or if she was just being paranoid.
From the bushes appeared a little white bunny, and Benny felt her heart melt.
"Oh my god you are one adorable little thing!" She exclaimed and smiled at the bunny, who just stared at her for a couple of seconds before moving his ears a bit to the left.
As if he had heard something he wasn't supposed to hear, the bunny froze in place for a couple of seconds, right before running away as fast as his fluffy little legs allowed him to.
Benjen was a bit confused, she rose a brow and stared at the direction where the bunny had ran to.
"Since when am I so ugly that I scare bunnies away?" She wondered.
Before she could answer her own question, she heard more sounds. The crunching of leaves was more evident now, and it wasn't the sound that a bunny would emit. It sounded louder, like the steps of boots on-
A man appeared from behind some trees, running towards Benjen while he screamed and held his sword up high.
She rolled to the side and dodged his attack, she quickly got up and slashed his back with one of her swords.
The man fell to the ground and started bleeding from the wound, he had the blue uniform of the Stormcloaks.
She couldn't even say that she was surprised. Maybe camping near Kynesgrove had been a bad idea.
Two men appeared, one with a shield and a sword, other with a huge steel warhammer.
The man with the warhammer threw a sloppy and slow slash at her, which she dodged easily. She couldn't see his face because of his helmet, but he was skinny and not very tall for a nord, probably a very young man, and he definitely didn't know how to use that warhammer of his.
An advantage that she could exploit.
She toyed a bit with the man of the sword and shield, parrying his attacks with relative ease, always with a smile on her face as she saw him fight with all he had, while she was just getting warmed up.
The man with the warhammer attacked again, throwing a horizontal attack which apparently Benjen managed to duck at the right moment, because the man's warhammer found his way to the other soldier's helmet, denting the piece of armor and destroying his skull.
"That's some teamwork, my friend." Said Benjen as her eyes turned golden.
Four more men appeared from every direction. And Benjen quickly took one out, (the only one not wearing a helmet) by slicing his soft throat in one swift movement.
Another one went to attack her, he had an axe, she stabbed him in the leg and the man screamed in pain.
The man with the warhammer threw another attack, she dodged and this time the warhammer hit a tree, the weapon got stuck in the wood and this gave Benny enough time to slash the man's chest.
One of the soldiers tackled her and they both fell to the hard, cold earth.
She grunted when her face hit the floor and her whole skull resonated, but she regained her composure rather quickly. She pinned him down under her, took off his helmet and bit his neck, savagely ripping out a chunk of skin and meat as blood spilled everywhere.
Her eyes were a dark-golden color. And her face was covered in blood... Stormcloak blood. She wondered if she would scare Ulfric now.
She tackled the remaining soldier to the ground, taking off his helmet and hitting him in the face with it... repeatedly. Until his face became an unrecognizable mush of blood and flesh.
She stood up carefully, dropping the helmet. She could hear the grunts of a man.
She turned around and saw the man that she had stabbed in the leg, he was crawling as fast as he could but he couldn't move much.
Or at least not enough.
She walked over to him and forced him to take off his helmet.
"What have we here...?" She said as she stood in front of him.
She quickly walked over to her satchel and took out some rope she had there.
Walking towards the man once more, she grabbed him by the hair and forced him to get up. She tied him to the nearest tree and then finally got a better look at him.
He was young and pale, his hair was curly, dark, and was rather short, he had no beard, and his green eyes trembled with fear.
"What is your name, boy?" Asked Benjen to the young man.
"I am no boy." He barked back.
Benjen chuckled a little bit.
"Do I look like I give a shit? I asked for your name." Said Benjen.
"Sigurd Olafson." Said the boy, feeling a bit more scared now, realizing that false bravado was going to get him nowhere.
Benjen got closer to him.
"Tell me, Sigurd Olafson. Did Ulfric send you?" She asked.
The man stayed silent for a couple of seconds, was he allowed to answer that question?
Benjen traced her sword through his cheek, drawing a whimper from him as droplets of blood started emanating from the wound.
"Answer me." She demanded, her voice suddenly changing completely, she sounded like a different person.
A person that was in control of the situation, a psychopathic person. A demented Madwoman.
"Y- yes, King Ulfric sent me." Said Sigurd.
Benjen rolled her eyes, which were silver now.
"Ah, that man is stubborn as a fucking troll, isn't he? Well, I'm so sorry, little boy. But I made a promise, and I keep my promises." Said Benjen.
The man didn't seem to understand her words, but it was when her sword found his belly, that he knew that he had seen his last sunrise.
She carved deep into his body, cutting him up from belly to chest. She plunged out her sword and took out his intestines with her right hand, until the man had nothing left inside of him that Benny could take.
The man was left there to die slowly, his innards hanging outside of his body and his mouth covered in blood. Benjen smiled to him one last time before his vision went dark... and he stopped existing.
Hours later she found herself ready to leave her little camping spot. She was still covered in blood, but she did not care.
She mounted Briarheart and took off, leaving behind some gifts for Ulfric.
The heads of his men impaled in spikes, just like she promised to do if he sent people to kill her.
As wicked and unpredictable as she could be, Benjen Sheothson knew one thing for certain:
She always kept her promises.
