Chapter 10: Unbound

AN: Join our discord! We're a very small but friendly community where you can share your work and discuss writing and reading. It's a fun place to kick back and chill with boys, we aren't strict either. By the way, for those who were curious, the size of Skyrim in this story is the same size as it is in game. And there are no small settlements such as Riverwood unless otherwise mentioned.

Check out my friend, Ancient Magister's fic, A Stormcrown Story: The Beginning on Fanfiction Net. It's about the life of Tiber Septim! – I also wanna offer credit to my friend Harold (Harry) for coming up with some of the new hold names you'll see used in this story.

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Stesha's hair flew back as the wind soared past him. He grabbed Gwendal's shoulders as the wyvern glided through the air. Lake Rumare flew away beneath them and transitioned to low green hills with green aspen trees. A few settlements and ruined forts or Ayleid ruins all connected by sand roads. – Aela and Hadvar sat at the front and the former wrapped her arms around Hadvar's waist, resting her chin on his shoulder. It seemed Hadvar also moved his hand over hers.

I guess Eleph was right, he did find a special lady. Stesha snorted. I'll never give myself to a woman.

Beneath them now was Bruma, snowy hills and a log cabin styled settlement with white stone buildings here and there. They flew over the mountains as the wyvern soared higher. The Jerall mountains were massive structures painted with trees all around. They ascended pale pass and toward the junction between Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and Hammerfell. – Stesha feasted his eyes on the scenery, a pulchritudinous glade sculpted in a valley between the Jeralls and Dragontail mountains. They hovered above a pink lake… A pink lake?

"That lake is pink!" Gwendal shouted.

"Jump!" Hadvar yelled back.

They all hopped off the wyvern and fell straight down. Stesha could count the seconds before the impact hit him and he was submerged in a cold, magenta mass. When he opened his eyes, he saw giant jellyfish floating all around the water. Stesha steered away from them and swam towards shore, stroking one hand over the other until he reached the white beach. Climbing out, swathes of water exited his clothes, and he shivered in the cold wind, bracing himself. Holding his arms.

Hadvar and Aela approached him as Gwendal swam out. Stesha gazed around and his jaw dropped. While the trees on the Cyrodiil and Hammerfell side of the lake were regular pines, the ones on the Skyrim side were pink. The leaves sparkling in the low sun. A forest of cherry blossoms awaited them. Dark trunks and branches decorated by pink foliage.

"Skyrim is something else," Stesha uttered, his eyes widening when he saw how far the forest stretched. The magical trees coated the sierras as they waned all the way down the mountainside.

Hadvar was the first to shake himself from his reverie, glaring at Gwendal. "Can you cast some warming charms on us to dry our clothes?"

Gwendal blinked and nodded, casting several spells over and over again on all of them until the liquid had been excised from their clothes. The water spilling out and rejoining its pool of pink brethren within the basin. Then the quartet set off, entering the hiking trail that drifted through the pink woods.

"So, Eleph was right. We did end up in Skyrim." Hadvar cracked his thumb.

"Who's Eleph?" Aela asked as they progressed past a bunny with four ears and some penguins with four flippers.

"He's this seer we met, he predicted things about our lives, said we'd all eventually meet our destinies in Skyrim," Hadvar clarified. "Said I'd meet a woman in particular."

Aela stared at Hadvar, her eyes smiling. Gwendal and Stesha shared a look. Stesha gazed over and saw they were still pretty high in the mountains as it all descended down from here into Skyrim greater. He saw a land covered in snow with vertical mountains sticking out here and there. But for miles on end all he noticed were more mountains, these ones barren of trees. He put his hand over his eyes and squinted… way north, in the center of Skyrim was a snowy tundra.

They came upon a black market of sorts. Skooma and sleeping tree sap on display in black wooden stands, graveled pathways and carts with shifty traders wheeling their way through under the canopy of pink blossoms. Some tables were on the outer edges near a cliff face with a view of all of Skyrim. One woman held a baby as it cried, rocking the tiny thing in her hands.

"Let's take a skooma break." Stesha jumped up and down all giddy.

Hadvar gulped as Aela squared him in the eyes. "Don't tell me you also do this?" There was an age difference between Aela and Hadvar. While his friend was only twenty, Aela seemed twenty-five.

Hadvar stared at Stesha and Gwendal then back at Aela. "No, I don't." He shook his head. "But they do, and who am I to stop them."

"You know Stesha those dark circles under your eyes probably come from all the skooma you're intaking." Aela rubbed her arms together as a gush of cold air breezed past.

"I don't care." Stesha walked over to the nearest seller, preparing his guice. "How much for some sleeping tree sap?"

The hooded Breton pulled out a bottle from under his desk. "That'll be thirty guice. I'm Shady Sam by the way."

Stesha forked over the gold and greedily took ahold of the bottle. Oh, this is going to be fun.

"He calls himself the Nightingale, said he was going to destroy the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood. Should we warn them?" Said one of the merchants to another. "I get protection from them for a cut of my profits."

"Nah, don't worry about it. One man isn't gonna be able to stop the entire Crimson Dirks."

So, that Nightingale guy is here in Skyrim. Interesting. He rubbed his chin.

Stesha returned to Gwendal and the four of them found a picnic table nearby where they placed the sap. It was a purple-colored substance in a large bottle usually saved for potion reserves.

"Me and Aela will go buy us some food." Hadvar stalked off with Aela in tow.

"Food tastes so good when you're high." Gwendal uncorked the sap and took a swig of it. "Yumm."

Stesha drank some after him and licked his lips. It tasted like some sort of melted cherry and peach infused syrup. Sugary and sweet yet with a hint of sourness. They continued ingesting their liquid until the scenery slowed down and became blurry. Stesha rocked back and forth silly, bumping heads with Gwendal and giggling. The penguins started doing some sort of dance.

"Do you know where you're going to?" One penguin sang to him. "Do you like the things that life is showing you. Where are you going to? Do you know? Do you get what you're hoping for? When you look behind you there's no open doors. What are you hoping for, do you know?"

Tears streamed from Stesha's eyes, flooding his face, and dripping down his chin. He felt an intense sadness well up within him, his heart being choked out. My life is so purposeless. Gwendal continued giggling as he stared at the dancing, singing four-flippered penguins.

"Skyrim will be freeeeeeeeee-eeeee," Gwendal sang.

Stesha used his shirt to wipe the tears from his face as Hadvar and Aela returned with cooked chicken, cheese-bread, and fruit salad.

"Why're you laughing at that penguin. It's literally doing nothing." Hadvar set down the food, plates, and utensils.

"Oh nothing. This reminds me of my trip to Morrowind." Gwendal put his hand against his fist. "There were weird creatures there too."

They all soon dug in, ravenously gorging on their food, and slurping up the water with them. The spiced chicken on cheese-bread tasted twice as good as normal with the high enhancing the flavors. An explosion of aroma on his tongue. After they had eaten their fill, they kicked it back over the pier. Staring down as a light snowfall fell on the mountaintop.

"Stesha, where did you get that gold?" Aela perked up.

"Gwendal hid all our gold from Xera." Stesha hiccupped, staring at the snowy vistas of Skyrim. "Don't ask me where he hid it though."

Aela cracked a laugh at that.

"We should probably keep moving. I bet we can make it to the next town by nightfall. We don't have our bedrolls and I don't trust sleeping here in this block market," Aela said as a few Khajiit peddlers snuck their way through the bazaar. "Yeah, we can't sleep here."

"Fair enough." Hadvar got up, packing up the leftovers.

A butterfly was resting on Stesha's shoulder as he held his stuffed doll.

"You two go on ahead." Aela nodded at Stesha and Gwendal. "I have to talk to Hadvar about something."

"Alright." Stesha picked himself up and walked around the corner with his kinsmen.

Bushes lit up the bark-painted path ahead and more cherry-blossoms. "You think Aela plans to betray us?" Gwendal lowered his voice.

"What no, don't be silly." Stesha gave his friend an incredulous look.

"Well then, go back and check. Listen in, make sure they aren't up to something." Gwendal had a solemn expression squared on his face.

Seems the drugs give him paranoia.

"It's Hadvar, he'd never turn his back on us. But just so you calm down, I'll go and check." Stesha shook his head as he made his way back to the pier.

Hadvar and Aela were engaged in a kiss, holding each other close. Stesha smiled for his friend and strode back gently.

"Well, Eleph's prediction for Hadvar came true. Now you have to help some people and I have to 'find out the truth', whatever that means." Stesha chuckled a bit as a penguin rubbed its head against his leg.

Hadvar and Aela returned shortly, and they were all on their way, hiking down the mountainous slope. The more they progressed the more the trees dwindled… until there were no trees at all. A blue swamp sat at the pass and a few men in fur armor were running as arrows sailed past them.

"What's going on?" Aela grabbed Hadvar's wrist.

They treaded closer and saw a legion of Imperial soldiers riding up toward them on horseback. Red and silver. In the span of a few seconds, several hopped off their steeds and engaged in a brawl with them. Aela kicked two and rolled, tripping a third while Hadvar bashed another with a hammer-fist. One soldier knocked a high kick into Stesha's face, and it was all over…

The Golden Dragon spoke amongst the turning of wagon wheels and chirping birds, "you're not done yet."

The world vaguely swam into view…

"Hey, you, you're finally awake!"

Stesha's eyelids blinked slowly, and he rubbed his head. Ugh, my head. He stared around; they were trailing down a high mountain pass. Snow everywhere with not a tree in sight. There were some bushes, sure, but it was a barren downhill landscape from here.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." The man speaking had braided blond hair and wore fur garbs. A Nord. He nodded to another Nord sitting next to him, this one with receding dark-brown hair.

"Damn you bandits, Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you; could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." Then the horse thief looked over at Stesha. "You there, you and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these bandits the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," the blond said.

"Shut up back there!" The Imperial soldier out in front of their cart shouted.

"What's wrong with him, heh?" The thief's eyebrows went up.

"Watch your tongue," admonished the bandit harshly. "You're speaking to Krev Skinner, our bandit leader."

It was then Stesha took note of the man next to him, a tattooed muscle-bound hulk with a gag around his mouth.

"Krev. The Jarl of the underworld? You're the leader of the bandits. But if they've captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

"No, this can't be happening, this isn't happening!" The thief frenzied.

Stesha took another glance around as the cart drew around some bends. A fort was nearing them way in the distance, easy to spot without trees. It started raining diamonds from the sky as well.

It rains diamonds in Skyrim? This was unheard of.

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" The blond man turned his head to regard his compatriot.

"Why do you care?" The horse thief looked at the blond Nord.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home," the blond grounded out.

"Markarth-Side, I'm, I'm from Markarth-Side." The thief interlocked his fingers.

"General Tullius sir, the warden is waiting." Their carriage driver waved to the man Stesha had seen leading the Imperial army. He was walking on a footbridge placed at the opening of the fort they were about to enter.

"Good, let's get this over with." General Tullius stepped away.

"Charlamagne, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh, Divines please help me!" Prayed the thief, holding up his tied hands.

"Look at him, Ananias Tullius the military governor. And it looks like the Ice-Coursers are with him. Damn creatures, I bet they had something to do with this." The blond Nord regarded Tullius. – Ananias Tullius was a man with short grey hair and a fancy set of Imperial armor. His short sword was placed in a scabbard.

Ice-Coursers if Stesha remembered correctly were heavyset ice men who skated over the land at high speeds. Deadly and when trained as these two had been, useful too. Sometimes they served as couriers as well. - Their wagon procession pulled into a massive fortress of circular proportion planted atop the mountain. It had round buildings shaped like spheres and one massive sphere dominating the subspace. All painted in various colors. Some of the buildings were cylinders with cones for roofs. It was a very strange architectural design choice.

Did the builders in Skyrim snort a bunch of joy snow before making this place?

"This is Fort Neugrad. I heard they keep all of Skyrim's prisoners here. Wonder if they're just keeping them rounded up like hounds or executing them." The blond gazed around. "Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

"Whoa," said the carriage driver as he whipped his steed.

The snap of the whip made Stesha flinch and he recalled the way the whip had smacked his back and dug deep lines into his skin. He could still feel his blood sticking to his rhomboids and lats.

"Get these prisoners out of the carts. Move it!" They came near a high wall placed in the midst of Fort Neugrad.

"Why are we stopping?" The horse thief's voice carried worry.

"Why do you think? End of the line." The cart in front of them stopped.

Their carriage halted. Stesha looked over at the other wagon and saw Hadvar, Aela, and Gwendal bound with another bandit.

"Let's go, shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." The bandit stood up.

"No wait, we're not bandits!" Yelled the thief.

"Face your death with some courage, thief." The Nord struggled in his bindings.

"You've got to tell them; we weren't with you!" The thief continued to yell. "This is a mistake." They all stepped out of their wagon and got in line.

"Step towards the gate when we call your name. One at a time!" The two female captains stood next to each other, the friendly looking one held a book.

"Ehh, Empire loves their damn lists." The blond Nord stood next to Stesha.

"Krev Skinner of Yngol's Rest." The man in front of Stesha walked toward the prison gate on his right.

"It has been an honor, Master Krev," said the blond-haired Nord.

I guess they're not executing us after all.

"Ralof of Whiterun," said the other woman. "Lokir of Markarth-Side."

"No, I'm not a bandit! You can't do this!" Lokir screamed, running off.

"HALT!" The meaner woman barked.

"You're not gonna kill me!" Lokir bit back.

"ARCHERS!"

Lokir got shot and let out a wail as he fell, crippled, to the floor.

"Anyone else feel like running?" Said the mean woman, looking back at Stesha. Her face rippling into a scowl.

"Wait, you there," enunciated the nicer woman. "Step forward." Stesha shuffled towards her. "Who are you?"

Stesha took a deep breath. "My name is Stesha Jade, I'm a refugee from High Rock."

"You from Wayrest, Breton? Fleeing from some court intrigue?" The nice woman almost chuckled. Almost.

You have no idea.

"Captain, what should we do. He's not on the list." The friendly woman questioned.

"Forget the list, he goes to the prisons." The unfriendly woman pointed towards the other prisoners near the gate.

Stesha walked over to the others, standing near his companions as Krev fell face down on the ground, the sound of metal against metal resonating the second before. When he looked, he saw a throwing star implanted in Krev's neck.

Stesha saw the Nightingale staring at him from the roof, midnight black eyes boring into his own.

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AN: This story has been a huge dream of mine since 2018, and to finally be able to write it, better than I originally imagined is nothing short of a dream come true. Thank you for reading, reviewing, and supporting me. Bless you.