A/N: Well, this is the last chapter. Yup. There will be a sequel posted sometime in July or early August titled "Blood and Iron" so keep an eye out for that. The prologue and the first chapter should be up sometime within the next few weeks if I'm not too busy. Also, credit for the phrase "a distant but awesome noise" goes to the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages (UESP). I saw that on there in reference to the sound used in this chapter, and it amused me, so I decided to use it. That being said, I hope you have enjoyed our journey through this story, thank you as always to my beta reader (and sister) GrowlingPeanut, and reviews are appreciated. Thank you for reading and goodbye for now. :)
-Farky

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Bethesda Softworks and George R. R. Martin. Except for Lanius, who is in here, but just isn't mentioned by name.

Rating: T for language and character death.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

Dany blinked and looked around in confusion, her head throbbing with each uncomfortable jolt of the cart bumping across the rough ground below them. A handsome young Nord with long blond hair sat across from her, and from the look he was giving her, she assumed he had been the one to speak. Before she could try to respond, the man beside him spoke with a sneer.

"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." He looked over at Dany and nodded in acknowledgement. "You there. You and me—we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

Stormcloaks? Viserys had sided with the Stormcloaks. They were his allies now, and apparently, they had led to her capture by the Imperial Legion.

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," the Nord responded gruffly, settling into a begrudging silence when the soldier driving the cart turned around and barked an order at them. "Quiet down back there!"

Her fellow captives sat in sullen silence for a moment and she tried to speak. If they only knew who she was, this wouldn't be happening. Surely the Legion could see the use in sparing the life of a Jarl's sister. Or had the Jarl of Markarth been right when he said that her position had been lost when she had been sold to Khal Drogo? The words quickly died on her lips.

"And what's wrong with him, huh?" the horse thief scoffed, gesturing with his bound wrists toward the man seated beside Daenerys.

"Watch your tongue!" the other Nord snapped. "You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King of Skyrim."

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm?" Lord Stormcloak, bound and gagged firmly with a tattered rag, said nothing, expectedly, but the look in his eyes was conformation enough. "You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you..." The unaffiliated Nord paled. "Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

The Stormcloak soldier sighed and turned away to gaze out across the landscape before responding grimly. "I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

Dany felt her heart skip a beat at his words. Sovngarde. The final resting place of the Nords. The place that could only mean one thing: death.

"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening."

Ignoring his frantic murmuring, the blond Nord looked at the man next to him after glancing briefly at the leader of his cause. "Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?"

The thief's nostrils flared slightly and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why do you care?"

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."

The suspicion faded and was replaced with hopeless desperation. The words left his lips quietly, as though their utterance would seal his fate. "Rorikstead. I'm...I'm from Rorikstead. And..." He hesitated briefly. "My name is Lokir."

"Ralof," the rebel replied gruffly.

As if on cue, the cart turned around a bend in the road and a town rose up to meet them. The fear that had settled in the pit of Dany's stomach grew heavier as she recognized the buildings around them. Helgen.

The soldier slowed the horses and called ahead toward one of the carts in front of theirs. "General Lannister, ser! The headsman is waiting."

A tall stern man in ornate armor stepped down from his cart and looked about with an indifferent expression before striding purposefully toward a waiting regiment of Imperial troops. "Good. Let's get this over with."

The horse thief buried his head in his bound hands as the cart continued steadily toward the executioner's block and Daenerys could hear the terror in his muttered prayer. "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me."

Ralof ignored him and looked with derision at the Imperial commander. "Look at him. General Lannister the 'Military Governor'. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him." He swore. "Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this." He glanced briefly in her direction and, noticing the elven traits of her fine features, apologized. "No offense to you of course, my lady."

She stayed silent and as the cart came to a slow stop in the center of Helgen, Lokir raised his head, his gaze hazy with tears and confusion. "Why are we stopping?"

"Why do you think?" the rebel replied drily. "End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." He nudged the thief off the end of the cart and shook his head as he stumbled and fell to the ground at the feet of an Imperial captain and the soldier that stood beside him with a rolled parchment.

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!"

"Face your death with some courage, thief," the Nord spat venomously, standing tall and proud beside the Jarl of Windhelm.

Lokir shook his head and turned around, holding his hands out before him in a gesture of entreaty, his eyes wide and white in panic. "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

Ralof and Ulfric both ignored him and Daenerys watched the unsympathetic face of the captain as his gaze flicked in her direction. The look in his eyes told her that perhaps her presence there wasn't a mistake after all.

"When I call your name, step up to the block," the second soldier commanded, lifting the unfurled scroll in his hands. "Ulfric Stormcloak of Windhelm."

The Jarl nodded slightly and walked toward the executioner, his head held high and his dark eyes smoldering in defiance.

"Ralof of Riverwood."

The Nord followed his leader, equally as stoic.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

The horse thief shook his head and looked up at the Imperial in terror. "No, I'm not a rebel. You...you can't do this!" Without waiting for a reply, he glanced frantically around and then started running off in the direction of the gates.

The Imperial captain turned sharply and called after him. "Halt!"

"You're not going to kill me!" Lokir yelled, stumbling over his feet as he tried to evade the Imperial soldiers lining the road.

The captain's face hardened and he raised a hand. "Archers!" The soldiers to his left raised their weapons, drew, and fired on command, their arrows hitting their target in the back as he tried to run. The Nord fell to his knees, swayed slightly and then collapsed onto the ground, unmoving.

Daenerys swallowed down the nausea rising in her throat and closed her eyes. Divines protect me. This is not my fate. She took a deep breath and wiped a tear that had fallen to her cheek. "I'm supposed to be a queen."

Hearing her words, the soldier who was calling names turned to face her and frowned. "What was that?"

She meant to respond, wanted to in truth, if only to tell someone of the things from which she would be stolen from in death, but the voice of the Imperial captain interrupted her. "Get on with it, Hadvar."

The older man nodded and raised the parchment again, his voice steady despite the sympathy in his eyes as he read the final name. "Daenerys Targaryen of Riften."

She accepted her sentence, unsure of how to fight it, and slowly made her way to stand beside the two Nords with which she had been captured and another two Stormcloak rebels who had traveled in a different cart on the trip to Helgen. General Lannister stood before them, beside a tall Altmer woman, the captain who had ordered Lokir's death, and...Viserys.

Daenerys gasped and the sound brought all eyes toward her; all that was, except for her brother's. He remained with his eyes forward, his gaze fixed rigidly on something above the heads of the prisoners.

With nearly tangible tension in the air, General Tywin Lannister stepped forward to stand before Ulfric, his voice ringing clearly through the air as he sentenced him to death. "Lord Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm, is hereby sentenced to death on the charge of using the Voice to kill our rightful high king, Torygg in an attempt to usurp the throne. In addition, he was the one who started this gods damned war, and for that, the Empire will now put you down and restore the peace."

He stepped back and his captain stepped forward to read the sentence for his second-in-command. "Ralof of Riverwood is hereby sentenced to death on the charge of helping to incite rebellion in Skyrim and for committing crimes against the Imperial Legion."

The same charge followed for the other two men and then when the captain stepped forward, it was Viserys who stepped forward, his pale lavender eyes narrow and cruel as he finally drew his gaze down to meet his sister's.

"Daenerys Targaryen of Riften is hereby sentenced to death on the charge of aiding the rebel army in their attempts to forcefully usurp the throne of Skyrim."

He moved to step back, but Dany stumbled toward him on unsteady legs. "Viserys...that's a lie and you know it! Why are you doing this?"

He seemed taken aback by her defiance and he gripped her tightly by the arm, his nails digging painfully into her pale skin. "You will do as I command," he hissed, rage burning in his eyes as he fought for the control that he had always so desperately longed for.

Dany shook her head, tears spilling freely down her cheeks as she begged her brother for mercy. "I don't understand. What have I ever done to you to deserve this?" There had never been as much love between them as she had always hoped for, but...this...

Viserys seemed to hesitate, and when he met her gaze again, it was fear and insecurity that she saw in his eyes. "They promised me, Dany..." he whispered, his voice cracking slightly. "If I helped them capture Stormcloak, they would make me King. They...they said you were trying to take my throne...I had to, Dany. I'm the rightful king. I always knew that I was." The rage returned and he roughly shoved her away. "You don't deserve my crown."

As he returned to General Lannister's side, a distant but awesome noise could be heard echoing across the sky and an Imperial soldier that stood nearby looked up in confusion. "What was that?"

"Nothing," the Imperial general replied. "Just a coming storm. Carry on."

The captain at his side nodded curtly at the command. "Yes, General Lannister." He turned to the priestess of Arkay who had been patiently waiting beside the executioner's block since their arrival. "Give them their last rites."

The priestess nodded and stepped forward to address the prisoners. "As we commend your souls to Aestherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved—"

She was interrupted by one of the rebels, who snorted in derision. "For the love of Talos, be silent so we can get this over with." He brazenly swaggered toward the block and the priestess of Arkay hesitated for a moment before stepping back beside General Lannister. "As you wish."

The Imperials exchanged glances and the rebel scoffed. "Come on, lads. I haven't got all day."

After a nod from General Lannister, the captain stepped up to the block and roughly shoved the Stormcloak to his knees, ignoring him when he lowered his head to the groove in the stone and taunted him one last time. "At least my ancestors are smiling down at me, Imperial. Can you say the same?"

He nodded curtly to the headsman and he raised his axe before swinging down to cut the Nord's head from his body with one swift stroke. Dany averted her eyes.

Ralof sighed sadly and shook his head, bowing it slightly. "As fearless in death as he was in life," he murmured. Ulfric grunted his agreement from behind the gag.

"Next the Breton," the captain ordered, jerking his head toward Daenerys.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Dany slowly took a step forward. Why, gods? I still have so much to live for. My people...Drogo...our child...

A loud rumble shook the ground and startled her from her thoughts. The soldier who had read the list of their names glanced around, brow furrowed with worry. "There it is again. Did you hear that?"

The captain ignored him and snapped an order in his direction. "I said, next prisoner!"

The Imperial soldier frowned, but obeyed the command, gesturing toward the executioner's block. "To the block, prisoner." His expression softened slightly at the look of helplessness on Dany's face and she thought she detected a hint of remorse in his eyes as he spoke again, softly. "Nice and easy."

Grateful to at least be shown compassion in her final moments, Daenerys stepped forward and cast one last, lingering look at Viserys, turning away when all she saw in his face was the greed for power that had driven him mad so long ago.

She was pushed to the ground as the rebel soldier had been and she tried not to gag when she felt his still warm blood against her neck. This wasn't how she was meant to die. This wasn't how anyone was meant to die. Helpless, shoved to their knees on the bare earth, the eyes of their condemners fixed on them with gleeful malice. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

The executioner lifted his blade upon the command from the Imperial captain, but he hesitated when a tremendous roar shook the earth and General Lannister spoke up in annoyance. "What in Oblivion is that?"

Just as the words left his mouth, a dark shape flew above the tower behind the headsman, and Dany's heart skipped a beat.

"Sentries! What do you see?"

"It's in the clouds!" a soldier yelled.

Above the panicked voices, Dany heard an order for the continuing of the executions and the headsman lifted his blade above his head as the earth rumbled and behind him, a huge, dark creature flapped its wings before settling atop the tower and letting out a deafening roar that knocked the executioner to the ground. Daenerys could barely see Viserys enter her field of vision, a look of awe on his face as he stumbled slowly toward the massive beast.

"It's a sign!" he cried, his voice cracking as he fell to his knees and raised his arms to the creature that met his gaze. "The Targaryens will rise again! Our time has come!" His shoulders shook as he wept and before anyone could move to his aid, the beast lowered its head and breathed forth a stream of fire. Viserys' screams could be heard above the crackling of the flames, and then, silence.

For a moment, no one moved. All was still. It was the terrified scream of an Imperial soldier that broke through the stunned silence.

"Dragon!"