Chapter 2: Unbound
Vincent gawked as a monstrous winged shadow emerged from behind the nearby mountains. The beast circled around the town known as Helgen and started descending upon the unsuspecting villagers. As the executioner prepared his axe, the watchers atop towers spotted the threat approaching them.
"What is that?!" they shouted in panic and ignorance. "Over there, coming from the clouds!"
"Sentries, what do you see?" The Captain had no clue what they were seeing, thinking that her underlings were getting distracted. 'They'll need some discipline training' she thought. That was however quickly erased from her mind once a more knowledgeable Nord woman had put the pieces together.
"Dragon!" she screamed. At the same time, the executioner lifted the axe that was ought to end Vincent's misery and readied himself for the blow. Unsurprisingly, Vincent wasn't paying attention to that seeing as the dragon had decided to land and perch himself upon a tower behind the executioner. Mere twenty feet away from Vincent's face.
It was a terrifying sight to behold. The lizard's body was of a near-black slate colour, geared in an armor of impenetrable scales. It's wings wrapped around the tower, every muscle tense, those limbs faintly glittering in the sunlight. It's tail swung from side to side, spiked and poised to club any being foolish enough to approach it. Curved spikes, no... blades even, protruded along the beat's entire length and reaching their glory point, frightfully crowning the dragon's skull. For a short moment those beady bloodshot eyes stared into Vincent's very being before the monster opened its maw, Vincent's eyes widened after spotting the row of daggers one would presumably called 'teeth' though not even the term 'fangs' would do justice to the abomination's jaw adornments, and roared- no... shouted thunderously at them. A translucent blue force knocked away Vincen't would-be killer and Vicent himself before raising its head to the heavens above, again booming at the skies.
No man could have prepared themselves for the sundering of the skies that followed. Oblivion itself must have been dragged to Nirn for no Deadra could possibly induce such chaos from another dimension; blazing stones plummeted towards the peaceful Skyrim settlement. After shaking his head from the dizziness that followed the blast that flung him across half the square, Vincent saw the beast flying around the village, half of which was already aflame, bringing it to ruin.
"Come on kinsman, get up!" Ralof managed to catch Vince's attention and together they ran into the nearest tower that still stood. Once inside, with the doors safely closed, though what safety that provides Vince could not fathom, the two newest arrivals turned to Ulfric.
"Jarl Ulfric" Ralof began, "could the legends be true?"
Ulfric looked at them and with a grim tone declared that "Legends don't burn down villages". With this logic, Vincent would not argue. He did however question why was he the only one with his hands tied. Heck, how did others get their bindings off? Once he voiced his opinion, Ralof kindly cut the ropes around his hands. Hearing the dragon's roars still piercing the skier outside, they decided to move up the tower. Again, if Ralof hadn't practically dragged him by the arm, Vince would have questioned that too. After all, what good will that achieve? Yet not halfway up the tower, the dragon decided to burst through the walls, killing a Stormcloak or two and breathe fire on the first bodies it saw.
'Why does it sound like its shouting whilst breathing?' was what puzzled Vince. The blue burst, the burning skies and now the fire, they all sounded like some kind of cry.
Ralof approached the gaping hole left behind by the dragon and after scanning the environment, pointed to half and inn opposite them. "There, jump across to that inn, we will follow you shortly" he said. Vince stared at his compatriot in disaster in disbelief. He couldn't be serious! "Go!" commanded Ulfric. Vincent's eyes turned to the charring pile of wood that once hosted people as guests and saw a bed. After a quick glance back, he realized that this really was the only way for him to go so he jumped in the direction of the bed, hoping against all odds that it would cushion his fall.
It didn't.
Vincent unscrambled himself from the broken bed frame which collapsed the second Vincent landed on it. Vincent got up and picking up on the sounds of the dragon still terrorizing Helgen, decided that he better run onward. At first the was the problem of the collapsed stairs but that was remedied by the fact that half the floor had also collapsed and created an opening for Vincent to jump down. By the Divines did his body still ache from the previous fall! He got up and exited the burning shack and came across an unexpected scene. An imperial soldier, the imperial soldier who couldn't find his name on the list and allowed the Captain to send him to his death, was telling a young boy to hide as the dragon swooped down and incinerated what appeared to be the boy's father before leaving. The soldier handed the boy to an older man and informed him that he is off to join the defense. It is at this point that he spotted Vincent standing there like a pole. "Still alive prisoner? Stay close to me if you wanna stay that way. Come on!" he said and left. Vincent turned back to check if Ralof was following behind and since he wasn't, those lying bastards, he took off after the soldier. He said something about sticking close to the wall which paid off. The dragon landed atop a wall where they were just out of his sight and burned an imperial bowman who didn't even have the time to knock an arrow. Once the dragon left, they passed the charred corpse and found General Tullius along with a contingent of soldiers of all variants; swordsmen, archers and mages.
Tullius turned to them and shouted "Hadvar, into the keep! We're leaving soldier!"
Hadvar and Vincent ran towards the keep Tullius was talking about and came across Ralof of all people.
The two glared at each other. "Ralof you darned traitor, outta my way!"
Ralof retorted with "We're escaping Hadvar and you're not stopping us this time! Come on stranger, into the keep!"
Vincent watched as Ralof ran to the right side of the keep and Hadvar urged him to follow him.
Vincent took only a second to make his choice. One the two had sent him to the block and the other actually freed him. Hence, he entered the keep with Ralof.
Once in the keep, they spotted a lifeless body of a Stormcloak. Ralof decided to give the man his last rites before turning to Vincent.
"That was a dragon,' he began, "no doubt. Just like legends of old."
Vincent delved into his vast knowledge of Tamriel's history. "Weren't they defeated during the Dragon War? And then hunted down by the Akavirii?"
Ralof shrugged at that. "Apparently not"
Still something didn't add up in Vincent's mind. There is no way this dragon kept quiet all those centuries, and even if, where could it have possibly been hiding? How has no one come across it and- scratch that. If they had they were probably dead.
Ralof decided it was time to move on and pointed to his fallen comrade. "Take Gunjar's gear, he won't be needing it anymore"
Vincent gave that a try. Whilst it wasn't a snug fit, its wasn't uncomfortable either. There was one problem however...
"Do you have a sword?"
Ralof looked at him bewildered "Do you not know how to use an axe? I though you're a Nord"
Vince rolled hi eyes. "First off, I am half Nord as my mother was a Breton" Ralof looked him up and down and didn't believe that. So Vincent continued "Yes, I took after my father physically. Secondly, being a Nord doesn't mean you know how to swing an axe." Again Ralof looked at him weird, "and thirdly, yes I can use an axe but I'm not quite proficient at it. I always preferred the sword". The last one seemed to satisfy Ralof. But after a quick search of their room, Vince ended up having to wield a war axe.
Soon after, noises could be heard from the other side of a gate. Ralof's eyes lit up with recognition. "Imperials, take cover!"
Once they did, the Imperials, one of them Vince recognized as the bitch who tried to kill him, waltzed in to the room. Indeed, one of them was the Captain, the other was Hadvar. All sides raised their blades in anticipation until Hadvar spoke up "Shall we try to escape together?". Everyone looked at him as if he had grown a second head. They all mutually understood the impossibility of this. Aside from the fact that Hadvar and his Captain had a duty to kill Ralof, Vincent had no intentions of co-operating with that woman. So before anyone could do anything, Vincent's hand became encircled with green crystals and he cast Oakflesh. His skin gained the faint texture of wood and glowed green. He raised his axe higher and proclaimed that he doesn't mind going with him and Ralof, but he will not stand the Captain's presence. 'I wonder how they solve that conundrum'.
Everyone tensed up. This was a situation without a solution. Or so they thought until Ralof suggested that Hadvar and his superior go ahead and that he and Vincent will follow a few minutes later. Silence was the initial answer until the Captain said that this is acceptable, but if they come across each other further down the keep, they will have to fight, especially if there will be others around. They all sheathed their weapons but as the Imperials turned around and started walking away, Vincent's eyes fell on the one thing he thought he lost. "Hey! That's my sword!"
The Imperial Captain turned around and put a hand on the second blade she's been carrying. "So? You're a criminal so I confiscated it"
Vincent straightened out, standing almost a foot taller than her. "Criminal? And what crime have I committed, may I ask?" The Captain tensed up and said that it was for being a rebel. "I'm not a rebel though. You arrested me whilst I was travelling, and you don't have any proof of me being align-" he looked at his current apparel. "That doesn't count. You have also confiscated my clothes and dressed my in rags. Speaking of which, where are my clothes?"
The Captain was unimpressed. "They were with us during the executions. They have probably burned by now"
"So why do you have my sword?" Vincent looked collected but was in fact fuming on the inside until it dawned on him. "Wait, you kept it as a trophy!?"
"So what if I did?"
Vincent had had enough. He chucked the axe aside and with both hands used Telekinesis spell to rip the scabbard off of the Captain's chest and caught it. Everyone could se the sheath. It was finely decorated, mostly dark blue leather but with traditional Nordic knots and patterns travelling along its length, their outlines in silver. What stood out to everyone was the slightly curved hilt, roughly at a 20 degree angle, although the curve only started half a hand-width away from the cross guard. It was pure chestnut wood and capped with gold at the bottom and a narrow gold cross guard. Why was it curved was anyone's guess.
Vincent looked at his prized possession and then at the Captain. "You may go now".
With the Captain glaring daggers at him, the two Imperials left.
Turning around, Vincent walked to a chair and sat down and started counting down 3 minutes.
"You're only giving them three minutes? That's not a lot" commented Ralof. Vincent looked up at his companion. "She stole from me and tried to have me killed. She said that once we come across each other, we will have to fight. I want that. I want to have a good reason to get her back for it. And my patience to doing so is very short today, so yes, I only gave them 3 minutes. One and a half now, to be precise."
However, their moment of respite was broken when the keep shook and parts of the ceiling started to fall to the ground. They decided it would be safer to start going now.
The keep's stairs lead down to a corridor blocked by a mound of rubble though luckily they could walk around that via a storage room to the side. Neither bothered looking for anything useful, Hadvar had probably taken everything of value. They continued on their way until they came across what looked like a torture chamber. They deduced so by the stench of corpses, the cages and the overall atmosphere the place was giving off. However they had mixed reaction to what they also found here. Ralof was distraught to find the bodies of more Stormcloaks whereas Vince was silently celebrating the fact that on the opposite side of the room was the Captain and some other old Imperial whom was wounded. Vincent lifted his scabbard up and unsheathed his sword sideways in an elegant flourish so that the blade made almost no noise. Enough, however, for the Captain to hear and turn around and scowl. She was furious that they already caught up with her. Shouldn't have sent Hadvar ahead to report to Solitude. Vincent was standing with his sword ahead of him, pointed slightly downwards. Ralof could not help but notice is was a very fine blade; it was surprisingly shiny and smooth except for the middle which was beveled inwards and pitch black with more silvery Nordic patterns standing out at the same thickness as the blade. Another point of interest was its shape; most swords would curve, narrow or otherwise change shape. Vince's sword was slightly longer than the average one handed sword but completely straight. Its width did not change until the very end, where the last few inches turned into a sharp point. What's more Vince's stance confused the Nord a lot. He stood almost sideways to his opponent and held the sword with only one hand, the other behind his back.
"Why are you here so early?" spat out the Captain. To this Vincent grinned a little, "The dragon had implied that it recommends we hurry up when he tried to bring the ceiling on our head." Ralof saw Vincent's hand enveloped with odd orange-bluish energy. Its at this point that the Captain charged. Ralof prepared to intercept her but saw that Vincent wasn't at all perturbed by her charge. In fact, the moment she was close enough, he side stepped her. She reeled around, this time with hear sword at the ready in a more defensive fashion. The two approached each other and the Captain swung her sword. However, Vincent was better than that. He lifted his blade up by a fraction and with a flick of his wrist, moved the Captain's sword to the side, which created an opening which Vincent took and moved forward and sliced at the Cyrodili's arm and stood behind her. She turned to him, this time weary and in pain. Her sword arm was bleeding above the elbow and it hurt too much to use it so she had to switch hands. Vincent saw that and knew he won so he decided to finish it quickly. He stepped forwards, this time taking the offensive with his sword at chest height and perfectly parallel to the ground. He thrust forward but found his attack blocked.
This was not a problem. He decided to disconnect from that confrontation, twirling his saber for show and to confuse his opponent. The moment the Captain raised her sword above her head, Vince's other hand came from behind his back and he stood with his hand outstretched. To the surprise of all, the Captain's sword went flying back. She saw that but when she turned around to try and comprehend how Vincent did that, she found the very tip of his sword pushed into her throat. She stood there for five seconds before Vince pulled his blade out and let her choke and sputter on her own blood and proceeded to wipe his saber clean before sheathing it in a manner identical to how he unsheathed it.
The Imperial fell to the floor and Vince started walking forwards. Waking from his stupor, Ralof caught up to him. "That was impressive! How did you do that with her sword though? Can you disarm anyone like that?"
Vincent smiled lightly. "Thank you. As for your questions, have you ever heard of a spell called Telekinesis?" Ralof's blank stare was enough of a response. "Well, it was what I used to first get Elegance off of her" seeing Ralof's confusion he explained that this is what he calls his saber. "So on my travels over the past few years, I decided to experiment with magic a little bit and have come up with a spell that has an opposite effect: it pushes things away. I'm hoping to eventually make it strong enough to fling people backwards" at the last bit Ralof's eyes widened. At this point they stepped into a huge chamber filled with Imperials. Again, Vincent drew Elegance and proceed to eliminate the nearest soldier with devastating speed before he could even draw his sword. After that, the other soldiers lunged at them. Whilst Ralof was managing against two soldiers he could see Vincent being swarmed by three, one of which was an officer. Thinking that his friend would need help, Ralof kicked one of his opponents in the shin and wedged his axe in his skull and faced the other Imperial. The soldier however, had a shield which made it much more difficult to get past his defenses but would hinder his movements as Imperial shields weren't agility-friendly. The soldier held the shield high and Ralof could do nothing to strike him until he decided to risk it and just rammed into the bastion and toppled him over. Unlike the soldier, Ralof expected that and was back on his feet first hence able to deal the killing blow.
He turned to help Vince but was shocked to see the half-breed dueling nothing but the officer, the other two soldiers sprawled dead on the floor. He watched as Vince actually held his sword with both hands this time, using the curved hilt for better leverage. The superiority of his tactic showed. His blows were smoother and faster and upon closer inspection Ralof noted that the officer's leg was bleeding profoundly. The two fighters locked blades and when it appeared that Vince was going to be overpowered, he pulled down on the hilt's curve and redirected the officer's blade downwards and then with fantastic footwork spun to stand behind the officer and using the momentum of his spin, cleaved the head off of the Cyrodili's shoulders and held his blade up in the air in a show of aloof finality before gracefully sheathing it again. Ralof was more than impressed "You are a fine swordsman". Vincent looked at him almost amused. "Thank you. You too. As in, you're a decent axe wielder, I have no clue what you're like with a sword".
Their little moment was interrupted by an arrow narrowly missing Vince's head. They saw two new enemies higher up, holding bows. Before Ralof could even find cover, Vincent's hand fired off a lightning that hit an oil lamp above the head of one of the imperial soldiers. When the lamp fell, it exploded with fire although what shocked both of them was that the fire spread along the ground rapidly until it started consuming the other archer. There must have been an oil spill up there.
'How convenient' mused Vince.
They continued down the cavern which turned to be a natural geological structure rather than being man-made. They came across a room full of crushed spiders the size of dogs. Thankful, that they weren't the ones who had to deal with those. However, just behind the corner it seemed, a battle was going on. Once they closed that distance they saw an Imperial soldier being swiped away by a bear. His body landed several feet away with a gash along his chest and he wasn't moving. His compatriot, Hadvar, became the focus of the bear's attention. When Hadvar charged the bear's massive claws caught the blade and forced it out of Hadvar's grip, knocking him down to the floor as well. Just as the vast animal was about to rip him to pieces, it was struck by green energy and it stopped. It looked to Vincent who still help Calm spell in his hand. Seeing as the Illusion spell did it's job, the bear went back to its resting place. The three men decided to leave the cave quickly before the spell wore off even though Vince knew that it would last long enough for them to just casually stroll away from its cave.
All were delighted to see light up ahead and ran to the cave's entrance, already feeling the cold of the outside world blowing in.
Once outside they basked in the warm sunlight and biting cold air, joyous that their plight was over. Until a vast black shadow flew over them. The dragon from Helgen flew away, without seeing them, towards a massive ruin atop a mountain and disappeared from view. All three let out a breath they were holding before realizing they were in a very awkward situation. An escapee, an Imperial and a Stormcloak.
Vincent, wanting to avoid any more unnecessary confrontations, decided to speak up first, "You two, do you have anywhere to go? Perhaps a nearby camp or outpost?"
The two looked at each other before saying at the same time "Riverwood".
Wow, so this was not supposed to be such a long chapter. I might have to time myself next week, get a good idea of how long to write for to not burn myself out.
Anyway, I hope the wait was worth it for you guys.
Until next week!