Thalia and Ralof made their way down the pathway that led them down to a small set of stairs; with their luck they ended up in an area of beds and chests. Ralof looked to Thalia before he began to look for an antidote for the remaining poison running through her body, they were lucky that it was wearing off at the pace it was. Thalia was looking for something to use as armor, the chests hadn't been locked giving her access to what ever she could grab. The contents of the chests were slim but she was lucky enough to find steel grieves and boots with a set of Stormcloak armor, though she wasn't confident in light armor she was happy with what she could find. Ralof was successful in finding plenty of heath and stamina potions but there was no antidote to be found, he gave a glance behind him to see Thalia finishing her search with a sword in hand. The Davari looked fierce without the heavy armor, her icy green eyes along with her scar fixed in the current glare she was intimidating enough to make a troll think twice.
"Did you find anything of use?" Ralof asked; his answer was a nod and a swing of the sword.
With that nod Ralof lightly tossed Thalia a bottle of green glowing liquid, a soft sound of gratitude was his reward before the woman opened the bottle and downed the contents. It took only moments for the potion to take effect and counter-act the remaining poison in Thalia's veins. Now that there was little hindering her, the woman could easily keep up with Ralof. The two Nords made their through the door leading to a set of steps that lead to a lower dungeon. There were two Stormcloaks fighting a pair of Imperials dressed in bloodied uniforms, one was a Mage with lightening swirling around his fingers; the other was a soldier with a mace in hand. Ralof growled and charged into battle with Thalia behind him. Though wounded the two unnamed Stormcloaks managed to wear the soldier down enough for Ralof to strike a fatal blow down upon the man's unprotected head.
Thalia wasn't having much luck with the Mage; the older man was proving to be more of a challenge than the woman had thought. The Imperial was cackling as he sent balls of lightening at the growling Davari, with a snarl Thalia charged the man. The mage charged a ball of lightening expecting to face the Nord head on but missed when the woman ducked down and sliced his knees. The man stumbled back and fell to the ground before starting to use a Healing spell. One of the wounded Nords gave a shout before Thalia scrambled to her feet moments before the Mage's head was smashed under a steel great-hammer. Blood and brain lightly spattered Thalia's pale skin as her eyes gained their icy glow. The man with the great-hammer stepped back, giving a faint chuckle he went to check on the Stormcloak with a dagger. Ralof went to his comrades giving them a health potion each before he turned to Thalia.
"Are you alright, I didn't think a Mage would be the Imperial's army." Ralof said; his voice had an uneasy tone to it.
"Geh, I feel no pain." Thalia murmured.
With Ralof began to converse with his comrades to try to figure out if Ulfric had made it out safely. Thalia took the moments rest to look into the cages lined up against the wall. Two of the cages had golden coins, one of them held the dead body of a Mage with a spell book and robes. Though Thalia was no Mage, the book and robes would be a good start at gaining coin for new armor and weapons. With a light growl she stalked throughout the room looking for lock-picks. With luck Thalia found three lock-picks and gave a light sigh before moving to the cage doors. The easy locks didn't put up much of a challenge for Thalia; she made quick work of getting the coins and stripping the dead Mage of his robes and his book. Using the robes as a make-shift bag, Thalia got to her feet with her goods on her back. The rest of the Nords raised a brow before nodding to her and moving along.
The group moved slowly, checking any caged corpses for means to identify them, to Thalia's disgust it seemed that the Imperials pocketed anything of grand value. With the bodies becoming greater in numbers Thalia seemed to start to look at the faces of the dead carefully. Ralof and the others often shifted uncomfortably when Thalia looked closer at the dead, her icy eyes locking with their dead ones. A soft growl came from the woman's throat with each corpse that passed under her eyes, Ralof and the other man concluded that Thalia was looking for someone. A soft gasp was the only signal that the Davari had found something. In the final cage was the dead body of a man with nearly white icy blue eyes, his face marked by two scarred lined going from the corner of his left eye to his chin. His long red hair was caked with dirt and blood, his throat was slashed violently; leaving him to bleed out in his cell. Thalia could only sway with more and more with every step she took towards the corpse.
"Balrick…" Thalia said in a hushed voice.
Reaching the cage that held the dead man seemed to be enough to bring the fierce woman to her knees. A shaking hand reached out to touch the pale face as the other woman kept Ralof and his comrade back. Balrick had been Thalia's mentor, though only 6 years older than the woman. Balrick had loomed over her with stern lessons, but she looked to the older Davari as her brother. To see the once wild man in such a state brought a sad crooning from the woman, the closest thing Thalia could do to crying. Picking the lock on the cage, Thalia slowly brought Balrick's head to rest in her lap. Running her fingers through the matted hair she bowed her head and began to say a prayer.
"Voth nid faas, aal daar sil ru stin. Drem ko dinok Zeymah."
The prayer sent a chill down the spine of the three Nords, watching in shock as Thalia set the body on fire with Magika. The group remained unmoving until the corpse was little more than a charred form. A loud roar brought the group back to the situation at hand; Thalia gave a soft growl before she began to walk forward. The pathway began to simmer with thick threads of silk; Ralof gave a shudder as the woman lightly yelped slipping down a separate pathway. A hole in the wall revealed an incline leading down to a nest of monstrous spiders. The woman gave a shout and crawled backwards as a spider the size of a saber cat dropped from the roof of the cavern.
"Fiora!" Ralof yelled sliding down to help the woman.
Fiora thrust her dagger forward, the blade finding its way into an eye of the spider as its fangs rubbed together in pain. Frostbite Spiders were one of the most common dangers in Skyrim, their venom slowing down pray by chilling the blood. Their skin made them easy to spot however, in the sun they had an icy blue shin to their red skin; when in caverns it was their shadows that gave them away. Lucky for the group the spiders in the cavern were young yet, some could be crushed under foot while others needed a few well placed stabs. Thalia snarled and charged into the fight, her anger renewing her ruthless passion for battle. Behind her was the Nord with the great-hammer, ready to swing the heavy weapon down on anything that got too close for his liking.
"I hate these things!" Ralof shouted stabbing a spider in the middle.
The spider gave a screech of pain before struggling to get free from the blade buried inside of it. Fiora climbed onto the spider's back and drove her dagger hilt deep into the creature's head causing it to fall on Ralof. The blonde Nord gave a cry and wriggled out from under the beast just in time to see smaller ones fall from above. With a grunt he hacked at the younglings, glancing over his shoulder Thalia and Fiora had one backing up to Galgren. Though Galgren was near 7 feet tall he was truly a gentle giant, it was when he was met with confrontation did his hammer begin to swing. Fiora was his short younger sister; one could tell by their passive natures and how well they worked together. The two were never too far apart even in battle; it was normally Fiora's lithe body that made her an easy looking target; however that was before she led them to Galgren's hammer.
"C'mon Ralof, show some spine!" Galgren laughed smashing a small Spider under his hammer.
Ralof gave a huff before Thalia threw a dead Spider before him; her face seemed fixed in a silent growl before she made a small sound wiping blood from her face. Fiora and Galgren walked behind Thalia before Fiora heard a sound and ran to the opening to the wall farthest from where they entered the Spider nest. Fiora gave a light sigh seeing a few possible ways out before noticing four Imperials, two with swords and bows and two with just bow and arrows. Ralof and Galgren looked to Thalia; something about the Imperials securing the possible exits had brought a fire into the usually cold green eyes. Ralof hung his head lowly; he had a feeling that seeing Balrick's corpse had ignited the Davari's anger. Without much warning the woman's eyes narrowed before she crouched lowly, her sword heavily coated in venom from the Spiders. The Stormcloaks exchanged looks before they too made their way towards the Imperials.
One of those wielding a bow issued out the alarm.
"Stormcloaks; don't let them escape!"
Ralof growled and quickly skid to the side at avoid a flying arrow. Fiora and Galgren had engaged the two Imperial's bearing swords; keeping their eye out for the fourth man. Near the raised bridge the fourth man was trapped between the bridge and Thalia, an arm wrapped around his middle as his blood chilled. Icy green eyes seemed to glow with a rage that few had seen from her; on the man's hand was a silver ring in the form of a Dovah with sapphire stones for eyes. She knew the ring well; it had been a gift Balrick had gotten from his family before he left for Skyrim to join the Stormcloaks. To see the ring on the hand of the man whom had gloated about starving the Davari made Thalia's blood boil. Forcing the man against the wall, Thalia gripped the man's wrist tightly in her hand; the man's eyes widened as Thalia brought her sword down upon his hand. A scream was all the man had been able to give before Thalia roared in fury and brought the sword up at an angle. Blood spattered the wall as the Imperial's organs appeared to be pulled away from his body, the gurgling of blood rising from the man's throat faded as Thalia buried her sword into the man's head.
"Sahlo…" She hissed, lowering to one knee and picking up the mangled hand of the Imperial.
With a sad croon Thalia slid the ring from the middle finger and secured it on her own, the ring seemed to hug her finger as if to welcome her warmth. Ralof and the others rejoined her in time to see her pull the lever to lower the bridge. Fiora sighed with relief as her and Galgren agreed to stay behind and help any other surviving Stormcloaks out of Helgen, Ralof nodded and put his shoulder on Galgren's then Fiora's before running ahead. Thalia gave a light bow of her head, following Ralof before a loud roar sounded and the cavern seemed to rumble; the ceiling gave way and smashed the bridge blocking the four from each other. Ralof growled and turned away as Thalia tilted her head and walked forward seeing the river.
"Those two are mul, strong in battle." Thalia said in a slightly warmer tone; sensing Ralof's worry "They will find a way out."
Ralof nodded from the odd moment of comfort before he walked ahead of Thalia, he had agreed that they would be able to follow the river to find their way out. The walk was rather tense for a few moments before Ralof noticed the ring on Thalia's finger, it looked similar to the dragon that had interrupted the beheading. The eyes were glittering in the light as its wings looking pressed against its body; which was curled around Thalia's finger. It must've been crafted by a Davarian smith to have such a beast turned into a trinket, the blonde shook his head and looked ahead knowing it wasn't his place to pry. Thalia had been scanning the area looking for any paths that deviated from the river. With luck she had spied one and walked down it leaving Ralof to wait by the river, to her disappointment all she found was a light bag of coins and a health potion. Upon her return to Ralof she handed him the bag of coins and kept the potion, she was more comfortable in keeping those on hand rather than relying on another.
"I hear something ahead." Ralof said crouching low, motioning for Thalia to follow him.
To both their surprise the cavern grew colder as they followed the river to a vent, to the right of the vent was a path with a cold breeze. Ralof and Thalia followed the wind only to pause at the sight of a large black bear, resting on a pile of bones both human and animal. The bear didn't seem to notice them, with swift feet they crept closer to the bear until it shifted and gave a low growl looking around. Ralof handing Thalia a dagger before taking aim with his bow, he had hoped to kill the bear with as little trouble as possible. Before he was ready to string his bow Thalia crept closer to the bear, she didn't want to risk the blonde missing and leaving her to deal with the bear before he could restring. Ralof made a grunt seeing Thalia creeping closer and fired his bow, the arrow had been going fast enough to breach the bear's fur and muscle before hitting the spine. The bear gave a low whining grow before slumping forward, Thalia looked to Ralof with a nod before motioning to continue their way; Ralof was more than happy to jog to catch up to her. The two lightly jogged until their feet had hit a snow that covered their feet, with a wide grin Ralof could feel the cool air from the opening and walked ahead eagerly as Thalia gave one last look over her shoulder and ran to join him as they ran into the light.
"It looks like we made it…" Ralof said before pushing Thalia into nearby bushed and crouching low.
Thalia was about to drive the dagger into the man before she heard the roar of the Dovah and watched the skies carefully, her eyes slightly widening as her eyes caught the glimpse of the black best as it flew over head. Ralof didn't miss the look and frowned, the Davari were said to be ancestors of priests that served the Dovah during their reign over man. Ralof backed away and allowed Thalia to get to her feet before she brushed off a few leaves and snow. Her eyes seem to hold a deep rooted secret that Ralof wasn't ready to pry from the woman, but he would keep his questions for a more suited time. The two decided to remain together until Ralof guided her to Riverwood, he wasn't sure if she would be safe knowing that the territory they were in belonged to no side in the war; it was a popular place for either side to collect prisoners.
"Why did you take that ring from the Imperial?" Ralof asked, breaking the tension in the air.
Thalia looked at the curious blonde then to the silver ring on her finger.
"It was a gift… Balrick had been given this ring as a gift before he left for Skyrim three years ago." Thalia said.
Ralof gave a light nod; he could understand why Thalia would've taken it if the dead Davarian had a family of his own.
"It is Davarian custom to give each of the youth a ring in the form of a Dovah, a dragon." Thalia explained, "The ring is a representation of their guide; each ring with a name to represent the nature of its holder."
Ralof nodded for a moment before something struck him, he didn't see Thalia's ring. Lowering his eyes a thought had crossed his mind, if an Imperial had Balrick's ring; what would've stopped another from taking her ring after they were captured.
"Did the Imperial's take your ring?" Ralof asked quietly.
"Ahdojul... Nid." Thalia murmured in the low growling language. "Ahdojul was sent to High Hrothgar before I began my journey, I must walk the Seven Thousand Steps to gain my guide; all I know is the name given to it."
At the name Ralof tilted his head, a shameful and morbid curiosity overwhelming him as he spoke.
"What is the name of Balrick's ring?" Ralof asked; his tone soft and shy.
Thalia gave a soft sigh looking to the ring fondly, unshed tears glittering in her eyes.
"Odahviing…"
Odahviing: Snow Hunter Wing
Ahdojul: Hunter of Man
Nid: No
Mul: Strong
Dovah: Dragon
Sahlo: Weak
Voth nid faas, aal daar sil ru stin. Drem ko dinok Zeymah: With no fear, may this soul run free. (Davarian prayer for the departed.) Peace in death Brother.
A/N: Since there's multiple shipping's in this FanFic let me break them down
Odahviing/Ahdojul: Sybling-ship (They have a brother sister bond)
Ulfric/Thalia: Its and uneasy mix (Will be seen more in later chapters)
Alduin/Ahdojul: Enemy to Mate-Ship (Explained more in later chapters)