I raised my chin high and spoke for the first time since I'd arrived, with a feminine yet strong voice. "I am Adanji of Windhelm." He read through the list under his breath, and I nearly let a gasp escape when my large ears picked up a familiar name. They had Utadee here?! My argonian friend I had known since I was a mere child in the orphanage.
"Captain, she's not on the list! What should we do?" The captain scoffed. "Forget the list, she goes to the block!"
The list soldier stared at me with pity in his eyes. I glared back. "You picked a bad time to come back to Skyrim, Khajiit. But at least you'll die here, in your homeland." I didn't respond. Instead I followed the captain towards the block, my ears picking up on General Tullius growling, "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero wouldn't use a gift like the Voice to murder his king and claim the throne." At least, that's what I thought he said. As he was speaking, a loud roaring was heard. My highly sensitive ears automatically focused on it, rather than the conversation. My ears were still throbbing from the noise, and I witnessed a prisoner walk to the block with a defiant expression. He was shoved down, and just as I could hear properly again, he said, "I haven't got all morning!" Wait, he was... anticipating it? Hm. Strange... And then his head was lopped off. I bit back another fretful gasp as the roaring was heard again. I picked up a few words, like, "Next" and "Prisoner". Then I found myself walking to the block, dreading what came next. I was forced into my knees, and then my head was placed on the block. I didn't dare look into the box. Instead I stared at the Imperial captain and yelled bravely, "To Oblivion with you!" And then, as a smirk crossed my face, it vanished. A dark shape soared across the sky. Oh... My... gods... It landed and roared, and once again, I could barely hear. It shouted, fogging my vision and making my head spin. I didn't waste any time standing up and rumbling backwards. I wasn't too confused to see that this was a dragon. A dragon... but they didn't exist...
I backed up, right into Ralof, and managed to hear him yell about how we had to make our way into the Keep. Well, fine by me! I dashed after him, my head returning to it's normal state. As we slammed the door, I saw a dark green argonian crouched over a woman with a bloodied arm, wiping gently at it with a piece of cloth from his robes. My jaw dropped open and I rushed over, stitches in my side. "U-Utadee!" I gasped joyfully. He looked up and his amber eyes instantly became when dear than they already were. "Oh Talos, they have you here?!" Ralf put a hand on my shoulder. "A reunion is always nice, but we've got some dragon outside, and we need to get moving. Take your friend and let's move along. Utadee looked fretfully at the woman, who smiled and waved to the stairs. "Go ahead." She coughed. He was so caring, even towards strangers. It was just a trait he had always had. I smiled and he returned it with a toothy grin, running up the stairs after us. As we neared the top, a man was already up there, beckoning to us. Utadee gasped and threw his arms out, stopping us in our tracks directly as multiple stones when flying and the wall crumbled down on the man, the dragon's head forced inside. It opened it's large maw and let a huge gust of burning flames out, destroying the man's body. I whimpered and shakily leapt over the hot rocks when the Dragon pulled back. Utadee shuddered and rubbed at his wrists. They were bleeding heavily, and I wasn't surprised. To throw his arms out he had needed to break the ropes, and that would've required a lot of force. I lightly touched my mouth with my hands, but Ralof gently shoved us forward. "Jump! We'll look at those wounds later! We need to go!" Jump... of course.
I took a deep breath and made a leap of faith, followed closely by Utadee who let out an agonizing hiss when his hands broke his fall. I hated seeing him in pain. My furry hands jumped out to grab his scaly ones and I pulled him up. He grinned, baring his fangs and we continued down the burning building. It was chaos outside. A man shoved a child next to a house and said, "Take care of the boy!" We approached him quickly as the Dragon burnt another Imperial soldier to a crisp. He saw us and yelled, "Still alive, prisoners? Follow me if you want to stay like that!" We looked at eachother warily. We really had no choice. We dashed across the rough, burnt ground, and I found myself shoved up against a wall with Utadee's arm pressing me against it. I didn't understand why until I looked up to see a giant Dragon claw positioned an inch from my nose. If I were to straighten up, it would stab right into my head. It breathed a burst of fire, and as it did so, I gasped. It spoke! "The Elder Scroll did not defeat me!" I must have a concussion... Dragons... talking... Dragons were crazy enough, but a talking dragon?!
He flew off to a different house and I was released, and quickly running after the man. I had picked up his name as Hadvar. We ran as fast as our legs could handle. Utadee and I would be faster, but our legs were bruised and sore, and there was no way I'd be able to run barefoot on the burnt gravel at such a fast pace. And then, the Dragon shouted again, causing me to cry out as a large burst of pain entered my ears, I covered them, and Utadee put his arm around me, leading me forward. Ralof was yelling something to Hadvar, but I didn't know what. But soon, they were both at a different keep, beckoning us towards them. I looked up at Utadee, and we both darted for who we thought was the right choice. Hello, Imperial scumbags. Looks like we're here to stay.
"Captain, she's not on the list! What should we do?" The captain scoffed. "Forget the list, she goes to the block!"
The list soldier stared at me with pity in his eyes. I glared back. "You picked a bad time to come back to Skyrim, Khajiit. But at least you'll die here, in your homeland." I didn't respond. Instead I followed the captain towards the block, my ears picking up on General Tullius growling, "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero wouldn't use a gift like the Voice to murder his king and claim the throne." At least, that's what I thought he said. As he was speaking, a loud roaring was heard. My highly sensitive ears automatically focused on it, rather than the conversation. My ears were still throbbing from the noise, and I witnessed a prisoner walk to the block with a defiant expression. He was shoved down, and just as I could hear properly again, he said, "I haven't got all morning!" Wait, he was... anticipating it? Hm. Strange... And then his head was lopped off. I bit back another fretful gasp as the roaring was heard again. I picked up a few words, like, "Next" and "Prisoner". Then I found myself walking to the block, dreading what came next. I was forced into my knees, and then my head was placed on the block. I didn't dare look into the box. Instead I stared at the Imperial captain and yelled bravely, "To Oblivion with you!" And then, as a smirk crossed my face, it vanished. A dark shape soared across the sky. Oh... My... gods... It landed and roared, and once again, I could barely hear. It shouted, fogging my vision and making my head spin. I didn't waste any time standing up and rumbling backwards. I wasn't too confused to see that this was a dragon. A dragon... but they didn't exist...
I backed up, right into Ralof, and managed to hear him yell about how we had to make our way into the Keep. Well, fine by me! I dashed after him, my head returning to it's normal state. As we slammed the door, I saw a dark green argonian crouched over a woman with a bloodied arm, wiping gently at it with a piece of cloth from his robes. My jaw dropped open and I rushed over, stitches in my side. "U-Utadee!" I gasped joyfully. He looked up and his amber eyes instantly became when dear than they already were. "Oh Talos, they have you here?!" Ralf put a hand on my shoulder. "A reunion is always nice, but we've got some dragon outside, and we need to get moving. Take your friend and let's move along. Utadee looked fretfully at the woman, who smiled and waved to the stairs. "Go ahead." She coughed. He was so caring, even towards strangers. It was just a trait he had always had. I smiled and he returned it with a toothy grin, running up the stairs after us. As we neared the top, a man was already up there, beckoning to us. Utadee gasped and threw his arms out, stopping us in our tracks directly as multiple stones when flying and the wall crumbled down on the man, the dragon's head forced inside. It opened it's large maw and let a huge gust of burning flames out, destroying the man's body. I whimpered and shakily leapt over the hot rocks when the Dragon pulled back. Utadee shuddered and rubbed at his wrists. They were bleeding heavily, and I wasn't surprised. To throw his arms out he had needed to break the ropes, and that would've required a lot of force. I lightly touched my mouth with my hands, but Ralof gently shoved us forward. "Jump! We'll look at those wounds later! We need to go!" Jump... of course.
I took a deep breath and made a leap of faith, followed closely by Utadee who let out an agonizing hiss when his hands broke his fall. I hated seeing him in pain. My furry hands jumped out to grab his scaly ones and I pulled him up. He grinned, baring his fangs and we continued down the burning building. It was chaos outside. A man shoved a child next to a house and said, "Take care of the boy!" We approached him quickly as the Dragon burnt another Imperial soldier to a crisp. He saw us and yelled, "Still alive, prisoners? Follow me if you want to stay like that!" We looked at eachother warily. We really had no choice. We dashed across the rough, burnt ground, and I found myself shoved up against a wall with Utadee's arm pressing me against it. I didn't understand why until I looked up to see a giant Dragon claw positioned an inch from my nose. If I were to straighten up, it would stab right into my head. It breathed a burst of fire, and as it did so, I gasped. It spoke! "The Elder Scroll did not defeat me!" I must have a concussion... Dragons... talking... Dragons were crazy enough, but a talking dragon?!
He flew off to a different house and I was released, and quickly running after the man. I had picked up his name as Hadvar. We ran as fast as our legs could handle. Utadee and I would be faster, but our legs were bruised and sore, and there was no way I'd be able to run barefoot on the burnt gravel at such a fast pace. And then, the Dragon shouted again, causing me to cry out as a large burst of pain entered my ears, I covered them, and Utadee put his arm around me, leading me forward. Ralof was yelling something to Hadvar, but I didn't know what. But soon, they were both at a different keep, beckoning us towards them. I looked up at Utadee, and we both darted for who we thought was the right choice. Hello, Imperial scumbags. Looks like we're here to stay.