Hadvar stared at Will, waiting for him to elaborate. Will opened his mouth to begin, but was interrupted by the dragon's loud roars and the shaking walls.

"No time for explanations, Will. We need to get out of here!" They ran over to the side of the room opposite the door they came in. There was a passage that way, taking them farther into the keep. Will stopped when an iron door blocked the way. Next to it hung down an iron ring on a metal chain, probably leading to a mechanism for opening the door. Will briefly wondered how that worked. That wasn't the reason he stopped, though. Just on the other side of the door, two Skandians- no, Nords- were standing and resting, probably just having arrived from the dragon fight. One was urging the other, the one sitting on the ground, to get up and keep moving. The sitting Nord replied that she just needed another minute. Hadvar crept up next to him, surveying the situation.

"Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them." He mused to himself.

"Not likely." replied Will. "If your Nords are like my Skandians, the minute we walk out there, they'll attack. We need a different approach." He stood, pulled down the hood on his cloak, strung hies bow, and beckoned for Hadvar to open the door. HE shrugged, pulled the chain, and the gate began to rise. Will stepped out slowly, keeping his face shadowed, and his stance menacing. The Stormcloaks reacted quickly, jumping up and questioning him as to who he was. Will slowly turned his head to look at them, and nocked an arrow. The Stormcloaks paused, eying Will warily. When he raised the bow, the Stormcloaks began to worry.

"Place your weapons on the ground, slowly," Will said in a bored tone, "or you'll be a pincushion." One of the Stormcloaks, not impressed by the threat, hefted up his ax. Before he could even hold it upright, though, Will had an arrow in the haft, just above his fingers. Another arrow was instantly nocked. "Don't test me." He said, steel in his voice. Both Stormcloaks, now properly terrified and confused with this new marksman, placed their axes down on the cobbled ground. Satisfied that they were properly scared, Will called over to Hadvar. He came into the room, impressed.

"Tie their hands up." He commanded Hadvar. The imperial quickly circled around behind the Stormcloaks, binding their hands again. He picked up their weapons and dragged them over to Will. As he did, Will relieved the tension on his bow, replaced the arrow in his quiver, and looked down at the ax. "A shame to waste an arrow on this." He said, motioning to the crude weapon. Will looked back up to his prisoners. He went over and grabbed the knife and sheath off of the man, and told them to go to the table at one side of the room. The Stormcloaks sat in the chairs around said table and were told to not move. Hadvar went over to the gate on one side of the room. Using a key, he unlocked the gate and beckoned for Will to follow. Will glanced back to the Stormcloaks.

Someone will find them, eventually Will decided. Following Hadvar, he went through the gate, which Hadvar locked behind him.

"Well, that was quite something." Hadvar was talking to Will as they made their way down the passage. Will shrugged.

"Rangers are very good at intimidation." Will replied with a smile. "It comes with the job."

"What was your role, back in your kingdom I mean?"

"The Rangers policed the land, protecting the citizens and upholding the law. Among other roles." Will was uneasy sharing all of his secrets for now. They needed to focus on escaping the keep and avoiding the dragon, as well as any more Stormcloaks. They reached a section of the passage that had a door on their left, but still continued forward. Before they could turn either way, there was a large rumble, and the passage caved in, just past the door.

"Damn. That dragon doesn't give up easy." They turned to the door and entered. Inside was a storehouse, having a few barrels against a wall, as well as some furniture and rugs. Also, two more stormcloaks. These ones immediately began charging Will and Hadvar. They seemed to be in a beserker rage, unable to be reasoned with. Suddenly, there was a low twang filling the air, and an arrow protruded out of the chest of the Stormcloak on the right. He slumped to the ground as his comrade continued to charge forward. Hadvar went forward to meet him, bringing up his sword sideways to block the overhead swing from the Stormcloak. As the Nord staggered back from the resistance, Hadvar brought his sword into the left side of the Stormcloak, digging through his armor and cutting into his side. The Stormcloak tipped over to his side and stumbled a few steps to the right, axe limp in his hand. Hadvar quickly followed his blow by bringing his sword in an upward slash, digging a large gash into the Stormcloak's chest. Already unbalanced, the Stormcloak quickly hit the ground, dead. Breathing heavily, he turned back to Will, who was casually holding his bow at his side.

"You could have helped." Hadvar said, sarcasm in his voice.

"You seemed like you had in under control. I gave you some space, is all." Will smiled to him and looked around.

"This is an imperial storehouse. Look inside those barrels for some potions. We'll need them." Will looked back at him, a look of disbelief on his face. "Let me guess. You don't have potions in your land?" Will shook his head. "Well, that's your are wonderful here. Imagine a liquid, that when drunken, will instantly heal any cuts, bruises, or even broken bones."

"Interesting. Sounds quite useful." Will said, interesting. He thought about Malcolm, the healer living in Grimsdell Woods, and thought that he wold love this.

"Anyway, there are three different types of potions. Health potions, which obviously heal you, Stamina potions, which restore your energy, and Mana potions, which restore your mana." Will turned to him again.

"Mana? As in magic?" Hadvar nodded. "That explains the imperialism in the courtyard." Will would need to ask about that later, but for now,

"Lets go."

-AN-

Wow, has this edition given me grief. First I was sick and unable to write it, then it doesn't publish when I tell it to. Well, it's out now, at least, so there's that.

I tried to make this one a bit longer to make up for missing a week, but the ending was a bit lack-luster for me. I just had to hurry to publish it quickly. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this small endeavour into Helgen Keep!

-A/N-