Caius never did enjoy thinking about death. He knew it happened; he witnessed it far too many times in his life for death to be a surprise for him. His mother, the other children on the streets, poor sods that wandered into the wrong alley late at night. Death followed him like a hungry dog. But it was a strange feeling, realizing his own death would soon be at hand.
As the wagon pulled into Helgen, the small town turned Imperial fortress, he looked down at his hands. The rope tying his wrists together was strong and almost new; nearly no strands were fraying. His weapons were gone. At the very least they let him keep his armor. He plucked a lockpick from within a fold of his leather boots. He wasn't planning on joining Death today.
He risked a glance up as he heard a ruckus. He noticed a small entourage of Thalmor jusicars along with a high-ranking Imperial officer. And between them was the emissary herself. Elenwynn examined the incoming wagons as though they contained skeevers instead of men. Caius lowered his head as she turned her gaze toward him. He didn't wish for her to become familiar with his face, not just yet. After all; he had a mission to complete.
The skooma-addicted nord began to panic, muttering rapid prayers to the divines under his breath. The Stormcloaks all had matching, dour expressions. It was quite easily the end of their rebellion. The ideals would live on, but without Ulfric to rile them, thereally would be little more than a slight tension, not a full out war. Caius risked a glance at Ulfric. He gazed back calmly into the Imperial's blue eyes. Watching. Examining. Trying to determine the reason he was on a cart with the nords, heading toward his death.
Caius, on the other hand, wondered how convienient it was that Ulfric Stormcloak was captured the moment Caius entered Skyrim, and the plan was orchistrated with help from the Thalmor. Which was equally strange; why would the Thalmor help with anything, even if it meant to end a civil war? Maybe the Thalmor are actually good people, he thought darkly, smirking at himself. What a stupid thought.
The wagon lurched to a stop, and the prisoners tensed in unison. Caius stared at the chopping block in the center of the square. Well, this was going to be interesting. They were all forced off the wagons and rounded up in small groups, at least four guards to each group, with a fifth that was checking off a list. Checking off the prisoners to make sure none somehow escaped. Typical Legion procedure.
The young nord Legionaire that was assigned to Caius' group glanced up at the Imperial, confusion plain on his face. "Who...are you?" he asked. He glanced over at his captain for a split second, before looking back to the Imperial.
In that split second, Caius thought of several responses, but decided to go with the simplest one. "I'm Mehrunes Dagon," he said bluntly. It earned him a smack on the back of the head from the nearest guard, right on the sore spot from earlier. "Ow! Fine. Caius. Not every punishment has to be on my poor skull!"
The nord guard looked at his list, then turned to his Captain. "He's...he's not on the list."
Caius opened his mouth to ask if he was free to go, but was interrupted by the captain herself. "He goes to the block, same as the others."
"That's hardly necessary," the thief began. A bolt of fear struck his heart. This was NOT how he hoped this would go. "I'd prefer to keep my skull attached to my neck."
She gazed back at him with cold eyes. "You shouldn't have been spying on something that wasn't your concern."
"It was hardly spying. More like...watching with disinterest." This time, Caius dodged the other guard's attempt at a backhand. The captain did not bother responding, rather letting the headsman know they were ready. The Nord guard paused to give Caius a sympathetic look before following.
There was a roar of...something...off in the distance. "What was that?!" a guard asked. "Probably just a bear," another responded. The hair on Caius' neck stood on edge. Unless bears in Skyrim were different from bears in Cyrodiil, that was most definitely not a bear. Nobody else seemed to be bothered by the bear-but-not-a-bear's roar. The executions began.
The first Stormcloak that knelt before the Headsman's axe died with dignity, or rather, with what dignity one could have bound and forced to have their head chopped off. Caius flinched as he stared at the pool of blood that quickly formed over the chopping block. He kept working with the lockpick, trying desperately and as inconspicuously as possible to fray the rope bindings. He was NOT going to die today.
"Next, the Imperial." The Captain's voice was still cold. Another roar responded to her before Caius could begin to protest. It was closer, this time. A lot closer. The Imperials and Stormcloaks both noticed this time, everyone seeming on edge. Except for the captain. "I said, next prisoner!"
"Come to the block, prisoner, nice and slow," the young nord legionair said softly. Caius glanced up at the archers above him on the ramparts of the fort. They all had arrows trained on him, in case he would rather have a showy death. He obeyed quietly, mind racing too fast with fear to think of a clever response. A guard forced him down onto his knees, neck touching the bloodstained chopping block. It was still warm. Caius watched the headsman raise his axe, too paralyzed to react.
Another roar, and then something large, and black, landed on top of the tower above Caius. It's massive landing shook the ground, causing the headsman to stumble. For a long, terrifying moment, the creature's glowing red eyes met Caius' light blue ones.
Then it opened its reptilian maw and...roared, or said something. Yelled, more like. The ground shook again and the clouds swirled. The wind picked up; instead of the cold Skyrim air, though, it was warm. Uncomfortably warm. The swirling clouds darkened. And then the first fireball descended. It struck the Headsman directly in the chest. It incinerated the poor man almost instantly.
The scent of burning hair and flesh assaulted Caius' nostrils, and he jerked away from the exploding embers. Fight or Flight response kicked in. He was not going to get incinerated and eaten by a...a...dragon. It was really the only word that came to mind in the chaos. Soldier and prisoner alike scrambled, trying to find a weapon to defend against such a beast. Thick black scales covered its body, and the red eyes watched with an intellect that made it more than just a mere animal. Caius had seen the Imperial emblem so many times; this creature had to be a dragon. No doubt about it.
He nearly collided with another Imperial as he ran. His thief instincts grabbed the dagger at the man's belt. Caius didn't feel remorse for disarming another person. Besides, he had a bow. Caius slipped the dagger between his bindings and felt a liberating slice as the rope cut. Freedom. Now all he had to do was not die by fireballs or stray arrows and he could slip away.
"Hey, you! Imperial!" The blond Stormcloak-Ralof; Caius vaguely remembered his name being checked off the list, shouted. The Stormcloaks were huddled within a guard tower. Caius sprinted to them, narrowly dodging another fireball. He stumbled into the doorway, dagger still clutched tightly in one hand.
"What in Oblivion is that-that THING!?" Caius panted.
"A dragon," a stormcloak whispered fearfully, yet there was a tint of awe lacing his voice as well. "But they're supposed to be legends!"
"Legends don't burn down buildings," a deep voice said, almost calm. It was one Caius had never heard before. He looked over to see Ulfric Stormcloak staring at them, gag removed. The tower walls trembled as the dragon roared and flew past them. "We need to move. NOW! Up the tower!"
Caius didn't need to be told twice, even by a supposed enemy. He followed them up the tower's winding stairs. Almost halfway up, however, the group of soldiers in front of him were suddenly thrown back down as the dragon's head smashed through the wall. Screams of pain and agony were heard.
The dragon's mouth opened again, and roared something else. Flames spewed from its massive maw, the heat making the air crackle. Once it was over, the dragon flew off, apparently more interested in catching groups of people out in the open than in the tight confines of a building. Caius looked up the stairs. "It's blocked off!" he shouted. "We can't go up."
"We have to go across," Ulfric said. He led them across a small wooden platform. There was another hole in the wall, and Caius saw the burning ruins of a building beside it. "Go," the Stormcloak leader said to him. Caius looked down. The house still looked sturdy. They could probably still land without worry of a collapse. Still, he hesitated. "We're right behind you." There was a split second where Caius mentally laughed at the fact the Stormcloaks were willing to follow a spy, but then jumped. He would do whatever he could to survive.
He landed hard on his feet. The impact jarred his entire being, and he grunted. Neither the wooden floor nor his bones shattered, though. He ran, not looking back at the Stormcloaks to see if they were following. He heard the dragon roar overhead, and he dropped down a hole in the floor.
Now he was back out on the ground. He watched the dragon snatch an archer from another tower, and Caius took his chance. He bolted from the burning house to a stone wall. He nearly ran into the young nord Legionaire that had showed sympathy to him. "Still alive, prisoner?" he asked. "Then follow me if you want to stay that way!"
Caius followed. The two of them probably had a better chance than a whole group of Stormcloaks. They ran to the fortress, and the Legionaire slowed as the Stormcloak Ralof ran to them, but stopped a short distance away. "Ralof, you traitor!" the Legionaire snarled, seeming to forget about the dragon that was terrorizing the town.
"I'm not the traitor here, Hadvar," Ralof said. "The Empire is the traitor! We're leaving, and there's nothing you can do to stop it!" He glanced at Caius. "Come with me, we can escape together!"
Hadvar looked at Caius as well. "You don't really believe him, do you! I can help you!" Without waiting for an answer as the dragon's roar sounded overhead, both men ran into a separate doorway.
Caius let out a groan of exasperation. As much as he personally disliked the Legion-they tended to get in the way of being a thief-he still had more respect for them than the rebellious Stormcloaks. He followed Hadvar into the fortress, and hopefully, to freedom.
A/N: This chapter took forever for me to write, and I'm not particularly happy about how it turned out. As I was going over the intro sequence (I had to look it up because I use the mod Random Alternate Start to skip the intro stuff), I realized that the Ralof/Hadvar part near the end was kind of stupid. I mean there's a freaking DRAGON flying around and they decide now's the time to have a petty little "omg you traitor" moment. And don't worry Stormcloak/Ralof fans. He'll be back :P
Next chapter: Riverwood and beyond!