Author's note: I didn't mean for this to take a year and, as with chapter 2 (this is becoming a pattern), I apologise to any of the 5 (?) people who are actually following this story (thanks!), but you are probably long gone or don't care anymore, which I don't blame you for at all. I'm a piece of shit and so much stupid crap has happened in the past year, I basically forgot this story existed for over 6 months due to dealing with the other stuff going on. But writing has become a weird form of therapy for me, so on we go /o/. I'm going to raise the rating to M at this point due to some language and some slightly graphic descriptions (and perhaps some other adulty stuff sometime in the future, idk), just to be safe. So if you're affected by anything like that you should maybe pass on this one. Thank you and enjoy!

He leaned against the door until the angry shouts and cursing from outside had died down, Ralof gave one final kick at the door before storming away and everything was silent, Hadvar breathed a small sigh of relief and turned around. We had entered a large, stone room which was obviously used as guards' quarters but it did not feel very lived-in. The general air felt damp and musty, but refreshingly cool after being in the heat of the fire outside. The only light source came from a few candle stands, as they flickered shadows danced eerily on the walls. Green moss was growing on the stone floor. Bare wooden tables and chairs were placed in dark corners and a few hard-looking beds stood to the side, the doorway leading to the rest of the building blocked with a door of metal bars. The place felt a little like a dungeon, but seemed much sturdier than the small keep I had hidden in with Ralof and the others.

'Looks like we're the only ones who made it' said Hadvar in a low whisper, his voice echoing around the stone walls. He paused, 'was that really… a dragon? The bringers of the End Times?'

'I don't know…' I answered uneasily, 'I don't know what to think anymore'

I wanted to say no and laugh at how absurd the very idea was, that there was some other explanation. But that beast had stared down at me earlier clear and real as anything. A dragon.

'Whatever it is, we'll have to get the word out once we get to safety' said Hadvar. He began to slowly pace the room, tugging nervously at a small clasp on his armour. 'Gods! This is the worst thing that could happen to Skyrim right now, what with the war!' he paced faster 'I must return to my family, our town is completely defenceless! I must alert Jarl Bulgruuf so he can send more guards!'

'Gods!' he exclaimed again, his head buried in his hands. He stopped pacing suddenly and turned to me, pushing sweaty brown hair out of his eyes.

'Sorry' he smiled shakily, 'you don't expect things like this when you take a small job as town guard, just brawls mostly, bandits at the worst. This was supposed to be the easy job, I didn't even like being involved with the executions. Oh- sorry about that by the way'

'It's ok' I said quickly 'wasn't your fault- thanks for getting me out'

'Not at all, you're no criminal. I could tell that as soon as I saw you, executing a tiny little thing like you! This war's driving us all to madness, I say. Other guards'd never listen though, they only care about keeping to the schedule. S'pose that dragon was a stroke of luck for you, huh.'

I let out a small laugh, 'I guess, in the weirdest way possible.'

'We should keep moving,' He continued, taking a small dagger out of his belt. 'Let me see if I can get those bindings off'

He gently took hold of my bound hands and began slicing through the thick rope. The dragon's roar travelled eerily overhead as it flew once more across the town. There were no longer sounds of crashes or people screaming, or guards yelling.

'I hope some others made it out ok' I said, glancing round at the door. 'Couldn't Ralof have come with us? He could help us fight if we ran into trouble'

Hadvar laughed grimly, still trying to hack through the bindings 'It's not that simple, Prison- sorry, you said your name was Luna didn't you? No, likelihood is that is we do run into other survivors, they'll be more Stormcloaks- there were a lot of prisoners on those carriages and the majority of them were rebels. Believe me, if we got into any kind of fight with them, Ralof would not be fighting on our side- there you go!'

The dagger cut through the last few threads of the rope, which slowly, finally, slid off my wrists like a bristly snake and coiled onto the stone floor. Angry red marks were left on my skin, my hands tingled as blood started to flow back into the veins.

'Thanks' I said, rubbing my wrists gratefully.

'You should find some armour, a good weapon too' said Hadvar, 'little lass like you like you won't last five minutes out there without some kind of protection. Take a look around, there should be plenty of gear to choose from. I'm going to see if I can get something for these burns.'

He walked off across the room, wincing at the pain from the large burns up his arms. I glanced over at a nearby table where a small leather satchel had been emptied, scattering several gold coins across the surface. I hastily gathered them back up inside the satchel and fastened the clasp. Well, all my things had been taken by the guards, and I highly doubted anyone would be coming back for these. I continued around the room, still picking up coins discarded on the floor and on shelves and slipping them into the satchel. One of the guards in here had been very careless, I must have accumulated at least 25 coins- enough for a few sweet rolls and a bottle of good mead once I got out.

Making a mental note to ask Hadvar where the nearest inn was, I opened one of the large chests stood at the end of the beds. Inside was some worn-looking Imperial armour, along with some old leather boots and a small iron sword. I fastened the armour over my prisoner's rags, it was ill-fitting and hung off me, one side sliding down my shoulder awkwardly. I tugged it up impatiently before carefully sliding my painful feet into the boots, which felt spacious but fit better than expected. Fortunately this seemed to be a woman's set of armour, but I had to keep reminding myself that I was in the province of Nords now and I was small even for a Breton.

'Ah! You look a picture!' boomed Hadvar as he marched back across the room carrying two small bottles of red potion, chuckling heartily.

I scowled, tugging the armour up my stupid boney shoulder again, 'it's a miracle it fits at all'

'It'll do the job until you can find something better,' he shrugged lightly, downing what was left of one of the small bottles before handing me the other. 'Here, you look like you could use some too'

I took the bottle dubiously.

'Potion of Healing,' he explained. 'Tastes like a skeever's arse, but really hits the spot when you're hurt'

Perhaps he had a point, the cut across his forehead and the burns looked much fainter, his eyes were a lot brighter than before and he seemed lighter in mood, as if a terrible weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Thinking that any potion that could lighten the mood of a dragon attack was definitely a potion worth trying, I swallowed half the bottle in two gulps. It had treacly texture and although was one of the most bitter things I had ever tasted, but it left a smooth, warm aftertaste which spread slowly throughout my body. It was like having the softest silk pass over every inch of my skin, healing it as it went. The red marks left on my wrists by the bindings slowly disappeared, leaving the skin smooth and pale once more, my head was suddenly painless and my thoughts became much clearer, my knees and feet ached ached a lot less and I found it easier to breathe. I suddenly felt warm and calm.

'There, that's brought a bit of colour back into you' said Hadvar. 'Let's keep moving, that thing's still out there. I think.'

Another muffled roar came from outside, as if in reply.

Hadvar made for the metal gate at the other end of the room. I slipped the remaining potion into my satchel which I swung over my shoulders. I grasped the sword in my hand and followed.

Hadvar tugged at the chain hanging from the wall and the iron gate which slid down into the ground with a deafening grinding sound.

'This way' said Hadvar, moving into the dark corridor outside.

The way was pitch black but for shafts of light coming through another metal gate at the end. We crept along slowly, our feet making faint squelching sounds on the damp, gritty ground. As we moved forward I quickly became aware of faint, frantic voices which echoed eerily down the stone corridor. Hadvar stopped dead in front of me just as we reached the gate.

'Hear that?' He gasped, barely audible. 'Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them'.

As he took hold of the rusty chain on the wall to open the gate, I grasped my sword ever tighter.

Three Stormcloaks, two males and a female, stood at the other side of a circular stone room, deep in discussion. They spun around as the metal gate ground open. Before anyone could speak, the tall, muscular female soldier was running towards us, brandishing a small axe.

'Death to the Empire!' She screamed

'If you want to die, so be it!' yelled Hadvar, quickly whipping out his sword and meeting her axe just as it came within a few inches of his chest. The woman lifted the axe again, her eyes alight with fury. But Hadvar was too quick for her, before I realized it he had swung his sword out of its defensive position and into her exposed neck in a blur of steel and crimson red. The woman let out a gargled scream and stumbled backwards onto the worn rug, where she lay motionless.

'Shit.' I gasped as I watched a pool of blood expand around the woman's head like some grotesque halo.

The dark-haired male Stormcloak let out a fierce, animal-like cry which rang out across the silent stone keep as he pelted across the room toward Hadvar, whose sword he met with a deafening clang before they began to fight furiously.

The younger, fair-haired soldier followed suit, leaping towards me and drawing a small knife which I ducked out of the way of just as it swung close to my throat. I raised my sword to strike him but he quickly grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, I heard the sword clatter to the ground as he shoved me against the wall.

'Not quick enough.' he growled into my ear. I felt the cold metal of the knife biting into the side of my neck. My mind rushing, I desperately reached up the damp stone in front of me with my free hand and blasted a quick flame spell behind my shoulder. I heard the man cry out in pain and felt his grip on me loosen as he let go of my arm and fell backward. I spun around to see him writhing on the ground, his screaming head engulfed in flames until after what seemed like the longest time he fell silent and moved no more. I slumped against the wall, staring blankly. The flames disappeared instantly as if blown out by a swift gust of wind, leaving the man's face blackened and smouldering. I had never used that spell on a person before.

'Impressive' nodded Hadvar approvingly as he strode up to me, his armour and face splattered in blood. The dark-haired soldier now lay face-down upon the flagstone alongside his female comrade.

I opened my mouth to answer but could only manage to simply shake my head.

'You alright?' Hadvar asked gently.

'I killed him' I said in a considerably more high-pitched voice than I would have liked, still staring at the charred body.

'You acted in self-defence,' he replied firmly, giving me a serious look. 'And he was would have killed you just the same if you hadn't. This is a war, Luna. It's them or us, understand? They won't go easy on you because you're a girl, or because you're just a kid, or because it's not fair. This isn't fair, none of it is. So don't go easy on them.'

I steeled myself up and nodded, trying to get the image of the agonized enflamed face out of my head. 'Ok.'

'But you did good there' he remarked, 'I'd forgotten how skilled Bretons were with magic. Do you know any more spells?'

'A few ice ones' I shrugged, my mother taught us to use flames for lighting fires in an emergency, scaring away wolves and stuff like that. Never thought I'd be using it on a knife-wielding maniac.' I laughed shakily.

'That's how all the great mages start out, I'm sure.' Hadvar chuckled. 'Anyway, we'd better quickly take whatever we need and get going' He stooped over the body of dark-haired man and started rifling through the leather pouches on his belt.

'Ok' I said uncertainly, 'I guess they won't miss these'

I picked up the burned man's small dagger off the ground and tucked it inside my belt.

'That's the spirit' said Hadvar, extracting a small bag of gold.

We moved deeper into the keep, winding through the maze of dark passageways, following the endless flickering torches, listening cautiously for more soldiers. Eventually we came to a long hall with a shaft of light shining under a door at the end. Distinct voices could be heard coming from the room, one weak and nasally and the other deeper and gravelly. I stopped dead. 'Stormcloaks?' I gasped

Hadvar smiled grimly and shook his head. 'Worse'.

We reached the door and Hadvar pushed it open with a creak, behind it was a large, bright room. Three large cages stood against the wall and rusty shackles hung from the ceiling. On the ground there lay four dead soldiers.

'The torture room' Hadvar muttered 'Gods, I wish we didn't need this.'

'Who goes there?' said the nasally voice. An old man was stooping over one of the corpses, he straightened up and stared at us, eyes gleaming under his leather hood.

'You fellows happened along just in time' he grinned wickedly. 'These boys seemed a bit upset at how I've been entertaining their comrades.' he indicated the bodies in the cages. 'I'm sure more will come if you wait long enough.'

'Don't you even know what's going on?' said Hadvar shortly, 'a dragon is attacking Helgen!'

The old man snorted 'A dragon? Please. Don't make up nonsense.'

'Dragon?' said another, deeper voice. A tall, dark-haired man emerged from the door leading to a small storeroom carrying a crate of sharp-looking metal instruments. 'That would explain those awful noises earlier.'

'Rubbish.' the old man spat at him. 'You are a fool, I've baited traps for skeevers less gullible than you. Dragons! What's next? Bodies resurrecting themselves?' He kicked one of the corpses as if to prove the point.

'You both need to come with us' said Hadvar, 'we need to get out'.

The man rounded on him. 'You have no authority over me, boy!'

He stared from Hadvar to me and then back at his assistant behind him and shook his head. 'Youngsters today! No wonder the world's in such a mess' he muttered, shuffling off towards his potions table in the corner.

'Didn't you hear me?' yelled Hadvar after him, 'I said the keep is under attack! You can't stay!'

'Forget the old man' said the assistant, shoving the crate of instruments into a side table. 'I'm coming with you. Just let me get my things' he disappeared back into the storeroom.

I wondered over to one of the cages, gingerly stepping around the Stormcloak corpses as I went. Inside there lay a body dressed in what looked like mage's robes, I wondered sadly if he was ever a threat to the Empire or whether he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time like I was, but didn't get so lucky. Next to him lay two green potion bottles and a small bag of coins.

'Dammit' I cursed, trying in vain to reach it through the bars.

Hadvar walked over and peered through,

'Does it open?' he suggested, giving the door a shake.

'Don't bother with that, lost the key ages ago' said the old man, not looking up from his potion. 'Poor fellow screamed for weeks' he chuckled darkly to himself.

'Either of you good at picking locks?'

The assistant had reappeared with a knapsack on his back and a small wood axe tucked under his belt, he began rummaging through the box of metal instruments on the table.

'I'll give it a shot' I shrugged, faintly remembering a time in what now seemed like another life when I was 13 and had broken into my father's safe to break out what was to be my first bottle of mead…

This flimsy padlock didn't look too much more complicated.

The assistant handed me a small leather pouch full of metal picks and a small wrench. 'Might as well keep those' he said, 'can't see them being any use around here anymore.'

I knelt in front of the lock and inserted the wrench, turning it to the right inside the rusty old keyhole. I put my ear up to the lock heard a small click. There was no give.

'Nope.' I muttered, turning it to the left this time. Tick tick. It felt much looser this way.

'Gotcha.'

I then inserted a pick, feeling for the little pins in the top of the lock. I raked the pick across the pins several times until I could feel they were all pushed upwards.

'Sure, take all my things. Please.' Remarked the torturer from his potions table.

'Shh! Let her concentrate.' Snapped Hadvar.'

'Got it!' I said triumphantly as I turned the wrench and the padlock opened.

Hadvar and the assistant both clapped, the torturer snorted over his pestle and mortar. I replaced the wrench and pick in the pouch which I tucked into my satchel. I opened the door and picked up the potion bottles labelled Stamina.

'Here- one each.' I gave one to Hadvar. 'And for you, for the lock picks'. I thrust the small bag of coins into the assistant's hands.

'Thanks!' he said, examining the shiny gold inside. 'But there's really no need-'

I shook my head, 'I'm gonna have a lot of fun with these, and they were yours. So take some of the proceeds.'

'They were mine, actually!' Objected the torturer, slamming his mortar down on the table.

'Shall we go?' said the assistant brightly, ignoring his master.

As we continued further through the keep, I noticed the walkways became narrower and darker. The ground felt damp and earthy under my feet and plants grew wild up the walls.

'Ah!' Said Hadvar over his shoulder to us, 'seems we're finally getting towards the exit, we'll be out of here soon enough.'

'That,' I grinned 'is the best thing I've heard all day.'

I breathed deeply, I could almost smell the fresh air outside of this musty place. I didn't want anything more than to be away from Helgen.

'Don't relax just yet.' He said, 'I'm not sure exactly where this goes, or what's lies there. These escape tunnels were only put in place for situations like, well, situations like this I suppose. No one's had need for them since they were built.'

'A prisoner escaped down here once, actually. Years ago now.' Said the assistant behind me in a low voice, 'We thought it better to send guards to wait for him at the other side than go after him ourselves. Waited there for hours, they did. He never came out. Never came back our way either. Don't know what happened to him.'

'Creepy.' I shivered slightly.

'I take it he was unarmed?' said Hadvar, 'could have come across any manner of creatures down here, spiders for example. They can easily kill you if you're defenceless. There are 3 of us and we're armed. Plus Luna has her fire thing. We'll be ok.'

'I don't know' said the assistant, 'I've heard some strange noises coming from here when the rest of the keep is silent, moaning and howling. Not like a spider.'

'I don't care if there are 100 spiders, draugr, demons, ghosts. Whatever.' I said determinedly, shaking off the chills running up my spine. 'I'm getting out of this gods-forsaken place.'

We had moved out of the tunnel and into a large, airy cave with a waterfall at the end. Just then, we heard a huge roar and a crash coming from back at the keep, followed by a lot of yelling and cursing from the old torturer.

We all froze stiff.

'The dragon's still attacking?!' I exclaimed.

'Gods, I shouldn't have left him up there' cried the assistant. He started walking quickly back towards the tunnel.

'I'd better go and see to the old man.' He called to us behind him, 'Maybe we'll catch up later. Good luck!'

'You too!' I called after him.

'I thought the dragon had gone' I said to Hadvar once the man had disappeared into the darkness.

'So did I' he said slightly shakily. 'But it still seems to be focused on Helgen, which works in our favour. These caves come out around a mile outside town.'

'Good. I think if I ever see Helgen again it'll be way too soon'

'Hah. Me too.'

'How many others do you think made it out?' I asked as we made our way out of the cave and into a room with a lake and rickety wooden bridges built across it.

Hadvar shook his head sadly. 'I don't know. Hopefully some others did, but you saw the damage and the victims for yourself. There are only three ways out of Helgen: the gate you came through, which was shut right after you were brought in, the back gate which is almost always locked and only used for cargo. And then there's this way, which not many know about.'

We crossed the last bridge in silence and headed towards an opening in the wall.

'I think the dragon smashed part of the town wall though' he said hopefully. 'Maybe some people escaped that way. I hope Ralof got out.'

'Ralof? You were going to kill him!'

Hadvar smiled sadly. 'I wouldn't. There's… history there, he was my best friend since we were cubs. Grew up in the same village, close as anything. That is until the war started, and war changes everything. If your friend's on the opposing side then that's it- you don't speak anymore. You may even kill each other if you meet in battle. My heart sank when I saw his name on the execution list.'

'Ouch.' I said. 'I'm sorry, sounds like this war's really messed things up.'

'Huh. You don't know the half of it. It's ruined people, made them homeless, made orphans out of children, split up entire families. And now a dragon on top of everything else. I feel like the gods are angry at us.'

We entered a much darker cave which was filled with a strong, sickening smell which almost made me wretch.

'What is that?!' I exclaimed, covering my nose.

'Hadvar shook his head, also covering his nose. 'Unless I'm mistaken, this is the last cave before the exit!'

'Then let's exit as quick as possible!'

We made for the small shaft of light at the end of the chamber, as we got closer we heard a small grunting sound coming from the wall to the side of us. We stopped dead. Suddenly, Hadvar gasped and pulled me behind a large rock.

'Look!' he hissed. I squinted at where he was pointing, I could just about make out the form of a large, sleeping animal. It was snoring.

'What is it?' I asked in a whisper

'Bear.' he replied 'I know the stench anywhere, I just hoped it was out hunting. We're going to have to sneak past.'

I looked over towards the exit, it was still several yards away and right in the bear's path. I turned desperately back towards where we were, it was barely lit by the light from the exit. Something was glistening near the wall behind us. I squinted again. Two Stormcloak bodies were slumped lifelessly against the wall, one of them still grasping his bow. An old skeleton lay at their feet.

I took a sharp intake of breath at the sight, Hadvar turned around.

'Oh no' he whispered, 'well, now we know what became of the torturer's missing prisoner.' He indicated the skeleton. Just then, the beast stirred and let out a loud groan. It was getting up.

'Oh crap!' hissed Hadvar, ducking lower behind the rock.

'No way!' I whispered exasperatedly, 'no way did I survive a dragon attack today just to get killed by a damned bear. No fucking way.'

I crawled quickly as low as I could towards the bodies.

'Luna NO! Hadvar exclaimed, 'what are you doing?'

As I reached them, I realised that the glistening I had seen on the wall was blood; the soldiers had been thrown against the rock with some force. Strips of flesh had been torn from their bones and a pool of shining red had formed around them.

I put my hand over my mouth and gingerly removed the wooden bow from the man's clasped hand with the other. I then undid the buckle fastening the quiver of arrows to his back and lifted them over his head. Items in hand, I shuffled back behind the rock on my arms and knees.

'What in Oblivion…?' breathed Hadvar.

'My Pa taught me how to hunt Sabre Cats once.' I whispered, 'Bears are pretty similar, right?'

I removed an arrow from the quiver and placed it in the bow. Peering around the rock, I could see the creature moving around slowly. An easy target if I got it right. I pulled back the string and aimed at the neck, the weakest point. Silently praying to every god there was, I released it.

Thwack.

The bear let out a sharp, gargled roar of pain before it slumped over and laid there motionless, as if asleep again.

'Sorry, bear.' I breathed out meekly, lowering my bow. I had never enjoyed hunting very much.

Hadvar let out a snort.

'What?' I said slightly reproachfully.

'Unbelievable' he said, giggling, 'That was a shot in a million, you just killed a full-grown bear with one arrow, in almost pitch black conditions! Some of the finest soldiers I know would have trouble with that. And all you can say is "sorry, bear"!'

'Apologies for the lack of witty one-liners, I thought killing an unforeseen giant bear would be impressive enough' I said drily, but I couldn't help but grin slightly. I got up and placed the large bow over my shoulder and fastened the quiver around my chest.

'And I'm sorry to burst your bubble,' I continued as we made for the small shaft of light in the wall 'but that was a fluke. Had to be.'

Hadvar shook his head, 'aiming a bow like that takes skill, fluke or not. Legion'd kill for talent like that, with some training. Plus the magic on top of that. Your parents taught you well.'

'Yeah' I said sadly, before forcing my mind off the subject of my home and family. Not yet.

The exit to the cave was a small gap in the rocks, raised slightly above the ground from where we were standing. I stood on tip-toes and placed my hands on the exit, I took deep breaths, smelling the fresh, cold air. So welcome after the heat of dragon fire, the damp mustiness of the underground tunnels, the foul stench of the cave. Hadvar hoisted me up. I scrambled out of the narrow gap, clawing at the cold, earthy soil outside, before finally wriggling free of the rocks and rolling out the small bank outside the cave. I sat up and stared in awe, blinking rapidly as my eyes adapted to the shining sun after the darkness. The view was breath-taking. A wide landscape spread out before me, hundreds of huge pine trees covered in snow lined the uneven, rocky path which sloped down from the cave and beyond further than I could see. Huge, white mountains stood in the distance, they surrounded everything in view, spreading right out to the horizon. A gentle, icy breeze blew onto my face and white snowy clouds hung low in the sky and a light mist floated softly over the valley. A few birds were tweeting happily nearby. You'd never believe this was the same land a cataclysmic dragon attack had just happened, not a mile away.

'Welcome to Skyrim' said Hadvar, who followed close behind me.

We were out. We were finally out.

Author's note (again): Thanks so much to anyone who read through this and I hope you enjoyed, I didn't mean to write this much but once I started I just kept writing. If anyone's got any issues with the lock picking part I'd really like to hear them, since the only reference I used was a Wikihow article and I'm not even sure if they had this style of lock in the medieval times/whatever time period Skyrim is supposed to be based on. So if any of you lock picking/history nerds wanna point out my inaccuracies I'd be more than happy to make corrections! I'm not sure when chapter 4 will be along since I haven't even started with it and I'm doing my computer course and job-hunting on top of personal shit, but I'll try not to make it another year. Whatever happens I am not abandoning this story however crappy it is.

Thanks again

-Jas x