Dragonsbane

Chapter 4

-Percy-

-Story-

Standing next to the soldier who had stood up for him, Hadvar, Percy looked about at the gathered soldiers, both Imperial and Stormcloak, as the General moved to address Ulfric. "Ulfric Stormcloak," the Imperial stated, thumbs hooked into his weapons belt as the aging man stared down his younger foe "there are some in Skyrim, some even here in Helgen, who might call you a Hero." The general's eyes turned stormy "A hero wouldn't murder his king and usurp his throne!" the man looked near to screaming with rage and Percy could see how the soldier managed to live to old age and still stay in the field "Not by steel, not by spell, and certainly not by the power of the voice. You caused this war! All the suffering that has been wrought is because of you. Every child who grows up without a parent and every parent that has to bury their child. But don't worry, they're all waiting for you in the afterlife and I'm sure they have 'welcome' planned for you." Turning to the executioner, the General gave the nod to begin.

Before the executioner could move to start, a distant roar echoed off the mountains. It drifted down to the execution square as everyone, imperial and Stormcloak, looked around in confusion. "What was that?" Hadvar asked, the soldier's eyes darting about, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Troll up in the mountains?" he suggested with a shrug "Those things can roar and who knows how far an echo can travel way up here.

"It's nothing that concerns us," the General ordered before glancing to the priestess "give them their last rights." At that he gained another notch of respect for the General for respecting his foes enough to give them such.

Stepping forward the priestess held her head high, arms aloft, as she intoned "As we command your souls to Atherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved-"

"For the love of Talos!" one of the Stormcloaks yelled angrily at the priestess, likely due to the comment of their being 'eight' divines "Shut up already and let's get this over with!"

"Very well." The priestess sniffed angrily, the woman clearly insulted at how the Stormcloak had treated the last rites.

"My Ancestors are smiling at me Imperial," the Stormcloak taunted with a sneer as he was forced to his knees at the block "can you say the same?"

"A whiny little traitor to his homeland?" Percy spoke up as the executioner slowly raised his axe, the Stormcloak at the block looking his direction "The only reason they would be smiling is that you won't be able to further shame their bloodline." The Stormcloaks' eyes widened in fury just as the axe came down and ended his life. A few more Stormcloaks were called forward and executed before the roar sounded again, this time sounding closer. Frowning he looked around for the source, no Troll would have been able to move fast enough for the echo to get that louder. Glancing to the sky he paled at the monstrosity that flew towards the city "Dragon!" he yelled out as everyone looked at him like he was insane before it landed with a thud on the tower that stood in front of him.

With a roar the Dragon made him and the others stagger back as the sky began to darken, ominous clouds swirling as meteors rained from above, crushing homes and people alike. "Soldiers!" the General ordered, the man getting to his feet as most of the Stormcloaks used the panic to bolt "Protect the citizens!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the Imperials started rounding up the citizens and guiding them away from Helgen, focusing on keeping them alive. He was disgusted when he saw some Imperials choosing to flee rather than stay and fight and happily surprised when some of the Stormcloaks did their best to protect the citizens rather than flee. Giving a war cry the executioner charged the dragon, axe raised high, only to be killed when the dragon swung its tail like a club, axe going one way and executioner's corpse another.

"General Tulius!" Hadvar rushed over to his commander "most of the civilians have been rounded up and are being taken away from here!"

"I've sent some soldiers into the keep to gather those there." Tulius nodded "Let's get everyone else out of here." Looking past the two soldiers he saw a Stormcloak, a knife buried in his side, glaring hatefully at the two imperials and moving towards them, an axe in hand. Recognizing the intent of the Stormcloak who was going unnoticed by the two Imperials he rushed into action. Grabbing the Executioner's axe as best he could in his chained hands Percy let out a battle cry and leapt over the two men, who had crouched at his yell, and swung the axe, beheading the Stormcloak.

"…I think he just earned his pardon." Hadvar told the General seriously as he rose to his feet.

"Agreed." The General nodded before pulling out a key and unlocking his chains as they fell to the ground. Rubbing his chaffed wrists, he nodded to the two men "Alright men," the General said seriously, treating Perseus as if he was one of the Imperial soldiers "I will aid the rest of our forces in getting the civilians out of here." A meteor thudded to the ground near them "You two get in the keep and get the rest of the soldiers in there out. There's an escape tunnel you can use to flee, it's bricked up at the end of the fort so just bash the wall in."

"Understood General!" Hadvar nodded with a salute before they started running towards the keep, the smell of burning flesh filling their nostrils as they wove their way between burning buildings and flaming boulders. Getting closer to the keep he saw the blond Nord from the cart, Ralof, struggling to protect a civilian who lay on the ground, her leg injured. In front of them was the giant dragon who was toying with them in amusement. Growling angrily, he looked around and found an iron hand axe.

Hefting the weapon, he called out "Hey!" as the dragon turned just as he threw the weapon, catching the beast in the eye as it let out an agonized shrieking scream, flailing its head around, the axe imbedded in its face, blood gushing out from the wound. "Into the keep!" he ordered Ralof and the civilian woman with a yell, as he and Hadvar ducked under the flailing dragon's thrashing tail.

"Now!" Hadvar yelled out, pulling him along when the more experienced soldier saw an opening. Sliding under the Dragon's belly they got up quickly and kept running, entering into the keep through the same door as Ralof and the civilian before slamming it shut, the sound of stone collapsing on the other side signaling that they couldn't leave. Not even pausing to catch his breath Hadvar drew his blade and pointed it at Ralof who sat on the ground, staring at his hands that were soaked with blood.

"He fled." Ralof said softly before either he or Hadvar could speak "He…he just fled."

"Who?"" Hadvar asked confused "Ulfric?"

"He told me he was doing this to liberate Skyrim." Ralof's hands began to shake, tears falling from the Nord's eyes as the man looked utterly crushed "That his was a mission to better the lives of his people…that he would do whatever it took to protect them from any threat…but he ran."

"Ulfric Stormcloak is a coward." Hadvar said seriously but the sword was lowered, no longer pointed at the near broken man who was on the receiving end of an awkward hug from the civilian woman he had saved. "Before his stupid rebellion the Empire was more than willing to look the other way on Talos Worship, but Ulfric drew the eyes of the Thalmor here. He is the reason that Talos worship is so harshly punished as it is. He doesn't want to protect people, he wants war." With a pained cry Ralof threw an axe at the wall, burying his face in his hands as he began to sob. His entire world view, what he had sworn his life to, being destroyed before his eyes.

"Ralof…" Hadvar sheathed his sword and knelt down before the man Perseus assumed was once his friend "look at me." The grieving man did so "You have been betrayed, yes. Ulfric is a traitorous cur, yes. But your intensions were good. You wanted to protect the people of Skyrim, you can still do that! I'll convince the General to pardon you, maybe have you assigned to someone to keep an eye on you until he says otherwise. But you can still live your life!"

Ralof's eyes hardened and he clasped arms with Hadvar "Thank you…old friend." The two rose, brothers once more "And when I see Ulfric again I'll bury my axe in his skull."

"There's the Ralof I once called friend." Hadvar grinned "Come on, there are some supplies in these chests. Most of it is basic armor confiscated from bandits sadly." Nodding he and Ralof started getting armed, the blond Nord taking some basic fur armor and a pair of iron axes. He on the other hand took a set of iron armor and the executioner's axe, mentally grateful that all armor in Skyrim had a natural magic to resize for whoever wore it. The civilian woman, Nelsi, wore some simple leather armor and a dagger.

"Everyone ready?" Hadvar asked, taking a key and unlocking the gate as he took point, Hadvar at his side while Ralof stayed protectively near Nelsi. Passing through a large circular room he saw nothing but a single Stormcloak corpse who was bleeding from a myriad of wounds, the door at the other end wide open, the lock destroyed and a ruined axe nearby.

"Looks like company up ahead." He grunted, hefting the axe and preparing himself for a fight.

"Looks like it." Ralof said, the man clearly torn about fighting those who were once comrades. The pattern continued, the next room showing several chests, drawers, and barrels all smashed and looted. Up ahead though he heard the sounds of fighting and the familiar crackle of magic.

"The torture rooms." Hadvar said, running to the door, the rest of them following suit "gods I wish we didn't need these." Getting down there he saw several Stormcloaks fighting an elderly man shooting lightning as well as a younger man in imperial armor. Giving a yell he leapt down the last bit of the stairs, swinging his axe at the nearest Stormcloak who grunted as he tore into the man's side, blood spurting from the wound. Copying his war cry Hadvar and Ralof charged into battle, the pair quickly falling into wha the assumed was an old routine as they fought back to back. Hearing a grunt behind him he turned to see that Nelsi had stabbed one of the Stormcloaks in the back when the man had tried to take him from behind.

"Well, you boys arrived at a good time." The torturer said, uncaring about the death and destruction around them, calmly kicking the head of a corpse as he walked past. Despite their allegiance he wasn't a fan of such insult to the defeated, Ralof looking upset as well.

"What are you doing down here, don't you know the keep is under attack?" Hadvar demanded of the two.

"Yes, some fellows mentioned something like that earlier. I told them they were either crazy or stupid, I mean a dragon attack, really? Then left after I ordered them to stop wasting my time." The old man said with a derisive snort.

"You've ignored the orders of the general." Hadvar said with a scowl "Either come or be left behind."

"I'll wait and tell the General about you fools trying to stir up trouble." The old torturer said, moving to the caged supply room. Scowling he looked around, finding a pack with some supplies and lock picks as he picked the lock to a cage with a corpse in it, breaking a few of the picks in the attempt but he managed to get the robes and gold. The spell tome was too damaged to bother taking.

"Come on," Hadvar said with a scowl, the torturer's assistant deciding to go with them "let's leave the old man to his own arrogance." Moving down the hall they found the already bashed in wall but apart from the howl of the wind it was silent as the grave. Following the revealed tunnel, they entered into a large chamber filled with dead bodies, Stormcloaks and imperials alike as two groups had met, fought, and killed each other. Horrified at the extent of death Nelsi covered her mouth and clutched Ralof as they moved through, taking what equipment they could, including a couple bows, one of which was given to him and the other to Nelsi. Continuing on, Nelsi proving her aim by killing several spiders with her arrows and Ralof his strength by killing a bear, they exited the tunnel back into the sunlight of Skyrim, the dragon flying away in the distance.

AN: No Olympus bit this time.