Serana
"Stick close." Torbin told me as we marched
Ralof had brought me a standard iron sword, it didn't appear special at all but it was better than a dagger. That, at least, Torbin and I could agree on. I needed his help but I felt this whole battle was a waste of time. We needed to get to the Dawnguard and get started on finding a Moth Priest, why couldn't he see we had more pressing issues than the war?
"Sentries." Hestida nodded in the distance as horns began to sound
I saw people scrambling out of the bushes and tree lines in front of us, running backwards and blowing horns. It was soon, however, drowned out by the approaching Stormcloak army beating their weapons against their shields and yelling curses at the retreating scouts.
According to Torbin, there would be no fight at Shor's Stone. He seemed to think the Empire would leave behind only a small force to ambush and delay us along the way while the bulk of their garrison reinforced the city. With any luck, the siege would be over by sun up. I wondered if we would make it that far, or if my father's assassins would find us first.
If they did, I suppose we would see if these Stormcloaks fight as well as they talk.
"There!" Someone exclaimed as we reached the crest of the hill "By the gods, they've barely left five hundred men."
She appeared to be right. With the town to their backs stood a force of what I guessed were Imperial soldiers, their shields locked in a tight formation with archers taking cover on and behind buildings scattered in the town. Torbin had been wrong, there would be a fight at Shor's Stone, but the Empire's tactics seemed a bit more desperate than he had planned on.
I heard the unmistakable sound of bowstrings snapping and arrows whooshing through the air.
"SHIELDS!" Torbin's voice thundered through the night
In an instant, several men with great round shields had stepped in front of me and created a shield wall with enough room for those of us without shields to duck behind. I heard arrows hitting their shields as I glanced over to Torbin, who's eyes were ablaze with excitement. As different as he was from other Nords I had known, he still shared some of their more basic qualities like a lust for battle.
"ARCHERS!" He bellowed "GET BEHIND US AND SURROUND THE TOWN! PICK YOUR SHOTS AND FIRE AT WILL! INFANTRY! ADVANCE!"
The order was repeated through the ranks and the thundering sound of thousands of footsteps could be heard. Slowly, the infantry began pushing forward and I heard more arrows making a thunk sound as they struck the shield wall. Occasionally, I also heard the sound of an arrow piercing flesh and the scream of the soldier who'd been hit.
I heard more arrows as Stormcloak archers returned fire, close enough now to hear the Imperial officers barking orders up and down their ranks.
"FORWARD!" Torbin's voice thundered from somewhere to my right "BREAK THEIR WALL!"
The first wave of shields surged forward and I saw the Imperial ranks ahead of us beginning to scatter as the Stormcloaks smashed through their shield wall.
The soldiers had now begun to break apart, the great melee of the day had begun. Torbin stood tall in the center of the formation, marching forward to find himself a fight. I moved towards him, remembering his advice before the battle. He nodded when he noticed me, smiling slightly.
"Still alive?" He asked me, laughing slightly "Good, let's keep you that way!"
I blocked a sword that had come my way and blasted an ice spike into the soldier's gut. He fell backwards and I turned to Torbin.
He had found himself an opponent, but was already removing his axe from the top of the soldier's head by the time I had turned. Another body lay next to him and Torbin's sword dripped fresh blood.
"FUS RO DAH!" Torbin shouted, turning towards a gap in the Stormcloak line
This time, his voice truly seemed to drown out everything. The sound of steel on steel and arrows flying through the air were silenced and all anyone could hear was Torbin's voice echoing through the valley. At the same time, all the Imperial soldiers in front of him were thrown every which way by some unseen force that seemed to tear through their ranks.
Shields and swords went falling, arrows were thrown off course, soldiers smacked into the ground and buildings, some of them did not move again.
"DRAGONBORN!" Another voice bellowed
A great, large Nord was charging forward with his greatsword held high above his head. I moved to stand beside Torbin but he had already rushed forward, charging directly towards the man as though he wasn't nearly twice his size.
Torbin planted his feet and leaned back as the man swung, narrowly avoiding having his head removed before he smashed his nose with the top of his axe. The man drew back and ducked Torbin's sword, attempting to lunge and stab. In the swiftest second, Torbin sidestepped, slammed his blade into the greatsword, knocking it off course and plunging the blade into the dirt. Before the man could react, Torbin buried his axe in the man's knee, bringing him down and shoving his sword into his heart.
The man in the tavern had been right, he didn't miss a step and he was as quick as lightning.
I snapped myself back into the fight but when I looked around it appeared to be over. All around me Imperial soldiers threw down their weapons, it appeared whatever Torbin had done had broken the bulk for their forces. There were small pockets of resistance, two and three soldiers at a time, but many of them were beginning to throw down their arms as well.
The battle was over, we had taken Shor's Stone.