Legend of the Dragonborn: Chapter 4 - Gregory the Stormcloak
Hello everyone! I hit a roadblock and that is why this has not updated. I got past the roadblock a few hours ago, and this is the result. Sorry for the long wait, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

It took some time to adjust to the twilight sky. There was a noticeable tension in the air, obviously it was because of the two warring factions having to work together. In fact, they appeared to be within seconds of fighting, when a roar echoed across the valley and something hugeflew overhead, which caused the group to hide behind various objects or they dropped to the dirt.

After the dragon was gone, Ralof was the first to rise from a crouching position. The others shortly followed and they started to walk forwards.

"I shouldn't really be speculating, but you don't suppose that beast was a male, do you?"Hadvar glanced up at the sky in the direction the dragon had flown off in.

Ralof grinned. "Oh, that dragon was male, alright, did you see the size of his -"

At this point, Link decided to stop listening to the current conversation and he found himself walking next to someone a few moments later.

The person was wearing a wolf pelt as clothing, complete with wolf head as a helmet, but they appeared to be shorter than him.

"What side are you on?"

The person gave him a confused look. "What?" The man had a high pitched voice, a bit surprising, but given the current circumstances it wasn't really a big issue.

"What side of this civil war are you on?"

"Stormcloak. You know, I'm surprised that the Imperials haven't tried to kill us yet."

"Why would they want to?"

The short man with the high pitched voice stopped walking. "I don't know. Can...Can I tell you something?"

"...I don't even know your name, but I suppose so…"

The short man lowered his voice. "I lied about my age. I'm not a man, I'm only fourteen. What do I even tell people?"

Link stopped walking and glanced towards the others, then down at the boy. "If I were you? I'd find whoever you lied to and tell them the truth. Apologize. What's your name?"

"Gregory. Gregory Shalmet."

"For someone that lied about their age, you did a damn fine job of hiding it." It was Ralof. He had overheard the conversation and had decided to voice his opinion on the matter.

Link looked down at the boy, then back up at Ralof. "Do you think Ulfric will still let him be a Stormcloak?"

"I don't believe so. He's underage, and if word gets out of this, it'll be catastrophic. He is a good warrior, despite what he's been though, he can fight with us when he's older, of course, but not
now. Tell you what, we keep quiet about this until we reach Riverwood, then we go from there."

As Link agreed to this, Gregory glanced towards Hadvar and the others, then up towards Link. "Can I speak to you alone?"

After walking a bit away from Ralof, Gregory looked at the ground for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked up. "What do you think they're going to do?"

Link moved his gaze over to Ralof the others for a moment before returning his gaze back to the boy before him. "About your age? I have no idea. You seem capable enough, though."

Gregory nodded.

"I bet I can fight better than you!""

'Fight better than me' how, exactly?"

Gregory grinned. "Well. I can use a bow, hit any target fifty yards away. I can use a one handed sword or axe, or twin daggers."

'He's only fourteen and yet he can do all of that?'

But all Link said was "Whoever trained you trained you well."

"Thank you. I never got your name, and can you take off your helmet please?"

Link nodded, reached up, and took off the Stormcloak helmet. "Name's Lincoln Faremanne, but you can call me Link for short, if you want."

The boy looked thoughtful. "I suppose you can call me Greg for short then. What can you do with weapons?"

Link grinned, pulled out the axe, and flipped it around in a complete circle before catching it. "What can't I do? Tell you what." He turned to a nearby Imperial. "May I use your bow for a moment?"

The man handed it over. "Do you also want my arrows…?"

"What sort of question is that?"

The man handed over the quiver, and Link notched an iron arrow to the bow, then glanced over at Greg. "You say you can hit something at fifty yards?" He turned to the man nearby. "What would you say is a good target at a hundred yards out?"

"How about that pine tree down there?"

"Sounds good to me."

Link raised the bow, and then fired.

The arrow hit the pine tree squarely in the middle and Link handed the quiver and bow back to the man and glanced towards Greg, who was standing there with his mouth open. "How ...How did you do that?!"

"Practice. Lots and lots of practice."

Ralof walked up. "We've decided to make camp here for the night. Hadvar's got a campfire going. Go get some rest. You've certainly earned it."

Link nodded to Ralof and as he walked past him, the older man clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Once Link had walked far enough away, Ralof looked down at Gregory, who merely said. "Can I speak to you?"

And before Ralof could answer, the boy started to talk. And talk. And talk.

The more he told Ralof, the darker the man's face grew. He eventually stopped him. "Don't you worry about a thing. We'll deal with your father. You have nothing to fear from us."

Gregory nodded. "Don't hurt my mother please, it wasn't her fault. He threatened her, too."

"I understand. Now, go and get some sleep."

Ralof received a hug from the boy and he ran off towards the fire. The man watched him go and then headed off to speak to Hadvar. It was time to have a little chat with Frenal Shalmet…..