A Tale of Two Dragonborn - Chapter One

• Posted by Liam August 17, 2015 - 600 views

  Dear Master Graegun, These are the first entries from bins VDCXII and VDCXXII. I proposed two entries per day, but I fear I may have underestimated the task. Because of this, and because I know you prefer substance over frequency, I will let the needs of the other projects dictate the pace of this one. I will leave the translations here as I complete them. I will include shadow renderings of any casts that I am able to restore. I am pleased to note that we begin on the anniversary of the beginning. Humbly, Appr. Essin
  17 Last Seed (August) 4E 201
  Rendering 1.1, Cast from Helgen B
  Liam	Pym
  How many men can say they escaped the executioner's axe? My neck was on the very block. I felt the steel rest sharp and hungry. I felt the weight lift. One beat. Two beats. Then everything was on fire, and I was up and running. The Imperials scrambled and shouted. A dragon! Black and heavy on the air. My nose, my throat burned with hot sulfur. And I ran. A Nord, a Stormcloak - Ralof - ran with me. Barracks. A passage. A cave. Then blinding light. We were out. Everything behind was on fire. The dragon beat the air - each wing as big as a sail - but it moved away. We breathed and fled down the mountain stumbling and kicking up powder. The dragon receeded, the air turned frigid, and then the heavens broke open. It poured. In a prisoner's tunic and footwraps I would have fallen to the weather. Or the wolves that beset us after we'd made the road and thought we were home free. But Ralof still had his gear. I don't question the blessing. He saved us. Exhausted, we found shelter at his sister's here in Riverwood. Wary folk but kind. They gave me a burlap cloak, some cheese, mead, and a bed. I know not which of the divines to thank. But Ulfric was there at Helgen before the world caught fire. Did one of them come to his aid? Or did they come to kill him? Sleep now. One certainty remains - Sovngarde lies ahead not behind.	A dragon. Divines! A dragon saved my life. It tried to kill me then, I think, but - can you believe it? A dragon! See how my hand still shakes! I feel - how do I describe this? I feel blessed. I feel immortal. They were going to kill me. It was all a mistake. Execute me with Stormcloak rebels. I couldn't convince them they had the wrong girl. But I was calm - inappropriately calm for someone about to get her head separated from her body. I knew something was going to happen. Divines! My head on the block. The axe raised. The very ground shook. The dragon, black and magnificent, landed on the tower above and roared fire. Everyone - Stormcloak and Imperial - stood dumbfounded. Not me. I ran. No, I flew. I was an arrow loosed - weightless. Fast. Free. I pulled an Imperial out of the fire and dragged him with me. We ducked into the barracks. Hadvar the Imperial knew a passage. We went underground and came out through a cave under Helgen. The knowledge would be a lot more valuable if Helgen wasn't now in ruins. Hadvar said he had some kin in Riverwood, so we made our way down the mountain away from the screams and shouts and fire and smoke. I've made an impression on Hadvar. I'm sure it was freezing on that mountain, but even in just this prisoner's tunic and some linen footwraps I barely felt it. And when wolves attacked, I beat one to death my bare hands. "You should join the Legion," he said. "We could use someone like you." After what I saw today? We'll see. Hadvar's kin were just as he said - kind and generous. Alvor is Riverwood's blacksmith. Sigrid his wife, and Dorthe their daughter. They gave me a sword, a lantern, a cloak, some beer, and a seat at their table. A dragon. A secret cave. A snare escaped. Death thwarted. New friends. A full belly. A warm bed. Sleep. I know this - the name Pym is on the tongue of the divines tonight.
  Rendering 1.2, Cast from Riverwood A	Rendering 1.3, Cast from Riverwood B
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