Not this time.
Rykis hobbled to his feet and turned to face Ralof, who had stayed behind to make sure he got out of there. But his attention soon turned upward. Fire was raining down from the sky, and stone was crashing upon the ground. What foul sorcery was this? Rykis was nearly knocked over as the black dragon soared overhead, but caught himself and started to run towards Ralof and the tower to Helgen's fortress. Inside, he found Ulfric and some other Stormcloaks. Ulfric was barking orders to one fresh-faced lad to find a way out of here up the tower, which the boy did. Rykis struggled more with his bindings and was about to ask that he be cut free when he was interrupted by Ralof asking what should be done. Ulfric seemed fierce, his teeth were bared and his fists were clenched.
"Where's that damn boy? We need to get out of here!" he said. The ground was shaking and the sound of fire was beginning to become loud.
"Let's go up, we can't wait here!" said Ralof. "First, come here- Rykis, was it?- I'll cut you loose."
The group started jogging up the stairs and saw the young man trying to get past some rubble when suddenly the walls of the tower exploded and in came the head of the dragon. It didn't pause for a moment before ejecting an unearthly flame into the tower and the young man, who never could've imagined this happening, died quickly and painfully. Rykis heard words again, this time it sounded like yole tor shool. This dragon was SPEAKING, surely. Were they some magic words? He was yanked and he began to run back downstairs with the others, and out the door, back into the open. Rykis simply followed them, they ran between what looked like the inn and a house and were almost near a gate when rubble came crashing down between them, separating Rykis and Ralof from the rest of the Stormcloaks. They turned back and ran towards the square, where Imperial archers and battlemages were frantically trying to down the dragon, but to no avail. Rykis started to run towards the southern gate, but was stopped by Ralof, who pointed out a cart with all of the Stormcloaks' confiscated weapons in it.
"We're going to need the weapons one way or another, we should-"
"Hey, there go two of the prisoners!"
An Imperial archer spotted them, and issued this cry, but no one seemed to notice. Rykis and Ralof rushed to the cart, Ralof reached it first and grabbed two axes and tossed one to Rykis. The archer had an arrow nocked.
"No time to use the gate! Let's find another way!" Ralof shouted. As he said this, the archer loosed the arrow. Ralof didn't see it, but Rykis pulled him down to the ground and the arrow crashed into the cart. The dragon still soared in the sky, breathing fire, destroying the town. It almost seemed inconsequential to only getting out of Helgen. The two ran down a hill, jumping over dead and charred bodies on the way. A few of them still moved. One reached out towards Rykis weakly before collapsing. It made him feel sick and weak in the stomach.
They ran into a small courtyard where the entrance to the fortress was. Running out of its door was the Imperial soldier who had the book of names. Ralof stopped dead in his tracks and readied his axe. The soldier drew his sword, his face grave and set. Rykis was ready to kill this soldier and be on their way, and so advanced, but Ralof stopped him.
"Forget it, let's go in."
The soldier stood down and the two Nords ran inside, dodging fire and rubble on the way.
The inside of the fortress was somewhat cozy, almost untouched by the chaos outside. Several furs and pelts covered the floor, and candles were lit in every corner. It wasn't until Ralof ran forward and cried out that Rykis noticed the Stormcloak hunched over on the far wall.
"Gunjar! Oh gods, no! Look at me, brother," Ralof crouched down and held Gunjar's head to his chest.
Gunjar held his own hands to his stomach, and said something to Ralof softly, and fell limp.
"I'll see you in Sovngarde, brother," said Ralof. Tears were welling in his eyes. "That was Gunjar, my comrade. We fought side by side in the ambush and in many other skirmishes before. He was a great warrior, and a greater friend."
Ralof closed Gunjar's eyes, and stood. "Let's get through the sewers, and we can make it to Riverwood. My sister lives there."
There was an iron gate to their right, Rykis tried it, but it was locked. On the other end of the room was a wooden portcullis, but that was lowered, too.
"There must be a key around here somewh-"
"Get that portcullis open!" It was the voice of the captain. The one who put Rykis' head upon the block.
His eyes widened, and his body tensed up. He gripped the axe in his hand.
"Hey, get down!" whispered Ralof. They put their backs against the wall on either side of the portcullis.
It rose slowly, loudly. An Imperial soldier stepped through, followed by the captain, and Rykis sprung onto his feet. He smashed the blunt end of the axe into the head of the captain, sending her polished helmet flying, and her onto the ground. Ralof set upon the soldier, but the soldier reacted too late, and Ralof's axe was buried into his shoulder. Rykis stood over the captain, who looked up at him with surprise and hatred in her face. Rykis brought his axe into her face, nearly cutting it into two equal hemispheres. A long pause followed. A silence would have accompanied it, were it not for the continued sounds of destruction outside.
"Search her, see if she has the key," said Ralof.
After some awkward searching, Rykis found the key, and they were on their way. The rest of the fortress was deserted, but only recently so. Hardly any words were said between the two. They passed through multiple store rooms, and they took some potions, two bows and a couple dozen arrows, and some armor for Rykis. They stopped only briefly in the torture chamber, where a few bodies lay dead. After what seemed like an eternity of delving through this dank and cold fortress, they entered the sewers, and waded through filthy water for another eternity before they finally saw a light leading to the outside.
"Yes!" Ralof exclaimed."Our way out, we made it."
They ran the rest of the way, and the sun blinded them as they exited. Rykis fell to the ground and sat there. The ground was cold, and he was never so thankful for it, especially after all of the fire and heat. The wind picked up again and the two gasped as the black dragon flew over them and onward over the mountain, into the distance. It never seemed to get smaller as it flew farther away..
"That bastard is out in the world.. Gods have mercy on us all," said Rykis.
"Indeed..."
The two walked down the road towards Riverwood, with Ralof talking of the state of affairs in Skyrim, of his family the whole way. The sound of rushing water was getting louder, and birds chirped in the trees as though all was well. The land was peaceful, yet unnaturally so. They reached the Guardian Stones, and Rykis ran down to the river, threw his equipment on the ground and scooped water from the White River up to his mouth. He looked in the water and observed his face. His long blond hair was soot stained, as was his face. His face paint was still there, from the hunt preparations that he and his brother made, but it was fading. There were bags under his eyes, and sweat and blood caked his forehead. He dunked his head under the water and emerged, freezing and soaked, but very much alive. That was to be thanked.
They arrived at Riverwood by twilight, and Ralof made a straight shot to his sister's mill. It was a modest settlement; Rykis had passed through before once or twice but never stayed. They walked by an old woman exclaiming that she saw a dragon (surprise) to her son, who for some reason did not see the giant black dragon fly right over their town, a mumbling and preoccupied Wood Elf, and the blacksmith, hard at work on some piece for the mill. They walked across a small bridge and up to Gerdur as she was evaluating her stock. She turned and faced them, surprised. She was pretty, in a very hardy way. The sun shone on her left and she said:
"Ralof! What are you doing here? A dragon just flew over the Barrow! Did you see it? Are you okay?"
"Gerdur, Gerdur, calm down. I'm fine. Let's go inside and talk, and shake this cold out."
"Ralof! Is that you? Gods, boy, you look done in," said a haughty voice from above. It was Hod, Gerdur's husband.
The four made their way inside and talked for hours into the night, and Rykis caught up to speed on all of the goings on in Skyrim, how the Empire was pushing further into the freedoms of the citizens of Skyrim and how the Thalmor were abducting those who rightfully worship Talos. Gerdur told Rykis and Ralof that they could layover in Riverwood for a few days, and soon after, Rykis fell asleep in one of their spare beds.
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