Author's Note: sorry about the six-month hiatus in my writing; it was due to real-life issues. If you're waiting for updates to The Dark Companion, Tabula Avatar, and Divakiin! don't worry, I have resumed work on all three, but the opening chapter of this new Skyrim fic was ready first and so I'm posting it straight away.

Queen of Swords

Chapter One: My Enemy's Enemy

Elisif shivered. It was colder in Helgen than at home, despite Falkreath Hold being well to the south of Solitude, but that wasn't the cause of her shivers; she was a Nord, with a natural resistance to cold, and her clothes were thick enough to keep her warm. It was the impending executions that were sending cold chills through her.

"General Tullius," she said, trying to sound firm and determined, "I must protest. These summary executions are not justice."

The general raised his eyebrows. "I would have thought you would have been eager to see the man who murdered your husband suffer the penalty for his crimes, Jarl Elisif," he said. He was shorter than Elisif by several inches and had to tilt his head back to look her in the eye. Despite that his tone, as he addressed her, was not unlike that of a schoolmaster speaking to a pupil who had failed to understand the lesson. "Isn't that why you hastened here, accompanied only by your Housecarl, as soon as you heard of Ulfric's capture?"

"I came here to make sure that Ulfric was taken to Solitude for a proper trial," Elisif corrected him. "Justice must be seen to be done." She'd come across that concept in a treatise on the principles of good governance, which she'd read in an attempt to make herself ready for her role as prospective High Queen, but unfortunately it hadn't included instructions on how to get people to do what she told them.

"That would be a bad idea," Tullius replied. "It would just give him a platform from which to spout his treasonous ideas and spread the rebellion. And it would be difficult to guard against him using his Voice to escape, or to kill you. No, better to nip this rebellion in the bud, quickly and with minimum fuss. The Emperor gave me orders to do exactly that and it's what I'm going to do."

"I suppose you're right," Elisif conceded, and her shoulders slumped as she felt her confidence drain away.

"I also must protest," Elenwen put in. The Thalmor Emissary was a High Elf, taller than Elisif's five feet ten by three or four inches, and she towered over General Tullius. "Under the terms of the White-Gold Concordat the rebel Talos-worshippers should be handed over to the Thalmor."

"Treason takes precedence," Tullius stated. "I have the Emperor's warrant. They go to the block here and now." Elenwen frowned, and her mouth set into a tight line, but she stepped back and did not speak again.

"Do you have to execute the other prisoners?" Elisif appealed. "Won't they just disband, and go back to their homes, once Ulfric is dead and their cause lost?"

"It's more likely that they'd regard Ulfric as a martyr and keep on fighting," Tullius said. "They all go to the block and that's final."

"Even the Breton girl? It's obvious she's not one of them," Elisif pointed out. The young woman in question stuck out like a sore thumb among the prisoners. She was shorter by several inches than any of the Nord women, she wore a ragged tunic instead of the quilted armor and blue-grey sash that was the Stormcloak uniform, and her head was shaven into a barbaric topknot. "If she was dressed like that when you captured her I would guess that she was a prisoner of the Stormcloaks rather than one of them. Isn't there a saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?"

"I can think of many instances in which the enemy of my enemy is my enemy too," Tullius said. "She looks like one of the Forsworn to me. In that case she's also in rebellion against Skyrim and the Empire."

"You can't condemn her just for looking like one of the Forsworn!" Elisif protested. "We should take her back to Solitude, find out who she is, and treat her as innocent unless she is proven guilty." Another concept that she'd picked up from the books she had been reading.

"Oh, very well," General Tullius said, with a sigh. "But she's your responsibility. Captain, send her over here."

"At your orders, General," replied the female captain who was overseeing the Imperial legionaries guarding the captives. "You heard the general, prisoner. Move!"

The barbarian girl grinned, stepped out of the Stormcloak ranks, and walked over to where Elisif and her steel-clad Housecarl stood. Bolgeir Bearclaw, who took his role as Elisif's protector very seriously, glowered at the woman and rested a hand on the hilt of his Orcish sword. The girl didn't seem intimidated in the least.

Elisif looked the Breton girl over. She saw that the girl had unusual eyes; silver grey, so pale that at first glance they looked almost blank and sightless. The streaks of war-paint around her eyes were smudged and there was a dark bruise on her cheek-bone. She looked up at Elisif, who must have been at least six inches taller, and smiled.

"I thank you, my lady," she said. "I am Kaie of… Markarth."

"We've delayed long enough," General Tullius declared, before Elisif could reply to Kaie. "Ulfric Stormcloak, some may call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and attempt to usurp the throne."

Ulfric, who was gagged to prevent him from using the power of his Voice, gave a muffled grunt in response.

"You started this war," Tullius went on, "flung Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace."

At that moment a strange roaring noise, unlike the cry of any animal with which Elisif was familiar, came from somewhere outside the town. Legionaries, townspeople, and prisoners all looked around for the source of the noise.

"What was that?" exclaimed the soldier who had been checking the prisoners off against a list.

"Nothing of importance," General Tullius said. "Carry on with the executions."

"Yes, General Tullius," the captain said, and she turned to face the priestess of Arkay who stood with the general and his aides. "Give them their last rites."

The priestess began the ritual commendations of the soon-to-be deceased's souls to Aetherius and the invocations to the Eight Divines. She was interrupted by one of the Stormcloaks. He told her to shut up, walked forward to the block, and knelt down as if eager to lose his head. The headsman obliged.

Elisif gasped in horror. She wanted to look away but found herself unable to avert her eyes from the horrid spectacle. The blood… she remembered Torygg's blood pooling on the throne-room floor…

"Next prisoner," said the captain. "Ralof of Riverwood."

Once more the odd roaring noise rang out.

"There it is again," said the soldier with the lists. "Did you hear that?"

"I said, next prisoner," the captain said.

"To the block, Ralof – prisoner," the soldier commanded. Elisif thought he sounded sad and, indeed, almost guilty. She guessed, from the way he'd used the Stormcloak's name, that the two had known each other before the rebellion started. "Nice and slow."

Ralof, a typically blond and bearded Stormcloak, walked to the block and knelt down. Then the roar sounded again, far louder, and a dark shadow swept across the courtyard.

"What in Oblivion is that?" General Tullius cried.

"Sentries, what do you see?" called the captain.

"It's in the clouds," a soldier answered.

Elisif looked up and saw…

…a dragon. An immense, winged, reptilian creature swooping down and landing atop one of the towers. It perched there, glaring down upon them with baleful eyes, and then opened its huge jaws and bellowed. A cone of force shot forth from its mouth, knocking the headsman from his feet, and then a rain of blazing boulders began to fall from the sky. Rocks as big or bigger than human heads, trailing fire behind them, as if the town was being bombarded by a score of siege catapults. Within seconds everything was chaos and confusion.

Elisif saw a rock smash through the thatched roof of a house, the fire turning the building into an instant inferno, and then another rock landed on the prone body of the headsman and smashed him into pulp. She screamed and covered her face with her hands.

"We have to get out of here, my Jarl," Bolgeir shouted. He had drawn his sword but it was useless against the dragon, which had taken to the air again, and he had no bow. "Come on! This way!" He took Elisif by the elbow, with his left hand, and urged her toward the nearest stone tower. Kaie ran alongside.

Legionaries were loosing arrows into the air, to no effect as far as Elisif could see, and townspeople were running for cover and fleeing from burning buildings. The Stormcloak prisoners had broken free, as the guards were fully occupied in trying to fight the dragon, and were scattering in all directions. Some of them were entering the tower ahead of Elisif's little group and she faltered. Bolgeir and Kaie slowed, also, and both seemed to be looking for alternative places to take shelter.

Suddenly Elisif felt the hand holding her elbow jerk savagely and release its grip. She looked that way and saw Bolgeir sprawled on the ground. She bent to help him up and then realized that his head had been crushed by a falling rock. She screamed again and froze.

Kaie scooped up Bolgeir's fallen sword. "Come on, lady," she urged, holding the sword awkwardly in her bound hands. "If we stay out here we die."

The dragon passed overhead and unleashed a jet of flaming breath from its jaws. The flames washed over a nearby archer and turned him into a human torch. Elisif forced herself to move and, with Kaie, ran into the tower. Better the Stormcloaks than the dragon.

Elisif stood in the room at the foot of the tower, panting, and then realized that one of the Stormcloaks who had run this way was Ulfric himself. Ralof, the warrior who had been on the brink of execution when the dragon interrupted, had freed his own hands and was in the act of untying Ulfric.

"Jarl Ulfric," Ralof said, as he pulled free the gag in Ulfric's mouth, "What is that thing? Can the legends be true?"

"Legends don't burn down villages," Ulfric replied, and then his eyes met Elisif's. "What's this? It would seem Talos is watching over us. The dragon freed us and now the perfect hostage has been delivered into our grasp. With Elisif in our hands the Imperials won't dare try to stop us from escaping. Seize her! And kill that Forsworn spy."

Elisif gasped in horror. If they captured her she couldn't see them letting her go once they were clear of Helgen. No, Ulfric would keep her as a captive indefinitely, as it would tie the hands of the Legion and make quelling his rebellion more difficult, or he might even – oh, Divines no! – force her into marriage to solidify his claim to the High Kingship. She had to get away… but to run out of the door into the courtyard, even if she could get past Ulfric and his men, would be only to invite a fiery doom.

The tower was part of the outer walls, not of the keep, and had only the one exit. A panic-stricken glance around showed her one slight hope. The winding staircase that led up to the roof of the tower. Going all the way up to the top would make her easy prey for the dragon but there was a flat section, half-way up, beside an arrow slit. From that vantage point perhaps she and Kaie could hold off the handful of Stormcloaks until, hopefully, some Imperial soldiers arrived.

"Up the stairs!" she called to Kaie, and she ran up the stone steps as fast as she could; only to come face to face with another Stormcloak descending to that firing platform from higher up the stairs. She recoiled, backing away, realizing that she was trapped.

Kaie was brandishing Bolgeir's sword as best she could, hampered by her bound hands, and spitting out what were presumably curses in a language that Elisif didn't understand. The Stormcloaks, who were armed only with a couple of Imperial swords no doubt dropped by dead legionaries, were taking their time closing with her.

Then the tower wall exploded inwards above Elisif. The dragon's snout burst through the stone at the level of the arrow slit, knocking the Stormcloak from his feet, and its fiery breath enveloped him. He went down, screaming, and an avalanche of stone blocks landed on top of him and crushed his body. Elisif screamed too, although she was unhurt, but managed to control her panic enough to resume her upward course once the dragon had withdrawn its head and flown off. The staircase was now blocked off by the rubble, ending at the platform, but Elisif hadn't intended to go any higher anyway.

"Kaie!" she called. "Up here! Maybe we can hold them off!"

The Forsworn girl ascended the stairs, keeping her sword raised, and joined Elisif. Kaie looked out through the gap in the wall.

"Jump!" she said to Elisif. "Down there."

Elisif's first thought was that the girl was suggesting suicide, as they were too high above the courtyard to land without breaking their necks, but she looked out and saw that they were not far above the roof of one of Helgen's houses. A hole had been torn through the thatch, exposing the building's upper floor, but it didn't seem to be on fire.

"If we jump onto that roof," Kaie went on, "we can get down to the ground from there. It might not be safe but better than staying here. Unless you want the Stormcloaks to catch you…?"

Ralof, and another man, were climbing the stairs toward the two women. Elisif decided that Kaie was right. She hitched up the skirts of her gown, freeing her legs, and leapt.

She landed awkwardly, one of her feet sinking into the thatch and sending her sprawling, but she seemed to be unhurt except for scratches. She took a few seconds to get her foot free of the thatch and then, before she could slide down to the ground, she heard a sound she had heard one terrible time before.

"FUS RO DAH!"

It was Ulfric using the Thu'um, the Shout he had used to fell Elisif's husband, this time aimed at Kaie. The barbarian woman was blasted out of the gap in the tower wall; she sailed past Elisif to fall through the hole in the house's roof, and she landed somewhere in the building's upper floor. Elisif reversed her course and, instead of sliding down the thatch, she jumped down into the house.

Elisif's heart was in her mouth; she feared that she would find only Kaie's shattered body. To her relief she saw that the Breton girl had landed on a bed, which had broken her fall, and she was already scrambling to her feet. The sword was embedded, point down, in the bed. Elisif pulled it free and used it to cut Kaie's bonds.

"Thank you, lady," Kaie said. Above their heads the thatch ignited and flames began to spread. "We have to get out of here! This way!" She ran across the room, Elisif following, and jumped down through a hole where the stairs had been. The timbers of the broken staircase were beginning to burn, and above their heads the thatch was now well ablaze, and they ran out of the house as fast as they could go.

Outside was little better. Dead bodies, townsfolk as well as soldiers, littered the ground. Most of the town's houses were blazing. The dragon was swooping down in repeated passes, sometimes using its flaming breath to kill, sometimes seizing soldiers in its claws and carrying them off. A dead horse lay in the courtyard, its body partly charred and with one of its legs missing, and Elisif gulped as she recognized it as her own. There was no sign of the horse that had been Bolgeir's. She found herself running parallel to the legionary who had been marking lists, heading toward where General Tullius was commanding a small group of soldiers, but another pass by the dragon sent burning wreckage across the courtyard and cut them off from the general.

"Hadvar! Get Jarl Elisif to the keep!" Tullius shouted.

"At your orders, General," the soldier, Hadvar, replied. "Follow me, Jarl Elisif."

Hadvar led the way through an archway. Elisif and Kaie ran after him as he headed for the keep. They reached one of the doors and made it inside just ahead of another pass from the dragon. Hadvar slammed the door behind them and, mere seconds later, the stone wall shuddered as something massive struck it. The lintel above the door sagged and crunched into the wood.

The three spent a few seconds doing nothing but gathering their breath and then Hadvar tried the door.

"Stuck fast," he announced. "We won't be going back out that way, even if the dragon goes away." He shook his head. "A dragon. A harbinger of the End Times. I can hardly believe it."

Elisif looked around the room. It seemed to be a barracks dormitory, with a row of beds along one wall, tables and weapon racks along the other. There was a door at the far side, no doubt leading deeper into the keep, so at least they weren't sealed in.

"Jarl Elisif, I shall do my best to get you safely away from Helgen," Hadvar said. "There is a secret way out somewhere under the keep, or so I have heard, through some caves. I don't know how to get to it, though, as I was never part of the Helgen garrison. And I saw some of the Stormcloak prisoners heading for one of the other keep entrances. We might come upon them, as we look for the way out, or indeed they might blunder upon us here."

"Then I will fight them," said Kaie.

Hadvar frowned at her. "Do you trust this prisoner, Jarl Elisif?" he asked.

Elisif hesitated for only a moment before replying. "Yes," she told him. "She helped me escape Ulfric, and he tried to kill her. That's good enough for me."

"The lady – Jarl Elisif? – spoke up for me to save me from the execution block," Kaie said, "and her enemy is my enemy. I shall fight for her."

"That's… good to hear," said Hadvar. "In that case, you'd better find yourself some armor. There should be some in those chests and hopefully you'll find something to fit you." He turned back to Elisif. "It might be a good idea for you to put on some armor too, Jarl Elisif," he suggested. "Even if you don't do any fighting it would give you some protection in case a Stormcloak got past us and went for you."

Elisif shook her head. "I've never worn armor," she said, "and I wouldn't know how to move in it. And Ulfric told his men to capture me, not to kill me."

"They might see that as no longer a viable option," Hadvar warned her, "and decide that killing you would be at least a partial victory. Take a sword, at least, so that you might be able to keep an attacker at a distance." He went to a weapon rack, slid free a scabbarded sword, and handed it to Elisif. She took the weapon, reluctantly, and buckled it around her waist.

Kaie had found a leather jerkin of the pattern worn by Imperial scouts. She laid down Bolgeir's sword, pulled off the ragged tunic she wore, and cast it aside to stand naked; she had worn nothing under the tunic. Hadvar blushed and averted his eyes. Then Kaie donned the armor; it went down to mid-thigh and she was decent again. She sat down on a bed and pulled on a pair of boots. "A little large for me," she commented, "but they will protect my feet better than footwraps alone."

"Don't you wear… underwear?" Elisif asked.

Kaie gave a mirthless smile. "The Stormcloaks stripped me naked," she said. "They might have done worse if the Imperials had not attacked at that moment. I was grateful for my rescue… until they bound me and threw me into a prisoner wagon with the Stormcloak bastards."

"Sorry about that," Hadvar said. "They must have thought you were a… camp follower."

The chest had also held a sword-belt. Kaie drew the sword, looked at it with her upper lip curling into a sneer, and tossed it back into the chest. "A poor weapon," she said, "but perhaps the scabbard will hold this Orcish sword." She buckled on the belt and managed to get Bolgeir's sword into the sheath. "My own swords were not as fine as this weapon," she said, "but my armor was enchanted. Left behind at Darkwater Crossing, and lost forever now, I would guess."

Elisif wondered what Kaie, who she now was sure really was a member of the Forsworn, had been doing spying on the Stormcloaks so far from the Reach. This wasn't the time to go into the matter, however, and she said nothing.

"This must be a barracks for auxiliaries," Hadvar said. "Only light armor, and the swords are not of the usual Imperial pattern. We might find something better, deeper in the keep, but they'll have to do for now." He went to the inner door and opened it. "We'd better get moving."

The corridor beyond the door led to a room in which there were two Stormcloaks. Hadvar tried to negotiate a truce but they attacked before he could get out more than a few words. They were armed with war-hammers, not weapons used by the Imperials, so they must have found where their captors had stored those taken in the ambush. One went for Hadvar and the other, a woman, aimed a blow at Kaie.

Hadvar blocked with his shield and was driven back a step. He retaliated with his sword and managed to carve a shallow gouge along his opponent's arm. Kaie avoided her assailant's swing with an agile side-step and then, as the force of the Stormcloak woman's wasted blow sent her stumbling off-balance, Kaie's sword-arm blurred and the blade slashed through the Stormcloak's throat. The hammer fell to the ground, the woman clutched at her throat, and then she toppled with blood spurting from between her fingers. Before she had hit the floor Kaie had taken two quick steps forward and rammed her sword into the back of Hadvar's foe.

Elisif gasped. Kaie's lethal efficiency was… chilling. And yet she felt a sudden rush of envy. If she could fight like that then her Thanes might take her seriously. Bryling held warriors in high regard, and always seemed to treat Elisif with disguised contempt, and Erikur didn't hold anyone in regard but would back down if faced by someone sufficiently intimidating. Elisif, unfortunately, couldn't intimidate him in the slightest.

Kaie wiped her sword clean on the Stormcloak's sash and then returned it to its scabbard. "Yes, this is indeed a fine weapon," she said.

"You use it well," Hadvar complimented.

"We have to learn well, in the Reach," Kaie replied.

"Why were you so far from home?" Elisif asked.

Kaie took a few moments before she replied, staring straight at Elisif with those odd silver eyes, and then she spoke. "One of our… wise women had a vision," Kaie revealed. "She told me that I had a chance to be favored by the gods, and to gain great power, and that the path to that power began at Darkwater Crossing. When I came upon Ulfric Stormcloak, away from his stronghold and accompanied by a mere thirty warriors, I thought that she meant I was to slay him. Such a deed would, indeed, have gained me enough prestige among my people to open the path to power. I never got the chance. A wolf attacked me, as I spied upon the Stormcloak camp, and in killing it I gave away my position. They came for me, and took me, and then the Imperials attacked. You know the rest."

Elisif's eyes widened. Kaie had regarded Ulfric as vulnerable when he was with 'a mere thirty warriors'? No doubt she had intended to assassinate him by stealth, rather than by open attack, but it still implied that she was formidable. Or, at least, had a very high opinion of her own abilities. And after seeing her in action Elisif thought Kaie's opinion was likely to be correct.

With the fight over Elisif was able to look around the room and she saw that there were three other dead bodies on the floor; one Stormcloak and two Imperials, one of them the captain who had been in charge of the execution detail.

Hadvar went over to the Imperial corpses and stood looking down at them. "May you rest in Sovngarde, comrades," he said.

"Their swords are gone," Kaie observed. "The Stormcloaks we slew did not have them and so there must be others ahead of us. We'd better watch out."

"Indeed," Hadvar agreed. He moved away and led the way onward, down a flight of winding steps, and into a long corridor. They had taken only a few steps along the passage when they heard a muffled roaring and then a section of ceiling, ahead of them, collapsed and blocked the corridor.

"Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easily," Hadvar said. There was a door in the corridor wall, before the point where the rubble had fallen, and he indicated it. "We'll have to go that way. Careful, I can hear voices."

Elisif listened and heard someone saying "The Imperials have potions in here. We're going to need them." That meant the speaker had to be a Stormcloak. There was no alternative route, however, and they had no choice but to go in through the door.

Three Stormcloaks, this time, and just as eager as their fellows to attack on sight. Kaie made a spell-casting gesture with her left hand and the translucent figure of a spectral wolf appeared ahead of her. It launched itself at the nearest Stormcloak and Kaie and Hadvar took on the other two.

Kaie's opponent was armed with sword and shield, and was more skilled than the woman she had slain earlier, and this time she did not achieve a quick victory. Her wolf familiar snapped at its target but the Stormcloak ignored it, relying on his armor to protect himself from its bites, and rushed directly at Elisif.

Her first impulse was to turn and run but she managed to control her fear and, instead, drew her sword. She almost lost her grip on the weapon, as it came free with a jerk, and only just kept hold of it and waved it inexpertly.

"Die, false Queen!" the Stormcloak cried, as he swung his greatsword in a downward arc.

Elisif side-stepped, just as she had seen Kaie do in the previous fight, and the blade whistled past her and struck sparks from the stone floor. The wolf familiar jumped at the man and he staggered. Elisif tried to emulate Kaie and take advantage of the opportunity to slash open her opponent's throat. She missed her target and, instead of the throat, the sword tore across the Stormcloak's face. And, as the point scraped on bone, she lost her grip on the weapon.

The Stormcloak howled in pain. The sword clattered on the ground. And the injured man raised his greatsword for another stroke; not overhead for a downward smite, this time, but waist-high for a sweeping cut parallel to the ground. And Elisif had no idea how to defend herself or evade.

The obvious course was to jump back but something made Elisif go forward instead. She collided with the man's chest and, instead of the sword blade biting into her side, it was the Stormcloak's arm that thumped into her. Jarring, even painful, but inconsequential. Blood from his wounded face splashed onto her but she ignored it and, driven by instinct and fury, brought up her right hand and punched the Stormcloak on the jaw.

And then, as he staggered back, she followed up and hit him with her left. Blood flew and more drops splattered on Elisif's gown. He roared, caught his balance, and raised his sword again only to stagger once more as Kaie's ghostly wolf bit him on the backside. He turned around and chopped down at the wolf, splitting it in half and causing it to be dispelled, while Elisif took the opportunity to pick up her sword from the floor.

She didn't need to use it. Kaie had slain her opponent and now came to Elisif's aid. The Stormcloak hesitated, torn between two threats, and then swung at Kaie. She parried, deflecting the blow just enough to miss her rather than blocking directly, and then riposted and thrust through his heart. She withdrew her sword at once, and turned back to assist Hadvar, but he had just finished off his own opponent and did not need her help.

Kaie wiped clean her sword. "You did well, for one without training," she told Elisif. "You have spirit. How did you lose your sword?"

"It came out of my hand when I hit him with it," Elisif admitted.

"I will show you how to hold it properly," Kaie offered.

"Here, take this," Hadvar said, holding out the sword his fallen foe had been wielding. "An Imperial sword, of good steel, and better balanced than the poor iron one you had. You will find it easier to grip."

"My foe also wielded an Imperial sword," Kaie said. "I have a better idea. I dual-wield, but for that I need two swords that match. Take back the blade that was your bodyguard's and I will use both Imperial swords."

A minute later Elisif found herself holding Bolgeir's sword, an iron-reinforced shield on her left arm, and a steel dagger at her belt as a back-up weapon. Kaie was swinging an Imperial sword in each hand, accustoming herself to their balance, and then going through some practice parries and strikes.

"I saw you summoning that… familiar, so you must be a mage," Elisif said. "Don't you need a hand free for spell-casting?"

"I am a Nightblade, trained in the arts of stealth, swordplay, archery and some magic," Kaie confirmed, "but I am less accomplished in spell-casting than some and my Magicka pool is weak. I prefer to cast a summoning spell and then fight with swords."

"It seems to work well," Hadvar said. "I've found some healing potions. We should share them out and move on."

Down another flight of steps and into a large room in which stood three iron cages, in one of which was a dead prisoner, and manacles set into the walls from which a skeleton hung. "A torture room," Hadvar said. "Gods, I wish we didn't need them."

"We don't," Elisif said. "Torture is dishonorable. And if word spreads that we use torture Ulfric could use that to rally recruits to the Stormcloak clause."

Kaie flashed her a smile. "Well spoken," she said. "You have wisdom, and a heart, as well as spirit."

Elisif returned the smile, but couldn't help feeling that it was ironic that she had gained this warrior maid's respect simply by speaking her mind, and getting through a fight without dying, whereas her Steward, her Thanes, General Tullius, Elenwen, and most of the other Jarls seemed to regard her as little more than a child to be alternately humored and ignored.

"More dead Imperials," Hadvar observed, pointing to two corpses in torn and slashed Imperial light armor. "There must be Stormcloaks ahead of us still."

The corridors under the keep led them to a natural cave, with an underground stream running through it, that was dimly illuminated by daylight filtering down through holes in the rocky roof overhead. It was there that they caught up with more Stormcloaks. No Ulfric, luckily, but there were five of the enemy and Kaie and Hadvar couldn't prevent one of them from breaking past and making for Elisif.

"Take the pretender Queen alive!" one of the others shouted. "Skyrim belongs to the Nords!" The one attacking Elisif raised a mace, as if for a skull-crushing blow, but obeyed his comrade and struck with the butt rather than the weighty head of the weapon.

Elisif brought up her shield and, to her surprise, managed to block the attack. For an instant her assailant was off balance, his weapon and his other arm out of position, and Elisif acted out of sheer instinct without even thinking. Her right hand drove forward and thrust her sword through his light cuirass, and into his stomach, just below his ribs.

Elisif pulled the sword free, bringing forth a gout of blood, and backed away as the Stormcloak collapsed. She wanted to run away, or be sick, or both. But Kaie and Hadvar were being pressed hard, even with the aid of another spectral wolf, and a sixth Stormcloak had appeared on the far side of the cavern and was aiming a bow in their direction. Elisif summoned up her courage and ran forward, past the dying man, to join her companions.

She stood shoulder to shoulder with them and fought. "True Nords never back down!" she yelled, as she blocked and stabbed.

"The Reach belongs to the Forsworn!" Kaie cried, severing an opponent's hand with one sword and then ramming her other sword into his chest.

"For the Empire and the true High Queen!" Hadvar joined in. He bashed a Stormcloak in the face with his shield and stabbed as the man reeled. Then an arrow from across the cave pierced his right shoulder and his sword fell from his hand. He staggered back with his arm hanging limp.

Elisif found herself in front of Hadvar, fighting at close quarters with a woman warrior who matched her for height, and somehow managed to hold her own. Kaie's wolf had vanished, either cut down or else gone when the spell expired, and it was Kaie and Elisif against two Stormcloaks. The archer had no clear shot at them but loosed another shaft at Hadvar; he caught it on his shield.

Kaie slew the man who faced her and aimed a slash at Elisif's foe. The woman dodged but, in the process, left herself open to Elisif. Without conscious thought Elisif thrust, and thrust again, and the Stormcloak fell bleeding to the ground.

And an arrow streaked through the air and pierced through Elisif's upper left arm above the rim of her shield. She cried out in shock and pain but, somehow, kept hold of her sword. The injured Stormcloak woman struggled up to her knees and raised her sword to retaliate. Elisif clenched her teeth against the pain and, with her shield-arm useless, brought her Orcish sword around to block the woman's thrust and sweep the blade aside. Then Elisif chopped down at the Stormcloak's head, cleaving through her skull, at the same instant as Kaie stabbed the woman in the neck.

The bowman loosed again, just as Kaie was moving to dispose of Elisif's foe, and the arrow missed by inches. Then Kaie went forward at a run, dodging from side to side as she went, dropping her left-hand sword and launching a jet of magical flame at the archer. It lasted only a few seconds but it was enough to make him leap out of the way and prevent him loosing another shaft. Before he could draw his bow again Kaie had reached him, her sword poised, and even as he tossed his bow aside and grabbed for his sword she closed and slashed her blade across his throat.

That was the end of the fight. Elisif sank to her knees, panting, feeling weak and ill with reaction and the pain of her wound. Yet she also felt proud. She had acquitted herself well, she knew; perhaps she might have had an advantage due to the enemy wanting to take her alive, at least at the start of the fight, but the second opponent had been trying to kill her. And Hadvar had called her 'the true High Queen'. Yes, that was the official position of the Legion, but he'd shouted it as if he really meant it. That sent a warm glow through her.

Kaie's war-cry was more problematic. She really was one of the Forsworn. A member of a cult of savage rebels, probably Daedra-worshippers, who wanted to claim one of Skyrim's holds for themselves. And yet… she was an enemy of Ulfric and the Stormcloaks, she had protected Elisif at the risk of her own life, and she was brave and honorable. Elisif decided that she could overlook Kaie's other allegiances and treat her as a true comrade… perhaps even a friend.

And now she was coming to tend to Elisif's wound. Kaie had retrieved the sword she had cast aside and she sheathed both swords as she approached Elisif and bent over her. "I'll need to get that arrow out, before a potion will work," Kaie said. "You'd better bite on something. This will hurt."

"I think Hadvar's wound is worse," Elisif said. "See to him first." She wanted her own hurts mended as soon as possible, so that the pain would stop, but a worthy ruler would put their subjects' needs before their own. That was what she had read, anyway. She was rewarded with another of Kaie's flashing smiles.

"No, girl, I can wait," Hadvar put in. "It is my duty to keep Jarl Elisif – the future High Queen – from harm. She must come first."

Elisif wasn't going to argue with him. Kaie proffered a strip of leather, such as smiths used for the bindings of armor and the grips of daggers, and Elisif took it and put it between her teeth. Kaie cast another spell, this time conjuring up a ball of light that hovered over her head, and snapped off the arrow-head. "Bite down now," she ordered, as she took hold of the shaft.

Elisif clenched her teeth on the leather and just managed to hold herself back from screaming as Kaie pulled the arrow free. Blood soaked into Elisif's sleeve as she spat out the leather strip, accepted a potion vial from Kaie, and gulped it down.

"It's not quite healed," Kaie said, handing over another bottle. "I do not know the 'Healing Hands' spell, alas, although I do know the spells to heal myself." Once more she flashed a smile. "A pity, perhaps, that it was not me who was struck by the arrow."

"If it had been you, I might be dead now," Elisif said. "I couldn't have dealt with the archer the way you did." She drank the potion and felt the last of the pain fade away to nothing. "Thank you."

Extracting the arrow from Hadvar's shoulder was a more complicated procedure, and no doubt was more painful, but within a couple of minutes it was done and, free of the arrow, Hadvar drank two healing potions. He flexed his arm. "That's better," he said. "We should retrieve that bow for ourselves."

"That dead foe has one slung on his back," Kaie said, indicating the man who had been Elisif's first opponent.

"I'll get it," Elisif volunteered, wanting to do her fair share in the group. She went to the body and maneuvered it, with some effort, until she could get at the bow and the quiver. The smell coming from the body sickened her; there were aspects of violent death that the bards never mentioned. She managed to suppress the urge to vomit and completed the task.

Kaie gathered up the bow that had wounded Elisif and Hadvar. One of the other bodies proved to have a slung bow, too, and the three had a bow each when they found an exit from the cave and made their way onward.

Still they had not reached the outside world, only another cave, and this one was inhabited by frostbite spiders. The bows came in handy, allowing them to strike down the creatures from a distance, although Elisif played little part. She did, rather to her surprise and pride, manage to score one hit and finish off a spider already wounded by Hadvar.

By now Elisif was getting heartily sick of the tunnels and caverns beneath the keep and longed to be out. She was disappointed when, beyond the spider cave, they emerged only into yet another cavern. Larger than the previous two, with more light getting in from outside, and containing another stream, or perhaps the same one, running in a gully across the cave until it disappeared into a hole and plunged into unknown depths.

"Hold up!" Hadvar warned, holding up a hand. "There's a bear up ahead. See her?"

Elisif saw the bear, lying apparently asleep, and wondered how Hadvar could have determined the animal's gender at a distance.

"I'd rather we didn't tangle with her right now," Hadvar went on. "We might be able to sneak by. Just take it easy, and watch where you step."

"I will be ready in case we wake her," Kaie added, "but, as Hadvar says, there is no point in risking a fight in which we might be injured when it is unnecessary."

Elisif could see the sense in that and, doing her best to tread quietly, followed Hadvar through the cave whilst giving the bear a wide berth. Kaie came behind, so silently that Elisif wouldn't have known she was there, and the bear continued to slumber as they passed its resting place and entered a passage on the far side of the cavern.

And, at long last, they emerged into the open air.

"Oh, thank the Divines," Elisif exclaimed, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, and she strode forward.

"Wait!" Hadvar urged.

"Take cover!" Kaie hissed.

Elisif joined the others in crouching behind rocks as the dragon passed overhead, low enough that they could hear the sound of its wing-beats, but gaining height rapidly. It headed off toward what Elisif guessed to be a northerly direction, based on the position of the sun, climbing all the time until eventually it was lost to sight.

"It has gone," Hadvar said, "but we had better get away from here."

"We have to get back to Helgen," Elisif said. "There may be injured people there who need help. And I need to find out if General Tullius escaped."

"With respect, Jarl Elisif, I think that would be unwise," Hadvar said. "There could well be more Stormcloaks in what remains of the town. More likely than legionaries, I would say, for they fought the dragon whereas the Stormcloaks sought only shelter and escape. And we have only two healing potions remaining. The help we could offer is too limited to be worth the risk."

"Ulfric y Cachwr might be there still," Kaie said. "I do not think we could prevail against him, with the weapons we have against the power of his Voice, and he might take you captive. That would be a bad thing. You are too important to risk. We should get you to a place of safety."

"I suppose you are right," Elisif conceded, reluctantly. She didn't want them to start treating her as if she was a fragile flower that needed protecting, as Bolgeir had done, and as her steward Falk Firebeard tended to do. "So where do we go?" Where, indeed, would there be a true place of safety from a dragon who had laid waste to a fortified town, defended by a large contingent of legionaries, seemingly immune to everything they had tried against it?

"Riverwood is not far from here," Hadvar said. "My uncle is the blacksmith there. I'm sure he could help us out with some supplies, perhaps a better weapon or two, some armor for Kaie that isn't Legion equipment. Enough to get us to Whiterun, at least, and from there we can get a carriage back to Solitude."

"That seems to be the best course," Elisif agreed. "Lead on."

In other circumstances the walk toward Riverwood might have been a pleasant stroll. The sun shone brightly and, as they walked downhill, they soon left the area where snow lay on the ground and came to where grass and flowers lined their path. Before long they joined the road from Helgen to Riverwood and followed it, keeping alert for any Stormcloaks who might be following the same route, until they neared the White River.

At a bend in the road Elisif saw a group of three standing stones, ten feet or more in height, smoothly rounded and pierced through with head-sized holes so that they rather resembled giant needles stuck into the ground.

"The Guardian Stones," Hadvar said. "The Mage, the Thief, and the Warrior. They say that if one favored by the gods touches a stone they will receive a blessing that will make them more skilled in their chosen field. I tried touching the Warrior Stone myself, once, but I didn't notice any difference."

Kaie stared at the stones. "Surely this cannot be the power that the Matriarch promised would be mine," she mused. "I have touched the Lover Stone near Markarth, and felt its benefits, and I doubt that one of these stones would give me more. And she could have sent me directly here, rather than to Deepwater Crossing. I will keep what I have and pass these stones by." She turned her gaze to Elisif. "But you, my Lady, should avail yourself of this opportunity."

Elisif stepped onto the flagstones between the standing stones and headed for the one bearing the symbol of the Warrior. She doubted that she would count as 'favored by the gods', and fully expected nothing to happen, but she had nothing to lose other than a few seconds of her time and stretched out her hand to touch the megalith.

And it responded. The engravings on the stone lit up with lines of bluish light, forming the outline of the constellation of the Warrior, and a bright mage-light filled the hole in the upper part of the stone. A beam of light shone directly on Elisif and she felt suddenly… reenergized. Her fatigue eased. She didn't feel as if she had become a mighty warrior instantly but she did feel a little more courageous, a little more confident, and as if she had gained a slightly greater understanding of the art of combat. The lights on the Warrior Stone faded away but the feeling remained.

"That is what happened when I touched the Lover Stone," Kaie said. "The gods recognize your worth… as do I."

"I wouldn't have thought I'd done enough to prove myself worthy," Elisif said. "My Thanes don't seem to regard me as more than a figurehead."

"Then you need new Thanes," Kaie said. "If my allegiance was not pledged to… another I would be proud to serve you."

"And I would be proud to have you in my service," Elisif said.

"You fought valiantly, even when you were wounded," Hadvar said. "I shall spread the word through the Legion that we are fighting for a true warrior queen."

"Thank you, Hadvar," Elisif said. He was, she thought, exaggerating considerably. She didn't regard herself as even close to being worthy of that appellation. But perhaps, if she found someone to train her and worked hard, one day she could be a warrior queen in truth. As they left the Guardian Stones, and continued along the road, she resolved to try.