I only own my own character(s) and this plot. All Skyrim related locations, names, characters, etc. belong to Bethesda!

Karys opened her eyes and shook her head to clear her mind. Her whole body ached with the blows she had received during her capture. She heard the plodding of horse's hooves and the creaking of wooden wheels. Raising her head, Karys looked around quizzically, wondering where she was being taken. A low curse left her lips when she realize they had taken her ebony sword, her prized possession. She noticed her hands were bound and grit her teeth, there was no getting out of this.

"Ah, you're awake. Good! My name is Ralof."

She snapped her head to her left and saw a blonde Nord in a blue Stormcloak uniform. He was smiling at her, despite their current situation.

"What happened?" Karys asked quietly.

The last she remembered was running through the forest near the border to Cyrodill towards the sounds of a battle. The Nord woman had found herself right in the middle of a clash of blue and red, Stormcloaks against Imperials.

"You ran right into our ambush, milady. And you fought valiantly. But there were too many Imperials and we were overcome." He paused and spit over the side of the wagon bitterly. "Shortly after they knocked you out, Jarl Ulfric called for surrender." He sighed, nodding in acknowledgment to someone on her other side.

Ulfric? Surely not...

She turned her head and saw another larger blonde Nord on her right. His mouth was covered with a tightly bound rag, and his brow was furrowed. She felt her mouth go dry and the air leave her lungs as he glared at her. Despite his imprisonment in Cyrodill and fighting in the Great War, age had treated him kindly. What she could see of his face was harder than she remembered, and the warmth had gone from his green eyes, replaced with a cold and calculating gaze that mesmerized her.

"Quiet back there!" The Imperial soldier driving their carriage called over his shoulder.

"Where are they taking us?" Karys questioned, ignoring the soldier's order for silence.

"I think we're just outside of Helgen." Ralof replied sadly, hanging his head. "I used to be sweet on a young lass here."

Karys barely heard his next statement about someone making mead with juniper berries as she tried to gather her thoughts. Last she had heard, Imperial General Tullius was stationed in Helgen. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she accepted her fate. Surely they were headed for the chopping block.

The wagon lurched to a stop and Karys raised her head, blue eyes searching the area around her. The quaint mountain village was crawling with Imperials, and a ways off she could see a headsman with an enormous axe slung across his shoulders.

"Everyone out!" An Imperial called gruffly, sounding impatient.

Karys stood quietly and followed Ulfric out of the carriage. Another soldier was reading names from a list and Karys breathed in relief when her name wasn't called.

"What's your name?" The soldier asked of her. "Karys Dvasia." She responded, her jaw set and her chin raised proudly.

Talos be damned if she'd show them any weakness.

"What of this woman?" The soldier asked his superior. "She's not on our list."

"She's obviously a rebellion sympathizer." The Imperial woman scorned, eyeing Karys' Amulet of Talos. "She goes under the axe with them."

"I'm sorry. At least you'll die in your home." The soldier sighed, writing her name on his list.

The group of prisoners was called to the chopping block and the first to go was a young Stormcloak soldier who taunted the Imperials with the promise of Sovngarde as the axe fell upon his neck with a dull thud. Karys winced when his head rolled into the basket and an Imperial kicked his body aside indifferently.

"Next! The woman!" The superior from earlier called, smirking darkly at Karys.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped forward, resigned to her fate. Before she could reach the block, a strange shriek wrenched through the air and several people called out in wonder. Despite the strange noise, Karys was pushed down on the block, her pulse ringing in her ears as she prayed to the Nine for salvation. Just as the headsman brought up his axe above his head, another shriek, closer this time, tore through the skies and a large shadow passed over.

What followed was chaos. A large beast landed with a crash upon a nearby guard tower and spewed fire as it shouted in a strange guttural tongue. Karys rolled away from the block and crawled quickly to the dropped headsman's axe, sawing at her bonds. She could hear people naming the great black beast "dragon" as she finally felt feeling returning to her fingertips.

"Karys, come! The Gods won't give us another chance!" Ralof shouted, grabbing her roughly and setting her on her feet.

She ran desperately behind Ralof and Ulfric, dodging another spout of fire from the great beast. The ground was quaking under her feet as she ran for cover in the nearest guard tower, praying the doorway wouldn't collapse under the wrath of the dragon before she was able to reach it. Karys stopped to catch her breath once she reached the safety of the guard tower and brushed her red hair back from her sweaty forehead.

Ulfric fell against the wall with a hiss, clutching his right leg. Three arrows were protruding from the muscle, the heads deeply imbedded into the flesh. Karys knew the man well, and wasn't accustomed to seeing him show weakness in battle, but she supposed three arrows was enough to bring any seasoned warrior down.

"Those damn Imperials didn't want to let you go." She sighed, kneeling before the Jarl. "Here, let me help." She added, summoning a healing spell in her right hand.

"Get away from me, you vile woman." The blonde Nord spat, batting her hands away.

"Ulfric, really. You-"

"No, I'll be fine. I don't need your help." He grunted, before gritting his teeth and breaking off the three arrow shafts in turn, leaving the heads to fester.

"I must insist." Karys pressed quietly, advancing towards him again as he struggled to stand.

"Damn it, woman! I said no. We don't have the time."

In reality, Ulfric would have liked for nothing other than to be healed. To feel the warmth of health course through his veins and quench the burning in his thigh. But Gods be damned if he would let that woman touch him again.

"My Jarl is right. We can't sit here waiting for that beast to find us." Ralof consented, leading them up the spiral stairs.

Before they could reach the top, there was a rumble that shook Karys to her very core and the wall of the tower was blown back and she felt a blast of heat before Ulfric shoved her against the wall, the bulk of his body protecting her from the flames. The dragon withdrew his head quickly and took flight once more. Ulfric pushed himself away from Karys and inspected the gaping opening the dragon had left behind.

"Jump through to the inn and head to the keep. We'll follow when we can."

"No. I want to help you." Karys declined, shaking her head and stepping away from the hole.

"Damn you, you stubborn woman! Jump or I will throw you!" Ulfric demanded, stepping towards her menacingly.

Karys bit her lip, torn. She didn't want to go, she wanted to help. But Talos be damned if she would let him throw her across to the burning inn below.

"You'll follow?" She implored, eyes Ulfric skeptically.

"As soon as we can." The large Nord assured her with a nod.

She took a deep breath and took a few steps back, preparing herself for a running start. She took one last look at Ulfric before running towards the opening and throwing herself into the smoldering ruin below. Rolling onto her shoulder, Karys quickly jumped to her feet an threw one last look back to the two men in the tower she had just vacated. Her cerulean eyes met Ulfric's mossy green ones and he nodded to her before turning away.

Ulfric watched Karys go, praying to Talos that she would make it out of this. Despite not having seen her in over a decade, the Jarl could tell that the woman had changed. She was no longer the tender, soft maiden he had known in his youth.

"Sir, that woman... Did the two of you..."

"I knew long ago. This is the first I've seen her in twelve years." Ulfric replied to Ralof's unasked questions, his mouth setting into a hard line at the memory. "Come, lad. We must go and see if the others made it." He commanded, leading the way back down the stairs.

Once back out in the sunlight, the devastation the dragon had caused to the small mountain stead became clear. There were bodies everywhere, some were burned black and charred, while others were mangled and bloody. Every building was blazing, some already smoldering ruins, others were freshly ablaze, the orange flames licking their was up the timbers angrily. A haze of smoke stung the two Nord's eyes, making it difficult to see. Somewhere nearby the dragon squalled again, his voice causing the very earth to rumble beneath their feet.

Ulfric retrieved a steel great sword from the ground, spinning it in his hand, willing the beast to come to him. He wasn't afraid of the damned beast. He would send it back to Oblivion by himself if he had to. Ralof picked up a discarded iron war axe, testing it's weight in his hand before also picking up a shield and strapping it to his left forearm. He wouldn't deny that he was terrified at the thought if the great black dragon, but he would follow his Jarl to the ends of Nirn that his death might be celebrated in Shor's Hall in Sovngarde.

A troop of Imperial soldiers spilled around the corner of a nearby building and charged at the sight of Ulfric. The two blonde warriors sprinted into the mass of enemies, hacking and slashing at the armor of their foes. The Imperials didn't seem to care for Ralof's presence, their only concern being the recapture of the leader of the rebellion.

"Ralof, go!" Ulfric ordered, plunging his sword into the stomach of a grizzled Imperial.

"I won't leave you, sir!" Ralof denied, bashing an advancing soldier's skull with his borrowed axe.

"Go, now! That's an order!" Ulfric yelled, blocking a blow from the young boy in front of him. "Go and make sure Karys gets away!"

Ralof fought his way out of the fray, hacking the head off of one more soldier for good measure before sprinting for a gap in the blazing buildings. He stared around wildly, looking for a flash of red hair. Praying the Nord woman had found her way into the keep, Ralof made his way as quickly as he could to the tower keep, his feet slipping on the blood soaked ground. He reached the wooden door of the keep and wrenched it open just as the dragon swooped down and picked up an Imperial warrior in it's massive maw. He slammed the door shut on the grizzly scene and leaned against it, catching his breath before turning to face the circular room he had just entered.

A/N: Hello all! This is my first ever post on this site and also my first attempt at an Elder Scrolls story! Please let me know what you think? I'm used to writing in first person, but thought I would try something new so I thought I would write this in third, so please bear with me if there any inconsistencies, point them out to me and I will fix them! Sorry this chapter was sort of jumpy and some dialogue and events from the opening of the game were left out. But I am so tired of the opening that I just wanted to get it over with!

Please review! I'm already halfway done with the second post!