Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

In the end, I decided to take a different horse. This one was a dappled gray, a color that I ordinarily considered boring, but in the gloom and mist that now seemed a permanent blanket over the land, hopefully it would be a difficult color to spot.

The soldier in charge of the horses gave me an odd look when I requested the dappled gray and shot a look at the hitching post where Gormlaith was standing, but he didn't offer any comments on my choice. I was rather surprised that he even knew which horse was mine; she was hardly the only black and white paint in the mix.

I mounted the dappled gray stallion and rode him through the gates, giving the netted rock trap a quick glance as I did so. The nets were holding well even with the constant barrage of stones and ever-increasing tremors, but that didn't mean I had to like being underneath it.

As I followed the path out of the city I caught sight of Ralof standing with a couple soldiers. His eyes met mine and he nodded, mouthing "Talos be with you" as I passed by.

Talos, I didn't actually need right now. Nocturnal's blessing would be nice, though.

Just two minutes after I left the city it became painfully clear that Nocturnal had about the same opinion of me as Brynjolf at the moment, because I managed to walk straight into a mounted Imperial patrol. And when I say I walked into them, I mean that the stallion's nose bumped into the hindquarters of one of their horses.

The raspy sounds of weapons being drawn filled the air as confusion broke out amongst the Imperial riders, and I didn't wait to see if I could somehow pass myself off as one of them. Instead, I urged the stallion around their little group and kicked him repeatedly until he was galloping flat out across the plains at a pace that could get both him and me killed at any second if he tripped.

Shouts broke out behind me as the Imperials took off in pursuit, the hooves of their own horses splashing audibly through the muddy plains. I ignored the sounds, leaning low over the dappled gray's neck. I had been hoping that I could sneak through the Imperial's scouting patrols and ride all the way to Redoran's Retreat, but I had devised a plan in case I was spotted.

Unfortunately, my plan involved leaping off a horse at full gallop in weather conditions that allowed me to see barely ten feet in front of my face.

Luckily, I managed to miss any rocks or other equally hard objects, but I didn't manage to avoid the various species of shrubs that dotted the plains. My right foot came down on one of these inconvenient bushes, throwing me off balance. I had never intended to land on my feet, but the bush threw off my intentional roll so badly that I ended up sprawled awkwardly on my back after rolling painfully over one shoulder. Still, after taking a split second to make sure I hadn't broken anything, I managed to roll more or less quickly behind a small stand of the bushes, wincing as I felt cold water seeping through the front of my armor.

As I had intended, the gray horse kept galloping, reins flopping uselessly on its neck until it passed from my view. A second later the Imperials raced by, following the sounds of my now-riderless horse.

Leaving me lying in the mud behind a couple scraggly bushes with a new variety of aches and pains caused by hitting the ground at a speed most people tried to avoid. There must have been a better plan than this, but if there had been, I still couldn't see it.

Slipping and sliding, I managed to get my legs back underneath myself with a minimum of wincing and grimacing. Mentally cursing bushes, I set out in a direction a little to the left of the one in which my horse had taken off, still sure of the direction I was headed in spite of this little setback.