Rise of House Sigeweald Book One (Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter Three: Walk with Me

“I was trying to avoid getting hurt.  Maybe they thought I was spying?  Anyway, some soldier grabbed me from behind.   I couldn’t see and I turned around and hit him.   I doubt I did much damage though.  That’s all I remember.   Then I woke up in rags.  They took everything.  My sword.  My money.  My armor.  Maybe they didn’t want witnesses.  But they brought us to Helgen for a public execution so I just….I just don’t know.”  She really wanted to stop thinking about it.  Nothing the Empire did made sense to her anyway.

“Thugs.”  The anger in Ralof’s voice was clear, although he seemed to be making an attempt to keep it behind his clenched teeth.  “All of them.”

Elspeth understood but really hated seeing anger in his otherwise gentle face, so she kept talking, “I really liked that armor.  And now I’m stuck in a land full of giant people, where they probably don’t even make armor in my size.  I’m going to have to find some little girl who will trade her armor for a taffy treat.”

Ralof laughed in spite of himself and they walked along some more, now in a weary but comfortable silence.  The sun was rising and when they reached Riverwood morning had broken completely.  The town was quiet and the residents were going about their business as if unaware of the havoc that was wrecked in the adjacent hold the day before.  Ralof approached a slender woman coming down the road.

“Gerdur!” he called out to her.

“Brother! Mara’s mercy, it’s good to see you.  But is it safe for you to be here?”  She sounded terrified.

“Gerdur, I’m fine.  At least for now.”

“Are you hurt?  What happened?”  She turned to Elspeth and asked, “And who is this?  One of your comrades?”

“Not a comrade yet, but a friend.  I owe her my life, in fact.  This is Elspeth.”

Elspeth smiled at Gerdur, “I am so pleased to meet you and would not be here either, if not for your brother.”

Ralof suggested talking somewhere private and they made their way off the road to a small clearing by the river, out from eyeshot of the center of town.  Gerdur collected her husband, Hod, along the way and a young boy came bounding after them.

“Uncle Ralof!  Can I see your axe?  How many Imperials have you killed?  Do you really know Ulfric Stormcloak?”

Ralof chuckled at his young nephew while Gerdur instructed her son to stay by the road and alert them of any imperials.  Elspeth and Ralof sat down on a tree trunk.  While Ralof filled his sister in on the previous days’ events, Elspeth struggled to keep her eyes open.  Finally, she let herself lean over onto his shoulder to doze as he described the ambush.

“….and that was two days ago.”

Elspeth shot up suddenly and interjected, “The ambush was two days ago?  Are you joking?”

“No.  Elspeth, what’s wrong?”

“So, how long was I out?!?” Elspeth felt sick.  She covered her face and lay down on the stump.  Gurder and Hod looked at each other and then at Ralof, who touched Elspeth on the shoulder and asked quietly, “Hey, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”  But she really wasn’t.  The magnitude of what she had been through was starting to sink in.  She felt her eyes fill with tears and she did not want to cry in front of everyone.  “Please…just let me lie here for a moment.”

“Well okay….,” said Ralof.  He continued to tell the story of Ulfric’s capture and execution attempt.  The disgust that Gerdur displayed with respect to the Imperials was somehow reassuring and cheered Elspeth up—or at least, kept her from bursting into tears.  By the time Ralof got to the dragon attack, Elspeth was feeling a little better.