Vulera: A Thalmor Soldier's Story

Vulera Part I : Tool of the Thalmor

Vulera's head bobbed weakly as the wagon traveled over rough road. She was wearing simple rags and was cold as the wintry chill of skyrim's winds bit at her skin. She was wide awake yet sickly tired from not eating in two days, crammed into this Imperial wagon with several Stormcloak rebels, all of them prisoners. Vulera looked behind them, there was another wagon full of people, she could scarcely make out that one man was gagged wearing stormcloak armor, that was Ulfric the man she was supposed to kill, two other men were in rags and didn't look like stormcloaks at all. She noticed one of the men in rags was very well built and looked quite healthy.

She held her head up high looking at the beautiful white snow dust on the pines while wind blew her dirty black hair across her face. The smell of unwashed bodies was overpowering in the wagon packed with defeated men, there was one stormcloak woman at the end of the cart. Vulera knew them all as she had recently been captured and beaten by them at their camp just before the Imperials attacked. It was a close call with death, she had been shadowing the stormcloaks for two nights and was getting ready to shoot an arrow into Ulfric Stormcloak until she was knocked over the head by someone better at sneaking than her. So the stormcloaks spotted her and after inspecting her things called her an Altmeri spy despite her pleas.

For two days and nights the stormcloaks kept Vulera bound and gagged. Ulfric did not even come talk to her. It was one of the rebel women and another man who questioned her and then would beat her with a stick across her back and legs. She remembered the last night vividly it was just hours before the surprise attack by Imperial soldiers.

"Stop lying, we found the Thalmor letter with your things." The large Nord yelled, towering over Vulera as she sat tied to the base of a tree.

"I found those tings on a corpse I speak ve truce" Vulera struggled to speak the Imperial tongue after growing up speaking Bosmer all her life. She pleaded and felt like a beaten dog, tied up and unwashed, not even allowed to go relieve herself privately. She never expected being a prisoner would be so horrible.

"It's 'Truth' not truce you stupid big nose bosmer and I don't believe you" The man barked down at her.

The Nord woman slapped Vulera's arm with the stick, it bit into her skin and made her yelp in pain "You Thalmor assassin, I will kill you if you keep lying. Now tell us who else is a spy?"

Vulera's day dreaming was cut off by the sound of large gate doors opening to Helgen, a small village in southern skyrim. The Imperials did not even take the time to care why Vulera was a prisoner of the Stormcloaks. The surprise attack was so sudden and chaotic that she was assumed an enemy of the empire and thrown into the wagon.

As the Imperial soldiers entered the town past the gates, Vulera spotted Thalmor soldiers talking to an Imperial General. She had no idea who the people were but her heart felt hope, she sat up in her seat hoping the Thalmor Mistress on the hourse would notice her. The wagon bumped and moved on, the Thalmor Mistress looked in their direction but made no immediate action to save Vulera.

As the wagons moved on through the village street, Vulera began to cry, she knew her only hope of survival was past. One of the Stormcloaks tried to comfort her saying "If you are not a spy as you say elf, then i feel very sorry for you lass, may Talos save your soul".

The events from there went so quickly. Vulera heard an Imperial woman yell "get these prisoners out of the carts." Vulera's eyes scanned with expert precision, taking it all in, her surroundings. The chopping block with the executioner standing by. The Female Imperial Archer in uniform, a priestess of the gods walking up to give them all last rights. She kept scanning, where were the Thalmor? She was not gagged so she could yell out to them if she could just see them again. They did not come.