A Woman

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest.

Lips as soft as the sky touched mine, and breathed life into my body. Her hands held my head for a moment, then slid down my neck to touch my chest.

“Wake, my love.”

Two strong hands pulled me to my feet. The formerly cold sky felt like it was on fire. All around, I heard the screams and shouts of the Imperials. I opened my eyes, and saw I was being held up by the stormcloak from the cart. None of the Imperials seemed concerned with the two of us.

“Hey brother, you alright?” He asked, genuinely concerned as he pulled me towards the watchtower. “You sure know how to take a hit. There’s nothing left of that Imperial dog. The name’s Ralof, what’s yours?”

“It’s… it’s Steir,” I stammered.

“Good to meet you, you caught us at an exciting time. Even though…” he grunted as he kicked open the door of the tower. “I suspect you’re not new to conflict. You’re not a friend of the Empire, are you?”

“No,” I said, and I meant it. Even if I used to be, that was before they tried to cut my head off.

“Didn’t think you would be,” he said, and let go of me, before cutting my bindings. “Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?”

The door slammed shut. A handful of stormcloaks had taken refuge inside the tower. Some of them were wounded, burned horribly. Others were taking care of them, to the best of their abilities. Among them was Jarl Ulfric. He had removed his gag, and without that, he seemed even more regal than before.

“Legends don’t burn down villages,” he said. “Besides, we’ve got more pressing matters. We have to move, if we’re going to survive this day. Ralof, climb the tower, give me a lay of the land.”

“Let’s go,” Ralof said to me. “If you’re up for it, of course.”

I nodded. Might as well, I thought, there was nowhere else to go. I followed Ralof up the stairs, while behind me, Jarl Ulfric ordered his warriors to barricade the door. On the first floor a pair of stormcloaks had started moving a pile of stones that fell from the ceiling. Apparently the beast was even heavier than it looked. Right before I could give them a hand, the wall burst open.

Stone en dust flew through the small space, and for a moment I thanked the gods nobody got hurt, before I saw the monstrous head leering through the breach. Its eyes were blood red, and its teeth as long as my forearm.

“Fire,” it said.

Reflexively I grabbed Ralof, and pulled him back down a few steps, before the room was covered in flames. The screams of his brothers died down in mere seconds, and before I knew it the beast was gone, leaving us with the scorched remains of its attack.

“By the gods…” Ralof whispered, staring at the massacre. “I’ve known those two for years.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Thank you,” he said, suddenly aware of our position. “And again for saving my life. I guess we’re even now.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” I said. “We’re not out of here yet.”

“No,” he agreed. “But maybe…”

Ralof ran back up the stairs and peered around the corner of the breach.

“Just as I thought,” he said. “There’s a roof close enough by. I’m pretty sure we could jump to it from here, and then drop ourselves over the wall into the bushes. We’ll get out and evade the Imperials at the same time.”

When I joined him, I noticed he was right. Next to the watchtower was a house built right up against the town wall.

“Get yourself to safety,” Ralof said, as he grabbed me by my shoulders. “I’ll report to Jarl Ulfric. We might have to toss a few of our wounded brothers over the gap, but the thatch wil break their fall. I hope.”

And then he ran back down the stairs.

I threw another look through the wall. Down on the ground I saw the Imperials shooting arrows up into the sky, screaming , shouting and running for their lives. So much for Imperial discipline. I knew it wouldn’t be hard to get out of there unseen. I took a deep breath and jumped the gap.

I landed on the roof, but a groaning crack told me I’d be the last to jump on this roof. I dropped right through the straw, and tumbled to the wooden floor of the attic underneath. Half of the house was burned to ash, and I scrambled to my feet to get out of there as fast as I could. As I ran out of the collapsing structure, I noticed a group of townspeople huddled behind some burning wreckage.

“Haming, you need to get over here, now,” the Nord soldier shouted.

A boy ran towards the townspeople, right before a wave of flames engulfed his previous hiding place.

“That a boy, you’re doing great,” the Nord said, before retreating. “Gods… everyone get back!”

I was just about to duck behind a broken wall, when the soldier noticed me.

“Still alive, prisoner?” He called out. “Keep close to me if you want to stay that way.”

I shrugged and followed. I wasn’t going to get myself stabbed right after escaping a dragon.

"Gunnar,” he said to one of the townspeople. “Take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense."

"Gods guide you, Hadvar," the man answered.

We followed Hadvar through an alley along the keep.

"Stay close to the wall," he shouted suddenly, and two enormous scaled wings blocked out the sun. I froze and gazed upwards. The throat of the beast trembled as he spoke of an inferno hot as the sun, and a raging fire sprang forth. A squad of Imperials were caught in the flames and burned to **** before our eyes. When the dragon flew off again, Hadvar waved to us.

“Quickly, follow me. We have to get to safety.”

I admit, this Imperial seemed alright. We followed him through a burned building, and suddenly we were in a square, where imperial soldiers, archers and mages had set up a defense against the dragon. Volleys of arrows and fireballs were thrown into the sky, but none of it seemed to harm the creature.

“This way,” Hadvar directed us towards the keep, along with any straggling townspeople. “It can’t burn stone. You’ll be safe in there.”

I hid in the crowd as we went into the keep, to safety. For now, at least.