Chapter Text
It was a beautiful autumn morning. The chilly breeze of the first lights of the sun was touching the leaves of the trees, making them dance with the birds that were flying around. The shadows of the leaves were changing as they moved along, creating shapes and preventing sunlight to reach down to the ground. A mockingbird was chirping on a branch of a nearby tree. The wind carried its voice, all the way down to a cart that was traveling down on the rocky road. Carrying 6 people, the driver of the cart didn't mind the beautiful song of the bird. However, someone else, someone inside of the cart was awakened thanks to that song.
"Hey, you! You're finally awake!"
A girl who was wearing a Thieves Guild armor with dark ginger hair around her face opened one of her eyes, trying to understand where she was. Everything seemed like spinning to her, she hardly managed to keep that one eye open. Her vision was upside down, the people in front of her were strangers. A terrible headache crushed her skull as she tried to make sense of what's been going on, so she decided to close her eyes again until she feels fine. However, her eyes opened wide when the cart passed on a big rock and made her bump her head to the edge of the cart. She immediately straightened up, hissing. She tried to touch the bump, that was a hell of a bump, it might even be bleeding, but just as she reached out to touch her head, she realized that her hands were tied in front of her. She curiously looked at her hands, then turned to the person who was sitting right in front of her. He was a blonde and muscled Stormcloak soldier, but probably because of the bad treatment and lack of opportunity of taking bath, his skin was covered with dirt and his hair was not in a better condition. Seeing that she's finally, really awake this time, the blonde soldier smiled at her sympathetically.
"They must have hit your head pretty hard. It took ages to get you up."
She gave him a questioning look.
"They? Who?"
The soldier pointed the driver with his head. The girl turned to the driver and saw a brown helmet, realizing that he was an Imperial officer.
"Who do you think? Imperials, of course."
She tried to remember what happened, yet the effort made her headache worse, so she stopped trying. Did she get caught by the Imperials? That was impossible, was it not? She was the best at what she was doing. Her ability to hide and run away was remarkable and she had more luck than anyone else in all of Tamriel. It was partially because she was a damn good thief, and partially because she was blessed by Nocturnal, the Deadric Prince of Dusk herself. There was no way she could be caught by the Empire. Not by her own anyways.
"You are one of the thieves of that guild in Riften, I assume," the soldier spoke. She nodded absent-mindedly. No need to deny after they all clearly saw her armor, was there?
"Pity that you've arrived at your hideout just as we were passing by. We, I mean, this fucking cart. We've already been captured and were on the way to Gods know where."
The last sentence of the soldier brought some memories to her, memories about her receiving a letter about an emergency, jumping on her horse, riding for at least 2 days straight with not even resting for nights, and finally arriving at the Abandoned House near Morthal, where she and her friends meet secretly. Afterward, nothing.
"Imperials ambushed all of us, young lady," the soldier spoke again, bringing her back to Earth. "This boy here," he pointed to the person sitting near him. "He was trying to cross the border and walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."
The girl looked at the people sitting near the Stormcloak soldier. They were both Nords, the young one was blonde and had messy, curly hair. He was not showing any kind of emotion except tapping his feet, indicating that he was probably stressed out. The other Nord, however, looked terrified, looking in every possible direction, keep biting his fingers and rocking back and forth.
"Damn you Stormcloaks," he said looking at the soldier. "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell. You here... You, me, and this boy, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants... And maybe that assassin over there."
'Assassin?' the girl thought. But before she could ask who the assassin is, the Stormcloak soldier talked again.
"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."
The thief opened his mouth to say something, but his sentence was cut off by a sarcastic laugh. The girl's eyes opened wide and she turned her head to see the person who laughed, the person who was sitting next to her all along.
"Alessia?"
Short-haired Imperial, the one she called Alessia, gave her a small grin but it didn't take time for her to return back to her usual nonchalant expression. She was in her Brotherhood armor, her black and silky hair was messy, showing that there was probably some fight between her and the Imperials, however, her tied hands in her lap were a clear sign of the winner.
"Morning, Ciri," she said. "You've been sleeping for the last 3 days, you know that?"
Ciri, the ginger one grimaced.
"As if I'd sleep for 3 days, Sia."
Alessia didn't answer back, just looked at her with fiery eyes. The ginger knew she was serious. She sighed and looked around. 3 days! The soldier was right. They must have hit her pretty hard to put her into sleep for 3 days.
Then she realized that there was still someone else who she didn't see clearly in their cart, sitting next to Alessia. The ginger raised her head a bit to see who was the last companion of their journey. The man had a long cape, blonde hair, and a piece of cloth around his mouth. The girl recognized the man immediately. 'Oh crap,' she thought. 'If you're here, then probably they're taking us to our graves.'
They traveled for a while in silence, but then the thief decided to talk again, pointing the guy sitting next to Alessia.
"And what's wrong with him, huh?"
Stormcloack soldier got angry. 'Wrong question for such emotionally unstable soldiers, pal.'
"Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King."
The blonde boy sitting between the soldier and the thief finally looked like he was interested in the conversations around him. He sent a glance full of hatred towards Ulfric. Ciri guessed he didn't like him. 'That makes the two of us,' she thought.
"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you... Oh, gods, where are they taking us?"
'Apparently, to the Sovngarde,' she thought. The soldier said the same thing.
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."
"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening."
'Always in denial. Funny.' Alessia took a deep breath. It was easy for her to get rid of the ropes and get off the cart, but she was angry at the trap she'd been pulled into. At first, she stayed because she couldn't run away without taking her redhead friend Ciri, and she was unconscious. But since she was awake, they could jump off and disappear behind the trees. Still, she chose to wait, because something seemed wrong. She needed to get to the bottom of it.
'They captured both me and Ciri,' she thought. 'This seems more than coincidental. That letter was a trap. Someone from the inside knew how to pull us into the Abandoned House. Ciri was pulled into the same trap. There is no way they could have known we meet up there. The most possible outcome is that we both have been betrayed.'
"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" The soldier asked again, disturbing the silence.
"Why do you care?"
'Indeed,' Alessia thought. 'Why the heck do you care?'
"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."
'Nords and their sentimental last thoughts,' she rolled her eyes. As being an Imperial, she never understood the Nords.
"Rorikstead. I'm... I'm from Rorikstead."
"What about you, red-headed lady?"
"Well, I traveled all across Tamriel, so you can say everywhere is my home," Ciri lied with a smile on her face. She was still on her guard, not planning to give any useless information to anyone. "What about you, soldier sir?"
"I'm from Riverwood," the soldier said, looking a little nostalgic. "And you, young man?" He turned to the boy sitting next to him. The boy just looked at him with the corner of his eyes in disgust, then turned back to watch his own feet like he found them more interesting than having a conversation with the soldier.
"Right," the soldier said, turning Alessia to ask. Luckily, after seeing the murderous glance in her eyes literally screaming 'do not dare to start a conversation with me,' he finally gave up asking.
"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"
"Good. Let's get this over with."
As the cart had entered the town, the poor, terrified thief started to prey.
"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me."
Of course, no god answered him. Alessia couldn't help but grin a bit. As being a worshipper of Sithis, she never expected mercy, nor help from her Dread Father. He was a strict father that doesn't show his love for his children. But Alessia and her other siblings were alright with that. She was on her own and knowing that made her stronger, unlike the death-seeking Nords.
"Look at him, General Tullius, the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this."
The soldier was talking too much, yet he was right. Thalmor... Both catching the head of the Dark Brotherhood and the head of the Thieves Guild, placing them in a cart with Ulfric Stormcloak was too advance for the Empire. They were lazy, their intelligence was not enough to gather information about Alessia or Ciri. Heck, they were not even good enough to catch Ulfric all those years! This was definitely Thalmor's doing. But she knew that even Thalmor couldn't find them if they were not tipped about their secret meeting place, the Abandoned House.
"This is Helgen," the soldier continued to speak, oblivious to the assassin's increasing rage. "I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe..."
"For Sithis' sake! Will you shut up?" she hissed. All she wanted was to travel in peace until she learns about how did they manage to trick her and then spills blood. But no, oh no, some sentimental Nord had to ruin it for her.
The soldier didn't say anything after that. Hearing the name of Sithis was enough for him, probably. He might even be scared of getting cursed and finding himself in the Void instead of his so-called afterlife. She was glad though.
As the cart moved along, the people of Helgen started to gather. Alessia finally understood what they were up to. They were going to execute them without trial. They were so afraid of the people in the cart that they were not even gonna give them a chance to defend themselves. They might not be the ones who they claimed to be. How could they even be sure of Alessia was Alessia? But she knew the Imperials didn't care about their fair trials anyways. They were always ruthless, they were not gonna change their way.
As she was getting lost in her own thoughts, an Imperial captain stood by the cart.
"Get these prisoners out of the carts. Move it!"
"Why are we stopping?" The thief asked. Stormcloak soldier answered.
"Why do you think? End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."
"No! Wait! We're not rebels!"
"Face your death with some courage, thief."
"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"
But the captain was not interested in who was guilty and who was not, proving Alessia right.
"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time."
Soldier puffed.
"Empire loves their damn lists."
Then, a young soldier started to read their names.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm."
Alessia looked at Ulfric. It was not like she knew him in person but she was sure that Ciri knew him. She had her own feud with him, just like Alessia having her own feud with the Imperials, but Ciri was better at hiding her anger. For starters, she was not killing every Stormcloak soldier she sees, unlike Alessia.
"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric!" The soldier said. 'Go and meet in the Sovngarde already,' she thought.
"Ralof of Riverwood. Lokir of Rorikstead." The soldier stepped out but the thief started to run.
"No, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!"
"Halt!" The captain shouted.
"You're not going to kill me!" 'They probably will.'
"Archers!" The captain commanded. The guy was shot dead. "Anyone else feels like running?"
No one commented. She was glad. She wanted this stupid show to start as soon as possible so that she could obtain a sword, kill soldiers, capture the Thalmor officer, torture him, learn about the whistleblower, and so on. The plan was kind of a head-on, but there was no reason to hide behind the shadows for this job. It was not a contract, plus a show would have been a good sign for the next people who will try to capture her.
"Cirille Amelion, head of the Thieves Guild. Alessia the Alchemist, head of the Dark Brotherhood."
"Wow, you guys even learned our names this time! You must be really hard-working people." Ciri grinned. She didn't even care to hide their identities this time, she knew it was too late. 'That's really bad,' Alessia thought. The whistleblower did not only give information to the Empire of their whereabouts but also informed them of their full identity. That meant even if they escape by killing everyone in Helgen, there will be still information about them in the hands of the Thalmor.
"Wait. You there. Step forward. Who are you?"
The curly-haired boy stepped forward, looking hateful but still collected, unlike most of the Stormcloak soldiers.
"Toby from House Telvanni."
"From House Telvanni, eh? Didn't know Nords can be a part of Morrowind nobility. Well. You pick a bad time to come back to your homeland then," the soldier said. "Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list."
"Forget the list, he's going to the block."
"By your orders, captain. I am sorry kinsman. Please follow the captain."
Alessia felt angry. This was the Empire's co-called hospitability. Not even asking who was the kid, not even asking if he deserves to die. Not even a trial, not even asking his last words. The boy must have been around the same age as Ciri at best. 'Too young,' Alessia thought. 'He doesn't deserve to die like this.'
But she knew the Empire didn't care. It was the same Empire that killed Alessia's family after all. She'd already been witnessed to their cruelty. She sighed. Empire wouldn't change anyway, so maybe she could change the boy's destiny. She wasn't sure but he was somehow familiar to her. 'I can't let him die,' she thought.
Alessia looked around again. Everyone was nervous except her, Ciri, and the boy who apparently was not afraid of the Imperials. Ciri was so carefree that she was just playing with her hair in front of her face. Alessia knew what that means. Ciri already found a way to escape. She smiled. 'That's a relief.'
Now all she had to do was wait until they started to chop the people's heads. Then, the real show would start. She couldn't help but grin. She counted the souls that she would send to her Dread Father. It was going to be a carnival. A carnival full of blood!