Her eyes fluttered open, the sun shining bright on the cool morning of the sevententh day of Last Seed. The brightness of the sun against Nania's newly awakened eyes sent jets of sharp pain through her forehead, causing her to squint.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake." The voice a Nord brought to the attention of Roux that she wasn't alone. Adjusting her eyes to the sun, she looked at the three men that were in the carriage with her, which of course, made her realize that she was in carriage. Why was she in a carriage?
"You were trying to cross the boarder, right? Walked into an imperial ambush, same as us, and that theif over there."
She remembered now. She was trying to cross into Skyrim, just over the mountains. She remembered seeing the two men before her. She was going to ask them for directions when the Imperials attacked. She had no time to draw her weapon or plea her case before one of them smakced her over the head with the butt of his sword. Insticntively, Roux tried to rub the back of her now throbbing head, only to discover that her hands were bound. What had she gotten herself into this time?
"Damn you Stormcloaks. 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," the man next to her said. He wasn't a Nord, unlike the other two, that much was obvious. "You there... You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants." Roux looked back at the Nords. Stormcloaks? Roux had heard that there was a dispute between a rebel group and the Empire, so if she was caught up with them...she didn't want to think of the conseqences. Looking down at her feet, she attempted to settle her breathing, but there were far too many questions in her head. They had taken all of her stuff, including her dagger and her bag. The dagger, a gift from her father from when she was a child, wasn't near as important as the bag was. The bag held everything she owned, and with it's magical enchantment, could have held much more. Where were her two possesions now? Did the imperials have them, or were they left back in the snow? Roux couldn't bare to think on it an longer, so she tuned back into the conversation.
"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," the Nord said. Roux sucked in a breath and continued to look down at her bound hands. They trembled in her lap.
"Shut up back there!" said the imperial soldier driving the carriage. Roux pushed her hands between her legs to hide the shaking from those around her. Looking up, she noticed that they were on the doorstep of a walled town, a town that she assumed was Helgen.
"And what's wrong with him, huh?" asked the man beside her, nodding at the Stormcloak wearing a gag about his mouth.
"Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King," said the Nord, an edge of anger in his voice. Roux knew Ulfric Stormcloak, everyone knew Ulfric Stormcloack.
"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?" The same question ran through Roux's head, but she knew the answer to it. They were going to the chopping block.
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."
Nania lifted her chin, looking at the trees behind the heads of the Nord.
"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening."
'It is, my friend. It is happening.'
There was a moment of silence. Roux imagined that the blonde haired Nord in front of her was thinking of his family. Ulfric Stormcloak as well. The man beside her, she wasn't so sure. She did know, however, that she couldn't conjure up a single memory of her parents. The only things she could pull out were that of her favourite horse and her childhood best friend. Her horse, who had sacrificed herself for Roux when the two ran into a pack of wolves.
Her childhood best friend, who had left Burma almost as suddenly as her parents had. She had always thought he'd died. In her 10-year-old mind, him dying was better than him abandoning her. She didn't know if Reguard's went to Sovngarde, but she hoped that wherever she ended up, she would be with those she loved most. The thought of seeing them again was enough to bring a smile to her face.
"Hey, what village are you from, horse theif?"
"What do you care?"
"A nord's last thoughts should be of home."
"Rorikstead. I'm...I'm from Rorikstead."
As they rolled through the gates of Helgen, Roux heard a few Imperials in elaborate apperal speaking to each other about the headsman being ready.
"Let's get this over with," one of them said. Lifting her chin higher, Roux looked up at clouds above her head, speaking her own private prayer in her head as the man beside her spoke his.
"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me." The sound of his voice was slowly starting to irritate Roux, but it might be his last prayer, so she said nothing.
"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. This is Helgen. 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," the blonde Nord said. His words, as they were meant to, made Roux slightly better. She sucked in a deep breath and dipped her head in a nod, forcing herself to come to terms with her fate. Behind her, sitting on he porch of his house, was a small boy.
"Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?" the little boy asked. She caught the eye of the boy. She smiled at him.
"You need to go inside, little cub," said his father, who stood ust behind him. His mother was just beside him.
"Why? I want to watch the soldiers."
"Inside now."
"Yes, Papa."
As the boy stood, Roux kept eye contact. He lifted his hand in a partial wave. Smiling, Roux lifted her hand, forgetting for a second that her hands were bound. Her smile fell and her hands dropped slowly back into her lap. Her gaze flitted towards the mother, who had sorrow in her eyes. Roux tried to smile again, but it was a small, sad smile. With the dip of her head, she tried to reassure the woman, who seemed to be apologizing with her eyes. Roux hoped the woman was wishing her a safe passage to wherever she was going. The carriage was silent until it rolled to a stop. Her inside flipped a dozen time over.
"Get these prisoners out of the cart, move it!" The woman in armor said.
"Why are we stopping?" The man asked. Roux had the sudden urge to roll her eyes.
"Why do you think? End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us," the blonde Nord said. Roux agreed with him, but the horse theif seemed unconvinced.
"No, wait! We're not rebels!" the horse theif exclaimed as he followed behind Ulfric Stormcloak in stepping from the carriage. The blonde Nord stepped down after the horse master, and Roux after him.
"Face your death with some courage, thief," the Nord said.
"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!" No one responded to him this time. She had a feeling that there was no explaining anything to Imperials.
"Empire loves their lists," the blonde Nord whispered justloud enough for Roux to hear.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm," a soldier called from the list. The captain standing beside him watched with eyes like daggers as the still gagged Jarl stepped forward and towards the block.
"It's been an honor, Jarl Ulfric," the blonde Nord said. Ulfric Stormcloak looked back to nod at his brethren, one final goodbye. Something about it made Roux almost...sad.
"Ralof of Riverwood," was the next name. The blonde Nord in front of Roux walked towards the block, taking the distance in strides, holding his head high.
"Lokir of Rorikstead." The must have been the man beside her in the cart. Her assumtion was confirmed when the man stepped towards the Captain.
"No, I'm not a rebel, you can't do this!" He was a broken man, pleading for his life, but Roux was disgusted at the sight of him. He thought he was the only one who didn't deserve to die? From the few minutes she'd known him and the other two, she would have chosen Ralof to survive out of all of them. She could feel a kindness about him, compassion. He didn't deserve to die. Before anyone else could make a move, Lokir bolted past the Captain and down back the way they had come. Roux sighed. He wasn't going to make it very far.
"Halt!" The female Captain commanded.
"You're not going to kill me!" Lokir shouted, almost triumphantely.
"Archers!" Imperial soldiers from all over pulled out their bows and within a second, Lokir was dead on the ground. Roux turned her face away.
"Anyone else feel like running?" The captain asked, irritation in her voice, as if they were all annoying pests that had to be killed before she could continue on to her next job. Roux wanted to remind her that they were people, not animals, but she decided against it.
"Wait. You there. Step forward. Who are you?" Roux knew he was speaking to her. She lifted her face, void of all emotion, just like her father had taught her. She was now looking General Tullius in the eyes.
"I am Roux of Burma," she said, keeping her voice calm and body steady.
"What're you doing here, Redguard? You a sellsword? A sailor from Stros M'Kai?" Nania fought very hard to keep her eyes from narrowing into slits. Had she not just said she was from Burma?
"Captain, what should we do? She's not on the list?"
"Forget about the list. She goes to the block."
"By your orders, Captain. Follow the Captain prisoner."
Roux, without acknowledging the Captain, turned on her heel and joined the semi-circle of prisoners.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like The Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne," General Tullius said. Ulfric Stormcloak responded with grunts from behind his gag. Roux was sure he had said a few curses about those in front of them. The thought alone made Roux feel a little better.
"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."
A mighty roar echoed across the town, sounding like massive waves or ten thousand soldiers all crying out at once.
"What was that?" A soldier asked.
"It's nothing. Carry on." General Tullius said.
"Yes, General Tullius. Give them their last rites," the Captain told a preistess who stood off to the side.
"As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved-"
"For the love of Talos," one of the near by stormcloak soldiers snapped, interrupting the priestess of Arkay, "Shut up and let's get this over with."
With a bitter look on her face, the priestess dropped her hands.
"As you wish."
The soldier stepped forward, walking towards the block as if it was nothing more than a prison cell, as if these weren't his last moments. The captain pushed him to his knees. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?"
The Imperail Headsman raised his axe. Roux wanted to look away. She didn't want to see him executed, but she was transfixed. She couldn't tear her eyes away. The axe came down so suddenly, that Roux gasped and took a step back, but an Imperial soldier was there to push her roughly back into the semi-circle. The soldier's head rolled from his shoulders and into a basket on the ground. Anger flared up in Roux. After beheading the soldier, they kicked his body to the side, disgracing him even further.
"You Imperial bastards!" A female Stormcloak yelled. She attempted to run towards the body, but an Imperial held her back. She stood only two people away from Roux, so she could see the tears in the woman's eyes, staring stright down at the body of the soldier.
"Justice!"
"Death to the Stormcloak."
Roux was appaled, her jaw falling open and her eyebrows knitting together. How could someone watch the beheading of another human being and rejoice in it? Roux had never seen anything like it, now she was experiencing it first hand.
Ralof stood next to the mourning woman, his bound hands on her shoulder, comforting her.
"As fearless in death as he was in life." Ralof bowed his head. Nania could see his lips moving in a silent prayer.
"Next, the redguard!" The captain said. The sound came again from the mountain, except this time, it was much closer.
"There it is again, did you hear that?"
"I said, next prisoner!"
"To the block, prisoner, nice and easy."
Roux swallowed, trying to turn her face back to stone, to hide her fear, just like her father taught her. She had no idea how well it worked. She looked over at Ralof. She dipped her head, a parting gesture. He nodded back in return. She walked towards the block, head as high as she could lift it. Standing in front of the block, the Captain pushed her too her knees. Had Roux not been about to die, she would have felt the pain of the flesh in her knees tearing, but she was too enveloped in fear to think of the physical pain. Roux could see the previous soldier's head in the basket below her. She could smell the blood. The metallic smell alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes. The Captain gripped Roux's hair and turned her head to face the Headsman.
"Face your death with courage," Ralof had told Lokir just minutes before, which now felt like a lifetime away. Shutting her eyes for a breif second as to fight back the tears, she took those words to heart. Courage, Roux, courage.
She opened her eyes again, staring up at the Headsman in such away that it looked as if she was daring him to kill her. He didn't like the way she looked at him. Roux watched the axe raise once again, the fear returning to her heart for a matter of miliseconds, before a third and far more powerful roar filled the sky. From her place on the ground, Roux couldn't see much of anything, but the others could.
"What in Oblivion is that?" the General shouted.
"Sentires! What do you see?" The Captain countered.
The Headsman didn't stop raising his weapon.
"It's in the clouds!" cried a soldier.
"Dragon!" shouted one of the stormcloaks before the beast landed on the tower just behind the Headsman. A different type of fear now struck Roux's heart, but the fear of wild beasts was something she had come to terms with. The dragon opened it's mouth and, instead of a steady stream of scalding fire, something almost like a word escaped it's jaws. The word was spoke with so much power that the Headsman stumbled, dropping his axe off to the side. Roux fell from the block, ears ringing. The world turned a strange colour, telling Roux that she most likely had a concussion.
"Don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" General Tullius ordered. "Guards, get the townspeople to safety!"
"Hey, redguard!" Over the sound of screams and utter chaos, Roux could just barely hear Ralof's voice. She rolled over towrads his voice and saw him standing there, his bonds somehow freed. "Get up! The gods won't give us another chance." With much difficulty, as her hands were still tied together and her head felt like it was imploding, Roux stood and ran towards Ralof. As they raced through the town, meteors started raining from the sky. A meteor crashed into the ground a few feet in front of Ralof and Roux, sending them both to the ground. Roux managed to get up first and offered Ralof her hands. With a grin on his face, he took her hands and pulled himself up.
"This way, come on."
The two continued to run through the town, shielding themselves from flying debre and dodging out of the way of meteors.
"Keep your eyes on it!" Soldiers ran around like scattering ants, shooting arrow after arrow, but nothing did anything. Roux almost felt sorry for them, but then again, they were just about to kill her a few moments ago. She hoped, however, that their fates were quick and painless.
"Over here!"
Roux followed Ralof into a tower, where they found the surviving Stormcloak soldiers, among them, Ulfric Stormcloak.
"Jarl Ulfric!" Ralof sounded as if he just found his brother. "What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"
"Legends don't burn down villages. We need to move, now!" Roux now understood why Ulfric was so esteemed. He had an air about him. His voice was commanding, but he seemingly cared about those who followed them. Nania had a feeling that General Tullius would have said "I need to move" and not cared about the carnage of his own.
Ralof turned to Roux.
"Up through the tower," he said, "Let's go!" Nania nodded and turned towards the stairs, charging up the steps as quickly as possible.
A few of the wounded Stormcloaks had to be carried. Ralof was just behind them. Roux and another stormcloak were already halfway up when the dragon burst through the tower, throwing large pieces of rock everywhere. The stormcloak was immediately killed. Roux, on the other hand, fell backwards down the stairs while the dragon blew flames into the building. Ralof was behind Roux in seconds, helping her to her feet as the dragon flew away from the tower to wreck havoc elsewhere.
Ralof brought her to the large gap in the side of the tower.
"See the inn on the other side?" He asked her. She nodded. "Jump through and keep going."
Roux shook her head and opened her mouth to speak.
"Go! We'll be right behind you!" Ralof ordered, backing away from her to help the others. How could she just leave them? Ralof had saved her life at least twice already, how could she leave him now? And the others, what would their fate be if she abandoned them?
"Go!" Ralof shouted again. Roux breathed deeply, aplogizing a thousand times over. She stepped backwards away from the gap. After calming her breath and blocking out the screaming, Roux raced forward towards the gap. At the last second, she pushed off the building. For a few moments, Roux was flying. She soared through the sky, but soon, she was falling towards the ruined inn. As she hit the ground, she rolled to break the momentum and save her ankles from snapping. She stood, brushing the dust from her clothes and looked back at the tower. Ralof stood in the window.
"I'll find you!" He called. Roux nodded her head once. "Go!" She turned with enormous amounts of difficulty and jumped through the hole in the second floor to the bottom level. She ran from the building, seeing the town in utter ruins. Not 7 yards away, Roux spotted a few survivors, including the boy she'd seen earlier.
"Haming, you need to get over here. Now! Torolf!" The man named Torolf was struck by a meteor and fell to the ground, dead. "Gods... Everyone get back!" Roux ran over to the soldier yelling, whom she recognized, and the boy, supposedly Haming. Roux crouched beside the boy and put her arms around his shoulders. He knelt on the ground, hands covering his ears, shaking, crying. Roux held him close, wondering what had been the fate of his parents.
"Still alive, prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way. Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense." Roux kissed the side of the boy's head and stood, standing close to the soldier.
"Gods guide you, Hadvar," the man, Gunnar said. Hadvar nodded. He motioned with his head for Nania to follow him. They ran through the ruined city, the same way Ralof and Roux had just minutes before. They ran behind a building, a building that the dragon just so happened to land on seconds later.
"Stay close to the wall!" Hadvar ordered. Roux did as she was told. They continued onwards.
"Quickly! Follow me!"
Roux caught sight of General Tullius and froze.
"Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!"
"It's you and me, prisoner. Stay close," Hadvar said.
"Haming, Gunnar..." she started, but Hadvar noticed someone in the distance.
"Ralof! You traitor. Out of my way!" Hadvar yelled. Ralof ran into Roux's view and relief flooded her system. If he made it out of that tower, it means others had. It also meant he'd come back for her, just like he said he would.
"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time," Ralof said.
"Fine. But I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngard," Hadvar said through his teeth. Ralof turned towards Nania.
"Come on, into the keep!" Ralof called out to her.
For the briefest of moments,Roux has to think about who to follow. The Hadvar was the safe choice, but Ralof had risked his life for her more than once already. Plus, he hadn't stood by and watched willingly as the Empire tried to cut her head off.
Roux didn't look back at Hadvar as she ran after Ralof. She saw Ralof smile as she followed him.
"Through here, let's go!" He beckoned her to a door. "Come on, We need to get inside."
Ralof threw the door open. Both he and Roux raced inside, just as the booming voice of the dragon shattered the sky. The sound reverberated throughout Roux's bones. Her heart bounded and she felt flush. She slammed the door shut, leaning against it and breathing heavily.
"Did that dragon just talk?" She asked Ralof. Ralof looked up at the ceiling of the keep.
"Gods if I know," he sighed. He shook his head, and looked back at Roux. "I never got your name."
"I'm Roux. I'm from Burma. Cyrodil."
"Ralof. I'm from Riverwood. It's not very far from here."
"It's wonderful to meet you, Ralof of Riverwood."
"And you, Roux of Burma, but I think we should probably be going." Ralof turned around, scanning the room. Roux pushed herself off the wall and followed suit. They both spotted the dead Stormcloak soldier at the same time. Ralof picked his friend's dagger off the ground.
"I'll cut you loose," he told her. Roux lifted her bound hands and Ralof sliced through the ropes. A heavy sigh came out of Roux as the bonds broke and fel to the ground. She rubbed her wrists.
"Thank you." She dipped her head. Ralof looked back at the body on the ground.
"Go ahead and take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it."
Roux knew it was the reasonable thing to do, but she felt terrible about it. It felt like deficating his body. She looked back at Ralof. He nodded, but there was a sad look in his eyes. Roux knelt to the ground and started to strip Gunjar of his clothes. As she took off her prisoner clothes, Ralof started to examine the two exits. The Stormcloak armor felt dirty on her skin, but she knew she had to get used to it. A part of it was torn and a there was blood staining the blue color. Roux swiped the axe off the ground and sighed heavily.
"Are you ready?" Ralof asked her.
"As I'll ever be."

Winter is cold in Skyrim, her father used to say, but he never told her that the hearts of those living in Skyrim were colder.