"You mean to tell me she bested them? Three of my finest men?"

"Y-yes - I-I mean, it's true, sir. All th-three of them were found dead... Her companion m-may have helped with that..." Thetric cringed, looking at the warlord with fear in his eyes. He could tell his news had displeased the enormous warrior, and was afraid of what was to follow.

"...Perhaps I was too hasty, and too harsh in my methods... Ah, well," the man shrugged it off, much to Thetric's surprise, the anger that was so well defined in his features melting away into indifference.

Unpredictable as ever... Careful, Thetric... The poor scout thought to himself, eyeing his superior nervously as he spoke quietly, "However, I bear other news..."

"Pray for your sake it's of a better nature than your last..." the warlord growled, some of the anger and frustration returning to his face.

Thetric barely kept himself from stuttering again as he announced, "I've received a message from another of our agents addressed to you. Supposedly it's from Madanach himself." As he spoke, he drew the letter out from his pocket, offering it to his superior.

The warlord's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, snatching it from Thetric's outstretched hand with such force that the man leapt backwards. The warlord scanned the letter quickly, his eyebrows rising as he read further, and, when he'd finished the letter, he looked up from it with a pleased yet unpleasant grin on his face.

"Well... This certainly changes everything..." He said at last, setting the letter down on the rudely made table he had made his desk, turning away from Thetric to face a map he'd pinned to the wall of his quarters, studying it intently. After a long and uncomfortable pause -at least, an uncomfortable one for the scout-, he ordered, "Get my forces to move from their camps to here, at the very least from the range of Blind Cliff to Karthspire, and have them leave behind as few warriors as possible. We'd do well to over-prepare for this. After all, a chance to take Markarth back from those damned Silver-Bloods doesn't happen often. Make sure this news reaches my people without difficulty, scout, and you might just get yourself a higher position in these ranks."

"Lord Ealdwine, thank you for your generosity! I will not fail you in this task," Thetric vowed, his sincerity ringing in his voice, though for a different reason than his superior's 'generosity'.

"Good. Now go, and make haste," Ealdwine ordered, making clear he was dismissing him.

Thetric practically scurried off, his head in a whirl. He had just been surprised quite a few times by Ealdwine's behavior during that meeting, as the scout was almost certain that he'd be subject to the warlord's wrath at hearing bad news. The Forsworn general was almost never in a good mood, and was known for his terrifying fits of anger when things didn't go as planned for him. His sudden mood change was strange and almost disturbing; Thetric had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

~~~~

A few days had passed since the addition of Toralf to our small company, surprisingly uneventful for the nature of this particular place. Since meeting him, we'd only run into one small group of wannabe cutpurses, and at one point, stumbled upon a bear, but, aside from that, we never ran into any other hostile parties. I found that a bit fishy, considering this place was said to be home to most of the Forsworn forces in Skyrim.

It was now evening, and the sky was beginning to paint itself a surprisingly warm red as the sun sank towards the horizon, staining the waters of the river we were walking past bloodred. Though it might sound a bit unnerving, I found it beautiful, in a way, despite its unusual coloring. We were all tired; even Toralf didn't try and disguise his fatigue. With exhaustion clear in his voice, he asked, "Are we stopping soon? I don't think that we should keep going, especially not traveling during the night."

"I think it would be best to set up camp myself. Even though I'm not the one walking," I was barely able to keep myself from snickering at the dirty look Toralf shot me for my reminder, but got myself under control quickly and continued, "I still think we ought to call it a day."

"I won't argue with that," Helgír said agreeably, slowing Snjall down from a trot to a walk, "In fact, there's a decent looking place just up ahead."

Helgír was indeed correct about that; there was a relatively flat piece of land next to the river, and the areas around it were somewhat more open than where we'd been spending the night before.

"We're getting close to Rorikstead. I can tell. We'll get to Whiterun tomorrow without an issue, I'm sure of it," Toralf noted optimistically as we stopped, staring off into the distance.

"That's nice to hear," I said with a faint smile on my face. Helgír seemed less than pleased by the news, which confused me a little, but I said nothing.

Without much further idle conversation, we started to settle down for the night, unpacking only the things necessary for that night. As I rummaged around in my pack, I stopped for a moment when my hands brushed against a certain old leather journal, making me think for a moment. Should I ask one of them for help with this? ... No, they probably wouldn't be able to help me with it, and they would probably ask a lot of questions about it that I'm not that keen on answering at this time...

Snapping out of my thoughts, I pushed the journal back to the bottom of my pack and got out my bedroll and everything else I'd be needing for the night, and realized that not only was I short of coin from my recent purchase, I was still low on food supplies. I let out a frustrated sigh at this realization, but did not speak of it to the others, not wanting to inconvenience my companions in any way.

When I'd finished with my unpacking, I noticed that Toralf and Helgír had long since finished theirs and had sat down to eat. I decided to follow suit, taking half a loaf of bread and the last of my goat cheese with me as I joined them on the ground.

We ate in silence for awhile, and it was I who finally broke it, saying, "So, Toralf... Where did you come from?"

The young Nord's face darkened as if he was reliving bad memories, but he seemed to overcome them as he replied a bit snobbishly, "I hail from Riften, but I prefer not to associate myself with that place. Full of thieves and crooked people."

I was a bit surprised by the strength of the bitterness in his words, and it was clear Helgír felt the same. There was another silence, more awkward this time, and no one really seemed to be in the mood to talk at all after that. We finished our food and, exhausted, we began to think about going to bed for the night.

"I'll take the watch tonight..." I volunteered somewhat tiredly as Toralf got up, and neither he nor Helgír protested as they both went to their bedrolls. I turned away from both of them and gazed off into the night, doing my very best to stay alert.

About two or three hours had passed since I'd volunteered to stand guard when I heard someone behind me get up. I turned to see Helgír heading towards me, looking as if he hadn't been able to sleep at all.

"...You all right?" I asked him, concerned, noticing the worn and hopeless look on his face.

"Yes, and no," he started, pausing for so long that I started to think that he was done talking, but continued quietly, "You surely wonder why I am so ashamed of what I am, don't you?"

"I can't deny that."

"Well... It's a very long tale, and somewhat of a painful one to tell."

"Then you don't have to tell me. I trust you enough to know you're a good person."

Helgír let out a snort. "You don't know me, Breton. You don't know what I've done.

"About a year ago I was nothing more than a simple adventurer and explorer, traveling the lands with my brother and my best friend, not a care in the world. We explored caves, took out bandits, and plundered ancient ruins, living the lives that many only dream about having. One day my friend decided that we should make a stop in Helgen. We all agreed, and stopped at the inn there. That's when I lost everything.

"It started as a drinking game, innocent enough in nature, as a contest between three friends. We had gotten to about the third tankard when we heard a very strange roar from outside. We laughed, thinking it was just the mead affecting us, and continued drinking.

"That's when the whole damn thing went up in flames. I barely had enough of my wits about me to get outside, and through a very drunken haze made out a great dragon perched on one of the buildings there. It somehow noticed me, and turned its head to look straight at me with it's foul eyes, and I could tell it was there just to kill me. All the hatred raging in those eyes... It was horrible.

"Scared out of my wits and as drunk as I was, I ran about until some Stormcloak soldier -Talos knows what the man was doing in that city- came along and shouted at me to follow him. I did so without any thoughts of my actions, and managed to keep up with him until we reached the path to Riverwood. I don't remember much after that, but I do remember waking up by the side of the road, soaked by rain and my clothes muddied and stained with fire. With pain blazing in my head and fear smiting my heart, I realized that my comrades weren't with me.

"I went back to Helgen. Everything was covered in ash and some buildings were still blazing, but the dragon had gone. I went to the place where the inn used to stand. What I saw there... It's a sight I will never be able to erase from my mind, and be a burden that will forever weigh down my heart..." Helgír stopped for a moment, his hard and stony façade breaking for a moment as I glimpsed tears in his eyes. He regained his composure and continued, "Needless to say, I was both broken and angered by this loss, and felt completely responsible for their deaths. I just started walking, not really caring where I ended up, and, when I finally snapped out of my daze, I was in the heart of a burial grounds or something of that nature, standing in front of a strange stone wall filled with ancient writing on it. One of the words was glowing, and, not sure what I was doing there or what I was doing at all, I walked over to it. I'm not sure what happened to me, but, in a matter of seconds, I suddenly realized what the word meant. Knowing a word of this sort of power confused me, and I wasn't sure what on earth I was meant to do with it.

"I left the barrows with my thoughts scrambled. There was nowhere for me to return to, so I kept to the wilderness, thinking things over. After awhile, I began to run out of essential supplies and decided it couldn't hurt to stay in a hold for a few days, and went to Whiterun. No one there knew me, and I figured that, if I went there, I might find some sort of direction as to what I was supposed to do next.

"I was never given the chance. The day after I arrived in Whiterun, I heard news of a dragon on the outskirts of the area, and immediately joined a group of guards on their way to investigate. All I could do was watch as the people fought against him and most of them fell. They finally killed it. As I stared at its carcass, it started to smoulder and go up in flames, and... I'm still not really sure what happened, but something stirred within me and completely took control of my actions as a wave of power slammed into me.

"When I came back to my senses, the few guards that were still alive from the dragon fight were dead, and I knew that I'd killed them. This ability of mine is not easy to control, now that it has been awakened. I fight its influence constantly, and stayed away from people to keep from hurting more of them. I bring nothing but destruction wherever I go now, and I don't want to make these people suffer because of me."

"So... You're telling me that you're just hiding from everyone? That's not going to solve anything. And do you realize that by sitting back and not even trying to do anything, you're hurting the people more?"

"I'm not cut out for their myths and legends, or for fighting dragons, if every time I try to kill one I just freeze up and do absolutely nothing." Helgír responded lamely, adding, "Honestly, I don't think I'll be going into Whiterun with you two tomorrow..."

I looked at him in shock. "You're not coming? And you're sticking me with him?" I jerked my thumb at Toralf's sleeping form for emphasis, "That doesn't make any sense. Helgir," I looked him dead in the eye, frustrated, "Others have seen you as a hero. It's time you see yourself that way. When you saved my life, I saw you as a hero, without even knowing of your title. You haven't killed me yet, either. And I still call you a hero, and so would others if you'd just rise up to meet the challenges that throw themselves at you."

Helgír didn't respond, but it was clear that I was getting to him. He was listening, though I couldn't tell what he thought of my words.

Since he still wasn't saying anything, I continued, "Go into Whiterun with us tomorrow. More likely than not, nothing bad will happen. And, though I'm not sure about 'Expert-Mercenary-For-Hire' over there, I do know for a fact I'll be fighting at your side if we should come across anything."

Helgír gave me a wan smile, though it was clear he was unsure of what to think of this support. I didn't press him for any more information, and decided it was best to give him some time to think. His actions confused me, now knowing his past -or at least, what he said his past was-, but I was sure there had to be some reasons for what he was doing now. Even with everything he'd told me, I wasn't sure I'd heard absolutely everything.

Both of us were awake the rest of the night, but the silence between us was no longer as tense and uncomfortable as it had been.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Better ending, I hope? Just letting you all know for sure, Helgír hasn't revealed everything to her... 

So. Any questions? Interested in what happens next? Please let me know what you thought of the improvements...

As usual, please leave a vote and/or comment if you enjoyed the chapter, and see you next time.  (Again, I'm sorry about posting this before it was ready.)

-AA