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<\/p>\nIt was that most unusual of things \u2013 a clear, crisp, gloriously sunny day in the mountains that formed Skyrim\u2019s southern border. Birds sang, the wind rustled spruce branches, and the air smelled fresh and clean.\u00a0 It would have been a perfect day for a leisurely cart ride if not for the fact that Dardeh had his hands firmly bound in front of him.\u00a0 There was nothing for him to do but sit and wait.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cart rumbled agonizingly slowly down the slope toward Helgen.\u00a0 It had to. These old Imperial highways were not much more than rough collections of raised stones in some places; eons, weather, and nature having filled them in, washed them away, and provided fertile territory for shrubs and small trees. In some stretches the only evidence that there had once been a skillfully paved road there was a dirt path of the same width as all those old roads had been. Here, nearing Helgen, the road was in reasonable condition; but even so neither any cart driver worth his salt nor the horse pulling the load was going to go hurtling down a slope this steep. The four men riding in the back of this particular cart sat together in miserable silence, listening to the wind, the horse\u2019s hooves, and the clatter of wooden wheels on stone.<\/p>\n
I just can\u2019t believe this, Dardeh thought.\u00a0 I walked up to the border and they arrested me without so much as asking why I was there.\u00a0 \u201cWhy are you crossing the border, Dardeh?\u201d they could have asked.\u00a0 \u201cOn my way back home to the Reach,\u201d I would have said.\u00a0 \u201cI was just in Bruma looking for someone,\u201d I would have said.\u00a0 But did they give me a chance to explain? No. They just took my armor, put me in this ratty prison clothing, bound my arms, and tossed me into the cart with a bunch of rebels. If not for this Stormcloak band I\u2019d have been well on my way by now. \u00a0He grimaced. Right. And that\u2019s exactly what that horse thief said too, isn\u2019t it. We\u2019re both just whining.\u00a0 I don\u2019t suppose there\u2019s any reason for them to have believed my story any more than they believed his. We are in the middle of a war, after all.\u00a0 I was just sloppy, and so was he. I should have changed back into my mining clothes; they\u2019d have never looked twice at me.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Across the cart from him was one of those very Stormcloaks, a blonde Nord in steel plate who looked like he might be a minor officer of some sort.\u00a0 He was a handsome man, with a single braid in his bright blonde hair.\u00a0 Leaning forward with his arms on his knees, he was deep in thought, and intense.<\/p>\n
Next to him sat a commoner covered in dirt; the horse thief, according to the Imperial legionnaires who had arrested them all.\u00a0 Dardeh didn\u2019t know whether he was or not but the man certainly seemed nervous enough to be someone who had just failed an attempted theft.<\/p>\n
At the far end of the cart, on the same side as Dardeh, was an older Nord; large, as Nords tended to be, with a full head of blonde hair and wearing an imposing set of armor.\u00a0 The pauldrons alone were half again as wide as his shoulders; there were animal furs draped around his neck, with a drape of Stormcloak blue beneath them covering his armor.\u00a0 The man was gagged as well as bound.<\/p>\n
As they approached the town, the man opposite Dardeh scanned ahead of them. He started ranting about Imperials and Stormcloaks, look, there was the General, and the Thalmor, and the damned elves must have had something to do with it, and true Nords and all of the rest. Imperial walls used to make him feel safe. Dardeh groaned internally.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to say a word, he thought. You\u2019re not good looking enough to make it worth the bother.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The horse thief was clearly terrified. \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n
The blonde soldier dropped his eyes, and his head, and said \u201cI don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going, but Sovngarde awaits.\u201d He fell back into silent contemplation.<\/p>\n
I hope that was meant rhetorically, Dardeh thought. We\u2019re going to Helgen.\u00a0 Anyone can see that. I can see that, and I\u2019m not even that familiar with this part of Skyrim.\u00a0 It\u2019s where the road from Bruma goes, after all. I can\u2019t blame him for being thoughtful, under the circumstances, but Sovngarde always awaits. Personally I\u2019m not going to ponder my imminent arrival there until I see whether there\u2019s a way out of this mess.\u00a0 If there\u2019s not, well, I\u2019ll do a quick prayer to Talos at that point and hope he\u2019s fairly welcoming on the other side. He\u2019s probably waiting to give me a good talking-to for being foolish and not being more careful at the border.<\/p>\n
He sighed, and stared at the rugged bindings holding his crossed hands.\u00a0 They were big, brown hands, and that was part of the problem.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t look like a Nord. Not at all. He had blonde hair, a gift from his blonde, honey-eyed Nord mother, but it was messy hair, and he wore it in a Redguard style because it was easy that way. One of his eyes was the same bright honey color as his mother\u2019s, but the other was green, like those of his father, a Redguard.\u00a0 And he had his father\u2019s mellow brown skin.<\/p>\n
There were certainly advantages to being half Redguard: he had the generous stores of stamina that went along with that part of his racial heritage, as well as a Redguard\u2019s natural fighting ability.\u00a0 From his Nord side he had inherited big muscles and a wide, deep chest; but he was much shorter, like a Redguard. Outwardly, he just looked like a big, blonde Redguard man — not something one saw every day, but not completely out of the ordinary, especially in northeastern Hammerfell or western Skyrim.<\/p>\n
The problem with not looking like a Nord was that everyone in Skyrim seemed to share some kind of divinely-fed compulsion to tell him its history, impart the wisdom of its elders, and prompt him to consider joining the Stormcloak rebellion in spite of the fact that he had grown up just as much a Nord as the blonde man sitting across from him. He already revered Talos most of the Nine. Still, he wasn\u2019t about to join the civil war on either side. Talos didn\u2019t need him to kill his fellows in order to prove his devotion, as far as he was concerned, and it struck him as being a bit presumptuous of people to assume that they knew what a god thought. Besides, while he would kill a man if he had to, he really didn\u2019t like it much.<\/p>\n
But you couldn\u2019t tell any of that to the average Nord. They looked at him, saw his dark skin, and knew everything they needed to know.\u00a0 Dardeh had tried to compensate.\u00a0 He tried to be a good guy, helpful, friendly. There was nothing to be gained by being angry and defensive all the time.\u00a0 Still, it had gotten pretty tiresome over the years.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t know much of anything about his father. The man apparently was from Hammerfell, as most Redguards were. The only real connection Dardeh had to his father\u2019s heritage aside from physical attributes was the pair of Alik\u2019r scimitars his mother had given him as a young man, and which were, to his utter disgust, currently stashed in a chest fastened under the cart they rode in.<\/p>\n
Why the man had left the swords with his mother, Dardeh would never know. But they had taken down many a wolf and saber cat and, more recently, had saved him from more bandits than he cared to remember. If he was honest about it, he was drawn to what his mother had told him all his life. These sabers were for Redguards, she told him. That\u2019s what his father had said to her. They were the symbol of a Redguard man\u2019s status as a warrior, in the same way as the ancient Akaviri had their katanas. Dardeh considered himself a Nord, but they were his favorite weapons, the only thing resembling a family heirloom he owned, and he was determined to get them back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what about that guy?\u201d the horse thief asked, rousing Dardeh from his thoughts.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s his problem?\u201d<\/p>\n
The blonde soldier snapped at him. \u201cWatch your tongue! You\u2019re speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!\u201d<\/p>\n
What the\u2026 ?<\/em><\/p>\n Dardeh turned to look at him.\u00a0 Well that would certainly explain the elaborate armor, but what on earth was Ulfric, the Jarl of Windhelm, doing in a cart of prisoners? He\u2019d never seen Ulfric before, only heard descriptions of him; but tales grew, stretched, and changed during the telling and this man looked nothing like what Dardeh would have expected. \u00a0He would have expected \u2013 a giant. Something above and beyond normal men.\u00a0 This was simply a Nord. He had a heavily lined, craggy face that carried a cold, unwelcoming expression. In spite of the generous mane of hair mostly untouched by gray, his substantial build, and his obvious strength he was, still, just a man. Handsome for certain, Dardeh thought, but oddly unsettling, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n Ulfric met Dardeh\u2019s eyes for a moment; then he looked away. Yes, there it is, Dardeh grumbled to himself.\u00a0 Look at me, see a Redguard, and put me out of your mind.\u00a0 This is exactly why I won\u2019t ever join your cause, Ulfric. I hear you\u2019re even less welcoming to Dunmer and Argonians. I wonder how these Imperials managed to catch you.\u00a0 Guess you\u2019re not the god they all describe, after all, huh?<\/p>\n There was another cart full of Stormcloak regulars just ahead of them, and from just ahead of it came the sound of an officer\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n \u201cGeneral Tullius, sir! The executioner is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood. Let\u2019s get this over with.\u201d\u00a0 Dardeh couldn\u2019t see which man had said that, which man was the General, but he was an Imperial alright, judging by the sound of his voice as well as his name.\u00a0 It probably was the man with steely gray hair wearing what he thought was an overly vivid cape.\u00a0 He makes an excellent target of himself wearing that, Dardeh mused.\u00a0 He must be good, to have lived long enough to be that gray.<\/p>\n \u201cHelgen,\u201d murmured the blonde soldier. \u201cI used to be sweet on a girl from here.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, good for you, Dardeh thought.\u00a0 Sorry to be sour, friend, but I can\u2019t really sympathize with you on that front and besides, I\u2019m about to die. I\u2019m usually a happy sort of guy but not today, so much.<\/p>\n The carts groaned to a stop, the Imperials trundled all of them out and herded them into a mass, calling their names one by one to line up for execution.\u00a0 The horse thief was, apparently, Lokir of Rorikstead.\u00a0 He was, definitely, an idiot, Dardeh decided as the man tried to run away and was instantly felled by Imperial archers.\u00a0 Rorikstead was too small to be losing capable men; on the other hand, they probably had no great need for idiots and horse thieves. He did have to feel bad for how frightened the man had been, though.\u00a0 That was not a heroic death by anyone\u2019s definition, and not the way a true Nord would want to die.<\/p>\n Heh, he thought.\u00a0 And here I am, defining a true Nord.\u00a0 Good.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, let\u2019s go,\u201d said the blonde Stormcloak soldier.\u00a0 \u201cShouldn\u2019t keep the gods waiting for us.\u201d\u00a0 He dropped down from the back of the cart and joined the other prisoners.<\/p>\n Dardeh followed suit, then looked around, trying to gauge whether there was any way he could get out of this situation and then perhaps return for his swords later.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t look that way.\u00a0 Helgen had a large keep, walls, and a big, mean-looking executioner waiting at the block just in front of them.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t going to have enough time to find a way out.<\/p>\n They called Ulfric to line up for the block, and General Tullius gave him a proper chewing-out for having killed High King Torygg with the power of the Voice. Dardeh had heard that version of the news but assumed that the stories had inflated the deed to legendary proportions as stories tended to do, because he had never heard a living soul use a Shout. In theory, people could. In theory, Ulfric could. He thought it was just a tale; Tullius seemed to be suggesting otherwise. Interesting. Ulfric glared and grunted at him through the cloth in his mouth. \u00a0That explains why they gagged him, Dardeh thought, just in case the rumors were true. Well then. I don\u2019t know whether a voice can kill, but it\u2019s a good thing looks can\u2019t.\u00a0 Those two obviously know each other and they are not in any sense of the word old friends.<\/p>\n \u201cRalof of Riverwood,\u201d they called, and the blonde man he\u2019d been riding with stepped forward.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2026\u201d said the man holding the list of prisoners, looking between it and Dardeh.\u00a0 \u201cWho are you? A sellsword? A sailor from Stros M\u2019Kai?\u201d<\/p>\n Dardeh ground his teeth. No. I\u2019m not from Stros M\u2019Kai. That would be the person I was in Bruma looking for.\u00a0 I told you that earlier. But he forced his face into a pleasant expression.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain, my name\u2019s Dardeh.\u00a0 I live near Markarth, and I was trying to get back there when you all nabbed me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHmm,\u201d the man said. \u201cSorry, Redguard.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be sure your remains are returned to Hammerfell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not from <\/em>Hammerfell,\u201d Dardeh grumbled. The man hadn\u2019t listened to a single word he\u2019d said.<\/p>\n Not that there was anyone to collect his remains, anyway, regardless of where they sent them.<\/p>\n It was that most unusual of things \u2013 a clear, crisp, gloriously sunny day in the mountains that formed Skyrim\u2019s southern border. Birds sang, the wind rustled spruce branches, and the air smelled fresh and clean.\u00a0 It would have been a perfect day for a leisurely cart ride if not for the fact that Dardeh … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2-1-1-4.png\")
<\/p>\nPart I: Dardeh<\/a><\/div>\nPrevious<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"