Senégon the Mage - Chapter 3: Into the Keep
17th of Last Seed, 4E 201
“We have to move, is there an underground exit leading out of here, Ralof? It would be unwise to take a route outdoors with the dragon still present.” I asked.
“Not in this tower, but I know that the Helgen dungeon’s entrance is in the main keep on the other side of Helgen. If we can find a way to get there safely we could make it out through the dungeon. I’ve heard rumors of a secret exit out of there that leads somewhere into the wild.” He said.
“We better get moving then,” I said.
We ran up the stairs of the tower to find a few injured Stormcloaks. I went to help them with a healing spell, but before I could the wall crashed in on us, the dragon flying right outside. I grabbed Ralof by the arm and pushed him out of the dragons view, I knew what was coming. A torrent of flames filled the room we were just in; the survivors - burnt to a crisp.
“I’ll see you in Sovngarde,” Ralof said, closing the eyes of one of the burnt corpses.
“We’ll have to jump through this, there’s a building across from here.” I said gesturing to the ledge the dragon had created. Ralof hesitated. “I’ve never been one for heights,” he said. He walked up to the ledge, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He jumped, landed, and rolled into the building. I was only a second behind him. We exited the building to find ourselves with the young legionnaire who read the names off of the list.
“Ralof, you traitor, what’re you doing?” He said angrily.
“Hadvar and I grew up together,” Ralof explained to me, yelling over the sounds of chaos, he nodded toward the imperial soldier.
“Follow me, you two.” Hadvar yelled. With that said, we ran across the fort, through flames, rubble, and bodies, until we found the keep.
“I can’t believe it; I’ve lost the keep key.” Hadvar whimpered, patting down every pocket in search of it. The dragon flew overhead, releasing a jet of flames to all below it. 
“We can’t just stand here-!” The dragon landed with a CRUSH, not thirty feet away. This was the first time I’d been able to get a good look at the beast, a huge black scaled savage, as big as a house. Its tail was as long as its body, neck, and head put together, and it’s eyes – Piercing, bright red. I’ve read of such a dragon in my studies, but surely this couldn’t be him; Alduin, the first, and most powerful of all dov. He was said to be Akatosh himself, one of the nine divines. The dragon cocked its head back, poised to let out a torrent of flame aimed right at us. I wheeled around to the door, aimed my still bound hands, “Sûl!” I thought. The door flew open and off of its hinges, blasted by the power of a mighty wind storm. We ran in through the doorway, into the keep.
“You’re – you’re a magician,” said Hadvar, catching his breath. I nodded. “That’ll come in handy! The rumors of there being a secret entrance in and out of this dungeon are true, a couple of legionnaires and I discovered it last week,” He said. Ralof gave a look of disgust toward Hadvar at the mention of the legion.
“Do you know the way from here?” I asked.
“Yeah, but first we better scour this room before moving on. Oh, and let me cut your bindings off,” He said, pulling out a small steel dagger.
We spent some time searching the room. I found a few septims lying around, and some legion armor; better than nothing, even if I preferred robes. Hadvar pulled a chain next to a doorway, the door opened and we moved deeper into the Keep, Hadvar in the lead. I could see natural light flooding into a room up ahead, probably from a skylight. Hadvar ran ahead to open another gate that was in our way when I heard voices.
“Our best bet is to wait here for nightfall, and creep out while it’s dark.” A youthful voice with a thick Nordic accent said up ahead. They didn’t know we were here. I motioned to Hadvar to get a look at them, find out if they were friend or foe. He peered around the corner, through the gate, and mouthed the word “Stormcloaks” toward me and Ralof. As far as I was concerned, I didn’t care for the Stormcloaks or their rebellion, but maybe I could get Ralof to reason with them.
When I whispered my idea to him he said, “I could try, but they won’t like it. Let me take it from here.” He crept forward and walked through the gate - Squeakkkk. I heard shuffling up ahead; probably the Stormcloak’s reacting to the sound of the gate.
“Shor’s blood! Ralof, you’re alive!” A voice exclaimed.
“Yeah, and I have some company,” he said as Hadvar and I walked into the room. At the sight up Hadvar and me, both wearing imperial armor, the two Nords drew their weapons, anger in their eyes.
“What the hell are you playing at, Ralof?” Said the one with a massive war hammer. Ralof stood back, in between the two parties.
“I don’t work with Imperials, Ralof. Stand aside.” The other one said, stepping forward, ax in hand.
“There’s no need for that, Arica.” Ralof said, as he drew his ax.
“You’re going to protect these Imperials? You traitor, if you’re going to protect an imperial, were going to deal with you like an Imperial.” The one with the war hammer moved closer and began to lift his weapon. I pushed Ralof aside; he landed on the ground with a surprised “umph”. “Thand!” I said, summoning the magic to create a barrier in between me and my foe, just as the hammer started to make it downward motion. This caught the stormcloaks off guard; clearly they hadn’t ever dealt with a magician. The hammer hit the barrier and gleamed off of it.
“Step aside, we don’t want any trouble. However, I promise that if you try something again, I won’t be so kind as to give you another warning.” I threatened. They weren’t so wise as to do so, though. The woman ran forward, toward the magical wall, brandishing her ax, issuing a battle cry as she charged. With my left hand I held the magical barrier in place, with my right I cast a fire spell at her and her friend; fire was a specialty of mine. The two Nords let out shrieks of pain that vibrated the walls; I couldn’t imagine a worse way to die. They had asked for it though, I assured myself.
Killing never got any easier.
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