5 Unbound 4

We headed downstairs once more and came upon another room.

"A torture room. Gods, how I wish we didn't need this."

It was a torture room. And the smell was making me nauseous. It was the smell coming from rotting flesh.

Mangled corpses were hanging on the roof in cages as if to make a show of them.

I increasingly felt uncomfortable staying in the room, then a hooded man with a crooked nose and a disgusting smile came to us through the shadows.

"You happened just in time, I was getting bored of playing with unresponsive toys." The torturer said.

"Don't you know what is going on? A dragon is attacking Helgen! And you are trying to turn your blade against a soldier of the Imperial army?" He said while drawing his sword while I did the same.

"Oh, I do know about the dragon. Since we are all about to die, let me die while doing something I enjoy, no? Keke Imperial army he says kekeke." The torturer said before shooting a ball of fire towards us.

"Dodge!" I shouted and rolled sideways while Hadvar did the same.

I got up and ran towards the torturer who had his blade drawn and blocked my sword.

"Hmm, a fine specimen. Looks quite good too. You will be a fine addition keke." He said and threw another ball at Hadvar who was running towards us, which forced him to dodge again.

Finding this my chance, I kicked him in the stomach hard enough to send the torturer a good 3-4 meters away.

While he was down, I didn't rush at him to finish the job and started to think what the hell I was doing.

I was just swinging the sword like an idiot wishing for a chance to strike him dead.

The sword I followed was nothing like this and it made me disgusted with myself.

So I took a deep breath.

[Breathe in and then forget the breath; you cannot replace it until he is down, to fight as if dead: second principle of pneumansu. The Vectoring Cygnet, Total Concentration.]

Then rushed towards the torturer once more.

While running, I felt it.

I was faster, stronger and more aware than before.

I could 'see' the magicka he was building up to shoot another spell, but he wouldn't be fast enough.

Even before he could gather the magicka, I was upon him, my sword about to reach his neck.

With a futile attempt, he raised his blade to defend himself but even that was not fast enough.

With a single swing, his head separated from his body.

"Huuu." Then I released the breath I was holding.

"That was a fine swing, well done. Come on, let's keep moving." Then Hadvar said, coming closer.

"Yeah, let's."

We walked downstairs once more and came upon a bridge connecting the keep to a cave.

We passed the bridge with cautious steps, and with luck I wondered whether I had before, the bridge collapsed after we reached across.

"I wonder if it's my lucky or unlucky day. We better push on." Hadvar said with wonder.

We continued through the cave that was lit by dim light coming through the cracks.

After walking for a while, we got ambushed by giant spiders.

We made a quick work of them.

"Frostbite spiders. I hate those creatures, too many eyes you know." He commented.

After continuing our walk, light started getting stronger, then we found a large crack big enough for a man to fit through.

"Looks like we found our exit. I was starting to wonder if we could ever make it." He said and went through the crack while I followed right behind.

After passing through, shining sunlight and green forest as far as my eyes could see greeted me.

But then, we heard the cry and saw the shadow of the dragon once more.

"Quick! Hide!" Hadvar said while throwing himself behind some rocks, I took my position right next to him and we waited until the dragon went away.

"Looks like he's gone for good this time. But I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back. Closest town from here is Riverwood. My uncle's the blacksmith there. I'm sure he could help us out." Hadvar said.

"It would be great." It would actually be great to get help from someone, since I had no idea where I was. And Hadvar was someone I trusted.

"Then let's go." He said and we begin our walk towards Riverwood.

We spent the day walking and hunting for games to feed us for the night.

Then we made a camp and roasted the rabbit we hunted during the day. While waiting for the meat to be ready, "Hey Hadvar,"

"Yes?"

"I know it might sound weird but, where are we?" I asked.

"Yes, it does sound weird my friend. You tried to cross the border without knowing where you were going?"

"Indeed."

"You have the balls of orichalcum my friend. Where we are is Skyrim. Home to Nords, the Children of Sky, me and you. So, you are at home, kinsman."

Skyrim huh? It does sound familiar.

"What can you tell me about Skyrim?"

"There are nine Holds in Skyrim. Namely; Haafingar, The Reach, Hjalmarch, Whiterun Hold, Falkreath Hold, Rift, Eastmarch, Whiteshore and Winterhold. We are currently in the North of Falkreath Hold, home to Falkreath, and are heading towards Whiterun Hold, where the Riverwood is."

Solitude, Markarth, Morthal, Whiterun, Falkreath, Riften, Windhelm, Dawnstar, Winterhold.

I remembered.

"I see, thank you."

"No problem. If you have anything you need to know, you only need to ask. I wouldn't have made it without you." He said with gratitude.

Then I proceeded to ask him a few more questions like what year it was.

"We are in 201st year of Fourth Era, date is 17th of Last Seed."

Thankfully he didn't ask questions about why I didn't know of this or how. He just answered whatever I asked.

We spent the night in shifts with me taking the first shift and got on the road at first light.

After a week of travel on foot, we finally reached Riverwood.

Just as the name said, it was a village built right next to a river bank. Population wise I couldn't say anything much but there were a lot of travelers. Probably those who escaped the attack on Helgen or those who are going towards Helgen to confirm the rumors of a dragon.

We continued walking for a while before we reached a blacksmith. "Come on, that is my uncle. Uncle Alvor!"

Alvor was a man in his seemingly sixties, with a large build as expected from a blacksmith. He had blond hair and a dirty face because of his work.

"Hadvar? What are you doing here? Are you on a leave from…" he started but after taking a look at both Hadvar's and mine haggard look, his eyes widened. "By Shor's bones! What happened to you, boy?"

"Shh, uncle. Keep your voice down. I'm fine, but we should go inside to talk."

"What's going on? And who's this?"

"He's a friend. Saved my life in fact. Come on, I'll explain everything, but we need to go inside."

"Okay, okay. Come inside, then. Sigrid will get you something to eat and you can tell me all about it."

Then we proceeded to enter the house.

Once inside, Hadvar started telling what happened to his uncle. Where he was, what he was doing, what happened, how we escaped and finally how we got here.

"By Ysmir, so the talk about the dragon was true. I'm glad that you made it out safely." He said then he turned towards me. "Of course, any friend of Hadvar's is a friend of mine. You can stay here for the time being. You must be weary from your travels. Afterwards cone to me if you have any sort of troubles, I'm happy to help any way I can." He said with a gratitude.

I was grateful for his welcoming actions. A week of sleeping in the wild didn't tire me out but irked me for some reason.

So, I requested a place to rest and went straight to sleep.