Skyrim's Saviors

11: Ularik Stormcloak

I nearly froze to death when I took Ulfric's body and buried it in the snow beneath where he was killed. I want to return him to Windhelm, bury him there, but I know that is an impossibility. So I simply bury him, placing stones over his body, and then I depart.

I don't know where I am going. I pick up the arrow I removed from my father's throat, and wash it in the snow. Then, I break off the arrowhead and toss the discarded shaft into the ocean beside me. I tie the thick fishing wire I had in my backpack around the arrowhead, and then I loop it around my neck. I don't care that the arrowhead itself is sharp as can be, I want it to remain that way.

This is a grim reminder of what I lost today.

So I trudge on, looking mostly detached from the rest of what is around me. When I finally reach Winterhold, I head for the inn. I am glad for once that I am not wearing my Stormcloak armor, as I am sure that people would object to seeing me, the Dragonborn, in it.

Yes, I may have defeated Alduin, but that doesn't mean I don't face scrutiny if I am seen wearing the wrong thing. Especially now, considering how just wearing a Stormcloak's armor would be a death sentence. My father wanted to stop the Empire's oppression of the people. But his death likely sparked even more of it.

As I sit in the far corner of the inn and drink my woes away, I listen in on the innkeeper's conversation with the maid.

"They say that Ulfric and his right-hand, Galmar, are both dead. Gods know what's going to happen next."

"Hopefully, they will lose heart and return to their families and friends," says the maid.

"Oh, I doubt that very much," says a High Elf dressed in mage attire.

I look up, watching the male Altmer as he chats with the innkeeper.

Eventually, I leave and head off into the wilderness, away from Winterhold and its freak lightning storm, away from the Sea of Ghosts, so fittingly named now that my father is among them.

When I get well away from the settlement, I summon Odahviing, or Odii as I call him, with my Thu'um. When I killed Alduin, his older brother, he pledged himself in service to me, as in, he wants to be my ally. So he lets me to continue to summon him whenever I may need his help. I haven't done so in a while, in fact, I hadn't talked to Odii since I killed Alduin.

But when the huge, red dragon swoops down and lands on the ground, I smile as I approach him. I hold my hands up, and he chuckles. Says something in the dragon tongue, then he speaks the native language of Skyrim.

"What troubles you, Dovahkiin?"

"Can you take me to High Hrothgar? I need to speak with Arngeir," I say. "It is very important that I get there as soon as possible."

He nods and mutters a few words in the dragon language again. I may be the Dragonborn, but I don't understand the most of his words.

"Tell me this before we go.... what are you so heartbroken about?"

I sigh and tell him about my father's death at the hands of his sworn enemies.

"Ah, krosis, was your father by any chance Ulfric Stormcloak?"

I nod. Krosis means "apologies" — it's one of the few dragon words I understand. He tells me to climb onto the base of his neck, and I do, holding on tight to the spikes there. Odii takes off, flying through the freezing air. We are going to the Throat of the World, where the Greybeards live. High Hrothgar is a peaceful place.... one where my father and I both learned the Way of the Voice, how the Greybeards think their own Thu'um should be used.

Not as a weapon, but a tool.

I wasn't given a choice in the matter, I've always had to fight with my Voice, or Thu'um. I just really hope Arngeir doesn't say "I told you so" to me....