Skyrim's Saviors

27: Ularik Stormcloak

The next day, we ride and ride until finally reaching Windhelm. We dismount our horses and walk to the gates. As we approach, Sinbil having stayed back and taken care of the horses, I freeze in place.

There.... is a head on a pike. Galmar Stone-Fist. His head is stuck on the pile. I resist the urge to vomit. Most of the world saw a grizzled man with dark skin always wearing bear skin armor of a Stormcloak general.

But I knew him.

"Come on," Lydia whispers.

We walk into the gates of Windhelm. We walk along the icy streets, and as we pass the Palace of Kings, the place I called my home, I freeze again. Ulfric's body is here, his body hanging above the Temple of Talos, which has been burned and vandalized. I look at Lydia and throw up. She holds me as sobs wrack through me.

"We can't do this now, Ularik," she whispers in my ear. "People will notice. Come on."

We walk along, and the cold air stings my face as tears drip down, landing on my shirt. The three of us approach the Grey Quarter. When we reach the inn, I turn to Lydia.

"Who are we meeting here?" I ask her.

"A Dark Elf named Rune Omalis, she's a mercenary with a heart of gold," says Relfire.

Lydia nods. "Yes. She's pretty awesome."

We walk inside, and immediately, the smell of a warm wood fire, alcohol, and food hits me. The cold is washed away by the firelight. And there is a crowd of elves gathered in here, who stare at Lydia and I like we shouldn't be here. Which, I suppose we shouldn't. Relfire walks up to the counter, and looks at the Dunmer man behind it.

"What do you and your Nord friends here want? Don't you know there's another inn, Candlehearth Hall?" he sneers.

"I am looking for my friend, Rune," Relfire says.

Suddenly, someone stands up from the corner of the room. They wear all black, with a mask over their face, and slip outside and down the street, further into the Grey Quarter. I follow them, curious. They stop walking once they reach the Temple of Talos, where they have hung my father's dug up corpse by the neck in front of.

With one fluid movement, she draws a sword, and slices the rope, sending his body to the ground below. She sighs and shakes her head, as she kneels down before his body, she started to whisper a Nordic prayer.

"Talos be with you," she says.

"Who are you?" I ask, emerging into a shaft of moonlight that gilds my features in silver. She draws her sword, pointing it at me, but I raise my hands in surrender. "I mean no harm. I was.... friends.... with him." I nod towards Ulfric. "Thank you for cutting him down, it wasn't right how they hung him when he was stabbed so clearly."

She sighs and sheathes her sword. "I am Runeoanea, and I know that he was a racist bastard, but only because of those who had hurt him were elves. He wasn't an evil man. Just... misguided. Upset."

I shrug. "Maybe."

"Ularik!" Lydia shouts.

I jump, and stumble, falling on my behind in the snow and ice and I stare up at her as she and Relfire finally catch up to me.

"What in Oblivion was that for? You trying to —"

Lydia's gaze lands on my father's body beside me in the snow, and she sees the cut rope.

"It wasn't me," I say. "It was Runeoanea."

"Rune? Where?" Relfire asks.

"I ... she was right here," I say.

Rune suddenly appears off to the side, causing Lydia to jump in surprise. She whirls, drawing a dagger, but then she recognizes Rune.

"We can't be here in Windhelm," she whispers. "Especially her." She points at me. "Come, I'll show you somewhere that is safer than here."