Survivor (A Skyrim Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Twenty Two

Riften had grown hazy and the citizens were making their way back to their homes. The sun was still shining, bright orange and low in the sky, but it was almost unbearably cold. It felt as if daggers were piercing my lungs every time I drew a breath.

Outside the stables, I cleaned and saddled Rain before mounting up and preparing for the ride back to Solitude. It was only meant to be a quick journey to the city of the Rift and I had done what I had primarily come for, feeling the guilt still hang heavy over me like a dark cloud.

My heart still ached. It ached for the band of thieves I loved. My band of thieves.

I shook my head and tried to clear the thought, not wanting to keep looking back and regretting the decision I had made.

"Are we ready, men?" I called to the four guards who had accompanied me.

Several "Yep"s followed, so we started off down the cobblestone road in silence and eager to get back home.

We travelled through the night and had managed to reach the Whiterun plains before dawn broke, the sky a calming, serene lilac and dotted with glowing white stars.

"Should we rest here, ma'am? At least until sun's height?" one of the men asked tiredly from behind.

I slowed down Rain to a halt and dismounted, leading her off the road. "If we must. I would rather carry on to Solitude, but if a rest is needed then so be it."

We pitched up camp in the middle of the grasslands by a large puddle of water so the horses could have a well-deserved drink. The five of us were gathered on a sloping hill resting or sharpening our weapons.

"Did you happen to hear anything of vampires? Or Maven Black-Briar perchance?" I said to no one in particular as I fletched some arrows.

"Nothing, ma'am," one of the men answered as he pulled out a skin of wine. "We asked the locals and it seemed they don't know anything more than we do. Some are even holding High-King Ulfric accountable for her disappearance."

I felt myself automatically flinch at the thought that some people could even assume that it was Ulfric who was the cause of her sudden slip away from society. Only those who journeyed with us out to Castle Volkihar and Jorleif knew that Maven had taken a dark turn to immortality and that she in fact hadn't disappeared at all.

"I see... Well, try to defuse these accusations as well as you can and discourage such thoughts. We don't need another rebellion on our hands."

A guard whose name I learnt to be Rondar got to starting a fire as the rest of us set up tents and bedrolls, chatting idly about missed families, daring adventures, or lost dreams.

Every time I went on a campaign with the men they always wanted to hear about my infamous fight with the dreaded World-Eater - the fearsome black dragon Alduin who had wanted to destroy the whole of Nirn and enslave mortals, just like the Dragon Age. I had shared my tale so many times it flew off my tongue as smoothly as a swan taking flight.

"And with roars as loud as thunder, Alduin swayed from side to side in tremendous pain and fury as he had finally met his match. Flaming curls of fire licked through his bursting scales and devoured him as his whole body shattered in a golden explosion, leaving the fragments of his dark empowerment crumbling down to nothing but embers."

The four guards who had been listening intently in silence the whole time erupted into applause as I finished my story with a bow.

"Incredible, Dragonborn! Who could be a better Queen than the woman who defeated Alduin?" one said astonished as he took a swig of his ale.