Dragonborn (Cancelled??)

Unbound

 As I stepped into the Keep, the first thing that struck me was the emptiness of the place. It was brightly lit with wooden chandeliers that held candles hanging from the high-rise ceiling, which warmed the area with a fine glow. There was a large, circular carpet in the center of the room that was torn around the edges. Despite the condition of the place, it added a feeling of homeliness.

Across from where I was standing there were multiple tables and chairs, all set up in a dining hall formation. Underneath all the furniture lay the sight of a fallen Stormcloak soldier lifeless underneath the furniture. Ralof, who was barricading the door behind us with some of the chairs, noticed this body and ran over to pay his respects.

"Gunjar," he muttered, his voice carrying a hint of sadness while trying to keep that soldier tone he was probably taught through his training. He looked down at the body. "That's a shame, he was a damn good soldier." He looked up at me, standing there with my hands bound wearing the rags that remained of the clothes I started this journey in.

He offered to cut me loose, which I took generously. He moved in my direction and pulled a dagger out of his belt. While cutting me loose, he mentioned me grabbing his comrade's outfit, claiming I would make better use of it than he would. Although I knew it was supposed to be a joke, I was having a hard time laughing; especially since you can still hear the dragon raging from outside the Keep.

"We need to get out of this Keep, we need to find a way out of Helgen!" Ralof insisted. I knew he was right, we had to escape before the dragon tore the whole building to the ground, but I didn't know the place as well as he did, and I was lost when looking around the circular-shaped room where we were supposed to go. I noticed the entrance to two separate sections that were opposite one another. They were both barred shut and despite Ralof and mine's attempts at opening them both, neither would budge.

I heard Ralof sigh before promptly sitting down in one of the chairs. I sat down too, knowing we might be here a while.

***

A while later there were voices from the far side of the Keep. I had been practicing my swing with the mace I got from Gunjar, and was hitting one of the dummies near the exit we came from. I looked in that direction, wondering if this might finally be our chance to escape. Looking through the bars of our prison I saw two people who were both in Imperial armor. One was wearing light armor, and the other heavy—I guessed that one might be a captain of the Legion. I scrambled back, hiding behind the wall a little away. Ralof had joined me and snuck up on the other side of the door, so we were prepared to ambush them when they came through.

I held my mace tight, and when the soldier came through, I struck at the smaller one. It was a man who could not have been any older than twenty. I swung down on him, and in just a few short hits managed to knock him to the floor. I turned to the other soldier, who Ralof was fighting. This woman seemed more experienced, and it took more effort to bring her down. Fortunately, it was a two-against-one, and we ultimately came out victorious. The blood from their cuts slowly seeped out onto the stone floor.

Ralof, who had seen battle like this much before, was hardly phased by the attack. He promptly grabbed a key from the superior officer and ran towards the other side of the Keep, where the still-locked door stood. Unsurprisingly, the key worked, and we were able to escape. Before leaving, I grabbed both of their swords. I had always been more of a sword guy anyways.
We went down the spiral staircase on the other side of the door. It led to a long hallway, with a few soldiers standing on the other side. Ralof seemed to have recognized them, for he shouted some names and started running in that direction. He was stopped by rumbling when the roof above us crashed down from above, blocking the path between us and the other Stormcloaks.