Daughter to Dragons- a Skyrim inspired fantasy

Chapter One- Unbound

If there was one thing my father always taught me, it was to always to watch my back.  Especially if there was nobody else there to watch it.  I would not be in as much trouble if I would listen to that advice.

The gag in my mouth tasted like dirt.  It left my mouth dry and unpleasant feeling, but I had done nothing but grown used to the taste of the dirty cloth.  I only wish that these brigands had shielded my eyes from this gods awful sun.  It blinded me badly enough that I suppose they figured I would not need a blindfold.

A bump in the road rattled the cart, throwing my on the ground.  I grunted in pain as my face connected with the hard wood.  With my hands and feet tied, I could not push myself up or protect my face from the other countless bumps in the road.  I tried to scream past the gag in my mouth to draw the attention of my captors to help me.  Very little sound escaped past the cloth, but it was enough.  A rough hand pulled me back up right.

“Keep yer mouth shut, dragon bitch”, the man sneered into my face.  His breath stank of rotten meat and old mead.  I crinkled my nose in disgust and tried to turn away, but he grabbed me by the chin and held my head in place.  “You really are a pretty thing, ain’t you?”  He grinned at me, showing me his yellowed teeth.  I struggled to hold back the bile in my throat.

“Get away from her!” I heard a man from the front of the cart shout.  “The bounty states that for full prize, she must be brought to the Imperial City alive and intact.”

The rotten toothed man in front of me scowled.  He stood up, giving me a full sight of the Daedic dagger on his hip.  My dagger.  “Aw, come on, Rhythe”, he groaned.  “I’m sure we could take a little piece and they wouldn’t notice.”  Everything in me wanted to grab my dagger and slice his manhood right off.

“No!” the man called Rhythe commanded.  He was apparently the leader of this band of highwaymen.  “It was too difficult catching her for you to blow it all.  She is to remain untouched.  Is that clear, Hack?”

The man called Hack grumbled something unintelligibly as he scowled at me.  He was clearly not happy with his leader’s commands.  But that did not stop him from watching me with licentious eyes.  He was a grotesque man, with a matted beard, surely home to lice and other nasty critters.  The fur armor he wore was dirty from use, or misuse.  I doubted the man had even heard of a bath.  I could smell his stench from here, though he rode on his horse.

The sun began to set after a few more hours of trekking south to the border of Skyrim and Cyrodiil.  From the thickness of the forest, I knew we were in Falkreath Hold at the southernmost border of the country.  We were likely only one more day from the border into Cyrodiil.  I cursed these men for capturing me, in my sleep no less.  The cravens.

They had certainly been watching me, following me for days before they finally found an opportunity to strike.  I had to applaud them for their patience, even at my demise.  Their leader, the man called Rhythe, was certainly not an injudicious man.  He was certainly more than a novice at strategy, it seemed.  Shame that his talents were wasted on leading brigands.

“We will camp here for tonight”, Rhythe commanded.  He pulled his horse into a clearing a little ways off the road, to avoid travelers.  With Skyrim a free nation, I had many friends here who still praised my father for saving them from the oppression of the Empire.  If any saw that I had been taken captive, surely word would spread and a force would gather to come free me.

A rough pair of hands hauled me off the cart and threw me on the ground.  My knees buckled from under me and I fell to the dirt.  Around me, I heard the snickers from the bandits as they watched me struggle to stand.  Anger coursed through my veins.  I cursed them all a painful and slow death by my hands.  “For gods sakes, cut her foot bindings”, Rhythe said, clearly annoyed.