Work Text
Leaf shot awake with a small yelp, body snapping upright against the oak rails. Dark swirling eyes of green, purple and blue darted from place to place, finding the 3 other bound figures in the back of the carriage with them, the trees swaying far above, and the dark green and yellowish foliage surrounding the cobbled path. Leaf glanced once more at the other occupants, and for the first time saw the gag that silenced their nearest companion.Ah, they thought eloquently. I am not in the place I fell asleep at.Leaf’s half-asleep mind was sluggishly trying to piece together where they were. The blond man in front of them seemed somewhat familiar, though they could not place where they had seen him before. To the right of them, the gagged man sat in seemingly rich garb, a fur cloak keeping him warm from the cool breeze that followed them down the hill. A dirty-looking man sat next to the blond.The blond man spoke.“Hey you, you're finally awake.”And with those words, Leaf wished they’d been shot with a rocket launcher. Or perhaps thrown into the void? Anywhere was better than here, of all places.Why in the name of Oblivion am I in Skyrim!?____________________________________________________________________________As Leaf sat in stunned silence, Ralof(for they knew his name, now that they realized where they were) continued the dialogue that Leaf knew almost by heart. “You were trying to cross the border, eh? Got caught in that Imperial ambush.” Leaf could feel the pit of dread, but also glee, slowly growing bigger. On the one hand, they were in SKYRIM! Their favorite video game, one they loved to play over and over to see just how many different ways they could go. On the other, they were clearly going to have to fight their way through the entire storyline, because of course they did.Leaf realized that Ralof had been continuing his dialogue, and they had missed his little . . . argument with Lokir, the other ungagged man. Of course, prisoners simply wanting to find a little bit of joy in life before they died was unacceptable.“Shut up back there!” came the snap from the Imperial soldier driving the wagon.“Hey, if I’m going to die or whatever, I'm gonna talk anyway. Not like they can make my life worse.” Leaf was beset by stares ranging from awed to incredulous to impressed. They heard a poorly concealed snort of laughter from the Imperial. “Just hush.”“Eh, no promises,” Leaf replied.The rest of the ride to Helgen passed shortly, Ralof asking Lokir where he came from. Lokir replied(after some prodding) that he was from Rorikstead.“Ah,” Leaf remarked. “I’ve seen Rorikstead, long ago.” It was technically true. They had seen Rorikstead a few times, in past saves of Skyrim. It was a small village, poor and underpopulated.Lokir shifted a bit. “I thought you were crossing the border, and that this was your first time in Skyrim. Is it not?”“Mm. Not the first time I have seen the places, but the first time I have been here physically, yes.”“What do you mean? Are you a mage?” Ralof questioned.“Of sorts. Rorikstead is quite small, from what I saw. But there was a pretty plantation not too far from it I’d like to visit. Guess that won’t be happening now, eh?” Leaf dodged the question with the classic ‘change the subject to something more pressing’ tactic.Ralof nodded solemnly. Lokir paled as he was once again reminded of their situation.The wagon train started slowing as they entered the stone walls of Helgen. Leaf watched as snobby - looking elves on horses rode up to the Imperial General, General Tullius. Ralof spit on the wagon floor.“Damn Thalmor. I bet you they have something to do with this.” he sneered.“Possibly. Then again, it could just be our own stupidity that brought us here,” Leaf offered. Ralof hid a snort, much better than the Imperial driver, who chuckled as they clopped through the middle of the town. Leaf watched, eyes narrowed, as a small boy was shooed inside a house by his father. The people here seemed decent enough, they supposed. No child should be watching an execution. The carriage finally slowed to a stop, the horses settling a distance away from a watchtower. Leaf glanced over at Lokir and whispered, “If you're going to run, know that there are archers.” His eyes widened as he nodded frantically, not questioning how they knew(thankfully).The prisoners started unloading, one wagon at a time. As Leaf and their new acquaintances stepped off the cart, a young Imperial soldier walked up with the Imperial Captain. Leaf knew that the soldier was named Hadvar, and that he was a good man. They also knew that the Captain was one execution-happy woman. This is definitely going to end well, they thought sarcastically. (They were ignoring the fact that these two things were completely unrelated.) Hadvar started calling out names of prisoners, most of which were part of the Stormcloak rebellion that had started in Skyrim because of Ulfric Stormcloak killing the High King. Ok, there was a bit more context than that, but Leaf would probably get there eventually anyway because of plot. They sneezed a little, and then wondered why they had sneezed when mentioning a plot. It’s not like they were in a badly written fic or anything, right? And then they promptly sneezed again. Oh well, must have a cold. Hey, at least Lokir didn’t die this time. He stayed in line, so he didn’t get shot to hell and back with arrows.Leaf zoned back in from their mental rambling in time to hear Hadvar call out to them. “You there! Come forward.”Leaf stepped away from the line of prisoners, walking forward to rest before the two Imperials.Hadvar spoke once again. “Who are you?”