-

"Well if you're so good at this, why don't you take the lead?" Elle asked, voice simply oozing with sarcasm as the went down the stairs into a hallway, "Considering none of us have been here before, I'm sure you'll do fine," she added, earning a look from Ralof.

No sooner had she said this, the ceiling ahead of them caved in, blocking the hallway with the dragon's roar filling the space. Well, so much for that comment.

Ralof spotted a wooden door to their left and ran for it. "Through here, let's go!" he prompted, going into the next room. Elle ran after him, only to realize they were about to get in yet another fight. Two imperials were already in the room, and neither of them looked too happy to see their group. Ralof had already set about going after the first one, and the second had turned his attention toward Nilovas, as he seemed to be the bigger threat.

She pulled out her axe again and took a swing at him as he pushed past, catching him sharply in the chest and sending him staggering sideways, but not enough to knock him down or do severe damage. Man, she missed her sword.

( geez i forgot how spicy elle was XDDD )

-

Elle took a step back as Nilovas began to battle the imperial, not wanting to get in the way and risk the possibility of being stabbed or slashed. Ralof seemed to have everything under control too. Well, so much for contributing to the group. Now she was just the sassy awkward one.

Well, she felt that way until Nil started to stagger blindly. She jumped forward and used her axe to deflect a blow the soldier tried to land on his head, having a short face off of strength with the imperial but failing because she wasn't nearly as strong as he way. Frustrated, he used his free hand to roughly thrust her aside rather unceremoniously and began attacking Nil again.

Elle nearly lost her footing, but now her face was hot with indignance. Who did this guy think he was?

She was about to attack again but had to jump back when Nil fried the guy alive, the soldier yelling painfully and collapsing to the ground. The air now smelled of burnt flesh and it was not a pleasant smell. Ralof had also struck down the man he was fighting and put away his weapon.

Elle wrinkled her nose as she gingerly stepped over the carcass to search what appeared to be a storeroom, heaven knew she needed the supplies, but she had to be quick. She took some food and was happy to find a few potions. She went to join Ralof by the opposite door, but paused the imperial that he had been fighting. She discarded her axe to replace it with the fallen's sword, tucking it under her belt at her side. Hopefully if they ran into anymore trouble, she would be able to do more then land a few petty blows. She wasn't strong enough to wield an axe.

( lmao oops )

-

Elle had managed to find a few potions and some food, as well as some ingredients. She quickly stowed what she could in a pouch at the belt of her cuirass, but she didn't know how much more she could fit. Still, she was the pack rat type, so she kept hunting around for more stuff that could be potentially useful.

Ralof followed Nilovas down the stairs eyes scanning the scene before them.

"Trolls blood! It's a torture room!" he whispered in horror, keeping in the shadows on the stairs. A few of his fellow stormcloaks were already fighting valiantly against the imperials in the room, but they were outnumbered.

"Come on!" he said, rushing forward with sword drawn.

Elle, meanwhile, had gotten distracted and was still busy digging through this barrel but somehow she had managed to fall face first inside it and was now horribly stuck. From the sound of it, Nilovas and Ralof had left, which was good, because this the most mortifying position she had ever been in. Curse her shortness and the deepness of this confounded barrel.

She ended up rocking it back and forth until it fell over and she tumbled out, a few potatoes rolling out after her. She muttered a few curses darkly before she stood and dusted herself off, kicking one of the potatoes. Thank divines her new companions hadn't seen her. She hesitated a moment when she realized she didn't know where they had gone. Good thing there was only one door otherwise she probably would have lost them completely.

She walked out into hall atop the stairs, the sound of steel against steel echoing from below. Really? More of them? Seriously, how many imperials did it take to fill a keep?

She muttered grumpily and drew her sword, sneaking down the stairs so that she could assess the situation before getting sliced to ribbons. Apparently Nil had the same idea because he was still crouched in the shadows too. Though, she didn't know why he was still sitting there while Ralof was already in the middle of the fray. Was he being a coward, or did he have a plan? She assumed he was too proud to be a coward so he must have something in mind, which most likely didn't involve her, so she quickly jumped up and darted past him to help Ralof, who seemed to be having some trouble with the imperial he was scrimmaging.

-

Ralof had just slain the imperial he had been fighting the the dremora appeared. Elle had to consciously focus on keeping her mouth shut so she didn't look like a fish when it cut the two imperials down as if they were no more than a couple of mountain flowers. She looked at Nilovas, clearly perplexed, until the dremora started to advance on her and Ralof.

"Um, no?" she said in response to his question, grinning a little sheepishly to mask her terror as she took a step back and held up the sword.

Thankfully, Nil told Jymmathik, or however you said that, that she and Ralof were allies, because this guy didn't seem to have any concept of good guys and bad guys. His expression as he glared at them looked like someone had skimped out on the meat in his sandwich.

Elle and Ralof just kind of stood there utterly confused for a moment, exchanging a look as the two conversed.

"Er," Elle cleared her throat, "I don't mean to break up this touching reunion, but shouldn't we be going? I'm pretty sure that dragon is still out there and-" she paused, her eyes landing on a book set on a stool. She walked over and picked it up, running her fingers over the black leather cover and silver dragon situated in the middle. "-And those imperials aren't just going to sit around and pick their teeth while we escape," she finished, deciding to keep the book and inspect it further later.

She didn't like the way this Jym guy was looking at them, so she simply glared back in response. She had been bullied around enough today. Even if this guy was way scarier than the imperials, he wasn't as scary as that dragon. She crossed her arms and glanced at Ralof before back at the other pair expectantly.

-

Elle rolled her eyes and walked after Nil, Ralof close behind her. The two mortals didn't have to say a word to know how the other felt about all this. Elle decided it would be wiser to remain quiet instead of getting her head chopped off or something equally terrible.

Ralof stepped up and took he lead again, this time they entered another room, more soldiers inside.

"Really?" Elle muttered, drawing her sword as the imperials shouted and commenced attacking.

Ralof had already jumped into action, slashing at the first soldier that came near him. Elle darted across the bridge that spanned a small waterfall to take out an archer who was trying to pick them off from a distance.

-

Elle dodged an arrow that was aimed straight at her forehead, jumping forward and tackling the imperial by the waist with one arm, her sword arm pulled back and poised to strike. As soon as they hit the ground, she drove the point of the blade through the man's heart, a dying cry escaping his lips before he went slack. She stood up and yanked out the sword, taking his bow and arrows. They may come in handy later.

Satisfied with herself and feeling much redeemed after getting stuck in that barrel, she sheathed her sword and looked to see how the others were faring. Rap of had finished off his opponent, as had Nil and Jym, the latter of which was giving her a disapproving stare. True her fighting methods were unorthodox, but it had worked, hadn't it?

She glared back with a toss of her hair over one shoulder, crossing her arms and looking around for a way out. Nil had gotten to it first, and now it was his turn to lighten the mood.

"I can see the dragon's reasoning in choosing this place as a target, that is for certain," she replied sarcastically, walking through the door to a wooden wall, a lever next to it. She shrugged and pulled it, the wall quickly turning into a bridge leading onward, the keep becoming more like a cave the farther along they went.

We must be getting close to the exit, she thought hopefully, crossing the bridge and walking deeper into the caves.

-

Elle hated spiders. If there was one thing that truly terrified her, it was spiders. Not other bugs, not monsters, not trolls, just those filthy arachnids. Give her one of those nasty chaurus any day, it would be better than a spider. As the cave became more riddled with cobwebs, she started getting chills up and down her spine and slowly fell to the back of the group, clutching the hilt of her sword as the air became fouler and the webs became more numerous. Hopefully there weren't any or there was just one or two so she didn't have to go near them.

She was glad no one else seemed to be paying her much attention. Perks of being small and normal, she guessed. It was definitely a relief because she didn't want them to think less of her than they probably already did. She muttered something under her breath about the whole situation when they reached the cavern.Upon seeing the spiders, she froze rooted to the spot and turned ten shades paler than she already was. Curse the dämned things and their beady eyes. She was pretty sure it was no natural for a creature to have so many limbs. Or eyes. And what was even with those pincers? Whose idea was it create such a thing in the first place? Why was one of them coming right for her???

At that moment, the same fear that caused her to freeze urged her arms and legs into action. She whipped out her sword with one hand and thrust the other out, flames shooting from her plan as she stumbled backwards. The spider gave a screech but continued to scuttle forward, now properly enraged and in pain. She was too busy focusing on her own predicament to see how Jym and Ralof were faring.

She was hacking at its face when the giant spider dropped out of nowhere. Somebody screamed. She would later realize that it was probably herself.

She must have either blacked out for a few seconds because the next time she blinked, the spider she had been fighting was in pieces on the ground and she was charging at the larger arachnid with a shout of defiance.

Wait, what the hell? Why are you running toward it? You're going the wrong way! something in her mind screamed at her. But it was too late to turn back now because while its focus was on Nilovas, the monster had spotted her. Well, the sooner it died the sooner she could get out of this stinking hole.

She darted around to the back of the spider and drove her blade into its abdomen as hard as she could. The frostbite spider let out an agony filled screech and lashed out with one of its remaining legs, since Nil was hacking of some of the others. It caught her in the stomach and sent her flying backwards, the wind knocked right out of her as she slammed into the ground for around the hundredth time that day. The spider, now missing a few limbs, limped toward her, mouth frothing angrily. She didn't have time to get to her feet, scooting backwards and holding up her sword, black spots in the sides of her vision. She probably had a concussion, but that was the last thing on her mind as the beast loomed over her with fangs snapping.

-

Elle sat panting, her sword still pointed at the spider, even though it was clearly dead. Her brain took a moment to process that fact, and once it registered, she let out a sigh of relief. She sent a prayer of thanks to the divines, letting her sword drop back to her side. She had to say, she was definitely surprised Nilovas had offered her help at all, cocking her head at him slightly before accepting his hand and hauling herself to her feet.

"Thanks," she said, sheathing her sword and dusting herself off.

All the spiders were dead now, thank goodness, so now they could get a move on. Ralph was the first to take action, walking forward toward another outlet on the far side of the cavern leading deeper into the labyrinth. Elle started after him, silently hoping that they were done dealing with hostility. She was growing tired and her head still hurt. She was pretty sure she had bruised her tailbone too.

Well, this had just been the best day of her life. In fact, she didn't have anything left sassy to say, which rarely ever happened. If only she hadn't tripped over that stupid imperial during the ambush. She could be sitting in Falkreath, her intended destination, enjoying a pleasant day with her old friend. But no, she was stuck here trudging through the underground to avoid that stupid dragon who thought it would be funny to drop in and say hi. Then again, if it weren't for that 'stupid dragon', she would be dead right about now.

They hadn't gone far down the cavern when ralof halted and crouched, a finger to his lips. Elle mimicked his position, poking her head over his shoulder to see what he saw. A sleeping cave bear was curled up not far from them, its growl-like snore echoing around the cavern.

"Could we sneak around her?" Elle whispered to Ralof.

-

Elle sidestepped when Jym charged past to go 'feast on the bear's heart', standing straight again and raising an eyebrow at him before casting a look at Ralof and Nil as if to say, is he serious right now? Still, it made the job easier, so she started forward again to yet another tunnel, turning a corner before she spotted blue light.

"Looks like the way out!" Ralof said happily from behind her before hurrying forward.

"Thank divines," she muttered, following the Nord to the outside, blinking slightly as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the day. She never thought she would be so happy to see the blue sky again, the cool breeze a nice change from the stuffy caves. She was about to start down the path when Ralof hissed, "Wait!"

Elle instinctively crouched, looking up at the sky as the huge black dragon soared over head, a roar echoing around the ground below as he disappeared over the mountains in the distance. She sighed with relief when it didn't see them and stood once more.

"No way to know if anyone else made it out alive. But this place is going to be crawling with imperials soon enough. We'd better clear out of here," Ralof stated practically, and started striding down the hill.

"No complaint there," Elle replied, glad to be clear of that place and free again. Now maybe Jym would go away and stop giving her that loathing look since she had sassed him. Her instinct was to comment on it, but her rational side decided that such a thing would have a negative effect on her health. He seemed like the type who couldn't take a joke. She had half a mind to ask if if he and Nilovas were brothers.

-

Elle glanced over her shoulder at Nilovas as Jym disappeared and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"I hate to gossip behind people's backs, but he's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud," she remarked rather bluntly.

Ralof cast her a warning glance, as if to caution her on what she said. Now that she did think about it, she probably shouldn't have commented at all, but she couldn't help herself. If her mouth had a filter, it probably needed changed.

She cleared her throat and went on, "Uh, anyway, I never got to thank you properly for saving my butt back there. I owe you one," she stated, looking forward at the cobblestone path ahead of them.

Thank goodness they were out of there though. Now she could go to Falkreath, maybe get some help from that family friend of hers to get back on her feet and some coin in her pocket. Well, if there was one thing she learned from this experience, it was that Skyrim was not very big on hospitality. Or fixing their criminal justice system. Someone should probably look into that.

"Where are we headed?" she asked Ralof.

"Riverwood. My sister, Gerdur, will be happy to help. Plus, Whiterun is just beyond that and should be warned of the dragon attack. Maybe they'll send troops to defend Riverwood," Ralof explained.

Elle nodded, "Sounds reasonable enough. Though, if I'm not mistaken, Whiterun has some Imperial influence. Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"For me, possibly, but you're not a Stormcloak soldier, so you'll be fine," he replied.