As I run I still feel the fire beating against my skin. I couldn't believe I found myself in this situation. All because of that drunken fool and his tavern wench. I was suspicious as soon as he stopped coming home when the sun would set. Only six years since we stood before the shrine of Mara and said we would be betrothed.
What. A. Joke.
The first year felt like a fairy tale. But after that, we felt the fire die. It wasn't ever a real fire, I have my thoughts he might have slipped us potions for a while but fell out of terms with his provider, or maybe after we lost our baby before it took a breath he decided it wasn't worth being with me. I believe he muttered 'cursed by the gods' more than once. There we sat at meals, awkward silences and blank stares. Then he stopped showing up until late, and climb into bed reeking of drink and smelling slightly like a rotting skeever. Well we learned what caused that smell now...
Not even a week being in Skyrim and I was taken, thrown on some decrepit carriage, being told I would be executed for my crimes. My crimes? What about his?! Instinct said I should have tried for the Dark Brotherhood, the stories as children we would tell over fires at night. In the end I decided it would be much more fulfilling if I took their lives myself. It was a little too easy. I had been studying for years, with dreams of one day attending the College of Winterhold. I was also always studying with a retired soldier to keep my senses aware. In these times, you never know what you will encounter. There had even been whispers of dragons. Ha...I should have listened more to the tales of old men. But whenever someone mentioned the Blades or the Greybeards I simply practiced spells in my head.
I had been going over again and again in my head how I placed a lightning rune on her side of the bed, and made a sound sure to wake the dreaded Draugr in their forgotten tombs. I then crept to his side of the bed and when he got up to go to his new lover, burnt to a crisp, I unveiled myself from the shadows, and embedded my trusty dagger into his chest, feeling his heart beat as the blood spilled around my hands and to the floor. This wasn't a crime because I still loved him, no. This was for him making a fool of me, and for wasting six precious years I would never get back. And for the life of the child. I'm certain his angry hands played a part in that. Whether he would ever admit it or not. It's better this way, for the child. To not have to ever learn of the pathetic man who fathered it. I twist the dagger around and remove it, wiping it on his face. I would hate for such a beautiful weapon to be stained with less than worthy blood. I took off into the night, muffling my footsteps and creeping towards the borders as fast as my feet could carry me. Someone would find them within a day or so, and I sure wasn't going to be around when that happened. Word travels quickly, and I didn't think fully of the implications of my disappearance at the same night of the murders would cause. I'm sure it wasn't hard to put two and two together.
I was taken from my thoughts by the sound of gates opening wide, and seeing an executioner standing by a block. Great. I quickly glance around, but being bound I could not see how I would get away from this. I prayed to a god, any god, Daedric or other to listen and help me escape. I didn't do what I did just to join him so quickly. As I am eventually led to the block, and I hear a noise of that I cannot describe, but it shook me to my bones. I look up, the ax is in the air, along with a creature, that could not be mistaken for anything. It was like seeing a child's bedtime story come to life.
A dragon. Panic ensued as it swooped low towards the executioner stand, releasing an inferno from it's mouth, wrapping the villagers in a fire-like cloak. The first building to my left was destroyed before you could say 'mammoth tusk.' I took my opportunity and sprinted towards the gate, towards freedom.
I don't have a clear memory of what happened next or how I actually made it out, but here I am running out of the town as fast as I can, into the wild of a country I do not know. I can't even place the name of this town...
I feel a smile creep on my tired, fire blackened face. Someone will assume I died back in that town, because of that nasty dragon. I can start fresh, an entirely new leaf. Maybe this place isn't so terrible after all.
I dust off my clothes and start walking south, following the road as it starts to wind to the west. It's time for a new life for me. My old name will be forgotten in time, I will start again.
Alec Ravenheart is born today. I will never be who I once was.
