Keilyn: A Renogade's Chronicle

Hola. This is a fanfic that I've been working the kinks out of for a while.

• This story does include some parts of the main quest.
• I have no idea if my character is Dragonborn or not, it depends how the story goes along.
• Constructive critisism and opinions are always welcome.
• OH. There are a few swear words.. I just thought I'd mention that in case anyone gets offended by an F-bomb or two.

Hope you enjoy.






Chapter 1

Keilyn:

A Renogade's Chronicle

Chapter One: Welcome to the Pale

Keilyn rolled over onto her side, her eyes locked shut. The frigid air coated her body like a blanket, seeping into her skin and cooling her boiling blood. Her eyes began to flicker open. A messy blur of white and black were all that she could make out in the thick of Skyrim's wintery breeze.

The muffled sounds of horseshoes clacking against damp gravel echoed through the air.

She tried to rub her eyes, unable to find the strength in her hands. She shuffled her body around for a few moments, soon realizing they were bound behind her back.

Keilyn struggled to sit upright, pushing against the ground with her elbows. She forcefully sucked air. A sharp gust of wind sent snowflakes flying into her eyes, causing her to blink rapidly.

She could feel the ground moving beneath her. Click clack, click clack. Her brain ran this way and that, trying to uncover the mystery behind her surroundings.

"Hey, Imperial," the soft echo of a man's voice hung limply in the air.

Keilyn pulled her knees into her chest, trying to disregard the voice. She rubbed her pale cheek against her dirty knees, wiping away the snow that had begun to fall on them. The same place her cheeks were had now become the place where she could successfully rub her incoherently blind eyes. She tried to forget that she had even heard anything, hoping it was never said, so she could find a reasonable explanation for why she felt so crazy. So helpless. So damned confused.

"Hey, Imperial," she heard the same man's voice again, much louder and much clearer, "you feeling better?"

The voice was there, taunting her. Swimming around in her ears. She wasn't hearing things, there was someone there, someone watching her, seeing her struggle.

The voice rang straight through her mind, through her senselessly disoriented thoughts, the uncontrollable chaos soaring inside her brain. The voice went right through her, awakening a sharp, pulsating pain in the back of her head. She gave a hoarse shriek and trusted herself violently back onto the ground.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy now," another man said, more soothing than the other, "get the girl up, Hadvar."

Hadvar. The name sounded familiar to her, but she could not tell where she had heard it before.

Keilyn felt cold, burly hands grasping her from her rib cage and dragging her over the ledge of a wooden platform until she was planted uncomfortably down next to the body that was controlling them.

Regaining her vision, she gazed groggily at the person beside her. He was a brown-haired, muscular Nord, no more than the age of twenty five. He bore rather worn-looking studded brown and red armor. He eyed Keilyn curiously, rubbing his hands across his five o'clock shadow.

"Girl, are you alright?" the man asked, the one beside her, the one who called himself Hadvar, a flash of concern sliding itself into the tone of his voice. Hadvar reached behind her and undid her binds.

Keilyn sighed, finally using her capable hands to rub away the pain in the back of her head.

The man across from them, a red-headed, tense-looking Nord in the same studded armor opened his roughly bearded mouth to protest, but was shooed away by Hadvar's hand.

Keilyn coughed and sputtered, searching for her voice. Her tongue felt pasty inside her mouth, which filled with the overwhelming taste of acid and metal.

With her clear eyesight, she began to look around at her unknown atmosphere, taking in incrementing breaths of panic. She had been lying unconcsious on the floor of a horse carriage. Sleeping involuntarily by the feet of two men she had never met before.

"Girl?"

Her brain was spinning in circles, struggling for words that were not finding their way out of her mouth. She contemplated her first sentence, inspecting every word, or at least every garbled thought that was present in her mind.

Her voice strained, "Wh- who are--"

An excruciating number of coughs sent Keilyn's words for a tough curve. She reached for the Nordic man's thigh and squeezed it, keeling over and gagging uncontrollably.

"What did you-- d-do to me?" she croaked, clenching her stomach with her free hand.

The red-headed man scoffed, "We did nothing to you, fool!" he cried, glaring at Keilyn menacingly, sending a lightning-fast shiver down her spine.

"Quiet, Valtyr! You're only taking orders.We don't even know who this girl is." Hadvar snapped at the man across from them.

Valtyr's pupils dialated, anger sweeping its way into his seemingly black eyes, "She's a damned prisoner is what she is!"

Keilyn's heart fluttered, the uncomfortable type, one as dark as death itself, "I'm no criminal," she barked.

Hadvar looked surprised, "Then you truly must not know what happened in Solitude then."

"What happened?" Keilyn looked from Hadvar to Valtyr with a sincere fear washed across her face.

"You ran your frantic hide from Dragon Bridge all the way to the Castle Dour is what happened," Hadvar said.

Keilyn pursed her lips, "What do you mean?" worry creased the crevices in her forehead.

Valtyr spoke up this time, "You ran into Solitude screaming about some dragon coming up from Dragontooth Crater."

A flicker of memory ran past her once those words left Valtyr's snooty mouth. Paralyzing every other thought that had ocurred to her before. Everything froze around her, just the single memory draped across her mind. Keilyn stumbled over her thoughts, "D-do they know? Do they know about the dragon?!"

Valtyr rolled his eyes "Calm down, you blubbering fool!"

"Valtyr!," Hadvar spat, trying to continue on with his story, "As I was saying, I saw you running through the Marketplace, so I followed you," he paused to take a breath, "I was planning on taking word to General Tullius about our recent success in our Eastmarch encampment anyhow."

Keilyn stared blankly at him, her mind reaching for any other recollection of the past twenty four hours, "What did I do?"

"Well," Hadvar began, shifting awkwardly in the carriage seat, "you couldn't find General Tullius, so you found one of his soldiers instead," Hadvar looked at Keilyn sheepishly, afraid to say anymore.

"What did I do, Nord?" Keilyn growled, glaring at him, her heart pounding with worry and anxiety. His innocently brown eyes were shadowed by his inconsistant tale.

"You..." Hadvar searched for the right words, "you tried to convince him about this so called Dragon of yours."

Valtry chuckled, "Mind you, you were half drunk, blundering on to the poor man."

"He-- he didn't believe me?" Keilyn was both shocked, and completely unsurprised all at the same time.

"No," Hadvar said, rubbing his rugged chin against his hands and sighing, "when he didn't believe you, you sort of..."

"You bludgeoned the man," Valtyr cut in, smirking to himself.

"Well, yes. Yes you did," Hadvar reluctantly agreed to Valtyr's brutally honest comment, "I don't know exactly what you did, but I have never seen any soldier so angry in my entire life."

"One of General Tullius' agents heard you screaming at him and came to see what was going on," Valtyr sighed, "he grabbed a potion that he was carrying to calm you down."

So..." Keilyn's voice trailed off, "everything was okay?"

Valtyr groaned, "If everything was okay, you would not be here, and neither would we." he let out a frustrated breath of air, "Damned fool gave you a frenzy potion."

Keilyn's mouth dropped, her eyes glazed with both shock and fear.

"You ran around like a madman. Attacked a few good soldiers."

"Are they okay?" she brought her mouth back to its former position, worry cracking the edges of her lips.

"We wouldn't know," Hadvar continued Valtyr's unbelievable story, "Valtyr and I were too busy chasing you down."

"We didn't catch you until you were almost at Dragon Bridge again," Valtyr warbled, "a rapid whirlwind of fists you were, girl."

"And now I'm here?" Keilyn squinted at the two men, overcome and baffled.

"Aye," they said in unicen.

Keilyn couldn't undertand why those two men had been so real with her. She was an Imperial who dared to wander along the banks of Skyrim's frozen lakes without even bothering to join the Legion. She was a traitor in these lands, and they both knew it, yet she felt almost comfortable around them. Why?

"Where are you taking me?" Keilyn finally asked, a question that had been itching at the back of her mind for quite some time.

"Take a look," Hadvar motioned, waving his hand in the direction of the front of the carriage.

They rolled over the peak of a snowy hill, opening up to the field of an Imperial camp. As beautiful and peaceful as it had looked, Keilyn was reluctant to marvel at the sight of it. Imperial soldiers wandered around, talking with one another and preparing for battle, axes or swords hanging readily at their backs. Easy access, easy deposit, Keilyn figured. She could hear the clanging of metal on metal by the blacksmith. Several tents were situated around the area, some with tables, some with people. It all looked so surreal to her, like it was something out of a storybook. Something her parents had told her about. A place her father wanted her to be. Side by side with the Legionnaires.

"Welcome to the Pale Imperial Camp, girl," Valtyr snickered, "you'll have to get yourself comfortable."

The carriage came to a faulty stop, knocking all the passengers to on side. Valtyr and Hadvar stood up at the same time, signalling Keilyn to stand up as well. Hesitantly, Keilyn rose, casting her gaze from Valtyr to Hadvar. Valtyr was the fist off the carriage. He wandered away into the flood of Imperial soldiers.

Right as Keilyn was about to step down, Hadvar grabbed her hands and pushed her off the carriage.

Keilyn stumbled aimlessly off the steps, grunting at the Nord.

He grabbed her hands again, pulling them behind her back and guiding her feet into the Imperial camp.

"You tricked me," she spat at Hadvar, struggling between his strong hands.

"We can't have to lashing out again," he said,acting completely oblivious to her comment. They pulled out around a tent and wandered a few more feet into the blusterously freezing air.

A few feet behind the large camp tent, the wooden door of an abandoned mine stared at Keilyn and Hadvar. As if on cue, Hadvar cut a corner and pushed Keilyn toward the entrance.

The inside of the mine was dark and smelled of rotting corpses. This made Keilyn gulp. Clouds of dust rose around Keilyn and Hadvar's feet as they walked through the barren mine, kicking some of it into their eyes. They walked past several cages, most of them filled with dead animals or human skeletons.

"So you unbind my hands, just to lock me up in a damned cage?!" she wanted to cry, but her mixed emotions got in the way of her tongue, betraying her with every syllable.

"I am only doing what I'm told, I'm sorry," Hadvar almost seemed sincere, but Keilyn was too stubborn to tell.

They stumbled down a small ramp until they arrived at a small cage near the end of the tunnel. Hadvar shoved Keilyn into the metal cage and fiddled around with the door, trying to lock it. She stumbled clumsily to the back of the cage, growling at Hadvar. Once it was locked, he looked up at her, a weak and pitifully comforting smile ran across his chapped, pale lips, "What is your name, girl?"

Keilyn clenched her teeth and walked up to where he was standing, wrapping her feeble hands around the freezing bars. Her eyes wandered over his face with a white-hot stare, "Bite me."

______________________

Keilyn sat down on dry, dirt floor of the cage. She wondered how many hours had passed. One? Five? Too many for her to count. She sighed heavily, letting the noise that absconded from her mouth leave with all the other worries that had kept themselves captive inside of her. Keilyn laughed at herself, knowing how useles it would be to let all her problems go away with just one sigh. She would have to sigh a thousand more times before she would be remotely satisfied. Keilyn began to inch toward the other side of the cage, sinking down into the space between two of the bars. She let the cell dwarf her completely, making her look as small as she felt.

A few Imperial soldiers frolicked to and fro, their armour clanking in her ears and shining along with the torches that lined the walls of the mine. None of them had seemed to take notice to her. She could not figure out whether that was a good, bad or miraculously great thing.

She looked at the torch in front of her cage, watching it devour the darkness around her cell. This was the first time Keilyn was happy to see flames in a long time. She hoped the flames would comfort her. Keep her company. Get her out of her cell.

An Imperial soldier approached her, twirling a steel sword with one hand and snapping his fingers with the other. Her thoughts grew cold. Her mind scurried as far away from the soldier as possible, but her body did not follow. It stayed in the same spot, unmoved by the soldier's presence.

"Where do you make your home, Imperial?" he asked her, walking up to the cage and putting his sword back into its scabbard.

Keilyn still sat there, not wanting to say anything and avoiding eye contact with the soldier, "I have no home."

The soldier gave her a strangely quaint look, shaking off her answer, "Do you want anything?" he asked, looking at her from the eyeholes of his metal helmet.

Keilyn gazed blankly at him, taken aback by his sudden hospitality, "No," she said simply. Sooner he leaves, the better.

The soldier scoffed, "You're going to want something eventually, so what is it?"

There we go.

Keilyn remained motionless, staring aberrantly at the soldier.

She could feel a smirk forming from underneath the Imperial's helmet. The man walked back and forth in front of her cell, clanking the hilt of his sword against the bars as he went.

The Imperial girl grew annoyed and stood up, approaching the soldier much the same way she did Hadvar, "You really wanna know what I want?"

The soldier stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning to face the young woman. He crossed his arms awaiting the reply, "What is it then?"

"For you to get me the fluff out of this cage!" she cried, reaching for the bars in front of her and putting her face in the space between them.

The soldier stuck the hilt of his sword into the bar and jabbed Keilyn in the chest, sending her flying backward. She rubbed her chest and let out a puff of frustrated air.

"Welcome to The Pale, prisoner. You'll be staying a while."

Keilyn cursed to herself as she watched the soldier walk away, his legs each taking one arrogant step after the other.

She sulked over to where she had been sitting previously, and lay down, curling up into a ball to keep in whatever warmth she had left. She wanted the light of the torch to travel down and lay next to her, for it to devour the darkness inside her like it had done to the mine. She did have a home, and she wanted desperately to go back to it. Back to Helgen. She wanted to go back there so badly, but she knew she wouldn't be able to bear what she would see. A broken town lying in smoldered ruins. A home she would never again have. Keilyn shivered, trying to shake the dead feeling that was surrounding her, feeling it crawling up her body and nudging itself up against her. A cold air hung around in the mine. She welcomed the cold with open arms, knowing it was the only thing she would ever feel again. Cold. Dead and cold.

She buried her head into her hands, admitting defeat, and cried. Letting her hot, swelling tears warm her frozen hands.

"Gods take me," she pleaded, closing her eyes and dozing off, tears still running down her face.

______________


She awoke to see a familiar standing outside of her cell. Hadvar.

"Good morning, prisoner," he said, handing her a tankard through the bars of the cage.

She scoffed at the Nord, "You've got a lot of nerve locking someone up for trying to save people from a damned Dragon." she said bitterly, snatching the tankard from his hands.

"You approached authority with false information, then proceeded to beat him when he didn't believe you."

"I was drugged!" she cried, spilling some of the drink that was in her mug. Calming down, she continued, "Ask anyone,"

Hadvar sighed, looking at her sympathetically.

"He didn't believe his own kinsman," she let out the same sigh as Hadvar, speaking into her tankard.

"Well," Hadvar began, "It is kind of hard to tell. I couldn't even tell you were Imperial."

"My mother was a Nord," Keilyn said flatly, glaring at the tankard in her hands, afraid to drink it.

Hadvar looked surprised, "And what of your Ma, Imperial?"

"Dead." came the reply, she averted her eyes from Hadvar's sympathy.

"What about your Pa?" he approached the question more delicately this time.

"Dead."

Embarrassment washed over Hadvar, he knew he would keep asking stupid questions, "May I ask what happened?"

She looked up at Hadvar this time, showing him the tears that began to well up in her eyes, "They were attacked by a Dragon. In Helgen. Where I lived with them. Are you done asking me questions now?"

"I--" Hadvar stumbled over his words, suddenly feeling nervous in front of Keilyn, "I'm sorry about your family."

"You shouldn't be," she ran her finger under her eye and blinked back the fighting tears.

"Did you live somewhere else after your parents died?" the questsions kept coming.

"I had only been in Skyrim for a few days when they died. I left home for a few years."

Hadvar looked at her through the cell, eyeing her facial expression, "You... left?"

Keilyn laughed, a meak, almost cute laugh, at least, that's what Hadvar thought, "No," she said, smiling, "I was chased out."

"By who?"

Keilyn laughed again, shaking her head into her tankard, "Everyone."

"Well, I--"

"Hadvar," she interrupted him, looking into his deep brown eyes and smiling meakly.

"Yes?"

She stood up and walked towards the tall Nordic man, sticking her hand out at him between the bars, "My name is Keilyn," she finally said. She wanted to tell him her name the minute he began talking to her on the carriage, no matter if he was taking her to rot in a prison cell or not. She just wanted to talk to someone. She wanted to tell them her whole life story, so someone could finally understand what it felt like to be her. Feel the pain she felt. The pain she feels. The one that will always live with her.

Hadvar grabbed her hand and shook it. He found it strange how her hands were so much softer compared to his. A grin broke the seriousness of his face, "Hadvar. Imperial Legionnaire."

Still holding onto his hand, she returned his grin, "Renogade."

Hadvar meant to ask her what she meant by that when their conversation was interrupted by the opening of the mine's door.

The sounds of hasty footsteps travelled along the tunnel of the mine, echoing through Keilyn's ears. She perred around to see who it was, but her vision was blocked by the bars of the cell.

Hadvar turned and walked up the tunnel. Keilyn watched as his face grew cold, "Ralof! What in the Gods' names are you doing here?!"

Hadvar's shouting made Keilyn jump.

"I'm here for the girl, Hadvar. Back off!" another man's voice echoed angrily through the mine.

Keilyn fought furiously to see past the bars of her cell, but had no such luck. She could hear the muffled whispers of the two men now, but could not make out any words. What were they talking about? What did he want with her? She was aftraid to find out.

After they finished talking, Hadvar approached her cell, the man named Ralof standing behind him.

Ralof was a blonde-haired, muscular Nord. He dressed himself chest to toe in Stormcloak armour. Her expression grew bitter at the sight of his clothes. She resented the Stormcloaks with a furious passion. He scratched his head, looking at Keilyn absent-mindedly.

Keilyn's eyes widened. She reconized this man, too. Where were they both from?

Hadvar cleared his throat and began fiddling with her cell's lock once more.

"What are you doing?" Keilyn asked, rather shocked at Hadvar's behavior.

Hadvar unlocked the door and it swung open with pride, "Go with this man, Keilyn," Hadvar said, avoiding eye contact with the blonde Nord.

"The Jarl has demanded your release," the blonde man said. Ralof.

She looked at Hadvar, but spoke to Ralof, "Jarl Skald?" she knew she was in the Pale, so who else could it have been?

Ralof shook his head, "No," he said, "Ulfric Stormcloak."