Chapter 1

Born In Blood and Fire

A/N: Hey guys, so this is a new story and I just love this game so I thought, why not write one? For all those who have read my other stories for other games it will be written like "The One and Only". I hope this story isn't a disappointment, I just thought there should be more of this kind of story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Skyrim that honour goes to Bethesda

Karliah (Dovakiin) POV

I was never going to have an easy life, being half dark elf and a quarter Breton and a quarter Nord. They just had to make my life difficult and now I am tied up in a carriage waiting to be executed with these Stormcloaks, I am no Stormcloak I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time

(Flashback, age 9)

"Dad! Teach me how to shoot! You promised!" I whine as my father sits there skinning our latest kill, he smiles and he looks up at me with his piercing blue eyes which mirror my skin colour

"Husband! By Yismir teach her! She is giving me a headache!" My mother complains and I turn back and flash her a cheeky smile and she laughs and she pushes me slightly towards the alchemy table

"For now Karlia, go make some cure disease potions, it seems that Ataxia is on the rise" I nod and I sprint off to the table and I pick up the Hawke feathers and Mudcrab Chitin and I start to mash them together in a Mortar and Pestle, I turn back to my parents as they gather round the fire, I can smell the Goat and Snowberry broth for dinner that mother is currently cooking and father is making more furs for the winter, I wish he would teach me how to be a hunter, I can already fight with a sword but it doesn't feel as right as when I am holding a bow. I frown, he still won't teach me, and he says I am not strong enough yet, but I have been trying to get stronger! I cut up wood for the fire, I practise restoration spells and alchemy with my mother, and I enjoy it but with my father it is all about my sword work! But even though I am better than him with a sword he refuses to teach me! I growl as I mash the paste even harder, the bowl begins to crack but I don't care, my anger just keeps pouring out of me, the bowl breaks and I can feel my father's eyes on me studying me,

"You said this wasn't possible" My mum says in a low voice and I my skin feels like it is crawling, like something is trying to break out of me, I shiver and I sit down as my and more shivers run through me but the anger doesn't stop, it feels like it going to tear in in two#

"It isn't! It shouldn't be!" My father exclaims and I can feel him pick me up and carry me outside, I can't breathe and I can taste blood in my mouth

"What's happening to me?" I as him as the anger is too painful and I cannot grip it anymore, what is happening?! Pain courses through my chest and I writhe in his arms, he whispers to me

"Don't fight it, don't try and control it, just let it happen, let go"" he running with me in my in his arms and I try to look at him but everything is blurred and colours keep coming in and out of focus, I don't understand! I look out and I can see a tree in front of me and this time I just roll out of his arms,

"We are not going to make it!" He yells back to mother and then she is there and she has got her hand on my forehead, my eyes roll and I try so hard to keep them looking around but I can't, another wave of agony goes through me and I think I might be dying, this is too painful to be anything else

"It is going to happen now, we were foolish not to think that our curse wouldn't pass onto her, how stupid were we?" She says in a broken voice and she pulls her hand away, then I can feel the scream rising within me and all I can think of is my father, let go drifts around in my head and I do and the pain is too much, my hands go to my head and I clutch it and I scream, I scream until I can't no more, my blood is rushing hot around my body and I begin to shake, the scream forces itself out of me and then I can hear the scream, it isn't a scream anymore, it is a howl.

I open my eyes and I groan, it feels like a troll ran over me and then some, I look around and my heart stops, I have no idea where I am, then a pile of fur armour to my left catches my attention, I pick it up and I can tell it is my father stitch work, I can smell him on it. Wait, what? I sniff again, I can smell the pine of the forest the damp earth beneath my bare feet, the fear of the rabbit stood a few feet away, I can also smell my parents, I can practically see their trails. This is… odd, but I have no time to dwell on it, I have to get home, that's when I can sense it for the first time, prowling around in my head, a wolf, no, a werewolf it snarls at my recognition of it and then it goes back to prowling my mind, I blink a few times. What is this foreign sensation? I don't understand, I can feel the werewolf growl against me and it pulls me to look to my left, and there it is, the thing I have been fighting for so long for. My Bow, with a note attach, from my father it says

A hunter must learn the way of Kynareth's creatures, may the instinct guide you back home

Fear courses through me, they are not going to find me and take me home, but then again, I smile, father was always known for teaching a lesson the hard way.

(End of flashback)

I shake my head groggily, it has been 11 years since that trail of proving, I open my eyes and a blond Nordic man is looking at me intently, with soft eyes trying to be friendly, but I cannot trust him, that would be going against what my father taught me

Question the hand that feeds you, or get bitten trying

"Hey your finally awake" He says, the Nordic drawl pulling on his words, thank the gods that mother and father didn't let me grow up here, I prefer the smoky lands of Morrowind, shame there is no home for me to go back to, my heart twinges, those damn assassins! I should have been able to stop them!

You couldn't have known that was going to happen

I thought we were safe! Nobody knew who or where we were!

A tear leaks from my eye and my inner beast whimpers in an attempt to comfort me, it does and I metaphorically stroke her head and she rubs her head against my arm, I turn my attention to the man in front of me, clearly he is nervous of what is going to happen, I try to move my hands but they have been bound, I roll my eyes, I cannot even attempt to block out what he is saying with my hands

What an annoying boob, does he EVER shut up?

I don't think so

I sigh and I concentrate on what he saying, not that I really give a damn, I am going to die anyway, and the fact that these damn Stormcloaks are trying to stop all the good work the Imperials are doing.

"You took quite a knock to the head, are you okay?" The blonde hair man says as his hazel eyes burning into mine and I can feel the wolf in me lurch, my fingers twitch to kill, the heat of blood rushing down my throat- No! No I won't that is so wrong! The beast in my snaps at my mental restraints and I click my neck and I look at him in the eyes, even though I don't ever think I can ever find peace in a man ever again, they damaged me, defiled me, they are all the same and all wanting one thing, access to a woman's vagina, for them to spread their legs. And for men to forcefully spread mine has ruined me forever.

"I am fine" I snarl out as every word hits like a whip his eyes widen and he frowns slightly

"I am sorry what have I done to you?" He says but, it isn't an angry tone but merely a confused one, and that just aggravates the beast within me, take a deep breath, he isn't going to hurt you, he is just being friendly

"Sorry, it has just been…. A long journey to Skyrim" I say giving him a strained smile and his eyes fill with understanding, but that doesn't mean I trust him,

"Don't worry about it, you where do you hail from?" He says to a man dressed rags and smells like he baths in horse manure, I wrinkle my nose slightly, I look at his face and you can see sweat pouring off him, then a shadow pass over me and I look to my left and I can see we are in some kind of town, then I see all those people and I can feel myself twitching, I have never been in crowded towns, or in a town in general.

"I am Lokir, I am from Rorickstead, I'm from Rorickstead" My heart clenches for him, he is innocent and he is here like me and he got caught up in all of this as well. I look to him and he is petrified, well at least that explains the sweating.

"Hey," I say softly he looks up at me and I can see the fear in his eyes and the beast within lunges, I shiver as the thrill of the hunt courses through me, I ignore it, well for now "It is okay, I know you are innocent" I say and I smile at him and he relaxes a bit and he just smiles then he turns to the man next to him I hadn't noticed before, he is bound and gagged, I wonder why? He looks so familiar

"Damn you Ulfric and your Stormcloaks, the Empire was nice and easy until you came along and shouted the High King to death you-"

"Shut up back there!" one of the guards shouts and I smirk at the guard just stares on,

"I used to be sweet on a girl here, she used to make mead from juniper berries" I roll my eyes; this man just doesn't shut up! Then Lokir begins to send his prayers to the Eight. Sometimes I just don't understand how praying to the Gods will help.

But you know they won't, well the Daedric Gods intervene

I sigh as they pull us off the carriage and I can see all the Imperials stood there with their register calling names, and I know my name won't be on that list, I smile to myself as I look at the man doing it, he was tall and built like a brick wall and so the quill in his hand looked so ridiculous, he had wavy brown hair and the same haggard look that all natives to this lad have, I guess that is the effect of the Gray War.

"Ulfrich Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm" The man who was bound and gagged walks off with a guard tailing him, I frown slightly. What is the point of trailing a completely defenceless man?

"Ralof of Riverwood" He also walks past me

"Lokir of Rorickstead" I close my eyes as my heart twinges, he did not deserve this fate, just as I don't deserve this, I see him tense up, it is fight or flight. Please don't do anything stupid I beg of you,

"I am not a rebel!," he yells and runs, I can smell his fear and I have to suppress every natural instinct to begin the chase, to feel the hunt. My inner beast snarls and is clawing at the surface, scraping away to run and kill.

Run and kill, run and kill, run and kill run and kill and run and kill and run and kill AND RUN AND KILL AND RUN AND KILL

It drums around in my head and I my blood begins to boil, I can feel myself twitching, please Hircine don't let change form here, then I can hear the sound of the drawstring of a bow being pulled back, I close my eyes and the beast roars inside of me, I start to shake, then I hear his blood curling scream as he falls to the ground dead, I breathe out as I force myself to try and stop shaking

"You step forward," Gods be praised! I take a step forward and I look him in the eye and he quirks an eyebrow "Who are you? What race are you?" I cast my eyes downwards, Mother always told me that in Skyrim racism was great towards her people, but I am her and not, I am Nord and not but I am also Breton and not, I am unique

"I am Karliah I hail from Morrowind" I just ignore that question of race altogether and his eyes soften and he turns to a shorter woman on his left

"What should we do captain, she isn't on the list" I don't say anything, I can see the conflict in the Captains eyes, then I know I am not leaving here alive

"She goes to the block" the beast snarls and snaps but I have her pinned down and on a short leash, I walk there and I can see an elderly man dressed in a fine suit of armour

"Ulfric Stormcloak, some people here in Helgen call you a hero" he walks towards him until he is right in his face "But a hero doesn't use the power like the Voice to murder his King and usurp his throne!" I didn't even know about this, and then again I am not a resident of Skyrim. And I have been on the run for days from assassins so I guess that it is understandable. They don't even let him speak for himself and all you can hear is his muffled groans, it annoys me they won't even allow him to speak for himself, then again he might "Shout" at him and escape.

"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace"

By Sithis, is every man like this?

I hope not, otherwise I won't be able to cope with all this male drama

Then I hear it, a completely alien sound that splits the sky, it is like a roar echoing through the mountains, I look up but there is nothing there, the hair on the back of my neck tell me a different story, they are either don't hear it or ignore it. Wait I can see Ralof and the man that did the list looking into the sky, so I wasn't the only one who heard it then. Shit.

"Yes General Tullius" The women clad in Imperial armour, she is grating on my nerves. She sentenced me to this, but it is her job, and she is being a bit of a boot licker.

"Give them their last rights" He says and a priestess comes forward, to help send us to Sovengaurd I would guess

"As we commend these souls to Aetherius, blessing of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and the earth of the Nirn, our beloved-" Then an over twitchy Stormcloak steps forward and walks straight to the block, my wolf back away in curiosity, what the hell is he doing!?

"By Talos shut up! Let's get this over with!" I sigh and I shake my head, and the hairs on my neck rise again slightly and before I can stop it a low growl pours out of my throat, Ralof gives me a weird look, but I just ignore him, damn it! I thought I had a better grip on this! But I don't get a chance to even think before the axe comes down on his neck and blood splats over my face, I try so hard to resist licking the blood off my face, instead I feed my wolf with breathing in the scent of fresh blood, it has been so long since I have smelt it, I haven't had a chance to let her out since my parents were slaughtered. Then I hear it again louder this time, it's like it is a warning this time everyone looks up

"What was that?" The man who was doing the script says

"Nothing, carry on" General Tullius says and the boot licker turns back around to face us

"Next the Dark Elf" I freeze and they all turn to me, my beast snarls and claws at me but I can't let her out, I won't. My gut tells me to keep going, that everything will be alright, even though it doesn't look like it, I know it will. Then I hear it again and this time it is so loud I flinch, it vibrates through me soul and strangely enough it doesn't scare me, in fact it calms me and reassures, nobody says anything, but the smell of fear is enough.

"I said next Prisoner!" She yells but her voice wavers a bit in fear I smirk, but my body is frozen on the spot

"To the block Prisoner, nice and easy" I send a smile his way as I walk there, he is trying to comfort me and his compassion is what makes him great, I stand tall as I wait for the boot licker to send me to my knees, then I feel her knee digging in my back and my wolf snaps at her and I focus on not fleeing, then she presses my head down and I can see the executioner raise his axe, I will be with my mother and father now, and maybe then I will find peace in Hircine's realm and live for the eternal hunt. But then I see it, black as night it swamps the skies, and I can't move she still has her foot on my back and I begin to fidget

"What in Oblivion is that?!" Tullius yells as he backs away, it crashes into the defense tower and rests on the top and the foot pining me disappears, then I hear the shout it is so loud and my wolf cowers under it, my eyes flicker back to the executioner and he is about to bring the axe down when the Dragon lets out a Shout and he falls and it hits me and it sends me sprawling to the floor and I feel the shell shock set in. I look up with blurry vision as it lets loose another shout and flaming objects hit the ground, people are screaming and running in all directions, then my eyes meet the dragons and I can't look away, it's yellow eyes pulling me in and drowning me, only when Ralof shakes me do I manage to look at him

"We have to get out of here! Into the tower!" I sprint before he can even finish his sentence, my wolf begging me to run and that I do, I can feel my blood boiling at the aggro surrounding me, my beast howls and snarls, clawing up trying to get out, lean on the opposite wall, I still cannot move my hands damn it! I wish I could take these bindings off, then I see Ulfric leaning on the other wall, then Ralof comes pounding through just as the Dragon lets out a ground shaking roar, he turns to the Jarl

"What is that?! It cannot be a…a Dragon! They are only legends" I would have rolled my eyes if it were not for Ulfric's response

"Legends don't burn down Villages"

Far away in Whiterun Hold…

Aela's POV

I shiver and I turn around as my beast howls out to someone in the south west, I look out towards the mountain and Riverwood way, and I can feel a great stirring, animal instinct I would say, I my wolf for the first time in my lifetime is calling for another, I tilt my head and I let the wind catch my scent and I breathe in and I can smell ash, and more importantly.

I can smell change.

I can smell my imprint, and whoever they are, they going to change me forever.

A/N: So guys what did you think of it? Please review all criticisms are welcome so go ahead and review Bexaday