The Chopping Block

'DAMMIT! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!' She exclaimed to herself, on the verge of tears, as the executioner raised his axe.

[Several minutes ago]

Her eyes were closed and she could hear the sounds of the wheels of the wagon or whatever she was on rolling and squeaking as it brought her to her destination, wherever that may be. She could feel the ropes that bound her hands together tightly around her wrists. She slowly opened her eyes and was briefly blinded by the light of the sun. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw an Imperial Soldier at the front of the wagon and three other prisoners, three Nords, one in front of her and the others to her right.

The woman currently in this predicament was Daro'zami. She was a Khajiit with almost black fur and ear tufts like a caracal, yellow eyes, black face paint, that you could just barely see due to the mostly black fur, resembling the design of the dots and lines on a cheetah's face with more black paint on her neck resembling the lines of a tiger.

The Nord in front of her noticed that she was awake and started speaking "Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?

'Not exactly.' She thought to herself. 'Though, technically, I was trying to cross the border to pull off my next heist, who, what or wherever that might've been.' She stayed silent, still thinking to herself.

The Nord continued speaking, "Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

'Wait... I'm here because the Imperials were trying to ambush us?! What for?! It couldn't have been for me, right?!' She exclaimed to herself.

Then the other Nord, the theif, started talking, "Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell." He then turned to Daro'zami, "You there. You and me - we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

'So the reason I'm here, when I've never been caught before, is because I was there the same time the Stormcloaks were? Are you kidding me?!'

The now identified Stormcloak soldier spoke again, "We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."

"Shut up back there!" The Imperial soldier at the front of the wagon shouted.

The thief then looked at the last prisoner and asked, "And what's up with him, huh?"

"Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." The Stormcloak soldier said.

The thief was surprised, "Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion." He quickly got nervous. "But if they've captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?" He said, fear evident in his voice.

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits."

Daro'zami stopped listening to the two prisoners, no longer interested in what they were saying or going to say. It wasn't long until they arrived at the front of some sort of settlement.

An Imperial soldier shouted, "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

She then heard a voice, likely General Tullius reply "Good. Let's get this over with."

The thief then started praying to the Divines, "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me."

The Stormcloak then said something about the Thalmor watching us nearby. He then said the place they were in is Helgen and how he used have a crush on a girl here. He then wondered if someone name Vilod is still making mead with Juniper Berries mixed in.

As they were riding through Helgen, Daro'zami could hear comments, murmurs, and whispers of the residents as they passed but she ignored them.

It wasn't long until the wagon stopped and an Imperial soldier told them to get off. Once they got off, the Imperial Captain spoke up, "Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." The Storm cloak soldier made a comment about Imperials and lists but Daro'zami ignored it.

The Imperial soldier beside the Captain then started calling names, "Ulfirc Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." Ulfirc walked towards the block. "Ralof of Riverwood." The Stormcloak soldier beside her made his way to the block as well. "Lokir of Rorikstead."

The thief, now known as Lokir, then walked up to the captain and begged, "No, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" He then started running.

"Halt!" The Imperial Captain shouted.

"You're not going to kill me!" Lokir mocked.

'What is he doing? Doesn't he realize he can't escape?' Daro'zami thought.

"Archers!" The Captain ordered. The sound of a bow being drawn was heard, followed by the sound of an arrow being shot, followed by the sight of the arrow sticking out the back of Lokir's head and Lokir falling to the ground, lifeless.

'Idiot.' Daro'zami thought.

"Anyone else feel like running?" The Captain asked the rest of the prisoners.

The soldier next to her then turned to look at Daro'zami, "Wait. You there. Step forward." She then got closer to them. "Who are you?"

"Daro'zami." She replied.

The soldier then asked, "You with one of the trade caravans, Khajiit? Your kind always seems to find trouble."

'That's pretty racist but I can't really argue with something that's mostly true.' She commented to herself.

The soldier continued, "Captain. What should we do? She's not on the list."

Daro'zami crossed her fingers, 'Please let me go! Please let me go! Please let me go!' She hoped her thoughts would become reality.

But that hope was crushed as soon as the Captain spoke, "Forget the list. She goes to the block."

'Are you kidding me?'

The soldier obeyed, "By your orders, Captain."

'Are you kidding me?!'

The soldier turned back to Daro'zami, "I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to Elsweyr."

'ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!' She exclaimed in her head. She clenched her fist and grit her teeth. Then she inhaled deeply, sighed, and relaxed. 'Oh well. Nothing I can do now.' Despair spread throughout her body. She acceptes her fate. There really was nothing she could do now. She was going to die earlier than she thought she would, all because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. While she was in thought, she wasn't focused on her surroundings. She even ignored the Stormcloak that was executed in front of her, until she was called to the block next.

In a daze, she walked towards the block. Once she arrived, she was pushed down and forced by the Captain to kneel and lie on the chopping block. Upon feeling the still fresh blood wet her fur, she felt like crying. She was still dazed and in her own thoughts and somehow didn't notice the loud roar that pierced the air and made everyone stop and look up in the sky for a moment. After a moment, they continued with the execution.

'DAMMIT! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!' She exclaimed to herself, on the verge of tears, as the executioner raised his axe.

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A/N: So... How was the first chapter? Pretty bad, right? This is my first time writing something like this (really anything at all), so it would make sense if it sucked. It's literally in my username and About section of my profile. I usually just read things like this but wanted to try my hand at making one myself.

Feel free to say anything about it in the comments, good or bad (I won't accept straight up insults tho. I'm looking for critiques, not insults.). Maybe ask some questions or recommend stuff. I'll try to take it into account if I ever make a new chapter. This will be updated whenever I feel like it, meaning it probably won't have a new chapter for a while. However, since this is the first chapter, I am purposely not making a new chapter. This is so that there is time for people to find this and then I can see what they think of it in the comments, if they ever write what they think in there that is.

Anyway, that's about it from me. I hope this chapter does good to get at least a few people's interest piqued. See you next time, I guess.