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The morning was starting to drag into mid-day before I saw anything remotely interesting happen.

I sat at the top of the tower in the single chair there. Nobody walked the roads, and down below the river babbled and churned its way to the waterfall that lead down to the rest of the White River and the surrounding mountains and woods.

I had taken a pouch from my bandolier and was counting out the septims in said pouch when I paused. I looked up, thinking I had heard some kind of stomping sound. _A giant? _my mind asked me. I stood up, stuffing the septims back into their pouch, and looked over the main road from the tower top.

The stomping faded, and then turned into the all to familiar sounds of hooves. I heard them, and looking down the road that west from the tower, I saw the sound of the hooves. Horses, and on the backs of the horses were riders. I counted them, even from their distance, and saw there were ten or so. I watched them ride down the road, coming closer to the towers, and saw they didn't seem to be making any effort to slow down.

I stayed at my spot on the tower as the riders came closer, then saw that one rider near the back carried a banner. A black stretch of cloth, decorated with the Imperial Armies signature mark, a red dragon. "Dam," I swore now, but didn't leave the tower. They could have been riding past on their way to a nearby camp. Plenty of Imperials were scattered throughout Skyrim still, even though the Civil War had ended almost four months ago.

I walked to the edge of the towers top and crouched down, watching the riders come closers. The sounds of hooves had attracted the attention of the rest of the gang, and I saw Salin and Brekish standing near the road-side towers entrance. I gave a sharp whistle now and Brekish turned his head to look at me, holding up a hand. _Stay put _the gesture said.

So I stayed put as the riders came ever closer. The head of the group wore a set of polished steel armor and a full faced helmet, and behind him the rest of the riders wore the standard leather armor of the Imperial Legion. The rider at the head held up his hand now, and the collective group began to slow down as they came closer to where Brekish and Salin stood.

The Imperial with the full faced helmet, I assumed he was the leader, walked his horse a ways away from the other soldiers as they all came to stop near the tower. Brekish took a step forward and put a hand on the sword at his belt, and I heard the Imperial captain laugh. I heard mumbles of what my gang leader and the captain began to say, although I could't hear much of it. The captain waved a hand behind him, and one rider swung from his horse and came up to the captain, carrying a letter. The captain took the letter and handed it to Brekish, who snatched it from the helmet-faced mans hand.

A short but tense silence passed as Brekish read whatever the letter said, then I heard him laugh. A loud, scoffing sound that made the Imperial soldiers tense and snarl, but the captain remained calm. Brekish crumpled up the letter and tossed it over his shoulder, then drew his sword in a swift motion. Brekish angled his sword at the Imperials captains neck, and the soldiers all came from their horses now. I saw Salin draw his sword now, and I cursed myself.

Leaving the tower at a light leap, I jumped over the low wall of the tower, catching it with my hands, then scaled the wall, moving quickly downwards. I hit the ground boots first, landing with ease near where Brekish stood with his blade out, and pulled my own sword as the Imperial captain laughed.

"Your boss here has quiet the price on his head my young friend," said the captain as I meet his eyes.

"And I'm supposed to care why?" I angled my own blade at the captain, pointing at him with it.

"You vagabonds like coin don't you?" asked the captain. His voice was somewhat obscured by his helmet, but his tone was clear enough. Behind him, his soldiers drew their own swords, and the captain said, "But if you won't kill your own leader to clear the price on your heads, we'll do it ourselves."

Now the captain snapped his fingers, and his soldiers advanced. I left Brekish's side as the orc threw himself at the captain, and Salin and I both engaged the soldiers. The redguard pulled a scimitar from his belt and joined me at my side, and we fought the soldiers as Brekish kept himself busy with the captain.

The soldiers fought well, but I'd fought more than my share of Imperial soldiers over the years, as had Salin. I dropped one man to the ground as Salin was moving to his second man, and I heard the imperial captain snarl as Brekish swung at him.

"Come on!" I taunted a soldiers who swung at me, but I ducked the swing and drove my sword into the imperials back, then kicked his body to the ground. Another soldier swung at me and I parried his blow, then swung my fist into his face, making his cry out and stumble back.

"Argh!" I heard Salin yell as he drove his scimitar through the guts of one imperial, the wickedly curved blade tearing through the mans body. That was four imperials down, and a horse ran past me as the last of the animals turned hide and ran now. One solider was caught under the hooves and crushed, but I ignored his screams as a soldiers and I locked blades. I snarled at him then pushed him away, and ran him thorough.

"Bastard!" a soldier cursed me as I knocked away his swing, but his leg snaked out and knocked my feet from under me. I hit the ground with a thump, and the soldier raised his sword, ready to strike the killing blow. But then, before his blade came down, I watched an arrow streak through his neck, making the soldiers stop and gurgle up blood. I jumped up as he fell to the ground, and through the few Imperial soldiers left, I saw Raylus and Rokir coming up the road, the wood elf carrying his bow and the dark elf armed with an axe.

There were only four imperials left now, and the elves, the redguard, and myself quickly overwhelmed them. Bodies hit the ground, crying out or gurgling blood, and as the last soldier dropped to the ground, we all turned our attention to the imperial captain and Brekish.

The orc was bleeding from his right arm, and the captains helmet was laying a few feet away. I saw he was a nord, the short grey hair on his head already falling out. Brekish parried a swing from the captain, then swung out, driving his fist into the mans face. The captain reeled back, grabbing his nose, and Brekish came forward, thrusting his sword into the captains stomach. I saw Brekish's sword tear through the metal of the armor, and the captain gasped, his eyes growing wide.

Brekish pulled his sword from the captains gut and kicked the body to the ground, where the nord fell with a final sigh of pain. I was breathing hard, as were my companions, and I took a long breath. I leaned on my sword, the tip digging into the dirt beside the road, and we all looked at each other.

"Rekir!" I looked at Rokier as the wood elf called his brothers name.

"Rekir!" Rokier shouted again, jerking his bow over his body. He walked down the road some, but then stopped. I looked at the wood elf, then looked at what he was stopped in front of.

From where I stood leaning on my sword, I could now see Rekir's body laying sprawled on the ground. The wood elf was still alive, I could hear him choking up blood, and his brother Rokier dropped to his knees. I watched the wood elf took his brothers head in his hands, and Rekir started to gurgle more blood. I thought for a second the elf would choke to death, but then I realized he was laughing. Rokier starred at his brother, then I heard Rekir gave one final cough. His head lolled in Rokier's lap, and then the wood elf passed.

A single second went by, then Rokier screamed at his brothers body. He screamed and screamed, making birds in a nearby tree take flight. I looked away from the dead elf and his grieving brother, and began to walk among the imperial bodies. Two of them were breathing lightly, not yet dead, and I cut their throats with the point of my sword. All the horses had run off, the banner that one imperial had carried was laying on the ground, the flags on the banner slapping the ground in the light breeze that blew past us all.

* * *

After all the imperial bodies had been throw over the side of the cliff and down the waterfall, all the of the gang stood by the side of Rekir's grave. Rokier was the only one who didn't come, although I couldn't blame him. After Brekish had said a few quiet words from the dead elf, we all walked back to the tower, leaving the grave where we had dug it near a large tree away from the main road.

Back in the tower, I sat on the top of the tower, and later Brekish joined me. It was dark overhead and a cold wind blew whistled down the river and through the towers. As the orc sat down beside me and let his legs hang from the tower, he said,

"You ever bury anyone back in Solstheim?"

"No," I shook my head, "I was long gone before either of my parents started to get old, and the little family we had didn't leave Morrowind when we left."

"Hm," the orc grunted. "I had to bury my own father some years ago, before I was leader of this gang here. A trail by combat, as is the custom of the Orc's who live in strongholds."

"You were part of a stronghold?" I asked.

"Largashbur," nodded Brekish. "My father was chief before I killed him, but after just a year I felt that the orcs traditional way of life wasn't for me, and I decided I needed something more than just sitting in a chair every day, making sure everyone did their jobs right."

"Something like running a gang of bandits," I said with a smirk.

Brekish gave me a low laugh, and said, "I think my simple nature is what makes this group here different from the rest. Were better thinkers than some of the gangs out there. You, me, Salin. We've got more brain and will power than others out there," he paused now, then with another low laugh said, "If it weren't for the bounties on all of our heads, maybe we could all be scholars or even spell swords maybe, ya know?"

I gave the orc a laugh of my own before saying, "Yeah, maybe so."