Inigo found himself in a torchlit passageway. He followed its twists and turns as it weaved underneath the plains outside the city.
Inigo tried to memorize the winding passageway but it was impossible. After a few minutes, he opened another trapdoor and found
himself out in a field, his ears strained as he heard a river cutting the field in twain as it meandered through it. Inigo crept through
the glass, eyes staying level with the two staues at the north end of the river. Still trying the best he could to stay hidden, Inigo saw
Hasir pressed a hidden button on the horse head statue and headed inside.
Inigo crept to the statue that Hasir had entered moments before, pressed the same hidden button that Hasir did and entered
through a door that had appeared. Inigo gasped as he saw another torchlit passageway, except this one had white stone walls
instead of grey and a spiral straircase that descended into darkness. Inigo stepped onto the first step, tripeed and fell the rest of the
way down, bouncing head over tail wich he'd landed on at the bottom.
Groaning, he got up, helped by his scaly friend who'd heard the loud noise. Inigo smiled and thanked him,
"Thanks my firend," He glanced over to the ston face of the wolf standing before thm, "Erm, my friend, why are you down here?
Hasir looked at Inigo as if he did something stupid,
"Why am I doing here?" He shot back, "You should know, you visited this chapel once before."
Inigo searched his memory and did, indeed visit this chapel once before; a month ago. He nodded as Hasir transformed into a wolf
and Twilight pressed his paw on th stone the the right of the white stone wolf. The area around his paw glowd bright as a cadle
burning bside a hearth and the stone wall dpicting the wolf slid apart. Hasir transformed back and was about to enter when I=the
khajiit stopped him,
"Erm... my friend why exactly are you going in there? Does it have something to doing with the harbinger?
Hasir nodded and told Inigo that he intends to eavesdrop on Kodlak and Hircine's coversation and see if the harbinger truly intends
to return Hasir's bipedal werewolf form of if this was some kind of clevrly thought up rose to keep the companions, mainly him, in
line. Speaking of thee companions, he wondered if Kodlak also intended on returning their bipedal forms as well. He also wondered
why there were punished for his transgression.
Inigo hissed in indignation at Hasir whom he'd thought to be a model assest to thee companions,
"My friend... spy on Kodlak? I cannot believe what I am hearing. Why not just ask the harbinger after he returns to the mead hall?"
Hasir looked back at Inigo hissed and stuck into the temple, hiding amongst the pews so hear could hear what was being said
without being spotted. Inigo thought there were far better ways for his friend to respond instead of hissing at him but knew it was
best not to geet involved and walked into the temple behind him.
Inigo looked everywhere for his friend, only seeeing th empty temple. After sevral seconds of silence, he heard the habringer
speaking so he crouched behind one of the rear antlerd benches so as to not be seen when a sound like a snake hissing came from
behind on of the benches nearest the statue, Inigo crouched and walked through the forest of benches as he searched for the source
of the noise.
After seeing nothing but the high backs of brown bench after brown bench, he found Hasir crouching behind the one nearest the
statue and straind his timpanic membranes to see if he could make out what they were saying.
Inigo looked up and saw Xelzaz sitting on one of the empty beches silentlly praying-though for what he didn't know. The blue khajiit
was about to call out to the Argonian but Hasir grabbed Inigo's shirt and yanked him down behind the bench,
"Quiet you moron, you'll scare away the deer and then we'll be found." He whispered.
Inigo looked at him if he were crazy and was about to say that their weren't any deer, that they were in a chapel not a field but kept
quiet as he knew him voicing this would surely give away their location.
Hasir laid flat on the floor and listened intently; he could heae footsteps echoing off the stone floor, coming straight towards the
statue. Inigo was about to walk up to, and sit beside, Xelzaz but Hasir dived at him, knocking him to the ground. Inigo looked at him
indignantly and yelled for help but Hasir placed a hand firmly on the khajiit's mouth, stifling the yell,
"Inigo what are you trying to do? Sabotage the operation?" He hissed, "Stay quiet or you'll end up scaring away the prey...hsss."
Hasir poked his head out from behind the bench and saw Kodlak kneel beside the statue of Hircine and bowed his head, hands folded
in prayer,
"Lord Hircine, I come before you in hopes that you may grant me a favor, I beseech you, Hasir did what was asked of him, grant him
a bipedal wolf form, remove the curse you placed upon him."
A voice large as the chapel itself boomed forth after moments of tense silence,
"Patience my hound, You must think of me as a hare who scurries away from a hungry wolf, did you forget? I am Lord Hircine, god
of the hunt. I decid when my creattures hunt and feed. I have seen Hasir along with my other loyal followers in Jorrvaskr taking
down Molag Bal's priests. If that is not loyalty, then I don't know what is. He also showed great selflessness and courage in that act
which was why I placced the curse up him the first time. I also placed it on Aela for that same reason. Ah, but she is going to right a
wrong. She is not as mean-spirited as I thought, as she is scampering off to make peace with her mother's death, which will, in turn,
calm her inner wolf."
Kodlak looked up into the unblinking eyes of the stone deer skull and cleared his throat,
"When did you place it on Aela? I do not recall this happening."
The statue fell silent for a time, Kodlak was left wondering if he'd made it mad. It crashed back to full volume,
"A wolf lives in the forest but does not know his fate beforehand. Let's focus on the task at hand, Hasir, my most loyal if not
impertinent, hound has proven himslf and will gladly be given back his proper form." After the statue stopped speaking, Kodlak knelt
down and thanked Hircine.
The harbinger's eyes went wide as a golden outline of a huge bipedal wolf burst from the base of the statue and ran straight at Hasir
who was still hiding behind the bench. Inigo covered his eyes as the wolf barreled straight towards him and went into Hasir's body,
quickly ousting the quadrapdal wolf form which scurried off and disappeeared into the base of Hircine's statue.
Inigo opened his eyes and saw a golden light growing inside his scaly friend. Inigo tore his eyes away from this bright phenomenon
and saw on the wall beside him a huge shadow towering over a crouched figure he had guessed to be Hasir and gasped. When he
turned his eyes away, he saw the light had vanished and his argonian friend had collasped, presumably do the massive impact of
what transpird.. He peered around the bench but couldn't see Kodlak either. Kodlak must've gone, He thought, But where? I do not
yet konw.
Inigo turned back to Hasir who lay on the stone floor out cold. Inigo groaned as he rolled his eyes, grabbing his tail and fanning it in
front of the unconscious Argonian, "Why in Oblivion do you always go unconscious, you know? You could turn that into an act.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Tamriel, come see the amazing fainting reptile."
Hasir's eyes flew open to see Inigo crouching down with his rear end up, tail wagging in his face,
"Eugh! Inigo point that thing elsewhere, It might be loaded."
Inigo frowned; trying not to laugh even though he could feel it building inside of him,
"Well, I was unaware furballs come out of my tail, thanks for the information." He said giggling slightly
Hasir got groggily to his feet, rubbed his aching head and fixed Inigo with a dissaproving glance,
"Not your tail, Inigo, I was talking about your butt, it was pointed at my face, Gods forbid if you defecated on me..."
Inigo and Hasir looked at each other and cracked up laughing,
"Me defecate on you? My friend, I would be more concerned if urine came out of that hole," He smirked at Hasir, "that would be
truly terrifying... and, I suppose, funny as hell." He said as they collapsed as a fresh wave of laughter washed over them.
Inigo and Hasir fell silent for a time afterwards, looking confused,
"So, what now?" The khajiit asked, brow furrowed, "We could go see what Aela is up to or we can strike out for Krovaxis and finally
put an end to Molag Bal. Pick your poison, my friend."
Hasir thought on the two suggestions the khajiit had put out in the open,
"Why don't we see what Aela is doing. Hopefully she hasn't killed Scouts. We can save the temple for tomorrow, besides, I haven't
even figured out how in Oblivion we are supposed to gain entry to the cave yet.
Inigio nodded in argeement when a thought occured to him and he asked Hasir how he feels about having his wolf form back, his
prroper wolf form.
"I ... dunno," Hasir said, nonplused, "The last thing I remember is some giant wolf form, which I guess was my bipedal wolf form,
running straight for me, the next thing I know... I woke up on the floor," He looked disgustedly at Inigo, "with your butt in my face."
He strode over to the statue and knelt down; head bowed and hands folded. Inigo who sat next to Xelzaz shot an inquisitory look at
Hasir and asked him why he was doing that. Hasir shot a scathing look in the khajiit's direction,
"I am asking Hasir what he has done with my other wolf form, duh." He said, rolling his eyes at the khajiit
He was going to ask Hircine but instead he went to sit beside Xelzaz. Inigo shrugged and sat down beside them. Xelzaz turned and
smiled at the Argonain,
"Haisr, I didn't know you were here" He said in confusion, "I came here to..." He shook his head in bewilderment, "it doesn't matter
. Now, what was it you wanted to say? You looked like you wanted to say aomething." Haisr nodded
Hasir nodded. He wanted to say that he is awerewolf but he remembered Kodlak's advice and changed topics.
"Xelzaz, we, that is to say Inigo and I, are going to prevent Aela from killing Scouts." Xelzaz asked him how he was going to do that.
Hasir glanced over to the khajiit who shared his nonplused expression,. Inigo threw out the idea of how he could release Mr.
Dragonfly from his jar and follow him to Windhelm to locate Aela. Xelzaz shook his head and pulled a golden and ble dwemer
hummingbird from inside his bag he pulled from under the bench.
Both Hasir's and Inigo's eyes lit up when the bird activated and leapt to Xelzaz's shoudler. He rubbed the bird's beak with a clawed
finger,
"Hasir, Inigo, this is Roovi. I recieved him from my father as a hatching day present in the ciy of Thorn. I think he will get to
Windhelm ten times faster than that... overgrown gnat that Inigo has." He said, shooting Inigo an accusatory look.
Inigo got up and snarled at Xelzaz. Xelzaz looked confusedly at Hasir who merely shrugged,
"Really? I think Mr. Dragonfly can track Aela better than that pile of tin cans you call a bird."
Hasir got up and thrust himself in between the angry khajiit and the confused Argonian, looking livid,
"You guys can be rough as water battering a wooden boat sometimes. "Maybe the bird will be superior, maybe the dragonfly will;
but fighting about it like a frightened hatchling and an anrgy kitten will not handle this any better! Maybe you two can be civil about
this and settle it in a race." He succeeded in wrenching them apart and eyed them like an angry wolf, "Your bird against his," He
gestured toward Inigo, "dragonfly. Whoever wins will get the honor of leading us to the city of Windhelm."
Inigo and Xelzaz nodded and followed Hasir out of the chapel. Hasir cast a brief glance of Hircine's statue and smiled,
"Thank you, wolflord. The forest parts and light is shed on the true issue." He looked over and saw Roovi, wings folded, balancing on
Xelzaz's shoulder as if it were a tree branch and ascended the stairs before they entered the trap door, walked back through the
winding hall and back into the training yard of Jorrvaskr.
As they exited onto the cobblestone again, Hasir turned to them and laid out the rules,
"Alright, Xelzaz I see you have your competitor," He strode near the training dummy near the skyforge, "Good and I must say, Roovi
has some magnificent, er, plumage." He shrank back a little as the bird uttered some high-pitched mechanical sound in his direction;
He wasn't sure if that was anger. Xelzaz, on the other hand nodded.
Hasir looked over at Inigo who was busy prising the top off of the dragonfly's jar with his teeth. Hasir groan, walked over and pop
the top off with minimal effort,
"Inigo, stop messing about and get ready." Hasir snarld
Inigo looked abashed at the, grabbed the dragonfly and set it on the rocky ledge next to him,
"Mr. Dragonfly, we both know that you can beat that sorry excuse for a bird, just focus on the prize at hand: the honor of leading us
to Windhelm to find Aela; ignore Roovi's 'flashy colors'."
Hasir instructed the non-competitors to stand back and release those that'll be racing,
"Now, the rules are simple, the first one to complete two laps of the training yard, which includes the training yard only; if you go
anywhere near the skyforge, the underforge or the mead hall you'll be out of bounds." Hasir drew a line at the bottom of the ramp
that led to the skyforge, "Does everyone understand the rules?" the dragonfly nodded and a musical note issued from the
mechanical hummingbird. Hasir nodded and went back to join his friends, "Okay then, let's have a good clean flight. Ready... go!"
Xelzaz wore a confident expression while Inigo's was more doubtful as they watched their miniscule companions zoom around the
training yard. Inigo cringed a few times as Roovi came close to shredding the dragonfly as he sped past him. Xelzaz's smirk faded as
Mr. Dragonfly took the leaad as they headed for the ramp for the scond lap. Not to be discouraged, the mechanical hummingbird
'beat' its wings even faster; propelling it past the dragonfly as they neared the training dummies.
The dragonfly sped up to try and catch the hummingbird who was always just out of reach. As they rounded the course by the far
wall, The dragonfly cut the hummingbird off. Xelzaz screamed as Roovi was sent offcourse to smash into one of the training
dummies. Inigo cheered his dragonfly friend on as Xelzaz run to help the hummingbird.
Inigo frowned as he thought this was a blatant disregard for rules. He turned, pleadingly, to Hasir for help,
"Come on ref, that is a foul, I call interference, he cannot do that?" He said, gesturing to the Argonian trying to extricate the bird.
Hasir cupped his hands around his mouth so as tto be heard over the screaming khajiit,
"Inigo, I am not a referee. " He yelled angrily, "I am an observer, same as you. Secondly, I see no harm done here, Xelzaz wants to
help his bird, can you fault him in that? Besides, you should be the one penalized, not Xelzaz." Inigo made a sound of disapproval as
Hasir said the race was back on as he saw Roovi's beak successfully removed from the wooden dummy.
Xelzaz returned to his position as the combatants sped toward the finish line. He was disheartened, howevr, as Mr. Dragonfly took
the lead while Roovi fell behind. Inigo looked hopeful while Xelzaz became worried. Roovi, wanting to prove he had something left to
give, sped past the dragonfly to cross the finsh line victorius. The force of the wind given off caused the dragonfly to be blasted
backwards. He hit the stone wall between the four traing dummies with such force that he blew a hole through the rock and landed
near one of the farms.
Inigo was the only one to see this as Xelzaz and Hasir were busy congratulating the victor. The blu cat's sobs brok them out of their
mirth and their faces fell as they saw the limp dragonfly. Hasir walked over, carefully extracted the tiny body from the sword and
placed he on a a rock near the door to the underforge. Inigo knelt by him, praying h would pull through. Hasir closed the dragonfly's
eyes as they started to mist over.
Furious, Inigo strode over to Xelzaz and brandished his sword at him, or rather his bird,
"Xelzaz, why? Why would you be so heartless to have your bird do something so evil?" Xelzaz didn't respond, not liking the unatural
glow in the khajiit's eyes, "Fine, if you won't apologize, I am forced for the 'an eye for an eye' approach; my dragonfly's life for your
bird's. He smiled coldly as he raised his sword, "Seems fair, right?" He started to bring the sword down but was stopped by a scaly
hand.
Inigo tried to shake Hasir off, overwhelmed by righteous anger,
"Hasir, get off! This bird thing did wrong and deserves to die."
Hasir wrenched the sword out of Inigo's grasp and forced the khajiit to look at him,
"Does he, Inigo? I mean, think about it for a second, will you? Is this what Mr. Dragonfly would've wanted? You should be happy
Roovi won instead of being all hellbent on getting revenge."
Inigo's tail tucked itself firmly between his legs as he extended a hand toward Xelzaz,
"Your right, my friend, what a fool I've been. Xelzaz, I guess the better tracker won. You deserve to lead us to Windhelm." Xelzaz
nodded and Roovi sang a note of appreciation, "Okay, now that is over and done with, erm, "where should we bury Mr. Dragonfly?"
Hasir and Xelzaz thought for a while as for the perfect place to bury the small, golden dragonfly. Xelzaz asked Hasir if he had any
places in mind,
"No, at least... not yet. We've got to find the body first, Hircine knows where he could've falllen." His face contorted with rage, "We
can deal with that after we ring Aela's neck for even thinking about killing Scouts-Many-Marshes. If we arrive and she's killed him,
there will be hell to pay, mark my words." With that he stormed off in the direction he hoped was northeast.
Inigo sniffed the air and caught a faint but distinct scent coming from somewhere beyond the rear wall of the training yard. Inigo
turned and told his reptilian friend that Hasir knew that he, Hasir and Xelzaz had to had to go over to wall to see what lay beyond.
Hasir walked into the meadhall followed by the curious khajiit and Argonian. Once back in Whiterun, they headed for the gates and
exited out into the plains in front of the city.
Xelzaz, a bit confused as to which direction they would go, turned to Inigo and asked,
"Inigo, can you smell where the little dragonfly fell?"
Inigo sniffed the warm afternoon air and nodded. He hurried off to a farm that stood near the cloud district; where the meadhall was
located. Hasir ran after the khajiit, fearing a trap. Xelzaz shrugged and followed until they came to a ssprawling farm near some
mountains. Inigo wandered around, clawing at the dirt.
Xelzaz and Hasir both rolled their eyes at him,
"Inigo, what in Oblivion do you think your doing?" Xelzaz asked, a bit baffled, "If anything, the dragonfly would've likely fallen in the
grass, not in the dirt like some crop."
Inigo stopped digging and glared angrily at the smartmouth Argonian,
"Lsiten, Xelzaz, do you mind if I call you that?" Xelzaz shrugged as if it made no difference to him, "Your damn bird-"
Xelzaz put up a figure, not wanting to lose his stance as the smartmouth of the group,
"Actually, Roovi is a mechanical Hu-"
Inigo dismissed this with a swipe of his hand through the air,
"I don't give a flying fuck what your Ovior is."
Xelzaz deflated before him, not looking even rometly like the confident Saxhleel he did moments before,
"Erm... his name is Roovi." He said, matter-of-factly
Inigo glared at him and snarled,
"I don't give a skeever's ass what he is called. The simple truth is that your 'whatever it was' injured, or killed, him and I'll be
damned to Oblivion if. you. don't. help. me. find. him."
He jabbed Xelzaz in the chest with every word he spoke. Xelzaz tried to argue the point but knew it was pointly to argue with a
pissed off khajiit The argonian Telvanni helped Inigo search well into the early hours of the evening when he cast a spell that the
Telvanni had taught him. A golden glow erupted from a spot some four feet to the east. Xelzaz ordered Inigo to dig but the khajiit
shook his head and pointed angrily to the spot. Xelzaz hung his head in defeat and dug the poor dragonfly free of his earthen prison.
Xelzaz stared at Mr. Dragonfly for several seconds before coming to an abrupt finality,
"I'm s-sorry, Inigo. He is d-dead." He said shakily
Inigo got up and grabbed the dragonfly's body and glanced at Xelzaz; hate in his eyes,
"Gee, ya think? Are you sure eating tons of dirt compacted on top on him isn't part of a well-balanced diet for him?"
Xelzaz opened his mouth to respond but Inigo ordered him to be quiet,
"I was being sarcastic you idot!" Xelzaz shrunk away from him, ashamed. Inigo's mood lightened slightly, "You did the deed so you
help me figure out where to bury him." Xelzaz'd heard stories of alot of beautiful parts of Skyrim from his parents when he was a
hatchling. He suggested some of them to Inigo. Inigo shook his head at every suggestion until the Argonian said one that caught
Inigo attention, "The Rift. Yes, I... I think Mr. dragonfly would like it there. We both were always fond of that area. I would always let
him fly free amongst the fields surrounding Riften. It is settled then, we will bury Mr. Dragonfly outside the western wall, where the
land meets the water; He always liked going swimming."
Haisr, Xelzaz and Inigo worked their way around the city walls to the stables. Once there, they mounted their horses and headed for
Riften. They got to the walled city, dismounted their steeds and helped Inigo lifted Mr. Dragonfly off Inigo's horse and carried him
over to the western wall of the city and buried the dragonfly where the land that surrounded the city met the water, said their
goodbyes, circumnavigated the city's walls, mounted their steeds and headed towards Windhelm.
The cool breeze along with the green foliage quickly disappeared as they headed north and was replaced by frigid wind and snow far
as the ye could see. They ignored this abrupt change in climate as they stables their horses at the city stables, paid the stablehand
the fee and walked over the wide stone bridge. They were about to go inside the city when Hasir put up a hand.
Inigo stopped and turned to Hasir who was glancing over the half frozen water,
"My friend, why have we stopped?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
Hasir smelled the air again and gestured to the Argonian and khajiit,
"I smell blood coming from that building over there." He said, a black claw pointed at a stone building on the city docks, "If I am not
mistaken, Aela already killed Scouts." He then muttered under his breath, "By Hircine and Kynareth, I hope I'm wrong."
Inigo shrieked as the Argonian leapt of of the bridge like a world class diver and started to swm toward the turreted walkway. Inigo
gulped as he chose between the two decisions battling in his mind: should he stay and pray for Hasir not to be stupid or would he go
with Hasir and find out why th argonian had smelt blood?
Inigo swallowed hard and followed Hasir to the turreted walkway. Got out, shook himself off and felt something that sent shivers up
his spine. When Hasir entered the building, he snuck behind and entered as well. When he crossed the threshold, he looked from
Hasir, mouth agape and eyes wide, to the room that stood before him: Chairs broken, their peices strewn across the room, mixing
with the broken silverware and shattered remains of the counter littered the floor. Hasir ripped his eyes from the wreckage and tears
formed in his eyes. Blood stains leading from where he stood, rooted to the spot, to lifeless bodies of eight Saxhleel.
Hasirr knelt down and sniffed the blood splatters and lifeless bodies,
"Silver," He growled, "so the Silver hand are here? I should've known this was a trap."
A nord outfitted in full silver armor stepped from the shadows holding a certain red-haired nord by the throat, causing her to
struggle to breath,
"Good," The nord snarled. A malicious smile curving his face, "So, the dog has taken the bait and fallen right into my trap."
Hasir unsheathed his bow from his back and readied an arrow, pulling the drawstring back,
"Krev, long time no see. Kill any werewolves lately?" He snarled as he tightened his grip on the arrow, eyes narrowing
Krev smiled maliciously and nodded. Aela noticed a glint in his eye that scared her,
"Yes, actually, as we speak, the fingers of the silver hand are putting your girlfriend's foolish clan of werewolves to the sword."
Aela and Hasir emitted a singular scream; one that mingled with Krev's laughter,
"No! You and your foul order... how dare you... Rakel'ss packmatess.. they were friendsss of mine... however dissstant." He hissed
angrily
Krev's laughter was cut short by a twang of an unseen bow. The arrow It whizzed through the air and slammed into the Nord's chest
with the force of a charging mammoth. A second arrow lit him aflame.
Hasir lowered his own bow and cast about wildly for the savio but saw only darkness. Another arrow slammed into Krev's back.
The nord stopped, stunned by the impact; blood soaked Hasir as the next arrow protruded from the nord's throat. The fell to one
knee, but kept advancing on Hasir.
He looked at the nord's body, both repulsed and confused. He turned his muzzle in disgust as if the smell offended him,
"Hello, who's there? Show yourself!" He shouted at the almost empty room. Hearing nothing, he repeated his line of questioning
again.
The figure walked toward Hasir, trying its best to stay hidden,
"The potion you have there is diluted sap from the hist tree. It is quite poisonous to those not of our race."
Hasir stared hard as he could into the shadows,
"Xelzaz, is that you?" He asked confused, "What sap? What in Oblivion are you talking about?"
In response, the Argonian stepped out of the shadows, Hasir asked him what the hist sap potion did. Xelzaz gawked at him,
"By the hist, you don't know about about Hist sap, I erect the spine of disappoitment. I was sure you knew about it, since you were
raised in Blackmarsh. Or did your parents not tell you about it?" He shook his head, "No matter, no matter, that potion," he said,
gesturing to the bottle with the purple potion swirling inside it, "is called Hist sap. To us Argonians, the sap is a useful ingredient
along with bugs, berries and twigs. To those... shave-skins," He said, gesturing to Krev, snarling. It is rather deadly; once it enters
their bloodstream, it erodes their blood veseels. The unfortunate shave-skin soon bleeds out and the bones rot away, killing them
before they even know they're dead."
Hasir nodded, fitted the arrow to the string and trained it on Krev, who was now half-skeleton. He unscrewed the cork and poured
some of it on the arrow and fired. The arrow hit Krev squre in the chest; blood spurted from every orrifice as his blood vessel
eroded. He advanced on Hasir but soon turned into a pile of flesh as his bones were eaten away at by the sap. Hasir ran over to Aela
and asked if she was okay, she nodded. Aela thought they would sleep at the local inn before setting off for Krovaxis in the
morning.
They exited the assemblage and walked towards the city. Once over the threshold, they walked towards the large building in the
center of the city and pushed the door open. Hasir went to the woman behind the counter and requested tow rooms for the night. He
forked over the required gold and was shown to his room to the right of the counter while the woman told Aela that her room was
upstairs and to the right.
Hasir got undressed and got into his bed as the nord asked him if there is anything else he needed to not hesitate to call upon her.
She closed the door. He could hear her ascending the stairs to check on Aela and chuckled to himself,
"It would be funny if Aela chucks the nord out and threatens to call the city guard if she get interrupted again." He sniggered silently
as he yawned and drifted off to sleep.
Hasir was in the plains outside Whiterun with Hircine standing beside him. He looked into a stream to his right and saw that he was
in his newly acquired bipedal werewolf form but knew something was a bit off. For one thing, a mysterious figure looked at him from
the water. Twilight got up on his hind paws and swung around, growling at the intruder.
The doomstrider laughed a high, cold laugh and his hands erupted in bluish-black flame. Twilight raised his massive claw to attack
but the black-furred khajiit ducked and touched the wolf under the armmpit. The pain was unimaginable: a burning sensation spread
through his chest and throughout all this, he could feel his soul struggle to stay in his body as a sou gem, black as night, clutched in
the grinning khajiit's claw emitted powerful purple magic that threatened to leave his body a soulless husk.
The Khajiit smiled gleefully as the soul entered the gem and the werewolf fell, unconcious, to the floor. Hasir woke up several hours
later, expecting to be in the soul cairn or Coldharbour but found himself in a cabin similar to the one the Astrid greets promising
assassins in. It actually looked like the one that Astrid examined promising assassins as well.
Hasir, now more Argonian than wolf, got groggily to his feet as he look around expecting Astrid to be sitting on top of the bookcase
in one corner, but, nearly fell over with shock when he saw Aela looking down at him. She gestured to three humanoid beings with
burlap bags over their heads and their hands tied and ordered Hasir to kill one of them.
Hasir looked warily at her and asked what they did. Aela scoffed and ordered him to stop asking questions and obey. His shoulders
and tail slumped as he unsheathed his sword and went over to the three captives. Hasir removed the hood one by one and saw
Talen-jei, Dervenin and Ildril Sorathil. She had no idea who Aela him wanted to kill. As his nerves started to fray, he raised his sword
and sliced the Argonian's head clean off.
Hasir returned to the bookcase, asking Aela who he had to kill. The nord female laughed and leapt down from the bookcase,
advancing on Hasir, nocking an arrow, ready to fire,
"My master, Molag Bal will be pleased that another Argonian werewolf had been dealt with." Hasir opened his mouth to ask who the
werewolf was but closed it again, knowing the answer, "Talen-jei was a werewolf that killed my mother along with that slug Scouts."
Her face stretched in an awful grin, "Oh don't worry, you will join them soon enough. Your soul is safe in Coldharbour where all the
filthy dogs eventually wind up." She pulled her drawstring back and fired. Hasir slumped to the floor of the cabin. Dead.
Hasir awoke, sweat pouring from him as he shrieked in terror. He heard heavy footfalls outside and the door to his roomslammed
open. Aela ran nto the room followed by the innkepper, who both looked wide-eyed at the sweat-drenched Argonian. Hasir looked
up, saw sunlight peeking through the curtains above the nightstand next to his bed, sighed and got dressed in brown trousers and
and a white miner's shirt that Elda had laid out the night before.
He walked over to the two nords and filled them in on the nightmare he'd had the night before. Aela looked worriedly at him,
"You say I killed you?" She scoffed at this, "I'm sorry but that is just prepostorous." Hasir growled at her as his eyes narrowed
dangerously. "Hey, hey, don't look at me like that marshbrain. I know I shouldn't pry into things that I don't understand.
Hasir's breathing came in quick, rapid breathes, almost aas if he was trying, and failing, to keeep his wolf at bay,
"Then you should hold your tongue unless you'd rather me tear it from your filthy mouth." He yelled at her, He exhaled sharply to
become more level headed. "Anyway, we should go upstairs to get something to eat before we go search for your mother." He said
smiling.
Aela's face brightened at this and followed Hasir as his wnt up to the second floor. Hasir and Aela sat down. He ordered himself and
the nord two plates of kwama egg quiches and two mugs of juniper berry juice. They both ate their quiches with great zeal. Hasir
downed his mug of juice. Aela finished the quiche but set her mug down on a side table and frowned,
"I can't see why you couldn't just order two meads. What use are you lizards? Skyrim is full of Nords; nords love mead, get it though
your thick skull!" She yelled. She knocked the mug to the floor, spilling the juice over the floor and stomped down the stairs,
slamming the door behind her.
Hasir stared after her and snarled,
"Nords." He left the plate and mug on the table and ran after the nord
He found her outside the inn, expected her to shiver but she didn't. He did not know how nords could deal with the intense cold; he
was about shedding his scales. Hasir moved closer to her,
"Aela, why in Oblivion did you blow up back there?" He said, gesturing toward the inn. "Poor Nila, had to clean up the juice from the
wood, must've been hard to get out." He said screwing his face up. He turned toward Aela and pointed an admonitary claw at her,
"Nila almost saw your wolf come out, you'd better control your temper. You wouldn't want to be kicked out of the mead hall, would
you?"
Aela sighed, putting her heads into he hands,
"No, I suppose not." She said. Her eyes unfocused as she heard horses, maybe three or four of them, approaching the city stables.
She thought it might be Kodlak to punish her for almost letting her 'secret' slip to an outsder. What she didn't however was who the
other two people could be. She heard the massive city gates open and saw three figures walking towards her. She gasped; instead of
Kodlak and two other members of the circle coming to tell her off, In front of her stood Rakl, Ingo and Affraji. three horses: two
piebald horses and a bay horse; Rakel and Inigo astride the piebald horses and Affraji astride the bay horse.
Inigo strode over to Hasir who looked at him bewildered,
"Why are you looking me like that my friend?" He asked him
Hasir asked him where the rest of the companions were. Inigo smriked knowingly,
"My friend, they are fine." He said with a sly smile. He turned to Aela and looked from the argonian to the fiery-haired nord, "We are,
going to, er - well I don't know the name of the ruin exactly but all I know is a damn Argonian," She said, shooting Hasir a dark look,
caused her death."
Inigo smiled, bent down and whispered to Hasir,
"Well, that did not help much." He said as his scaly friend sniggered
Hasir punched Aela in the arm as she growled at Aela. He told the wondering khajiit that they were to go to Arkngthamz; a ruin
located near the dwarven city of Markath, a city that Hasir had never been to before, and investigate the abandoned dwemer 'city' to
discern whether her mother, Katria, did in fact die from an Argonian or something else entirely.
The door to the inn opened. Hasir turned around and beamed as Xelzaz came out and smiled at Hasir,
"Greetings, marshfriend." He said, shaking Hasir's hand, "Keeping well?" Hasir nodded. Xelzaz looked around confusedly, "Erm...
where is anyone going?" He asked as Aela, Inigo, Rakel and Affraji made their way to the city stables. Hasir told Xelzaz that they
were going to investigate Aela's mother's death.
Xelzaz's pleasant expression suddenly turned somber,
"Oh, I'm sorry for her loss. I did some researching and sadly, I could not come up with a potion to resurrect the dead." He said,
patting Hasir on the shoulder, looking thoroughly put out.
Hasir got up and headed for the city gates, opened them and crossed the bridge to the stables. Xelzaz, wanting to see what all the
fuss was about, followed soon after.
Hasir mounted his scaly reptile just as Xelzaz, mounted up behind him and Rakel and Inigo mounted up on two black and white
piebald horses. Affraji mounted up soon after on a brown bay horse. With everyone mounted up, Hasir lead to pack toward the ruin;
that was where he wanted to go but his nose had other plans.
His nostrils became confused by two distict scents and decided to veer offcourse to follow the stronger of the two. The argonian's
companions wondered what was going on in Hasir's head as he lead them in a northeastrn direction. The companions slowed and he
neared a small city. They all dismounted their horses and followed Hasir down a cobblestone path that descend into the town.
No one spoke except for Aela, who look furiously at the Argonian,
"We've no time for sigtseeing, you scaly-headed moron!" She yelled, whacking Hasir's face with her hand,"I thought we were
going to go to the dwemer ruin. Hasir shook his head and told her he smelled a lead which could tell them how to open the icy wall
on the island to Molag Bal's temple.
Aela let out a high, shrill laugh,
"Very funny. I bet you can't even smell your lizard friends... once they've been made into a nice pair of Argonian boots." She said,
smirking at him. Hasir could feel the wolf rising inside him, yearning to claw her face off but decided to keep his composure as he
continue his trek down the hill and into the city.
The argonian's companions expected him to be using the city, which they later found out was named Morthal, as a shortcut to get
to the dwemer ruin but, their faces fell as the Argonian went up some steps and stopped in front of a burnt down house that
obviously look like some brutal murder had been committed. Hasir stopped in front of the house and stared at it longingly; almost as
if he expected the family to materialize out of thin air.
Xelzaz and Inigo passed by the burnt done shack thinking nothing of it. Looking back, they saw their friend looking forlorn for some
reason and deciced to join him in his 'moment of sorrow', even though they did not undserstand why he felt this way.
Inigo and Xelzaz fell silent of a time, watching as Hasir tried to peice together the events that transpired here,
"Some foul deed has been committed her and I will not rest until I find the whole story."
Xelzaz turned to Hasir and his tail thumped the dirt angrily,
"Hasir, it is not wise to dwell on the past, let it go. Quite like the river flows onwards, so must we."
Inigo nodded and proceeded to lead Hasir away from the house but Hasir jerked his hand away as Xelzaz tried to plead with him,
"Inigo, Xelzaz, I know we have a ruin to see, but something... happened here, I can feel it in my scales. You two go ahead if you
want but I am going to find out what exactly happened." Xelzaz and Inigo did not move but entered the burnt down house with
the argonian, trying to find anything that could've lead to the family's death, or, at the veery least, why the house burnt down.
Hasir leapt back as the smell of burning wood reached his nostrils and a gruesome scene met his eyes: a family of nords; two adults
, one male, one female and a female nord child burning alive in their steady burning house. The next thing Hasir saw in this terrible
vision was to corpse of the girl being dragged out of the house by a beautiful nord female, only to be fd upon and turned into a
unholy creation of Molag Bal's. ignored this and kept on pleading for Hasir to move but the Argonian stayed where he was.
Inigo smiled at Hasir patted him on the shoulder,
"Come on you crazy lizard, let's get moving.
Hasir turned abruptly towards Inigo whacking Xelzaz with his tail,
"Inigo, trusst me, I am not crazy, I know what I ssaw." He hissed. He turned away from the macabre scene and looked at Inigo's
bmused face,, "Don't you see that?" He said, gesturing to the middle of the house.
Inigo shrugged, not wanting to call the Argonian crazy a second time,
"Erm... what exactly am I supposed to be seeing my friend?"
He gestured toward the burning house; shocked as to why he could se in whereas they could not. He'd thought it had something to
do with him being the only one in the group that had the blood of the beast but all that went out the window when Inigo stated that
he did, in fact, see something. Hasir glanced at Xelzaz who was grimacing in pain while he rubbed his foot; even he saw it.
Hasir smiled to himself; glad to not to be thought of as'crazy' anymore.
"Well, it's a good thing you can all seeing it now." He saw, scratching his neck, "and...what exactly do you see?"
Inigo grabbed Hasir's shoulder and spun him around to face the burnt down house,
"For divines sake, my friend, use your eyes... or have they been singed off by the flames you 'claimed' you saw?"
Hasir looked not at the burning house he saw moments before, but instead at a house whose walls have all but burned away, only
leaving a charred fireplace and some planks around the perimeter. Inigo let out a shriek of fright; Hasir turned around to find a
cyan imprint of a small nord girl standing in the rear left corner of the house. The argonian recognized the girl from the vision that
he saw a few minutes before. In the vision, the girl had brown hair and emerald green eyes, in death, however, she had matching
cyan hair and eyes.
Inigo approached the dead nord girl, bent down to bring him to her level,
"What is your name, little girl?" He asked, eyeing her with concerned helpfulness
The nord girl said her name was Helgi. Inigo smiled and said his scaly friend had a vision about he and beckoned him over to her so
he could tell his side of the story - or vision, as the case was. Hasir started to advance toward the girl but Aela's arm shot out and
grabbed His arm,
"Hasir, be careful," She said, taking something green out of her pocket and placing it in his hand. Hasir looked at it, confused as to
why Aela took the jade object, "I borrowed this, it belongs to you." She said, blushing as she saw Hasir's furrowed brow.Aela looked
taken aback by this, "I didn't steal it, if that's what's got your scales all dry." She said angrily.
Affraji looked at the strange object with restrained fascination,
"What is that? This one ia curious what nord's purpose was with this circular object."
Aela glanced sideways at Hasir, snarled and told Affraji that she needed luck to help her evade the murderous nord. Hasir glanced at
her and asked where she got it from. Aela crossed her arms,
"I grabbed it when we were all facing that dragon in Labyrinthian." She said with an air of coldness
Hasir glared at her; he had no idea she would steal from him. They thought they trusted one another. In response, she scoffed,
"Me? Trust you? You've got to be joking. I have my own reasons for doing things." She approached him and flicked him on the
muzzle, "some of which don't corcern you, nor should you be concerned by them." She said, turning away from him in a huff.
Inigo cleared his throat and told them to focus and not be ripping each other limb from lib, albeit emotionally,
"Look." He said exhasberatedly, "I still have no idea what Hasir's intentions are for leading us here but can we at least focus and not
go at each other like a pack of wild dogs?"
Aela and Hasir exchanged quick apologizes and walked towards the house. Inigo stuck out a hand and said he only asked Hasir to
come. Aela growled in defiance, obeyed and hung back while Hasir approached the girl and told her of his vision and how he
witnessed her last moments of life amidst a burning house. He finished, screwed his face up and asked her how the fire got started.
Helgi tried to remember how she had died. Hasir gaped at her as she shook her head, slumping back against the rear wall of the
house, "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but... I just can't remember. It seemed like ages ago that I was last alive." She said
sighing; putting her head on her knees. "Not since the fire did I..." Hasir saw her eyes go wide as large lumps of coal as she stood
up. "I was over there," She said, gesturing to the area just before the fireplace, "playing with a doll that my mother gave me for
Saturalia many years ago."
Inigo, sitting in a circle on the floor beside Hasir, Xelzaz, Aela, Affraji and Hegli, opened his mouth but Hasir elbowed him in the ribs,
shaking his head. Inigo fell back into an uncomfortable silence. Hasir gestured for the nord girl to continue. she smiled; grateful for
some semblance of kindess in a cold world, at least when she was alive. She continued her tale,
"Anyway, as I was saying, I was playing with my doll when I heard a knock on the door. My dad, a strapping male nord by the name
of Thronnir, answered the door to find a beautiful nord female, Alva, asking if she could come in." Inigo gasped and Hasir
punched him in the shoulder and hissed. "Laelette came in and my father courted her. My mother, Laelette, forbad this but Alva
yelled at her, saying that she shouldn't stick her nose in matters that she did not understand."
Hasir asked how the story connected to the fire. Helgi said, angrily, that she was getting to that,
"Sit on your tail, will you?" Inigo said, glancing sideways at the argonian
Hasir fell silent and Helgi said that the strange female descended upon her mother like a hawk and drained her of her blood. Helgi's
father saw the nord's eyes glow bright red as she muttered a few words, her hands stretched toward the fireplace which was lit up,
crackling with flames at once. In the firelight, Thronnir looked frightened as he saw one of the flames leap out of the fireplace and
catch the bit of wood nearest it aflame; within a few seconds, the whole house went up in flames. Helgi said Alva used the
confusion to grab her and vanish.
Hasir and Inigo looked at hr and askd what happened next. Helgi frowned,
"Now, that's where my memory gets hazy. I remember being dragged out of the house desperately calling out for my father, it was
fruitless, I know, but I had to try. I... don't remember much after that... except, I do remember a small house, a secret passageway
leading to a long hallway full of dead bodies; Girls, most likely."
She lapsed into silence. When she spoke again, I was full of venom,
"Oh, I also remember her draining my body of almost all of it's blood. Once that was done, she dumped me back on the doorstep of
my burning house and I died in the same corner I'm in now."
Inigo held up his hands in front of him and looked curiously at the dead nord girl,
"Helgi... did... we offend you? If we did, you can tell us. We won't judge you."
Helgi shook her head and sighed again,
"No. I just lost control, that's all. My poor father." She said softly. She blew her nose on her shirt, "I want you lot to find Alval
and skin her alive. Make her pay for what she did to my mother and father.
Inigo nodded, grabbed Hasir and left the burnt house. The Argonian was fuming, not just because she reminded him of Khash but
because of the vision he had seen. He sniffed the air and followed the scent to a house not too far from where they stood. Inigo
yeled after Hasir to slow down and think this through before chasing shadows, but the argonian didn't listen.
Inigo huffed in annoyance and went after him, curious as to what he was up to. Inigo hid in some bushes a few feet from the local
inn, Moorside where he expected the argonian to enter but he saw Hasir turned left and pounded on the door of the house next to
the inn.
"Alva, I know you're in there, come out now or...the entire guard I brought with me will break down the door and take you to jail by
force. Tell me, would you really want that? Come out now and no one gets hurt."
Inigo cursed the foolish Argonian who blatantly lied to get what he wanted, sniffed the air, caught an unsettling scent and ran to
Hasir's aid, pushing the door closed with his body. Hasir heard Alva from inside the house struggling to open the door to see if the
argonian was telling the truth or not about the 'guards.' Hasir tried to muscle Inigo out of the way but the khajiit stayed fixed to the
door as if it was held shut by two taugt leather straps.
Hasir groaned and gave up trying to move the immovable khajiit and hissed in anger; eyes narrowing,
"Inigo why won't you let me through? Come to think on it, why won't you let Alva through? I'm sure she is a very nice lady and if
you think otherwise then maybe you should get your nose checked," He said, sneering at the khaiit..."or your vampirism cured. I
mean, it is really messing with your head.
Inigo fixed Hasir with a look that could've spoiled mead or at the very least spiced cider,
"You don't know what is on the other side of this door, my friend. Also how dare you suggest that my nose get checked, if anything,
you ability to blindly trust anyone is the thing that needs to get examined." Hasir let out a growl that told Inigo he had struck a
nerve, but he did not care, he was defending his position in this, "I smelled something... off about Alva. I think she may be a
vampire." as he said this, his eyes went wide with fright.
Hasir ignored him and kept trying to get inside. Inigo gave up trying to reason with the crazed Saxhleel and opened the door,
causing Hasir to bump in Alva with such force that they both went crashing into the wall opposite the door. Inigo strode in after him
wearing a 'serves you right' expression on his furry face.
Xelzaz looked at Helgi, smiling, He got up and strode over to the fireplace, grabbed a burnt out bit of coal and examined it,
"So, while Hasir and Inigo are solving that nasty business, mind telling me who Alva is? I know you already told me, us, about how
you met Alva," He said, turning to her, flipping the bit of coal into the air as if it were a dwemer coin, "but I would like to have more
to go on than that infinitesimal piece, for clarity, you understand."
Helgi screwd her face up, angry that he required cllarification on what she already told him,
"I told you about my ill-fated encounter with Alva. Isn't that enough?"
Xelzaz stoppped flipping the coal and stared at her, tail starting to retreat between his legs,
"Fair enough. The real question I wanted to ask was what were the professions of your mother and father."
Helgi raised a transparent eyebrow,
"I hardly think that is relevant to the case."
Xelzaz hissed in annoyance, more to himself than to her question. His tail twitched in agitation,
"Yes, I get that but if we can discern their professions than maybe we can better understand why Alva was after them."
Helgi glared at him, feeling her anger starting to boil over,
"She was not after my parents, she was after me, divines no why, but she was."
Xelzaz was struck dumb by this unexpected outburst and placed the coal back into the fire,
"No need to be in such a modd, I was only curious is all." He stopped and rubbed his chin, I wondering if they, Hasir and Inigo I
mean, are alright, perhaps I should go and check on them, Helgi, thank you very much for your, er, cooperation."
With that, Xelzaz left th house and walked toward the house where he thought Hasir and Inigo might be found.He smelled the air, it
had small notes of moistness and fleas amongst the usual chill of the air. Xelzaz followed this minut scent until he came to a wooden
and stone building with wooden steps leading up to it. He ascended the steps and went inside.
Alva's house was unassuming to say the least; nothing jumped out to Xelzaz as out of the ordinary. He saw a bookshelf to his left
that held books, cheese wheels and various odd and ends. Near the bookshel was a small desk with bits of parchment littring its
wooden surface. Xelzaz went over to it and bent closer and riffled through the bits of parchment; nothing was out of the ordinary.
They were just notes on some alchemy potions. It was then that he saw it; a piece of parchment sticking halfway out of a drawer.
He bent down and tried to pull the parchment free. After many attempts of twisting and pull, he finally extracted it and read it. His
eyes went wide as he finished,
"By the gods, this is awful. I have to tell Hasir about this straight away."
Xelzaz stuffed the note into his pocket and ran upstairs. Xelzaz saw Hasir and his khajiit companion examining a bookcase that they
thought would reveal a secret passageway like the one Helgi spoke of. Xelzaz glanced to his right and saw a small table with three
chair, sitting in one of them was a beautiful Imperial female similar to the one that Helgi said set the house fire. Xelzaz made note of
this, walked over to Hasir amd cleared his throat,
"Hasir, I don't think you will find the secret paassage that way. If Alva wanted to,she could just fixed a sign to the wall that read
'secret passage this way, push the button located on the left side of the bottom most bookshelf'." Xelzaz shook his head chuckling,
"She didn't do that. Do you know why? because that would've been too easy." Xelzaz wracked his brain for an accurate analogy,
"That would be like a hare just hopping onto a plate and begging to be eaten by the wolf; it just doesn't happen."
Hasir and Inigo ignored him and kept pushing the bookcase, expecting it to open. Xelzaz groaned,, walkd over to the table where the
Imperial sat and sat down beside her. He asked her her motives for killing Helgi and all the other little girls in Morthal. Alva folded
her hands on the table's surface and looked at Xelzaz curiously,
"What? you think I killed that girl? Well... I did but only because Morvath made me. Being a vampire is alot harder than you mortals
can understand. Ever tried having free will as a vampire? It is nigh impossiblle. Once you contract the disease, it hijacks you
thoughts and you feel Molag Bal's influence grow upon you. It becomes impossible to think for yourself. You get caught in this 'web'
of sorts where there are all these vampires sharing the same thought. The thought is 'kill, feed, repat.' Alll that is passed to us
through a telepathic link Molag Bal has with his 'children.'
Xelzaz looked at her,, a bit uneasy. His tail went wild behind him as if it was a scaly lie detector. Xelzaz thought abot this and decided
to take her word as fact. He smiled at her,
"So this Morvath was feeding you information as to why Helgi had to die? Mind tell me why that is exactly?"
Alva nervously flattened out her dress, glancing from Xelzaz to the bookcase the other argonian and khajiit were still trying to move,
"Your friends... are idiots, do you know that? they won't find anything in there." She said shaking her head slowly. Xelzaz nodded
and said they could be quite brainless. He turned back to Alva, eyeing her intensely,
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Alva said, furrowing her eyebrows, "Oh right sorry, erm... the mtoive, let see... I guess
Morvath wants what Molag Bal does... domination of all mortals, control. So I guess in his mission to do just that he create vampires
and-"
Xelzaz groaned, eyes narrowing as he slammed his palms down on the table,
"For the sake of the Hist, quit the side stories and get to the point!"
Alva looked at him startled,
"Ok, ok, keep you scales on."
Xelzaz grumpled softly to himself but sat back down and allow Alva to finish with her story,
"Morvath wanted control... and to please his master so he, under his, our, master's orders, set out to drain as many children he
could find, including Helgi."
Xelzaz looked shocked at this. He'd thought that Morvath brainwashed her to do this. Alva apologized and said she mispoke. She
meant to say that Morvath saw Molag Bal telling him this which, in turn, caused her to see the image as well and act on it despite
her not wanting to do it. Alva opened her mouth to say more but, at that moment, Hasir stopped try to get into the secret passage,
unsheathed his sword, ran behind Alva and cleaved her head from her body.
Xelzaz looked, shocked, from Alva's hheadless body that slid sideways onto the floor, to Hasir,
"Why in Oblivion did you do that, you fucking moron? She was busy pouring her heart out to me."
Hasir smirked, sheathing his sword again,
"I know she was, and now she spilt her blood out for me. If that's not a fair trade, I don't know what is."
He started to walk down the stairs with Ingo when Xelzaz stood up and punched him in the muzzle. Hasir lost his balance and
grabbed onto Inigo for support. The downward momentum caused both the argonian and khajiit to topple all the way down the
steps. Xelzaz walked down the steps, avoiding Hasir and Inigo's accusatory looks and, slammed the door.
Hasir got up and bent down to help the blue khajiit to his feet. The argonian rubbed his sore muzzle and turned to Ingo,
"I was doing Xelzaz a favor. That idiot," He said gesturing to the shack door, "would've been killed if I haven't killed the vampire
first." Inigo rolled his eyes at Hasir, "What?" He asked, "Vampires are known to play with their food before killing it. "Xelzaz is a
softscale if he misjudges a vampire. If I didn't intervene, he would've been her dinner." To cement this point, Hasir bared his fangs
and went to bite the grinning khajiit.
Inigo scuttled away from him, wiping the Argonian's spit from his neck,
"Say it, don't spray it my friend. Now I have to give my fleas a bath, they've been infected with lizard germs."
Hasir opened the door to the streets of Morthal, glanced back to Inigo and sighed,
"Stop being such a damn kitten, I was just proving a point."
Inigo muttered something about proving his point much gentler next time, got up and followed Hasir out into the chilly Morthal air,
worked their way back to the burnt house and asked where Xelzaz went. Affraji stood up and pointed a finger towards the general
direction of Markarth.
"This one heard Xelzaz went towards Markarth to find a ruin name, er, what was it? Arkngthamz perhaps?"
Hasir nodded and said he would find him and the ruin in the morning. For now, he was too emotionally charged to follow him now.
With his luck, he might let his wolf out to soon and end up kill the female nord and male Argonian. He curled up on the wooden floor
near the fireplace and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Hasir blinked away the harsh sunlight, got up and went to the stream near the village, took out a fishing pole and
waited for a bite. For a while he didn't get a bite but, pretty soon, he felt the line catch. He reeled in the fish and cast his line again.
When he had accrued a good enough haul of fish, he trudged back to the burnt house, cooked the fish over the fire he lit in the old
fireplace, roused Inigo and Affraji and, together, they ate half of the fish while chatting about the day's plans.
The leopardine khajiit tossed a shiny red apple to Hasir who caught it and placed it as well as the remaining fish into his bag and
walked with the two khajiits in the direction of Markarth.
