Chapter I

The bow of a large vessel appeared on the southern seas, its masts carried the insignia of the East Empire Company. Relen Neleth, a hooded Dark Elf, or Dunmer, stood in a dark alleyway in the port, watching the ship as it neared closer to the docks. The port city of Ebonheart was peaceful this evening, the seas were calm and only the rapturous sounds of a tavern inside the city pierced the otherwise unremarkable night. This was good, thought Relen. No drunken sailors and prying eyes around to make his job difficult. His only concern was of the Imperial patrols. There were two guards which walked the length of the port, another two were stationed near the entrances to the guard towers and the Ebonheart warehouse. Luckily for Relen however, the docks themselves where the ship was to dock were quiet. As many Dunmer had said when the Empire annexed Morrowind, plenty of business was to be made in taking advantage of the sometimes lax Imperial policing standards.

The vessel now was creeping closer to the dock, as it neared Relen noted how large it was. The East Empire Company insignia proudly displayed on the ship gave its status away as a trading vessel, rich pickings for pirates. But Relen was not here for piracy. The name 'Eastern Spirit' was emblazoned on the side of the ship – clearly Imperial in design. Relen could hear the sailors now; he could even make out their Imperial clothing. Stepping back further into the darkness, Relen decided to check through his equipment. He swept back his black cloak to reveal a silver dagger, which for a moment was caught in the glint of the moonlight. The dagger was, to many eyes, unremarkable. But to Relen, it had been passed down to him by his father. Whilst any old silver dagger could be purchased from a smith, Relen's silver dagger had been restored and used by Relen for many years, it was special to him. As well as the dagger, he also had two potions hanging from the inside of his cloak. One, a potion of invisibility, he often invested into one of these for an assignment; they had proved useful time and time again. The other potion was one of levitation. He had bought this a few months ago and never got round to using it, but he carried it anyway in case the need ever arrived. Both potions had been purchased all the way in Sadrith Mora, from the powerful Telvanni mages. Sheathing his dagger and making sure his potions were fastened; Relen pulled forward his cloak and stepped from the shadows.

The ship was in the process of docking now, the sailors were making some last preparations on deck and the East Empire Company insignia was being lowered. Relen moved swiftly behind some crates and crouched down; he spied three Imperials moving to meet the Eastern Spirit and her sailors. Two of these Imperials were clearly guards, the other a scribe of some sort – no doubt here to register the ship's arrival. The Imperials loved their damn lists, thought Relen. As the Imperial sailors met their Ebonheart counterparts and the gangplank was lowered, Relen seized his opportunity. Standing from the crates, he ran to the edge of the dock, the bow of the Eastern Spirit was directly in front of him. As he neared the edge he leapt, managing to grasp the sides of the ship instead of plunging into the water. He pulled himself up; the Imperials were on the shore now, unaware of Relen's presence on the ship. He crouched down low as to avoid being sighted, and then made his away across the deck to the rear of the ship, to the captain's quarters.

Once inside, he was in a short corridor. Two rooms faced him, one behind a large and sturdy ornate door; he guessed that this was the captain's room. The other had no door and opened out into a living area, where three Imperial sailors were sat, eating meat and drinking some fancy Imperial liquor. Relen made his way to the large door on his left, unsheathing his dagger as he did so. He imagined the captain sat at his desk, filling out reports. He imagined the look on his face as he saw an assassin burst through, blade in hand. The captain would be helpless, just another one of many that Relen had killed in his line of work. Relen had long decided that it was best for him not to know whether his targets deserved their fate or not.

Without anymore pause, Relen raised his weapon and opened the door, his eyes scanning the room in an instant as he stepped in. But there was no need, the room was empty. Relen, puzzled, approached the desk. Parchments were neatly stacked and a quill and jar of ink were freshly sat next to them. Then Relen noticed that all was silent, he could no longer hear the sailors in the other room. He had realised his mistake just in time to turn and see the three sailors enter, their cutlasses drawn. Relen held his dagger out and readied himself for an escape; he had after all survived worse. The sailors closed in further, circling Relen, who was by this point pushed nearly against the window itself. Then another Imperial entered - a female. She was dressed in fancy clothes, it was clear she wasn't one to get her hands dirty with the rest of the sailors. It was in fact Relen's target, the captain.

"Found him Captain!" one of the sailors yelled, "He came in just when you said he would."

The female captain walked closer towards Relen, the sailors flanked her.

"Good work men, Ralsted can you go and fetch the guards, they will be anxious to know whether our plan worked or not," she said in a soft, commanding voice. The sailor named Ralsted nodded and left the room, leaving the captain and Relen alone with the two remaining crewmen.

"What plan?" Relen asked simply.

The captain chuckled, clearly enjoying her success.

"I think you forget Dark Elf,"

"Dunmer" Relen snarled.

"I think you forget, Dark Elf, that Morrowind and this ash covered rock you call Vvardenfell belong to the Empire now. The Empire has customs, tradition and, most importantly, laws. As such we don't take kindly to petty and backwards concepts such as assassin guilds."

Relen spat at the shoes of the captain, she bared her teeth in anger back.

"And I think you forget, Outlander, that you are invaders in our homeland, we owe you nothing," Relen replied coldly.

"No matter," the captain said, "Our informant was most reliable. If we continue at this rate there will be no money in the assassin business at all in Morrowind."

"Informant?" asked Relen, puzzled.

"The man who hired you for this job to kill me? A decoy. As for myself I am no ship captain, nor are these men ordinary Company sailors. We are guards and agents of the Imperial Legion. It works out nicely for us this way, no one gets hurt. Except the assassins we hang afterwards," the Imperial woman said, grinning with smugness again as she finished.

Relen said no more, he knew the Imperial's words were of truth. He had been set up, they knew he was coming and they weren't even targets. But that didn't mean he was going to come quietly. He heard the Imperial guards from the dock earlier enter the corridor outside, he had no time left. In a flash he turned, then dived out the window with all his might. As he fell, he brought the potion of levitation to his lips, the liquid fell into his mouth, and he was upside down in the air now.

"I want all men watching the water, just to make sure the Slaughterfish get him," he heard the woman say. Then Relen felt a tingling sensation, as if all his organs were being gently tugged out of his body. As he neared the water he began to wonder whether he had been conned by the Telvanni mages, but no splash came. He looked around and found that he was indeed levitating about a foot above the water, on his back. He quickly found his bearings and moved towards the shore. He stumbled at first, but soon he was floating gently along at a surprisingly quick pace. Eventually he reached the shore just outside of the town of Ebonheart. Looking back at the docks as wiped shards of glass off of his cloak he saw several guards running and searching frantically. Relen knew that they had seen him escape, so it was only a matter of time before they were after him once more.

Relen paused for a moment, to contemplate what had happened. His deep red Dunmer eyes closed for a few seconds as he thought things through. He had indeed been set up, the whole assassination contract was a sting operation designed to catch him. The man who had offered the contract was but an actor, probably himself an Imperial agent. Relen knew he wouldn't be getting paid, but it was more than that. He had carried out several assassinations before for various contracts. Dunmer, Imperial and Altmer – even an Argonian had hired him before. Never had he failed, and never had he been set up. Relen sighed and headed back towards town, he would find some dark corner to slip into to avoid the guards once he was there. Relen also wondered at why the Imperial occupiers were now so keen to stamp down on contracted killing, when they had been indifferent at best beforehand. He guessed it was all just part of the Imperial policy of assimilation. Destroy the proud Dunmer culture and flood Morrowind with more damn Imperials.

Assassination as a business in Morrowind had flourished for centuries. An organisation known as the Morag Tong had operated for as long as anyone could remember. They trained assassins and received contracts, what's more were that the Morag Tong's operations were completely sanctioned by the Tribunal and the Great Houses which ruled Morrowind. A guard would look the other way when presented with a writ of execution by a Morag Tong member. When the Empire had invaded, attempts were made to suppress the Morag Tong. But this soon proved to be impossible and the Empire soon realised that cultural concessions would have to be given to the Dunmer. In fact, business positively boomed for the Morag Tong in the aftermath of the Empire's invasion, the Great Houses feuded and disputed more than ever. These Houses were after all the biggest clients of the Tong. Political disagreements and disputes between nobles were settled in the traditional Dunmer way – assassination and subterfuge. Relen wondered whether the Empire was also cracking down on the Morag Tong, as they were with independent assassins such as him. But no matter, the female Imperial agent, or 'captain', had been contracted to die – albeit as nothing more than a ruse. Relen nevertheless decided to follow through his 'instructions'; if that wasn't a kick of sand in the face of the Empire, he had no idea what was. So Relen Neleth, the Dark Elf, a large scar over his left eye, his hair shaggy and unkempt, headed back to Ebonheart to slay an Imperial.