Chapter II

Lucan Atrius stood at the top of a large hill, looking down on the small fishing village of Seyda Neen. He was an Imperial and had short brown hair, blue eyes and was wearing some modest Imperial style clothing. At his side hung a sheathed sword and under his shirt a dagger was strapped to his chest. With a travel bag slung over his shoulder, he surveyed the town below – and must have looked quite a sight to the residents of Seyda Neen. This was his first sight of Morrowind; he had arrived by boat in Ebonheart two days ago, direct from Leyawiin in Cyrodiil. There, he had met with his contact, received his orders and headed to Seyda Neen, a short while West of Ebonheart.

Seyda Need itself was a small Imperial port village, one of those settlements that the Empire liked to charter in order to 'Westernise' Morrowind. It was also used as a point to process new arrivals to Vvardenfell, the large island which formed a large chunk of Morrowind as a whole. Despite the strong Imperial influence, the village was not primarily inhabited by Imperials. In fact, as Ebonheart was the centre of Imperial bureaucracy on Vvardenfell, Seyda Neen was Lucan's first real sight of a more Dunmer location. The thing that struck him most was the presence of a large, insect-like creature, which he had been told was a Silt Strider – a large, hollowed out but very much alive creature, used as a transportation service across Vvardenfell. It floated, quite eerily, Lucan thought, its long legs dangling helplessly. Trying to ignore the beast, Lucan made his way down the hill and into the village.

He soon met a fellow Imperial, a guard no less, who pointed out the Census and Excise Office for him. Before entering, Lucan checked through the documents given to him by his Superior in Ebonheart. Lucan was here to investigate the disappearance of an Imperial Cutter used as a prison ship. It was an assignment that Lucan had felt was rather mundane for an Agent of the Blades – the spy organisation under the direct control of the Emperor himself. They had sent him straight from Cyrodiil, the heart of the Empire, eastwards to Morrowind – for all intents and purpose a forgotten backwater, one of the least important provinces to the Empire. Nevertheless Lucan had obeyed; there was probably more to the case than was being let on anyway. The ship had stopped at Seyda Neen; by the time it arrived it was carrying two prisoners. One of them was dropped off here, processed in the Census and Excise Offices and released into Vvardenfell. Nothing special there. The second prisoner however was scheduled to be taken straight to Ebonheart. The problem? The ship never arrived. In fact, the ship had been due to arrive a good while ago; the trip from Seyda Neen to Ebonheart could only take two days at most. The documents given to him more often than not only explained the situation, it was up to the discretion of the Blades operative how to carry out the investigation and solve the case. Lucan decided to head on in and talk to the man in charge; it would be good to get some extra details on the ship, its crew and the remaining prisoner.

Lucan greeted Socucius Ergalla, a Breton man who served as the Chief Agent for the Census and Excise Offices. Socucius was elderly and looked quite frail, nevertheless he could see a powerful determination in the man's eyes.

"Yes stranger, can I help you? I am a very busy man and have a great deal of things to be getting on with," Socucius said, rather bluntly. Lucan cleared his throat, before replying,

"I am investigating the disappearance of an Imperial registered ship, which I understand docked here recently. I was hoping you would be able to answer my questions."

Socucius eyed Lucan with a hint of suspicion, hesitating slightly.

"And just who would you be?" he said irritably.

"Lucan Atrius, Agent of the Blades and sent on his Emperors orders. I trust whatever you are busy with won't be interfering with what the Emperor wants me to investigate, now will you be able to answer a few questions," Lucan replied, finding it hard to help the smug look on his face. Socucius Ergalla's eyes widened and there was a brief hint of panic on the old mans face for a moment.

"Well I… yes, of course," he muttered.

"Good. An Imperial prison ship, pennant P405, docked here a short while ago, am I correct? I'm sure you keep records of all visits," Lucan said.

"Yes we do," Socucius said immediately, "That ship was the last thing to have docked here so I don't need to dig through our records to remember it. You say it has disappeared?"

Pleased that he was finally getting somewhere, Lucan relaxed and probed further.

"That is correct. The vessel had been ordered to head straight for Ebonheart after its visit here, but it never reported in. Ships were sent scouting for it but to no avail."

"Well what kind of information do you need?" Socucius asked.

"We already have records of the ships departure. Standard crew number, standard guard number - everything to our knowledge was routine. But if you can tell us specifics of the crew and what happened when the ship stopped here, that would help immensely," Lucan continued.

"The ship arrived with the standard crew as you say, all of whom stayed on the ship. Our guards took the prisoner to shore to be processed. They left immediately after they knew the prisoner released here had been processed successfully."

"So everything went as it usually did with these kinds of things?" Lucan enquired.

"Actually… no… one of the guards on the ship did come ashore. I don't usually think anything of it; sailors often purchase some supplies from the tradehouse here before moving on. But apart from that the guard came straight back and they set off as usual."

"And you had no trouble with the prisoners?"

"Well there was only two of them," Socucius said. "The one we processed was released under some… strange circumstances though for what it's worth."

Lucan's eyes narrowed. He knew the prisoner which Socucius spoke of, he had been explicitly told by his superior to avoid the subject of this prisoner. Lucan had not been told outright, but he had inkling that the prisoner released in Seyda Neen was of importance to the Empire's interests. Instead, Lucan tried to steer Socucius away from that prisoner.

"We are not questioning the processing of that prisoner; everything seems to have gone fine there. What I am worried about is the prisoner who remained on the ship and was to be taken to Ebonheart, was it possible that he could have caused some incident on the ship after it left Seyda Neen?" Lucan asked.

Socucius laughed before replying,

"That wouldn't be possible. The guards of the Census and Excise Offices entered the vessel – as is routine – to check the prisoners before they came ashore. Both of them were near skin and bones, neither capable of causing trouble, especially not one alone."

"I see, thank you for your time Socucius Ergalla, I'll let you get back to whatever… business you deem so very important. Farewell," Lucan finished. He didn't leave Socucius anytime to respond before exiting the Office.

Lucan strolled through the village at a gentle pace, thinking things through. It was clear that his next move should be to speak to the owner of the tradehouse and find out what the guard purchased before returning to the ship. There was probably nothing in it, but it helps to check thought Lucan. He was starting to think that his presence was a bit unnecessary; a Blade tackling a missing ship seemed a tad heavy handed in Lucan's eyes.

As Lucan arrived at the tradehouse, he was greeted by an Altmer – or High Elf – behind the counter. The High Elves were the pale and yellow skinned inhabitants of the Summerset Isles. They stood a good foot taller than most men and were known to hold powerful magical abilities. But this one seemed harmless enough thought Lucan.

"Greetings!" Lucan said cheerfully, extending his hand in politeness. The High Elf appeared to decline, keeping his own hands firmly at his sides, replying,

"Hello Imperial, my name is Arrille, is there anything I can help you with? I have plenty of wares on offer."

The High Elf spoke with a certain aloof arrogance, something that Lucan had found only the High Elves to possess. They were certainly no more welcoming than the few Dark Elves he had seen in Ebonheart at any rate.

"Well Arrille, I am investigating business here and I would like to know if you can remember what you sold to a Guard a few days back," Lucan could get no further before he was interrupted.

"I sell to the guards here almost everyday, I couldn't possibly remember every transaction now could I?" Arrille replied snootily.

"Then perhaps you can tell me what you sold to a particular guard, one who came ashore from a prison ship visiting here," Lucan countered. Arrille's expression changed, it was subtle but Lucan noticed.

"In that case I can help you. I remember that prison ship well, as the prisoner released from it proved to be quite a joy to have around town. As for the guard he purchased a variety of things, although I do not make the habit of disclosing such sensitive information to just anyone," Arrille said. Lucan sighed to himself in near resignation. He had interviewed and interrogated countless people; it was what he had been trained to do. He got the sense that pulling rank here and showing that he was an Agent of the Emperor would not help here, to a fellow man such as Socucius maybe, but not an Altmer. By the same token, he had no intention of physical violence towards Arrille in the middle of a peaceful Imperial charter village. It seemed that Lucan would have to pay for information in this case.

"Would it help if I showed you some identification?" asked Lucan pessimistically.

"That won't be necessary, I can see from how you carry yourself and how you barged into the Excise Office that you are an Imperial Agent in one form or another. I care not which organisation or department you work under," Arrille said coldly.

"Then perhaps a shrewd businessman such as you would not be opposed to a financial donation straight from the Empire's coffers?" Lucan resigned. A grin spread across Arrille's face that seemed to say, now we're talking.

"In which case, I can help you. The guard did in fact purchase some rather odd things… for a guard anyway. For one, several lock picks, a small dagger and some health potions. He had the look of a man who knew he was about to do something… illegal. This is why I thought it so odd for a prison guard," Arrille explained.

"Can you describe the guard to me?" Lucan pressed.

"He was a Redguard, with a small, black beard. He wore standard Imperial armour."

Lucan took note of all this and begrudgingly gave Arrille a portion of his septims. Luckily for Lucan, if one thing could be said about the Blades, it was that they certainly gave each of their agents enough gold for 'expenses'.

Thinking over the evidence as he once again walked through Seyda Neen, a picture was forming. The guard who buys equipment for an escape combined with the perfectly calm weather could rule out the ship sinking or running aground. Despite not knowing anything about the prisoner onboard, Lucan knew that both the prisoner and the guard who came ashore were secretly working together. Now Lucan just had to figure how they made their escape and the ship vanish. After all, they couldn't just kill all the guards and swim for it, or the ship would have been found by now. The only explanation that Lucan could come to was that there were others helping. Pirates perhaps, attacking a prison ship with help from the inside – then taking the ship with them. Yes, thought Lucan. That fit perfectly.