Author's Note: Sorry about the long update wait. I've been pretty busy lately, and haven't gotten to the story much. However, with the arrival of summer, I expect to have more time for the writing.
Ashes to Ashes: A Story of the Elder Scrolls World
Chapter 3: The Orc Smuggler
Dan continued down the caverns, being careful as to not run into more enemies. He had almost met his fate against the Nord. He would have to be more careful if he wanted to last two days. He really didn't want to have to kill another one of these smugglers, but would if he really had to.
As he made his way through the cave, he heard a noise to the left. Curious, he moved in that direction, leaving the path trailing downwards for later. Following the noise, Dan came to a door. The door had been locked-from the outside, oddly-and he heard noise from inside it. Dan tried a few of the lockpicks he had from M'rajjar. While using them and breaking them consistently, Dan noticed that each of the springs in the lock had a rhythm to them, of sorts. On his last lockpick, he managed to get the door open
At first, he noticed nothing in the room. All he saw were the shadows of the room. They reminded him of one night, in his home, when there was a terrible storm. Everything was black outside. He and his parents remained in one small room, with nothing but candles lighting the room. Then, a strange event happened. The lightning flashed, and the candles went out. It had been pitch black, and though Dan had never been scared of the dark, that night, he felt fear, not so much from the dark, but what the dark hid from him, the evils that might lay within it.
Suddenly, Dan saw a movement in the shadows, distracting him from his thoughts. He saw a Khajiit woman come out, and relaxed. She, however, seemed fearful, and said, "Why are you here? What did Riija do? Please don't hurt Riija, master!" The Khajiit fell to the ground, bowing towards him. Three others came out, two female Argonians and a male Khajiit. He looked at the female, and said, "Master? I'm not your master, you're in charge of yourself, aren't you?"
The Khajiit looked at me. "Wait...you are not my master? Will you use the key and free me?" The others leaned in, eagerly hoping for this key. He looked at them in confusion. "What? Why do you need a key to go free?" They immediately went from looks of hope to deep sadness, and showed Dan their bracers.
Dan was appalled at the bracers the slaves-for slaves they were-had to wear. The things were made of steel, and weighed at least five pounds. Looking at them further, Dan realized they also had an enchantment on them. He saw a small keyhole on each of them, and knew just by looking that no lockpick had ever been designed that could open these.
Seeing them the way they were, Dan told them, "Don't worry. I'll find the key." Their faces immediately lit up, and they thanked Dan for agreeing to this. Dan, in truth, really wanted to do this. It was wrong, in his opinion, to keep other races as slaves. Perhaps it was because he grew up in a small village in High Rock with more Argonians then Bretons, but he didn't think it mattered. It was wrong, and he would free them.
Dan turned around, and continued to go down the tunnel. As he went down, he watched carefully, and saw another smuggler down there. The smuggler was a Redguard female, and had a bow with silver arrows. Dan knew better then to just jump at her. Instead, Dan would try something he still had from in High Rock.
Back in his village, Dan had practiced alchemy often with his father. He also practiced it with M'rajjar, because it was one of the few types of magic M'rajjar saw a reason to know. One day, Dan had found a plant out in the wilderness, and he tried mixing it with some of his other ingredients. He discovered a potion with a strange smell to it. When he showed it to his father, he said it was faulty, and told him to dump it outside.
However, out there, he had met M'rajjar. M'rajjar looked at the potion, and told him it was actually a poison, and the plant he had found was Nightshade. He told Dan to never use it unless he needed to, but if he ever did need to use it, to spread it over a weapon, and get a flesh wound on his opponent. If he did so, the poison would get in the blood, and possibly kill the person.
Dan still had this, along with his child alchemy set, with him in Vvardenfell, and he knew that the poison would be a good idea to use here. He pulled out his sword, and slowly covered it with the poison. Then, he attempted to sneak up on the Redguard woman.
Apparently, M'rajjar had not taught him well enough, because the Redguard woman heard him hit a rock on the way down, and immediately turned around and pulled her bow out. Dan ran at her, and sliced at her. She jumped out of the way, and put an arrow to her bow, and shot it at him. Dan felt it go in his right arm. It was painful, but at least she hadn't got his sword arm.
Dan ran at her, and tried another slice, but once again missed. She shot another arrow, which Dan moved out of the way of. Then, spotting the woman's spare bow nearby, Dan got an idea. He ran to the bows, dodging another arrow, and grabbed one. It was a chitin bow, but it would work. He pulled the arrow, painfully, out of his arm, used the last few drops of the poison in his bottle on the arrowtip, and quickly turned around.
The woman shot another arrow, but Dan dodged it once again, and then shot a chitin arrow from the bow.
The arrow landed on the woman's shoulder, barely piercing it. She laughed at Dan, showing that he had not hurt her at all. Then, she pulled out another arrow to shoot at Dan, but suddenly grabbed at her chest, breathing heavily. She looked at Dan. "Poison...you...killed...me. She then fell face forward, laying there, and stopped breathing.
Dan checked her body, to see if she was still alive. He still didn't enjoy killing her, but felt somewhat, if not wholly, justified by the slaves here. He then checked her for the key to the slaves, but did not find it. He realized that it must be somewhere else, but there wasn't anywhere else to go in the cave, was there?
Dan checked around, and then found a door hidden in the wall of the cave in the back. Realizing this must lead to the key, he opened the door, and actually opened it on his first try with his lockpick. He went in, and then realized that the whole room was full of water.
Taking a deep breath, Dan quickly swam through the water, hoping that the end wasn't too far. After swimming a bit, Dan felt his lungs gasping for air. Knowing he couldn't hold his breath much longer, Dan swam quicker, and then broke the surface, gasping air in.
He saw a small stone stair-like formation. Dan used it to get up to the top, and reached the top. He walked along, and then ran into an Orc.
"Well, well," the Orc said, "I wasn't told we would get visitors." The Orc was wearing rather expensive clothes, and had netch leather pauldrons on. He also had a small, shining ring on, and Dan saw he had the key in a pocket. Then, Dan remembered his main reason for coming here: Learning about Usheeja.
"I learned that you people recently had a large group of slaves come through. I want to know where they went." The Orc laughed in Dan's face. "Ha! I'll tell you when we've both died and rotted away." The Orc then pulled out a sword, and attacked Dan.
Dan blocked the sword blow, and continued the fight. However, Dan only fought defensively. The Orc had information Dan needed. Dan would dodge blows, block swings, and jump out of the way of slashes, but never put a slash in himself.
Eventually, Dan thought that the Orc seemed tired, and Dan worked quickly. He hit the Orc's sword hand, making him drop the sword, and then got his sword into the Orc's leg. Painful, but not extremely dangerous. Dan knelt down next to him. "Now, tell me about the slaves." The Orc chuckled. "You're a smart Breton, aren't you? Alright, I'll tell you. When we-by Malacath! Ugh!" The Orc began grabbing his chest and moaning in pain. "What did you do to me, Breton?!? What did you do?!?"
Dan realized, in shock, that the poison had still been on his sword. "No!" Dan grabbed the Orc. "Tell me about the slaves! Now!" The Orc simply stared at Dan, and then died there. Dan, in anger, threw the Orc's body away, and cried. He had lost his only connection to Usheeja. Now, he had no way of finding him.
Dan, after sitting in place, crying over all that had happened, silently took the key from the Orc. He found a secret door above the entrance to the cave, and used it to quickly reach the slaves. While he freed the slaves, and they thanked him and cheered for him, Dan was silent.
That night, Dan went back to the town of Seyda Neen, knowing that his reason for moving here had come to a rather abrupt stop. What was he to do now? Looking around, Dan knew that he couldn't stay here. It just wasn't safe. Too many people came around here. Dan pulled out his money. He had thirty five gold coins. He thought for a second, then came to a decision.
Dan went to the silt strider, and asked how much a trip to Balmora was. "Thirty two coins," the Dunmer woman said. Dan gave her almost all the money he came here with, and entered the silt strider, making his way to Balmora: home of Hlaalu, thieves, and merchants.