Unknown

"Wake up, you stupid brat." Harry stirred uneasily as they led him blindfolded from the carriage. He tripped over the uneven ground. He felt the change in light as they entered some kind of building. A few metres in, they took his blindfold off.

His captors force-marched Harry down a hallway. Most of the doors where closed, but one of the guards knocked on a door at the end. They jostled Harry inside, forcing Harry down into the seat and locking one of the manacles around the arm of the chair.

The room itself was very luxurious, although decorated in a style unfamiliar. Harry hadn't seen anything like it in Skyrim so far. There were no furs or animal heads here. They'd panelled the room in a style reminiscent of home. Expensive rugs lined the floor. He even saw brocade hangings, which made him think of Aunt Petunia. The richly woven fabric gave him a feeling of being out of place. Truth be told, he missed the furs.

"Oh, don't manhandle the poor boy. What must he think of us?" One dug his gauntleted hand into Harry's shoulder. "None of that. Leave us." The guards looked at each other over Harry's head. "Now." They walked out of the room, their posture tense.

"Well, well, well. Where are my manners? I'm Elenwen. And you are…?" She trailed off expectantly.

Harry remained silent.

"Would you like something to eat? To drink? I'm sorry for my inhospitality, but this was really the only way to arrange a visit with you." Harry just stared blankly at her. Her false smile faltered a little, but she continued. "I'd heard rumours that Venathel had a child. She attended one of my parties, you know. She caused a great stir. The life of the party, really. She and I go a long way back," she said, sugar dripping from her voice.

What does she think I am? Barmy?

"We met in Cyrodiil, you know. Old friends, you know." She smiled. "I knew her mother. Rielle. Does she ever talk about her?" She took his silence as the negative. "Pity. She did a great service for the Empire once. I did wonder when I heard about you, if you might be an elfling. Strange that I see a Breton child before me. You must be adopted."

Harry still said nothing.

"Too bad I didn't know her father. They say he died before she was born. But there's the most interesting rumours, considering when she was born. The Last Dragonborn born so soon after the death of the last Dragonblooded emperor. Did you know your 'mother' is over two-hundred years old?"

Harry jerked his head up. Elenwen's smile grew real. "So you do understand what I'm saying. I thought so." She moved over to Harry, towering over him where he sat. "It's cute, but you can cut the act. I know who and what she really is now. She's quite rude, you know. Crashing my party and running off with everything that wasn't nailed down. Murdered my people and posed the bodies in compromising fashions. Such blatant disregard for her kin and our way of life.

"She thought she was clever, escaping us in Skingrad and having the Count's men lead us on a merry chase around the Empire. I honestly never thought I see her again when they promoted me to head the Embassy in this backwater. I thought I was being punished. I never expected this opportunity.

"You may or may not be Dragonborn as the rumours state. But what you are is a very useful coercion tool. And until you desire to speak, I think the best place for you is the dungeons." All her good humour disappeared. She barked the orders and the guards, and they took him away.

As they entered the dungeon, Harry saw cell after cell filled with people in varying states of abuse. Many had three or four prisoners in a cell. Not a single one was empty. Some looked painfully thin, while others had the sharp-red scars of the recently healed. Still some had fresh injuries. Harry shuddered as he saw bloody bones. He had yet to see an empty cell as they walked. One person knelt in a bloodstain, hands clasped together praying to Talos to set her free.

The guard in golden armour shoved Harry unceremoniously into the cell. He bumped his head against the coarse surface of the wall in the back. He fell back and saw stars. The room was dark, almost preternaturally so. His eyes had difficulty adjusting.

"Why'd they put you in here with me? They think I'm going to eat you?" The figure next to him spat out in a raspy voice. "I don't kill for free."

Harry was too tired to be frightened as he gazed over to see horns jutting out of the head of something that must be an argonian with poisonous green skin and wide yellow eyes. He looked draconic, but brighter and mottled with black markings. He wore the rough burlap common to prisoners. As he spoke, his mouth opened to reveal sharp teeth.

Still the wonder must have shown on his face, for the lizard-like creature scoffed. "What's the matter? Never seen an argonian before?"

Harry shook his head. It appeared to mollify the argonian. "Well, that's something. We are pretty rare in Skyrim. Damn cold." He lashed his tail, before turning back to Harry and asking, "What's a child doing in here? You aren't a vampire are you?" Harry shook his head again.

The argonian straightened up as another thought occurred to him. "They didn't put you here to kill me, did they?" Harry shrugged. "What, you mute?" Harry shrugged again. "Great. And here I was hoping for some conversation."

Harry leaned against the wall and looked up. He wanted to say something, but he'd learned the hard way you never knew when people were watching. "I'm Zara." The silence grew as Harry didn't say anything.

After a long time, Zara spoke again. "I think I'll call you Arnie. You have the same smell about you." Harry wrinkled his nose and used his bound hands to lift up his shirt to sniff it. That caused Zara to laugh. "You're a regular comedian, aren't you?"

The dark nature of the cells made telling time impossible. Occasionally a scream sounded. The first few times Harry winced or blanched. "You get used to it after a while," Zara said about the fifth time.

More silence. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours, but someone came by with some hard bread and water. He took a drink and nearly spat it out at the brackish taste. "Yeah. Probably should have warned you about that." He downed his own drink no problem. "Guess they don't think anything about you sharing rations with an argonian. We don't get rations as good as the elves or the men. Maybe they'll figure it out. Eventually." Harry shook his head. "Hey, it could happen. You could end up being an asset to me."

The long silence gave Harry time to think about his options. How could he use his skills to get out of this? The dungeon was small and square, about fifteen steps either way. He could try to make it out. He could probably surprise the guard with a kick when he came in to feed him, run a dagger through with his teeth, grab the keys and escape. But that would leave him surrounded by a horde of hostile enemies in a place he was unfamiliar with.

Other thoughts passed his mind. Ven was that old? If Harry had to guess, he would have said she was in her thirties. Harry didn't get what else she was saying about her parents. Ven never talked about her past. He'd tried bringing it up once, but she'd changed the subject and asked him about his.

What else did she mean? Ven seemed honourable. She wasn't the type to steal and murder with abandon, was she? But he had to consider the source. The thought still left him troubled.

Two days passed by in this fashion with Zara chatting to him about inane things to pass the time. Deep into Harry guessed was night on the second day, Zara pulled something out of his pocket. It was long and thin with a hooked end." "I've got a se-cret~~" he sing-songed. "My very own personal key. Want to go with?" Harry nodded. "I thought so. It might take a couple of more days. I'm waiting for something, you see. The time's got to be just right."

Harry tilted his head, question clear. "Oh, I'll know. You get to see a master at work. Lucky you."

Lucky me. Yeah, right.