Chapter Four: Hammerfell

After a few days of walking, camping, and avoiding wolves, Khali came across a town. It was small, and a rickety sign at the entrance gave her the location.

Welcome to Stonemoor

Humble town in Hammerfell

Well that was a relief. She had finally made it out of the Imperial Province and into Hammerfell. Stonemoor looked to be a serene place, with humble houses made of stone foundations and thatched roofs across the dry grasslands. Redguard children played in the streets while adults and other workers led horses and carts around.

There was a marketplace nearby, as the shouting of merchants trying to sell their wares carried out over the continuous conversation from the people in the town. Rather exhausted, Khali padded in, her tail dragging on the ground behind her. She needed to find an inn, get a job, and rent out a place to sleep. It was illegal for those without homes to sleep in the streets of a town. She'd end up back in jail. If she didn't find a place today, she'd have to leave town at dark and brave the predators of the night again, something she wasn't fond of.

The Redguards of Stonemoor gave her curious glances as she shuffled down the street. She didn't blame them. Seeing a Khajiit this far north was as odd as seeing an Argonian in the deserts of Elsweyr.

Continuing down the roads, she found an inn called The Golden Dagger. She walked up the steps and pushed open the door. It was cozy inside, with dark wood flooring lain with bearskin rugs. Many tables were crammed around the large room, but only a few seats were occupied. The inn wouldn't be full until it was dusk, when everyone finished their work for the day.

Spotting the innkeeper behind the bar, she padded up towards him. The innkeeper was squat and round, a permanent scowl etched into his dark skin. He was wiping an empty mug with the dirty end of his apron.

"Excuse me," Khali said, sitting on a bar stool.

"What do you want, cat?" he said, not looking up from his task of apparently making a dirty mug dirtier. "I don't have any skooma."

Khali resisted the urge to bend her ears back at the offense. "I'm looking for work," she said. "I'm new in town and need some money."

The innkeeper glanced up at her. "A Khajiit looking for work? That's rich." He stared at her, as if he expected her to laugh and say she was joking, but Khali held his gaze. After a while he huffed. "Talk to Kewlith over there. He might have something. Leave me alone now, unless you're going to spend a few Septims."

"Thank you," Khali replied, trying to be polite. She turned and walked over to the table the innkeeper had indicated. It was off to the side in a corner, a single man sitting at it, drinking absentmindedly from a mug. Kewlith was strong and fairly heavily armored. Khali guessed he might be a town guard, as not many people would casually keep a curved sword with a golden handle at their waist. He looked to also be wealthy, with a royal blue tunic and pants with fancy gold embroidery at the ankles.

"The innkeeper said you might have work?" Khali asked when she approached Kewlith.

The Redguard stopped drinking from his mug and looked up at her. He gave a chuckle and motioned for her to sit. "Seems my prayers have been answered," he said. "Yeah, I got a job for someone willing to take it. Honestly a beggar Khajiit couldn't be better for the job."

Khali sat down across from Kewlith, tail twitching cautiously. He seemed to notice the movement.

"Ah, don't worry. It'll only be dangerous if you get caught."

"If I get caught? What exactly is this job?"

Kewlith chuckled again and lowered his voice. "I need you to steal something."

Her ears shot up in indignation. "No! I won't do it. You'll have to find someone else." She lashed her tail angrily. She would not feed the stereotype that Khajiit were nothing more than thieves!

Kewlith put up a hand. "Shush! It's not really stealing per se. You see, it's already mine. It was taken from me, and I need you to get it back. I can't cause a scene because I'd lose my job, but a nobody like you? Well, you got nothing to lose, and everything to gain."

Khali shook her head. "I'm no thief."

"But you are hungry. Anyone can see that. What if I paid you, say… five hundred gold pieces for your trouble?"

Her ears shot up. Five hundred? That was a small fortune, and could easily pay for gear, food, and lodging. It was a tempting offer to say the least.

"I'll even throw in one of my old swords. You Khajiit like your weapons if I'm not mistaken, and it'd be foolish to not have one in these parts," Kewlith said, seeming to take her hesitation as believing the price was not high enough.

Khali stared at a knot in the wood table. She didn't want to steal, but this offer was really good, and she needed supplies. According to Ria, she was the only person who knew about the corruption in the Imperial Palace. She needed to act fast and strike first, before Tharn figured out what she was up to and put a stop to it before she had barely even started her journey.

"All right," she said. "What's this job?"

"That's a good kitty!" Kewlith said. "Okay, so there's this man, Jathus, ugly bloke, and he swiped my book. I need that book back"

"A book?"

"Not just any ol' book, kitty." He glanced around and leaned forward, his voice barely audible. "A spellbook."

Khali pricked her ears. A spellbook? Redguards were notorious for hating anything that had to do with magic.

Kewlith must've seen the look on her face. "It's none of your business, but that book is priceless. I need it back, especially before Jathus starts to use it as blackmail."

So that was why he was offering so much gold, and why he was happy to have a Khajiit do the job. As an outsider, she wouldn't gain anything by claiming the spellbook as blackmail because no one would believe her, and it was likely she'd be on her way soon anyhow. "Alright, where is this book?"

Kewlith silenced her with a wave of his hand. "Not here. Come with me." He stood up, tossed a gold coin on the table, and left the inn. Khali followed after him as he led her down several twisting roads between buildings and houses. Soon, he stopped in front of what might be the largest house in town and opened the door, leading Khali inside.

She hesitated at the doorway, instinctively sniffing around and listening, but she didn't see, smell, or hear anything dangerous, so she padded into the house. Kewlith shut the door. "We can talk freely now. Too many prying eyes. As much as I'm happy a Khajiit wants the job, it could be suspicious. We don't get too many beast folk here."

"I can imagine," Khali replied. "Khajiit and Argonians are typically south."

"Yeah, making it all the stranger why you're here." He narrowed his eyes for a moment. "But it's none of my business, just as why I have a spellbook is none of your business. Anyway, You can hole up here somewhere until dark. Jathus has the night shift and the only one home will be his wife, but I doubt he'd have shown her the book." He walked over to the window and pointed. "That house right there is his."

Khali looked to where he was pointing. The house he indicated was much smaller than the one she was in, and much less decorated. The only thing that really set it apart from the others around it was a single stained glass window on the second story. Other than that, it looked just like all the other stone and thatch houses scattered around town.

"You sneak in, grab the book, bring it back, then leave town," Kewlith said.

"In the middle of the night?" Khali asked.

"Yeah."

"That's illegal! I'll be thrown in jail!"

Kewlith paused for a moment, rubbing his rough chin with an equally rough hand. It seemed he hadn't thought about that detail. Khali found herself wondering if he had been drinking ale recently. "Can you Khajiit climb?" he asked finally. "I heard the rumors but haven't seen any confirmation."

"I'm a decent climber," Khali replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"Okay, good. There's a cliff on the west side of town that's unguarded. Too sheer for anyone with a brain to climb up. You head down that way after returning my book."

She nodded. A cliff wasn't so bad. She had made her way up and down much worse in the past, such as that time one of her cousins had dared her to climb a windswept desert arch back at home. That rock had barely any handholds and was constantly bombarded by the desert winds and sand, but she had made it over, much to the horror of her mother for even considering such a feat.

"I have one more question," Khali said, suddenly remembering why she was in Hammerfell in the first place.

"Sure," Kewlith said, glaring out the window at Jathus' house.

"Do you know where a place called Fang Lair is?"

He turned and looked at her. "Fang Lair? Ain't that a legend?"

"I heard rumors it might be true. I'm trying to find it. If you're making me leave town after this job, you can at least point me in the right direction."

Kewlith paused. "I suppose that's fair. I don't have the foggiest idea where Fang Lair is. Never cared. However, the ruler of Rihad might know something more. Her name is Queen Blubamka. Her city has always been rather interested in Fang Lair. I don't much know why someone would spend so much time looking for a useless pile of rocks."

"Where is Rihad?" Khali asked, eager to finally have a lead to the mysterious dungeon.

"Oh no. I'm not telling you until you bring back my spellbook."