Blue

I fidgeted with the bracer on my arm, causing a constant tapping sound of metal on metal. Han lu rolled over on his bedroll. He too had an enchanted metal bracer to drain the magic from him, but he didn't seem all that interested in getting it off.

The Dark Elf spoke slowly, his voice low, with a slightly threatening note. "Would you mind keeping it down?" Han lu had refused to say much for the last two days. I tried to draw the crab out of his shell, but couldn't seem to shake the blanket of depression from him.

Instead of ceasing my struggle, I spoke between labored breaths. "My bracer is loose. I think I can slip it off. My scales keep catching on it though."

Han lu looked up to my face with a deadpan expression. "Do you know any useful magic?"

"I know a couple spells," I said defensively, not liking his intonation.

"Anything that can get us out of this cell?"

I paused in my fidgeting with the bracer, hoping to come up with something. "Uh… No. I don't think so."

Han lu curled back up on his bedroll. "Then stop making that racket, for the love of Azura," he moaned.

I stopped and leered at the lazy Dunmer. "You know, if I had a second pair of hands, I might be able to get this off. Then it wouldn't annoy you anymore."

Han lu closed his eyes and growled. "Fine, but if the guards see you without it, I wasn't involved."

Han lu stood and sat on a short milking stool next to me. I held out the bracer and pulled it towards his hand. "The problem is that my scales dig into the bracer and make my skin bunch up at the wrist. If you pull the skin tight, the scales might not grab so much."

Han lu placed his hands on my wrist and forearm in front and behind the bracer and pulled the skin underneath tight. I used my free hand to twist the rough piece of metal and slide it up, over my wrist and with some painful contortion, over my hand and off.

"Ha ha," I laughed, tossing and catching the bracer with one hand.

Han lu gave me a look through bleary eyes. "Why was that so important to you?"

I dropped the implement on the ground and relaxed against the wall of the cell. "I grew up with one of those on me. It brings... unpleasant memories. Blue the Argonian is not a slave anymore and I don't care for manacles."

Han lu glanced to the bars of our windowless cell. "You don't look very free to me."

I shrugged. "I take what I can get. I learned to flex my forearm when the slave drivers put the bracers on me. If they had to use a bigger size, they chafed less and sometimes you could get them off. The slave drivers caught on to this eventually, but these guards haven't seemed to." Han lu shook his head and returned to his mattress while I quietly examined his wrist, now free of the bracer. I glanced up to Han lu. "I don't suppose you know any magic that can get us out of here."

Han lu snorted. "Plenty, but I still have a bracer on and the guards here will kill us if they catch us trying to escape. Even if we get past them, the Blades will be tracking us. We won't get far."

I rolled my eyes. Caius didn't mention Han lu would be so uncooperative. I had him talking though and I couldn't afford to let him stop. "So you're just giving up?"

"Yeah." Han lu spoke conclusively. "I'm going to rest and relax until they decide to chop my head off. If you're smart, you'll catch some shut eye while you can."

I narrowed my eyes. "What makes you think they want to kill us? I thought they sounded like they were going to let us go."

"Only if I'll work for them," Han lu explained. "But I can't work for them, so they won't let us go." Han lu glanced over his shoulder at me. "They wouldn't let you go anyway. You know their agents faces and that makes you a liability. We're both bound for the headsman."

Han lu pulled his blanket over his head, indicating that he wasn't in the mood to talk anymore. He didn't realize he'd struck a nerve with me.

In a moment of blind aggravation, I took the bracer and chucked it at the blanket. It landed with a thud, drawing a shout of surprise from Han lu. "What's your problem scaleback," he yelled, throwing his blanket off!

I met Han lu's gaze with an angry retort. "Don't hide from work Blue, or the master will beat you. Don't smuggle the horses medicine to the sick slaves, they'll whip you. Don't try to escape Blue, they'll let the dogs have you." I spat at Han lu's feet. "I learned to ignore voices like yours when I was a child. There is no worth to living under the boot of another. Don't tell me there's no point to escape. I was a slave! Escape is the point!"

Han lu lobbed the heavy bracer back at me. "Fine. Go ahead and escape! Just let me sleep."

"Oh no Dark elf. Don't you remember? You said that if I went to look for your friend, you'd do anything. Name your price, I think were your exact words."

Han lu turned a severe gaze on me. "Pardon me, but did you find her? I assume you might have mentioned such pertinent information by now. She wasn't captured with you, so you didn't find her. She's dead. You didn't fulfill your end of the bargain. Leave me be."

I stood, "You never stipulated that I had to find her. I searched the whole area, including the shipwreck. I found the bodies of all of the crewmen but do you know who I didn't find?"

Han lu's jaw dropped. He stuttered dumbly while collecting his thoughts. "Ajira's a mage." He searched his memory of the day of the naval battle. "Her trunk was stolen, but she still had a satchel. She could have had a recall potion or scroll." Han lu looked to me, eyes sincere and brimming with emotion. "Thanks for letting me know that." He paused, looking at me in a new light. "Look, for what it's worth, I'm sorry you got involved. I'd love to repay you, but there's nothing I can do."

"You could do what these people want," I suggested. "Tell them you'll cooperate if they will let me go."

Han lu sighed. "You just don't understand. They can't let you go. If you were running loose out there, you'd put the Emperor's whole spy network on the island at risk."

"Then I will work for them too. We could be a team." I swiped the blanket from Han lu's bedroll and wrapped it around my shoulder like a toga, standing tall and proud." You dress up as a Dunmer noble." Then I pulled the blanket over my head, clasping it at the neck like a poor man's cloak, hunching submissively. "And I'll be the obedient slave. We'll infiltrate all the Great houses and learn the deepest of secrets. No one will suspect us and we will live in luxurious excess with wealth, wine, and women." I wrapped the blanket around my waist like a skirt and spun around Han lu like the cell was a grand ballroom.

Han lu couldn't help but laugh at my antics. "Okay, slow down with those dreams of grandeur," he chuckled, bringing the mood back to a serious tone. "It just isn't that simple. I kind of stabbed them in the back by trying to leave Vvardenfell on your ship. I don't think they'll let me out unless they have some way to keep me in check. To twist my arm, so to speak."

"Like blackmail?" I questioned.

"Exactly like blackmail."

I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, pulling it close, just for warmth this time. "How in Nirn did you get yourself in this pickle?"

Han lu shook his head. "Like I told you on the ship. You won't believe the half of it."

"Oh please. I'm imprisoned by the Blades with an apparently treasonous Dark elf they aren't willing to kill. I'm feeling somewhat open minded."

After a moment's consideration, Han lu shrugged. "Well, it all started on the Emperor's birthday."