Chapter Three: South Wall Corner club
Next thing Merlac had to do, was to get himself to Balmora. As his walked down the tradehouse's stairs, it was already rather dark. He walked around the block of small houses and up to a small hill, where was a wooden wharf leading to the back of the silt striker. Merlac was scared to notice that the insect was not standing behind the houses, like he had first thought, but on a rather deep pond, and still the passengers had to climb to that small hill to get into its back. As he walked along the wharf, the man sitting on the chairs engraved to the insect's chitin back, noticed him and stood up.
"Hello there, outlander!", the man yelled. "Need a ride? Same low price, just for you, my friend."
"Hi, you are Darvame Hleran, I presume?"
"That's me, lowest silt strider taxes in Seyda Neen, my friend."
"Are there many of you in this village?"
"No no, just me, but that is why I am the cheapest.", grinned the caravaner.
"All right, well, I need a ride to Balmora, and Arrille told me you might be able to help, so…"
"Speak no more, my friend. Jump in and take a comfortable position, as much as it's possible when riding with these things, and hang on. Next stop, Balmora, city of Hlaalu and the center of trade in Morrowind!"
Merlac had hardly sat on the engraved seat, when the caravaner gave a whistle and the huge insect-like silt strider lifted its six long legs from the mud and started swinging forward slowly. As soon as it reached solid ground, it gave a incredible thundering sound, which made one of the houses roof to collapse. Slowly, it accelerated into extremely uncomfortable gallop and started running up the hill. Merlac was hardly able to sit tight, but the caravaner just stood there with his other leg on the edge of the engraving and screaming of joy. This would be a journey to remember…
When they arrived to Balmora, it was already completely dark and some smaller insects flew in the chilly air.
"Hey, outlander. Wake up, we're almost in Balmora."
Merlac opened his eyes and stretched his back. The silt strider was now walking slowly towards a small town, situated on the both sides of a small river. Several windows glowed in candle light and there were few guards walking on the streets with burning torches, but when looking at them so far away it seemed like a group of fireants would be walking in the night. As they came nearer, they crossed a bridge to the other side of the river. The caravaner whistled and silt strider stopped near a small gate in stone wall, which went around the whole town. The river streamed through the town from north to south, and in west and east Balmora was outlined by two hills, which continued to both sides along the river.
As Merlac climbed down to the ground with a rope, the caravaner wished him a good night and pleasant stay in Balmora.
"If you ever need a ride to Ald'ruhn, Vivec, or back to Seyda Neen, just go and ask my good friend Selvil Sareloth.", the caravaner shouted from the back of the strider and pointed at another silt strider standing next to the town wall. After that his strider made another noise like a huge foghorn, turned around and started walking back to Seyda Neen along the river.
Merlac started walking towards the gate. He stopped next to a flag which had text "Balmora" on it with big painted letters. As he continued through the gate, he stopped again and took a look at the town. Unlike Seyda Neen, this town's buildings were made from rock, maybe even partly of volcanic rock. On the west side of the river the buildings were bigger and more decorative. Buildings on the east side looked poor and dusty.
"Now, where on earth am I going to find that Caius Cosades", thought Merlac himself.
Like as an answer, a guard wearing a yellow, but not-so-shiny bonemold armour set and holding a torch in his hand came to him.
"Tell me outlander, what do you need?"
"Oh, hi. Well, I'm new in here and I'm looking for Caius Cosades, do you know where to find him?"
"I only know the names of Hlaalu nobles in here, outlander.", replied the guard. "But I suggest you visit the South Wall Corner club in the other side of the river. Like the name says, it's next to the south wall. I'm sure somebody there knows this man you are looking for. And remember, outlander, justice never sleeps!"
After the guard had said this, he saluted, turned around and started walking away along the street with his torch fluttering.
"South Wall Corner club… right.", said Merlac to himself.
Merlac walked to the river and looked around. There were three bridges going over the river inside the city, and fourth outside the walls. Most of the citizens had already went inside their houses, but one could still see several guards and few nobles walking the streets with torches. Merlac crossed the nearest bridge and in the other side walked back to the south wall. Most of the houses had their owner's names engraved to the wooden doors, but in the end of the street he arrived to a bit larger house, which had laughter coming from inside. The wooden sight outside the house said "South Wall Corner Club", but the "b" hanging with only one peg, upside down. Merlac opened the door and stepped in.
As he stepped in, a strong stink of booze caught his nose. There were wooden stairs leading to the second floor and a oblique corridor leading downwards, under the ground. Near the door was a man sleeping on a chair.
"Excuse me", said Merlac and pushed the man carefully to shoulder. No response. The man was clearly unconscious. There were big, empty tankard broken in the floor next to the chair.
Merlac started walking downwards along the corridor, as the laughter increased. In the midway, an ugly man with a short unkempt beard came behind the corner. He took a fast look at Merlac and then continued wandering past him, totally drunk. Merlac politely gave way to him, as the corridor wasn't very wide and he didn't want to touch this man. Merlac walked around the corner and looked around. He had arrived to the main bar room, it seemed. There were about dozen wooden tables scattered around the room, and a small barkeeper's table in the corner nearby. As Merlac came closer, the female imperial barkeeper spoke.
"Hi there, outlander. Do you want something to drink?", she asked.
"Err… no thanks, maybe later. I'm looking for somebody and I was wondering if you could help me?"
"Sure, who are you lookin…."
She stopped speaking as a short, skinny old man staggered to them and leant over the table.
"Hi there beautysh… *hiccup*", the old man winked at the barkeeper, and then turned his attention towards Merlac. "I fo…fought in Red Mountain against the ash vam…vampires of Dagoth Ur himselfsh…", the man gibberished.
"I think you've had enough drinks for today", said the barkeeper with friendly voice. "Why don't you go home now and take a good night's sleep?"
The old man staggered for a short moment and then, without a word, started waving towards the corridor.
"Nice fellow", Merlac said.
"Yeah", said the barkeeper. "He is my daily customer in here. Always talking about those wars against the dwarves and Dagoth Ur to anyone who listens… or just stays still long enough."
"Err… dwarves? I've heard about them, but… didn't they vanish long, long time ago? And who is this Dogghy Ur?"
"Yes, they disappeared hundreds of years ago, so that old man has never fought against them, and it's Dagoth Ur, not Dogghy."
"And who is he?"
The barkeeper looked around, checked that nobody was listening to them, and started speaking.
"I don't know what parts of the legend are true history, and what are just fairy tales, I'm not sure if nobody knows, but long, long time ago, Morrowind was populated dwarves. They lived in their forts and strongholds in the middle of their unbeatable technology and culture. No other people in Tamriel were as technologically advanced as the dwarves. They were the masters of machines and warfare."
"If they were so intelligent, then why did they disappear?", asked Merlac unpatiently.
"Please let me continue, outlander. So, the dwarves were intelligent indeed. The other inhabitants of Morrowind were the Chimer. The chimer praised the daedra as their gods, you've heard of daedra, right?"
"Yes I have actually, please, continue."
"The chimer worshipped daedra because of their cruel beauty and mighty power. But the dwemer laughed at the pity false religions and mocked at their rituals, and preferred instead their gods of Reason and Logic. That caused that the dwemer and the chimer were always at all-out-war. Until the Nords came."
"The Nords?"
"The barbaric human invaders from the north, from the lands of snow and blood. The dwemer and chimer put their differences aside and joined their forces against the invaders. Once the Nords were driven out, General Nerevar of the Chimer and General Dumac of the Dwemer, who had come to love and respect one another, resolved to make peace between their people. "
The barkeeper looked around looking scary again, and lowered his voice even more.
"That is all I know for sure, the rest is just rumours from generation to generation, I can't tell you which of them is true. But… I think general Nerevar had three councillors, called Lady Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Vivec."
"THE Vivec?", Merlac asked in astonishment.
The barkeeper nodded. "The same, I think. Though he was no god back then."
"Err… how can a normal man become a god?"
"Well, like I said, I don't know. But the rumours say that general Nerevar had a friend named Dagoth Ur, who told Nerevar that the dwemer were building something…something big. And then there is rumours about some heart of something. Anyway, Nerevar didn't belive him, so he made a pilgrimage to the shirne of Azura, a goddess, to seek answer from her. Azura told him that…"
Suddenly, loud clattering steps came from the corridor and a guard walked around the corner. He sat on the nearby table, took of his bonemold helmet and ordered a bottle of sujamma.
"So, who was the man you were looking for?", asked the barkeeper sounding scared, but smiling.
"Oh… well, I was told to find an imperial called Caius Cosades, ever heard of him?"
"Oh I know old Caius, his house is on the next street towards the hill, north end, you can't miss it. He rarely leaves his house, some people even say he is a bit… well… crackpot, if you know what I mean", said the barkeeper, and winked.
"All right, I think I can find him now. It was nice chatting with you, and thanks"
"Good bye, remember to pop in if you visit Balmora again, outlander."
As Merlac walked outside the bar, he felt uneasy. Why people were forbidden to talk about their history? What happened to the dwemer and the chimer? And who was this Dagoth Ur –guy everybody seem to be talking about? Merlac stopped wandering, as he arrived at the last street before the eastern wall. He walked to the other end of the street and found a small, dusty house with labels Caius Cosades engraved to the door. Merlac was just about to walk up the doorsteps, as the door suddenly opened…