Chapter Nine: Vivec
Excited about his new skills, Merlac spent following days practising different kinds of spells from the area of alteration with Ranis and Galdbedir. Though Caius seemed a bit frustrated because Merlac was not able to perform any Blades tasks while practising so diligently, he was very interested in following Merlac as he became more and more advanced in the arts of magic. However, one week after the incident at the South Wall Corner club, Ranis was forced to travel to city of Vivec for orders from the guildmaster Trebonius. Merlac guessed Caius would use this opportunity to send him to another in-the-middle-of-nowhere-journey.
"Ah, there you are!", greeted Caius as he noticed Merlac coming out of the mage's guild's door.
"Let me guess, master, I'm going to travel somewhere…again?", asked Merlac sounding very much sarcastic.
"I'm surprised by your observation skills", grinned Caius back "I need you to contact three informats, who might…"
"…have valuable information about the Sixth House Cult the Nerevar prophecy.", Merlac finished Caius's clause.
"Exactly, now you must…"
"Tell me something, master", interrupted Merlac again. "when are you going to tell me where do you need all this stuff? I've traveller all around Vvardenfell, collecting pieces of information about this cult, and still I know nothing about it myself, as I'm not allowed to read the packets the informants send you!"
Caius sighed.
"I'm sorry, my young friend, but Lord Vivec has prohibit me from telling you anything just yet."
"These things about the cult have something to do with me?"
"Err… damn, I should not have said that.", moaned Caius. "Oh well… is it ok with you if I tell you when you're back from this assignment? I'd like to make sure few things before worrying you too much."
"Well… all right, but you promised, as soon as I'm back from this assignment. Now… what is it?"
"I'm sending you to Vivec to meet three Blades informants."
"Vivec? I'm going to see the Vivec?", wondered Merlac.
"Oh my no", grinned Caius. "I mean the city of Vivec. Though it is quite a view as well."
"When do you want me to leave?", asked Merlac.
"As soon as you're ready. I arranged with the Balmora's mage's guild that they will magically transport you there, so put on your basic gear and head back to the guild.", smiled Caius and pointed at the building Merlac had just come out from. "Here is piece of paper, I've written the names of the informants and places where you are supposed to meet them, so don't let this paper get into wrong hands."
"Yeah yeah I won't, master."
"And one more piece of warning; Vivec might be friendly and civilised city, but its huge size makes it ideal place for numerous types of criminality, and a perfect place for big bad guys to hide in, so be careful and stay in the main corridors, as they are patrolled by Ordinators."
"Ordinators?"
"They guard the law, just like the Hlaalu guards in here, but the ordinators guard the city of Lord Vivec and they are the extreme elite, so don't mess with them."
"Yes master, I won't."
"And don't get lost in there!", yelled Caius after him, but Merlac had already ran inside the mage's guild.
Inside the mage's guild, Merlac walked down the stairs, greeting the wizards on the way. As he reached the bottom floor, Merlac had no choice but to laugh himself as well.
"Friend Merlac did not manage to live five minutes without friend Ajira, no?", purred tiger-look-a-like female humanoid, who had notice Merlac.
"Yeah, I missed you so much I had to come back right away.", grinned Merlac.
This Khajjir had become Merlac's good friend during his membership in the Balmora's mage's guild. Ajirra was probably the best alchemist at this side of Red Mountain, and Merlac proud to have her as his teacher.
"Ajirra is only kidding, master Caius told about your journey this morning, but Ajirra did not believe friend Merlac would leave so soon."
"I didn't believe it either, but here I am, so what do I do now?"
"Friend Merlac follows Ajirra please.", the Khajjir purred and walked to the next room, closely followed by Merlac.
The room Ajirra led Merlac was rather small. In the corner was an about two meters wide stage and a long, beautiful elf woman standing next to it.
"Here we are now, friend Merlac. Ajirra must leave now, Ajirra must sort out six baskets of mushrooms today.", said the khajjir and wobbled out of the word.
"Hi Merlac, to Vivec it is then, right?", said the elf.
"Yeah, but…"
"Oh you have never travelled using magic before? Well it's quite easy and completely painless, so don't be worried at all. Just walk up to the stage and stand still."
Merlac climbed to the rock stage, turned to face the wizard and waited.
"Now, close your eyes and when you open them, you will be in the Vivec's mage's guild. Have a nice journey, young conjurer."
As Merlac closed his eyes, the elf woman waved his both hands in wide curve. Merlac felt his body to itch a bit, but nothing else. After few seconds, he was still standing on the rock stage, had something gone wrong? A new voice talked in front of him.
"Well? Are you going to stand there forever? I have a transportation of three wizards coming from Ald'ruhun any second now so get yourself away from there.", said an unknown female voice.
Slowly, Merlac opened his eyes and looked around. He wasn't in Balmora anymore. He was standing on a similar rock stage where he had been few seconds ago, but the room was different. It was a rock hall, about the same size as the whole mage's guild's building in Balmora.
The woman next to Merlac impatiently pulled him down from the stage, and almost the same moment three old dunmer wizards appeared with loud crack where Merlac had just been standing. The wizards opened their eyes, stepped down from the stage as well, greeted the transportation-woman and walked pass Merlac.
"Is this Vivec?", asked Merlac from the woman.
"No, this is the lavatory of Lord Vivec himself, yes this is Vivec's mage's guild. Now get going, I have lots of work to do."
Merlac stepped away from the woman and left her with her own business. He looked around. The magic-transportation-stage seemed to be in the second floor of the hall, in a balcony, but as there were no windows it was impossible to say how deep under or how high above the ground it was. As Merlac leant over the balcony and looked down, he saw a bald, happy-looking man standing bravely few meters below the second floor. According to his pretentious robe and behaviour, Merlac suspected the man to be some kind of high-ranked wizard.
Merlac walked down a huge staircase and stopped for a second. All over him were numerous wizards doing their daily tasks, sitting behind their desks, or meditating in their quiet corners. Merlac encouraged himself, tapped the nearest wizard on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, but I was wondering if you could help me out a bit?", asked Merlac politely.
The wizard dressed in bright green robe turned around and looked at Merlac with disgust in his face.
"What are you doing here? This is a mage's guild, not a ancestor tomb, so go find something to loot from somewhere else, will you?"
"Err… oh… sorry, could please show me the way out then? I was just magically teleported here and I don't know where the door is and…"
"Teleported? Magically?", the man asked with disbelief in his voice. "You mean you just came from another mage's guild?"
"Well… I suppose so…", replied Merlac a bit frightened.
To Merlac's surprise, the wizard burst into laugh.
"I am really sorry young man, I though you were one of those dirty fighters who come here and ask for dangerous jobs, but cant even light a candle without a torch. I didn't realise you are a mage yourself too. So you've never been in Vivec before? Well of course I can help you. Which mage's guild did you come from?"
"Ba..Balmora", Merlac stuttered.
"Ah Balmora, nice town, been there few times while I was an apprentice, maybe I should visit there again sometimes soon. But enough about me, you needed some help, right?"
"Yeah, if it's not too much of trouble."
"Not at all, I'm not currently doing anything important… oh well, the guildmaster Trebonius gave me some jobs to do but… between you and me, he is a total crackpot."
"Err… the guild master? But… if he is a… then how can he be the guild master?"
"If it were up to me, he wouldn't be. I guess his power has gone into his head. All he does these days is stands there, looking powerful and delegating ridiculous tasks to everyone who comes within 5 feets. Just few minutes he gave a 'small job' which I should take care of before tomorrow. He wants me to find out precisely what happened to the dwarves.", the wizard said with slight despair in his voice.
Merlac didn't know what to say, so he decided to change topic instead.
"Err… I'm sorry but I'm in a sort of a hurry, so…"
"Ah, of course, my mistake. So you wanted to get out of here?", he grinned. "It's easy, though this guild might look like a maze in the first look. So, go back up those stairs, turn right and go to the end of the corridor until you reach another corridor in your right leading upwards. Soon, there should be a doorway on your right, leading to guild's vestibule. You go through the vestibule and you find yourself from the foreign quarter's indoor plaza."
"Umm… stairs up, right, end of the corridor, right, up, right, though the room and I find myself from… what?"
"Vivec is divided into several cantons, connected by short bridges. Each canton is built on water, and the most bottom floor is a… well… a sewer. After are the lower and upper waistworks, which contain some basic services for the poor people, like small bazaars and bars. Then comes the plaza-floor, which is the centre of a canton, containing better-equipped services, guilds and some small manors."
"Good to know, thanks. By the way, Lord Vivec lives in this town, doesn't he? Is he in a manor or…?"
"Oh no no", grinned the wizard. "After the southernmost canton is the temple island, containing of course the temple, ministry of truth and ministry of wisdom. Lord Vivec's personal palace is on it's own island behind the temple island."
Suddenly, the wizard was interrupted. The bald man Merlac had seen from the balcony had arrived next to Merlac.
"Rubeus, did you find out what happened to the dwemer, did you?", the bald man asked. Merlac guessed this had to be the guild master Trebonius himself. The wizard had been right, Trebonius was a crackpot.
"Err… thanks for your help, I think I find my way out now.", said Merlac quickly, leaving the man standing with suffering look with the guild master, who just kept smiling.
Few minutes later Merlac stepped out of the mage's guild to the foreign quarter plaza. It was a gigantic hall with small stone buildings in it and all over him were swarming busy people. Dunmer, imperials, orcs, bosmer, and some races Merlac hadn't even seen before. Without a warning, something hit him hard and Merlac fell down, almost breaking his elbow.
Merlac quickly rose back up, keeping his hand on his sword's handle, but didn't pull it out from the sheath. He didn't see anything. What had hit him? Merlac looked around but the people nearby just continued walking around and ignoring him. Suddenly somebody talked just next to his legs.
"Oh my head", a man's voice moaned.
Merlac looked down but didn't see anything but the rock floor.
"Err… hello?", Merlac asked carefully.
"Oh it hurts, damn." The voice said. "Oh I'm really sorry, I shouldn't walk around while looking to other direction."
Merlac was confused, where the speaker was?
"Umm… where are you?", he asked.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot. I'm invisible."
"Err… o-kay?"
"No, really. I had a small accident with a potion I was making. I was trying to make a potion that would make me stronger, but I guess I added too many vampire teeth."
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
"No, the effect will go by with time, but thanks."
After the invisible man had said this, Merlac heard footsteps going past him and because nobody talked to him anymore, he suspected that the man had left. Merlac drove out the paper Caius had given him. The first contact was someone called Huleeya in the foreign quarter waisworks.
"Well, at least I'm on the correct canton", Merlac grinned to himself. "Excuse me, but how can I get myself to the waisworks?", he asked from a woman walking past him. The woman stopped and looked Merlac from top to bottom.
"You can't go there from here, you must go outside the plaza, then follow the outdoor corridors downwards until you reach the waistworks doors."
"Oh, ok, thanks."
The woman nodded fast and left. Merlac walked through the gigantic doors of the plaza to open air. He stepped down the few steps in front of the doors and looked around. He was able to see most of the Vivec from there, though there were many taller buildings in the way. All around him, stood incredibly high cantons, almost identical to the one where he stood. Sea lapped quietly between the cantons and Merlac watched as people watched as few people walked over the decorated bridges connecting the islands. Some of them were wearing identical, shining yellow armour sets and expressionless human face -shaped helmets. Those had to be Ordinator, the elite of guards in Morrowind.
Merlac spent few moments admiring their machinelike walking and straight postures. It was almost noon and the whole city bathed in sunlight. The wind smoothly waved Merlac's short white hair. Merlac had seen a lot during last few months in his journeys and the nature of Vvardelfell was indeed beautiful, but this city was almost a match for it.
He started walking along the ramp, downwards, looking for the waisworks door. Merlac was so fascinated by the decorations hanging in the neighbour canton's wall, that he didn't watch where he was going and collided with something metallic. As Merlac looked in front of him, he was nearly scared to death. In front of him, almost a feet taller than him, stood an ordinator, with his shining armour and and perfect posture. He looked down to Merlac, but I was impossible to see the look on his face, as it was completely covered by his golden helmet.
"I…I'm really sorry…", Merlac stuttered.
"Citizen", the ordinator said with calm voice, nodded, and then walked past Merlac with his boots clattering gently. For the rest of the way, Merlac kept his eyes in front of him.
Merlac found the waistworks rather easily, after asking for advice from eight different people. Caius had told him not to talk to any strangers about the informants, so Merlac had no choice but to sit down in a small bar called the Black Shalk Cornerclub and wait for something to happen. Merlac had just finished his second drink of Sujamma, as an Aragonian walked past his table. The lizard-man did not look at him, but he was clearly talking to Merlac.
"Follow me, young agent.", the lizard said.
Merlac wiped his mouth quickly and followed the aragonian outside the cornerclub.
"I presume you ar…"
"Not here, follow me."
The lizard led them into a small bookstore few corridors away from the bar. After he had close the door behind them in the bookstore, the aragonian turned to speak with Merlac.
"Huleeya they call me and sorry I am. Huleeya was not able to speak in the bar, many ears listening.", the lizard said.
"I understand, so…"
"Here are the documents the spymaster sent you for, now you must excuse dear Huleeya, as he has a boat to catch."
"Oh… thanks, but… you must leave so soon?"
"Huleeya sorry is, but must he go. Except one thing."
"And what is that?"
The Aragonian took another scroll of papers from his pocket.
"The Khajirr Addhiranirr sends her apologies, she was not able to meet young agent herself."
"Why is that? Something has happened?", asked Merlac sounding worried.
"Friend Addhiranirr not allowed to be in Vvardenfell, had she to escape from a Census and Excise agent I'm afraid. But her apologies she sends to the spymaster and hopes her information help can. But now Huleeya must leave, boat to the mainland soon leaves, good luck I may wish for you!"
After he had said this, the Aragonian walked out of the door and disappeared around the corner.
"Well that was a refreshing little conversation", said Merlac sarcastically to himself. "Ah well, two done, one to go. Next stop, - Merlac looked at the paper Caius had given him - Ministry of Wisdom? Neat."
Melac walked out of the door happily, knowing that as soon as he had done this little task for his master, Caius would finally tell him what was going on around him and what were those plans they had for him.