So I'm sure you all couldn't care less as to where I've been. Anyway, I've been writing an insane amount of original stuff and the pace has only slackened slightly. As much as I love reviews, the possibily of actual money is more attractive. Because Morrowind belongs to Bethesda, not me, so I make no money from this. I have another deadline to meet soonish, so I don't know when I'll be updating again. Yes, I feel guilty about this. -D

Winterbell left Gadar looking like he'd been forced to swallow a muckspunge. It had taken a promise to protect him from both sides and enough gold to sink a gondola before he'd relented and had started reading her notes. Winterbell had also provided the reluctant spy with some bug musk, on the condition that he was never to wear it anywhere near her.

And that was as much as Winterbell could do. The rest would be up to Gadar. Winterbell visited Eddie again with yet more gold and a letter for him to deliver. To his horror, the recipient of the letter was a good weeks trek into the Ashlands. Winterbell provided speed potions and promised a bonus for each day early he arrived back.

Back in her house Winterbell counted her gold ruefully. This operation was becoming expensive, and finding buyers for some of the more esoteric objects in her collection wasn't going to be easy.

There was a knock at her door.

Winterbell was unsurprised to find the two youngest members of the Dren family on her doorstep. She invited them in, and allowed Ilmeni to shake her hand enthusiastically. Winterbell made some tea and bade her guests to explain their plan.

Ilmeni explained that there was a slave on the Dren plantation with information about what was really going on at the isolated family home, and the plan was to win him his freedom in exchange for the information.
"How long ago did he make contact?" Winterbell asked.
"Nearly two weeks."
"And you know he's still there, and still alive?"
"We know he's still there, but we can't say if he's still alive, we haven't asked him to send more messages; it was too risky."
Winterbell shook her head, "All right, what does he look like? What is his name?"
"He's an aging Argonian by the name of Hides-His-Foot. He works outside most of the time."
"I hope you weren't planning to attempt this raid in daylight," Winterbell said sharply.
"Well, I honestly wasn't sure. We'll have a hard time finding him in the dark – we don't know which slave hut he's in."
"A daylight raid would be suicide." Marayan spoke for the first time. "I can't keep up an invisibility spell for more than a minute or two, and casting it on possibly four people?"
"But Winterbell-"
"I'm not very good at illusion magic," Winterbell confessed. "I think a night raid would be best, but we need a map of the area before we can plan further."
"Ah, we thought of that," Ilmeni said proudly as she produced a big roll of parchment upon which she'd carefully drawn a map of the entire plantation. Winterbell nodded approvingly and unrolled the map and the three of them bent their heads over it.

Several hours and quite a few pots of tea later they'd hammered out something workable. There were too many variables to plan in the details, and Winterbell saw too many opportunities for things to go wrong, but had made the best of what they had.

The plan was to take place the following night, when the twin moons would be at their dimmest. The plan involved attempting to sneak over the wall, and if that was impossible or if they were discovered Marayan would start a distraction. Winterbell wasn't keen on climbing walls, but they decided her destructive power and Ilmeni's speed and youth would be the best combination for the snatch.

Winterbell had talked seriously to Ilmeni and made her promise that she wouldn't try and stage a mass breakout unless she wanted a distraction. Getting one slave out would be difficult enough; Winterbell flat out refused to take along any more.

Winterbell would spend the next day making potions of levitation, invisibility and speed. Marayan and Ilmeni would procure some armour and a spare weapon for the slave. They would all try and get some sleep. Ilmeni was worried that her father would find out she was missing, and she'd done her best to give herself an alibi. But even the best excuses would last only so long.

The next afternoon the three of them walked to Pelagiad, via back roads. Ilmeni was doing her best not to treat everything as a great adventure, but nevertheless, every few minutes she'd stop to point out something interesting to her uncle, who bore her chatter with good grace.

Winterbell strode along, lost in thought. Ever since the monopoly announcement she'd had the vague impression that she should really be in two places at once, and disappearing into the Ascelon Isles with the Dren family heir was probably not the best move.

When they arrived in Pelagiad Ilmeni lead them to a house, the owner of which was a member of the twin lamps, although her slave-freeing days were behind her. They waited for the sun to set, Ilmeni pacing nervously about the room as Winterbell examined the map again.

"I really appreciate this," Marayan said quietly, "My gut feeling is that there's something bad happening. This isn't just a slave trying to buy his freedom."
Winterbell glanced at Ilmeni and back at him, "Well, if you're right, you might have to consider how she's going to react. She still has a lot of illusions about the world."
"If something…drastic has to be done, I'm going to be the one to do it. She's not male, but she stands to inherit – I can't jeopardize that, even if she doesn't think she cares about it now."
"Hmm." Winterbell looked thoughtful. "Anyway," she continued in a louder tone, "I think it's time. You've both got teleportation spells, don't you?"
Ilmeni held up her hand, showing off a ring, "It'll recall me back to my bedroom at home."
"All right then," Marayan got to his feet, "Let's get this over with."

Winterbell was used to traveling at night, but the thought of the Ienith brothers lurking about, possibly invisible, made her jumpier than usual, and having Ilmeni starting at every sound made it worse. It was with a sense of relief that she saw the high stone walls of the Dren plantation rise in front of them.

The three held a whispered conference before Marayan wished them luck and snuck off around the back of the compound, to ready a distraction should it be needed. Winterbell and Ilmeni silently counted off about ten minutes or so before they ventured to look over the wall.

Winterbell's levitation potions were exceptionally strong, and Ilmeni shot up several feet in the air before she got used to them. The pair peered over the wall, keeping a low profile.

The wall had several entranceways, all of them guarded by loyal Dren employees, and Winterbell and Ilmeni watched them for a while, working out their routes. There were several slave huts, as well as storage huts and places for the free workers to stay. The slave huts were in the worst repair, and easy to spot, but Ilmeni whispered that she didn't know which one Hides-His-Foot would be in. Winterbell scowled and scrambled over the top of the wall, floating down to the ground and crouching in the shadows behind one of the huts.

After the guard had passed again Ilmeni followed, looking nervous but determined. Winterbell nodded at one of the slave huts, indicating that they should split up. Ilmeni obediently crept away. Someone in the hut next to Winterbell rolled over in their sleep and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Get a grip, she told herself fiercely, if silently, and pushed open the door.

Inside it reeked. Five slaves of various races were sprawled out on thin straw pallets. Winterbell cast her light amulet, fairly sure that it couldn't be seen from the outside. The slaves were thin and ill-treated, their bodies showing scars from whips and signs of overwork. None of them even woke up when Winterbell shone the light.

Winterbell shrugged, it only made her job that much easier. Holding her breath, she picked her way around the sleeping Kaijits and over to where an Argonian huddled in the corner.

Winterbell shook its shoulder, "Psst! Are you Hides-His-Foot?"
"What does it want?" The Argonian who blinked up sleepily at Winterbell was obviously female.
"Nevermind," Winterbell muttered, and got to her feet. The Argonian they wanted wasn't in this hut.
"Are you with the Twin Lamps?" the slave asked eagerly.
"No, he just owes me money," Winterbell said automatically. Finally the light on her amulet ran out and the hut was once more dark.
"Are you here to free us?" The slave raised her voice.
Winterbell gritted her teeth, "No!" she hissed, and backhanded the slave across the face. The slave recoiled and started whimpering, but Winterbell didn't have time to feel guilty – she'd never owned a slave, but still the old phrases resurfaced in her mind; 'you've got to treat them rough, that's the only thing they understand'.

Winterbell flung open the door and shut it again, glancing about quickly. She nearly cast a frost spell when Ilmeni materialized out of the shadows.
"I've got him!" she whispered urgently, "but he's injured and can't move fast."
"Oh brilliant," Winterbell said sarcastically. "Let's get out of here anyway; we haven't needed a distraction yet."

Ilmeni nodded, "I've given him a levitation potion. He said it tasted funny." Winterbell rolled her eyes and shrugged. At that point someone said from inside the hut,
"The Twin Lamps were here? Why didn't they take us?"
The guard turned to the source of the noise, his red eyes gleaming in the light of the torch he held. Winterbell swore virulently in whisper and Ilmeni looked a bit taken aback.
"Get him over the wall," she ordered.
"But I can't climb," the Argonian looked worried.
"You took the potion!" Ilmeni grabbed him by his elbow and pulled him upwards, "Come on."

The guard was coming closer. They hadn't made enough noise for Marayan, wherever he was, to hear them and the guard had yet to raise the alarm. Winterbell was sure if he checked on the slaves they'd tell him what had happened. They didn't look like they had much spirit left.

"I'll distract him," Winterbell said, "Get the old man away from here. I'll meet you at Sterdecan's farm."
Ilmeni didn't argue, but she didn't look happy either. She and the slave disappeared over the wall with one last look. Winterbell took a deep breath; she really was far too old for this sort of thing.

Winterbell cast her light amulet again, this time at a guar standing some distance away. The guard gave an involuntary jump of surprise as the spell went streaking past, and the guar began to glow brightly. Brighter than the guard was – he looked at the guar and actually took a couple steps in it's direction before another noise from the slave hut brought him back.
"Intruders!" he bellowed, and lights came on in a couple of the huts.

Winterbell was running, back along the rows of slave huts, towards the exit. The levitation potion had worn off, and with so many people about, flying just made you an easy target. If that didn't trigger Marayan's distraction, then nothing would, Winterbell reflected as she leant against a storage hut to catch her breath.

People were shouting and running about, and the shouts grew more urgent as Wintebell saw flames licking at one of the storage huts. She grinned and silently applauded Marayan, as she had no doubt as to the cause of the sudden blaze.

The lights in the manor houses were on now, and the front door opened with a bang to reveal one of the Ienith brothers, who took one look at the scene, said something to his invisible sibling, and then vanished himself. Winterbell narrowed her eyes, and hoped that Marayan was well hidden, or preferably getting the hell out of there.

Winterbell hurried for the exit, away from the commotion, trusting Marayan to get himself out. A worker armed with a pick and still half asleep appeared in front of her and she instinctively hurled a frost spell at him and he recoiled. Winterbell didn't slow down.

Gasping and holding a stitch in her side, Winterbell ran out of breath and had to stop among some trees a little way from the plantation. There was still no sign of Marayan, and Winterbell started a wide circle that would hopefully bring her back to the mage.

The blaze appeared to be under control, but the entire plantation had been stirred up like a hornets' nest. Wintebell stayed far enough away so she didn't know if Orvas himself was out of bed.
"We've made quite a mess," she chuckled to herself.
"More than you know."
Winterbell bit back a scream as Marayan materialised beside her. "Bloody hell, I thought you were one of the Ieniths."
"They're busy," he said darkly, "they're arguing with Orvas over how many slaves will be punished. They already killed one and my brother is annoyed at the loss of property."
"They're not coming after us?" Winterbell looked back as the pair started to walk to Sterdecan's farm.
"They don't know where we went. Sterdecan better move fast though, they're going to be searching farms tomorrow."
"They can do that?"
"Orvas is the local noble – according to 'tradition' he can do pretty much what he wants."

They were silent until they arrived at Sterdecan's farm, where Ilmeni was waiting anxiously for them.
"Sterdecan's gone already with the slave," she said. "He'll be at the Ebonheart Mission by morning."
"Did you ask him about his information?" Winterbell asked.
Ilmeni rolled her eyes, "Of course I did. He said that Orvas talked about a 'plan' with the Ienith brothers and that it's really bad. Something about…my father. It's written down – the brothers have it."
"The brothers?" Marayan looked horrified, "so we have to go back to the farm and break into the brothers' room?"
Winterbell scratched her head, "It doesn't really seem possible."
"Okay," Marayan held up his hand, "Ilmeni, you go home. We can't do anything more tonight – the place is in an uproar. And don't worry, I'll think of something."

When Ilmeni had, rather reluctantly, gone Winterbell turned to Marayan, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to think. Thanks again for your help," he glanced at her, but his mind was elsewhere.
"You know, I can really only think of one 'bad thing' that could apply to the Duke," Winterbell said pointedly.
Marayan nodded grimly, "Assassination."