Winds of the Ashfall: An Elder Scrolls Tale

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 7

Sundas the 28th of Last Seed 4E71 Morning

It was just shortly before the dawn as Alaron Suvaris arrived at the outskirts of Blacklight, by the road leading southward from the city. All the way up from the portside district and through the central part of town, there were very few people out on any of the streets that early in the morning. He'd spotted only two disinterested city guards. By the time he'd arrived where he was meant to meet up with those traders, there was no one about at all. Just briefly, he'd wondered whether he'd arrived a little too early, or whether he'd missed them altogether.

The clear morning air felt just a little cooler than he'd been expecting. He'd already noted that the bright dawning sky appeared almost completely absent of cloud. Over to the west, there was a line of pale cloud over the Velothi Mountains that might have really been no more than rising mist from the peaks. It seemed that a warm and sunny day was on the way.

Shifting the weight of his travelling pack slightly, Suvaris looked about expectantly once more. Just beginning to again doubt his circumstances, he finally noticed three Dunmer figures emerging from behind a timber structure toward the west of where he was waiting. Two pack-guar were being led along behind them. Though each of them had weapons of some sort, none were armoured. After a further moment, he finally recognised one of the figures as the trader he'd spoken with on the previous day. With a mildly expectant expression, Suvaris remained silent as he waited for them draw near.

"This the one you said?" The second Dunmer looked to be about the same age as Rurvyn. From appearance alone, it was easy to see that they were brothers. Both were a little darker in colouring than Suvaris, with more angular features and heavily ridged brows.

"Yeah, that's him… er, Suvarin?"

"Suvaris. Alaron Suvaris, Fighters Guild." Suvaris tried to maintain an even tone.

"Yeah, er… apologies. You can call me, Faryl." The elder Rurvyn offered his given name, then indicated his companions. "This is me brother, Dravyn. And his lad, Bradyn."

"A pleasure to meet the both of you." Suvaris respectfully inclined his head toward the other two of the Rurvyn clan.

Both responded only with non-verbal acknowledgments.

As the sun was rising above the distant shadow of the angry mountain to the east, Faryl looked toward the southbound road. "We'd best not be wastin' any time. We want to be at Silgrad Tower 'fore we go losin' the daylight."

Suvaris indicated his silent assent. Pausing only to allow Faryl to set the pace, he fell into step by his side. Dravyn and his son gently tugged at the leads holding the pack-guar and they were all on their way.

Glancing toward the east, Suvaris took note of Red Mountain as the sun was edging higher into the sky above it. In the shadow of the western slopes, he could just barely make out what looked like a fairly fresh stream of lava. Only because of the sunlight, he noticed a bit of a haze in the sky about the top of the mountain. The last time that that saw the mountain on a clear day, it had been billowing dark ash clouds. From what he understood, Red Mountain had continued to smoulder on a regular basis over the past decades. However at that particular moment, it seemed that the mountain was relatively quiet.

Along the road ahead, there seemed to be just a bit of mud and soggy patches here and there, but otherwise, it appeared that things had already dried out quite quickly after just one day without rain. Added to that, with the rapidly rising warmth of the morning, it seemed likely that any lasting effects of the past few rainy days would soon be gone.

After only a few moments of silence along the road, Dravyn spoke up. "Faryl says ya want to come with us all the way to Mournhold. Ya know we can't afford to pay ya?"

Suvaris glanced only briefly to Faryl, turning his head slightly toward the brother. "Of course, I understand perfectly."

"Ain't plannin' to go robbin' us, or the like?" Dravyn sounded slightly more nervous than defiant.

Turning again, Suvaris raised his eyebrows at the absurdity of the question.

Faryl turned to look to his brother. "Dravyn, he says he's with the Fighters Guild. Outa Cheydinhal." He returned his gaze toward Suvaris. "Apologies, Sera. Darvyn don't mean nothin' by that. It's just that ya do need to be careful at most times."

Suvaris inclined his head. "I understand perfectly. I take no offence."

Bradyn directed a question. "You headed for Mournhold cos of the Fighters Guild?"

"No. It's a personal matter."

The younger Dunmer pressed further. "So then, it ain't about that Fighters Guild running outa Mournhold?"

Suvaris was only mildly surprised, having heard some of the rumours before. "I was of the understanding that the Mournhold Guildhall was no more, along with Kragenmoor and the others."

Faryl interjected. "Dunno if they're proper like Fighters Guild, but that's what they go by. Least, way I hear it."

Suvaris' silent expression prompted him to elaborate.

With a slight frown, the trader continued. "Well, don't think they're the same ones as from before. Like over in Cyrodiil. Way I heard it, back after the Oblivion Crisis, only thing keepin' the Fighters Guild goin' about these parts was old Helseth and House Hlaalu. Weren't no proper help outa that lot in the Empire."

Suvaris' thoughtful nodding indicated his reserved agreement with that notion.

"After Red Mountain… and then them lizards… well, I heard that just about all the old Fighters Guild was either dead or gone somewhere else. Cept for just a few headed back for Mournhold."

"Are you saying that the Mournhold Guildhall was again established some time after the invasion from Argonia?" Suvaris had only previously heard that an unaffiliated group of Guild Fighters might have been operating around that city during recent decades, but little else.

Faryl shrugged mildly. "Dunno everything 'bout it. Only heard that some of 'em set up there for a bit, way back when. Then after they got ridda House Hlaalu… Redoran, Indoril an' Dres backed that Fighters Guild at Mournhold for a bit… and then they didn't."

Suvaris passed him another look of confusion.

Faryl shrugged again, then resumed. "Well, I heard there was no Fighters Guild there for a while. More than ten years, maybe? Then, after that Umbriel Crisis thingy… Well, some bunch set up there again, callin' their-selves Fighters Guild. Dunno if they got official backin', or the like, but they been there more than a good twenty years or so by now."

"I see." Suvaris sounded pensive as he digested those details.

From behind, Dravyn prompted further. "So, that Mournhold lot ain't any part of your Fighters Guild then?"

Suvaris glanced back only briefly. "No, not by my understanding."

Bradyn spoke up again. "I hear they got some sort of guidebook or code of rules or somethin'… somethin' that only proper Fighters Guild get to read and follow."

Without turning, Suvaris nodded slightly. "The 'Fighters Guild Charter and Guide'. Most likely an older edition, I might think."

Faryl jumped back in. "Wouldn't know 'bout that. Just that they do contract jobs, mostly 'round Mournhold an' such. Can't say I ever seen 'em anywhere west of the Thir."

"And the nature of those contract jobs?"

The trader shrugged. "Some paid guard jobs… some helpin' out dealin' with wild beastie attacks and such… an' they still get some Argonian raiders comin' up from certain parts every so often."

"The Argonians?" Suvaris thought that they no longer posed a continuing threat.

Dravyn responded first. "Ain't all of 'em. Just some outlaws and raiders, like."

Faryl resumed. "Whoever's in charge of Argonia don't care 'bout any of that. Only long as we all stay well north of the swamplands. For the most part, the lizards only seem to worry 'bout their own side… wherever the border's s'posed to be, right now. It's just that some of their outlaws and raiders don't even care 'bout the border."

Dravyn added a counterpoint. "Ain't likely to see any of that along this run."

"No, not likely." Faryl agreed with his brother.

Suvaris had already noted the rather ordinary weapons that the three traders had on their persons. Faryl's and Dravyn's steel short-swords and daggers did not look well maintained or particularly formidable. Bradyn's shortened bonemold bow looked to be of fair craftsmanship, but that provided no indication of his archery skill.

Suvaris casually voiced his passing thought. "Am I to understand that the three of you generally travel the trade routes without any guards?"

Bradyn's voice carried a tone of bravado. "We can take care of ourselves."

Faryl sounded only quietly confident. "We ain't no Fighters Guild or the like, but between the three of us, we get by." He paused to pat the spell scrolls tucked into the strap under his vest. "If the need comes up, I always got a few of these kept handy."

"Of course." Suvaris returned an agreeable nod. He assumed that if the trader was carrying a variety of prepared enchantment scrolls, none of them were likely adept at wielding magic on their own. Despite what some Imperials generally thought, not every Dunmer was a master of magic. Still in the case of those three, he imagined that circumstance would more likely be due to an absence of training, than anything else.

In that respect, even Suvaris was far more skilled with the blades than with magic. Of course, he'd trained in the use of some basic healing magic. He also knew a couple of useful shielding spells and some low-level frost spells and the like. Aside from that, he'd never really found the need or desire to pursue more than that.

Looking up to the clear sky overhead, Dravyn passed another comment. "Already looks like a warm one on the way."

"Looks like." Faryl echoed his brother's opinion.

Suvaris only returned another silent nod of casual agreement, noting to himself that though the day had started quite cool, the morning was indeed rapidly warming. He couldn't say if it was just his imagination, but it seemed to him like it was feeling notably hotter than it had been a few weeks beforehand. It probably didn't help that the air seemed relatively still and absent of any promise of a breeze.

After that, the conversation seemed to fall away. The only ambient sounds came from their booted footfalls upon the roadway, along with the noises of the loaded pack-guar padding along behind and huffing and puffing as they maintained the steady pace.

They soon passed by that side road leading away to the nearby village of Cormaris View. From that vantage, only one of the lumber mills was clearly visible. The main village remained out of view, behind the sloping hillside and scattering of trees surrounded by lesser shrubs.

In passing, one particular oddity caught Suvaris' eye. Where the patchy grass gave way to a large rocky outcrop, a single broad and towering mushroom with stringy mosses draped from its cap loomed over a patch of ferns. From his observation, though there were numerous smaller mushrooms and fungi common to that region, the larger varieties had always been somewhat less prevalent near to Blacklight. Standing at more than twice his height, that one stood out as notably unusual. Though he wasn't quite certain, he thought that it looked like some variety of Emperor Parasol.

After gradually winding its way around Lake Cormaris, the road soon continued southward more directly. Looking westward across a lesser stream feeding into the Cormaris River, a few farmhouses could be seen with nearby fields of crops. It was all too far off to tell what was being cultivated there.

From that point onward, there would be nothing of note to see but rolling hills and wilderness as the road wound its way south toward the next township along that route.

Though it had certainly been quiet along that stretch of road when he'd passed that way about a week earlier, Suvaris knew better than to allow himself to become too complacent of such things. Even if it seemed that those roads were hardly busy enough to attract bandits, he expected that it was always prudent to remain vigilant. If not roadside bandits, then the potential threat of creatures of the wilds needed to be kept in mind. Though he'd not yet actually seen any during his recent travel, he remained fully mindful that he'd heard the noises of nix-hounds more than once.

Just briefly, Suvaris had taken note of the rather sickly looking beech trees of that region. By his recollection, they did appear rather more poorly than those of the Deshaan Plains or even those of the western Stonefalls region. Though some of the trunks seemed broad and tall, the sparse foliage above spoke of some struggle with local conditions.

He shook off those thoughts and tried to redirect his attention toward the lower thickets of shrubbery in view. After all, any unexpected dangers were most likely to come from such places. He tuned out the sounds of distant birds, listening for any sign of other more dangerous creatures.

By around midday, Suvaris and the traders were finally coming up on the next sign of civilisation along that rough dirt road. There were only a couple of small farmhouses just outside of the township of Soluthis. Unlike some of the Redoran styled structures of that town, the farmhouses were more rudimentary timber affairs, not unlike what he'd grown accustomed to commonly seeing in some of Cyrodiil's smaller villages. He understood that there was supposed to be more farmland somewhere over the western side of town, but that remained out of immediate view.

A few leagues back, Faryl had already suggested that they'd be stopping at Soluthis for a short rest. By the time they were arriving at the roadside inn by the eastern edge of town, the rising heat of the day had become quite noticeable and there still seemed no sign of anything more than the barest hint of a breeze. Suvaris had already found himself reaching for his water flask more than once before they made it there.

Aside from the growing discomfort of the late summer's day, they'd encountered no delay or trouble along the way. They hadn't even seen anyone else along the road between Blacklight and that smaller town and despite some mild concern, no wild creatures had cross their path.

Since the traders weren't delivering anything to that location or planning to be there for very long, there was no intent to go inside the inn. As Dravyn led the guar over to the water trough by the front of the inn, the rest of the party settled in the shade of the nearest tree.

After setting down his travelling pack, if only to alleviate his discomfort for a short while, Suvaris removed his helmet and gauntlets. He reached into his pack and retrieved a fresh apple he'd acquired the day before. Though apples did seem uncommonly expensive in Blacklight, he still considered them ideal for travelling food.

Biting into his apple, Suvaris cast a westward glance along the broad street running up the middle of Soluthis. Though he could hardly see everything, he thought that it didn't look so different from what he recalled from decades past. There might have been either more or fewer structures, but it was hard to easily tell. Only a few of those structures were of taller construction, but no more than two levels in height. At best, it still appeared no more than a modest sized township. Even though some of the Redoran styled buildings undoubtedly hid more beneath the ground, it seemed even smaller than Silgrad Tower. He found it difficult to understand how either of those towns had tried to claim status as cities during times long past.

From his recollection, more than seven decades earlier, an Oblivion Gate had appeared somewhere between that location and the sea to the east. He'd heard that a number of the town's defenders had died during the Oblivion Crisis, but the township itself had been far enough away from that gate to avoid the fate of Ald'ruhn.

Suvaris imagined that some of Blacklight's people might have come to that town during that time when that city was briefly abandoned. Just before he'd departed Morrowind, he understood that some Dunmer fleeing the Argonian hordes had come that far north seeking refuge, but it hardly seemed that the population of Soluthis had remained swollen in any observable fashion.

Wiping the beads of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, Suvaris noted the whitened peaks of the Velothi Mountains rising in the west. Those snow-capped mountains seemed just slightly strange, given the uncomfortable heat about the lowlands.

Leaving the thirsty guar by the trough, Dravyn had returned to eat and drink with brother and his son. They all sat in silence for a few lengthy moments.

Nibbling away at a crusty bun, Bradyn kept returning his gaze to Suvaris. It seemed obvious enough that he had something on his mind. Eventually, he gave voice to the question he'd been holding onto. "So, if it ain't 'bout the Fighters Guild, what's Mournhold 'bout?"

Finishing what he was chewing on, Suvaris regarded the younger Dunmer impassively for a moment. "I've heard word of a Travlon Suvaris around Mournhold. Have any of you heard that name or something similar?"

A round of awkward shrugs and non-verbal negative responses accompanied vague expressions.

Bradyn spoke again. "That somebody related?"

Suvaris tilted his head slightly. "Not anyone that I was aware of. I was told that he was perhaps about your age. I only recently heard of it in Cheydinhal, from a travelling trader named Ralas."

That caught Faryl's attention. "Teldyn Ralas? I've run into him before."

"I couldn't say if his name was Teldyn. He only mentioned his family name."

Faryl tried to describe him. "A slightly shorter fella. Maybe only a bit shorter than me. Maybe about my age. With kinda reddish-brown hair, but… not so much about here." His gestures indicated a receding hairline about a prominent 'widows-peak'.

Suvaris nodded. "Sounds like the same individual."

Faryl seemed pleased with himself; as though recognising the name of another travelling trader was a notable achievement.

Dravyn weighed in. "So, this Tralvon?"

"Travlon. Travlon was my brothers name."

Dravyn returned a nod. "Travlon. So, this… this other Travlon ain't your brother?"

Suvaris shook his head mildly. "Had he lived, my brother would have been near to my own age. Even his son would have been near to your age by now. To the best of my understanding, none of my family survived the Argonian invasion."

"Bloody lizards." Dravyn's spat the words. His dark expression telegraphed his clear contempt. He seemed like he had more to say on the matter, but held onto it.

Faryl altered the tone of conversation, just slightly. "So, you think you might have some other family that you don't know about, or somethin' like that?"

"Something like that."

Faryl frowned. "Can't say I ever heard of anyone else goin' by Suvaris b'fore."

Suvaris shook his head slightly. "To the best of my knowledge, it is not a common family name at all." He hesitated slightly, before deciding to continue. "As I said, to the best of my understanding, every member of my immediate family perished some time ago. And so, hearing of that name… well, that raised my interest enough to go looking into it."

Faryl nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense, I s'pose. We can keep a look out for anyone by that name, but like I said, ain't heard of anyone b'fore."

Suvaris inclined his head, indicating his acceptance.

Bradyn had been silently studying Suvaris during the exchange. He still seemed to have questions on his mind. "So, you ain't from Cheydinhal then? I mean, not to begin with."

Suvaris suppressed a mild sigh. "No, not to begin with. I grew up in a small farming settlement, just south of Kragenmoor."

"South of Kragenmoor?" Bradyn frowned, seemingly trying to place the location.

"That settlement is no longer there. Though I began as a farmer, like the rest of my family, some of my skills became… broadened. In time, that enabled me to take work with the Fighters Guild and supplement the family income."

"In Mournhold?"

"No, not directly. I was with the Kragenmoor Guildhall. At least up until the invasion… and the razing of that city."

Dravyn interrupted the discourse. "Enough sittin' about an' yappin'. We better go get them guar and get moving along."

Faryl agreed with his brother. "Yeah, we better. Likely to be goin' on dark by the time we get to Silgrad."

Dravyn and his son retrieved the pack-guar and then they were quickly on their way again, headed southward for the next destination along the way.

~O~