Winds of the Ashfall: An Elder Scrolls Tale

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 8

Sundas the 28th of Last Seed 4E71 Afternoon

Even though the day had passed the midway mark before they'd left behind the outskirts of Soluthis, it seemed that the rising heat not yet quite reached its peak. Though it most likely only grew a little warmer into the earlier part of the afternoon, it felt like more than that as the party steadily marched along the road. Added to that, it seemed that the heat remained sustained throughout most of that afternoon. Only once or twice had the promise of a subtle breeze arisen, only to quickly fall away to nothing. The only illusion of air current came from maintaining a steady pace along the road.

After departing that township, Alaron Suvaris cast a few hopeful glances toward the relatively clear skies. The movement of a few wispy streaks of high cloud provided indication of some upper winds flowing from the south to the north. However, that didn't seem to be bringing the relief of any gentle gusts near to the ground. He also knew well enough that those prevailing southern winds had a great deal to do with that burst of warmer weather.

Perhaps only about a league or so out from Soluthis, Dravyn called for a piss-break as he paused by the side of the road. Only since one of them wanted to stop, everyone stepped over to the roadside for the same reason. Obviously, there was no point in staggering breaks for that sort of thing. If they were stopping for that every hour, they'd never make it to Silgrad Tower by evening.

In that regard, the two pack-guar obviously didn't care much either way whether they stopped or not. It was always a good idea to stay ahead of them, since they more likely to just let fly with their waste without breaking stride.

Though Faryl Rurvyn also seemed to remain fairly alert along the road, Suvaris did his best to keep a sharp eye out for unexpected trouble. Of course, listening out for the telltale signs of wild animals also remained a high priority.

Not so far from where they'd briefly stopped, Suvaris had been briefly alarmed as they passed near to a small stream running by the eastern side of the road. A group of small brown birds took flight from a little copse of stringy pale-barked birch near the stream. It wasn't immediately clear whether the birds had directly reacted to their approach, or whether something else had set them off. In either case, nothing else emerged to provide direct concern.

A few leagues south of Soluthis and looking eastward, though most of the lower parts of the island of Vvardenfell couldn't be easily seen that from vantage, the angry mountain rising from its centre was certainly another matter. Though Red Mountain still seemed relatively quiet, that mild haze had steadily spread out across that part of the sky over the course of the day. It meant that even though it wasn't so clearly visible, something of substance had to be rising up from the mountain's craters.

Mildly distracted by the landscape, Suvaris had noted that the further south they travelled toward the upper Stonefalls region, the fewer of those sickly beech trees came into view. As he knew well enough, though still hardly plentiful, there were a greater number of those kinds of trees in the south-western parts of Stonefalls beyond Kragenmoor. They were even more common across the more fertile parts of the Deshaan Plains in the south.

Looking over toward the western highlands below the tall mountains, the mottled greenery reflected something more like what Suvaris had grown accustomed to seeing throughout various parts of Cyrodiil. The pine and oak were not quite as hardy as those over the other side of the mountains, but looked far better than the twisted oaks and mahogany that struggled in parts of the Stonefalls region north of the Deshaan.

Thus far, Suvaris found the three traders to be fair travelling companions. Though not unwaveringly taciturn, for the most part they kept to the main task at hand, generally speaking only when necessary. Travelling along those unfamiliar roads, he preferred that to the almost incessant chattering of that Atheron lad during the northward journey of about a week before.

Most of the afternoon's march passed without any significant incident, but not without a just few brief moments of alarm for one reason or another.

Just short of half way to Silgrad, the pack-guar became agitated, breaking stride and pulling over to the far side of the road. It took a long moment to recognise the cause of their behaviour. A kwama forager wriggled out from the edge of a patch of ferns near to some knee-height mushrooms. The mottled brown worm flopped about on the ground, briefly rearing up as though tasting the air through its toothy maw.

It seemed that they were just far enough from the creature that it couldn't quite detect them, though it seemed to know that something was nearby. That one had been about the length of a forearm, which was pretty typical. Though they weren't really so dangerous on their own, they could sometimes be tenaciously aggressive. Especially if there was a colony located close by. Even so, a lone kwama forager was more likely to get itself killed than cause any harm. Since it wasn't directly in their way, they gave it a wide berth and let it be.

A little later in the afternoon, a pair of figures with heavy packs on their backs approached along the road from the south. Soon enough, it became easy to tell that they were also travelling Dunmer traders. Though no names were exchanged, Faryl seemed to know those other two, if only casually.

During their relaxed exchange, Faryl mentioned that they were headed for Silgrad Tower and the other pair said they would be stopping at Soluthis on their way to Blacklight. It was suggested that the road immediately to the south had been clear of trouble. Dravyn made brief mention of that kwama forager just up the road to the north, then went on to briefly talk about the threats of large bug-like kwama warriors and the dangers of those little kwama scribs, with their paralysis poisons.

As he silently waited, Suvaris noted the behaviour of the two pack-guar. After only a moment of standing idle, they started nuzzling and jostling one another in a playful manner. Though they stood upon just two sturdy legs, the long heavy tails balanced against the heavy weight of their large heads. They seemed unconcerned by the heavy loads upon their backs.

Those tiny little arms and fragile clawed hands seemed completely useless for any purpose other than scratching the sides of their heads. Their arms really did look like some sort of joke of nature, or of the gods, or perhaps both. Though supposedly related to guar, the wild alit and kagouti didn't even have any visible forearms like that.

Unlike those other vaguely similar reptilian creatures, the guar always looked like they were happy or smiling. Though it might have been hard to really tell, since their faces did always look like that. Still, the look in their eyes did seem to convey the general buoyancy of their mood.

After the traders had finally finished, passing further comments about the warmer weather, the two travelling parties broke off to continue their separate ways along the road.

It was perhaps just a few leagues out from Silgrad when an unexpected potential danger arose. Over the sounds of their booted footfalls, Suvaris had just heard strange noises coming from somewhere up ahead. He reached out for Faryl's shoulder to halt his pace and signalled with his other hand to urge the other two to pull up behind.

Perhaps fifty or sixty paces ahead, a pair of scuttlers emerged from behind the kanet bushes and heather on the western side of the road. Though they looked something like tiny kagouti, scuttlers generally reached no taller than shin-height. Of course, those little ground foragers were not at all dangerous. However, that was not what Suvaris had thought he'd heard.

Just as those scuttlers made it across the road to the bushes of the eastern side, a lesser-sized nix-hound bound from the kanet bushes, making unusual hissing and chattering noises. The dog-shaped insect-like creature seemingly remained focussed upon the pursuit of its intended prey. It continued onward across the road and then quickly disappeared from view, headed eastward for the marshlands of the upper Ashunor River.

After waiting a further moment to be reasonably certain that the nix-hound wasn't coming back or that it wasn't part of a larger pack, Suvaris turned about to glance behind.

He'd observed Bradyn standing by with his bonemold bow at the ready and an arrow drawn. His father had his short-sword out, also looking ready to act. Faryl had his hand under his vest, seemingly reaching for a scroll, but he hadn't yet gone for his sword. Though the need hadn't actually arisen, it seemed that they were all ready to defend themselves. Even if their defensive skills remained untested, Suvaris had been mildly impressed of their apparent measure of preparedness.

Only once they'd observed that Suvaris appeared seemed convinced that the threat had eased, the three traders returned to a more relaxed state, setting aside their weapons. With the potential danger passed, they resumed the southbound march.

Cresting the last hill of that leg of the journey, the sun was just starting to disappear behind the Velothi Mountains as the township of Silgrad Tower finally came into view. It was only half an hour beforehand that a sustainable breeze finally arose. Though the wind provided some mild relief from the lasting heat of that day, since it was coming up from the south, it wasn't really a cool breeze. Even so, it was better than no breeze at all.

The crescent of Secunda had already appeared above the eastern horizon, before the sun had quite set. The larger moon had yet to rise in the sky. From observation of the previous evening, it seemed to Suvaris that the lesser moon was waxing toward its first quarter as Masser had just passed full and was beginning to wane.

Maintaining his pace ahead of the guar he was leading, Dravyn looked up toward the gradually darkening sky. "Looks like we made good enough time."

"Looks like." His brother casually agreed.

With that next destination in clear view and no further likelihood of encountering any trouble, Suvaris also relaxed a little. Approaching the northern edge of town, his eye was drawn toward something slightly unusual. He spotted a large and shaggy Nordic hound snoozing by a fence. He'd often enough heard some Nords boasting of those large hunting dogs of Skyrim, scoffing at those smaller dogs more common to parts of Cyrodiil. Still, he'd rarely seen any of those large hounds further south than County Bruma and he couldn't recall having seen any in Morrowind before.

That large dog had indirectly drawn his attention to a small farm that he hadn't noticed when he'd been headed northward the week before. It had been easy enough to miss, since it was tucked in behind the structures near the northern corner of the town.

At a glance, it was obvious that crops were not the primary focus of the farm. The large open pens behind the sleeping dog were a flurry of movement with dozens of bantam guar moving about.

That sparked a memory from his childhood. He recalled that when he was very young, his father had told him and his brother that if they fed them well enough, the bantam guar at their farm would grow into full-sized guar.

Of course those small bantam guar weren't even related to proper guar, or even alit or kagouti. Aside from being reptilian, and also having thick tails and large heads, they didn't even look so much like guar. If anything, they looked more like plucked chickens, only with beakless reptile-like features.

He later came to understand that even though they didn't look much alike, bantam guar and scuttlers were supposedly related creatures. Though he found it even somewhat harder to credit, it was said that both those smaller wingless animals were distant cousins to the large leather-winged cliff racers and those smaller cliff darters.

Looking ahead along the road toward the structures by the eastern edge of Silgrad, Suvaris noticed a pair of Redoran guard in full bonemold armour, including those full-face helmets. They were standing casually by the corner at the main street leading up the middle of town. Since road patrols seemed uncommon, he expected that they were stationed at the town, serving as town guards.

At first glance, that township seemed only a bit larger than Soluthis. Still, it was the second largest place of the Velothis region. An idle thought reminded him that Blacklight had originally been known as Velothis, some time in the distant past. Though he didn't know exactly when it happened, the Dunmeri name of Baan Malur came to take its place. Then later, the direct Imperial translation of Blacklight became the common name of the northern city.

Even though Silgrad Tower was a bigger place than Soluthis, most of the structures stood no taller than those of that other township and were of a similar mix of styles. However, that tall stone tower that gave the place its name stood out as a notable exception.

The Silgrad Tower appeared much older than anything else in the town. It was constructed from a darker coloured stone in a style that harkened back to earlier times. Though he didn't know for certain, since the wear and general styling of the tower looked Velothi, he imagined that it might have been there since the time of the Chimer, back before Azura had transformed his ancestors into the Dunmer.

Only since it was the place where he'd stopped earlier in the month, Suvaris had been subconsciously heading toward the Bitter View Inn, near where those Redoran guards were standing about. Given that there was no way to see the Bitter Coast of Vvardenfell from that area, he held no idea of the meaning behind the naming of that inn.

Noting where Suvaris seemed to be heading, Faryl spoke up. "We ain't goin' to no inns or taverns while we're at Silgrad."

Adjusting his meandering, Suvaris looked to the elder Rurvyn with raised eyebrows.

Faryl explained. "We're goin' to the smith's, over the southern side of town. We got an arrangement… cos Girvas is married to the cousin of Bradyn's mother. He lets us camp out the back of his stables. Course, I ain't sayin' there's no reason you can't go to one of the inns or taverns."

"Of course." Suvaris' expression carried his understanding.

Dravyn tossed in his opinion. "Tavern way up the main street on the left might be more to yer likin'."

Faryl clarified. "Tavern's run by Girvas's cousin, Bovis. Tell him we sent ya an' he'll treat ya right. Or you can camp out with us. For you to decide."

Suvaris inclined his head in acceptance. He noticed a gust of wind whipping up the dust on the road heading southward from the town. Though he wasn't averse to camping outside, it wasn't commonly his first choice, with a better alternative at hand.

Maintaining a pleasant tone, Suvaris gave voice to his thoughts. "I do think that I might go take a look at that tavern."

Faryl shrugged. "Fair enough. Just make sure yer ready in the mornin', if ya wanna keep travellin' with us. We'll be headin' off at dawn again. You can meet us on the road at the southern edge of town."

Suvaris returned an agreeable nod. "At dawn. I understand."

Further brief expressions were exchanged and they parted company. The traders continued onward for the southern side of Silgrad, as Suvaris turned to head up the main street running through the middle of town.

With the daylight rapidly giving way to evening, Suvaris looked up along the broad street. Though he'd not paid much attention when passing through a week earlier, it seemed that the town was not so different from how it appeared decades before. Some structures might have been newer or renewed in some fashion. Some were much older.

To his thinking, the structures of the township did seem to represent an odd mix of construction. Just a few were of that northern Redoran design. Several buildings were of more rustic timber construction and some displayed a dominant Imperial influence. As he'd already noted, aside from that tall tower on his right, only a few structures rose to two levels and there was only one that he could see rising to three levels in height.

It had the general look of a place that had been partially rebuilt in a haphazard manner a number of times over the many years. Given the long history of the region and disputes of past ages, that hardly seemed surprising.

Though most of the Velothis region of Morrowind had remained relatively stable since the time of Tiber Septim, that hadn't always been the case. There were earlier times when Cyrodiil had intruded upon those lands and times when the Nords of Skyrim made claims for greater territory. Long before all of that, there were the struggles between the Chimer and the Dwemer, who were already occupying the land before his Chimer ancestors even arrived in the region. Even so, all of that was long ago.

Looking forward beyond the western side of Silgrad, Suvaris could see farms about the nearby hills outside the township. In the shadows of the highlands, the ruins of some older structures could just be seen amongst the sparse trees. It was a reminder that Silgrad had been a much larger place during earlier times.

His attention returned to the street as he spotted the tavern that the Rurvyn's mentioned. The prominent signage was in Dunmeris, but he'd mentally read the name as its Imperial meaning. It was called the 'Brandy and Egg'.

Leaving aside the signage, it was difficult to place the style of the tavern as anything of specific Dunmeri construction. It certainly wasn't typical of Redoran design. It seemed a odd mix of Imperial, Nord and non-specific Dunmer influence.

Just before going into the tavern, Suvaris noticed a lad making his way along the broad street through the middle of town. He was carrying a short ladder, a burning torch, and large skin slung over his shoulder. His activity soon became obvious as his set his ladder against one of the lampposts along the street. He topped up the oil in the lamp's reservoir, then set his torch to light the lamp. A gust of wind threatened to snuff out the flames of both his torch and the lamp, but he managed to get the job done, before looking toward the next one.

Bracing himself for a possibly noisy tavern, Suvaris pushed open the timber door and stepped inside. He was pleasantly surprised to find only a restrained murmur of voices, rather than the raucous noise he'd endured near the docks of Blacklight.

There were only eight or nine patrons making up three groups seated about the tables of the tavern area. Either eating or drinking, the conversations seemed relatively quiet and subdued. Except for the old Bosmer of short stature sitting with someone, all the others were native Dunmer. Without exception, from the way were plainly dressed, each of them appeared commoners of moderate means.

The appearance of an expensively attired armoured Dunmer standing by the front door caused a few of them to briefly turn their heads in mild curiosity. However, no one seemed really all that interested.

Suvaris spotted the service counter over toward his right and made his way in that direction. The male Dunmer with a craggy face that accentuated his angular features and heavy brow watched his approach with mild expectation. The tavern owner sported a full head of dark hair tied back into a tail. His wispy tuft of beard, reminded Suvaris of just why he'd never bothered with trying to grow one. It really looked more like a failure to properly shave. Of course, that assessment was something he'd be keeping to himself.

Suvaris was internally debating the value of actually mentioning the Rurvyn traders to the tavern keeper. Especially since it seemed likely that those traders were generally more inclined to exploit extended family connections, rather than directly pass coin.

Affecting something of a forced smile below a more serious expression, the barkeep spoke up first. "Ju'rohn, sera."

"Ju'rohn… sera" Suvaris returned the greeting, though somewhat awkwardly.

"Name's Bovis. You're a new face in here. You new to Silgrad?"

"Yes, ah… Suvaris, Alaron Suvaris. I'm just passing through."

Bovis responded with a subtle nod. "So then, what can I do ya for?"

Noticing the prominent sign behind the counter with some sort of menu listing written in Dunmeris script, Suvaris hesitated momentarily with his mouth partly open.

Bovis pressed on. "We do brandy and we do eggs. We do other stuff as well, but that's what we do best. Everyone says so."

"Eggs?"

"Yeah, the regular kind from bantam guar. No fancy kwama eggs here."

Suvaris returned an understanding nod. "And the brandy?"

"Vintner in Silgrad makes the best Comberry Brandy around. We got other regular stuff as well, but we got the best brandy about these parts. Everyone says so."

Suvaris maintained an impassive expression. "I suppose that I should heed the common advice and try the brandy and the eggs."

"Can't go wrong with that." Bovis looked pleased.

"I was hoping for one other thing. A place to stay for the evening?"

"Sure thing. I got a coupla rooms upstairs. You plannin' on stayin' around at all?"

"No, no. Just the one night. I intend to be gone with the dawn."

They went on to briefly negotiate prices for the room rental, food and drink. After coin was exchanged, Suvaris waited a short while before his meal was readied.

He soon found what Bovis labelled as 'eggs' to be more agreeable than what he'd really expected. The blended eggs were liberally mixed with finely chopped onions, leek, and some other tubers, which he couldn't immediately identify due to the mixing of spices. It was also moderately salted, but not so much as to make it unpalatable.

Even the Comberry Brandy seemed better than anticipated. Though he was not quite certain of why, it seemed somewhat less bitter than what he recalled of others he'd previously sampled. He supposed that it might well be the best brandy of those parts at that time.

After finishing up his meal, Suvaris made use of the bathroom facilities, then headed on upstairs to retire to his rented room.

Given what the rental was costing him, he hadn't been expecting much. In that regard, he hadn't been so surprised. The room was clean and tidy, but that was easily the best that could be said of it. Aside from the small bed, there was just a single chair and small cupboard by the wall. A small window faced the south.

Before lighting the candles set upon the windowsill, he looked out through the window over the two rooves between the tavern the southern side of town. By the moonlight, he could see that the wind had become a little gusty and was blowing some of the trees near to the edge of town. That explained the muted noise that he thought he could hear coming from outside.

He'd noticed that it had been cooling quite quickly since the sun had fallen. He'd hoped that the breeze might carry on through the evening and into the next morning. By his estimate, a cooler day than the one that just finished would certainly make for more pleasant travelling.

After lighting the candles, Suvaris set down his travelling pack upon the top of the cupboard, along with his helmet and gauntlets. He pulled off his boots and then reached into his pack. He rummaged about until he found what he was looking for.

He held no desire to again examine that historical book that he'd looked at the previous evening. Instead, he selected one of those other books he'd acquired in Blacklight.

He'd only purchased that particular book because he'd recognised the title. He'd remembered hearing of it in casual conservation with Fighters Guild comrades a few years before, but he'd never recalled having actually seen a copy until he spotted it in that Blacklight bookstore. It was a work of light fiction called 'Pirates of the Abecean'.

That book served to remind him that he'd not seen Forester and his wife for more than a year. Even though they'd retired from active duty with the Skingrad Fighters Guild about six or seven years earlier, he'd still kept in irregular contact with them, visiting with them upon rare occasion, when circumstance permitted.

When he'd last seen them, he'd made an idle comment about one day going back to Morrowind for a brief visit. However, at the time it really had been no more than an offhand comment in response to something Forester had been suggesting.

Though nothing had been set in stone, he was aware that Forester and Rena were intending to meet up with Pinewatch and Northwind at Weye to attend the Emperor's Festival during Frostfall. He'd said that if nothing interfered, he would most likely join them in the Imperial City.

Even though that was still weeks off, once he'd decided that he was setting off for Morrowind, he became somewhat less certain of that intent. Before leaving Cheydinhal, he'd asked young Aldreth to send brief correspondence to Forester, informing of where he'd gone and the basic reason behind it.

Positioning himself in the chair near the candlelight, Suvaris opened the book. He wasn't planning on staying up too late. He intended only to read for an hour or two, hoping that he would quickly tire enough to easily fall asleep early and then be up and on his way before the dawn.

~O~