This is chapter 3 of my Morrowind story. This time I managed to fit all of what I wanted to into it, too! Part of that is because I decided that the main problem was me focusing too much on little details-things that didn't necessarily need to be emphasized so much. Hopefully that will be evident in this chapter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Morrowind: Freedom

Skylar sat on the cold floor of the cave, staring blankly at his blood-covered right hand. Only a few feet away laid the corpse of a Dunmer woman, a chitin shortsword impaled through her gut. The young adventurer was still in shock. He had killed someone. Actually killed them. This was not like the games he played, where he did not feel remorse for his enemies. This was real. As real as the blood on his hand.

The final words of the woman still rang through his head as flashbacks of the fight played over and over like a YouTube video stuck on loop in 1260 HD, "Always respect what you kill…" As the words sank in, Skylar felt tears begin to run down his cheeks. He had no right to decide to end these peoples' lives. They had done nothing to him. Yet he came to the cave anyways and attempted to murder them, and in the end he nearly lost his own life after just the first fight. It seemed that it was only by God's grace that he was alive right now.

Skylar clenched his right hand, cracking some of the dried blood that had formed. Now was no time to be wussing out. The woman who had tried to kill him had respected him. It was time for Skylar to return the favor, and respect her. Her memory. She had also mentioned that she had always expected to be killed by her partners, not anyone else. Those were not partners they were leeches. They had no intention of sharing their profits with her in the end. This woman deserved better than that, and a better life than she had been living, whether she was living the one she had by choice or not. But Skylar was not ready for another direct confrontation. Not yet.

As he stood up, Skylar noticed something odd in the firelight. A key. It had apparently slipped out of her pocket when she fell over. He bent over to pick up the key, and at the same time decided to retrieve his sword, blanching a little as a bit of blood spurted from her cooling body and onto his face. All of his common sense told him to leave, to find a place to recover and recuperate, but Skylar's curiosity told him to find out what all the key went to. He looked over to the other door she had been guarding, the one that led deeper into the cave, and saw an old lock. As quietly as he could, he slipped the key into the lock and turned, delighted to hear a surprisingly quiet click from such a weathered antique.

He slipped the door open, and, like the entrance to the cavern, closed it behind him. To his left, Skylar saw a ladder that provided sure footing up to a loft, to his right, another one that led down towards what sounded like water. He had moved one foot to his right when he heard a cough from down the pit, and quickly decided to see what was in the loft first.

As Skylar sneaked into the loft he felt safe… until he noticed several sets of yellow eyes staring at him through a fence. His heart skipped a beat. His covered had been blown. He was going to be ganged up on and slaughtered he was going to be…

"This scent is new."

Quietly… spoken to?

"What are you doing here? If smugglers see you, smugglers kill you! Foolish young boy must come over near Baadargo and the others at once!" the questioner hissed. Skylar turned around, looking into the depths of the well-lit cave to see another Dunmer facing the water. This was dressed much differently than the one at the entrance of the cave, this one wearing a robe. Skylar did not much like the looks of him, so he did as the hissing voice said, and quickly glued himself to the rickety wooden fence.

"Does boy have the key?" the one calling himself Baadargo asked.

"You mean the one I used to open the door down there?" Skylar whispered back.

The atmosphere around the fence seemed to change as he answered the question. "Then you must help Baadargo! You must help him and the Argonians!" Skylar had no idea what an Argonian was, but he could tell that Baadargo was pleading. He nodded and stuck the key in the lock that was keeping the gate in the fence closed and opened it.

As he stepped inside his jaw fell open. Standing before him were two bi-pedal lizards and a tiger-man. "Well do not just stand there!" Baadargo urged, stretching an arm to the young human. "Free us!"

Skylar looked down and realized what Baadargo (the tiger-man) was talking about. On his wrist was a glowing shackle. For some reason he could not quite figure out, the shackle seemed to be draining the cat person of something. "Dear lord!" Skylar exclaimed in a whisper. "You're all slaves!"

"What did you think we were?" asked one of the lizards, whom Skylar was shocked to realize was actually a shirtless female. "Tourists?" Skylar couldn't help but snigger a little at the humor. It was good to see that their wills were not broken yet.

"Alright. I'll let you all free," Skylar said with a smile. It turned out that some good would come of the blood about to be spilt. After he freed Baadargo and the two lizards (the Argonians), introductions were made. The female Argonian was named Banalz, and her mate was Okaw. Skylar was really starting to get uncomfortable around Banalz and her shirtlessness, so he offered his own, which was accepted with gratitude.

Okaw finally spoke, "Thank you, human. They were going to move us to a Telvanni market soon." The Argonian man's deep voice was surprisingly soothing to Skylar. "Then, it would have been almost impossible for us to be set free."

"Are you saying that slavery is legal here?" Skylar asked.

"Yes," Baadargo answered. "Here in Morrowind, Dunmer do not care for what Imperials think is wrong. The natives cherish their tradition, and slavery is a part of it!"

"Well, then. Perhaps you'd like to pay those jerks down there back, eh?" Skylar suggested.

"Perhaps," Banalz said. "But we are not fools. The robed one called Melar is a Battlemage. It uses strong spells of destruction to stop its foes… and its slaves." Skylar noticed that Banalz was speaking as if she had been on the receiving end of one of those spells, and noticed that the tip of her tail was blackened as if it had been burned. He was appalled, to say the least.

"Then what are these shackles for?" Skylar asked, holding one up. "I may not be a magician, but even I could tell that these things are enchanted to drain something from you! What if we get one on each of his wrists? Would it do us any good?"

Baadargo thought it over for a moment, weighing the possibilities. "It would be dangerous," he finally said. "Melar is quick, and slippery, like a young slaugterfish. And the other down there with him, Tanisie, she is quick and accurate with her stars. And they have another key. But there is a way to fix her. If you are quick and quiet, then you can crawl over the rocks to the left of the cage. There is a tunnel that you can follow, but be careful. A very large rat makes his home there. Very large, very aggressive. He will attack as soon as he catches your scent."

"Don't worry, my friend," Skylar responded. "I'll be sure to bring him back for you." The joke did not go over well, and Skylar quickly apologized.

"After that," Baadargo continued, "there is a pool of water. Go in and swim down a little, and you will see a small cavern. It is shallow, so you will not be in danger of drowning. That will lead you to another gate. The key you have will open it. Then you will soon see a stack of crates. Tanisie tends to stay just around the corner, so plan your attack well. We will be waiting to ambush Melar."

Great. So now he had to do more sneaking. At least he would be able to catch some food, even if it was just a little rat. Though Baadargo had said it was very large. But how large could a rat really be? Skylar thought all of this as he climbed over the rocks, and sure enough, there was the tunnel, right where the tiger-man said it would be.

What was odd about this part of the cave, though, was that the lighting changed drastically. There was some form of bioluminescent fungus growing on the walls, casting a blue hue over everything. Suddenly, Skylar found himself landing face first on the cave floor. Stifling his cry of pain, the clumsy adventurer looked to see that he had tripped over some shoulder pad. He was not quite sure because of the lighting, but it looked like more netch leather armor, and that would be useful.

As Skylar equipped the pauldron on his left shoulder he suddenly heard a very loud squeak, and around a corner further down in the cave came the largest rat he had ever seen. Its head was easily the size of his hand, and its body, from the tip of its dirty nose to the base of its naked tail, was as big as his entire upper torso. No sooner had he seen it than the rat saw him with its fiendish red eyes and begun running toward Skylar, who quickly drew his sword.

Skylar stabbed at the creature, expecting to end the fight quickly, but was surprised when it sidestepped and went for his leg. He was suddenly very thankful for the boots he had bought from Arrille, and took advantage of the rodent's habitual gnawing by grabbing it by the back of the neck and shoving the sword downward, skewering the vermin's heart.

"Damn!" Skylar hissed to himself. "They sure as hell do grow 'em big here! No wonder they need their cats to be so damn big!" With that, he began to process the carcass as best he knew how with the dagger he had picked up after killing the first woman in the cave. After a quick harvest of what looked to be the best portions, Skylar shoved the meat into his pockets, wiped his sword and knife on his pants legs, and continued on, finding another pauldron, some gold, and another glowing ring. This time he put the ring on. Feeling the magic flowing through the enchantment, Skylar had the sudden urge to use it. Focusing the energy in his body, he combined it with that of the ring's enchantment and activated the spell, fortifying his agility, speed, and personality.

Suddenly he realized that he previously had no idea how to use enchanted items, and he certainly did not know how to tell what they would do. What was going on? Then he remembered that Baadargo and the others were waiting for him. He could not keep them. The longer he dilly-dallied, the more likely they were to be discovered and killed. Walking over to the edge of the cave that he was in, he looked down into the water. Forgoing the natural bridge to his right, Skylar jumped right into the water, which was unexpectedly comfortable for being in a cave.

Just as Baadargo said, there was an opening in the cave wall and he swam through it, quickly surfacing on the other side and catching his breath. Skylar did not have to swim much more, as the water soon became shallow enough to wade, and then walk through. Just up ahead was the next gate, which he opened with the key, and then silently walked though. Just up ahead he could hear voices talking.

"We need to move soon!" a male voice said with urgency. "Those guards won't ignore us for much longer, and if they catch us they'll not only take us to Pelagiad to be locked up, but they'll also free our slaves!" Skylar could only assume that the voice belonged to the Battlemage, Melar.

"Relax, Melar," a female voice responded, confirming his reasoning. "We are fine. I just finished paying off those damn Imperials so they won't be bothering us anytime soon. And if some enwa decides he's brave enough to take us on, we've got Mulvisie up there to either kill them, or let us know if they're a bit tough. Come to think of it, she hasn't been down here to complain in a while. Why don't you go up there and check on her?"

Oh shit. That was not what was needed right now.

Melar scoffed. "Fine, whatever. I'll go check on her, and I'll check on the slaves, too. Remember what happened last time we didn't pay them enough attention?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Argonian female ripped half of your ear off. That was your own fault."

This was bad. This was very bad. Skylar needed to act quickly. Looking by his feet, he saw a small rock. Perfect! He quietly scooped it up and, with dagger drawn, hid behind a large stalagmite and tossed it, immediately catching the Dunmer woman's attention.

"Hold on, Melar. I just heard something!"

"Relax, it's probably just that rat again. Kill it and be done with it. I'm tired of that thing stinking up the place!"

Good. Skylar could tell that she was coming to investigate. Using the stalagmite as cover he waited until she got around the corner and walked by him to quickly jump out and catch her from behind, pinning her dagger arm behind her back. He let only one cry for help escape before shoving his own dagger in her back, silencing her for good. The plan worked. As soon as Tanisie had called, Melar began to run to her aid, only to be ambushed by Baadargo and the Argonians, who hastily locked the shackles on his wrists.

The deed was done. Two of the smugglers were dead, and one was captured, his magicka being drained by the bracers. Skylar felt suddenly stronger, and at the same time very tired. But that would wait, he wanted to see what goodies those boxes held for him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. If so, please leave a review. I'm always open to criticism, so long as it is within reason. Next chapter, Skylar will be headed towards the town of Pelagiad. But he won't be alone! *dramatic fanfare*