Quinchal eyed him cautiously,
"Hasir, what's wrong, don't you want to see your parents?"
Hasir glanced up at the tsaesci and shook his head,
"I dunno Quinchal, I've never even talked to or seen them." He said as his face fell while his tail rose and fell behind him.
Hasir glanced up from his sulking and saw that the boat not going toward Gnaar Mok as preivously intended, but instead to a small
island near the continent the village was on.
Hasir looked at Quinchal with a worried expression on his face.
"Er, Gnaar Mok is over there," Hasir shouted over the tsaesci's fast tail rudder
Hasir waved his hand fast in front of the tsaesci's face.
"Hey I'm talking to you." He said as he attempted to throw a rock he had found below his seat at the tsaesci's head; the tsaesci
ducked, causing the pebble to fall like a tiny fish into the water
The tsaesci sped the boat onwards until the island came into view. Hasir's eyes went wide with awe as he saw six tan tents
surrounding a lit campfire. Hasir saw that three Argonians wer smiling, talking and laughing with one another. Quinchal's tail slowed
as he maneuvered the vessel into the island's harbor. They both got out and headed for the six Argonians.
They Argonians did not look up, probably too entrenched in conversation to do so. Finally one of them noticed the two Saxhleel
approaching and looked up. One of them stood up, smiled and stuck his hand out.
"Hello, I am Ishtansek... and you are?" He asked as Hasir's eyes darted this way and that
Quinchal eyed him with disapproval of his standing there, not reciprocating in the greeting. He kicked Hasir in the shin; The Argonian
hissed in indignation at him. The tsaesci groaned in response and glared at Hasir threateningly; Hasir gulped and resigned himself to
his fate,
"For the love of..." He groaned as he muttered a greeting that was cold as the mountains of Skyrim
Quinchal growled at the Argonian and pushed him toward the newcomer.
"Hasir, stop being rude and greet him." Hasir glared at him, but greeted the Argonian nonetheless.
The Argonian scrutinized him for the longest time before embracing him.
"By Hircine, Hasir i-is that really you? Your mother and I were so worried when you dropped off the cart."
Hasir screwed his face up in confusion, he mouthed 'dropped of the cart' so he could try to gain some understanding. He had no idea
what the Argonian was talking about.
"What in Oblivion are you talking about? I didn't fall off the cart, Drujeeta spirited me away to Blackwood."
The green Argonian shook his leafy head and began his tale.
"No, your egg fell off of the cart where your brother and sister's eggs were when we fled Blackmarsh before the strange black and
blue mist came to the region. We were lucky, we smelled something strange on the air and got out just in time. We did not even
have time to go back and retrieve the egg that fell out of the cart." He cast Hasir an apologetic look, "Days after we had arrived in
Morrowind, we recieved word from a courier saying that Drujeeta and Juleen got to our hut in Blackmarsh to find you alone in a
corner, curled into a ball crying your eyes out."
His tail told Itansehk all he needed to know. A green female Argonian came out from a large tent situated to the north of the firepit.
Hasir gasped as he saw two milky white eyes staring out of the Argonian's head. Hasir thought the Argonian would have had to grab
and feel her way over to the spot where he and Itansehk stood. The female Argonian wearing tribal robes from her homeland walked
normally over to the two Argonians without need for handholds.
The female Argonian embraced Hasir in a bear hug while she sobbed into his metallic armor.
"Hasir, I thought you were lost forever, I sensed your egg tumbling from the cart." She said between sobs
Hasir held her at arms length while he scrutinized her. Immediately, a flurry of memories came flooding back to him. The memories
did nothing to make Hasir's recollection any clearer. The memories raced in front of Hasir's mind without so much as recognition on
Hasir's part.
"Honey, It's me, your mother. Don't you recognize me?" She asked, her milky white eyes scanning Hasir
Hasir did not know what to say. One memory managed to push itself to the forefront: his mom, who looked uncannily like the
Argonian smiling at him, crying when she realized her son's egg was missing from the cart. His mind snapped back to the present.
"Mom?" Hasir asked, looking at her as tears swam in his eyes, "what happened to your eyes?" He asked, not sure if he wanted
the answer.
Kassamae said that she lost her sight during the transference of lycanthropy. She said the transmission was fine; she showed him
the scar that covered her right eye. She hung her head as she said that someone as old as her was bound to have side effects; she
pointed to her eyes.
"Apparently, my body was losing the fight against lycanthropy, I won ultimately, but I lost my sight as a result of the terrible bodily
battle with lycanthropy."
Hasir looked at her if her were a dog unsure of what his master wants of him, she smiled.
"I did not wallow in self pity because I knew Hircine would lead me to my true calling," She said, her tail swaying to and fro behind her
She told him that she was the shaman of the Black Throat tribe and when her family was forced to relocate to this island, she
communed with the nature spirits and they made her shaman here as well. Hasir looked confused at this.
"But, er forgive me if I'm wrong but don't you have to be able to see in order to be a shaman?"
Kassamae shook her leafy head in answer to his question.
"You might think that but, I consider my loss of sight a blessing." Again, Hasir looked at her with a quizzical expression. She shrugged
"At least, the Telvanni thought so.'
She strode over to him and thumped him hard on the back. Hasir had to lean back into her so as to not land face first into the swamp.
"The reason why I consider it a blessing is because my other senses heightened tenfold; not only that, but, I feel it has made me more
in tune with the spirits around me." His mom carressed his cheek and kissed him on the forehead, causing Hasir's tail to flop around
wildly.
He looked at her and opened his mouth as a qyuestion occured to him.
"Erm... mom, who are the Telvanni?"
Kassamae told him that the Telvanni are a group of wizards that operate in various towns across the continent of Vvardenfell. She
told him about the various Telvanni ranks she attained on her time in Tel Ahrun, Tel Mora and Tel Branora. She smiled at him and
told him that they had given her a spell that allowed her to grow her own tower at the site of Uvirith's grave in Molag Amur.
Her expression soon turned dour as she told him in a downtrodden voice.
"When they found out that I was taken as a slave after I came to the city of Pelagiad, I was kicked out of house Telvanni and was
locked up." She huffed in anger, "Hircine's claws, Mouth Uvulas will pay for what she has done."
Hasir looked confusedly at her as she said this and asked her if she ever got depressed when she got kicked out of the Telvanni
guild.
Kassamae's grin became even wider as she knew what her son was about to say.
"No, I didn't become depressed after I got ousted from the guild." She giggled behind her hand, "I bet they will soil their robes if
they saw my advanced magic now, to Oblivion with them, I should have just been a shaman from the start instead of a Telvanni
mage failure."
She laughed, Hasir joined in soon after; that is, after he finished feeling ashamed.
"Wow, mom, I never thought of you as a Telvanni mage." He said, astonished. Kassamae brushed this away as she blushed and said
he had to meet some people, mainly his brother and sister.
Itansehk and Kassamae called their children over and were about to introduce them to Hasir when they spotted a reptilian figure
wading through the shallow water toward the island. Kassamae told her husband to go see who the mysterious figure is. Hasir knew
Kassamae wanted to see who this newcomer was; so he decided to be her eyes. He described, a bit too loudly, what the Argonian was
wearing, his eye and hair color, his height and what color his skin was.
Kassamae growled at him like she was some wild animal.
"I am blind, not deaf, you blithering idiot!" She snapped
She pushed him into the dirt for misdiagnosing her 'condition.' She wanted everyone she came across to know that her blindness did
not make her feeble or weak; it just meant that she does things differently than other people. She uses her heightened sense of smell
and hearing to more than compensate for her lack of sight. Hasir apologized, fiddling with his claws as he did so.
"I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to to offend-" Hasir began but Kassamae put up a hand to silence him, "relax Hasir lttle-claw, I was
only messing around, no need to get your tail in a knot." She said, roaring with laughter as she saw his indignant expression.
Hasir heard heavy footfalls as Itansehk and Tulen came up to them.
"Greetings mother," Tulen said, smiling at her. He turned and saw Hasir. He extended his hand, "Hi, you must be Hasir," He said,
playfully punching Hasir in the shoulder, "I am honored to finally meet you, brother. I am Tulen." He said, bowing so low that
his spiked head brushed the dirt. "I came here because I received word from Solstheim that they need help,"
Hasir looked at Tulen with an uneasy smile.
"So this is to be my 'werewolf' test then?" He asked. Tulen nodded
Kassamae quickly introduced his sister and brother before he left for Solstheim.
Hasir may I introduce K'hairi and Sun-Tzu." She told him; Hasir, his brother and sister exchanged cordial smiles and curt waves.
Tulen joined his sister, brother and parents as they waved goodbye to Hasir. As he was about to leave, Kassamae approached him
and tapped him on the shoulder. She stared frantically into his eyes; He could see panic written all over her face.
"We think the robbery of our werewolf forms has something to do with the blue and black mist enveloping Blackmarsh or it could be
something else. I don't know, but can you go there and see if you can find out more information?"
Hasir nodded, his mother smiled and kissed him on the forehead. As an afterthought, she thrust four scrolls into his hands, Hasir
frowned as his eyes moved quickly over the scrolls.
"Er, Kassamaee, what are these for?" He asked
She told him they were for his journey north. She punched him in the shoulder and smiled.
"Don't be so coy, call me mom." She told him, smiling. Hasir said he will do that; with that, he cast the waterwalking spell, stepped
on the water and strode away toward Solstheim while the other Argonians waved goodbye and wished him good luck.
Hasir reached Fort Frostmoth by midday and was delighted to see someone coming down the docks to greet him.
"Hello friend, keeping well?" The nord said, smiling
Hasir didn't know how to respond, so he just smiled and waved. The nord did not shrink back in fright or run inside as the Argonian
bared him teeth at him but instead stood his ground.
"What brings you to Fort Frostmoth? Vacation or business?"
The Argonian told the nord that he was here for business purposes and, walking toward the fort, asked him if there was anyone on
the island who knew about anyone sabotaging Hircine's chosen so they remain as lowly wolves instead of reveling in their true
splendor. The nord creased his forehead and said he knew nothing about that. The nord told Hasir that if he wanted any information
then he should try a village that lay to the northeast of the fort. Hasir thanked the man and headed toward the village.
Hasir could smell smoke billowing from one of the village chimneys, even though he still had a ways to go yet. On the horizon, he
could see three men nearby, he approached them, thinking they would know what in Oblivion was going on with Hircine's children
when the men ran at him, all while transforming into huge, seven foot tall wolfmen. Okaaay... so I guess it's just denizens from
Blackmarsh. Within seconds, the werewolves were on Hasir, gnawing and slashing at him, the argonian produced a sword from his
hip sheath and plunged it deep into the creature's chest. Ripping though flesh and fracturing the bones underneath. Three other
wolves ran at him like maniacs out for blood. He kicked out hard at the werewolf, the creature fell to the ground. Hasir raised
the sword and gouged out both of its eyes out as he heard the wolf howl in pain. He then delivered the final blow by plunging
the blade into the werewolf's chest, puncturing the heart.
The third creature was upon him in a seconds. The creature placed all four paws on him, two on his arms and two on his legs so that
he was splayed out on the snow, looking like a reptilian snow angel. The creature growled at him, saliva dripped onto Hasir's face as
he tried to throw the creature's weight off of himself but failed. The werewolf howled once more as it snarled. The wolf's claws
slashed at the lizard wildly trying to get even the smallest bit of flesh to pass on its affliction. The creature found an opening and
slashed visciously at Hasir's left eye. Hasir screamed in pain as bits of scales and blood splattered on the snow.
Hasir covered his bleeding eye with one hand and tried to free himself from the beast's grasp with the other. He fought hard despite
the stabbing pain in his left eye. He closed his eyes and prayed to the nine divines. He prayed to Hircine. He prayed to anyone who
would listen as this might be his last few seconds on Nirn. Hasir's eyes filled with tears as he fought off the pain. One clear teardrop
streaked down his reptilian face. Hasir slammed his eyes shut as he braced for his soul to be pulled from his body and reunite with
with other forces of nature. Two men in silver armor attacked the werewolf. They cut its head clean off. Hasir's brain was working
really hard to stay conscious, but it lost the fight as the argonian slipped into unconsciousness.
They discovered the lizard laying in the snow, leaned over and talked to the unconscious form.
"Hey lizard, you ok? did the werewolf hurt you?" They scanned the argonian's body for any bite and/or claw marks. His hands
brushed most of the blood out of Hasir's left eye. Upon the removal of the final droplets of blood, he saw it; three marks, obviously
made by a werewolf claw, spanning the length of Hasir's left eye. He called out to his comrad, "Bronrod, he is in really bad shape.
What should we do? We need to do something soon else he will die...or worse."
His companion, Bronrod the Roarer cocked his head in Tharsten Heart-fang's direction. "Tharsten, go get the carriage so we can
bring him to the village for treatment," He looked at the wound; the argonian's eye looked like an uncooked steak. His eyeball
was hanging out of its socket by a sinue of muscle tissue. He glanced at his companion and shook his head, knowing full well what
he was thinking, "Brother, this cannot be healed by a simple a healing spell or potion, He will need something stonger. The shaman
will know what to do."
Together, the two nords lifted the unconscious lizard onto the small carriage pulled by two wintery steeds. Hasir's head bumped on
the wooden floor of the cart as the nords shoved him onto the small cart. The two nords mounted the horses and rode off towards
skaal village which lay to the north of their current location. As they rode off, the cart rocked and swayed as the horses
rode through Hirstaag forest.
The cart bumped over rocks and almost tipped over a number of times as the two nords dodged trees left and right. When they
came to an opening, they could see a bunch of black creatures with red eyes set in sunken sockets that danced around a monument
while creepy music was playing. The nords guessed the the draugr were trapped by some spell. They could not escape from the
spell no matter how hard they struggled. The nords spurred the horses to life as they passed the macabre dance scene.
The horses and the cart exited the forest as the nords snapped the horses to make them sped up. The horses' thundering hooves
sped the cart onward to Skaal village. During the journey, Hasir's body was fighting really hard to fight the disease that threatened
to overtake him. The only thing stopping it from completely overwhelming him was his small percentage of disease resistance.
When the dual horse drawn cart entered the snow-laden village of the Skaal, they passed two buildings that had intricate iron
markings on the doors. The cart sped past two more houses with identical markings on their doorways until it came to a stop near a
double wide hut with iron markings that adorned the double doors like the other ones. The two nords pulled on the reins as the
horses stopped in front of the hut and dismounted, they went to the back of the open wooden cart and grabbed the argonian's arms
and legs. They carried him through the village square and to the shaman's hut. The shaman's hut was filled with potions and
ingredients set on bookshelves in the middle as well as the far walls of the hut. On the walls were different types of ingredients used
for alchemy. In a far corner of the wooden house was an alchemy table with a female nord making potions while her husband,
Engar Ice-Mane was off hunting bears in the Hirstaag forest for dinner that evening.
There was knock on the hut door, Risi Ice-mane crossed the wooden floor and opened the door. Outside, she saw a large reptilian
form stretched out supported by the hands of two burly nord men
"Excuse me ma'am, sorry to bother you, but our friend is in need of some assistance. Can we please come in?" He asked
The lady extended her hand in a gesture that meant for the two men to enter her house. Once inside, they found a bed and lay the
argonian on it. Right at that moment, the front door opened and Risi's husband Engar stood, completely drenched, in the doorway.
Risi guessed it was from the rain they got in this region of Solstheim. Engar closed the door, wiped his feet on the animal fur that
was near the door and took long stride over to the bed in which lay an unconscious Argonian.
Risi leaned over to her husband and inquired as to the types of potions they have.
"Honey, have we got any cure disease potions on the shelf over there?" While saying this, she pointed to a shelves of potions on a
far wall.
Engar went over to the shelf and looked, but came to the conclusion that they did not have that type of potion. He went over to the
bed and slowly shook his head. "Honey, if we did have any potions of that type it probably wouldn't do him any good. While it's far
from hopeless. I would have to say he is beyond our care, whatever this is." He gestured to the unconscious Argonian. Risi was
thankful he was still breathing. She tried her healing spell once more. Her hands glowed yellow as she lay her hands over the
wound. Tharsten presented her her with a handful of greenish leaves.
"We can always try these. Make sure to crush them up first though, we wouldn'tt want to irritate the scales." He looked at the
argonian's wound, which already had begun to turn a sickly yellow color.
Risi took the leaves and went over to a mortar and pestle that stood on the wall opposite the bed and began crushing the leaves
into a very fine powder. She went over to where Tharsten stood and handed him the crushed up chokeweed. He shook his head,
just that motion alone told her that she was meant to do it. Risi rubbed the powder between her hands and set to work rubbing
the powder on the wound. She was careful not to get any inside the claw mark that was visible among the red and raw scales of
the argonian's eye.
Within the next few hours, Risi discovered that Hasir's fever had gone down quite a bit. She looked down at the wound and
frowned. All of a sudden, new scales formed on top of the old ones, This new skin made his eye and surrounding socket look
better than before. Th eye somehow slotted inself back into the socket. The only vissible signs that a wolf attacked Hasir were three
reddish-orange scars that spanned from the top left to the bottom right of his left eye.
The thing that puzzled Risi and her husband was that they had never seen a patient that they had taken in that fell unconscious
and resisted every attempt they made to wake them up. This, however, was the case with the Argonian that lay in the bed before
them.
Engar called behind him to Brodron.
"Brodron, you and Tharsten go the library of the skaal and see if you two can find anything on whatever conditon this is", he said,
gesturing toward the argonian, "Now, be gone with you."
The two nord exited the shaman's hut and approached a two story wooden building with a thatched roof and iron markings identical
to the other buildings of skaal village. The nords hammered on the door.
A nord by the name of Horski Tallowhand answered the door.
"Hello, may I help you?"
Brodron asked Horski if they could come in. Horski invited them to enter. Once inside the library, the nord beheld a high domed
library with walls lined with bookshelves that were split into eight rows, each one equidistant from the other. Each of the rows were
five bookcases deep, two bookcases wide and ten bookcase long with little room to spare between each brown, three shelved
bookcase. The library had a magnificent cobblestone floor with carpet runners in each aisle.
The nord started looking, they searched massive aisle by massive aisle, turning over every book and then, not finding anything,
would replace them on the shelf. One such book that Tharsten pulled out was the Cap'n's Guide to the Fishy Stick. Horski told him
to put that back as it was covered with fishy stick sauce.
Brodron broke off from the other two nords and went to the far end of the store and pushed open a door that read 'restricted
section.’ Inside, The rows of bookshelves were laid out just like the bookshelves in the main library, but, these books were different,
they looked worn from age. Some of the books had torn leather covers, while others had lost their covers altogether. The nord
walked past each bookshelves as he advanced down an aisle at random. Signs were situated above each section denoting what
books one would find in each aisle.
Brodron looked at each of the bookshelves not finding what he was looking for. He was about to give up when, out of the corner of
his eye, he saw a bookshelf in the back of the room full of books with black covers that had various animal heads embroidered on
each one in brilliant silver. Different colored gems were set into each of the animal’s heads that served as the eyes. Brodron slowly
walked to the bookshelf that stood against the far wall as if in a trance. He passed various books with subjects varying from
alchemy to smithing. There was a sign above the three shelved bookshelf that read 'Lycanthropes of Tamriel'. The nord
approached the bookshelf, only to find that it was covered in spiderwebs.
"Let's see, werelions, werebats, werecrocs, werevultures, ah, here we are, werewolves." A hand thrust outwards and grabbed a
book from which a silver wolf's head with emerald eyes stared out.
Brogrod opened the book only to be assaulted by dust that flew up from the pages, coughed a little and began to read.
"It is said that on the werewolves originated from the snowy island of Solstheim, where they were made by Hircine as he was
getting bored with mortals and wanted to liven things up a litlte. The first werewolf in existance was Wulf Wild-heart. The werewolf
would turn from a man to a hideous wolf-like creature during the full moon and hunt down prey for lord hircine's pleasure. Once that
poor victim is found, he is then torn limb from limb by the wolf until nothing but bones picked clean of meat remain."
Brogrod turned away from the book, The nord screwed up his face in disgust. By the all-maker, these creatures sound downright
dispicable he thought. He returned his attention to the book, "These creatures are known to stand at a height of seven feet tall
when transformed."
Brodron strained his eyes to see if he could read any more but the rest of the book was smudged beyond recognition. He sighed,
picked the book up and proceeded back into the library. He spotted his brother Tharsten in one of the aisles talking with Horski.
Tharsten looked up and saw Brogrod, who was clad in nordic ringmail armor walking towards him. "Brother, I found something that
may be of interest." He handed his brother the book. He brother took it and flicked through the pages. "werewolves huh? Interesting,
come on, we ought to find the ice-manes and show them this." Brodron took the book, approached the check out counter, bought the
book and the nords exited the library and went across the way to the shamans' hut.
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