C.O.T.W Chapter 27: Hasir's Tail

• Posted by Hasir March 27, 2020 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - #TSC: Long Story  #Hasir  #C.O.T.W  - 1,128 views

   

  

  Hasir felt his wrist; it was no longer broken thanks to the potion he made at Arcadia's request. His leg, however, would need

  something greater than a potion to heal properly. He reached over for his crutches and a perplexed look crept onto his face,"Erm,

  Inigo, where are my crutches?"  

   

  The indigo khajiit yawned after his little cat nap, showing the sky his pearly white teeth. He snapped his mouth shut.

  "I'm sorry my friend, I was enjoying a nap, what was it you need?" He asked.

   

  The argonian repeated his query. The khajiit's racked his brain, already dulled by his time as a skooma addict, and pointed

  wordlessly to a pillar that lay next to the captain's cabin. The khajiit looked over to the argonian who had his face screwed up in pain

  as he gingerly lifted himself up from the bench. He rotated his leg clockwise from its straightened position of the bench, he was

  careful not to put any weight on it.

   

  The khajiit got up and rushed over to the Argonian's side. who snaked his right arm around the back of the khajiit's head and

  gripped the khajiit's left shoulder. Inigo grimaced with pain as Hasir's thick black claws dug into his shoulder. Ignoring the pain, Inigo

  walked over to the pillar where Hasir's crutches could be found.

   

  Hasir put the crutches under each arm and walked over to his bench and slowly lowered himself into his bench. When he was sitting

  comfortably, Inigo walked back over to his bench, his tail swishing happily. He sat down, turned to Hasir and asked what did happen

  when the Argonian was unconscious, what happened inside his mind?

  

  Hasir tried to remember, though most of it was a blur, a few things stood out in his mind.

  "After I was taken under, I was with the wolf lord Hircine...somewhere and then I was in a house with Hircine and Sheogorath, finally

  I was in a section of marshland in The Hunting Grounds." Hasir thought for a moment, "I do remember other things too, like a portal

  to Blackmarsh and a Black argonian thinking e was above a daedric prince and anchors lifting a region off it of the ground." 

   

  Hasir smirked as he looked over at Inigo.

  "Oh yeah and a huge army of the undead."

   

  He laughed as Inigo scurried under the bench he sat on moments before; only his orange irises could be seen. Hasir groaned at the

  scaredy cat, "Inigo you can come out now, why are you so afraid of the undead?"

   

  The khajiit scrambled up onto his bench, he shook his head at the Argonian, signalling that he did not want to discuss the matter at

  this present time. He instead wanted to know more of Hasir's 'dream.' 

   

  The argonian continued his tale.

  "Anyway, where was I?" he scratched his head, "Right, anyway, when I was in the hunting grounds, I vaguely remember being

  hunted down by werewolves and then turning the hunt on the hunter, but the wierd part was all that happened in the past." 

   

  Inigo raised his hand. Hasir told him to put that down as he was not in school. The khajiit did so, a bit ashamed. Inigo asked Hasir

  how the wolves were hunting him if it was the past. He also asked Hasir if he was supposed to be invisible if things were happening

  in the past. 

   

  Hasir answered this by saying Hircine must've wanted him to be corporeal because he must've wanted the argonian to participate

  in the hunt. Hasir continued his story as if he just wasn't interupted.

  "After the wolves had their hunt; leaving me cowering in the rock structure, I was given the chance to hunt down the former

  werewolves. I mercilessly slaughtered them all." He paused, "Hircine gives his children equal chance to be both the hunter and the

  hunted."

   

  After that though, details became hazie.

  "I...remember something else, even though it continually tries to escapes me. Molag Bal appeared and infused me with some sort

  of crystal that caused me and my werewolf bretheren to transform permanently from werewolves to normal wolves. " Hasir

  scratched his head, confused, "as to how that came to be..."

   

  He trailed off as a fresh wave of pain shot through his leg. 

   "ARGH! claws of Hircne, I must find something to dull this unbearable pain."

   

  He rummaged in his bag that was set beside him and extracted a potion that he made with Rakel. His eyes lowered as he

  discovered that the grayish pink liquid has been half used up. Hasir opened his maw and down the rest of the potion; it tasted like

  horker dung as it slid down his throat. Hasir could hear bones mending themselves. He carefully stood up, testing the leg. There was

  still pain, but the potion lessened the pain somewhat. Hasir had to go to Whiterun to get more.

  

  Hasir remembered something and sat bolt upright.

  "Awww crap, I need to let Quinchal know I am okay." With that said, he got up, retrieved his crutches and went to the cabin a the

  back of the ship.

   

  He shifted the crutches so that they both were under one arm. He reached out with his free hand, wrapping his claws around the

  doorknob and turned it. The wooden door swung on its hinges. Hasir stepped into the same room Inigo stood in a day before.

   

  He was confused what door belonged to the captain. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, he recognized Quinchal's scent upon the

  air. He followed his nose, opened his eyes and closed his hand around the door and opened it.

   

  Quinchal spun around when he heard the door open. He drew his sword ready for a fight. When seeing Hasir alive and well, he

  lowered his steel sword.

   

  The tsaesci slithered over to Hasir.

  "Hasir, how nice it is to see you out and about." He said, his arms held out as if he wanted to hug the argonian.

   

  Hasir drew his silver katana and snarled at the tsaesc.

  "Yes, I am alive, Hircine wants your head!"

   

  The tscaesci asked Hasir why this would be the case. The argonian said that Hircine frowns upon any one who decides to rid his gift

  of his rival, Molag Bal." Hasir rushed forward and pushed his blade into the tsaesci's neck. The spot where the blade lay burned

  agonizingly. "Another thing I must mention is your master sealed me and my kind in the body of normal wolves instead of the

  werecreatures we are meant to be." He snarled into his ear.

   

  The Tscaesci swallowed hard and he tried to back away from the deadly blade. He found it impossible as he was squished between

  the desk behind him and the angry argonian in front of him.

   

  The argonian narrowed his eyes as the blade began to draw blood.

  "Any lasst wordss?" 

   

  The tscaesci wiggled uselessly against the blade being steadily pushed into his scaly skin. Char marks followed the blade's deadly

  path. Quinchal tried to speak but the ever encroaching blade made any speech impossible. Hasir pulled back and withdrew the blade

  from the Tseasci's neck.

   

  Quinchal gasped for air, wondering why Hasir had spared him.

  "Why did you stop? Finish the job already." He yelled.

   

  Hasir smirked at him, thus deciding once and for all which side of the river he stood on.

  "If I complete my job, then I will be no different than you, Hircine will be pleased either way." He told him and fled.

  

  When he disappeared through the door, Quinchal sank to ground, too lost for words to do anything. The argonian poked his leafy

  haired head back into the room.

  "I forgot one thing." He snarled at the tsaesci, raise one clawed finger, "We don't need to go to Akaviri anymore, seeing how I'm all

  better, so I guess we will have come all this way for nothing." He looked at the tsaesci and smiled at him. He waved vaguely in the

  tsaesci's direction and left. 

   

  Inigo saw that Hasir looked pleased with himself for some reason. When the argonian took his seat on the wooden bench next to the

  khajiit's own he turned to Inigo and smiled the hugest smile the khajiit had ever seen. The argonian's smile faded as he read Inigo's

  facial expression. The khajiit looked positively grayfaced.

   

  Hasir lowered his head into his cupped hands as if it were an invitation for Inigo to spill his guts. 

  "So, what's up?" Inigo shrugged, Hasir snoorted in laughter, "Inigo my friend, I can smell fear and doubt in your steady breaths,

  your heartbeat has slowed. Forgive me, but, mind telling me what is on your mind?"

   

  Inigo drew a deep breath and exhaled it rather heavily, not wanting to talk about his problems,

  "My friend, forget about my troubles for the time being. Why don't you tell me about your encounter with the tsaesci."  

   

  Hasir told Inigo that he told Quinchal about his wellness and about how they did not need to go to Akavir after all. He decided to

  leave the bit about threatening him for riddding himself of the lycanthropic gift out of the conversation.

  

  The boat jolted forward, causing the Hasir and Inigo to nearly topple out of their seats. The bow of the ship pointed in the direction

  of Windhelm. They sank further into their seats as the ship picked up speed to make up for as much time as possible. The speed

  difference did not affect the blue khajiit much, but, it threw Hasir on the ground, he yelled in pain as his injured leg banged off of

  the wooden floor. He grabbed at the leg gritting his teeth as an effort to try to beat back the waves of pain threatening to swallow

  him like a lost ship in a storm. Hasir scrambled, one legged back on the woden bench. He yelped as he felt something hard send a

  new wave on pain through his body, He got up halfwaay and reached behind him. He felt his wooden crutches and stood them up at

  the side of his bench.

   

  The trip back to Skyrim took just over six hours because of the speed they were traveling, The moon started its ascent into the sky.

  It was behind cloud cover so Hasir did not need to worrying about wolfing out. They arrived back in the Windhelm docks and

  Quinchal opened the cabin door, grabbed the gangway, a plank of wood leaning against the cabin's exterior and went to the midship

  and placed the board down as a sort of ramp and then told everyone to disembark, they did so. 

   

  Inigo walked over grabbed Hasir's crutches and gave them to him with a warm smile. Hasir returned the kind gesture and put one

  crutch under each arm. They exited the ship.

  

  The argonian, tsaesci and khajiit left the ship behind, dived into the icy cold water and swam the remaining twelve feet to the

  opposite shore. They got out and didn't bother drying of, they liked being wet, Inigo, on the other hand, despised the thought of

  having water logged fur. He shook the water off like a dog after it a bath. The two wetskins had to shield themselves with their hands

  to prevent getting anymore wet then they already were. This shield did little to prevent the water missiles from reaching their scales.

   

  Inigo looked over at his companions, immediately, his ears lowered

  "So about that, I just hate water unless there is a sheet of ice over it."

   

  Hasir and Quinchal scowled at the khajiit who just giggled,

  "You two should see your faces, they are hilarious." He then miimicked the blue khajiit by freezing his face in fear.He returned to his

  normal state and laughed hard. 

   

  The argonian and the tsaesci ignored the childish khajiit and made for the Windhelm stables. The saw another ship moored in the

  Windhelm harbor. It was a brown ship with three masts and a huge white sail with a stylized khajiit face behind two crossed sabers

  on all three of the sails. The three beings eyed this ship with curiousity as they got out of the water. Six men, two khajiit deckhands,

  three mean-faced burly khajiit and one stern looking male khajiit disembarked from the ship followed by a rather impressive looking

  female khajiit wearing a white miner's shirt under an ornate crimson trenchcoat with gold buckles. She had shoulder-length black

  hair. Her face was that of a leopard, in fact here whole body was spotted, even her tail.

   

  The Argonians and tsaesci looked at them indifferently but Inigo had eyes only for the khajiit female. He knew he had Aela, but she

  was just too pretty. The pirates disembarked and headed straight for the trio when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, her crew fought

  Hasir and Quinchal because they saw a ship behind them and thought they were a rival pirate crew wanting to make trouble for the

  Renrijra Maor.

   

  The female Khajiit's eyes lit up as she saw the blue khajiit.

  "Well, my fine furry fellow who might you be?" She asked in a seductive voice

   

  Inigo turned a shade of Indigo,

  "I-Inigo and you are?" He asked, a bit star-struck

   

  The female Khajiit said her name was Affraji. Inigo said that was the most beautiful name that he had ever heard. The leopard-like

  khajiit told him to stop it as he was making her blush.

   

  Unseen by the pair of them, a group of bandits lay hidden in the mountains to the north of the city. Both Inigo and Affraji smelled the

  danger before they saw them. As one, they drew their weapons as the bandits jumped into the water and swam for the shore, 

  swords held tight in their teeth.

   

  Upon reaching the shore, One of the bandits broke from the others and went right for the female Khajiit who had readed her curved

  scimitar. Inigo moved in front of Affraji and thrust his arms in front of her.

  "You fiend, you will not touch her." He said angrily

   

  The bandit's mouth curved into an evil smile. Inigo looked angrily at the bandit as he drew the bow back and fired, sending the

  bandit flying backwards, the shaft of the arrow stuck out of his chest. He landed with a dull thud against a tree, still trying to extract

  the arrow even as the light was leaving his eyes. He slumped against the tree; dead.

   

  Affraji looked at him with a sour expression on her face.

  "Inigo, why did you do that? This one was perfectly capable of defending herself." She said; her yellow eyes bearing into his; leaving

  the blue khajiit to sputter stupidly.

   

  She cast one last glance at Inigo and ran over to assist her crew in fighting their bandits. She sliced through the air with her

  cutlass which glinted like a star in the starless night as it arched gracefully through the air. The khajiit snarled as the sword finished

  the arch and sliced through the bandit's neck. The bandit fell over like a sack of logs. Hasir and Quinchal drew their weapons: a

  silver katana and a steel nodachi.

   

  The bandits left their fallen comrade and focused on the tsaesci and the argonian. One of the bandits drew a silver longsword that

  glinted in the moonlight which began filtering through the parted clouds. Hasir fell face down in the snow before the shocked bandit's

  eyes, shifting into two large wolves. Frost ran along the padded ground as he lunged at the bandit. His claws ripped through the

  bandit's chest, spraying the tundra with red.

  

  The white wolf was busy ripping the bandit apart while the black wolf spotted a bandit trying to run from the fray. Bloodfang ran

  full pelt at the retreating bandit. Bloodfang knew this was a ruse, however, as the bandit ran at the wolf from behind with his

  silver greatsword tipped with wolfsbane. Inigo ran towards the female khajiit who had her sword raised, ready to strike and yelled for

  the black wolf to watch out behind him. Affraji ran, sword raised, at the bandit and sliced his throat wide open, but not before the

  sword cleaved through the black wolf's neck. The khajiit rushed at the bandit, his hands still closed on the weapon, smirking happily.

   

  The khajiit caught up to the bandit,

  "Why did you poison him? He did nothing wrong." He yelled, his hands gesturing towards the wolf.

   

  The bandit wagged a finger at him, chastizing him.

  "You silly cat, don't you have a ball of yarn to toss around?" He asked, sneering menacingly.

   

  Inigo smirked in defiance,

  "Don't you have a treasure trove to burgle?"

   

  Unseen by the smart blue cat, a bandit had moved behind him and whispered something inaudible and then ran full pelt at Inigo. He

  brought his arm back and throw it at the khajiit. The leopard Khajiit pulled her cutlass from her sheath and swung it. It cleaved the

  wooden handle of the axe in two as if it were a piece of firewood.

   

  The dunmer gulped and turned to run. Affraji growled and ran at the bandit. She swung her sword at the bandit and carved him up

  liike he was a stone off red mountain. He toppled over into the snow like a bag of rocks.

  Inigo ran through the snow towards Affraji, he flung his arm around her.

  "Thank you, you saved my life, how can I ever repay you?" Affraji moved Inigo out of the way as an axe whizzed past his ear and

  embedded itself into the bridge. One of the bandits walked past them to the bridge.
  

   

  He wrenched the axe free,

  "You stupid cat, you will die like everyone else." He said

   

  He cried out and ran at Inigo and Affaji. The khajiits whipped their weapons. Inigo forced the bandit backwards as his sword pressed

  hard against the silver waraxe. Quinchal slithered by them just then and the bandit broke away from the weapons clash and

  delivered a quick slash from the left shoulder of the tsaesci to his right hip. The tsaesci's skin sagged severely as his skin became

  taut and snapped off at the beginning of the axe's trajectory. Quinchal screamed in agony. Bits of his body began to tear ofd and

  dissolve in the sky; leaving a blackened snake skeleton behind.

   

  Inigo's eyes narrowed and ran at the bandit,

  "NOOOO! You will pay for your gall! How dare you kill the tsaesci. He did nothing to you."

   

  The bandit looked at the charred skeleton and put on a face of mock wonder.

  "Oops, did I do that? Oh right, I did. Lord Bal cares not if his creations die in the pursuit of ridding Tamriel of the filth created by the

  Impure Union."

   

  Inigo ran forward and skewered the bandit like a pig on a spit. The bandit fell backwards in the snow.

  "That's for my friend, you son of a bitch!" He snarled, spitting on the ground

  

  Bloodfang was dizzy from the poisoning but he heard two more bandits running toward him. He tried to get up but was so weak from

  the poison and the silver that he collapsed. The bandits were then upon him, they wailed on him with various silver weapons.

   

  Swords, battleaxes, waraxes and greatswords cut into the wolf; mercilessly giving him a ton of third degree burns. The wolf yelped in

  pain. His yelps seemed to become intertwined with time itself, tear at the very fabric of reality. The weakened black wolf looked up in

  his last seconds of life and saw a miniscule man in a pink outfit sitting on his nose.

   

  The wolf's eyes went wide as he weakly tried to bit at his nose. The wolf sneezed, forcing the miniscule man to fly head over heels

  into the river.

   

  Sheogorath scrambled out of the raging river and smiled at his favorite wolf.

  "Ahh, wolfie, how nice it is to see you again." He said, bending low to the ground. "What do I owe the pleasure this time? An

  atronach made of cheese perhaps?" He asked, cocking his head to the right.

   

  The wolf barked weakly, trying to tell the daedra. Sheogorath adopted a tone like his was talking to an infant.

  "What is it boy? Want to go for walkies? Want to go fetch a stick?" 

   

  The wolf snarled at him and tried to bite the daedra. The man, however jumped backward to evade the angry wolf's snarling maw.

  The daedra chastized the wolf. The wolf sagged down again, whined and gave Sheogorath pitiful eyes. The daedra said he was

  sorry but he could not cure the poison with which he wass infected. It will take more than a cure poison potion to cure this.

   

  Inigo moved forward and tried his healing spell. The wolf's body glowed in a bright yellow light, but soon the spell evaporated. The

  khajiit looked disappointed. Nothing could be done. 

   

  Inigo pulled a potion from his bag, uncorked the potion and poured the contents down the wolf's throat. He waited for a few minutes;

  expecting something to happen, it didn't do anything. The wolf died then surrounded by his firends. The white wolf, Kiba, ran over to

  his counterpart and laid down next to him. What happened next caused Inigo to shield his eyes.

  

  The black wolf was being pulled into the white wolf's body. The black and white wolf were both lifted off the ground and began

  spinning counterclockwise forming a unknown symbol to the khajiit. He pulled a book from his bag, opened it and began to read.

   

  On the first page there was the same symbol that was formed by the slowly rotating wolves. Next to the picture was a description,

  it read as follows: "The Yinyang, the pinnacle of all Akaviri religion, is depicted a a circle; half white and half black. The white half,

  the yang, denotes all that is good with the universe such as joy, happiness and love. The black half, the yin, denotes fear, hate,

  anger and pain." Inigo closed the book and reverentially placed it back into his bag.

   

  His glanced up and understood. The two wolves that made up one argonian were that of his emotions. His positive emotions were

  that of his white wolf and his negative emotions made up the black wolf.The wolfish yinyang stopped spinning and one wolf, not two,

  lowered onto the ground next to the bridge. 

   

  Inigo looked shocked as he beheld the combined forms of Kiba and Bloodfang, The wolf had black fore and hind legs joining with a

  mostly white body ecxept for a spot of white fur on his hind leg, both of them were similar. His tail was black; his body was white

  with alternation pencil-thin lines of white and black. His face had the same black and white pattern as his back.

   

  The next morning, Inigo got up, yawned and turned his head sideways, he saw Hasir laying unconscious in the water that flowed

  under the bridge. The blue khajiit got up and walked over to the argonian. He saw the reptilian form laying there, his scales

  moistened by tiny water droplets as his body moved ever so slightly with the force of the water. Inigo ran alongside the drifting

  argonian and reached a furry arm out and closed it around the argonian's limp arm and pulled him onto the dry snowy land.

   

  The argoniian slowly opened his eyes as he looked up at Inigo.

  "I-Inigo?" He croaked, "What am I doing here?" He asked the blue cat. 

   

  Inigo told Hasir how his black wolf was killed when bandits came out of nowhere. He thought they had been laying in wait until the

  time was right. The khajiit surveyed Hasir's face for any glimmer of recognition. He did see some recognition in the lizard's blank face

  but it was buried under a mix of shock and confusion.

  

  Hasir stood, albeit shakily and held a hand up as Inigo was about to explain more of his situation.

  "I think I can piece the rest of what happened together by myself, thankss." He hissed, smiling at the khajiit. 

   

  Inigo nodded his head.

  "Okay, my friend, I am sorry." He said, sighing.

   

  Hasir told the khajiit not to worry about it. He said he was fine. After saying this though, his left leg collapsed under his weight,

  causing him to fall hard in to snow next to a winding stony path leading down to Riften several hundred feet away. Hasir groaned in

  pain and grabbed his leg that he had forgot still hurt because he mind had been on other things. However, the hurt had lessened

  due to the potion he drank which caused the two halves of the tibia to adhere to one another, however the fracture had yet to fully

  heal. Even when it was healed, Hasir knew he'd still experience pain.

   

  Inigo gave him the crutches which he had grabbed when Hasir had dropped them on the ice before his wolfish transformation. Hasir

  smiled again and thanked the khajiit. He shoved the crutches under both arms and stood up, he hissed a long, slow sigh when he

  placed the crutches firmly in the snow; ensuring that his left leg was lifted of the ground. Inigo walked over to Hasir and asked him

  if his mind was overtaken by the wolf's when he transforms or if he retains his own mind when he transforms.

  

  Hasir did not know how to answer this. Should he tell the truth or lie? If he lied he would have to work harder for the truth to come

  out, so he did the logical thing.

  "Inigo, my mind does not blow away like the wind when my wolf emerges. My mind and his are seperate. Therefore, his mind

  nor mine takes presidence when either in my reptilian form or my wolf form," Hasir paused, making room for Inigo to try miserably,

  and failing, to keep up with his story, "My wolf's brain in locked away in a silver caged when I am in my reptilian form and vice

  versa when I am taken over by my wolf form."

   

  He looked at Inigo;  reading the cat's blank face, the argonian finally opened his mouth.

  "You didn't understand anything I told you, did you?" He looked at the khajiit with concern

   

  Inigo seemed to shake himself out of a stupor.

  "I'm sorry my friend ,d you say something?" He cocked his feline head sideways as he was trying to piece together what Hasir had

  just said. "Oh yes, right, the understanding. He tapped his white chin with a long furry finger, "Let me think, erm, nope, not really."

   

  Hasir groaned audibly as he brought his hand up and slid it down his face in annoyance. Inigo saw this action and smiled sheepishly.

  He apologized to Hasir because he did not understand the world of the wolf as the argonian did. 

  

  Hasir walked to the Windhelm stables and called behind to Inigo; the khajiit caught up to him. Hasir stopped when out of the corner

  of his eye, he saw Bjorlam trot up to them with his carriage. Bjorlam flashed him the briefest of grins as the carriage a foot away

  from where the argonian stood. Hasir crutched over to Bjorlam and asked him why he came here. Bjorlam said Arcadia was asking

  about him. 

   

  Bjorlam released the reins, letting them rest on the carriage's front, reached into his bag that sat beside him and withdrew a

  curved gllass vial with a rubber stopper that contained grayish-orange liquid. He tossed the bottle over to the argonian who caught

  it. He uncorked it and drank the contents, he coughed a little and then felt a strange warmth spreading through his body starting

  from his head and extending all the way down to his toes. Hasir was forced onto the snowy ground as the potion worked its magic.

   

  After several minutes, the warm sensation and painful realignment of bone subsided, Hasir stood up on his feet; unaided by crutch or

  another hand. He smiled broadly as he discovered that there was absolutely no pain in his left leg as his left tibia felt as strong as

  ever, perhaps even twice as strong.

   

  Hasir smiled at Bjorlam and thanked him. Bjorlam told him to thank Arcadia as she is the potion mistress, he is only a carriage

  driver. The argonian handed Inigo his crutches.

  "Hopefully I will not need these again." Inigo walked over to the carriage and lay the crutches on the wooden floor.

   

  Hasir went to board the carriage but Inigo stopped him and gestured to the light yellow khajiit beside him.

  "Hasir, meet Affraji. He gestured from the khajiit to the Argonian, "Affraji, may I introduce Hasir." They exchanged smiles as they

  shook hands. Inigo could not help but grin as his two friends got acquainted.

   

  Hasir asked a question that had weighed heavy on his mind.

  "So, Affraji, what brings you here?"

   

  Affraji told the argonian that her and her crew came to Windhelm beecause they heard of a ship named the black adder was docked

  at Windhelm as well. 

   

  Hasir look thunderstruck at the familiar name.

  "The black adder? you mean the slave ship crewed by dunmer?"

   

  Affraji nodded. Hasir pulled her aside and told her about the time he was aboard that very ship as a slave bound for the slave trade

  market. He guessed the ship's objective was to claim more unwitting souls from the Argonian Assemblage. Affraji looked on in

  stunned silence and asked Hasir how he got away.

   

  Hasir shook his head, 

  That's not important." He said

   

  Hasir apologized and let the khajiit continue with here story.

  "This one and her crew will wait until she sets sail. When she dooes, we will board that ship, kill the slavers and take any loot we find

  as our own." She cast Hasir and Inigo an apologetic look, "Sorry, but it's what we do, we, Affraji's crew and this one are pirates after

  all."

   

  Hasir and Inigo frowned and shook their heads in disgust. The Khajiit looked at them with a confused, almost sorrowful look on her

  face,

   

  "What? That's the only life this one knows. This one and her sister were seperated from our parents after they succumbed to the

  Khenaheten flu. This one was taken away by Elsweyrian pirates. Affraji's sister was sent to live at a chapel in Cyrodiil. Her captors

  would sail into a town on which continent this one did not know; mostly because this one was blindfolded. When they were done

  robbing and pillaging that city, they would either rob ships at sea while sailing or pull into another port and start the whole process

  over again." She said, slumping down on a rock, her head in her hands.

   

  Inigo sat down next to her, frowning slightly.

  "Excuse me if I seem forward but, er, why did you not stop them?"

   

  Affraji ripped the khajiit's arm away from her shoulder.

  "Because this one was blindfolded you shaveskin. Weren't you listening?" Sje scoffed and turned away from him. "Perhaps you were

  too blinded by her beauty?" 

   

  Inigo's tail slunk between his legs and even he began apologizing wildly to her. Despite his persistence, she remained steadfast in her

  defiance. After a while, though, she broke her own spell of stonefacedness.

  "Inigo, Affraji tried living a different life and tried leaving my troubled past behind me, but she just couldn't. In the end, this one

  thought Affraji, why fight it? and she became a pirate. Affraji was determined to change things about her she did not like, but, as

  much as she tried, the past always came surging back as an ocean wave that grows ever larger. In the end, she knew that she would

  always end up like her captors."

   

  Teardrops fell like a leaking faucet. Inigo sensed this and put his arm around her. She lay her head on his shoulder, grateful for

  finding a kind soul in this this harsh, unforgiving land.

   

  Bjorlam raised his voice over the wind that had begun to blow.

  "Hey lovebirds, if you don't hurry I will be leaving without you, now come on." He bellowed

   

  Inigo turned to Affraji and asked if she was coming with them; she shook her head saying that the ship and her crew needs her.

   

  Inigo asked when they will see each other again. To that she only replied soon, real soon. She also told him she had to 'free' the

  slaves first and liiberate the crew of the black adder of their goods, if they put up a fight, she would kill them. She kissed the blue

  khajiit on the forehead, walked over to the ship, waved to the heroes and disappeared below deck.

   

  

  Inigo got into the back, Hasir was about to follow him with Bjorlam called to the argonian.

  "I have saved a seat for you in the front of the carriage beside me. He smiled while he said this and patted the vacant seat next to

  him. Hasir got in the seat, hissed a sigh of relief and nodded to Bjorlam, signalling they were ready to go back to Whiterun, Bjorlam

  grabbed the reins, spurred the horses to life and sped of towards Whiterun.

   

   

   

  As Bjorlam sped to Whiterun, he asked Hasir if he had something on his mind, Hasir said he did. Bjorlam said he was all ears,

  "Bjorlam, first of all, thanks to you and Arcadia for this potion," His face screwed up in confusion, "I do have a question," Hasir

  dropped his voice so that only Bjorlam could hear, "Bjorlam, what was in that potion? I am only asking because just one dose and my

  leg feel a million times better you must tell me, what ingredients did she add?" 

   

  As if to answer this Bjorlam just shook his head.

  "I don't know the recipe, you will have to badger Arcadia about that information."

   

  TThe rest of the way to the city, the the inhabitants of the carriage were silent, even Hasir, even though his brain was working at a

  mile a minute trying to piece together how the potion worked so well. A little ways on, the silence those inside the carriage were

  enjoying was broken by Rakel who got up from her log at the camp and waved at the carriage as it was passing near the camp.

   

  Rakel waved her hand wildly about in the air accompanied by a warm and inviting smile.

  "Hey, Hasir, over here. The argonian failed to hear her as he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. 

   

  Feeling disappinted and a bit angry, she shouted so the thick lizard could hear her better.

  "Hey, Mr. dumb and scaly!" She figured that would get his attention and just as Rakel thought, Hasir snapped out of his ponderings,

  nearly falling of the carriage in the process. Had he not tried to keep his balance with his rapidly flailing arms, he would've been face

  down in the dirt. He turned his head over towards her. Seeing her just inches away from her, Hasir pointed towards her, telling

  Bjorlam to turn around. The driver understood and made the horses turn to the left; away from Whiterun.  

  

  What would have been a fifteen minute ride to whiterun took half the time to reach the camp. Bjorlam stopped on the side of the

  cobblestone to let Inigo and Hasir out. The latter thanked Bjorlam for his service and said they would walk back, no need for him

  to wait for them. He also asked Bjorlam if he would be so kind as to return the crutches to the temple of Kynareth. Bjorlam nodded

  and headed back to Whiterun. 

   

  Rakel did not know what to expect when the argonian jumped out of the carriage. She had thought he would struggle to put weight

  on his left foot and fall face first into the mud. She did not expect Hasir to be standing on two legs without his crutches, but here

  he was, no crutches to be seen. Both he and Inigo walked over to where the two nords and the high elf sat enjoying a nice lunch of

  jazbay juice and venison chops.

   

  Upon seeing him, Rakel slapped the empty space between her and Ceralyne in quick sucession with her hand, inviting Hasir to sit

  down. Inigo looked all over for a place to sit and walked over to Aela's log. She raised a clenched fist and shot Inigo dirty look. Inigo

  gulped and backed up, straight into the fire.

  

  Inigo stopped and sniffed like he smelled something cooking.

  "What smells like a burnt mudcrab?" Everyone cracked up laughiing as they were well aware of something that he wasn't.

   

  He finally turned around and looked down.

  "AHHH! Hot cat, hot cat." He said jumping about, trying to put out his burning tail. "It was me burning? I smell good." He said,

  smiling.

   

  Ceralyne filled a bucket with water and bought it over so he could douse his burning tail before it got worse. As soon as his tail hit

  the water, he breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the high elf for her quick thinking. Inigo looked at the three of them, wondering

  why they were out here in the first place. Aela stood and told the khajiit that those two, she pointed to Rakel and Ceralyne, showed

  an ousider their wolf forms, which they were forbidden to do. 

   

  Aela walked over to Hasir; her heavy footfalls crush dead leaves and pineneedles as she walked.

  "Hasir have you ever read this book before," She reached into her bag, pulled out Kodlak's journal and handed it to Hasir. His clawed

  hands closed around the book.

   

  The argonian looked up and into Aela beautiful brown eyes.

  "Yes I have," He said, in a matter of fact tone, "Kodlak showed it to me that day I told him about my grandfather." 

  

  She nodded and placed the book back into her bag.

  "Ok, well that's one question answered. I do have one more question for you, if you don't mind."

   

  Hasir shook his head.

  "Not at all, shoot."

   

  Aela tossed her head back to get her long maroon hair out of her eyes.

  "The other day, I found bandits when I was escorting you to Windhelm. I noticed these bandits had silver weapons, which seemed

  odd. my question is have you encountered these bandits?" She asked.

   

  Again, the scaled reptile nodded his head.

  "As a matter of fact, I have."

   

  Aela narrowed her eyes in confusion.

  "So you have seen them? Why would they attack you?"

   

  Hasir told Aela the tale that he witnessed first hand the plan the Molag Bal has set into motion. He also told her his plan was to

  eliminate Hircine's children because Molag's Bal's servant had married one of Hircine's children. He aslo told her that that would not

  stand with Molag Bal as he only wanted pureblood vampires so as to keep his bloodline pure.

  

  Aela gasped.

  "Oh Hircine, that sound's terrible!"

   

  Hasir closed his eye and nodded slowly.

  "It is horrible and what's worse is he is going to use Ceralyne's brother to do it."

   

  Ceralyne jumped of her log and ran to Hasir.

  "So your saying, he will use Adrian? Why?

   

  To this, Hasir merely shrugged.

  "I have no idea," He raised a claw finger, "All I know is he is trapping lycanthropes in bodies of normal wolves because wolves are

  often seen as foul, disgusting, putrid vermin by most daedra. Only Hircine reveres the spirit of the hunt which resides in all

  creatures. This is especially true with wolves and werewolves."

  

  Rakel walked over to Hasir and crossed her arrms.

  "Okay this is all well and good, but what does this story have to do with those bandits?"

   

  Hasir whipped his head around in her direction shocked.

  "Don't you see? those bandits and, subsequently, the silver hand members were tasked with helping Adrian, and in extension Molag

  Bal, wipe out every therianthrope meaning werebears and werewolves, from Mundus, therefore Molag would win without even

  having to lift a finger and Hircine would lay broken and defeated, we must not let that happen."