Hasir and the two khajiit left Morthal, mounted their steeds, paid the stablehand and headed towards Markarth. After riding
for hours and realizing they still hadn't even reached the halfway point.
Inigo dismounted and tapped Hasir on the shoulder.
"Erm... my friend, I was wondering is there a faster way to reach this ruin? I want to be there, helping Aela find her mother, not," He
sighed, running his hand over the argonian'd lizard mount, "riding for days on ends. If only there was a faster way to get there." He
said sitting beside Hasir's mount, head in his hands
Hasir thought of something he hadn't even taken into consideration since Hircine granted himm his bipedal wolf form. Hasir
dismissed the Welwa ravager with a waved of his hand. Inigo looked at him if he were crazy,
"Why did you do that? Without a mount, you will defintely lag behind those that do have one, namely Affraji and I. Hasir just
shrugged at this and gestured the horses to follow the reptilian steed. Inigo looked at his friend like he had lost his mind, "Have you
lost your mind? We need those to get to Markarth. He sighed and sat down on a rock, "Great, now how are we going to reach the
city?"
Hasir let out a shrill howl and transformed into a towering nine foot man wolf, well, beastfolk wolf, hybrid sporting the same icy blue
eyes and aternating black and white stripe pattern he had in his wolf form. He noticed Inigo was still pondering on how to get to the
city with no horses; Twilight bent down grabbed Inigo's arm and turned him to face him,
"What is it, my friend?" Inigo said angrily." His eyes went wide with fright as he stared up into the snarling face of a werewolf. "My
gods, no, where is Hasir you monster? Did you eat him?" Twilight shook his massive head and got down on all fours and beckoned
the khajiit to get on. Inigo, frightened, shook his head and called out to Affraji.
Affraji pulled herself free of the mud puddle she had fallen into and hurried to Inigo's side; sharing the same worried expression as
the blue khajiit. She walked around the werewolf between them and sniffed him,
"Inigo you idiot, the werewolf did not eat Hasir; this is Hasir. He just... changed form, that's all." Inigo asked her how in Oblivion she
can know that. In response, Affraji sighed, Being a pirate on the waters of Tamriel, you have to have a keen sense of smell, along
with.... other senses. Trust this one when she says it is him."
Inigo nodded and mounted the black and white striped werewolf, Affraji followed soon after. Inigo kicked Twilight in the sides and
gestured toward the direction of the city,
"Onward, mighty steed." He said followed by a low growl of disapproval from the black and white werewolf
Twilight, after battling with conflicting thought in his mind, bent low to the grass, sniffed around, caught two scents: one, that of a
argonian alchemist and the other, a hard-headed fiery nord. The werewolf sniffed again, getting a nostril full, let out a howl and ran
onwards through the fields toward Markarth.
Inigo and Affraji had trouble holding onto the werewolf as the furiously blowing wind threatened to unseat the two khajiit. Inigo and
Affraji bent further into the werewolf's fur to avoid the frigid wind. Twilight ran so fast that they had to fight the urge to vomit as the
world whizzed passed them. Within an hour, the two khajiit saw the city stables at the bottom of a large hill.
They barely had time to take in the stable's majesty, however, as Twilght tore down the hill at breakneck speed; only skidding to a
halt in front of a stone tower with stairs leading up it.
The two khajiit had to hold on tight lest they wanted to be thrown off. Twilight got up on his hind paws; stretching towards the sky
as if to smell some scent. The two khajiit tried to regain hold of the wolf's bichromial fur. Like rocks struggling to contain a river, they
ultimately fail and fell onto the snowy ground, landing in a heap of fur and tails.
Twilight let out another shrill howl and transformed from a bichromial beast to an Argonian. Hasir stretched in satisfaction,
"Ah, that was painless." He said, rolling his head on his shoulders to releive muscle tension. He looked from Inigo and Affraji, "That
was the first transformation that did not lead me to cower in pain. I can get used to this," He said, flexing his muscles as his tail
coiled and uncoiled behind him.
Inigo furrowed his brow and scratched his furry chin as he advanced on the Argonian.. He walked around the Argonian, inspecting
every inch of him,
"Hasir... I'm glad you regained your wolf form, but you must keep a level head. The task at hand? Remember?" Hasir stared at him
for a moment and then, coming back to himself, he nodded and lead the way to the ruins situated west of the city.
After hours of traveling, they looked up at an intricately stone pillared building that had a bronze door and an orange roof sat atop a
set of stone stairs. Hasir ascended the stais closely followed by the two khajiit. When they crossed the threshold, they found the
selves in a small cavern with a narrow stone pathway flanked on both sides by tall rock walls.
Hasir and the two khajiit walked on, eager to explore the run to see where Aela and Xelzaz had gone when a voice made them stop
as if it came from the rocks on the path,
"Turn back, danger lies ahead." Hasir and his companions didn't know what the disembodied voice spoke of but the decided to
proceed; keeping the voice's warning in the back of their minds.
Hasir could see the nord female a short ways ahead; sniffing the air. The argonian guessed she had caught the scent of another
Argonian. Scouts, Oh gods, she spotted him, he thought, running along the narrow path, through another open room. He was about
to continue forward when a rumbling caught him by surprise. He looked up, after regaining his balance, to see part of the pathway to
hisleft give way. He saw a bronze door and decided that that would be a much safer way to go. He beckoned the two khajiit to
follow.
They ran forward but stopped as they saw a sharp dorp-off with a chasm filled with water far below. Hasir look to his left and saw a
series of dwemer pipes leading to a platform below them. Again, the Argonian felt the tremor that threatened to seend him
and the two khajiit tumbling down into the water. Inigo, walked to the edge to take a closer look,
"My friend, that is a long drop. If we fell, you would be unable to climb back up again." A second tremor shook the ruin and sent
Inigo over the edge. Hasir flung his hand out and caught the khajiit, who dangled a few feet above the chasm.
Inigo screamed like a afiq who had their tail trodden on. He hung there, wide eyes looking at the water in fright,
"Well, don't just stand there, admiring the view pull me up!" Inigo shouted frantically. Hasir pulled hard as he could. Once the
khajiit's paws were back on solid ground, they procceded toward the rocky platform. Inigo edged down the stone pillar, daring not to
look down as, if he did that, he would most certainly fall to his doom. Once the Argonian and the khajiit were on the other side did
Inigo nerves calm down.
Once they all made it to the platform. Hasir led the way across anothe dwemr pip to a long hall way filled with dwemer pipes, grates
that formed a wide pathway and random gouts of steam that erupted out of the pips that adorned the walls of the chamber. Hasir
and his companions ascended a pipe that stood stuck to the wall like in was stuck fast by ectoplasm.
They further navigated the ruin until they were at the highest point of the ruin. They clung to the wall, edging on the small rocky
platforms, not daring to look down. walked through the many caves and saw a beautiful site: a mix of rocky platforms and a large,
dead tree overlooking another chasm, Hasir gasped as he saw Aela and Xelzaz looking down over the chasm,
"Aela, is that your mother down there?" The nord nodded, "Where's Scouts?" Xelzaz somehow knew the answer before he asked the
question.
Aela felt a shiver run up her spine; she turned around and saw a scaly face emerge from the shadows, leering at her. Aela looked at
him; her face contorted with rage,
"You stupid lizard, come back to finish me off? You already killed my mother. "She gazed at him, daring him to finish her off, "Go on,
have a go then... be warnd though, I won't go down without a fight."
The scaly figure mockinglu clapped his hands,
"You clever girl, you were right in thinking all argonians are bad eggs." He said, laughing mercilessly at her
She looked at him and yelped in shock. The Argonian was melting before her eyes; becoming enveloped in a black viscous
substance. The black substance sank into the stone and reformed into a black furred khajiit with red eyes. Aela grittd her teeth and
clenched her fists a wave of white-hot rage wash over her,
"YOU!" She yelled, pointing a finger straight at the khajiit's chest, "I should've known it was you; tricking me into killing an innocent
argonian. Tell me, how long did you masquerade as the dead argonian?" She said, smirking.
The Doomstrider laughed at this,
"I see you found out. Did you like how I ordered Krev to kill the filthy scalebacks?"
Aela growled with rage at him; a glint of the wolf in her eyes,
"It was you?" She asked shocked, "I thought Krev acted alone. Did you do it alone or where you under orders by Molag Bal?"
The Doomstrider grinned, striding back and forth; tail twitching,
"Yes, it was me. Now, I can't have you blabbing that I did this. It will cause my followers to doubt me if this ever gets out, not only
that, but it will also, if they carry word of this to Molag Bal, he mind shun me completely." His eyes flashed as he looked at Aela, "or
worse, he could toss me into the great chasm in his realm or make me one of the soul shriven, forced to work for him as slaves;
devoid of thought, feeling or any sense of existence."
He ran at Aela and caused her to topple of the tree trunk and out of sight. The same way her mother fell to her death some decades
before. Hasir gasped and watched horrified as she fell; torn between saving her or lashing out at the Doomstrider for tricking him.
After seconds of indecisiveness, a howl aplit the air, transformed and dived in after her.
Seeing this apparent act of suicide, the Doomstrider smiled to himself,
"Looks like I won't have to kill Hasir after all. That idiot did it for me." He said shrugging, "Well, that's one less overgrown dog in the
world. it's no fur off my back, hehehe."
With the werewolf supposedly taken care of, the black khajiit disappeared in a puff of bluish-black smoke.
Twilight splashed down in the water, ignoring the matting of his fur and swam over to Aela. The female nord looked fearfully at the
black and white werewolf's maw inches from her face. Not wanting to be the werewolf's next meal, she climbed onto Twilight's back
as he grabbed Katria's body and slung it over his shoulder. He dug his claws into the earth; tearing of great chunks of dirt as he
climbed up the cliff.
When he got to the top, Aela jumped off and stared at Twilight; his eyes bore into her grey ones. Aela could've sworn she saw those
eyes before. She thought about this and knew where she'd seen those icy blue eyes before.
She smiled wryly at him,
"Thank you for the assistance... Hasir."
The wolf's brow furrowed and lip curled up in a snarl. Twilight stood up and howled. Twilight's frame shrank four feet until he
regained his Argonian form.
Hasir set Katria's corpse on the stony path and stared at Aela in shock,
"What gave me away? Hsss." He said, raising his scaly eyebrows, "Was it the eyes?"
Aela nodded and hugged Hasir. The argonian's eyes darted this way and that; an expression of uncertainty followed closely by his
tail,
"Erm... Aela, get off! I thought you hated my kind, what changed?" He asked, staring at her, confused
Alela told him that he was wrong about Scouts-Many-Marshes and all Argonians. She said that she had no idea the real Scouts died
in Windhelm and that the Scouts she encountered was actually the Doomstrider in disguise,
"Hasir, I...I'm sorry," She said, releasing him, "I didn't know. I thought that-" Hasir raised a scaly hand, "Aela, it's ok, I'd expected
him to be alive with your lifeless body at his feet. Either that, or you would have suceeded in killing him."
He passed her, slung Katria's corpse over his shoulder and started walking back the way they had come, "Anyway, it really doesn't
matter as it is in the past and we argonians strive to live in the present." He turned and gestured her and the two khajiit to follow
him, "Come on, We should get to the Chapel of the Wild Hunt."
Aela looked at him confused,
"The chapel? Why?"
Hasir stopped walking and look back at her,
"You do want your werewolf form back, don't you?"
Aela nodded. Hasir lead the way back through the ruin and back to the Markarth stables. Aela thought on something during the
journey back,
Hasir, this whole 'werewolf reaquisition,' it doesn't have anything to do with what happened to you... does it?"
Hasir stopped and gave her the dead nord,
"Here take Katria, bury her. Have Affraji help you."
Frowning, Aela looked at her mother's corpse, dropped her on the ground and stared at Hasir with her hands on her hips. She asked
him what she was going to do. Hasir pointed to th mead hall far across the web of bridges and grassy fields toward the mead hall,
"Inigo and I have to go to Jorrvaskr for something. I...smelled a mix of silver and blood on the air." He said as he walked away, inigo
following.
The fiery-haired nord screwed her face up as he went further and further away from her,
"You reptiles are all the same." She snarled, "Come back here or you WILL be smelling silver and blood when I run you through with
a silver sword and watch you bleed out!" She yelled, causing Inigo to cast a backwards glance, frowning apologetically at her and
sped up to catch his scaly friend."
Aela huffed in anger, picked up her mother's body and proceeded to enter the city with Affraji pulling up the rear. When they entered
the city, a Imperial ran up to them yelling about if they had seen a forsworn come through. Aela and Affraji shook their heads,
saying they hand not and climbed up numerous sets of steps as they, more Aela, knew that there was a hall of the dead in every
city; a place where Arkay watched over the bodies and spirits of the dead, regardless of their intended afterlife. Aela did not believe
in Arkay or any of the divines but she knew that her mother did.
Inigo and Hasir reached Whiterun around nightfall. They passed through the giant wood doors and worked their way up to the mead
hall, casting glances in every direction as they walked, half expecti sivler hand to be around every corner; though, Hasir had no idea
why he would be expecting this. The khajiit and argonnian made it to the mead hall without any trouble.
They sighed with relief as they opened the doors and purposefully stepped into the mead hall. The argonian's heart dropped as he
saw chaos everywhere: chairs smashed, broken pieces of mead bottles littering the floor, mugs thrown to the four winds and several
tables upended. Inigo and Hasir sniffed the air and a strong scent of silver came from the undercroft. Frightened, they hurried
down the steps and threw open the doors wide and entered.
The undercroft was no better than the main room upstairs as tables were upended her as well. Silverware, plates and mugs were
carelessly scattered about the floor and the door to the whelps' bedroom hung loosely on its hinges. Hasir edgy closer to the
unhinged door and sniffed the wood. His lip pulled back in a snarl as the scent of silver burned his nostrils. The enraged Argonian
ripped the door from it's hinges and flung it so that it narrowly missed Inigo as it smashed into the upturned picnic table,
A shadowy figure leaned against a wall near the picnic table. Hasir turned around as he felt a disruption on the air. He unsheathed
his flame whip and walked toward tthe black-furred khajiit, leaving scorch marks in the carpet as he glared angrily at the khajiit.
Inigo ran to his friend's sign and was about to ask what in Oblivion he was thinking when he was seized by the black khajiit.
The black khajiit grinned as Hasir's face went from fury to fear as quick as a deer chasing down a deer hunter,
"Hasir, I would put that weapon away if I were you. You wouldn't want him," He said, gesturing to Inigo, "to have a little... accident,
do you?"
Hasir thought his options over and with catlike reflexes, he lashed out with the whip. The Doomstrider yelped as if he had dunked
his whole arm in hot lava. Hasir readied for another attack but Inigo intervened,
"My friend you are no murderer..."
Hasir scoffed at this and raised the whip higher, ready to strike,
"Inigo, you don't know me enough to know if I am a murderer or not. Besides, he killed everyone I care about." "He said, voiice
shaking slightly, "Mere-Glim, Khash, my grandmother; all gone... because of him!"
Inigo pleaded with him to see reason; that seeking revenge on the Doomstrider won't solve anything. He urged Hasir to ask the
smirking black khajiit who made the mead hall a mess. Hasir let out a low growl,
"Fine, you blasted cat, I'll play by your rules." He flung himself at the Doomstrider, grabbing him by the throat, pinning him to the
wall.
Inigo stared in disbelief at Hasir. He refused to believe this was the same reptile who acted so jovial on their first meeting,
"My friend, I thought-" He started to say but a horrible scream tore through the air as Hasir's flame whip moved diagonally down his
black armor with a large skull etched into it. The khajiit gritted his teeth and glared at the Argonian asking why he was doing this.
Hasir released him and sheathed his flame whip,
"I know it was you who trashed Jorrvaskr. If not, then maybe you buddies in the Silver Hand had a 'party' her, and by party I mean
they broke in here, turned the whole damn place upside down and took something. Perhaps, it was something valuable that they
stole. Were they looking for... this perhaps?" He reached into his pocket and extracted a jade symbol containing a pearl held up by a
two-headed dragon, giving to him by Aela back in Dawnstar.
The Doomstrider shook his head; his faced broke out into a merciless grin that made Inigo's fur stand on end,
"No, I aldready took what I seek while you were distracted by the strange scent. In answer to your other question, yes, I ordered the
Silver Hand to ransack this mead hall. Our objective being not the jade piece but the key to Krovaxis. I do need that Akaviri piece
you hold though. My master requires it to help vanquish Skyrim of all the filthy Saxhleel who sullied the bloodline."
Hasir placed the piece back in his pocket and moved into a fighting stance, snarling a the Doomstrider,
"You want it? Come and get it."
The Doomstrider roared with laughter and shook his head,
"I don't need that, I have another way of making you succumb to Bal's will. The reason I really ordered the silver hand to defile this
disgusting place," He cast around, muzzle screwed up in disgust, "was to obtain an alltmer who dares to destroy lycanthropes. She
even defied my master further by siding with thos filthy dogs instead of becoming a vampire like those of her anscestors."
The argonian conjured his flame whip again and attack the Doomstrider with it but the black khajiit evaded this and follow up with
an attack of his own. Hasir sheathed his flame whip and conjured a shield hard as volcanic rock, took the jade stone out of his
pocket and called upon the orange dragon he used earlier in the fight against the priest of domination..
After a few seconds, the shield liquified and melted to reval a nine foot tall werewolf. The doomstrider smiled,
"So, wolf, you managed to turn yourself in voluntairly, what a brave but, altogether, stupid move. The black khajiit said, conjuring a
black soulgem out of thin air, "Now, be still while I slowly extract your soul."
The wolf snarled at the Doomstrider. The khajiit set the black soulgem on the table bside him and conjured his soulfire. Before he
could do anything, Twilight was upon him, slashing and biting at the black Khajiit who turned into black smoke and drifted through
the opening under the door leading out to the main room of the hall. Twilight snarled at this and ran upstairs in his search for the
red-eyed khajiit. Inigo and Affraji followed him.
When they reached the top of the stairs, they saw Twilight let lloose a terrifying growl as he leapt at the Doomstrider. Inigo saw this
and ran at th wolf; grabbing his tail. Inigo felt the silverware ratlle as the big werewolf landed face down on the hall's floor. Twilgiht
got to his paws and growled at Inigo. The blue khajiit glanced apologetically at the werewolf,
"My friend... I did not mean to yank your tail but perhaps we shhould listen to him before we... jump to any conclusions," Inigo said,
smirking at his clever attempt at a pun, "In all seriousness though, we should let him put all his fish in a row before we attack him,
don't you agree?"
Twilight grunted and rolled onto his stomach. Inigo screwed his face up in confusion but pet the werewolf on the belly all while the
werewolf howled with delight, tongue hanging out of his mouth his tail wagging side to side in excitement. Inigo thought this was
strange as he had never seen a werewolf act this strange. He'd all been told by his parents that they were viscious killers not
overgrown puppies wanting bellyrubs. He made to pull away but the Twilight pawed at him and whined. Inigo sighed and scratched
him behind his ear. He groaned as Twilight began to scratch a phantom itch on his hind quarters in enjoyment.
Inigo took this obscene behavior as either submission or ackowledgement of his point being right and demanded the 'dog' to get up
or at the very least transform so he was not seen as an idiot in front of the Doomstrider. Twilight tranformed in an Argonian and the
two of them walked over and sat next to the Doomstrider.
Inigo shot an angry glance at Haisr who looked ashamed of himself, tail tucked tightly between his legs,
"Mind telling me what that was back there? We have a situation here and you were acting like an overgrown dog."
Hasir stated firmly that dogs and wolvs were essentially the same thing; just seperated by a few years of inbreeding. Inigo sighed
and facepalmed,
"I know what commonalities dogs and wolves have, you idiot! What I meant was, why did you act like that when you know we've got
something important to do?" He said, quite irritably
Hasir chuckled, his tail relaxing a bit,
"Come of it, I was just having a bit of fun... besides, Twilight, it turns out, really likes belly rubs and ear scratches."
Inigo sighed and pounded the table with his fist,
"My friend... can we please stay on track here?"
Over the next few minutes both he and Hasir took turned asking the Doomstrider questions and why he wanted the temple key and
if there was anyone besides Ceralyne that the Silver Hand kkidnapped and brought to the temple.
At this, the black-furred khajiit grinned toothily,
"I could tell you where they are, but that would just ruin the fun, wouldn't it?" He said still grinning, "I saw you colllected all the
masks of domination and are destroying nature conduits one by one. I won't tell you where that is either." He proddd Hasir with a
black clawed finger, "You'll just have to figure all that out by yourself." With those words, he disappeard in a puff of bluish-black
smoke.
Hasir pulled a map out of his bag and set it on the table. Both he and Inigo poured over this to see if they could find out more about
the aproximated location that the Argonian had circled when he figured out the locations of the nature conduits but he nor Inigo
couuld make head nor tails of it. Hasir wasn't even sure he'd circld the right location; for all he knew, the temple might be a few feet
north, south, east or west of the location on the map.
Hasir was fast asleep on the horseshoe table when he heard footsteps behind him. He awoke himself from his slumber to find Affraji
and Aela sitting in chairs on each side of Inigo, beaming at him. Xelzaz took the seat next to the Argonian; asking him about what
they were up to,
"Xelzaz, we've been pouring over this map, trying to discern the exact location of Krovaxis" Hasir''s tail slid across his chair. The
telvanni argonian jumped as he felt something slimy touch his scales, "Hasir, can't you control your tail? I have no intention of
having a snake slither up my arse, thank you." He said, casting a cold glance in Hasir's direction, "Anyway, we, Aela, Affraji and I,
successfully buried Katria at the hall of the dead in Markarth." He placed his hands on the table and interlaced them, "So, are we
ready to set out for the temple? We have the eight dragon masks and the key that you've already showed me."
Hasir's face fell at these words; his tail hung limply behind his chair and fell quiet. Xelzaz noticed this and inquired as to why Hasir
did this,
"Why are you nervous? You did not lose they key, did you?"
Hasir shook his head and said that the silver hand broke into the mead hall and ransacked the place, searching for...something. The
Doomstrider took it from his bag just as he got to Jorrvaskr.
Xelzaz looked aghast at this, "What are you waiting for? We've got to go to Krovaxis. If you do not get the key then all hope of
saving Kynareth's creation is as dark and gloomy as Molag Bal's domain." Hasir stared into the fire burning in the middle of the table,
"That's not all, the silver hand took Ceralyne."
Xelzaz groaned at this and raised a spiky eyebrow at Hasir, and got up and moved towards the main door,
"You could have lead with that first, you daft reptile!" He said, eyes narrowing. He exhaled slowly to settle his nerves, "No matter, I
guess we've better find the key and make all possible haste to Krovaxis. I do hope the silver hand haven't done anything to her."
Hasir got up and walked over to Xelzaz and Inigo and jerked his head toward the mad hall door,
"Well, shall we?" He said. Xelzaz and Inigo nodded. The argonian heard footsteps and turned around. Rakel stood at the top of the
stairs looking confused, "Where are you lot of too?" Hasir gestured her over to them and told her about their plan to sabotage Molag
Bal's temple. She nodded and all four of them, Inigo, Xelzaz, Hasir and Inigo stepped out in Whiterun.
While they made their way to the main gate, Rakel glanced at Hasir,
"So how are we supposed to get to Krovaxis... do you have a key to get in there? Molag Bal isn't stupif, he'll have the temple locked
up tight. Not only that, but he will have ways to keep the temple hidden from prying eyes. He'll have guards posted at the entrance;
daerda I expect."
Inigo fixed Hasir with a worried glance,
"Rakel's right, my friend, we can just go in there blind, we need a plan." He shrugged as a thought occured to him, "We don't even
know where the Doomstrider hid the key; if he hid it at all. Believe me, I wore the Doomstrider for the better part of a few years so I
know the way he thinks." He stopped Hasir as they neared the stables, "Let me take the lead. After I've procured the key, I'll let you
lead us to the temple." Inigo smiled and stuck out his hand, "Deal?"
Hasir looked at his hand for a long while and took his hand,
"deal, but do you know where he hid it. Skyrim is fairly big. This endeavor will be like finding a mountain flower in a haystack."
Inigo patted Hasir on the shoulder and mounted his horse while Hasir and Xelzaz mouted Hasir's reptilian mount. Rakel mounted
her horse and followed the two Argonians and the blue khajiit. She didn't know where Inigo was leading them but she had to trust
him.
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