The Argonian turned his head and snapped at the dunmer a second time,
"Calm down, don't rush me and watch where you're sticking that thing, Hssss!"
The dunmer stop, whipped his red-haired head around so he was face to face with the Argonian,
"Shut up or I will give you something to hiss about." He said, goading the Argonian to move once more, "I can stick this sword
wherever I want, so shut up and move!" He yelled at the annoyed Argonian.
Hasir begrudingly moved toward the trap door that the dumner was forcing him toward. Up on deck, Nereth Hlaalu released his
pressure on Hasir's back. The Argonian felt the silvery sword retract from his back and saw his captor walk down the newly
lowered gangplank onto a long tree branch cut in half that served as the dock. He motioned for the bound Argonian to follow him.
Hasir rolled his eyes and gave a sigh that sounded like a hiss and moved onto the tree branch dock.
He followed the dunmer's backside as ascended the wooden steps and went into a large house pod situated not far from the harbor.
When he crossed the threshold, Hasir looked around with narrowed eyes; the eyes of one who did not trust his surroundings. A desk
stood on the wall to which Hasir was looking. He scanned the room and not far from the desk against the end of the housepod were
five rusty iron cages; four of which were full. Hasir's gasped as he beheld the inhabitants of the cages that looked like they were
denied food and drink for weeks. In the cage nearest the desk was a young Argonian teenager who, upon closer inspection,
looked to be around the age or twelve or thirteen. The other two cages held two full grown Argonians. The one before the last, Hasir
saw, held an elderly khajiit whose fur turned grey; Hasir thought he had been here the longest.
Nereth Hlaalu threw Hasir into the last cage so hard that he hit the end and crumbled to the floor. He got up, looked at his captor
and pleaded with him to let not just him go, but the Khajiit and the three Argonian. Nereth looked at him with contempt and
laughed,
"Why? So you can go free and continue stinking up Tamriel with your filth?" He laughed high and cold, "I think your ilk, along with
those cat-person at the end will be wonderful addition to our workforce." He spat in Hasir's face, "Well, tomorrow, Veloth Dren will be
here and so will his brother Romdyn to check you and your 'friends' out and see who is of value and who is..." He sneered at the
aged khajiit "...beyond saving." He turned back to Hasir, "well, have a good night, as good as you can do in a small cage like that."
He laughed as he walked out of the building.
Hasir sighed and slid down the cage putting his head in his hands, sobbing. Hasir perked up as he heard movement in one of the
cages. He tried to spin around to see who got up, but the cage made such movement impossible. The Argonian female looked over
at Hasir; her cage seemed to have more a bit room than his,
"Greeting friend, My name is Kash, what's yours?" she had to raise her voice a bitbecause of the distance between her and the
recipient. "May I ask where you are from?"
Hasir tried to manuver himself so he was in her line of sight; with great effort he managed to do so,
"Nice to meet you Khash, I am Hasir, from the swampy region of Blackmarsh, where are you from?" The Argonian told him she was
originally from Blackmarsh as well but after someone or something that killed her parents, she was brought to Orsinium by her new
protector.
Hasir brow furrowed, an impressive feat considering how compact his cage was,
"Who brought you to Orisinium?" He eyed her curiosly. She told him that her protector Murdoch brought her to the great walled city
as an egg. She also told him of how the orc raised her as if she was his own. She told Hasir that he did not even shun her because of
her birth defect.
Hasir eyed her with growing concern,
"Birth defect, What do you--?" He began but stopped as his eyes saw nothing where a scaly reptilian tail should be, she looked like a
fly whose wing had been plucked forcibly from its body.
Khash turned to him and glared at him,
"Staring is rude you know." She than noticed he was staring at her lack of a tail and shrugged it off as it were nothing, "Listen you
insolent, rude lizard, I do not know who you are but I am happy with my 'birth defect' I hardly even notice it."
Hasir' gaped at her; not once has a girl or a female of any race call him rude before,
"I'm sorry, I..." He stammered, trying to find the words to express his feelings. He took a deep breath and started again, "What I
mean to say isss...how exactly did you hatch without a tail?"
Khash ignored him as she thought this was a jab at her self-esteem. He asked again; she finally broke down and answered,
"My tail was, ermmm..." She thought on this a while, "You know, I do not know why I was born without a tail exactly."
She thought on this, remembered asking the orc who had taken her in about this. He didn't know the answer either. Hasir raised his
hands,
"Ok, forget I asked. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said, frowning
Khash turned to him and smiled,
"No, no, it's okay, it's just," She screwed up her face trying to remember, "I don't think I can remember that far back exactly."
Khash did tell Hasir all that she could remember even if she was too small to remember. Marlock saw her bawling her little eyes out
because she was both scared of whether she would get ostracized for Argonian society and what other Argonians would think. The
orc saw her fretting of this mountain she had made of a mud puddle did his best to explain to her that having no tail is not a crutch
but instead as a defining feature that she should wear it as a badge of honor.
Hasir's eyes softened a bit as he hung his head in sorrow,
"Oh, so you were too young then to remember, ok, well, thanks for trying anyway." He said, smirking at her
Khash said it was okay and laid down on the hard cage floor, closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Hasir cast around for a way to
find out who the other creatures in the other cages were. A grey khajiit whom Hasir had thought dead sprang to his feet and starting
demanding that he should not be here; he yelled for anyone's attention but no one came. Hasir turned around and told the khajiit to
calm down as he did not want more trouble than they were in already.
As if he had heard the Argonian, the khajiit's grip loosened on the bars and turned his head in the Argonian's direction,
"Thank you friend, J'rasha is pleased you have freed his mind from going mad. For that you have J'rasha's gratitude." he said as he
tried to bow, groaning pain as his head hit one of wrought iron bars. An idea came to the khajiit, "We have a group that operates in
the region of Blackmarsh.
Hasir eyed him curiously.
"What is this group and what is their purpose?" He inquired, "and who exactly is in this 'group'?" He asked, eyebrows narrowing
J'rasha cleared his throat and told Hasir that the group was formed to combat the forces of Molag Bal and preserve the livehood of all
werewolves. Hasir opened his mouth to speak but the khajiit shook his head abruptly causing Hasir to fall silent, if not a bit annoyed
not having a chance to say what was on his mind,
"The name of this group, the group that I head... well, er, we are called The Brotherhood of the Wolf."
Hasir nodded slowly, though still confused. J'rasha blanked this and gestured to the two Argonians between Khash and Hasir,
"Scaled one, those lizards are also members, the female is Drujeeta and the male is called Juleen, I assume you know them?" He
asked, eyebrow raised. Hasir shook his head implying that he knew neither the male nor the female as he had never seen them
before in his life.
J'rasha nodded and frowned which caused his furry forehead to crinkle a bit,
"Interesting, they know who you are but yet you know nothing of them, hmm..." He said, trailing off impressively
The two Argonian turned toward their nephew and grinned at him. Hasir did nothing but stare at them; for all he knew they could
be imposters that killed his aunt and uncle and took their names as their own.
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