Hasir narrowed his eyes threateningly at Nerethi and asked him to call his guards off because the slaves weren't doing anything
harmful. Nerethi looked at him menacingly and, sneering at him, told the Argonian if he did, Nerethi and his guards would be upon
him like kwama foragers on dung.
Hasir's face hardened at he thought on this rather disturbing image,
"What?" he spluttered, "Are all slave drivers vampires?"
Nerethi glowered at this. Hasir grimaced as if Nerethi had dealt him an emotional blow,
"I'm sorry, I meant, er, are all dunmer vampires? I didn't mean..."
His face sonftened a bit and his eyes fell to the ground,
"No, all dunmer are not vampires. We were just promised by Molag Bal that in exchange for our help in ridding Tamriel of
werewolves, he would allow us access to more slaves."
Hasir's brow furrowed as if this thought caused his brain distress,
"You elves make me sick, thinking you can just lord your superiority over other races and give them jobs that are beneath you while
you just sit in your luxurious manors and towers? That is just sick."
Nerethi delivered a sharp kick to Hasir's knees, causing them to buckle,
"How dare you tell me what I should be doing, you filthy swamp scum!" Hasir's knees banged painfully off of the hard wooden deck,
causing him to hiss in pain. Hasir tried to get up but felt immense pressure on his back as one of the burly guard's boots dug into his
back, forcing him back down.
Nerethi bent down and sneered at the Argonian,
"Duke Vedam Dren signed the executive order to allow salvery of Vvardenfell, if you have a complaint take it up with him." He
considered his words for a moment, "not that it would ddo you any good, he will not listening to anything a lowly lizard like you has
to say, so I guess you're stuck, much like the countless other slaves on the island who are too scared to speak against him or his
brother."
Hasir struggled to his feet again, only to by forced back down by the bonemold boots, which dug deeper into his scale this time,
"You dunmer really are monsters, you know that? I mean, forcing Tamrielites to do back-breaking labor that will mostly likely kill
them? That is just wrong, have you no moral compass?"
The dunmer lent close to the Argonian and imparted information that Hasir had not known about but still infuriated him,
"We buy slaves from all over, we especially like buying Argonians and Khajiit because of their resistance to various types of
climates, climates which would prove harzardous to the other races of Tamriel." He bent down and lifted Hasir's chin with a long,
grey finger, "Cats are well suited for all kinds of menial labor." He inhaled sharply. "Scaleskins? well they are more suited for more
harsh evironments and as such are more apt to be found working in mines, in the caves under red mountain, things like that. Get
the picture now?"
The Argonian snarled and snapped at the dunmer,
"I think you are pompous assholes who do not care for other races." He hissed. One of the dunmer flanking Nerethi delivered a sharp
kick to Hasir's ribs, knock the air of off him, "That was for not knowing your place lizard!" He said, spitting in the spluttering
Argonian's face.
Hasir spat blood at Nerethi and snarled threateningly,
"Soon enough," He said through bloody teeth, "There will be an uprising where all the slaves will overthrow your twisted regime, you
can bet on that."
Nerethi kicked the Argonian hard in the ribs, Hasir could hear some of them shattering under the force of the blow,
"If such a revolt is organized, which I highly doubt, than all the guards in Vvardenfell will force it to stop in its tracks." He said
matter-of-factly.
Hasir coughed up a mix of phlegm and blood,
"You elves sicken me, thinking yourselves above everyone else, I hope you know Molag Bal will desert you just like he does anything
that he does not particularly care for." He spat a second mouthful of blood on the deck, "Yeah, that's right, Molag Bal does not much
care for the troubles of mortals, he only intervenes when there is something in it for him."
Nerethi's face reddened as he punched to Hasir hard in the stomach. The Argonian groaned in pain but never lost his defiance,
"Yeah, that's right Molag Bal does not care about you, no," He grimaced as he tried to sit up, even that was painful, he sank into a
more comfortable position, "sorry to burst your bubble, but many daedric princes could care less about the affairs of mortals. All of
them... except for one and I doubt he'll be pleased with you helping to rid Tamriel of his... children."
The dunmer's face screwed up in anger as he kicked the Argonian hard in the ribs again, causing even more blood to spew across
the deck,
"You dirtied the dock of my ship you n'wah!" He yelled through clenched teeth, "Now you will have to clean it, in fact, for good
measure, scrub the entire deck."
Hasir, clutching his broken ribs, felt for a handhold to help him to his feet. He was far from the confident Argonian that had boarded
the black adder days previously,
"You...you can't do that!" Hasir stuttered weakly, pain coursing through him, "If anything, you should clean it, it's your mess."
Nerethi kicked the Argonian sharply again causing him to grimace in agony,
"Don't you talk back to me." He gestured tto the ship as a while, "This is my ship, so what I say goes, got it?" He forcibly grabbed
one of Hasir's bone spikes and lifted him off the deck, "I could care less what happens to your kind." Hasir weakly ask about the
Argonians and the khajiit on the ship, "Shut up." Nerethi hissed, "They know their place, they don't contradict me, unlike you."
Nerethi sneered at Hasir, poking him in his already bruised ribs,
"Now I suggest you learn from your fellow slaves lizard, if you don't, there will be nothing left of you for Orvas to enslave, quite a
pity really." He gestured to the male dunmer approaching him, "Put this filth back in his cage, let's see if we can teach this dog to
respect his captors and stay silent instead of mouthing off at every possible chance." He waved the Argonian away, "Get this filth out
of my sight!"
Nerethi grinned to himself as he heard the alternating thumps and hisses and the guard hauled Hasir back down the steps and
toward his cage. Hasir growled and threw himself at the burly dunmmer who dodged out of the way and unsheathed his silver
dagger, glared at Hasir and slashed in the direction of the Argonian. Hasir bent over backwards, narrowly avoiding a lethal blow from
the dagger. The Argonian dropped down and whipped his tail around in a circle knocking the dunmer on his backside like someone
who was not very good at jump rope, or in this case, Argonian tail jumping, and heard the telltale sign of silver clattering on wood.
He glared down at the fallen dunmer who was attempting to right himself again. Hasir had failed to see the other dunmer come up
behind him and deliver a well-aimed chop to his neck, Hasir went limp as a dead fish as he was thrown into his cage.
Hours pased and Hasir's eyes fluttered open. He was vaguely aware that someone was looking at him,
"Sleep well, lizard? Good." Nerethi said, smiling his awful smile, "we will need you well rested for the last leg of our journey to Dren
plantation where you and you rotten lizard and feline friends will be among the other slaves we have procured over the years." He
laughed and shook his head, "I forget, well will not be going to Dren plantation with the other slaves." His smiled broadened, "We
have a special place for slaves that constantly talk back to their slavers and don't listen to a word they tell them. That place is called
Caldera Mines. Oh, that's right," He said, nodded as if to answer Hasir's confused expression, "your friends are coming too, so you
will not be alone."
Hasir ran as fast as he could, past Nerethi and toward the trap door that lead to the deck, his hope was to jump off the ship and
swim, he stopped, he hadn't thought that far ahead yet, now, though, he had to focus on getting out of the cargo hold and reuniting
with Khash and the others.
Twwo guards enclosed his escape route, cutting him off of the path to freedom; they brandished silver sword at him and advancing
on him, forcing him back against the wall. Nerethi came over weilding the silver whip,
"Where do you think you're going?" He said smiling, as if he read Hasir's mind. "There is no escape, no one ever escapes the Black
Adder, those that do have the briefest glimpses of freedom until that hope is ripped from them."
Hasir chuckled as if he found this idea preposterous. Nerethi smiled as he ran a grey hand through his hair and barked a laugh,
"What? You don't think I'm serious? Let me show you what happens to those who defy the Black Adder slavers." He grinned evilly as
his silver whip with its evil-looking silver spear tips, arched through the air. As it soared through the air, it caught the scantest glint
of sunlight.
Nerethi's red eyes bore into the Argonian's unflinting blue ones,
"Time to die swamp scum!" He said with a slight sneer
Hasir stood resolute, unflinching as the flame whip sprang to life in his hands; he stared at the dunmer, a slight smirk on his face,
"Hmmm... I wonder," He said, moving around the confused dunmer, who will win, flame or silver? Will they cancel each other out?
Let's see, shall we?"
Hasir and the dunmer eyed each other, daring the other one to make a move first, the dunmer cracked his whip first, as it cut a path
towards the Argonian's fiery whip, the heat seemed to superheat the silver; noticing this, Nerethi smiled and raked the silver mini
spears along the Argonian's scaly back. The pain was so intense that Hasir sheathed his fiery whip and surrendered.
Seeing triumph on the horizon, Nerethi released the handle of the whip, casting it across the floor and approached the Argonian,
"Well, Argonian, looks like that whip of yours was a failure, hmmm?" He said, grinned broadly. It was then, in all his hubrus that he
made a fatal mistake, he had unknowingly relinquished his weapon.
Seeing this small window of oppurtunity, Hasir ran to the window and grabbed the silver whip; it burned his hand, but he ignored it,
"That was a foolish move. I mean, come on, giving your enemy the tools he requires for retaliation? Nerethi...Nerethi," He said,
shaking his head very slowly, "bad mistake, now I can easily escape."
Nerethi smirked at this, calling Hasir's bluff as he thought this was an empty threat; after all, he knew werewolves cannot hold a
silver weapon,
"Really, you think I will just lay down and let you leave?" I am not that stupid." He said as he leapt at Hasir, silver dagger in hand.
Hasir cracked the whip with expert precision and cleaved the dagger clean in two. Red slash marks appeared on the dunmer's left
cheek as the tiny silver spearheads cut into the dunmer's flesh.
The dunmer yelped and sprang backwards, allowing the Argonian a small window to shoot past him and up to the trap door at the
top of the stairs. He frantically tried the metal handle on the underside of the door and found that it was locked. He cursed his
shortsightedness about not bringing lockpicks with him. He shrugged this rather disheartening thought away with a curt shake of his
scaly head.
He threw his scaly body against the wooden door and heard the sound of wooden splintering as he put more and more stress on the
wood until it burst outwards, flinging bits of wooden across the deck of the ship. Hasir cast about wildly as he searched for any sign
of the other slaves.
He saw them, bound tightly by thick ropes near the port side of the ship. He dashed to the port side of the ship where the guards
had bound the other slaves to try and quell a miniature slave revolt that was in progress. Hasir positioned his claws against the binds
of the first bound Argonian and delivered a quick downward slash and the ropes fell away causing Juleen to grimace in pain,
massaging his hands where the ropes had cut into them.
Juleen thanked him and, on Hasir's instruction, he cut the bonds of Drujeeta while he did the same with Khash's bonds. Hasir told
them all about Nerethi's plan to get revenge on werewolves because one of the dunmer's vampric aldmer ancestors married a
lycanthrope and that Molag Bal wishes to make his vampires pure by ridding Tamriel of the 'rapid dos.' Drujeeta, Juleen and Khash
shared Hasir's confused expression when he first heard about this.
Hasir yelled for them to get into the water in order of them to swim to safety to avoid slavery or even execution,
"Quickly, get into the water. When you get the chance, swim for the mainland and head north, settle in one of the ashlander camps."
They looked at him, worried expressions on their faces. Khash turned to him and asked what he was going to do. Hasir said he would
be joining them after he thought up a plan to stop Nerethi from selling them to whoever wants them to do the unethical act of forced
labor. He cast a quick glance at Nerethi who was joined by his four dunmer henchmen. Hasir hiissed in anger and told his cohorts to
jump for the water. They were all confident in their abilites, everyone except Khash.
Hasir silently came up behind her, tail trailing behind him, and asked her why she was hesitant to jump. She sighed and told him
that she was not sure that she even knew how to be an Argonian anymore. Hasir put his hands on his hips and glared menacingly
at the small Argonian,
"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked her, a trifle scathingly
She looked like a young lizard who got caught with her claw stuck in a jar full of bugs,
"Nothing, I, er, well, I am not sure. I do not know whether I know how to swim anymore."
Hasir shook his head amusedly, patting her on the shoulder,
"Don't worry Khash, just jump and your instincts should take over." He lowered his voice so she could not hear him, "If you have any
instincts, that is." He smiled broadly at her, "You'll be fine, trust me."
Khash took a deep breath, gulped loudly and dove off the ship. She flew through the air with an impressive swan dive despite her
unfounded fears that she was more orc than Argonian ever since Marlock 'adopted' her. To her surprise, however, she hit the water
and the old instincts switched on like a light in a dark room.
She resurfaced to see Hasir surface not too far away from her clapping and grinning widely,
"See, I knew you could do it." He said swimming over to her to punch her playfully in the shoulder. He looked up at the deck of the
ship and saw the dunmer fling ropes over the ship's edge near the Argonians and proceeded to rappel down the side of the ship.
Hasir saw this and swore loud enough for the rest of his group to hear. Drujeeta called from were she floated in the water what was
wrong; Hasir shouted back that the guards were in hot pursuit and he instructed for the Argonians to scatter, that way what would
have been an easy capture would be made that much more difficult. Above where he floated he could hear Nerethi barking orders to
his soldiers.
The head dunmer dove into the water, resurfaced and yelled at his guards, who were clinging to the ropes as if they were lifevests,
to stop being spineless cowards and jump. They did as he requested; Nerethi told them to split up and that he will pursue the slave
leader and that they should capture the others. The guards saluted and were off. Nerethi turned his attention to the Argonian leader
and swam after him.
Drujeeta, Juleen and Khash knew someone was following them so they sped up. Within half an hour, the dunmer caught up to
them, tied a rope around their hands and hauled them back to the ship.
Nerethi smirked evilly as he swam full pelt toward Hasir who was doing his best to evade him. It was no good, Hasir knew because
he could hear his heavy hands paddling fast toward him. Nerethi took out a net-from where, though, Hasir hadn't the foggiest. Hasir
just had time to gasp and cower when a chitin woven net enveloped him, making him struggle like a shark struggling to get free of
some sort of trap.
Nerethi unsheathed his silver dagger from his belt,
"This oughta slow him down." He said as he threw the silver dagger, it flew in an arc, metal reflected in the moonlight, and caught
Hasir just above the ankle. The Argonian yelped in pain. Nerethi grinned triumphantly and hauled his scaly package back to the ship,
climbed the outer ledges of the ship along with his comrades who had one writhing Argonian each and continued to climb until
they reached the top deck.
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