#hla oad

Eventually, when she came across the mouth of the Odai, she found a target. On the far side two dark elves were bombarding a small shack with arrow after arrow, while a Nord pounded on the door with the pommel of his claymore. Without thinking, before she knew the situation, Ku conjured her spear with a wave of her claw and dove into the waters.

She suddenly jumped from the river onto the rickety patio of the hut, causing the Nord to back up against the door in surprise. She cut off his holler with a Daedric spearhead through his heart.

One of the archers came running, using the hut for cover. He turned the corner, bow drawn, and loosed a steel arrow towards where he had hoped the sudden assailant would be. But Ku was crouched low, and the arrow flew off into the distance. She leveraged the strength of her tail and legs into a powerful upward strike, piercing the dark elf’s head from chin to crown. She couldn’t help but grin as blood sprayed from his mouth onto her face.

The last elf decided it best to keep his distance. As Ku turned the corner, he began to shoot at her from ten yards away. The first arrow Ku narrowly dodged, and then continued marching towards the archer. The second arrow hit her in the chest, unable to pierce the Orcish mail she wore under her robes, but delivered a strong blunt blow. The last arrow the elf would ever loose was feebly drawn, and Ku swatted it aside with an effortless sweep of her spear.

She lingered for a moment among the dead, satisfied with her work. The terror-mask of the last victim gave her strange peace.

Finally, she rose from her knees and went back to the shack’s door. She retrieved her spear from Oblivion and gently knocked with its butt. “Hello?” Silence. She knocked again. “They’re gone now. I killed them.” Still, no response.

Maybe one of those arrows got to them, she considered. She tried the knob and sighed. She leaned her spear against the doorframe and created a glowing magical key from her fingertips. The key fit the lock perfectly. She slowly opened the door, spearhead first.

The room was dark and empty, save for a dark elf crouched behind an overturned table. He stood with both hands raised and empty. “Ah, Argonian,” he said, “it is too late.” He nodded towards the floor.

Ku quickly waved her hand in front of her face, enhancing her vision. In the magical brightness, she saw a Khajiit and dark elf lying dead on the floor. Both wore slave bracers.

She pointed the spear across the room, the tip placed against the living elf’s throat. He did not react.

“I was trying to save them,” he whispered, through a gravelly Vvardenfell accent. “I’m with the Twin Lamps, serjo.”

“Twin Lamps?” Ku did not yet remove the pressure on the elf’s neck.

“We’re an abolitionist group.” He looked to the ceiling of the shack. “You can kill me if you want. I couldn’t even break the law successfully, it seems.”

The dust shaken from the planks by the barrage of arrows settled on everything in room, including the slaves’ corpses. Ku dematerialized her spear.

“I was a slave, once,” she said, lifting the Khajiit’s bracer-bound wrist idly, not looking up at the abolitionist. “Then I was … an abolitionist, of a sort.”

“Was?” The dark elf sat down next to the Khajiit’s body, leaning back against the wall.

“Started a revolt. Everyone I loved died. Went to prison.” She dropped the bracer with a loud thud on the floor. She stared at the bead of blood she had apparently drawn from the abolitionist’s neck. “Your kind are too cruel. You take us from our homes. Us root-kin, and the hajhiit too. Even your own kind. You abuse us for your profit. Now you seek some kind of redemption?”

The abolitionist’s eyes roamed the room.

“All you get is people killed. Innocent people. You dark elves will never give up your ‘birthright’. The Empire will even help you enforce it. You’re a fool to walk that river’s edge. It is too strong and filled with foul waters. And you really think you can do anything to stop it? ”

The dark elf locked eyes with Ku. “Then why are you here? Why did you kill those slave hunters?”

Ku-vastei flared her nostrils and widened her pupils at him, but could say nothing. They sat in silence, among the dead - innocent and guilty.

Finally, the abolitionist stood to leave. “I should return to Stendarr’s Retreat to let them know.” He stopped at the door and looked back at Ku, who still knelt by the Khajiit. “You should visit sometime. It’s just north of Vivec. If someone asks you, ‘Have you seen the Twin Lamps?’, say ‘The light the way to freedom.’ That’s how they’ll know you’re a friend.

“I hope to see you there, muthsera.”

In smell of sea, dust, and blood, Ku-vastei remained in the shack as the morning ran into evening.

- - -

this is sort of a prologue story to another story i plan to write, about rabinna the khajiit from hla oad. that scenario may be familiar to people who have played morrowind, as i’m writing down ku’s particular experience with that quest.