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Fall from High Rock	By : mistressarachnia Category: +A through F > Elder Scrolls - Morrowind Views: 4940 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls universe belongs to Bethesda. Alyssa Elbert belongs to me. I make no money from writing about her adventures.

Chapter List
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Fall from High Rock
�May
you live in interesting times� � ancient Dunmer curse

Chapter
1: The Refugee
Lightning flashed
across the sky in a menacing arc, ripping the sky in two.� As Alyssa looked
down the green mountain at her hometown of Daggerfall, she could barely
recognize it.� The wind and rain of the storm masked the tears streaking down
her cheeks, and her long wavy auburn brown hair blew into her eyes despite her
attempts to hold it back.� She just wanted one last look at her childhood home,
but it was gone already.� Something had changed there and nothing she could say
or do would bring it back.
A lot had changed
actually.� She had often pictured her homecoming as a joyous occasion, with her
parents running out of their woodland castle to greet her, their eyes beaming
with pride for her scholarly accomplishments at graduation.� They would hang
her medals and diploma next to those of her older sister over the mantleplace
above the hearth.� They had been so proud when she had been accepted at the Arcane
University in the Imperial City of Cyrodiil, the best school of its kind, just
as her sister Edwinna had eight years prior.� She was from a long line of
famous mages and scholars, a fact which was not lost on the students and
teachers at the university when they heard her name, �Alyssa Elbert.�� Everyone
expected her to be the next rising star.� For a while, she wondered if she
could live up to their expectations, but her worries seemed to vanish when she
discovered that magic indeed flowed through her veins like blood and she saw
her hard work pay off time and time again.
Alyssa was a good
student, one of the best in her class at the Arcane University, but she was far
from graduation.� And now it looked like she would never see that day.� She was
a mere apprentice - albeit a promising one - a young Breton girl of only 16
years.� She thought she had her whole life in front of her.� She had plenty of
friends at the University and even a boy waiting for her of whom she was very
fond indeed.� She blushed to think of him.� But that was all gone now.
�Come along, miss,
we haven�t much time,� a gruff voice insisted urgently over the rushing wind
and rain, breaking her train of thought and bringing her back to the present.�
She tore her eyes away from Daggerfall and looked up at the rough face of a
middle-aged Imperial guard.� There were three of them there escorting her from
the University to Daggerfall, and now from Daggerfall to Northpoint where she
would be taken on an Imperial ship east to the island of Vvardenfell.
�Here, let me help
you up onto that horse,� another offered, placing his rough hands around her
slender waist and hoisting her up onto the white mare before her.�
�Thank you,� she
tried to smile, but her mouth was set in a grimace, tears still flowing down
her cheeks, lost in the rain.� After all, she had come back to Daggerfall not
as an accomplished mage, but as a mourner.� Her parents had not run out to
greet her with warm hugs and soft kisses, but instead lay cold as ice on marble
slabs in their family tomb.� There was nothing left of them but lifeless
corpses now.� And she was leaving not as a wizardly scholar off to accomplish
great otherworldly feats, but as a lowly refugee.� She had not even been
allowed to see the bodies of her parents to say goodbye.� It was said they were
mangled beyond recognition in the attack on the Daggerfall Mages Guild and
Elbert family castle.� The coroner was afraid of scarring the young apprentice
mage further when she arrived under armed guard and so with a look of pity in
his old eyes, suggested that Alyssa remember her parents as they were and
attend the bodiless ceremony at their tomb instead.� She did not need the image
of the burnt mangled corpses of her parents seared into her memory for all
eternity.� Perhaps he was right.� She had enough worries on her mind, enough
tragedy in her heart at age 16 to last a lifetime.
Alyssa tore her
eyes away from Daggerfall as her mare started to gallop.� The image of the
rainy coastal city looked more menacing than comforting tonight.� She wondered
if she would ever see it again.� She had asked this question of the guards when
they came to collect her from the University for one final visit to her
homeland.�
�Probably not,�
they had answered simply.� It wasn�t safe for her there anymore.� They wouldn�t
even tell her where she was going until she had collected her things and had
left the dormitories, hugging her young red-haired Altmer roommate goodbye for,
perhaps, the last time.� It was then, in the arms of her tall golden-skinned
roommate, that she had finally burst into tears as the realization of her fate
hit her.� Her parents, along with the rest of the Daggerfall Mages Guild and
staff of the Elbert Castle, were all dead.� The Dark Brotherhood was suspect,
but no one knew who was behind the plot, or why the Elberts were wanted dead.�
She would never see her friends again.� She would never see her teachers
again.� She would never see her lover again.� She would never graduate from the
University.� She had no idea where she was going or what fate had in store for
her.� As she walked through the halls, tears streaming down her cheeks, she
could barely look up at the faces of her teachers and fellow students who had
gathered in the halls to see her go, their eyes filled with pity.� Her cheeks
burned red.� She did not want to be seen in such a state, and she tried to
choke back her tears.
Aaron, a fellow
Breton whom she had grown quite attached to over the past few months, ran up to
her and embraced her, pressing a note into the palm of her hand before the
guards pulled them apart stating coldly, �Stand aside, we haven�t much time.�� So
much for romance.� She managed to flash him a small smile under her tears.�
When she looked into his eyes, however, she remembered feeling a slight
surprise at the sunny smile that met hers.� He looked more intrigued than
concerned, but then, that was his personality.� She figured he was probably
trying to cheer her up as usual.� It was only that� well� she likely wouldn�t
be seeing him again.� And he must have known that.� A sharp pain filled her
heart at the thought.� She clutched the note to her breast, slipping it into
her robes before the guards could confiscate it.� But why should they care
anyway?� She was going away, far away.
�Vvardenfell?� she asked
incredulously when they finally told her.� It made sense, but� somehow she had
been expecting to be detained in Cyrodiil under the watchful eye of the
Imperial Guard.� Maybe even when it was discovered who was behind the attacks
on her family she could return� to the University and High Rock.� As they
explained, suddenly the reasoning behind their decision set in.� Dark
Brotherhood attacks were illegal and difficult to trace or stop� were they not
then the Imperial Guard would have done away with the cult by now.� It was not
certain that they would ever learn who had hired the Dark Brotherhood to attack
her family, or why.� Alyssa was not safe in Brotherhood territory, which
encompassed the entirety of the mainland.� On Vvardenfell, the Brotherhood was
kept in check by the legal assassins� guild, the Morag Tong.� Legal
assassination seemed little different to Alyssa than illegal assassination, but
the guards seemed certain in their decision.� The Brotherhood would have a much
more difficult time reaching her in Morrowind.
Furthermore, her
closest remaining family was her sister Edwinna, who currently ran the Imperial
Mages Guild in Ald�ruhn on the large island of Vvardenfell.� To the best of
their knowledge, Edwinna had not been attacked.� As Alyssa was still young, she
should be with family.� Alyssa�s protests fell on silent ears.� Edwinna had a
different personality and differing scholarly interests than Alyssa.� In fact,
Alyssa had not seen her sister Edwinna in several years, not since she had left
High Rock to study the archaeology of the ancient Dwemer of Vvardenfell.� She
was not sure who or what awaited her in the East.� Extinct dwarves, that was
for sure.� They were her sister�s specialty and when she wrote home, it was
virtually all she talked about.� Beyond that, she had little concept of the
alien culture that awaited her in Morrowind.
~*~
�This is your boat,� a youngish
guard announced when they came down from the mountainside and arrived at the
docks.� It was still raining, but the coastal rain was warmer than the
mountainside rain and the wind less harsh.� It was more of a cool sea breeze,
and it felt good against Alyssa�s smooth skin.� A thick mist settled over the
docks and waves lapped at the shore.� The damp air made her clothes stick to
her body and she pulled at them to adjust their fit.� Under her elegant black
riding cloak she was wearing a long black dress, high necked with a lace
overlay.� It was funeral garb for sure, but still elegant and flattering.� The
Breton people rarely wore anything less if they could afford it.� The bodice
was fitted and despite the high neckline did more to accentuate her full
breasts than hide them, giving way to a long loose trailing skirt at the hips.�
She had caught the guards looking at her on more than one occasion, but they
always looked away sternly when she glanced up, an unreadable expression on
their faces.
�Let them look,�
she thought to herself, �Beauty is never something to be ashamed of and indeed
many of my people possess it in abundance.�� She smiled at the thought as the
young guard moved to help her down from her horse.� Her belongings were already
on board the ship.� All she need do was walk aboard and her life as she knew it
would be gone forever.� She sighed, resigned to her fate.� Holding her head
high, she removed her hood and let her cascading auburn brown locks fall in
waves about her face, smoothing them gently with her hands.� She turned and
reached into the purse at her waist, taking out a few gold coins.
�Thank you ever so
much for your trouble,� she smiled at the guard and reached out to hand him the
coins.
�No need,� he
replied simply, �Just doing our duty.�
�Please,� she
insisted as she held her hand out further.� From behind her she heard a sharp
laugh.
�My dear, I thank
you for your generosity, but you�ll be needing that money more than we will
when you dock at Khuul,� came a voice following the laugh.� She turned around
to face the second guard in surprise as the first took her hand to lead her to
the boat.
�Bretons,� mumbled
the third guard to his companion with a smile and a shake of his head.� He
looked amused, although not condescending.� The young guard led her up the
gangplank to the boat, and she gasped as it moved under her.� She had never
been on a boat before.� She let go of the guard�s hands and grabbed onto the
railing of the ship, looking bewildered.
�Don�t worry,� he
said reassuringly, �You�ll get your sea legs in no time.� The captain here will
take good care of you.�� Alyssa smiled, slightly embarrassed that she had not
expected a boat riding on the waves to be so unsteady.� It made sense after
all.� She had just never experienced it firsthand.� Horses and carriages were
her preferred mode of transportation when she was not venturing out on foot.�
As she looked up, another surprise greeted her.� An older Dunmer took her hand
to pull her further onto the boat and a deep voice said �Welcome, Outlander.��
The faint look of surprise vanished from Alyssa�s face as she recognized that
she was looking into the face of the captain of this ship.� Of course it made
sense that Dunmer would be captaining ships bound for Vvardenfell.� Who knew
the waters better, after all?
�Why thank you,�
Alyssa smiled warmly.� �If you would be so kind sir, would you please show me
to my quarters?�
�Certainly,� he
replied in his deep voice, not without warmth.� The guards bid Alyssa farewell
and departed quickly at a gallop on their white stallions, taking her mare in
tow behind them and barely glancing back.� The captain lit a simple three-candled
candelabrum and beckoned her to follow him.� She took another uneasy step as
the heel of her shoe slipped against the hard wood of the ship.� He took her
hand and led her across the deck into a small musty-smelling room.� It was
cold, but it would do.� She noticed that the small bed was heaped with
blankets, old threads for sure, but she could tell that they had once been
ornate designs.� She could see the vast sea outside of her porthole, and little
else.� Her belongings took up most of the small room � clothes mostly.� She
shivered.
�You might want to
dress a little more warmly, the sea can be rough,� the captain suggested, as he
left Alyssa to her room.� She thanked him, closing the door behind him as he
left and settling down onto her musty bed with a sigh.
She could feel the
boat shove off.� The morning sun had just broken above the horizon.� As she
gazed out her small window, the warmth of her breath in contrast to the cold
air outside caused the glass to fog.
�Too bad� she
thought, as the boat turned to set sail for Khuul, �Even my last view of High
Rock will be blurred out of existence.�
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Fall from High Rock