The dunmer soldiers called in alarm as they caught sight of Kris and the Argonian. There was a clatter of steel and the creak of bowstings being drawn. Clearly the arrival of the Vorn and the wounded Thalmor had raised their alert. Kris raised her hand above her head in what she hoped was a friendly guesture. She hadn’t considered that she might be filled with arrows by nervous guards, but she supposed that even if she had it wouldn’t alter her course.

The gates between the two towers swung open on squealing hinges. A half dozen dunmer carrying torches rushed forth. They wore a mismatch of armor and carried a variety of weapons but each of them wore a cloak of russet and scarlet and bore the flaming sigil of Black Light. Kris gripped the rope that tethered Dax and kept her other hand raised in a peaceful gesture. She had known dunmer in the legion, but they were by and large renegades and exiles. The natives of Morrowind were considerably touchier, clanish and proud. She did not care for them over much.

“Drop your weapons!” the a grizzled sergeant called in accented Imperial.
“And fuck you as well,” Kris called back cheerfuly, as Dark Elf soldiers ringed her with steel.

“I captured this slave,” she explained, thrusting Dax forward but not releasing the rope.

“The city has a bounty for their return does it not?” she called, refusing to be intimidated by the glowering soldiers. In truth she did not know that, but most cities and towns she had visited in Morrowind had such a reward. The sergeant seemed to hesitate for a moment, before barking out an order in his own tongue. The soldiers sheathed their weapons with obvious reluctance. They were escorted into the base of one of the towers. The room was small and spartan with a floor of dried straw. A rough looking table and a trio of cots lay against the far wall. Pikes were propped against the wall in careless profusion along with bundles of wickedly barbed arrows. The dunmer had clearly been preparing to go after the escaped slaves, but hand’t been willing to rush off without preparation. 

“You captured this slave? Where,” the seagreant demanded gruffly. Kris made a show of glancing around the room and taking her time to answer.

“I did, I was coming from the west over the mountains. Ran into him and a bunch of others heading west towards the border.”

“There were a dozen or so, this one came at me with an axe, though he didn’t seem to know how to use it,” she told the dunmer.

“You ran into a dozen slaves and came back with one?” the grizzled elf sneered.

“The others ran off into the western foot hills. I figured one bounty was better than getting my skull stove in by a Khajit with a branch in search of a second.”