Poison Song , Book I Contents . It was beginning again . Even though everything seemed serene ( the last embers crackling in the hearth ; young servant girl and her child slumbering in a chair by the door ; a tapestry half - finished against the wall , waiting to be completed tomorrow ; one of the moons visible through a milky cloud outside the window ; a lone bird , out of sight in the rafters , cooing placidly ) , Tay heard the first chords of the Song strike dissonantly somewhere far away . The bird in the rafters croaked and took flight through the window . The baby in the girl ' s arms woke and began to scream . The Song swelled in intensity , yet still remained subtle and stately in tempo . The movement of everything seemed to take on the rhythm of the music as if strange choreography had been staged : the girl rising to the window , the clouds reflecting back red from the inferno below , her scream , all muted , consumed by the Song . Everything that came thereafter Tay had seen so many times , it had almost ceased to be a nightmare . He did not remember anything of his life before coming to the island of Gorne , but he understood that there was something different in his past that set him apart from his cousins . It wasn ' t simply that his parents were dead . His cousin Baynarah ' s parents had also died in the War . Nor were the other Housemen on Gorne or nearby Mournhold unusually cruel to him . They treated him with the same polite indifference that any Indoril has for every other eight - year - old boy that got underfoot . But somehow , with absolutely certainty , Tay knew he was alone . Different . Because of a Song he always heard , and his nightmares . “ You ' re certainly imaginative , ” his aunt Ulliah would smile patiently , before waving him away so she could return to her scriptures and chores . “ Different ? Everyone in the world thinks they ' re ' different , ' that ' s what makes it such a common sentiment , ” said his older cousin Kalkorith who was studying to be Temple priest and had a firm grasp on paradoxes . “ If you tell anyone else that you keep hearing music where there ' s no music to be heard , they ' ll call you mad and bury you in the Shrine of Sheogorath , ” his uncle Triffith would snarl , before striding away to attend his business . Only his nursemaid Edebah would listen to him seriously , and just nod with a faint look of pride . But she would never say another word . His cousin and chief playmate Baynarah was by far the least interested in the stories of his Song and his dreams . " How tiresome you are with all this , Tay , " said Baynarah , after luncheon the summer of his eighth year . He , she , and a younger cousin Vaster walked into a clearing in the midst of flowering trees . The grass was very low , barely up to their ankles , and there were big black piles of leaves from the previous autumn . “ Now , shall we get back to it ? What shall we play ? " Tay thought for a moment . " We could play the Siege of Orsinium . " " What ' s that ? " asked Vaster , their constant companion , three years their junior . " Orsinium was the home of the orcs , off in the Wrothgarian Mountains . For hundreds of years , it kept growing bigger and bigger and bigger . The orcs would come down out of the mountains and rape and pillage all over High Rock . And then , King Joile of Daggerfall and Gaiden Shinji of the Order of Diagna and someone else , I forget , from Sentinel all joined together against Orsinium . For thirty years they fought and fought . Orsinium had walls made out of iron and , try as they might , they couldn ' t break through . " " So what happened ? " asked Baynarah . " You ' re so good at making up things that never happened , why don ' t you make it up ? " So they did . Tay was the King of the Orcs , perched up in a tree they called Orsinium . Baynarah and Vaster played King Joile and Gaiden Shinji and they threw pebbles and sticks up at Tay while he taunted them in his most guttural voice . The three decided that the Goddess Kynareth ( played by Baynarah in dual role ) answered the prayers of Gaiden Shinji and drenched Orsinium in a torrent of rain . The walls rusted and dissolved . On cue , Tay obligingly fell from the tree and let King Joile and Gaiden Shinji mangle him with their enchanted blades . For the most of that summer , the year 675 of the First Era , Tay was nearly insensible by the power of the sun . There were no clouds , but it rained most every night , so the vegetation on the island of Gorne was bewildering lush . The stones themselves seemed to glow with sunlight , and the ditches burned with white meadowsweet and parsleydown ; all around him were soft smells of flower and tree untroubled by wind ; the foliage was purple green , blue green , ash green , white green . The wide cupolas , twisting cobbled streets , and thatched roofs of the little village of Gorne , and massive bleached rock of Sandil House all were magical to him . Yet the dreams haunted his nights and the Song continued whether he was awake or not . Against Aunt Ulliah ' s admonishments , Tay , Baynarah , and Vaster had breakfast outdoors every morning with the servants . Ulliah would hold an interior breakfast for herself and any visiting dignitaries : guests were rare , so she often ate alone . At first the servants would dine in silence , attempting gentility , but they broke down and would regale the children with gossip , reports , stories , and rumors . " Poor Arnyle is laid up with a fever again . " " I ' m telling you , they ' re cursed . The whole lot of ' em . Piss on the faerie and they piss right back on you . " " Doesn ' t Little Miss Starsia look , oh , just a wee bit tight around the belly region late - ly ? " " She ' s not ! " The only servant who didn ' t speak at all was Tay ' s nursemaid Edebah . She wasn ' t pretty like the other maids , but the scars on her face did not deform her . Her poorly set broken nose and her short hair gave her a certain alien mystique . She would merely quietly smile at the gossip , and look at Tay with almost frightening love and devotion . One day , after breakfast , Baynarah whispered to Tay and Vaster , " We have to go to the hills on the other side of the island . " She had used such imperatives before and always had something wonderful to show : a waterfall , tucked away behind ferns and tall rocks ; a sunny grove of figs ; a discreet still some peasants had set up ; a sickly oak , twisted into a kneeling human figure ; a collapsed stone wall that they imagined was thousands of years old , the last refuge of a doomed princess they named Merella . The three walked across through the forest until they came to a clearing . A few hundred feet beyond , the meadow sank to a dry creek bed , filled with small , smooth stones . They followed that into the dark woods where trees canopied high over their heads . Sporadic red and yellow blossoms burst along the moist underbrush , but they became rarer and rarer as the children marched on under the umbrageous oaks and elms . The air crackled with birds ticking a staccato choral piece , a minor chord of the Song . “ Where are we going ? ” asked Tay . " “ It ' s not where we ' re going , it ' s what we ' re going to see , ” replied Baynarah . " The forest surrounded the three children completely , bathed them in its tenebrous hues , and breathed on them with wet chirrups and sighs . It was easy for them to imagine that they were within a monster , walking along its twisted spine of stones . Baynarah scrambled up the steep hill and peered through the thick mass of shrub and tree . Tay lifted Vaster out of the creek bed and climbed out , gripping soft grass for support . There was no path through the forest here . Brambles and low hanging branches struck at them like the claws of chained beasts . The cries of the birds became ever more stentorious , as if angered at the invasion . One limb drew blood on Vaster ' s cheek , but he didn ' t cry out . Even Baynarah , who could pass like an ethereal creature through impenetrable forests , had a braid catch on a bramble , ruining the intricate pattern a servant had woven hours before . She paused to pull out the other braid , so her bright unruly tresses fell freely behind her . Now she was something wild , a nymph guiding the other two through her woodland domain . The Song began to beat like a wild pulse . They were on a shelf of stone below a cliff overlooking a tremendous gorge , staring over an expanse of cinder . It looked like the scene of a tremendous battle , a holocaust of fire . Charred boxes , weaponry , animal bones , and detritus too annihilated to be identifiable littered the ground . Speechless , Tay and Vaster stepped into the black field . Baynarah smiled , proud that she had finally found something of true wonder and mystery . “ What is this place ? ” asked Vaster at last . “ I don ' t know , ” Baynarah shrugged . “ I thought at first that it was some kind of ruin , but now I think it ' s a junk pile , just not like any junk pile I ' ve ever seen . Just look at this stuff . ” The three began an unorganized survey of the dusty mounds of refuse . Baynarah found a twisted sword only lightly blackened by flame and began polishing it to read the inscriptions on the blade . Vaster amused himself by breaking brittle boxes with his hands and feet , imagining himself a giant of unbelievable strength . A battered shield attracted Tay : there was something about it that reverberated with the sound of the Song . He pulled it out , and wiped its surface clean . “ I ' ve never seen that crest before , ” said Baynarah , looking over Tay ' s shoulder . “ I think I have , but I don ' t remember , ” Tay whispered , trying to conjure the memory from his dreams . He was sure he had seen it there . “ Look at this ! ” Vaster cried , interrupting Tay ' s thoughts . The boy was holding up a crystal orb . As his hand moved over the surface , brushing away grit and dust , a key in the Song rose which sent a shiver through Tay ' s entire body . Baynarah ran over to look at Vaster ' s treasure , but Tay felt paralyzed . “ Where did you find that ? ” she gasped , gazing into the swirl beneath the crystal surface . “ Over in that wagon , ” Vaster gestured toward a heap of blackened wood , barely discernible from the other piles but for its cart spokes . Baynarah began digging into the half - collapsed structure , so only her feet could be seen . The Song built in potency , sweeping over Tay . He began walking toward Vaster slowly . “ Give me that , ” he whispered in a voice he could barely recognize as his own . “ No , ” Vaster whispered back , his eyes locked on the colors reflected in the heart of the globe . “ It ' s mine . ” Baynarah dug through the remains of the wagon for several more minutes , but she could find no treasures like Vaster ' s . Most everything within was destroyed , and what remained was common - place by any standards : broken arrows , armor shards , guar bones . Frustrated , she pulled herself out into the sunlight . Tay was alone , at the edge of the great gorge . “ Where ' s Vaster ? ” Tay blinked and then turned back to his cousin with a shrug and a grin : “ He went back to show everyone his new plunder . Did you find anything interesting ? ” “ Not really , ” said Baynarah . “ We probably ought to get back home before Vaster tells them anything that ' ll get us in trouble . ” Tay and Baynarah started the walk back at a quick pace . Tay knew that Vaster would not be there when they got back . He would never be returning home again . The crystal globe rested snugly in Tay ' s satchel , hidden under a pile of junk he had picked up . With all his heart , he prayed for the Song to return and drown out the memory of the gorge and the long , silent fall down . The boy had been so surprised , he hadn ' t even time to scream . ' I ' m here . The Gorge will know me by Miz . And so will you . ' said a voice inside Tay ' s head . ' You shall die as in the suffering slavery of Ann Marie . . . ' Tay collapsed to the floor , unable to escape his uncontrolled terror ' Or . . . become a soldier , and you will become the most powerful , yet the most hated mortal in Tamriel . ' After waking up a few moments after constant surroundings of the maids and Baynarath , Tay knew that he would be part of the siege . Tay heard the fading voice with the last words ' You . Are . Miz . ' ' What is to come is his inevitable , yet unpredictable fate . Through madness , therefore his corruption slowly builds , with the song . '