Ancient Scrolls of the Dwemer I - A Content . Jalemmil stood in her garden and read the letter her servant had brought her . The bouquet of roses in her hand fell to the ground . For a moment it was as if all birds had ceased to sing and a cloud had passed over the sky . Her carefully cultivated haven seemed to flood over with darkness . " We have thy son , " it read . " We will be in touch with thee shortly with our ransom demands . " Zarek had never made it as far as Akgun after all . One of the brigands on the road , Orcs probably , or accursed Dunmer , must have seen his well - appointed carriage and taken him hostage . Jalemmil clutched at a post for support , wondering if her boy had been hurt . He was but a student , not the sort to fight against well - armed men , but had they beaten him ? It was more than a mother ' s heart could bear . " Don ' t tell me they sent the ransom note so quickly , " called a familiar voice , and a familiar face appeared through the hedge . It was Zarek . Jalemmil hurried to embrace her boy , tears running down her face . " What happened ? " she cried . " I thought thou hadst been kidnapped . " " I was , " said Zarek . " Three huge soaring Nords attacked my carriage on the Frimvorn Pass . Brothers , as I learned , named Mathais , Ulin , and Koorg . Thou shouldst have seen these men , mother . Each one of them would have had trouble fitting through the front door , I can tell thee . " " What happened ? " Jalemmil repeated . " Wert thou rescued ? " " I thought about waiting for that , but I knew they ' d send off a ransom note and I know how thou does worry . So I remembered what my mentor at Akgun always said about remaining calm , observing thy surroundings , and looking for thy opponent ' s weakness , " Zarek grinned . " It took a while , though , because these fellows were truly monsters . And then , when I listened to them bragging to one another , I realized that vanity was their weakness . " " What didst thou do ? " " They had me chained at their camp in the woods not far from Cael on a high knoll overlooking a wide river . I heard one of them , Koorg , telling the others that it would take the better part of an hour to swim across the river and back . They were nodding in agreement when I spoke up . " ' I could swim that river and back in thirty minutes , ' I said . " ' Impossible , ' said Koorg . ' I can swim faster than a little whelp like thee . ' " So it was agreed that we would dive off the cliff , swim to the center island , and return . As we went to our respective rocks , Koorg took it upon himself to lecture me about all the fine points of swimming : the importance of synchronized movements of the arms and legs for maximum speed , and how essential it was to breathe after only the third or fourth stroke , not too often to slow thyself down , but not too little to lose one ' s air . I nodded and agreed to all his fine points . Then we dove off the cliffs . I made it to the island and back in a little over an hour , but Koorg never returned . He had dashed his brains at the rocks at the base of the cliff . I had noticed the telltale signs of underwater rocks and had taken the diving rock on the right . " " But thou returned ? " asked Jalemmil , astounded . " Was that not when thou escaped ? " " It was too risky to escape then , " said Zarek . " They could have easily caught me again , and I wasn ' t keen to be blamed for Koorg ' s disappearance . I said I did not know what happened to him , and after some searching , they decided he had forgotten about the race and had swum ashore to hunt for food . They could not see how I could have had anything to do with his disappearance , as fully visible as I was throughout my swim . The two brothers began making camp along the rocky cliff - edge , picking an ideal location so that I would not be able to escape . " One of the brothers , Mathais , began commenting on the quality of the soil and the gradual incline of the rock that circled around the bay below . It was ideal , he said , for a foot race . I expressed my ignorance of the sport , and he was keen to give me details of the proper technique for running a race . He made absurd faces , showing how one must breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth ; how to bend one ' s knees to the proper angle on the rise , and the importance of sure foot placement . Most important , he explained , was that one must keep an aggressive but not too strenuous pace if one intends to win . It is fine to run in second place through the race , he said , provided one has the willpower and strength to pull out in the end . " I was an enthusiastic student , and Mathais decided that we ought to run a quick race around the edge of the bay before night fell . Ulin told us to bring some firewood when we came back . We began at once down the path , skirting the cliff below . I followed his advice about breath , gait , and foot placement , but I ran with all my power right from the start . Despite his much longer legs , I was a few paces ahead as we rounded the first corner . " With his eyes on my back , Mathais did not see the gap in the rock that I jumped over . He plummeted over the cliff before he had a chance to cry out . I spent a few minutes gathering some twigs before I returned to Ulin at camp . "