The Argonian Account , Book II Content . Decumus Scotti emerged from the dirt and reeds , exhausted from running , his face and arms sheathed in red fleshflies . Looking back towards Cyrodiil , he saw the bridge disappear beneath the thick black river , and he knew he was not getting back until the tide went down in a few days ' time . The river also held in its adhesive depths his files on the Black Marsh account . He would have to rely on his memory for his contacts in Gideon . Mailic was purposefully striding through the reeds ahead . Flailing ineffectually at the fleshflies , Scotti hurried after him . " We ' re lucky , sir , " said the Redguard , which struck Scotti as an extraordinarily odd thing to say , until his eyes followed where the man ' s finger was pointing . " The caravan is here . " Twenty - one rusted , mud - spattered wagons with rotting wood and wobbly wheels sat half - sunk in the soft earth ahead . A crowd of Argonian s , gray - scaled and gray - eyed , the sort of sullen manual laborers that were common in Cyrodiil , pulled at one of the wagons which had been detached from the others . As Scotti and Mailic came closer , they saw it was filled with a cargo of black berries so decayed that they had become hardly recognizable . . . more a festering jelly than a wagonload of fruit . Yes , they were going to the city of Gideon , and , yes , they said , Scotti could get a ride with them after they were finished unloading this shipment of lumberries . " How long ago were they picked ? " Scotti asked , looking at the wagon ' s rotten produce . " The harvest was in Last Seed , of course , " said the Argonian who seemed to be in charge of the wagon . It was now Sun ' s Dusk , so they had been en route from the fields for a little over two months . Clearly , Scotti thought , there were problems with transportation . But fixing that , after all , was what he was doing here as a representative of Lord Vanech ' s Building Commission . It took close to an hour of the berries rotting even more in the sun for the wagon to be pushed to the side , the wagons in front of it and behind it to be attached to one another , and one of the eight horse s from the front of the caravan to be brought around to the now independent wagon . The laborers moved with dispirited lethargy , and Scotti took the opportunity to inspect the rest of the caravan and talk to his fellow travelers . Four of the wagons had benches in them , fit for uncomfortable riders . All the rest were filled with grain , meat , and vegetation in various stages of corruption . The travelers consisted of the six Argonian laborers , three Imperial merchants so bug - bitten that their skin looked as scaly as the Argonians themselves , and three cloaked fellows who were evidently Dunmer , judging by the red eyes that gleamed in the shadows under their hoods . All were transporting their goods along this , the Imperial Commerce Road . " This is a road ? " Scotti exclaimed , looking at the endless field of reeds that reached up to his chin or higher . " It ' s solid ground , of a sort , " one of the hooded Dunmer shrugged . " The horses eat some of the reed , and sometimes we set fire to it , but it just grows right back up . " Finally , the wagonmaster signaled that the caravan was ready to go , and Scotti took a seat in the third wagon with the other Imperials . He looked around , but Mailic was not on board . " I agreed to get to you to Black Marsh and take you back out , " said the Redguard , who had plumped down a rock in the sea of reeds and was munching on a hairy carrot . " I ' ll be here when you get back . " Scotti frowned , and not only because Mailic had dropped the deferential title " sir " while addressing him . Now he truly knew no one in Black Marsh , but the caravan slowly grinded and bumped forward , so there was no time to argue . A noxious wind blew across the Commerce Road , casting patterns in the endless featureless expanse of reeds . In the distance , there seemed to be mountains , but they constantly shifted , and Scotti realized they were banks of mist and fog . Shadows flitted across the landscape , and when Scotti looked up , he saw they were being cast by giant birds with long , saw - like beaks nearly the size of the rest of their bodies . " Hackwing s , " Chaero Gemullus , an Imperial on Scotti ' s left , who might have been young but looked old and beaten , muttered . " Like everything else in this damnable place , they ' ll eat you if you don ' t keep moving . Beggars pounce down and give you a nasty chop , and then fly off and come back when you ' re mostly dead from blood loss . " Scotti shivered . He hoped they ' d be in Gideon before nightfall . It was then it occurred to him that the sun was on the wrong side of the caravan . " Excuse me , sir , " Scotti called to the wagonmaster . " I thought you said we were going to Gideon ? " " The wagonmaster nodded . " " Why are we going north then , when we should be going south ? " There was no reply but a sigh . Scotti confirmed with his fellow travelers that they too were going to Gideon , and none of them seemed very concerned about the circuitous route to getting there . The seats were hard on his middle - aged back and buttocks , but the bumping rhythm of the caravan , and the hypnotic waving reeds gradually had an effect on him , and Scotti drifted off to sleep . He awoke in the dark some hours later , not sure where he was . The caravan was no longer moving , and he was on the floor , under the bench , next to some small boxes . There were voices , speaking a hissing , clicking language Scotti didn ' t understand , and he peeked out between someone ' s legs to see what was happening . The moons barely pierced the thick mist surrounding the caravan , and Scotti did not have the best angle to see who was talking . For a moment , it looked like the gray wagonmaster was talking to himself , but the darkness had movement and moisture , in fact , glistening scales . It was hard to tell how many of these things there were , but they were big , black , and the more Scotti looked at them , the more details he could see . When one particular detail emerged , huge mouths filled with dripping needle - like fangs , Scotti slipped back under the bench . Their black little eyes had not fallen on him yet . The legs in front of Scotti moved and then began to thrash , as their owner was grabbed and pulled out of the wagon . Scotti crouched further back , getting behind the little boxes . He didn ' t know much about concealment , but had some experience with shields . He knew that having something , anything , in between you and bad things was always good . A few seconds after the legs had disappeared from sight , there was a horrible scream . And then a second and a third . Different timbres , different accents , but the same inarticulate message . . . terror , and pain , horrible pain . Scotti remembered a long forgotten prayer to the god Stendarr and whispered it to himself . Then there was silence . . . ghastly silence that lasted only a few minutes , but which seemed like hours . . . years . And then the carriage started rolling forward again . Scotti cautiously crawled out from under the carriage . Chaero Gemullus gave him a bemused grin . " There you are , " he said . " I thought the Naga s took you . " " Nagas ? " " Nasty characters , " Gemullus said , frowning . " Puff adders with legs and arms , seven feet tall , eight when they ' re mad . Come from the inner swamp , and they don ' t like it here much so they ' re particularly peevish . You ' re the kind of posh Imperial they ' re looking for . " Scotti had never in his life thought of himself as posh . His mud and fleshfly - bespeckled clothing seemed eminently middle - class , at best , to him . " What would they want me for ? " " To rob , of course , " the Imperial smiled . " And to kill . You didn ' t notice what happened to the others ? " The Imperial frowned , as if struck by a thought . " You didn ' t sample from those boxes down below , did you ? Like the sugar , do you ? " " Gods , no , " Scotti grimaced . The Imperial nodded , relieved . " You just seem a little slow . First time to Black Marsh , I gather ? Oh ! Heigh ho , Hist piss ! " Scotti was just about to ask Gemullus what that vulgar term meant when the rain began . It was an inferno of foul - smelling , yellow - brown rain that washed over the caravan , accompanied by the growl of thunder in the distance . Gemullus worked to pull the roof up over the wagon , glaring at Scotti until he helped with the laborious process . He shuddered , not only from the cold damp , but from contemplation of the disgusting precipitation pouring down on the already nasty produce in the uncovered wagon . " We ' ll be dry soon enough , " Gemullus smiled , pointing out into the fog . Scotti had never been to Gideon , but he knew what to expect . A large settlement more or less laid out like a Imperial City , with more or less Imperial style architecture , and all the Imperial comforts and traditions , more or less . The jumble of huts half - sunk in mud was decidedly less . " Where are we ? " asked Scotti , bewildered . " Hixinoag , " replied Gemullus , pronouncing the queer name with confidence . " You were right . We were going north when we should have been going south . "