A Dance in Fire , Book II Content . It was a complete loss . The Cathay - Raht had stolen or destroyed almost every item of value in the caravan in just a few minutes ' time . Decumus Scotti ' s wagonload of wood he had hoped to trade with the Bosmer had been set on fire and then toppled off the bluff . His clothing and contracts were tattered and ground into the mud of dirt mixed with spilt wine . All the pilgrims , merchants , and adventurers in the group moaned and wept as they gathered the remnants of their belongings by the rising sun of the dawn . " I best not tell anyone that I managed to hold onto my notes for my translation of the Mnoriad Pley Bar , " whispered the poet Gryf Mallon . " They ' d probably turn on me . " Scotti politely declined the opportunity of telling Mallon just how little value he himself placed on the man ' s property . Instead , he counted the coins in his purse . Thirty - four gold pieces . Very little indeed for an entrepreneur beginning a new business . " Hoy ! " came a cry from the wood . A small party of Bosmer emerged from the thicket , clad in leather mail and bearing arms . " Friend or foe ? " " Neither , " growled the convoy head . " You must be the Cyrodiil s , " laughed the leader of the group , a tall skeleton - thin youth with a sharp vulpine face . " We heard you were en route . Evidently , so did our enemies . " " I thought the war was over , " muttered one of the caravan ' s now ruined merchants . The Bosmer laughed again : " No act of war . Just a little border enterprise . You are going on to Falinesti ? " " I ' m not , " the convoy head shook his head . " As far as I ' m concerned , my duty is done . No more horses , no more caravan . Just a fat profit loss to me . " The men and women crowded around the man , protesting , threatening , begging , but he refused to step foot in Valenwood . If these were the new times of peace , he said , he ' d rather come back for the next war . Scotti tried a different route and approached the Bosmer . He spoke with an authoritative but friendly voice , the kind he used in negotiations with peevish carpenters : " I don ' t suppose you ' d consider escorting me to Falinesti . I ' m a representative for an important Imperial agency , the Atrius Building Commission , here to help repair and alleviate some of the problems the war with the Khajiit brought to your province . Patriotism - - " " Twenty gold pieces , and you must carry your own gear if you have any left , " replied the Bosmer . Scotti reflected that negotiations with peevish carpenters rarely went his way either . Six eager people had enough gold on them for payment . Among those without funds was the poet , who appealed to Scotti for assistance . " I ' m sorry , Gryf , I only have fourteen gold left over . Not even enough for a decent room when I get to Falinesti . I really would help you if I could , " said Scotti , persuading himself that it was true . The band of six and their Bosmer escorts began the descent down a rocky path along the bluff . Within an hour ' s time , they were deep in the jungles of Valenwood . A never - ending canopy of hues of browns and greens obscured the sky . A millennia ' s worth of fallen leaves formed a deep , wormy sea of putrefaction beneath their feet . Several miles were crossed wading through the slime . For several more , they took a labyrinthian path across fallen branches and the low - hanging boughs of giant trees . All the while , hour after hour , the inexhaustible Bosmer host moved so fast , the Cyrodiils struggled to keep from being left behind . A red - faced little merchant with short legs took a bad step on a rotten branch and nearly fell . His fellow provincials had to help him up . The Bosmer paused only a moment , their eyes continually darting to the shadows in the trees above before moving on at their usual expeditious pace . " What are they so nervous about ? " wheezed the merchant irritably . " More Cathay - Raht ? " " Don ' t be ridiculous , " laughed the Bosmer unconvincingly . " Khajiit i this far into Valenwood ? In times of peace ? They ' d never dare . " When the group passed high enough above the swamp that the smell was somewhat dissipated , Scotti felt a sudden pang of hunger . He was used to four meals a day in the Cyrodilic custom . Hours of nonstop exertion without food was not part of his regimen as a comfortably paid clerk . He pondered , feeling somewhat delirious , how long they had been trotting through the jungle . Twelve hours ? Twenty ? A week ? Time was meaningless . Sunlight was only sporadic through the vegetative ceiling . Phosphorescent molds on the trees and in the muck below provided the only regular illumination . " Is it at all possible for us to rest and eat ? " he hollered to his host up ahead . " We ' re near to Falinesti , " came the echoing reply . " Lots of food there . " The path continued upward for several hours more across a clot of fallen logs , rising up to the first and then the second boughs of the tree line . As they rounded a long corner , the travelers found themselves midway up a waterfall that fell a hundred feet or more . No one had the energy to complain as they began pulling up the stacks of rock , agonizing foot by foot . The Bosmer escorts disappeared into the mist , but Scotti kept climbing until there was no more rock left . He wiped the sweat and river water from his eyes . Falinesti spread across the horizon before him . Sprawling across both banks of the river stood the mighty graht - oak city , with groves and orchards of lesser trees crowding it like supplicants before their king . At a lesser scale , the tree that formed the moving city would have been extraordinary : gnarled and twisted with a gorgeous crown of gold and green , dripping with vines and shining with sap . At a mile tall and half as wide , it was the most magnificent thing Scotti had ever seen . If he had not been a starving man with the soul of a clerk , he would have sung . " There you are , " said the leader of the escorts . " Not too far a walk . You should be glad it ' s wintertide . In summertide , the city ' s on the far south end of the province . " Scotti was lost as to how to proceed . The sight of the vertical metropolis where people moved about like ants disoriented all his sensibilities . " You wouldn ' t know of an inn called , " he paused for a moment , and then pulled Jurus ' s letter from his pocket . " Something like ' Mother Paskos Tavern ' ? " " Mother Pascost ? " the lead Bosmer laughed his familiar contemptuous laugh . " You won ' t want to stay there ? Visitors always prefer the Aysia Hall in the top boughs . It ' s expensive , but very nice . " " I ' m meeting someone at Mother Pascost ' s Tavern . " " If you ' ve made up your mind to go , take a lift to Havel Slump and ask for directions there . Just don ' t get lost and fall asleep in the western cross . " This apparently struck the youth ' s friends as a very witty jest , and so it was with their laughter echoing behind him that Scotti crossed the writhing root system to the base of Falinesti . The ground was littered with leaves and refuse , and from moment to moment a glass or a bone would plummet from far above , so he walked with his neck crooked to have warning . An intricate network of platforms anchored to thick vines slipped up and down the slick trunk of the city with perfect grace , manned by operators with arms as thick as an ox ' s belly . Scotti approaches the nearest fellow at one of the platforms , who was idly smoking from a glass pipe . " I was wondering if you might take me to Havel Slump . " The mer nodded and within a few minutes time , Scotti was two hundred feet in the air at a crook between two mighty branches . Curled webs of moss stretched unevenly across the fork , forming a sharing roof for several dozen small buildings . There were only a few souls in the alley , but around the bend ahead , he could hear the sound of music and people . Scotti tipped the Falinesti Platform Ferryman a gold piece and asked for the location of Mother Pascost ' s Tavern . " Straight ahead of you , sir , but you won ' t find anyone there , " the Ferryman explained , pointing in the direction of the noise . " Morndas everyone in Havel Slump has revelry . " Scotti walked carefully along the narrow street . Though the ground felt as solid as the marble avenues of the Imperial City , there were slick cracks in the bark that exposed fatal drops into the river . He took a moment to sit down , to rest and get used to the view from the heights . It was a beautiful day for certain , but it took Scotti only a few minutes of contemplation to rise up in alarm . A jolly little raft anchored down stream below him had distinctly moved several inches while he watched it . But it hadn ' t moved at all . He had . Together with everything around him . It was no metaphor : the city of Falinesti walked . And , considering its size , it moved quickly . Scotti rose to his feet and into a cloud of smoke that drifted out from around the bend . It was the most delicious roast he had ever smelled . The clerk forgot his fear and ran . The " revelry " as the Ferryman had termed it took place on an enormous platform tied to the tree , wide enough to be a plaza in any other city . A fantastic assortment of the most amazing people Scotti had ever seen were jammed shoulder - to - shoulder together , many eating , many more drinking , and some dancing to a lutist and singer perched on an offshoot above the crowd . They were largely Bosmer , true natives clad in colorful leather and bones , with a close minority of orcs . Whirling through the throng , dancing and bellowing at one another were a hideous ape people . A few heads bobbing over the tops of the crowd belonged not , as Scotti first assumed , to very tall people , but to a family of centaurs . " Care for some mutton ? " queried a wizened old mer who roasted an enormous beast on some red - hot rocks . Scotti quickly paid him a gold piece and devoured the leg he was given . And then another gold piece and another leg . The fellow chuckled when Scotti began choking on a piece of gristle , and handed him a mug of a frothing white drink . He drank it and felt a quiver run through his body as if he were being tickled . " What is that ? " Scotti asked . " Jagga . Fermented pig ' s milk . I can let you have a flagon of it and a bit more mutton for another gold . " Scotti agreed , paid , gobbled down the meat , and took the flagon with him as he slipped into the crowd . His co - worker Liodes Jurus , the man who had told him to come to Valenwood , was nowhere to be seen . When the flagon was a quarter empty , Scotti stopped looking for Jurus . When it was half empty , he was dancing with the group , oblivious to the broken planks and gaps in the fencework . At three quarters empty , he was trading jokes with a group of creatures whose language was completely alien to him . By the time the flagon was completely drained , he was asleep , snoring , while the revelry continued on all around his supine body . The next morning , still asleep , Scotti had the sensation of someone kissing him . He made a face to return the favor , but a pain like fire spread through his chest and forced him to open his eyes . There was an insect the size of a large calf sitting on him , crushing him , its spiky legs holding him down while a central spiral - bladed vortex of a mouth tore through his shirt . He screamed and thrashed but the beast was too strong . It had found its meal and it was going to finish it . It ' s over , thought Scotti wildly , I should have never left home . I could have stayed in the City , and perhaps found work with Lord Vanech . I could have begun again as a junior clerk and worked my way back up . Suddenly the mouth released itself . The creature shivered once , expelled a burst of yellow bile , and died . " Got one ! " cried a voice , not too distantly . For a moment , Scotti lay still . His head throbbed and his chest burned . Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement . Another of the horrible monsters was scurried towards him . He scrambled , trying to push himself free , but before he could come out , there was a sound of a bow cracking and an arrow pierced the second insect . " Good shot ! " cried another voice . " Get the first one again ! I just saw it move a little ! " This time , Scotti felt the impact of the bolt hit the carcass . He cried out , but he could hear how muffled his voice was by the beetle ' s body . Cautiously , he tried sliding a foot out and rolling under , but the movement apparently had the effect of convincing the archers that the creature still lived . A volley of arrows was launched forth . Now the beast was sufficiently perforated so pools of its blood , and likely the blood of its victims , began to seep out onto Scotti ' s body . When Scotti was a lad , before he grew too sophisticated for such sports , he had often gone to the Imperial Arena for the competitions of war . He recalled a great veteran of the fights , when asked , telling him his secret , " Whenever I ' m in doubt of what to do , and I have a shield , I stay behind it . " Scotti followed that advice . After an hour , when he no longer heard arrows being fired , he threw aside the remains of the bug and leapt as quickly as he could to a stand . It was not a moment too soon . A gang of eight archers had their bows pointing his direction , ready to fire . When they saw him , they laughed . " Didn ' t anyone ever tell you not to sleep in the western cross ? How ' re we going to exterminate all the hoarvor s if you drunks keep feeding ' em ? " Scotti shook his head and walked back along the platform , round the bend , to Havel Slump . He was bloodied and torn and tired and he had far too much fermented pig ' s milk . All he wanted was a proper place to lie down . He stepped into Mother Pascost ' s Tavern , a dank place , wet with sap , smelling of mildew . " My name is Decumus Scotti , " he said . " I was hoping you have someone named Jurus staying here . " " Decumus Scotti ? " pondered the fleshy proprietress , Mother Pascost herself . " I ' ve heard that name . Oh , you must be the fellow he left the note for . Let me go see if I can find it . "