1: The Prisoner
"... and then Heric said...'but how did the goat in there?'..." Jordic finished his joke.
The other guards laughed loudly and tossed back some more mead.
I sighed, I would have laughed too but it was only funny the first 3 times.
"I'm going to check on the prisoners." I said to the others.
"Sure thing Luna," Jordic said waving his bottle and starting another joke I'd heard before.
I'd said prisoners, but really we only had one. He was a scruffy looking individual with mismatched armour and a furtive look. He'd swiped a sweet roll from the Bannered Mare and had protested that he'd thought his 10 gold room rent had covered dinner. I'd given him the benefit and checked with Hulda but she crossed her arms and shook her head, telling me he'd already started two fights. So I'd dragged him up to the barracks, the fellow grumbling all the way, especially about the indignity of being arrested by a female guard. I was beginning to dislike him already.
I'd checked all his gear into the lockbox and it was a fair haul. Caius... I beg pardon, Commander (as he constantly reminds us) Caius had instituted a new rule that we make a list all items confiscated from prisoners. Mainly because he'd discovered some of the guards had taken to arresting Brenuin, the local drunk, just to 'impound' any mead he had.
I'd argued against it, not only because I thought it was pointless, but mainly as I knew I'd be the only one doing it. In this case it took almost an hour, 6 pieces of precious paper, half a bottle of ink and 2 quills. This fellow was a real packrat. One thing stood out; an heavy, odd-shaped piece of stone with strange writing carved on it and a design that looked like a map.
I'd searched around, found some more paper and charcoal and traced it out. It was definitely a map of Skyrim, that one mark was near Morthal, my home.
I now had the map tucked away in my cuirass and wandered over to chat to the prisoner. That's when I noticed the grate was up and he was gone.
I swore.