Back at the inn, they've found Felyx and Nathon working on a new wheel at the stable, it was only a few hours before nightfall.

"So, how was the search?" Felyx asked.

"Wasted time unfortunately... I'm starting to believe we'll have to give up." Answered the Breton.

"I told you... So, subject closed?"

"Not yet... I want to ask Nathon one last question." Shane replied to the Imperial, then looking at the Nord who nodded positively, visibly tense.

"Do you know if there's any kind of cave, underground... Or something that can connect the inn to the river?"

"No... No, no... As far as I know... Why do you ask?" The tense Nordic asked back, without knowing he was being tested.

"Well... It's a crazy idea, but me and K'annon concluded that only with an underground passage the assassin could transport Julien's body to the river without leaving a single mark... But unfortunately, that's not the case." Taking a short pause, he soon continued:

"You heard it, K'annon? Unfortunately, we need to give up..."

"Fine by me." Answered the Khajiit.

...

"Damn you both! They think they are smart, but their games will not last long.." Thought the mysterious figure, who listened everything through the window.

...

Some minutes later:

"Since both are free now, can't you least help me finish the repairs?" Felyx asked, slightly angry, since he didn't receive any help.

"Did you hear this? An authentic reprimand." Commented the Khajiit.


Both agreed to help, Nathon had entered to prepare dinner with his wife, and after a few hours, both coffins and wheel were finished. Taking the carriage horses, they went back on the trail they've ascended yesterday, taking less time because the ground was no longer wet.

They later arrived at the broken carriage spot. Both lifted the carriage as Felyx fitted the wheel. Everything went well and soon Felyx's carriage was back on the road:

"Don't forget to thank Nathon for the horse he gave you, otherwise you'd have to continue with only three." Said the Breton.

"My boss will repay him! I've had enough of this damn inn." Felyx replied.

"Not even will stop for dinner?"

"No way! I'd rather sleep at a vampire lair... Besides, in Helgen they must already be wondering why I'm late, I might bump into someone on the way." The Imperial explained.

"Well, you're right."

"What should I tell the authorities when I deliver them these coffins?"

"The truth! Tell them that, the murderer still is unknown..."

"And so it will continue for eternity!"

"That's what you think..." Shane thought.

"Shall I tell them you'll go there?" Felyx asked.

"Yes, also tell them about the robbery bag we have recovered, we'll deliver to them as soon we get there."

...

Despite being almost nightfall, Felyx prefers to continue. Leaving only the two danwguards and family left at the inn...

In the same time, at the kitchen:

"Keep an eye on the food, Erik, I'll call Anna." Hjarfi said to his son, leaving the kitchen.

"The time is now!"

...

Erik poured the contents of a small bottle into the bowls that contained both danwguard's food...

...


At the same time:

"You want to know something, Nathon? You and your wife are great innkeepers, have a couple of friendly and beautiful children... Forgive me for this, but I've started to wonder why you moved here... Why did you decide to live here, in this place forgotten by everyone?" Shane asked.

"Okay, the punches started..." Thought the Khajiit.

"Circumstances of life..." Answered the tense Nathon.

"Hmm... If you're not the good gentleman you are, I've would bet you came here to hide..."

"Me?... Hide? From who?... And why?" He asked, visibly scared.

"Oh! Don't bother yourself friend, I was just joking."

"And so said the snake to the bird..." K'annon thought.

"But you'll leave tomorrow of course... Back to Solitude I guess?" Shane asked.

"Well... I don't know yet..."

"Solitude... Solitude... Help me remember, K'annon, who told us about Solitude lately?"

"Wait..." K'annon said, putting a hand on his chin as he thought: "What a damn shameless! What does he want me to come up now?"

"Falk! Remember him? He's the Jarl's steward, been living there forever." Shane said, pretending to have remembered. He actually knew Falk, but what he was about to tell had never happened.

"Tch... Damn comedian!" K'annon thought, he didn't even know who was Falk, but he faked an expression of surprise:

"Oh! Of course, Falk!"

"Falk is a friend of ours who told us about mysterious crimes that happened there, crimes that never had a solution... About three years ago, you probably even remember them..." When Shane said that, Nathon tried to contain a surprised expression, but he was not successful.

"Well... Hmm... You see-"

"Dad! You can tell these gentlemen dinner's ready." Erik said at the door, Shane could have sworn he saw a small smile forming at the lad's mouth as he entered back.

...

"Nathon was about to give up... The lad saved him!... There's no doubt, both father and son know the truth... But who is the murderer?" The Breton thought as he went into the kitchen, followed by K'annon.

...


Once they got there:

"Hurry, before the food gets cold!" Hjarfi said, pointing at the bigger table. Everyone was there, except for Erik.

"Don't worry Mrs. Hjarfi, we'll not give them time!" The Khajiit said, ready to sit.

...

...

"Mother! The cat!" Anna shouted as she entered the kitchen.

But the family animal was faster, and quickly took a fish from the table, exactly where the two would sit, and ran under a nearby furniture.

"It looks like your relative is hungrier than you, K'annon. Must be family stuff." Shane joked.

...

"Give me the broom, Nathon, I'll teach this animal a lesson!" Said Hjarfi, angry with the cat.

"Oh, he will not leave until he finishes the fish, I know them very well..." K'annon said, as he sat down.

But unlike K'annon's prediction, the cat quickly ran out of the furniture, Hjarfi haven't even picked up the broom yet. He was strange, and at a certain moment, started to squirm in the floor.

A moment later, the animal falls, motionless.

...

"Oh! ...He looks dead..." Said Anna, getting close to the animal, about to touch him.

...

"Hmm... Let me see him first, Anna..." Said Shane, who looked curiously at the scene, going at the animal's direction.

"So, what happened to him, Shane?" Asked the Khajiit, about to eat a roasted fish.

"Hmm..."

...

...

When the Khajiit would put the fish in his mouth:

"Wait there, K'annon!" The Breton shouted, leaving the Khajiit confused.

"What happened, Shane?" Asked K'annon, confused.

"I'll tell you in a moment... But in the meantime, don't eat this fish."

Everyone present there looked confused, especially K'annon. The Breton went at the table's direction while everyone watched in silence, he them smells the dish closely.

...

...

...

"Can you tell me why you tried to poison us, Hjarfi?"

Everyone looked shocked, open mouths and confused expressions reigned among those present there.

"POISON YOU?" Asked the shocked Hjarfi.

"That's right! There's so much poison at this bowl to the point you can't even smell food anymore! And if we had eaten, we'd have the same end of that animal." He said menacingly.

"Desert Sun!" K'annon exclaimed, throwing the fish out.

"I don't know what happened to the cat, but it has nothing to do with our food... The smell has to be a coincidence, and I'll prove it myself!" Hjarfi said perplexed and visibly offended, Taking a fish on the bowl.

Everyone looked with curiosity, what would happen?.

...

...

...

...

As she was about to take a bite:

"DON'T DO THAT MOTHER!" A figure shouted, who had just entered the kitchen.

...

...

"But Erik... ... ...What's the meaning of this?..."

Erik just looked down.

...

"Erik... What... have you done?" Nathon asked, in a clearly shocked voice.

...

...

"Yes... I put the poison..."

It was not possible to describe the expression of anyone there.

"By Ysmir... ...Son... WHY?"

"Why, Erik?... Answer!"

"I... I had to do it, Mother..."

...

"Mr. Wolfhart, I-" Nathon was interrupted.

"Enough Nathon! No more lies."

"Lies... Why do you say this?"

"Because it's the only thing you've been saying to us since we've got here..." Shane paused and then continued:

"Listen to me, all of you! I don't know which one of you is telling the truth and who is playing the comedy... And since I realize it's a difficult subject for one of you to talk about it, I'll tell everyone a story..."

"...A story that began in Solitude three years ago..."

All the family members looked in fright.

...

"...As I told you before Nathon, mysterious crimes happened there, crimes that, although investigated, had no success in finding out who was the culprit. These crimes always happened during stormy nights... The victims were massacred by knife strokes and always people who drank too much..."

"...So the hypothesis was raised that the murderer was actually a maniac, had some kind of obsession... So far, I've preferred the official explanation, but now, I will try a personal hypothesis..."

"...Solitude's murderer is someone very young... Someone like Erik, I mean. His relatives were aware of his nocturnal feats, but they didn't have the courage to hand him over to the authorities... I'm not in wonder, after all, It's not easy to do that with your own son..."

"...But at some point, for fear of being discovered, the family decides to move to the south, and when they arrive, they heard about a haunted inn... Any place would be enough, but to the desperate family a place like that was perfect... The family expected the lad to be cured of his illness, but if didn't happen, they could always blame the ghost that haunts the inn... "

"ENOUGH! I WILL NOT STAY QUIET AS YOU ACCUSE MY FAMILY OF MURDER!" Nathon shouted, with a fierce expression that probably no one there had ever seen.

...

"The truth is, YOU don't believe in ghosts and you want to find a murderer at any price! But what proof do you have?" He pointed angrily at Shane.

"Where's the results of your searches? WHERE?"

"Enough Father!" Erik shouted, catching the attention of everyone present.

"They know everything... They've discovered the passage!" The lad explained coldly.

...

...

...

...

"...When?" Nathon asked, with a melancholy expression, he had been unmasked.

"This morning, while you worked with Felyx."

...

...

"But they've told me-"

"I know what they said... I heard everything through the window... but I saw them there as well. I was hidden behind a pile of boxes, I wanted to kill them! But the damned Khajiit came exactly when I was going to attack the other one."

"By the Gods!" K'annon exclaimed mentally.

"I tried to poison them... But the animal ruined everything... Congratulations dawnguard! I AM the murderer!" Erik said, with a cold stare.

"No son, wait-"

"No Mother! Don't nothing to protect me anymore, it's time to answer for my crimes."

...

Both Shane and K'annon were speechless, the lad's coldness was impressive. A silence took over the kitchen.

...

...

"I'm sorry for both of you... Honestly..." Said Shane thoughtfully, then continued:

"Come on, Erik, you will come with us to Helgen."

...

"I'm ready!" Erik replied with his eyes closed.

...

...

The couple's crying was the only noise there, but somehow it seemed to be mute.

...

...

...

"NO! YOU WILL NOT TAKE HIM!" A female voice shouted, at the pantry's direction.

"ANNA, NO!" Erik screamed, utterly desperate and out of control, with an expression of... Fear...

...

...

Anna pointed a crossbow at the two, who stared confused at the woman.

"He doesn't have anything with this!" Anna shouted, uncontrolled.

The family screamed in despair, but Anna cared little.

"I KILLED JULIEN!!"

...

...

"By the Sands of Elsweyr!" K'annon exclaimed mentally.

"She wouldn't threaten us if the crossbow was not lethal, the bolt must be poisoned with a way more powerful substance! Any wrong movement can mean our death's."

"I killed those drunks in Solitude! I killed that jerk, Julien! Erik helped me hide the bodies because he didn't want me to be discovered and condemned... BUT I KILLED ALL OF THEM!"

"And now I will kill you too! I'LL KILL BOTH!" The gal screamed, pointing the crossbow, ready to shoot.

...

...

...

For a moment, everything felt silent. And the only possible thing to hear was the crossbow bolt, flying in the air...

...

...

...

And a yell...

...

A female yell...

...

...

Anna was at the floor, with a bolt stuck on her body.

...

"It's all... over..." Exclaimed a figure, silently...

...

...

"ANNA!" Erik shouted, running towards her sister's body.

"ANNA!"

...

...

"WHY YOU DID THIS? WHY FATHER?" Erik shouted, uncontrollably.

...

...

Any look of surprise that the two dawnguards had before could not compete with the one they had now. Nathon had a crossbow in his hand, picked up from a kitchen's cabinet...

...

He had shot his own daughter.

...

"Forgive me, Erik... We did everything we could for her... But we couldn't continue to cover up her crimes, she was about to kill again..." Nathon said in a melancholy expression, impossible to be described... He had killed his own daughter after all...

...

...

"Anna..." Erik was crying non-stop, on his knees, with his sister at his arms.

"Everything... It's over... Take Erik out of here, Martha... I owe answers to these two..."

Martha and Erik withdrew from the kitchen in tears. While an unbroken silence reigned in at the place, the thoughts of those present were impossible to be described.

...

...

...

"Forgive me, Anna... You weren't our daughter, but we loved you so much..." Nathon said, with tears on his eyes, the statement caused astonishment to them, seemed like the surprises didn't have a end.

"Yes... Anna was not our daughter... We adopted her when she was a child... After her father had killed her mother in a drunken moment, during a stormy night... At her front..."

"...Maybe that terrible memory shooked her brain... She was alone, abandoned... We decided to adopt her, so she would not go to an orphanage... They were our neighbors, Anna and Erik always got along well since they were children... "

...

...

"...Until fifteen, she was a sweet and normal child, never gave us any worries, but at one night, she came home with her clothes soaked with rain and stained with blood... She had just committed her first crime..."

...

"Yes... I know, we should had handed her over to the authorities... But the mercy spoke louder, we're afraid that they would exile her... Or worse..."

"Since that day we've watched her, and we're able to intervene on some occasions, before she could..." Nathon paused, wiping away his tears:

...

"When normal, she was the sweetest girl in the world... But at those moments... She became incredibly smart, as if evil had possessed her and guided her actions! And soon or later she was able to escape our vigilance... "

...

"Poor people..." The Breton thought.

"It was a nightmare... A terrible nightmare that lasted for years..."

...

...

...

"I am... I'm sorry, Nathon..." Shane said with a melancholy face.

...

...

"No... I'm not angry with you... You just did your duty. I knew that sooner or later we would have to face justice... And that moment has come."

...

...

Silence took over the place again...

...

...

...

"Listen, Nathon... I believe that justice is sacred, and that's what keeps our world standing... And honestly... I believe your family has paid enough... Right K'annon?"

"I think the same."

"You mean you'll not report us to the authorities?" Nathon asked.

...

"Maybe it was the right thing to do, but no, we'll not... Besides, neither Julien or any of the other drunks where saints..." The Breton explained, almost speechless.

"And how to explain his murder?" Asked the confused Nathon.

"The few people from around here know about the ghost story, even if Julien was a rich businessman or a complete unknown I doubt the authorities will investigate. It will be the last crime attributed to the inn ghost..." Shane said, closing his eyes, pausing, and later continuing:

"But there's one condition, Nathon... Your family will leave this place forever... Bury Anna here and take your son to a big and lively city, it will help him forget..."

"Yes... Yes, I will." Nathon answered.

...

...

"Then you can go with no fear, the law will not seek you."

"I... I thank you Shane... And you too, K'annon."

"Don't mention it... We'll go get our things and leave... There's nothing keeping us here anymore..." Shane said, wenting upstairs to gather their luggage, followed by K'annon.


And so, shortly after they were ready to leave.

"Thank you, friends... Thank you so much for giving us a second chance." Nathon said, waving goodbye to both, already on their horses.

"Good luck, Nathon." The Breton said goodbye, both leaving the inn towards Helgen's trail. Nathon watched them for a while... Later walking back into the inn, in a unbreakable silence.

...

...

...

Both followed the trail for a long time in silence... Which was broken by the Khajiit:

"By the Gods! What a macabre story..."

"Yes, my friend. A story that I will remember for a long time..."

"To Oblivion! The girl's death was much worse for the family than jail, trust me!"

"Hmm..." Shane murmured, looking to the starry sky.

Trying to cheer his friend, K'annon soon continued: "A story we've could avoid if we had taken the Whiterun trail to Falkreath!"

"Damn you! You're going to start with this again?" Shane grinned, the attempt was a success.

"And there's more... Just like yesterday it's already night, and we've not had dinner yet!" Complained the Khajiit, for his friend's laughs.

"At least today has an advantage over yesterday..." Said K'annon, looking up.

"And which one is it?"

"Don't you see? The sky is clear and illuminated by auroras... We'll not run the risk of bumping into a carriage that broke a wheel because of darkness!" Said K'annon, pointing to the sky, while the Breton laughed.


.

.

.

.

.

.

.

And this is the end of probably the most boring fanfiction ever written, if for some reason you were able to read everything, i have to tip my hat off to you. If possible, tell me what you think about it and what I can improve for the next one (not everything, because the list would be too big), hope you have a great day :)