Chapter II
The door swung open silently and Jorall stepped inside. He could hear somebody shuffling around in the next room. When the front door closed behind Jorall, the shuffling stopped and a slim Redguard man stepped into the entrance hall from the larger room further in.
"Ah, boss!" he exclaimed, "You're back. Good." He was genuinely pleased to see his Head Ranger, as he had a question for him.
"Yes, I'm back, Cyrus. Did you think I was just going to go straight to the tavern without coming in to see my Redguard friend?" said Jorall, "And…I had to make sure you weren't slacking off at the end of the day." Jorall knew Cyrus was a hard worker, but he liked to tease him. All the Rangers did.
Cyrus Elk-Stalker was the youngest Ranger by far, at only twenty years old. Also, he was the only Ranger who was not a Nord; the others did not care in the slightest that he was Redguard, but they sometimes joked about it, asking where he left his curved sword. Cyrus did not take these jokes to heart, and they were not meant to offend him, anyway. The Rangers shared an immense sense of comradeship and would never truly aim to hurt each other, mentally or physically .In fact, the other praised him in equal amounts to mocking him; He was easily the most proficient hunter among them. Deer just never seemed to hear him coming.
"So, boss," asked Cyrus "Anything interesting today?"
"Not really…In fact, today was almost boring"
Cyrus raised his eyebrows. Jorall almost never said that.
"I met that hunter out near Helgen, Andir he calls himself. You've probably seen him yourself; he has little cabin near there."
The Redguard nodded "I think I have actually. Small fellow, has a bit of a limp? Talks like he's about a hundred years old?"
"Aye, that's him. And I checked his permit; He's only fifty-three." Said Jorall, with a wink.
"Anyway, I spoke to him for a while. Says he sometimes hears footsteps outside his house, late at night. But when he goes out there's nothing there."
"Well, I mean, this part of Skyrim is full of deer, and bears and all sorts of big animals. Surely a hunter would know that"
"Actually, I did suggest it could have been an animal. But he seemed very convinced it wasn't. Said he heard voices."
"Hmm. Would you like me to send someone to speak to him in depth tomorrow?" Cyrus mused.
Jorall thought for a second. "That depends. Who's doing what tomorrow?"
"Let me check" Cyrus, pulling out a small chart from under the desk he was standing beside. He laid it out on the desk and ran his finger along to the next day's date "Alright, Tomorrow. Myself, Thormir and Kjeld are on patrol, Arnskar and you are minding the station, it's Nels' day off and the Jarl's sent Rona to check something out near the Reach."
"The Jarl gave her an assignment directly?" Cried Jorall. This was strange; the Jarl usually briefed him, and then Jorall would decide who was going and when.
"Yeah, he only told her this afternoon, and you were out. He had nobody to spare to come looking for you, so he send his steward over. Rona's gone home to prepare, she's leaving in the morning."
"Well, alright then. I'll forgive the Jarl this time." Said Jorall with another cheeky wink. " But, back to the matter in hand. Hmm, so you, Thormir and Kjeld are on patrol? Alright, in the morning I'll tell Kjeld to make sure he pays a visit to old Andir. Do you know where he is now?"
At this moment, Cyrus and Jorall heard a door open, further into the building and a tall, thin man wandered into the entrance hall.
Thormir Steel-Head (So named because of the outrageous number of head injuries he sustained) was an absent minded man of twenty-nine, who had joined the Rangers because his mother told him to. That was not to say he did not like his job; quite the opposite was true. But his mother would probably been better suited to the Rangers than her son. She once ran into the Station, shouting after Thormir that he had forgotten to make his bed. He was absent from that mornings briefing, as his mother refused to let him go until he had tidied his room.
"Thormir! Good evening, friend!" exclaimed Jorall.
"Good evening to you, too. Cyrus, why didn't you tell me Jorall was back?"
"We were having a conversation, Thormir, something you can't do without your mother's help." laughed the Redguard. Thormir sighed, then laughed when he realised Cyrus was joking.
"And anyway, you didn't care when Nels and Arnskar came in, so don't start your nonsense. And you say Jorall this morning same as everyone else"
"You're just jealous because I'm the Head Ranger's favourite" said Thormir, in a childish, sing-song voice.
"Whatever," smiled Jorall. Thormir wasn't the brightest, but nonetheless he was a good ranger." So, Cyrus. As I was saying, do you know where Kjeld is now?"
"He and Arnskar said they were heading to the tavern when they reported back, and that was about half an hour ago."
It was around seven O'clock now, and starting to get dark. "Well boys, let's lock up and go join them." Cyrus and Thormir nodded in agreement. The men closed the internal door and windows, before filing out the front door into the warm night air. All of the Rangers had front door keys to the Station, but only Jorall had keys to everything. He used his key to lock the door behind them, and they began the short walk from the station just outside town, to the Tavern.
"What were you doing back there anyway?" Jorall asked Thormir.
"Tidying up the store and the armoury." replied Thormir.
"Umm… Did you ask Nels' permission to do that?" Cyrus asked, tentatively
"No, I only started after he left."
"Ooohhh" howled the other men, in unison. "He'll have you for breakfast if he can't find anything." laughed Jorall. Nels was the head of the storerooms, and didn't take too kindly to his things being rearranged.
The trio arrived, laughing, at the Tavern, and headed inside. The fire was in full swing, and the usual bard played softly in the corner. Arnskar and Kjeld were already seated at the Rangers usual large, long table by the fire. They saw their colleagues enter, and loudly waved them over with their tankards. Cyrus, Thormir and Jorall sat down at the table.
"Hello gentlemen!" boomed Arnskar Thunder-Axe. He was man of tremendous stature, standing taller wider and heavier than all the other Rangers. His great size was matched only by his jolliness and mirth, and his great beard did little to hide his often laughing mouth. Arnskar was Jorall's second in command, the Deputy Head-Ranger. He was also the only Ranger to wield, instead of a hand-axe and a bow, an enormous battle-axe that he had named Hilda, after his wife. He still had his Rangers Bow of course, but it was rarely used.
"Hello Arnskar, you big drunken bear." Grinned Jorall. It was clear that Arnskar had had several Tankards already.
"Hey! I'm not that drunk… Yet!" Arnskar laughed heartily, and called for the Barmaid to come over.
Jorall looked at Kjeld, who was engaged in conversation with Cyrus. Jorall opened his mouth to attract Kjeld's attention, but was interrupted by the bar wench asking "Anything to drink sirs?" Jorall ordered a tankard of ale, and one for the other men as well. When the wench went to fetch the drinks, Jorall tapped Kjeld on the arm.
" Yes, head? What can I do for you?" asked Kjeld, in his normal, playfully sarcastic way
Jorall explained what he wanted Kjeld to do, at some point the next day. Kjeld nodded and said "I think I know this Andir fellow. Came across him a while back. He smells a bit odd, doesn't he?"
"Come to think of it, he does a bit." Jorall smiled, "But anyway, you'll go and talk to him, see what's happening?"
"It would be my pleasure" hissed Kjeld.
"Thanks. And a bit less of the sarcasm, if you don't mind!" joked Jorall. He knew Kjeld always meant well, even if he sounded almost serpentine at times.
The Rangers, after drinking a few more tankards, left the Tavern together at around eleven. Thormir turned left outside the Tavern, towards his house, shouting "See you in the Morning!" over his shoulder. The other men all headed in the opposite direction, talking merrily and peeling off one by one to get to their respective homes. After about ten minutes walking, only Jorall and Cyrus remained on the road. They lived quite near to each other; Jorall on a slight hill by the lakeshore, Cyrus a little way south of that.
Although Jorall lived on his own, Cyrus lived with his Uncle and cousin; His parents still lived in Hammer fell.
They arrived at the final turning towards the lake. "Well Cyrus, I'll see you tomorrow. Tell your Uncle I was asking about him."
"Will do. Night, boss" and with that, Cyrus strode through a patch of trees and out of site. A few minutes later, Jorall arrived at his own house. He turned his key in the lock and entered. He was tired, and went straight to bed. He would worry about tomorrow….tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2, and thanks for reading!