Chapter IV
Kjeld crept towards the small house. It's shattered windows were lightless, and the door lay slightly ajar. Something was terribly wrong in the house of the Hunter.
He approached the door, and pressed his ear to it, straining to heart anything of the cacophonous rainfall. Nothing. With a sigh he pushed on the door, but it moved only slightly. He tried again, and it didn't open fully, still. Kjeld stepped back and gave the wooden door a mighty kick. It flew open, sending the chair that had been blocking it skittering across the floor.
Kjeld stood there, mouth open, staring into the house. The sight that greeted him was a gruesome one.
The small, one bedroom dwelling was wrecked. The table had been upended, it's chairs lying in various positions around it. The windows had all been smashed, save for one, and their broken shards littered the floor. The large stack of shelves had toppled over, spilling their assorted contents. But by far the worst was the blood. Large splatters covered two of the walls, and pools lay on parts of the floor. In the pool farthest from the door lay the body of an older man, dressed simply in nightclothes. He was lying face down in the blood, and there were three or four long gashes down his back. There were several deep wounds on the back of his head, and one on the side.
Kjeld had seen death many times before, but this may have been the worst. Even bandits didn't leave their victims like this. He stepped into the house, and towards the body. Crouching down, he could now see the side of the face. It was Andir. "Oh no" sighed Kjeld.
There was no time to investigate the house right now. From the look of the blood, and the clothes Andir was wearing, it must have happened last night. "Yeah," thought Kjeld "Jorall met him yesterday." He sighed again and stood up. He walked out of the blood-splattered house, closing the door behind him. He set off towards the station at a jog; He had to tell the other Rangers.
XxX
Jorall and Arnskar decided, after some minutes, that there push up competition was a draw. The men sat down, panting, in the chairs at the side of the room.
"Not bad, Jorall, not bad at all" said Arnskar with a grin.
"Oh, why thank you, deputy" said Jorall, sarcastically.
After talking for a few minutes, the men stood up and walked into Jorall's office. There he had a great desk, on which papers and ink well with a quill sat perpetually. On the wall to the left there was a large map of Skyrim, with the larger settlements marked on it. Jorall had made many additions of his own, in ink.
Against the wall behind Jorall's desk, sat two large chests, both locked. One contained the Rangers funds. These came from the Jarl, not from what the Rangers picked up. The Jarl's steward came by once a week to make a new deposit. Most of this was the Ranger's pay, and the rest would be kept in the chest, for maintenance, food, services and things like that. This chest contained mostly Septim coins (Around 33000, in fact) and a few precious stones and gold ingots.
Rangers were not rich individually, each of them earning around 15000 Septims a year, plus whatever they took from bandits and the like. This was plenty for the Rangers; they could always put food on the table. As well as this, The Jarl didn't charge them for renting the land where their houses stood, which was an added boon.
The other chest contained confiscated goods and lost property, which were often one and the same. It was skooma was kept (Before being disposed off) when it was taken from a suspect Argonian, where an expensive looking locket, found on the road was kept until an owner could be found.
Finally, the tall cupboard to the right contained several stacks of paper, and a few quills and ink. Above those sat six thick files, each full of the monthly reports that Jorall had to write for the Jarl. Above that again, sat a half full bottle of the finest Colovian Brandy, and several pristine glasses. The Brandy was only brought out on the specialist of occasions, and even then the Rangers only had one glass each.
Jorall sat down at the desk, and his deputy stood facing him. "So, Jorall, what's the plan for the rest of the day?"
"Hmmm," Jorall mused "We could go and speak to Lod about that thing Cyrus brought up earlier. The rains mostly off now and it's only ten."
"Sounds like a plan"
The two stood up, and were halfway down the hall when they heard the front door burst open. Kjeld appeared in the hallway, out of breath, and with a strange, haunted look. Immediately, Jorall knew something was wrong.
"What is it, Kjeld? What's happened?" said Jorall.
Kjeld looked up at his Head Ranger and panted a little. He was shaking slightly.
"It's Andir, he's… he's dead" Both Jorall and Arnskar's eyes widened at this. "The house was all smashed up, and there was blood everywhere," Kjeld continued " I didn't look around, I came here as quickly as I could."
"Oh, by Shor..." sighed Jorall "To think I was talking to him only yesterday…"
At this moment the door burst open again, and Cyrus stepped inside. "Cyrus!" exclaimed Arnskar "What are you doing back?"
"I saw Kjeld running down the road, so I knew something was wrong. What is it?"
"It's Andir," growled Jorall, "He's dead" Cyrus said nothing, just stared at the floor. 2Kjeld, you said the house was a mess?" asked Jorall.
"Yeah, shelves overturned blood everywhere. And the body had a lot of wounds. I think he… I think he may have been murdered."
"Hmm. Sounds like it." Muttered Arnskar." Didn't he say he heard footsteps and voices?" Jorall nodded.
"Alright," said he said "Arnskar, you stay here with Kjeld. Get him something to drink. Cyrus, you and I are going to go and investigate this. Kjeld, is there anything else we should know?" Kjeld shook his head. "Alright. Cyrus, come on."
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