Word was spreading fast of Hroki's murder and the hold was, without a doubt, completely shaken. A murder like this; planned, premeditated, and carried out with perfection. Almost. Nothing is perfect, everyone makes mistakes...even killers. And those mistakes can have far reaching consequences.
Hreinn nearly collapsed when he heard the words "Hroki's died, your sister is dead" coming from his father Kleppr's mouth. This was impossible surely. It was Hroki. She was invincible. She was the strong one in the family. The one who would go on to do great things. She was an achiever; ambitious, strong and determined. Nothing could stop her. She was the one with the big bright future.
His wailing could be heard throughout Markarth. His cries of pain. He didn't care, if he didn't let it out he felt like he could kill someone. He just wanted to hit something. He wanted to tear something apart.
Hreinn collapsed to his knees outside the Silver-Blood tavern, his father catching him, stopping him from falling. Hreinn battered his father's chest with his fists and Kleppr tried to muffle his sons screams. Kleppr was trying so hard to stay strong for his son, for his family. He felt nothing but guilt.
Roggar raced outside but stopped suddenly at the sight before him. Even Roggar who was practically made from stone, couldn't help but become emotional, trying his hardest to remove himself from the situation. To go back to happier times.
He thought of his childhood in Falkreath, running from tombstone to tombstone playing tag in that ever-expanding graveyard. Death was always a part of his life, even then, in the rural little village. It was a part of everyone's. From his father's death during the war, his uncle's death during an alcohol fuelled binge and his friend Helga's death from illness, aged only eight. It was always there. He just never thought it would become such a huge part of his life as he grew up. He never expected the impact it would have on him.
Frabbi stayed sitting in the chair watching the flames from the fire go back and forth, rise and fall. She knew deep down her son needed her, but she needed Hroki. Something she was very slowly realising she would never have again. And that was destroying her.
Kleppr consoled his son. "Come", he pulled Hreinn up from the stone. "Inside son" Kleppr helped him into the tavern, looking back over his shoulder as he went.
Residents watched from their windows. Markarth fell silent.
Minutes past that seemed like hours. Eventually, Roggar spoke. "I know this may not seem like the time...but I need to ask a few questions" he spoke cautiously and as gentle as he could with such a deep voice.
"It's ok...anything you need. Just ask" Kleppr sounded like a broken man. He was a broken man.
"Well I'll start with you then sir, if you don't mind?" Roggar began.
"Go ahead"
"Where were you last night?"
"Well...I was here with Frabbi" he glanced over at his overwrought wife. She didn't return his stare.
"But...I did leave at around nine" he gulped hard. This caught Frabbi's attention, pulling her from her own world she had been hiding in.
"For how long?" Roggar asked.
"Oh...erm…maybe...I guess I came back just before midnight"
"Where were you between those hours?"
"I went for a long walk to clear my head. Me and Frabbi...we had argued. More seriously than usual. I-I pushed her. I kept thinking how I could say I'm sorry, how I could make her forgive me. She...accused me of cheating. Which isn't true!" Kleppr kept his gaze on Frabbi. She stared at him, emotionlessly.
"Liar..." she said with bitter, turning her head away.
"Ma'am?" Roggar turned his attention to her.
"I should have listened to my mother. She was right about you. Always was"
"Frab..." Kleppr moved towards her. "Don't you dare. By Gods if you touch me...I won't be responsible for my actions" she said softly, but she was deadly serious. Kleppr backed away. He knew when she meant her words, and threats. This was one of them times.
"My lady, where were you last night?" Roggar questioned.
"Here all night" she answered immediately and with a finality.
"And Hreinn...?" Roggar looked at Kleppr, who didn't know the answer. "He was here too...all night...with me" Frabbi lied. Questions were the last thing her son needed right now.
"Where's Hreinn?" she stood upright.
"Resting" Kleppr answered, looking away from her.
"Good. He'll need his rest" she walked over to the bar and began wiping it with a cloth.
"What are you doing Frab?" Kleppr wanted to embrace his wife, to heal her pain. Even when he couldn't heal his own.
"Well...aren't we going to open?" Frabbi didn't meet his gaze.
"Your...you're not serious? How can we open?"
"Were behind on our payments. We can't afford to not open...we need the coin" she said.
"Our daughter's dead!" he screeched.
"I know" she pulled herself away from the counter. "Don't you think I know!" she threw the cloth to the ground and slammed her fists onto the counter.
"Frab..." he tried to console her, to hold her. She shrugged him off her and held herself up by a stool. Kleppr just stood there. He felt useless.
Emilie let herself inside and motioned towards Roggar who was in a world of his own. This surprised her. She never saw Roggar as an emotional type.
Roggar snapped back into reality when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey...you okay?" she asked her friend.
"I'm fine" he said sternly. "Lets...what is it?"
She knew he was lying, but it was a guard's job to stay strong. To never let anyone see a weakness.
"Verulus is at the Warren" she whispered. "He's found something" she continued.
"Well then...lets go" Roggar didn't know what to say to the grieving couple. Kleppr nodded, notifying him that nothing needed saying.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Emilie asked as they walked to the Warren. "Let it go" he looked at Emilie. She didn't say a word. Not now, anyway. Another time.
The Warren was where trash was thrown away, where people went to die. There was nothing good in the Warren. Everything was tainted. But she didn't belong here.
"Gods...it smells like death in here" Emilie held her breath.
"Where is it?" Roggar observed the dump.
Almost as if he had heard him, Verulus shouted "Down here, in here!" and a guard emerged from the small room on the end.
It was Degaine's room. The stench of ale made that quite obvious.
Emilie and Roggar ducked to enter the cramped hall, leading to the room. Verulus was crouched, surveying the crime scene.
"What did you find? Anything noteworthy?" Emilie asked.
"Oh much more than that" Verulus teased.
"Hroki wasn't killed here"
"Are you sure?" Emilie crouched beside him.
"Positive. There isn't enough blood. Actually...there's almost none. With a head wound like that there would be pools of blood, not speckles"
"So... she was dumped here" Emilie looked around.
"Like trash" Roggar said angrily. Emilie watched him. "What's gotten into him?" she thought. This was a side of him she didn't even know existed.
Raerek appeared in the hall.
"What have you found?"
"Sir, we know she wasn't killed here!" Emilie revealed excitedly.
"And..." Raerek continued.
"That's...that's all we have. But it shows Degaine didn't do this. He's being framed, we can release him now" Emilie's voice heightened.
"Not exactly..." Raerek leaned against the wall.
"Why not?" Roggar snapped.
"I don't appreciate your tone son and if you must know...we can't release him because we need a suspect. If we released him there would be a panic. A 'Killer on the loose'. Everyone would be too scared to leave their own homes" Raerek sounded desperate.
"And so they should be sir! This murder was planned. This person has killed before!" Emilie suddenly cracked.
"Young miss...I know how career driven you are and how your trying to forge a place for yourself here. So I strongly advise you to let this go. We have our man" Raerek leaned forward.
"But sir we-"
"We get back to our duties. That's what we do. Understood?"
"I... understood...sir" she deflated inside. Raerek left.
"Goddammit!" she kicked a barrel across the room. Underneath the barrel lay a piece of cloth.
"Calm down. Don't lose your head now. We've still got a lot of work to do" Roggar sounded determined.
"How do you...wait, what?" she was startled.
"You think we're going to stop because an old man, who is trying to cling onto the little power he has, orders us to?"
"Well, no...I guess not. But, how can we?" Emilie quizzed.
"Secretly."
"Nothing's secret around here" Verulus butted in.
"No. Roggar's right. We have a right as guards to see this through. We can't stop now" Emilie looked over the small room.
"What is this?" Verulus investigated.
"Did you find something?" Emilie inquired.
"A piece of cloth" he picked up the cloth.
"Is that odd?" she continued.
"Maybe...maybe not" he said mysteriously. "I'll look it over better when I get back"
"If we're going to find this killer we better get started" Roggar nodded
"We better" Emilie reiterated.
And so it began. An investigation in secret to find justice. Little did the guards know that at that very moment their decision would change Markarth for a long time to come.
Mistakes can be costly, even the littlest of ones. And mistakes can be covered up, glossed over. But when a mistake is involved in a murder there is only one way to cover it up.