The Road to Hell

…

Chapter 15: Singing for my supper

"Who was that we just left?" Val asked me as we made our way out of Castle Dour and walked through the courtyard to the path that would lead to the Blue Palace.

"Lynesse Hightower," I replied to Val's question. "She's what your people would call a kneeler," I then said.

"Ah," Val uttered sardonically. "She's pretty enough, but looks as though she hasn't done a hard day's work," she said scornfully.

"That may be true in some sense of the word," I said thoughtfully. "But she's smarter than she lets on and has the cunning to get what she wants," I added.

"And it looked like she wants you," Val said with a amused smile.

"Yes," I confirmed with an exasperated sigh. "She's proving to be an annoyance for me, as she seems intent on attaching herself to me," I then said.

"And you do not wish her to?" Val then asked.

"No. I don't," I replied firmly. "She is attractive, I will freely admit, but I'm not in the market at the moment," I stated.

"Hmm." Val gave me a calculating look before continuing to walk beside. We soon reached the Blue Palace and Val was agog at it. "If everyone back home could see this," she murmured before looking at me, asking if we could go inside. I acquiesced to her request and we entered the Blue Palace.

We then made our to the throne room where Elisif was conducting courtly affairs with her retainers. Lord Jon was standing beside the Jarl before he spotted and walked over.

"Aegon? What brings you here?" the Griffin asked me before he took notice of Val. "And who might this be?" He eyed the Wildling Princess critically.

"This is Val, sister of Dalla. She was a hostage of a Forsworn encampment before we wiped it out," I informed me.

"Yes, I saw the missive from Legate Jamal," Jon remarked. He looked at Val who stared back at him evenly. Taking his focus off the wildling, Jon asked me, "And what brings you here?"

"Val wanted to see the castles in town," I said honestly. "And I saw no harm in it," I added. Val nodded in support of my words.

"I also heard that Jamal made you company musician," Jon then said.

"He did, my lord," I answered.

"Well, good to see you're rising in the ranks, boy," Jon said with an approving look in his pale eyes.

Then walking over came Jarl Elisif who smiled at me warmly. "Prince Aegon. It is lovely to see you at court," she said to me regally if a little stiff how she said it. "Oh? And who might this be?" she asked as she noticed Val.

"This is Val, sister of Dalla, Jarl Elisif," I said.

"Welcome to Solitude, Miss Val. I hope you're enjoying your time here," Elisif then said Val kindly.

"It is nice here, although I have never seen or been inside a castle before," Val replied.

"Truly?" Elisif raised an eyebrow. "Well, perhaps I can show you around the Blue Palace later?" she offered. "You're welcome to come as well, Prince Aegon," she said to me.

"That'd be fine," I said with a nod of my head. "But I fear my time here is short. Legate Jamal must be wondering where I am, right now," I added apologetically.

"I already know, Little recruit."

I spun around and saw the Alik'r warrior standing a few feet behind me. The man laughed and said, "Showing Miss Val the Blue Palace, are we? Not a bad first date." He gave me a wink as I blushed and tried to protest.

"Legate Jamal. A pleasure to receive you," Jarl Elisif said to the man with a regal smile. "You are here to make your report to General Tullius?" she asked.

"Already did, my lady," Jamal said with a wide grin. "Came looking for Little Recruit," he then stated with a grin directed at me. "Made him company musician. Thought I'd introduce him to the Bard's College," he declared.

"The Bard's College?" Jon echoed. "Would his duties as an auxiliary not take precedence?" he asked.

"The College is looking for fresh talent, and Little Recruit would make good addition to their ranks," Jamal replied. "What say you, little recruit?" he asked looking at me. "Want to learn to be a bard?"

"I don't know about that," I said apprehensively. "I don't think I'd be the best student there," I added regretfully.

"Come on, little recruit, don't make me pull rank on you," Jamal said jokingly.

I gave a deadpan stare and said, "You're going to hawk me about this until I agree, aren't you?" Jamal laughed at this and steered me around and lead me out of the Blue Palace. Val followed behind us.

Soon we reached the Bard's College which looked bigger and more grandiose than it did in the video game of Skyrim. We entered the institution where inside we saw Viarmo the headmaster of the College conversing with one of the deans of the institution.

The Altmer spotted us and excused himself from his conversation. "Legate Jamal!" he proclaimed with a glad smile on his face as he hugged the Alik'r warrior who hugged him back. "Good to see you, old friend. Keeping busy?" the elf asked the Redguard.

"Busy as ever, knife-ears," Jamal said with a grin. "And you?" he asked.

Viarmo sighed and replied, "I've been trying to petition the Jarl to reinstate the Burning of King Olaf festival, but I've had no luck thus far." His expression was one of frustration as he said, "If only I could find the King Olaf's verse, then I might be able to persuade Elisif to the festival be reinstated."

I of course knew where the tome Viarmo mentioned was; Dead Man's Respite. But I held my tongue as I knew that as of yet, Viarmo had no reason to trust the words of a strange, no matter how desperate he may to recover the verse.

The high elf then saw me and asked, "Is this the lad you spoke of?" He looked at Jamal who nodded.

"This is Auxiliary Aegon. I made him company musician. Thought he'd do well at Bards College."

"Truly?" Viarmo smiled at me. "I heard the rumour of some fresh talent that had sung some new and interesting songs recently. Was that you?" he asked me hopefully.

"It was, sir," I replied standing to attention.

"Oh, no need to stand to attention, young man. I'm not some military officer you need to bow and scrape before," Viarmo dismissed easily.

"Yes, sir," I said instantly still standing to attention.

"Well, since you claim to be the new singer that has made some waves recently and made company musician, perhaps we can see how well you do," Viarmo then said. "Come this way," he told me as he laid a firm hand on my shoulder and led us deeper into the college.

We soon came to a small amphitheatre where bards doubtlessly trained their musical talents.

"Stand right here," Viarmo ordered me as he placed in centre stage. "Now, sing us a song or a note of any kind, and we'll see how if you're the right fit for the college," he said as he took a seat in one of the benches.

I swallowed a nervous lump in my throat, feeling it tighten almost painfully. I steeled myself as I sang the first verse of the first song that came to my mind.

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, tear drop in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads

Viarmo then stopped me and I nervously looked at him. He smiled widely and said, "Very well done, young man. You certainly have a gift for song. A little nervous truth be told, but that'll come with time." He nodded at me and added, "I think you'll make an excellent addition to the college. That is, if you're interested?" he asked.

"Well, I am an auxiliar to the Imperial legion, so I don't know if they would be willing to let me go off to be a singer," I replied.

Jamal laughed loudly and said to me, "Go on, little recruit. I brought you here to be a bard, make musician of you. Give it a go!" he encouraged me.

"Well, I think Lord Jon would have some thing to say about it," I weakly stated.

"Don't worry. I talk to him for you," Jamal said with a roguish wink. The Alik'r then looked at Viarmo and asked him, "You make him a good singer? Make a bard of him?"

"I think we certainly can," Viarmo said with a nod of his head. "Jamal and I will talk to your Lord Jon and see if we can convince him to let you join the college," he promised me.

"Well, good luck," I said to him.

"No time like the present," Jamal said as he rose to his feet. "Let's go! We convince Lord Jon and you become the finest singer in Skyrim!" he added with a laugh.

I opened my mouth to say something when a blood curdling scream rang out. "What was that?" I asked faintly.

Jamal drew his swords ready for battle and was rushing in the direction of the scream. I quickly followed the Legate as he rushed outside where a small crowd had gathered around, all whispering and muttering fearfully.

"Alright, back up! Men! Set up perimeter! Dozen feet! Now!" Jamal ordered as the city guards began to set up a perimeter. I then saw what had people so afraid.

The corpse of a young woman, her body hacked and practically mangled to pieces. "Holy shit!" I blurted out. "What happened?" I asked stupidly even though it was plainly obvious.

"Gods above! Another one!" Viarmo gasped out as he saw the hacked and mutilated corpse.

"Another one?" I asked looking at the headmaster. "This happened before? Who's doing this?" I questioned.

"It's been happening for the past few weeks," Viarmo replied looking afraid. "Every so often, someone on the street goes missing and is found not long afterward hacked and slashed to pieces," he told me.

"A serial killer?" I asked. I half wondered if this was the work of Calixto, the Butcher of Windhelm.

Viarmo nodded. "Mhm. Witnesses say that they saw the back of a man wearing a guardsman's uniform, armed with a falchion and wearing some kind of mask fleeing the scene where a victim was claimed. People have dubbed him the Maniac Guard," he told me a hushed voice.

"Oh." So, it wasn't Calixto, I thought, this was very different to the murder case in Windhelm. "Has anyone tried to stop this Maniac Guard?" I enquired.

"Some have tried, but they find themselves brutally killed in creative ways or the killer simply slips away like smoke through your fingers," Viarmo replied. "The Jarl is doing all she can to try and catch the murderer and even searches the city guards' quarters for any sign that one of them was responsible, but she's had no success," he detailed.

"Right…" I muttered. I then looked for the legate and asked, "Legate Jamal sir, is there anything you need of me?"

"Yes. Get to the Blue Palace and tell the Jarl the Maniac Guard has struck again. Get it done, now!" the Legate ordered.

With a nod, I jogged my way to the Blue Palace. I was almost out of breath as I entered the Blue Palace and bounded up the steps to the throne room. "Aegon?" Lord Jon stopped me. "What is it? Why are you so out of breath?" he asked.

"Need to see Elisif! Another murder has happened!" I panted out.

"Another murder?" Jon looked at me in surprise as he took to the Jarl who was surprised to see me.

"Prince Aegon? Why are you here? What troubles you?" the Jarl asked.

"There's been another murder! The Maniac Guard has struck again!" I informed her.

"Maniac Guard? What in Seven Hells are you talking about, boy?" Jon asked.

"Damnation! I'd hoped that the extra guards on the street would've scared that monster off!" Elisif lamented. She looked at me and Jon and said, "I suppose now is the time to tell what's been troubling my city for the last few weeks."

She then proceeded to detail the story of the Maniac Guard; it seemed that every few days someone dressed as a city guard would pick someone up off the street and brutally murder them in horrific ways. The few witnesses who spotted the slasher detailed that he wore some kind of mask and wielded a falchion sword but did not limit himself to just that.

"I'd ordered more patrols around the city and have given orders to capture or kill the man on sight, but those who have tried were brutally killed themselves or the killer simply escaped their grasp," Elisif told us, a look of frustration on her face.

"Have you searched the guards quarters? Found any evidence of a mask among their belongings?" Lord Jon asked her.

"None. Each time we search the guards quarters and offices for any sign of a mask, but to no avail," Elisif said.

"Does anyone have a description of the mask? What it looks like or what it's made of?" I asked helpfully.

"You would need to speak to some of the witnesses who spotted the killer making his escape," Elisif said to me. "Other than the guardsman uniform and the weapon he uses, we have no other distinguishing feature to go off of," she added regretfully.

"Right," I mumbled and I sighed to myself. "Not exactly how I planned my day to go," I said to myself.

"I will order more patrols on the street and even ask General Tullius to have the Legion assist in the patrols," Elisif stated. "Other than that, all we can do is hope that someone finally catches the killer," she said sadly.

"I'll let you all do that," I said blandly. "I need to get back to the Legate," I added absently as I then left the Blue Palace.

I sighed as I left the Blue Palace. My thoughts strayed to the Maniac Guard; I scoffed to myself. It wasn't exactly my business, I was no police detective and I wouldn't know the first thing about investigating a murder and how to catch the culprit. I thought about the description of the killer and I almost laughed as I was reminded of Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the mask this killer wore looked like a hockey mask.

I brushed it from my mind and headed for Castle Dour to find Legate Jamal. But my thoughts kept straying to the murder and played on a continuous loop as I loped off to Castle Dour.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: There! Chapter fifteen of this story is done and dusted and it looks like there's a serial killer on the loose in Solitude. I won't say too much, but Aegon may have a chance encounter with the Maniac Guard and will then have a reason to bring the killer to justice, but the Maniac Guard will not be an easy target to bring down.

And apart from that I haven't got too much more to say, so I'll leave this here and catch you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.