The Last Dragonborn

Chapter 9

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I stared down at the girl's body in disgust. I had seen enough of war and battle to no longer feel horror over the sight of all the blood, but the loss of an innocent life was always a disgusting waste, especially to something so brutal. The girl couldn't have been much younger than me, maybe in her twenties. She must have been beautiful in life, with strong Nordic features, but now her long blonde hair was blood soaked and spread across the ice and stone.

"Hold it there, keep your distance," one of the guards barked at me.

I pulled up in surprise, not realizing I had continued towards the body. I paused and looked around at the crowd of people gathering. Most looked scared, others sleepy, as though they had sprung from their beds. "What happened here?" I asked the guard.

He looked young under his helmet. Not much older than the girl laying dead in the snow. "Another girl killed," he said, his voice catching. "This is Susana from Candleherth hall. Served me a drink just a few nights ago, though I can't say I knew her," he said sadly.

"Another? This has happened before?" I asked in shock. Windhelm had seemed like such a safe city. I had been wandering around the streets after dark for several nights now.

"Susanna is the third. It's always the same. Young girl killed at night, body torn up," he said with a disgusted shake of his head.

"Are the murders being investigated?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't imagine something like this continuing to happen in Ulfric's city, right under his nose.

The young soldier shrugged. "We're stretched thin as it is with the war. Nobody has the time to spend on this. It's not pleasant but it's the truth."

I exhaled. I wasn't busy with the war. "Could you use some help?" I offered. If I was stuck in this city anyway I might as well make myself useful somehow.

"If you want to help. Ask some of these gawkers if they saw anything useful. I'm going to examine the body before the rats can get to it."

I approached a middle aged man staring down at the body.

"Hello," I greeted a little awkwardly. I wasn't exactly the type who investigated things. I normally settled these types of things with the edge of my sword. I had never actually interviewed witnesses before.

"Calixto Corrium," the man introduced himself. "Of Calixto's Curiosities," he said with a tip of his hat. "Always sad when someone has to die," he said jerking his chin towards the body.

I frowned at the strange turn of phrase. There was something about the man the rubbed me the wrong way. It seemed cold to try and peddle his business standing over the body of a dead girl. "Did you see what happened here?" I asked.

"Sorry, thought I saw a fellow running away but I didn't get a good look at him," Calixto said with a shrug.

I stepped up to Silda the Unseen. I had worked with the Beggar of Windhelm on a few occasions many years ago. She was a talented pickpocket. It had been years since we did any business together and it was obvious those years hadn't been kind to the older woman. She was dressed only in rags. "Another one, terrible," she said with a sad shake of her head.

"Did you see what happened?" I asked gently.

Silda looked into my face, but with my cowl up she had no way of recognizing me. "I heard a scream and came running, but...she was already like this when I got here," Silda said.

I made a mental note to find Silda again after this. It wouldn't do to appear to pay her while questioning her for the guards, but I could certainly spare a few septims for a woman who had helped me when I was younger and still learning the trade.