Chronicles of the Reaper - Chapter 5
The man was blinded and was beginning to regain his composure within the darkness of his dark hood, and the soft piercing light and the ruffling sounds of leaves hinted him of the wilderness. For the longest time, he was forced to walk through rain, sun and the humidity. He felt disgusted and sick to be dragged around like a beast by his stealthy abductors, now he could barely stand from his weak, frightened knees. He gave up trying to fight back.
He knew what these people are capable of, but he was not ready to betray his employers.
With a yank, his bounded arms were released by two strong men and pushed forward. Blindly, he stumbled and fell on his face onto the warm bed of autumn leaves, the wafting smell of decomposing leaves brought a strange sense of serenity and comfort to him, lest he knows that he was not amongst an array of torture equipment in some cold, dank dungeon. He tried pushing his pride and body up only to be tormented by his abductors. With a jerk, the halfling's hair was pulled through the black, blinding hood and hurled to aside. He landed sitting with a strong thud against his back.
A sword approaches.
The killing aura closed upon him and jolted upon the chilling touch of sharp steel on his neck. His breath quickened and became heavier, his mind giddy from the panic, fear and the lack of air behind the thick sack. Heat and sweat began to accumulate that amount to an induced, uncomfortable level of humidity as the broad heavy steel toyed carefully up, down and around his neck with occasional pressure that sent him gasping.
Summoning his courage and wits, he barked, "Wh…what do you want?"
The steel stopped below his chin and with one swift motion the metal swing upwards, splitting his hood in two, leaving him gasping for cool air to nullify the trapped stench of heat, sweat and bad breath.
Everything around him swirled in a blur in the sudden blend of piercing sunlight and colors, his vision formed illusionary patterns and was disorientated with his surroundings, although almost immediately, he could easily recognize his intimidating abductors with their identical outfits. He was aghast at the sight of a massive double-sword, held on to by a toned athletic woman dressed in slick, firm stretchable material of black and blood red, face hidden behind a pair of round goggles and form-fitting mask made of cloth, tightly covering every inch of her head. She barely showed any skin save for her arms.
He was wheezing in temporary comfort before he was again covered in another hood, suffocating and frightening the prisoner.
"No! No!" he fought, "What do you want from me!"
"You know why you're here," a dark, terrifying voice of a male's spoke, "Quentin…"
"Please…" he gasped, "I know nothing….!"
He felt a hand jerked his hair with a stinging wrath and a face came up close to his. "We can dally as you long as you fancy Quentin, until you give us what we want."
Quentin was torn in his panicky state, mumbling to himself.
"A trader with a ship, crew and wealth, a mansion located about a league from here, a pretty mistress and companion…" the abductor's voice lowered to a dreadful whisper. "Veldyia has paid you well, haven't we?"
"Please, I know nothing…" he cried softly.
Quentin, was lifted high up with fury and hurled face down to the ground. His head held still by a large hand firmly, burying his head to the soil to terrify further the small creature. Another abductor's knee pinned the halfling's left leg firmly before he grabbed his left bounded hand.
"This is going to hurt, Quentin…"
Three large, sharp needles were placed under the tip of the halfling's tiny fingernails and pushed through the nail bed.
"YAAAARGHHHHH!" Quentin yelled in agony while his torturer continued pushing the needle leisurely until it reaches midway, he retracted the bloody needles and insert them in again in a single stroke into the stiffening, trembling palm.
"YAAAARGHHHHH!" the yells died down abruptly and the halfling gradually passed out from the pain and lack of air.
"Wake him up," another abductor ordered the halfling's torturer. "We cannot afford to lose anymore time."
The Night Agent platoon of three were leaping from wide branches to another with their incredible finesse and skillful acrobatic grace, their corded hip muscles flexed easily when their legs sent their agile body slicing through the air. Using their extremely well balanced body and coordination, they place their strength and distributed their weights with pinpoint accuracy to land upon the nearest branch, with a destination well in mind, the landed foot immediately catapulted the body further to the another branch, continually building a forward momentum with their sharp, focused mind.
The three pursuers were widely spread in searching for the next clue to their hidden target, hoping their crafty prey would make a mistake in their flight.
Unmistakably, the lead pursuer thought, that the previous clues has correctly lead them directly towards right direction. But he was getting a little frantic from the overnight search, he wanted to resign for more reinforcement but was protested by his overly eager subordinate, claiming the resignation would give their enemies a window of opportunity to act upon. Though he accepted the young Agent's logic, many other factors are playing in to suggest that the situation was no longer a simple game of hide and seek.
He glanced briefly towards the city, northeast from their current position, and knew that they were straying out of their patrol boundaries.
He leapt smoothly to another branch with ease.
Two days ago, Nilis, the green and overly eager Agent received a credible tip-off from the dock master, while he was off-duty, claiming there were irregularities and suspicions of a certain inward bound ship that eventually led to the capture of the first lead - Quentin the halfling. It was required by protocol that certain patterns of irregularities be flagged and investigated, true enough, the size and scale of the conspiracy were perceived to be so immense, the Highest five was engaged to look into that matter.
The same night, when a task force was assembled to capture Quentin on his mainland-bound ship, the platoon was sent to the Green A'ras forest for an extensive patrol, when they uncovered the remnants of a small, well-hidden deserted camp site that was less than a day old.
Now the trail is leading them out of the boundaries, and he was not within the range of an allocated listening post to signal for reinforcements. He would have to turn back and risk losing their prey's trail, giving them an advantage to whatever they pursue.
But he felt he was being hunted instead.
The trail was too well-placed and organized, as if someone is playing the lead pursuer into their game. Such easy, identifiable trail should have leaded even the greenest Agent to their targets hours ago. He was dealing with experts.
He regrettably admitted a grievous mistake.
He stopped short mid-air and held out his hands, reaching for the next branch. It was a maneuver to control their highly energize acrobatic tree-striding to a stop. He managed to grab the thick branch and used his falling momentum to swing himself around the branch, curled his body into a ball, released his grasp and planted both feet onto the branch, crouching while balled his hands into a fist to halt his teammates' movements. The trail onwards was leading them further down a dangerously steep slope which was another obvious disadvantageous course to their pursuit. It was a good opportunity to tip the scale to Leo's favor.
"Is something wrong, Leo?" the third agent whispered as loudly as he dared.
Silently, he recollected his thoughts and processed the whole event. He dare not dismiss the fact that either Nilis or Elwick is playing the role of an informant in this deadly game, he even shudders at the possibility of being betrayed by the both of them.
"The trail is leading downwards, any thoughts?" He tested and spied his two teammates through his black opaque goggles, Nilis on his far left and Elwick closer to his right. He barely knew both of them as it was routine that Agents be shuffled throughout the ranks to minimize the possibility of uniting conspiring, rebellious members. He knew the game all too well.
Barely looking at Nilis, Elwick, without hesitation, said, "I think we are straying too far from our course, although that it's a good possibility that the enemy hiding somewhere down there, they would not dare venture further to the Diamond Coast." Leo silently judged his tone.
"Then, they are cornered! We must press on!" Nilis whispered too, as loudly as he dared. Immediately, Leo detected the desperate tone edging from his tone, hardly the pulsation of excitement, as if he was nervously waiting for a plan to unfold. His suspicion deepens, although he had yet a way to prove it. Either way, it was a game too difficult to win, he knew laying somewhere were several deadly enemies ready to spring at a moment's notice, and he was too deep beyond friendly territories to retreat from a fight, and all the worse, someone in his group was conspiring with an unseen enemy.
To venture forward means a certain death, and to go back would risk losing track of enemy, he summarized. "We turn back," he said curtly and received an agreeable nod from Elwick. He safely concluded that Elwick was on his side and relaxed a little. There was little that green Agent could do against two seasoned veterans.
"But sir! The enemy lies just ahead" Nilis cried out, only to receive a cold, reprimanding stare. Leo shifted uncomfortably at the thought of treason, and secretly hoped he could slay Nilis where he stood to relief his mounting anxiety. He shrugged his morbid desire and decided to do something about him as soon as he was within friendlier grounds.
"We've lingered longer than we should, we leave now…" Leo said with a tense, intimidating posture before he knelt, and charged his legs to propel himself onto another branch towards the direction of Vetropol. Tensing his muscles, his legs pushed himself into the air and he was almost gliding, feeling the resisting wind gracing his bare arm. Retreating was wisest course of action, he comforted himself, although the game was already way out of his hands.
He then heard a rapid, whistling sound from a direction he expected least. The speedy resonance of the air immediately hinted a throwing knife.
Ever anticipating attacks, he twisted his body in a clockwise motion to evade the airborne knife, but it was too late. The sharp, jagged blade pierced his left arm and lodged deep into his flesh and tendons, he lost his control and started falling before realizing the painful deception and error – the treacherous Elwick, with arms jutting out in a knife-throwing stance, and Leo read his lips from the movements of his knitted mask all too well….
"Perfect…" Elwick whispered in satisfaction.