Wild Orchid: Chapter 3

Cole Atrian was the picture of the perfect soldier.  He was tall, relatively handsome, and had dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders without a hair out of place.  If not for the sword and shield that he carried and the heavy plate armor accented with a scarlet cape trimmed in gold that marked a Warder one might mistake him for a politician.  That would be a very large mistake though as despite his looks Cole was a hardened and very skilled warrior.  The only thing that marred his features was a scar acrosss his throat where a assassin had managed to slit his throat severing the vocal cords.  The wound healed and eventually he regained his voice but it was gravvely and deep, at complete odds with his appearance and it struck fear into his subordinates.  He used that to great effect on the man before him nervously awaiting his reply.
“You’re telling me that one ship escaped a dozen of the finest Imperial ships AND managed to destroy three of them?”

The officer seemed to search his brain for a response.  “No sir.  They destroyed two of them.  The catapults took out the third.”

He realized the mistake he had made the moment he finished talking.

“Oh..well that’s much better then isn’t it.  Officer I would like you to report to the brig.  You’ll be spending some time there.  Next time you should have your men on deck faster.”  Cole turned and headed toward the contact crystal.  This wouldn’t be pleasant.

“Ahh Cole.”  The oily voice said.  “Good news I expect?”

“No sir.  The Wild Orchid got away and three of our ships were destroyed.  The defenses of the town were as deadly as stated.  Nevertheless the whole of the port has been razed to the ground sir.”

The voice seemed unbothered mostly.  Just a slight change in his pitch indicated his anger.

“Very well.  Tell Talthier that his business with us is not done.”

“Sir with all due respect we don’t need that....hunter…to take care of this.”

The voice grew deadly low.  “Well apparently we do.  You’ll assist him with whatever he needs.  You’re hereby relieved of your command of the ship.  The Black Narcissus is no longer yours.  You’ll be relinquishing your command to Captain Forls.  Be glad I didn’t strip you of your Warden rank and armor.”

The contact crystal went dark suddenly and Cole fumed to himself.  That dwarf robbed his command by making him look like a fool.  If it hadn’t been for their ship the victory would have been total.  The Lord didn’t even note that a pirate and rebel safe haven had been destroyed.  All he cared was that Cole had failed in utterly destroying the ship and crew that was causing so much trouble on the fringes of Imperial rule.  There had to be another reason why the Lord truly wanted Caradin. Now though Cole didn’t have time to seek that answer.  He turned and swept by the grinning Captain Forls fixing him with a glare that made his arrogant smile disappear.

What further irritated him was that the Lord was willing to let a hunter, a man with no loyalties, take care of something that was within Empire jurisdiction to do so.  Furthermore it was rumored that Talthier was an Altered, dangerous experiments fusing humans with runestones.  He was sure it was a rumor used to bolster the man's reputation, all of the experiments he knew about had failed either going mad or dying in the altercation process.  Still it gave him one less reason to trust the hunter.  He considered using the contact crystal to communicate his instructions but knew he wouldn’t even need to find Talthier.  The man seemed to know everything that had to do with anything somehow and before long he would have caught wind of it.  He had no idea how soon as he turned on he entered his quarters and saw the man standing there fingering different things on Cole’s desk.  As Cole entered he sneered at the man even as he turned and ran a finger across the brim of his hat in mock greeting.

“Why Captain….no that isn't quite right anymore is it?  Well good thing I turned around when I saw the botching of Caradin’s capture.  Oh don’t be surprised.  You know I wouldn’t miss the fireworks on that battle.  Still you might have gone a little far in razing Alana to the ground.  Just making all kinds of enemies this evening aren’t we?”

Cole bristled but secretly he agreed with the man.  While the Emperor’s orders were absolute and he had received the instructions to do so by one of his personal Lords, Cole still thought that destroying Alana and killing citizens was beyond what was needed.  After all these kind of displays left far too many alive to seek revenge and took lives that could otherwise be spent in the Empire’s service.  That’s what he told himself.  Truth was that killing all those people, listening to their screams made him feel filthy.  He was a warrior, not a butcher.

“You know nothing of what the Emperor commands.  If he ordered Alana razed to the ground it was with good cause.  The place was a breeding ground of rebel and pirate filth.  Now talk carefully or I’ll have you arrested and tried for treason.”

The hunter chuckled setting Cole bristling again at the man’s arrogance.

“I don’t belong to your precious Empire remember?  Can’t accuse a man of treason that didn’t pledge to your Emperor in the first place.  Hell officer I would be working for the rebels if they paid well enough.”

“Just do your job and go after Caradin.”  Cole turned signifying an end to the conversation.

“Oh really.  Well I overheard that you’ll be giving me whatever I need to do so.  And to catch Caradin I’m going to need a fast ship.  Say…..your personal skiff?  Oh and I could use an escort…how about yourself?  You’re not a captain any longer.  They don’t exactly need you here.”

Cole had enough and stepped forward snapping out with his right fist at the hunter, who suddenly wasn’t there.  Talthier stepped to the side deftly and had drawn one of his long knives impossibly fast and placed it to Cole’s neck.

“Now don’t make me go and reopen that scar.  Who do you think you are playing with here?  Your Emperor paid me to do a job and I intend to do it but I need the resources to do so.  Caradin isn’t a joke.  He isn’t going to go easy and I’m going to need good soldiers with me if I plan to take him and his crew down.  Now what say we have a more civilized discussion?”  Cole nodded lightly drawing a small bit of blood down his neck.

“That’s better.  Now do you have any bourbon around so we can have a civilized conversation about how to capture Caradin?”  He sat down in the chair facing the desk propping his feet up on it as Cole went around and drew a bottle of liquor from within.

“Just know that I’m not defenseless myself.  Betray me or the Empire and I’ll have you feeding worms hunter.”

The hunter just smiled widely and Cole thought to himself this was going to be a very difficult business venture.