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Cela's Pursuit
Posted: 27 Sep 2003 03:40 PM |
Cela stood with hands clasped behind her back, staring out into the night. Her thoughts were once again plagued by the ones who had escaped her. The informant who had relayed messages to her regarding the barbarian clans activities had suffered dearly for his mistake. Because of him, her work was not complete, she had in essence failed. Her superiors had not been happy with "her"oversight. Her own suffering was little less than that of the spy's. The only reason her life had been spared was because she had at least been able to retreive the item her superiors had commanded her to find and return, it was more than she could say for the spy.
She had been removed from her command and issued new orders. She was to hunt down each and every survivor and kill them. Twelve in all had managed to survive, and only then because they had been away on a hunting expedition.
She had discovered four of them quickly enough, their trails still fresh enough to follow. They had fought hard, but in the end they fell to the magik and swords of those Cela had been allowed to take with her. One by one, Cela hunted the others and saw them into eternity. The pursuit had taken her across many strange lands and waters. There had been a few mistakes, but rarely did anyone ever notice the disappearance of a barbarian man. Some of her own men had been offered up to the flames, their ashes sent back to the gods on the wings of the winds. Losses, each of her men's death had been a loss, but the losses would be worth it when she found this last one and saw him to his death.
In the beginning he and his brother had been the best at covering their trails, evading eyes. She had come close once, but one of the brothers had slipped away before she could make a move against him. The other had fallen in battle, not by her hand, not even by her manipulations. It seemed the half orc had some greater purpose to serve in the little kingdom she had last found them in. In the end he had died trying to save the people of that forsaken land and that was all that mattered. The half orc was dead, and only one remained.
Now,however, time was against her. The trail was all but gone, disappearring over time while she pursued others of the twelve. A lead of any sort was hard to come by and often times the Speaker pointed them in a direction that was as likely to be wrong as it was to be right...
She would see this last one dead.
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Her thoughts continued as such until at last a knock at the door broke her reverie. She recognized the voice and words called out in her native tongue. They were the only words of her language the bony little man Jonag, knew. Perhaps this time he would have a lead worth pursuing. She was more than ready to leave this little outpost and move on. Cela raised her voice and called out for the man to enter. Jonag cracked the door and slipped quietly inside the room.
"Well?" she asked curtly. Jonag smiled a twisted smile and replied with mock delight "I have found him."
"Are you certain? The last time you said that one of them wasn't even a half orc." she said disgustedly
"Aye, I am certain. A barbarian, tall and dark, disembarked here some weeks back. The ship he sailed on came from a place just outside Khaldera city. It is said he only recently passed this way again. It seems he sought transport to a place called Port Royale, across the great sea." Jonag replied smugly.
Cela gave Jonag a predatory look, he had been wrong before. In two quick strides she was in front of him, her hand clamped about his chin,"Are you certain this time?" she demanded as she jerked his head upwards.
Jonag's eyes were wide, he knew his errors recently had been costly and had endangered them all. "Yyes," he sputtered, "I am certain. I had the… the mage do th...the delving. Sh.. She saw him, it was his face. It is him this time."
Cela arched her eyebrow and stared down at Jonag.
"It ..it was only a peasant. No one of importance, I made certain to dispose of him." Jonag whined.
Cela's eye's continued to bore down on Jonag.
"In..in the forest. I made it look as if..." he stuttered "as if the wolves got him."
"Good" Cela said with a wicked smile as she released the little man. "Very good Jonag"
Jonag rubbed his chin and smiled, it was a crooked toothy grin that reminded Cela of a hound that had just been rewarded for finding the fox. Not being one of Cela's original detachment, he was very eager to please her.
Too eager, she thought as she eyed him again, he would have to be disposed of before he could make any more mistakes in his rush to impress her.
"Go arrange passage to this place, this Port Royale" she said as she pulled a small pouch from her belt. "Make certain the ship's captain understands I want to be gone from this wretched place as soon as possible."
Jonag grinned at the clinking of the coins in the bag as he caught it. "I'll make sure of it." he said almost happily.
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Cela stood with her hands tightly clamped to the ship's rail, sailing was not her preferred mode of travel. Right now though, she didn't care about the rocking of the deck or of the queasy feeling in her stomach. None of them had ever really seen those they pursued. Using powerful and often deadly magiks, the images of the barbarians they sought had been torn from the memories of their own clan's ten remaining survivors.
It was not a simple task, to delve, and Cela had rarely required the mage use it outside of those times. But she was hard pressed to find this last one. Time had begun to run out on her, she had to finish what was begun soon, very soon. The Speaker that traveled with her never failed to remind her of these things. So it was that with her two Night Hands* dead, and only Jonag left, she had begun requiring the delvings.
This time though, images the mage had been able to provide of the man who had recently sailed on this very ship was a near perfect match to the one that had been placed into her memory so many years before. The trail had been found again and the huntress was closing on her prey.
So it was, that as she stood on the deck, hands tightly gripping the rail, a feral smile came to rest on her face. Cela had no doubts, the barbarian had gone this route. She only hoped he would still be in this place, this Port Royale, when she arrived. For she wanted very much to slide her blade thru his belly, and watch with pleasure as he died. |
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