Amorthon Blackwood

Of Confirmed Suspicions

How long had Savage been gone? An hour? Maybe two? It was long enough for his ‘shadows’ to pick up on the fact that the tiger likely wasn’t returning, which meant it was time to go. Gripping his hunting knife in one hand, the ranger gathered his few supplies with the other, listening intently to his surroundings while trying to appear nonchalant. No need to draw extra attention. 

Amorthon pulled his hood up over his head as he moved away from the encampment, quickly and quietly shifting between trees. He’d been less than five minutes out when he heard it - the rustling of vegetation, disturbed animals, and voices…angry voices who were apparently no longer interested in subtlety…or were trying to distract him. And it had worked, leaving the ranger just enough time to duck out of the way of an incoming arrow, hissing as the tip of the arrow clipped his ear. “Shit!”

He’d been trained to run through woods, but so had his pursuers. Every turn, every evasive move he made was countered, and he was slowed by the constant need to avoid arrows - apparently, the bastards weren’t concerned for his well being. The ranger grit his teeth as he kept moving forward - ever forward, throwing down obstacles behind him where he could, continuing to make sharp curves and keep behind cover. 

It was the sound of running water that cut through the adrenaline induced haze. He knew there was a cliff nearby, but in all the dodging he’d lost track of his location. ‘That..that might be enough. Cut off the trail long enough to get some distance…’ With a deep breath, he sheathed his knife, taking off in a full sprint towards the sound of water, only realizing his mistake as the forest thinned…as did his cover. 

“Got you.” 

He managed to dip enough for the first arrow to just clip his shoulder (‘Why is it always this damn shoulder?!’) but he couldn’t avoid the second, the third…or the forth. Somehow he managed to continue to stumble forward, until a well-placed shot hit his calf, sending the ranger toppling to the ground. It was as he tried to gather his strength in his uninjured arm to stand that he heard the footsteps. He was completely unprepared for the kick to the back of his head that forced him back down again. 

“F-fast little fucker, isn’t he? Scouting didn’t bother to mention that.” 

“It wasn’t important and I didn’t see him RUN. Technically I wasn’t there to watch him anyway. Feed him the damn potion and let’s get out of here before we’re spotted.”

“Pushy pushy. Right then, up we go.” 

He tried to fight against the arm that found its way around his neck, but with one arm he didn’t seem to be making much progress, and his need to breathe was a higher priority.

“Hold the bastard still.”

“If you were more efficient this wouldn’t be an issue.” A hand gripped his hair, yanking his head back as a second hand pinched his nose, forcing his mouth open, as whoever was maintaining the choke hold forced the opening of a potion bottle into his mouth, emptying the contents and then forcing his mouth closed until he swallowed. 

It was then that he was released, and fell forward, the world around him going fuzzy. 

“You’re sure this is the right guy?” 

His head was throbbing, and the nausea was almost overwhelming, but somehow the ranger managed to keep it together and keep quiet for the moment as he tried to piece together his jumbled thoughts and listen at the same time.

“Positive. I only watched the pair of ‘em for several HOURS.” 

Somewhere in the back of his mind that made sense. A ranger would know how to cover his tracks well enough that another ranger wouldn’t be able to spot it. 

“Huh, and here I was thinking out dear little sister might have some DECENT taste.” One of them - there were two?…gods it hurt to try to open his eyes. One of the two snorted. 

“Well, good thing her loving brothers are here to clean up the mess huh?”

“So…who do you think is gonna miss him?”  

Not like he hadn’t had that thought before…never in this type of situation, but the thought remained. 

“Not a damn soul, that’s what makes this job so easy. It would’ve been one thing if little Nyllae was seeing someone who was worth *something*. This one is just another name on a list somewhere.” 

“So, why aren’t we just killin’ him?” 

“Because father wants a bargaining chip, not dead weight.” 

“And you really think Nyllae…that SAME woman we saw at the estate just a few weeks ago, is going to cave because we have her boy toy?” 

Another snort - whatever they’d forced him to drink before knocking him out the first time was making it damn difficult to stay awake. 

“Gods, no. But then, once it’s settled that she won’t cave - then we can remind mister Blackwood here just how insignificant he is, and our DEAR little sister might be a bit more inclined to do what father wants. Marry someone of her station and provide some income. Once Nyllae has herself all nice and sorted out, then we’ll figure out what to do with this one. Until then, we keep him alive, but very…VERY uncomfortable.”

It took everything he had, but the ranger somehow managed to wake up enough to glare up at the pair. Bound and gagged as he was, his shoulder and leg throbbing, his head foggy…it was all he could manage to fight off the overwhelming urge to close his eyes that became stronger and stronger as the moments passed by. 

“Oh looky here, he’s awake.” 

“What’s that? Oh. Well, time to go nighty night again Blackwood. We’ll see if you get to wake up again.” 

Amorthon’s eyes widened moments before something impacted with the back of his head…and everything went black.