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| Details |
| Author: | Disknight |
| Summary: | Crim is informed of some recent developments in the Eastern kingdoms while Rozalin is taken up north the Stormwind. However, The Seahawks plans for Rozalin aren't without their difficulties, it would seem. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
Arc: Cobalt Manhunt
Nack was at his desk sorting through more and more piles of paperwork when a heavy knock came at the door of his Booty Bay office. He immediately set his papers down and called out, “We’re open.” He folded his hands in front of him as a burly orc man in heavy armor stepped inside. “Mr. Ragefang, nice to see you. I take it you got my message.”
Crim grunted as he closed the door behind him and stood himself in front of the goblin’s desk, “I did. So Roselash is being hunted?”
“That’s what they say.” Nack replied nonchalantly, “In some hot water facing charges of murdering her parents, conspiring against the crown, assaulting officers of the law.” He waves a hand, “You get the picture.”
Crim eyed Nack for a minute to read his intent. Goblins had a tendency to not say what they meant and Nack was worse than most. It made him a troublesome adversary but also a valuable ally if you were able to divine his intent, “But you don’t think that she’s guilty, do you?”
“No comment.” Nack’s eyes glimmered. Crim grunted again. Right on the money, as the goblin saying went. Nack shrugged and crossed his arms dismissively, “Not my place to say. All I can say is that she’s got quite the bounty on her right now. Alive, of course, so no immediate danger.” He swiveled his chair to the side to take a look out the window, “But still. Probably got more than a few big fish after her at the moment.”
Crim took a chair and set it in front of the desk to sit down. It creaked under his weight, “Where is she now?”
“I’ve taken a care to not meddle in her affairs for the time being. Bad for business.” Nack turned to look at Crim again, “She’s been a good partner, but I do a lot of trade with Stormwind. The more I know about her whereabouts, the more they’re gonna come to me looking for answers. And I’m genuinely up to my eyeballs in new orders here, so I’d rather skip the headache.”
Crim grinned. It was a clever ploy. Nack couldn’t be compelled to share information he didn’t have, “Understandable. The only honor to be had is in one’s profits, no?”
“You’re catching on.” Nack grinned right back and pointed a finger at Crim, “But I know you two are pretty close, so I figure it’s only polite to keep you in the know.”
“Of course. I appreciate your discretion.” Crim nodded, “Do you know if Roselash is still in the city?”
Nack rested a hand on his desk and tapped a finger on it a few times, “Like I was saying, I haven’t been keeping tabs on her lately so I couldn’t tell you for sure.” He took a deep breath and turned to Crim with a satisfied smirk, “But let’s just say there’s another business opportunity I’ve got my eye on giving me a decent guess. Now I don’t deal in rumors, bad for the reputation you see. But I did make sure to give you a call.”
“I appreciate that. I suppose I’ll be on my own, but are there any particular names I should be looking for?” Crim scooted his chair back to give himself room to stand.
Nack returned to his paperwork, finally removing his attention from Crim, “Already told ya, pal. I don’t got a horse in this race.”
“Of course.” Crim took a breath. He still had to play along, “Who are some of the prominent bounty hunters in this area?”
Nack glanced up from his papers and raised an eyebrow, “Oh, you need a job done? Why didn’t you just say so?” He set the paper back down, “If you’re looking to hire local I’d recommend the Seahawks. Pretty dependable mercenary company. Got a dozen or so members, mostly human. They got a big draenei warrior fairly recently, though. He seems to be their lynchpin.”
“Their opponent is just one man, but he’s strong and storied. Will that be a problem?” Crim puffed out his chest and flexed a fist in front of him.
Nack tapped his chin, “Hmmm… could be. I wasn’t kidding when I said they’re good, but they don’t get around much. Prefer to be the big fish in a small pond rather than risk it out in the big sea if that makes sense. If your mark got the drop on them, though, it could get hairy.”
“I’ll be counting on it.” Crim said grimly, “Where can I find them?”
“Would you look at that!” Nack raised his eyebrows with thinly veiled surprise, “I almost forgot that they’re outta town at the moment. Already working another job. You’re gonna have to wait if you wanna hire them.”
Crim tugged on the straps holding his giant axes on his back, “Not a problem. It’s an urgent matter. I’ll find them and make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
Nack just grinned as he felt the rumble of static emanating from the shaman, “That’s a bold claim there, Ragefang. I hope it plays out well for you.”
“It will.” Crim said decisively. “You have my thanks.” He nodded his goodbye and made for the door.
Rozalin marched along through the thick underbrush of Stranglethorn Vale headed north to Stormwind. She was smack in the middle of the dozen or so mercenaries that made up the Seahawks. Cassandra was taking point and Rozalin had the dark haired human man who captured her in front of her and a hulking bald draenei man behind her. Both of them watched her, perhaps unironically, like hawks. Giving them the slip didn’t seem like much of an option. Her wrists chafed on the cords that bound her hands together. They were made from high quality silk which meant it wasn’t nearly as bad as it would have been with hemp rope or iron shackles. However, this also meant that there was no way she was getting out of them. Hemp she could probably find a way to cut when nobody was looking, and she knew how to dislocate her thumb to slip out of shackles if she needed to, but silk was tight and strong. No amount of cutting or wiggling was going to get her out of this situation. At least not under the kind of scrutiny she was under.
The people ahead of her started to grow more and more distant. It was hard for Rozalin to tell if it was because she was lagging behind or if her head was still playing tricks on her. She had since lost the headaches she had from the first few days after crossing those guards, but she still felt like she was living in a daze. She felt a heavy hand fall on her shoulder and steer her forward, “Pick up your feet, little one. We want to make good time to the city.” The draenei said with a thick accent. Rozalin did her best to speed up and avoid being tripped by the draenei’s hooves as his long strides swung almost under her feet.
“We can’t have you falling behind, Terri.” Cassandra called from up front while she hacked away at the brush with a machete to clear a path for everyone, “All our paychecks are depending on you, and you owe us all one.”
Rozalin muttered a string of curses under her breath, but it was cut short when her stomach let loose a long, loud growl. The dark haired man ahead of her laughed. Rozalin blushed and gritted her teeth, “Maybe I’d move faster if you’d give me somethin to eat.” Rozalin barked back.
“Fat chance.” Cassandra jeered, “You got the devil’s luck, always have. I know there’s no bond I can put you in that you won’t find some way of working your way out of, so I’m making sure you don’t have the strength to even try.”
The draenei patted Rozalin on the back. Exhausted as she was, it almost bowled her over. “Don’t worry. Once we make camp you will eat. And you can have as much water as you like. We need to bring you back alive after all. You are safe with us.”
“Safe until you take me up the gallows!” Rozalin shouted to Cassandra, ignoring the draenei, “Tell your goons to quit playing good cop like they’re doin me a favor!”
Cassandra didn’t look back while she continued cutting a path, “You lost the right to an opinion about how I run things a long time ago, so why don’t you just settle down, sugar.”
“Like fel I will! You think I’m just gonna come along all nice and quiet? You got another thing coming!” Rozalin found a sudden burst of strength and started catching up with the rest of the group all on her own, “I ain’t dying. Not because of you and for sure not for some stuck up noble! I ain’t nobody’s pawn!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Terri. You really need to work on that self-important attitude. You haven’t changed one bit.” Cassandra panted as she tried to speak while hacking at bushes.
Rozalin stomped along, crushing twigs and leaves underfoot, “Are you seriously lecturing me about my attitude right now? I know I done wrong by you. I’ll make it right if that’s what it takes, but I’m not fuckin dying for this shit!” Rozalin’s voice cracked as she pleaded.
Cassandra groaned and shook her head, “Aaron, would you shut her up please. I’m trying to keep a low profile here and I can’t very well do that with her screaming her head off the whole way.”
“Yes ma'am.” The dark haired man in front of Rozalin stopped and tied a thick piece of cloth across her mouth to keep her from talking.
Rozalin tried to make her thoughts known with a muffled rant afterwards as they kept pressing on north, but she eventually gave up. No one was listening.
The path they were taking was brutal. To keep themselves more inconspicuous and hopefully throw off anyone who might try to steal the bounty out from under them, the Seahawks had elected to stay off the roads in favor of braving the jungle. They didn’t seem to be losing much time on account of it either. These people knew the terrain well. It was all Rozalin could do just to keep up, and with her wrists bound as they were keeping her balance was a constant issue. The draenei behind her had to grab Rozalin to keep her from falling more times than she cared to count, and the dark haired man ahead of her stopped to give her something to drink almost as often. Between the arduous terrain and merciless jungle heat, Rozalin almost hoped they’d get to Stormwind already. An execution was preferable to enduring this journey for much longer.
When the sun began to set they finally halted to make camp for the evening. A couple of the Seahawks set up a small tent for Rozalin right away and she collapsed inside. The dark haired man undid the gag around her mouth and Rozalin wheezed and coughed from being able to take in a full breath for the first time in hours. She lay there and panted while her senses slowly came back to her. Her stomach growled. With the buckets of sweat that had been pouring out from her body while she marched, Rozalin was so thirsty that she had forgotten how hungry she still was. She would have voiced the thought to her captors, but as it stood she was too exhausted to do even that. As cruel as it was, Cassandra’s plan was working. There was no way Rozalin was going anywhere in this state.
The rest of the evening was little more than a blur. At some point a pair of Seahawks came to her tent to give her a small bowl of soup which she greedily gulped down. Her pride of wanting to refuse help from an enemy was outweighed by the panging ache of her empty stomach. It growled again. As a meal it wasn’t much, and it was the only thing she’d eaten since breakfast the previous day. After that she lay motionless in her tent while night fell. She didn’t even bother with her blankets. The chill of night was quite welcome to her now, and she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Rozalin could hear the mercenaries outside chatting and joking to one another around the campfire, but nothing distinct stuck in her brain. She had neither the inclination nor the capacity to care about what they had to say right about now. As the night carried on, though, they grew quieter. Rozalin’s breath slowed and she could feel herself finally slipping into a nice deep sleep. There was the sound of insects buzzing all about and a strange chanting coming from the distance. It slowly got louder and louder until it finally stopped.
KA-BANG!!!
Rozalin jolted up at the sudden thundercrack nearly jumping out of her skin. What? It had been clear skies all day long. How in the world had- Shouts began to echo across the camp as the Seahawks scrambled out of their tents and onto their feet. Wait, was this real? She’d thought this was all a dream. Cries of pain and the ringing of steel built in a terrible crescendo. BOOM! Another thunderclap sounded along with the crackling of flames. What the fuck am I supposed to do?! Rozalin thought. The pounding in her chest drowned out her thoughts and made it hard for her to make a decision. She looked down and the bonds on her wrists and gave them a good tug. There was for sure no escaping if she stayed here. It was now or never.
Outside the flap of Rozalin’s tent was chaos. There was a lone, hulking figure in the distance who was fighting back three of the Seahawk warriors at once including the big draenei. The details were lost on her given the cloak of night compounded with her present hunger and concussion induced delirium. However, even through all that confusion it was clear that the hulking figure was winning. Rozalin knew she needed to run, but she was stopped in her tracks by the sight. For a moment she saw the figure make eye contact with her. He shouted out something in what sounded like orcish and swung his axe which bit deep into the draenei’s shoulder. The draenei howled in pain and fell to the ground while the other two fighters were tossed aside by the figure as he barreled forward toward Rozalin.
Shit… Shit shit shit shit! Rozalin’s blood went cold and she turned and ran as fast as she could. Who the fel was this person, and what could he possibly want with her? Her feet moved faster than they ever had, but without her arms free it was hard to keep her balance and she tripped and toppled onto her face.
“Kill him, damnit!” Cassandra yelled, tossing a flurry of daggers at the figure who charged on toward Rozalin unphased. Rozalin felt a huge hand grab the collar of her shirt and haul her back up onto her feet. She tried to scramble out of his grip, but the figure tugged her back and dragged her along with him. Fuck… Where was he taking her? And why? Of all the dozen or so people here he settled on the only one not in a position to defend themselves. All manner of gruesome scenarios played out in Rozalin’s head, drawing heavily from her time with Will and his gang… Rozalin shrieked, ”Cass! Help me!!!”
“I’m coming Terri!” Cassandra drew her short swords and rushed forward, “Hurry up ladies, he’s getting away with our paycheck!” Rozalin stretched her arms out toward Cassandra. They had their differences, but Rozalin knew she’d protect her. She’d never ever let anyone lay their hands on her. Not like this.
“Cass!” Rozalin cried again, now with tears streaming down her face.
Cass raised her weapons, “I’m coming sugar.” She reassured her, “Time to die, greenskin!” She leapt forward but was pushed back as a lash of flame from the hulking figure’s outstretched hand raked across her.
“CASS!!!” Rozalin kicked and thrashed in the figure’s grip, trying desperately to escape, but it was no use. Eventually, the figure decided he’d had enough of Rozalin’s resistance and sunk a fist into her gut. Rozalin’s eyes bulged out of her head and the wind rushed out of her lungs. She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t breathe. She felt as she was picked up and tossed over the figure’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried out of the camp. Her vision started to fade. She wanted to scream to let someone, anyone, know that she needed help, but she was still gasping for breath. The last thing she was able to make out was the feeling of being thrown over the back of what must have been some animal with the figure still holding onto her to keep her secure. The beast mount bounced as it took off in a run and Rozalin blacked out.