Nefarious Afairs

Chapter four; part two

Hunter was furious; he didn't often check in on the prisoners, he
preferred to leave such menial and  frankly boring tasks to Aster, his second in command. He should, however, have payed closer attention when it came to Rogue; the most wanted woman in the kingdom; after all,  they had specified that Rogue had to be kept alive and anyway Aster had already displayed her dislike for the girl.

Considering this he shouldn't have surprised to discover Roguy had been sleeping out in the rain and yet he hadn't thought Aster would go so far, what did she have against her?

Hunter would have Aster's hide for this, but first he would visit Victoria. He found her gathering wood and chatting quietly among the guards. He was surprised to see her chains were released. He shuddered at the angry welts on her wrists and ankles where the clasps had been. If she was out of her chains, Aster was not around.

When the guards saw Hunter they froze, aware it seemed that they were disobeying orders, what they probably didn't know was that the orders were not his. Still it didn't bode well for them to be disobeying Aster so blatantly; her authority came from Hunter's authority, so although unintentionally they had challenged his authority. Someone would need to be punished.

He looked around at the horrified faces around him and smiled.

"Which one of you is in charge here?"

A guard stepped out,

"I am, sir."

It was clearly not them, they seemed too young, too new, but they had clearly been ordered by their officer in command to speak on the guards behalf. Hunter smiled still.

"Ah yes, officer...."

"Taylen, sir."

"Ah yes, Taylen, would you like to come with me?"

They both knew it was not a request. They came with Hunter willingly, trying not to think about what he might do to them. Hunter pushed the young guard into his tent. It was bigger than the other's seeing he was the leader.

"Now tell me," Hunter began. "what was going on  out there. Why was the prisoner out of her chains?"

The young guard, who was clearly terrified for their life opened their mouth, making no sound.
Hunter sighed.

"I'm not going to harm you child, but  someone has disobeyed my commander and in doing so undermined my authority. I need to know who it is."

The guard spoke, their voice quavering a little,

"I don't know who let her out, you've got to believe me."

Their eyes locked with Hunters, gaze desperate.

"I believe you child. What about the officer that ordered you to speak for them,"

He notices the change in Taylen's  expression and knew that he had guessed correctly.

"But how did you kno-"

Hunter cut them off, not prepared to sort through further ramblings. Tell me the officer's name."

The guard looked down avoiding his eye.

"That's an order." Hunter growled. Taylen spoke:

"Carter, it was Carter sir."

"Right that's all I needed to know, that wasn't so hard now was it?" The guard shook their head. "Good, but hear me now, disobey mine or my commander's orders again and I will not be so lenient, you don't acquire a reputation like mine by being nice."

Taylen only nodded they were simply relived they had been let of the hook.

"Oh and Taylen, don't let word out about my capacity to forgive or I might just have to punish you after all."

Taylen nodded and then turned back, "What am I to do about the prisoner, sir?"

"Leave her, I am rathered interested to see Aster's reaction to this."

Taylen turned back and walked out of the tent, breathing a sigh of relief. He had gotten off easy. There were stories of men with no tongues and men who had been fully dismembered; limb by limb until the died. There were worse stories but Taylen had purposefully forgotten them.

Carter was up to his little games again, Hunter was worried; this could only lead to trouble.

He left the tent not long after Taylen, something had to be done about Carter. As he walked out he could tell something was amiss but he didn't realise what it was until it was too late. The girl pulled out a knife, a knife he recognised as the one he had threatened her with five nights earlier, he cursed under his breath at being caught, it was a novice mistake. Still, this was going to be a fun encounter.

"What do you want?" He spat out.
She smiled a little. She seemed to remember asking him the same question on the night of her capture.

"What makes you think I want anything." Her tone was a calm facade to hide the emotions burried deep beneath.

He gave her a cynical look, "So the knife is what? Merely a decoration? Or do you want to play?"

The way he said play made her shudder, he was getting under her skin. She moved closer, pressing the knife to his neck to show she meant business.

He showed no sign of fear which troubled her greatly, why isn't he afraid of me?

He was smirking now, "You're welcome to come inside if you want to, I'm sure we could have some fun particularly with your appalling knife skills, he laughed at her expression.
"You really thought this was going to work. Here's a deal, you tell me what you came here for and I might not just kill you were you stand."

She would puzzle later at how he'd been the one with the upper hand when she was the one holding a knife to his throat. It was something about his tone and the flash of anger in his eyes; it was this that made her stutter out a reply.

"Fr... freedom, I want freedom."

Hunter laughed.

Hey there! Yes you, thanks for reading, I know there are a lot of other stories so thanks, if you liked this part let me know in the comments or give me a vote! much abliged, the author.