Captain Tristan Maelwroth of the Imperial Army was impatient.
Undercover missions were his least favourite. He preferred to be in the midst of a battle, where the action was. Instead, under orders of his superiors, he was sitting in a dank musty tavern, on the lookout for an elfin ringleader who was said to frequent this place.
He doubted she was going to show, he had her description and had thus far seen no stunningly beautiful elfin girls with long lavender hair. He himself was looking non-descript in his black shirt and leather pants.
He watched as the guardsmen he was on duty with refilled their mugs with more ale.
"Might want to hold off on that," He suggested gruffly, "Just in case the elf lass does show."
Ruggs snorted derisively "Not much chance of that, besides she's only one girl, we can handle her."
Hart chimed in, "I'd sure like to handle her, if she's as gorgeous as they say she's meant to be." The pair laughed loudly. Tristan rolled his eyes discreetly and went back to gazing around the tavern in boredom.
He raised his mug to his lips as his eyes drifted to where the beaded doorway was being brushed aside with a tinkle as a new patron entered the Tavern. He coughed on his ale as he stared at her.
She was a sight to behold. Her hair was a riot of lavender curls, spilling over her gracefully curved shoulders and down the back of her white cotton dress. She carried a basket holding bouquets of wildflowers, a rainbow of colours against the starkness of her dress. She glanced around as her eyes adjusted to the sudden dimness inside and she smiled at a few of the elf men who let out familiar whistles as she made her way to the bar.
"Quieten down puppies," She rebuked them in a soft voice that sounded like sunshine. She was standing at the bar right next to Tristan. She set her basket down on the bar with a sigh and rolled her shoulders. Her eyes flicked a curious glance to Tristan, his blue gaze meeting her emerald eyes. She blushed as he caught her looking at him and she looked down at the ground quickly.
Ruggs and Hart were quiet now, waiting for Tristans move. He signalled to them by taking a drink and scratching his head, meaning that they were to wait and let him handle it. He would let them know if he needed backup. His commanders had stressed this was to be a covert mission, no alarming civilians.
The barman moved to greet the elfin girl with an easy familiarity.
"Melitha my dear! How are you luv?" Strange, the report said the lead archers name was Talinka... perhaps this was her code name... no matter.
"Oh Horance, hello. I'm tired, It's far too hot today... The flowers are getting wilted." She said with a pretty little pout to her pink lips, making Tristan take another gulp of ale. He wasn't sure why she was pretending to be a flower wench, but that's what his job was, to find out... and he intended to find out everything.
The barman and Talinka made small talk for awhile, she enquired about his family and he pestered her with questions about if she was getting married yet. Tristan noticed that when she answered that she was still single, a lot of the elf men in the bar seemed to become rather quiet and attentive to the conversation.
He couldn't say he blamed them. She was quite the attractive little traitor.
The barman served her a drink and while no one was looking Tristan slipped a drug he had concealed in his sleeve into the drink. It dissolved instantly, leaving no trace.
She sipped her drink slowly, obviously enjoying the ice cold liquid on this hot day.
"Hot day isn't it," Tristan said to her, giving her what he hoped was a friendly smile.
She looked at him considering for a moment, then she smiled warmly at him and nodded.
Tristan had been expecting some kind of answer and was a little taken aback. The barman gave him a knowing smile that made him feel rather annoyed. He tried again.
"Those are lovely flowers you have there, what kind are they?" Her face lit up.
"Oh thankyou Sir!" She moved her basket so it was closer to him so he could see her flowers better. "Well all of these are wildflowers I gather near my cottage, which is..." She trailed off, obviously having second thoughts about telling a human male who was a complete stranger where she lived. "Near my cottage. Different flowers grow in different seasons, these pink ones see, they are ribbon laces and only grow in summer." She paused and glanced up at him for a moment trying to read his expression.
"Umm... If you are after some flowers for your lady, these pink ones are most popular, they represent devotion and romance."
Tristan felt his face heating up a bit. "Er, no, thankyou." She looked away and they returned to silence.
He needed to get her alone in private before she collapsed. She had finished her drink and was fiddling with her basket, preparing to leave.
"May I help you carry your basket?" He offered her desperately. She looked surprised.
"Well... It's not very far I should be fine, thankyou." She said, but sounded genuinely grateful for the offer.
"No really," He said, getting to his feet, "You've been carrying this heavy thing around all day in the hot sun, please allow me to help you. I wouldn't feel right letting you go off when you look so tired."
She pursed her lips for a moment, "Well... alright then, thankyou very much Sir. I do feel quite tired to be honest."
As they left he signaled the guardsmen to follow at a distance. Elf males by the door were glaring at him as they exited.
She led him down a path that went through a quiet alleyway. As soon as they were out of sight Tristan put down her basket and grabbed her arms.
"Wha-?" She started to exclaim but he put his hand over her mouth roughly and shoved her against the stone wall. "I don't have time for games, Talinka, I know who you really are. You will tell me everything you know."
She looked up at him in utter confusion and fear. What an actress he thought to himself and felt angry at her. "Stop the act!" He hissed loudly.
"What act? I'm not Talinka, I don't underst-" She was protesting until the drug caught up with her and she passed out, collapsing into Tristans arms.
The Guardsmen caught up with him and helped him carry her into the building. The heat had driven everyone inside so there were few passers by to worry about.
He carried her down to the dungeon and sat her unconscious form onto the uncomfortable wooden chair in the interrogation cell. He spared no chance and set about binding her to the chair so she could not move. From all accounts this delicate looking bloom was really a dangerous killer and he wasn't about to be fooled by her gentle appearance.
He used rope to tie her legs to each chair leg, winding it around firmly. He tied another length around her waist and then above her breasts winding around the back of the chair. Her wrists he bound together behind her back so she was completely helpless. Then he got a bucket of water and splashed it over her face, drenching her lovely curls and eliciting a gasp from her as she woke up.
She glanced around wildly, assessing the situation.
"What's going on? Who are you? Please, release me, I haven't done anything wrong!" She cried out to him, a beseeching look in her green eyes. Behind his shoulder Ruggs let out an unpleasant laugh. Tristan turned and silenced him with a look. He turned back to the captive and looked her in the eye for a moment. She looked back at him seemingly uncomprehending. He sighed.
"Well we can do this the hard way or we can do this the easy way darling. Please don't waste your time lying. As I'm sure you are aware, I am the Captain here, at the moment my job is interrogating traitors to the imperial throne. And I must tell you," He added with a wolfish grin, "I'm very good at my job."
He crouched down so he was eye level with her. "So why don't you be a good girl, and tell me what you were planning on doing with those archers you've been training every sixthday in the western woods." He murmured into her ear.
"Archers? I'm sorry but i don't have any idea what you are talking about." Tears were running unchecked down her cheeks, but she wasn't sobbing or making any annoying noise women usually did. Good.
"Yes you do, Talinka, Don't lie to me now.... you've been very naughty haven't you? Hmm?" He paused.
She shook her head, "I'm not Talinka, my name is Melitha, you've made some mistake."
Tristan laughed at her cheek. "Okay so I guess you want to do this the hard way, blossom? It seems the naughty girl wants to be punished." He turned around as he hear Hart moving.
Hart extended an arm to him, holding out a lethal looking whip, studded with metal spikes. Ruggs was grinning evilly. Tristan heard the prisoner whimper in fear. "No, please, goddess Flora, merciful Goddess, no, please no."
He ignored her. "What's this?" He asked Hart.
"It's a whip, Captain" Ruggs answered cheerfully. Tristan looked at him severely.
"Yes I know what it is you wanker, But why is it here?" Ruggs smile fell.
Hart piped up, "But.. to torture her, make her confess, see?" Tristan sighed.
"There are far better ways of torturing a woman. Besides anyone will confess to anything given enough pain."
"So what's the problem?"Ruggs said churlishly "So long as she confesses, and we can have ourselves a little fun at the same time," He finished, making a crude gesture to his groin. The prisoners praying grew more fervent.
Tristan whipped his head around and glared at her. "Shut. Up." He commanded her, and she was so surprised she fell silent. He turned back to the two guardsmen.
"Well I think I'd prefer to do the interrogation process in private, I find it is more effective that way."
"But-"
