by Kait » Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:47 am
Quickly he would drag her off without so much as a word, but gently, oh because no matter how her words belied any hint of feminism, she was no man, and he would not treat a woman roughly. Outside the circle of torches a ways sat a moderate sized tent with a torch of its own outside. This was mainly used for rest, should any of the men find themselves exhausted by the heat, but alongside the cot it held was a small desk, and a pair of roughly hewn chairs. Here Jacob Cutter would sign the papers and write out the supply orders, and tonight it was where he would tell his tale.
"You may not be caring, Miss.." She had given him no name to call her, but little did that matter now, "but I've need to be done with this all. To be frank, I was surprised none'd come sooner. This is where we'll begin it, for every man has a reason to deal with what devils come to him."
From the desk it was drawn, his security for himself and his men, and the promise of his future. He could scarcely read half the words on the parchment, but at the top the word "Contract" was scripted in large, bold letters, and three names signed at the bottom: Jacob Cutter, Mr. Joshua Hollgate, and Earnst M. Goodrich, Esq. It was a fine piece of legal work, drawn up by the local barrister, which made it nigh impossible for Mr. Hollgate to refuse wages or final payment for the work done. Fortunately, Goodrich was true to his reputation of honesty, and had refused to write in any of the loopholes Hollgate had attempted to "persuade" him to add.
"This, and my way out of your god forsaken Myrken. That's what the coin had bought me, and if I could have done it another way.." The man simply shook his head. The work of a barrister did not come cheap, especially when the man in question was so respectable. "She didn't ask me for nothing more than you know I've done, other than to be gone far and fast, for my own sake. Frightening that, wasn't sure if I were threatened or warned." Cutter shrugged his broad shoulers and let out a deep sigh. It was hardly a surprise all this had come back to haunt him, but he had begun to hope he was clear of it all.
"She were a little thing. Near no meat at all, and sized so her head couldn't have reached within a hand's breath of my heart. Her hair was a mess of curls and something like flame, or blood maybe; it was witch's hair done up right like in one of those tales they tell the young ones." He hesitated then, both trying to recall the woman, and at the same time attempting not to get her image stuck fast in his mind. "Eyes were.. blue, maybe green. I tried not to look in 'em for fear I'd wake up as a pig in a sty. Not much else I can recall.."
He would be visibly relieved to be done with this account, and dreading any questions she might pose in response. Jacob was a very superstitious man, as many of his class were wont to be, and it was not hard at all for him to recall stories of men and women alike burned for even slight association with someone who looked as this woman had.
You and I touch the sky, the eagle and the dove.