By that afternoon, Thomas was ready to start climbing the walls and officially label himself as shit-balmy in the head. Holy fuckin' Christ, the god-damned boredom of it all. It certainly didn’t help that he was never alone when roaming the house and grounds. When it wasn’t William on his arse, either a couple of maid servants or William’s valet were always underfoot. Even when he ventured outside, Connor was inexplicably hobbling about within a few feet of his radius. Sure, he’d managed to give her the slip a couple of times. Yet the housekeeper or Harris happened to be around anyway.
Apparently, not all prisoners lived in cells with metal doors and bars on their windows. Or irons clapped on their hands and ankles.
“All these fuckin’ servants?” Thomas scowled from his seat on the settee chair. For another maid he’d never seen been before was in the process of setting up the tea service in one of the smaller parlors on the first floor. Actively ignoring him, she finished and curtsied at William. Nodding back with a polite smile, he sent her on her way before pouring Thomas a cup. “They’re bloody everywhere,” the soldier grumbled.
“I’m surprised you’re so aware of them, considering they tend to move about with relatively ease,” William daintily sipped his tea from his seat on the rococo style, canapé couch. Positioned perpendicular to Thomas, it was edged in dark wood. Its deep green silk lay swept with a damask of white embroidered flowers matching the design of the settee. Like everything else in the house, it appeared absurdly posh.
“Ain’t like most folks be affordin’ an entire staff to be comin’ and goin’ at they beck and call,” Thomas snorted.
Not bothering to look up from the page of some book he’d taken from the shelves lining the far wall from floor to ceiling, the Frenchman shrugged. “A valid observation,” he intoned, “Many of us aren’t so lucky.”
“Lucky?” Thomas huffed, snapping open the afternoon newspaper, “It’s called bein’ rich as fuck. Somethin’ I aim to be as well, mate. The sooner, the bloody better.”
“How…honest of you,” William chuckled.
“I’m just bein’ straight with ya.”
“No wonder she trusts you-”
“Despite that you ain’t doin’ no such thing?” Thomas challenged, even as he kept his gaze glued to the newspaper.
“Come now, of course I don’t trust you,” William smirked. “I however hold Connor in the highest esteem,” he nodded at where she lay dozing next to him on the couch. Stretched out and head resting on the sofa’s opposite arm, her injured leg sat propped up on a couple of pillows next to his thigh. Arms crossed over her chest, she appeared a soldier in the field taking a quick nap. Well, save the way the calico cat lay resting on her belly. Barely awake, it purred and flicked the end of its tail every so often. “So if she finds a reason to place her faith in you, I am not one to question her decision,” William continued. “Otherwise, I know nothing of you, save my instincts.”
“And what do those be tellin’ ya?” Thomas grinned, eyes flitting upwards to take in the other man.
“That if not for Connor, you would not be alive in my presence at the moment,” William titled his chin upwards.
“Wot's that then?” Thomas grunted, pouring himself a second cup of tea, “You mean ya would’ve gone ‘n killed me?”
“Likely, Templar,” William smoothly replied, “Unless you happened to end my life first.”
Thomas shot him a predatory grin around the teacup. Taking a long sip, he couldn’t help savoring the explosion of orange and bergamot signaling its high quality. “Sooooo,” he purposely drew out the word, “How exactly did you be surmisin’ who I be?” he arched a brow, setting down the cup on the gold gilded, oval shaped table between them.
“I am not at liberty to reveal conversations told to me in confidence,” William waved at Connor.
“Well‘en,” Thomas shrugged, “I ain’t gonna deny it.”
William let out a brittle laugh at that. However, his suddenly icy, sapphire gaze caused to Thomas freeze before he reached out and snatched a sandwich from a plate on the tea service. “At least you make no attempt to justify yourself,” William inclined his head.
“I ain’t so florid ‘n fancy with me words as the others be.”
“Despite that you convinced Connor not to slit your throat at the first opportunity?”
“That don’t mean she didn’t go tryin’,” Thomas muttered, “A whole damn lotta times, mind ya.”
“If she was determined to do so, it would have been done,” William briefly grinned, “Likely without you realizing it. Well, not until she’d already opened up your neck from ear to ear and you were choking on your own blood.”
Swallowing as he smothered the bread of his sandwich with butter, Thomas huffed, “Ain’t gotta go tellin’ me twice.” Quickly letting the knife harmlessly clatter to the table as William’s gaze darted to it, he stuffed the sandwich in his mouth. Hickey contemplatively chewed for a few moments before shrugging again. “Good thing it ain’t come to that.”
“Not yet,” William declared with aplomb, gracefully shifting in his seat as Connor stirred.
Sleepily blinking, she rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Thomas snickered at how she appeared more child than adult for the moment. Messy strands of hair escaped her braid while she loudly yawned and stretched with a tired groan. The cat stirred as well, meowing a bit before walking up her chest. Nuzzling at her shoulder for quick scratch behind the ears, it leapt to the floor and pranced out of the room to attend to its own business. For once without a cautious glance around for impending danger, Connor accepted the steaming cup of tea William handed her. He also set a plate piled with a couple of scones and a handful of sugar cookies on her lap as she sat up straighter. As Thomas witnessed since they arrived, she hungrily tore into it. He figured the only explanation for how she was able to scarf down so much was her constant expenditure of energy. Evidently, viciously murdering folks took work.
“This is delicious,” she sighed. Her eyes fluttering closed, she let out a surprising moan of pleasure. Combined how her cheeks lightly flushed and the way her tongue darted out lick at a bit of tea along the corner of her mouth, Thomas found his eyes going wide. Along with the tell-tale carnal itch along his skin and the heat whipping through his gut. “Darjeeling?” she thoughtfully said to William while balancing the plate of treats in her lap.
“Your favorite, of course,” William easily replied, “With enough sugar added to incapacitate a small child.”
Connor smirked at that before downing most of the tea. William poured her another as she shot a glance to Thomas. Brows furrowing at his flushed face and bright eyes, she murmured, “You appear peaked-”
“That be like your fifth cup ‘o the day, considerin’ breakfast,” he babbled. He forced himself to look away as she licked the sugar off of a cookie before popping it into her mouth. The fact that she was in no way purposely being seductive only made it worse. He needed to get a hold of himself…
“Hmph, that’s odd,” William shook his head in dismay, his eyes flitting across the entire tea service, “It seems that the kitchen staff forgot to include the cream for the scones-”
“That be ‘cause he murdered the milkman to break in,” a terrified, high pitched voice said from across the room.
Thomas spun around in his chair, only to widen his eyes and snarl, “Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” as he scrambled to his feet.
Hand snapping to his pistol, he had only the blink of an eye to jerk himself in the opposite direction. Dodging the hurled shortblade aimed at his heart, a combination of sheer luck and his unexpected speed resulted in it scraping past his upper arm. Unfortunately, it slashed close enough to rip through the cloth of his coat before thudding in the polished wood panel of the wall behind him. At the same time, the thunderous clap of a shot rang out. Had not William thrown himself off the sofa and rolled to floor from his seat, his chest would have taken the fatal shot. Roughly snatching Connor with him caused her to pitch to the floor right the bullet ricocheted off upholstery less than an inch from her hobbled leg. Unfortunately, her movement proved sluggish. Left on her knees and leaning an elbow on the table, her fingers weren’t fast enough to snatch her own flintlock out of its holster from where it hung on the arm of the couch. A flick of her hand did manage to unsheathe her hidden blade. Trouble was, it would do no good from her position across the room from their assailant and his hostage.
Harris looked utterly terrified. Then again, no one blamed him, considering the Hessian’s flintlock pressed to the boy’s temple. A fresh bruise also bloomed across his cheek. Blood trailing down his split lip, it stained his ripped collar where the Hessian had it twisted in his meaty fingers against his neck.
“He will not hesitate to kill him,” Connor hissed behind to the other two men. Glancing back at her, Hickey flinched at her expression of unadulterated hatred directed toward the mercenary.
"No shit!" Thomas sneered.
“Oui,” William tersely replied, gazed darting between their enemy and Harris.
“H-he got me on the stoop of the kitchen house. I just…I just wanted some milk with me tea,” Harris’ lip quivered. Big, brown eyes wide and rapidly blinking, he stammered, “But the milkman…he…he went ‘n bloody sliced open the milkman!”
“Shut your mouth, boy,” the Hessian coldly commanded, shoving him further forward into the parlor.
“F-forgive me,” Harris babbled on. Voice rising with hysteria, he hiccupped, “I didn’t wanna tell ‘im where you was. Didn’t even go saying anythin’ when he went hurtin’ me. Then he…he said he’d go killin’ anyone in his sights if I kept it up! I-”
“Do not worry yourself, Harris,” William soothed, voice light despite that his raised hands. “It is not as though anyone expects a grown man to terrorize a child.”
“A traitorous drunk, a crippled half-breed and a decadent Frenchman?” the Hessian’s thick accent disdainfully curled his mouth. Eyes clinically sweeping over them, he spat, “Barely worthy of my troubles to kill you all.”
“An endeavor that you will fail in,” Connor promised.
“Wretched woman,” the Hessian glowered. “You are nothing but a mere thorn in my side that I will enjoy breaking before you draw your last breath. After I kill the other ones in front of you, ja?”
“I waste no time for such theatrics,” she methodically replied, expression now sparing nothing in way of emotion. It made Thomas inwardly shudder as she continued, “For all I require is my blade within your throat.”
The Hessian gave a grim smile. However, his weapon was no longer pressed to the boy’s skin. Nor was his finger still on the trigger. His looser grip on his collar also allowed Harris to slump forward, the balls of his feet dragging along the floorboards. A dangerously small opening, Thomas mused. Then again, nothing of that sort ever seemed to daunt the assassin. After all, the most lethal and unpredictable adversaries were always those defending their pack. He witnessed the grisly results of it time and time again when facing off against their shared enemies out on frontier…
It took Hickey a few seconds to process the inexplicable hiss of air racing past his ear. So he couldn’t help but wince as the largest porcelain plate of the tea service narrowly avoided slicing his head only to smash into the Hessian’s lower arm. Mercifully, it did so with enough force to cause the mercenary to wildly fire in their direction versus at Harris. A ring of metal on metal met them rather than the bloody thud of contact with flesh. For the bullet glanced harmlessly off the silver tray William snatched in front of himself when Connor hurled her improvised weapon. Thankfully, Henry smartly fled the room, the blur of his dark blue livery disappearing out the door the only remnant of his presence.
“Nuh-uh, mate,” Thomas tsked while training his pistol on the Hessian’s chest. The soldier’s hand froze only a few inches from to his hip where his other flintlock remained holstered. “Don’t even fuckin’ try it,” he barked, “Not ‘specially after that there slimy-arsed stunt with the kid.”
“I’m afraid that dinnerware was one of a set that is no longer manufactured,” William grinned, palming his pistol from his belt and unsheathing his double hook-blade.
“I see you continue to care for the most critical concerns at hand,” Connor rolled her eyes, eliciting William’s laughter. On her feet now, she drew her pistol from her holster. Her other hand clutched her tomahawk.
“A discussion saved for after this settled,” William shrugged from his position in front her and next to Hickey
“Right-o,” Thomas retorted, eyes never moving from where the Hessian remained frozen in front of them, “‘Cause I sure in the fuck ain’t dyin’ today.”
His gaze burning with loathing, the Hessian flatly countered, “Proof that your faith is firmly placed on the wrong end of your situation.”
“‘Cept I got the pistol now, mate,” Thomas jeered. “And fancy that, there ain’t no more kids hangin’ around that you can go murderin’, neither.”
The shot of both Hickey’s and William’s flintlocks echoed in the cavern of the room. But both bullets only harmlessly ricocheted off the Hessian’s chest with a tinny clank. One bounced off the polished floorboards while the other rebounded and nearly struck Hickey in leg.
“De tout ce qui est saint!”
“Wot in the fuckin’ bloody hell-?!”
“Armor, you imbeciles,” the Hessian dangerously smirked, rapping a fist on the apparent metal plate beneath his clothing on his chest.
“Regardless, your head is not impervious,” Connor scowled as Thomas snatched out his second flintlock and aimed dead-on.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly fast enough as the Templar snarled and lunged forward, his meaty hands clamping around his throat.
Vision already darkening, Thomas landed a solid punch to the mercenary’s jaw. In spite of the tell-tale crack of bone that signaled he’d broken it, his foe’s fingers continued to tighten. Never mind being strangled, the horrid burn and compression of his windpipe made him swiftly realize that his neck was about to be snapped. Especially as the Hessian suddenly used one hand to snatch him by the chin and twist his head in the opposite direction.
Re: FILL: Short Change Heroes, Part 27b/?
Apparently, not all prisoners lived in cells with metal doors and bars on their windows. Or irons clapped on their hands and ankles.
“All these fuckin’ servants?” Thomas scowled from his seat on the settee chair. For another maid he’d never seen been before was in the process of setting up the tea service in one of the smaller parlors on the first floor. Actively ignoring him, she finished and curtsied at William. Nodding back with a polite smile, he sent her on her way before pouring Thomas a cup. “They’re bloody everywhere,” the soldier grumbled.
“I’m surprised you’re so aware of them, considering they tend to move about with relatively ease,” William daintily sipped his tea from his seat on the rococo style, canapé couch. Positioned perpendicular to Thomas, it was edged in dark wood. Its deep green silk lay swept with a damask of white embroidered flowers matching the design of the settee. Like everything else in the house, it appeared absurdly posh.
“Ain’t like most folks be affordin’ an entire staff to be comin’ and goin’ at they beck and call,” Thomas snorted.
Not bothering to look up from the page of some book he’d taken from the shelves lining the far wall from floor to ceiling, the Frenchman shrugged. “A valid observation,” he intoned, “Many of us aren’t so lucky.”
“Lucky?” Thomas huffed, snapping open the afternoon newspaper, “It’s called bein’ rich as fuck. Somethin’ I aim to be as well, mate. The sooner, the bloody better.”
“How…honest of you,” William chuckled.
“I’m just bein’ straight with ya.”
“No wonder she trusts you-”
“Despite that you ain’t doin’ no such thing?” Thomas challenged, even as he kept his gaze glued to the newspaper.
“Come now, of course I don’t trust you,” William smirked. “I however hold Connor in the highest esteem,” he nodded at where she lay dozing next to him on the couch. Stretched out and head resting on the sofa’s opposite arm, her injured leg sat propped up on a couple of pillows next to his thigh. Arms crossed over her chest, she appeared a soldier in the field taking a quick nap. Well, save the way the calico cat lay resting on her belly. Barely awake, it purred and flicked the end of its tail every so often. “So if she finds a reason to place her faith in you, I am not one to question her decision,” William continued. “Otherwise, I know nothing of you, save my instincts.”
“And what do those be tellin’ ya?” Thomas grinned, eyes flitting upwards to take in the other man.
“That if not for Connor, you would not be alive in my presence at the moment,” William titled his chin upwards.
“Wot's that then?” Thomas grunted, pouring himself a second cup of tea, “You mean ya would’ve gone ‘n killed me?”
“Likely, Templar,” William smoothly replied, “Unless you happened to end my life first.”
Thomas shot him a predatory grin around the teacup. Taking a long sip, he couldn’t help savoring the explosion of orange and bergamot signaling its high quality. “Sooooo,” he purposely drew out the word, “How exactly did you be surmisin’ who I be?” he arched a brow, setting down the cup on the gold gilded, oval shaped table between them.
“I am not at liberty to reveal conversations told to me in confidence,” William waved at Connor.
“Well‘en,” Thomas shrugged, “I ain’t gonna deny it.”
William let out a brittle laugh at that. However, his suddenly icy, sapphire gaze caused to Thomas freeze before he reached out and snatched a sandwich from a plate on the tea service. “At least you make no attempt to justify yourself,” William inclined his head.
“I ain’t so florid ‘n fancy with me words as the others be.”
“Despite that you convinced Connor not to slit your throat at the first opportunity?”
“That don’t mean she didn’t go tryin’,” Thomas muttered, “A whole damn lotta times, mind ya.”
“If she was determined to do so, it would have been done,” William briefly grinned, “Likely without you realizing it. Well, not until she’d already opened up your neck from ear to ear and you were choking on your own blood.”
Swallowing as he smothered the bread of his sandwich with butter, Thomas huffed, “Ain’t gotta go tellin’ me twice.” Quickly letting the knife harmlessly clatter to the table as William’s gaze darted to it, he stuffed the sandwich in his mouth. Hickey contemplatively chewed for a few moments before shrugging again. “Good thing it ain’t come to that.”
“Not yet,” William declared with aplomb, gracefully shifting in his seat as Connor stirred.
Sleepily blinking, she rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Thomas snickered at how she appeared more child than adult for the moment. Messy strands of hair escaped her braid while she loudly yawned and stretched with a tired groan. The cat stirred as well, meowing a bit before walking up her chest. Nuzzling at her shoulder for quick scratch behind the ears, it leapt to the floor and pranced out of the room to attend to its own business. For once without a cautious glance around for impending danger, Connor accepted the steaming cup of tea William handed her. He also set a plate piled with a couple of scones and a handful of sugar cookies on her lap as she sat up straighter. As Thomas witnessed since they arrived, she hungrily tore into it. He figured the only explanation for how she was able to scarf down so much was her constant expenditure of energy. Evidently, viciously murdering folks took work.
“This is delicious,” she sighed. Her eyes fluttering closed, she let out a surprising moan of pleasure. Combined how her cheeks lightly flushed and the way her tongue darted out lick at a bit of tea along the corner of her mouth, Thomas found his eyes going wide. Along with the tell-tale carnal itch along his skin and the heat whipping through his gut. “Darjeeling?” she thoughtfully said to William while balancing the plate of treats in her lap.
“Your favorite, of course,” William easily replied, “With enough sugar added to incapacitate a small child.”
Connor smirked at that before downing most of the tea. William poured her another as she shot a glance to Thomas. Brows furrowing at his flushed face and bright eyes, she murmured, “You appear peaked-”
“That be like your fifth cup ‘o the day, considerin’ breakfast,” he babbled. He forced himself to look away as she licked the sugar off of a cookie before popping it into her mouth. The fact that she was in no way purposely being seductive only made it worse. He needed to get a hold of himself…
“Hmph, that’s odd,” William shook his head in dismay, his eyes flitting across the entire tea service, “It seems that the kitchen staff forgot to include the cream for the scones-”
“That be ‘cause he murdered the milkman to break in,” a terrified, high pitched voice said from across the room.
Thomas spun around in his chair, only to widen his eyes and snarl, “Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” as he scrambled to his feet.
Hand snapping to his pistol, he had only the blink of an eye to jerk himself in the opposite direction. Dodging the hurled shortblade aimed at his heart, a combination of sheer luck and his unexpected speed resulted in it scraping past his upper arm. Unfortunately, it slashed close enough to rip through the cloth of his coat before thudding in the polished wood panel of the wall behind him. At the same time, the thunderous clap of a shot rang out. Had not William thrown himself off the sofa and rolled to floor from his seat, his chest would have taken the fatal shot. Roughly snatching Connor with him caused her to pitch to the floor right the bullet ricocheted off upholstery less than an inch from her hobbled leg. Unfortunately, her movement proved sluggish. Left on her knees and leaning an elbow on the table, her fingers weren’t fast enough to snatch her own flintlock out of its holster from where it hung on the arm of the couch. A flick of her hand did manage to unsheathe her hidden blade. Trouble was, it would do no good from her position across the room from their assailant and his hostage.
Harris looked utterly terrified. Then again, no one blamed him, considering the Hessian’s flintlock pressed to the boy’s temple. A fresh bruise also bloomed across his cheek. Blood trailing down his split lip, it stained his ripped collar where the Hessian had it twisted in his meaty fingers against his neck.
“He will not hesitate to kill him,” Connor hissed behind to the other two men. Glancing back at her, Hickey flinched at her expression of unadulterated hatred directed toward the mercenary.
"No shit!" Thomas sneered.
“Oui,” William tersely replied, gazed darting between their enemy and Harris.
“H-he got me on the stoop of the kitchen house. I just…I just wanted some milk with me tea,” Harris’ lip quivered. Big, brown eyes wide and rapidly blinking, he stammered, “But the milkman…he…he went ‘n bloody sliced open the milkman!”
“Shut your mouth, boy,” the Hessian coldly commanded, shoving him further forward into the parlor.
“F-forgive me,” Harris babbled on. Voice rising with hysteria, he hiccupped, “I didn’t wanna tell ‘im where you was. Didn’t even go saying anythin’ when he went hurtin’ me. Then he…he said he’d go killin’ anyone in his sights if I kept it up! I-”
“Do not worry yourself, Harris,” William soothed, voice light despite that his raised hands. “It is not as though anyone expects a grown man to terrorize a child.”
“A traitorous drunk, a crippled half-breed and a decadent Frenchman?” the Hessian’s thick accent disdainfully curled his mouth. Eyes clinically sweeping over them, he spat, “Barely worthy of my troubles to kill you all.”
“An endeavor that you will fail in,” Connor promised.
“Wretched woman,” the Hessian glowered. “You are nothing but a mere thorn in my side that I will enjoy breaking before you draw your last breath. After I kill the other ones in front of you, ja?”
“I waste no time for such theatrics,” she methodically replied, expression now sparing nothing in way of emotion. It made Thomas inwardly shudder as she continued, “For all I require is my blade within your throat.”
The Hessian gave a grim smile. However, his weapon was no longer pressed to the boy’s skin. Nor was his finger still on the trigger. His looser grip on his collar also allowed Harris to slump forward, the balls of his feet dragging along the floorboards. A dangerously small opening, Thomas mused. Then again, nothing of that sort ever seemed to daunt the assassin. After all, the most lethal and unpredictable adversaries were always those defending their pack. He witnessed the grisly results of it time and time again when facing off against their shared enemies out on frontier…
It took Hickey a few seconds to process the inexplicable hiss of air racing past his ear. So he couldn’t help but wince as the largest porcelain plate of the tea service narrowly avoided slicing his head only to smash into the Hessian’s lower arm. Mercifully, it did so with enough force to cause the mercenary to wildly fire in their direction versus at Harris. A ring of metal on metal met them rather than the bloody thud of contact with flesh. For the bullet glanced harmlessly off the silver tray William snatched in front of himself when Connor hurled her improvised weapon. Thankfully, Henry smartly fled the room, the blur of his dark blue livery disappearing out the door the only remnant of his presence.
“Nuh-uh, mate,” Thomas tsked while training his pistol on the Hessian’s chest. The soldier’s hand froze only a few inches from to his hip where his other flintlock remained holstered. “Don’t even fuckin’ try it,” he barked, “Not ‘specially after that there slimy-arsed stunt with the kid.”
“I’m afraid that dinnerware was one of a set that is no longer manufactured,” William grinned, palming his pistol from his belt and unsheathing his double hook-blade.
“I see you continue to care for the most critical concerns at hand,” Connor rolled her eyes, eliciting William’s laughter. On her feet now, she drew her pistol from her holster. Her other hand clutched her tomahawk.
“A discussion saved for after this settled,” William shrugged from his position in front her and next to Hickey
“Right-o,” Thomas retorted, eyes never moving from where the Hessian remained frozen in front of them, “‘Cause I sure in the fuck ain’t dyin’ today.”
His gaze burning with loathing, the Hessian flatly countered, “Proof that your faith is firmly placed on the wrong end of your situation.”
“‘Cept I got the pistol now, mate,” Thomas jeered. “And fancy that, there ain’t no more kids hangin’ around that you can go murderin’, neither.”
The shot of both Hickey’s and William’s flintlocks echoed in the cavern of the room. But both bullets only harmlessly ricocheted off the Hessian’s chest with a tinny clank. One bounced off the polished floorboards while the other rebounded and nearly struck Hickey in leg.
“De tout ce qui est saint!”
“Wot in the fuckin’ bloody hell-?!”
“Armor, you imbeciles,” the Hessian dangerously smirked, rapping a fist on the apparent metal plate beneath his clothing on his chest.
“Regardless, your head is not impervious,” Connor scowled as Thomas snatched out his second flintlock and aimed dead-on.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly fast enough as the Templar snarled and lunged forward, his meaty hands clamping around his throat.
Vision already darkening, Thomas landed a solid punch to the mercenary’s jaw. In spite of the tell-tale crack of bone that signaled he’d broken it, his foe’s fingers continued to tighten. Never mind being strangled, the horrid burn and compression of his windpipe made him swiftly realize that his neck was about to be snapped. Especially as the Hessian suddenly used one hand to snatch him by the chin and twist his head in the opposite direction.
Ugh, what a shitacular way to go.
Well, fuck that.