Chapter 15: A Conversation With the Enemy
"Nathaniel?” Ivan stood completely in shock at who was in front of him.
“It’s good to see you’ve finally noticed.” Nathaniel (or Reynard) said, folding his hands. “All this time you’ve been so confused about how I’ve been watching your every move. When in truth you were inviting me at every turn.” He said, picking his hat up and placing it firmly on Stealthy’s head. “Now then, since your payments on hold, how about you go find a good place to hide from the legions of navy soldiers chasing after you? Or maybe you can go back to stowing away in crates like we found you.” He said with a smile.
Stealthy knew that saying something would just further complicate things, so instead he just clenched his fist and kept quiet as he closed the door behind him. Now, with only Reynard left with Ivan, an eerie yet strangely comfortable feeling found its way inside the room. Oddly enough, Ivan felt safer knowing that he wasn’t having to constantly watch his surroundings for anything that might attack him.
Reynard returned to his sitting position, and soon motioned for Ivan to do the same. “Finally, I have a chance to talk to you for real.” He said, resting his head upon his hand while looking upwards. “I’ve been waiting for the opportunity, and I’m surprised it happened so fast.”
Unmoved, Ivan tried to clear things up a little. “Nathaniel… or Reynard… Which is your real name?”
Reynard chuckled and answered as if he’d rehearsed it for an interview. “Reynard’s my real name. Nathaniel Callard’s been dead for three years. One of my favorite quirks is that I like to salvage names of the ones that believed they could somehow overcome me.” He said, leaning back on the desk in order to easily access one of its many drawers. “But for some strange reason I have yet to comprehend, ‘Ivan Hood’ doesn’t sound like one I wish to keep.”
Ivan observed Reynard very closely.
’Creepy’. He thought.
’But I’ll go with it’.
Again, Reynard turned his attention to one of the outside drawers. Opening it, he quickly found whatever it was he was looking for. Taking out a document, he held it up to the light in order to make sure it was the right one. After a nod of re-assurance, he placed the document directly on the table.
Ivan wasted no time in speedily examining the paper. Most of the stuff was beyond his grasp, but to his knowledge, it had to be some sort of legal document. “What’s this?” He asked, confused not only by the strange wordings of the complex document, but also by the sudden approach to bore him as much as possible.
“You don’t know?” Reynard asked, although he clearly knew the answer. “Well, how about I read the “Important” parts out loud?” He asked, simply being replied only by the “I really guess I don’t have a choice” look. Pleased, Reynard grasped the paper in his hand and began to speak the written words.
“During the night of December 17th, between the hours of 23:00 & 1:00 was when the occurrence took place. An unofficial group of private soldiers were assassinated inside of their own hideout. These men had recently committed numerous crimes, and were responsible for the specifically targeted murders of pirate hunters, among others.” Reynard momentarily put the paper back down, and looked back towards Ivan. “Sound familiar?”
Ivan, now sweating and nervous, could tell what was coming after only a few seconds of hearing Reynard speak. He knew very well he was talking about himself, and the paper was a report on possibly the most engaging night of his life. “Yes.” Ivan struggled as if that was all he was able to say. “But… how did you find out about that?”
Reynard smiled as his hand let go of the paper. “I know you don’t understand, but that’s reasonable.” He said, looking down upon the dark wooden desk. “There’s a connection here that… you’ve never fully understood.” He said, turning his head to the side, facing away from Ivan.
Ivan leaned closer to match Reynard’s detraction from the subject. “What don’t I understand?” he asked, suddenly becoming engagingly curious.
Reynard’s head turned back towards Ivan. “Many things, but specifically about your… father.” He said, staring deviously back at Ivan. “Tell me, what was his occupation?” He asked, causing Ivan to scan his memory for the right answer.
Ivan leaned back as he tried to recollect his father’s job. He couldn’t narrow it down partially due to it’s mysterious background, but he the only way he could explain it would be a mercenary, but definitely not a privateer. To his knowledge, he almost always worked alone, or even with Howard. But he never had a crew to back him up. But he couldn’t tell this to Reynard, for he didn’t know how much he really knew.
“I… he was a mercenary… like me.” Ivan answered.
“True, but what type of mercenary would you classify him as?”
Ivan silently looked back down on the table. “I… guess you could’ve called him a pirate hunter.” He said, being stunned by Reynard’s oncoming laughter.
“So you do know something.” Reynard said, stroking his sparse facial hair. “I hope you wouldn’t mind if maybe I elaborated?” he asked, knowing that Ivan wouldn’t mind. “Very well, let me tell you about what happened.” He said moving his chair into a more comfortable position. “Your father,” he began. “Was part of secret organization to…. help pirates. “Help” here means put them in the right direction, to set them in the right direction, or take down those who strayed from it. Your father did sometimes accept jobs from the navy. Whenever there was a pirate that needed to be taken care of, he’d always help that pirate start a new life, give him a new name; yank the navy off their backs.” He said, sliding his hand to the side, symbolizing something being pulled. “Unfortunately, that job didn’t come without a price.” He said, looking sad yet at the same time uncaring. “One that would eventually end him.”
“How do you know all about this?” Ivan asked, shocked that Reynard would know so much about Ivan.
“Because,” Reynard said, emanating another one of his creepy smiles. He knew something, but what? As he returned to his stable state, his mouth let out the last of his words. “He once went after me.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Stealthy paced angrily around the room, even slamming on one of the tables in his rage. “I swear, that’s the last time Reynard goes back on my ‘payments’.” He said with an angry tone. “How can I trust him when half of the time he doesn’t follow through? I know I do what I’m supposed to, I do all he asks, and still he refuses to acknowledge it!”
He stumbled to another large empty table at the opposite end of the room. “There must be a way to stop this from happening. I’m done working for that cheapskate. It’s up to me to make my own pay. I can do it, I’m good enough, but some people fail to realize that.” He said, walking over to the window to check and see what was outside.
“There has to be something I could do, instead of going from job to job working for these people. From now on, I’m going to have to make money on my own.” He said, gazing out the window. “How am I going to face hi…” Stealthy saw a strange assortment of people walking towards the building in an orderly fashion. “Strange time to go caroling… wait a second!” Stealthy dashed away once he noticed what he’d been watching.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jack walked up towards the seemingly inconspicuous door, not opening in fear that there’d be a crew of pirates waiting for them. “This is the only place large enough to hold an entire crew.” He said, scanning the area in reassurance. Other than the large tavern-like building, most of the other residences seemed far too small to hold a multitude of people. Most of the other buildings looked like they were completely abandoned, boarded up, or deteriorated. “This is the only place they could’ve gone.” Jack said, peeking through the window to try and make out what was behind it. All that was visible was a dim but still promising light.
“I think we shouldn’t make ourselves noticed.” Howard said, nearing away from the door. “For all we know, there could be more pirates lurking about, waiting to pounce on us at just the right moment.” He said, initiating interest from Jack.
“Good thinking, we better keep an eye out.” Jack replied, assuring their safety. “So… now what?”
Now the two were at a crossroad. One of the directions was fronted by an unknown sign, and the other with a danger sign. “There is one solution to the problem…” Howard said, recalling the navy teams scouting the area. “When I arrived, another team was sent through the Wilds and onto the other side of the island, meaning here.”
“Oh my, how will we get control of a bunch of navy soldiers?” Jack said sarcastically. “Well, if we’re going to find them, I suggest we go search through the wilds?” He asked, leading his hand in the direction towards an overgrown area.
“I’m sure finding a light source amidst the darkness won’t be too hard…”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ivan retained his composure. Not before had he been challenged in such a personal way, and now the random person he was sent to kill was withholding personal information that Ivan had scarcely known about. “He… was sent to kill you?” Ivan asked, confused since he knew his father died by the hands of the bandits he’d assassinated that night.
Reynard rolled his eyes. “Not really. He wasn’t sent to
kill me, but instead to set me straight.” He said, causing Ivan to remember what Stealthy said about Reynard not having the best of reputations with other pirates.
“You mean because of the code.” Ivan noted, watching Reynard’s eyes fix themselves on a surprised emotion. “You weren’t properly following the code, and that’s why he was sent to… resolve the problem, by any means.”
Reynard gave another content look as he leaned back on his chair. “How about this: I tell you my story if you tell me about the time you murdered those pirates.” He said, making Ivan cringe at the mention of the word “murdered”.
“Alright, but you tell me your story first.” Ivan said, not wanting to miss out on such a juicy learning opportunity.
Reynard smiled, opening another drawer and pulling another hat out. Closing the door, he directed his smile back towards Ivan. “Now that the hat problem’s done with, I’ll begin.” He said, placing his hands firmly on the table…
~~~~~~~~~~
Reynard walked down the empty streets, rain pouring down from above. He moved right next to the door to the nearest building, and knocking on it, waited for a response. “Hello? Gregory, I sware this is the worst time to be pretending.” He said, knocking on the door even more. “D*** it!” He yelled, kicking the door open.
He ran inside, and turned around to find the door wasn’t even locked. His buddy had recently locked the place up to make sure nobody could get in except for him, but that didn’t seem to be the case, since the entire building was empty. “Gregory, where are you? I need to speak to you right now!”
The entire building was dimmed to a point where only a few corners of it were properly lit. The other areas would have to be judged fully on night vision. “This isn’t funny, come out now!” Reynard said, realizing his friend may not be available. “Greg?” He said, turning towards a sound coming from one of the darker corners of the room. A man wearing all dark clothing stepped out of the shadows, his dark appearance blended him in with the darkness.
“I had a feeling you’d come here eventually.” The man said, stepping further out until him and the darkness became two separate forms. “Who were you hiding from today? Was it the navy? Or was perhaps one of the hundreds of pirates who’d prefer to be rescued by anyone but you?” The man asked, seemingly knowing what Reynard had been through recently. “Or was it both? I fear whatever may be on the other side of that door would be best to keep a secret?” He said, lifting a large wooden plank and placed it on the door to bar it shut.
Reynard calmly stayed still as he wondered if whoever this was wanted him dead like almost everybody else, or genuinely wanted to help him. “What do you want?” He asked, hoping the man would be on his side.
The man sped towards Reynard, too fast for him to be able to fight back. He forcefully threw Reynard to the wall, and pinned him against it. “You and I both know what this is about.” The man said, not giving Reynard any free movement. “Now the real question is how should this all go down?”
Reynard struggled to break free from the position, but it was just a waste of energy. “What are you talking about?” He said, barely able to muster the energy to speak.
“You know very well what this is about.” The man said, not holding back. “Three days ago, you refused to hold up any decency as you mercilessly eliminated another one your “rivals”.” He said, forcing even more of his strength on Reynard.
Reynard struggled for air and felt if it went on any longer he’d pass out. “What does this have to do with BAH!” Reynard felt himself get thrown to the ground, feeling both pain from the fall and relief from being able to fully breathe once more.
He coughed wildly as the man approached him once more. “Now let’s try this one more time. Either you continue your life of fleeing from everybody, or you clear your name, start a new life, never let something like that happen ever again, and make sure that you never have to see Harold Hood ever again.” He said, placing the only two directions as towards him or towards the door.
Reynard thought carefully about the decision for a few seconds before coming to his conclusion. Still on the ground, he pulled out one of the pistols he always kept with him, and almost blindly pulled the trigger. A pain filled yell was all that was needed to verify the success, and with that, Reynard made a break for the secret entrance at the end of the room.
Harold was taken aback by the strange, quick, yet almost painless sting originating in his hand. He grabbed it with is other hand, realizing he’d just been shot point blank. “Ahh!” He yelled, recovering from the strange feeling, scanning the area to visualize where Reynard had run off to. Instead of going straight for the door, it looked like he’d instead decided to climb up on a bunch of stacked barrels, and had begun opening a trap door to the upper floor.
Opening the door, Reynard easily vaulted himself up and away from the room. Harold ignored the now searing pain coming from his hand as he too leaped up on top of the barrels. Reynard closed the door behind him, and quickly placed the nearest box on top of it in order to prevent Harold from opening it.
Harold slammed his good hand against the above door, hoping to make it fly open, but instead feeling resistance equal to that of pounding directly on the floor. Trying to open it now would just waste time, as the weight on top was too much for him to lift with only one good hand. Frustrated, he sprinted towards the door, hoping an external means to get upstairs was available. Opening the door, he felt the cold rain insist on making his day even more miserable than it already was. Gazing back upon the large building, he could make out that the upper floor was somehow connected to some other buildings, most conspicuously the dock house.
Recalling his limited knowledge of the dock house, he knew that every building connected to it was only accessible through the central hub, which if Reynard was going anywhere, it would have to be there...
Reynard scrambled to reach the door, if all was well, it wouldn’t be locked. Anticipating that it may be so, he nearly fell over after opening the door. Stumbling his way through the different dock supply crates, he mentally planned the near future.
’I need to make my way over to the ship.’ He thought, hurdling over another open crate of ropes.
’A shame I couldn’t get Gregory in time, we would’ve escaped together.’
Now that he was closer to the ship, he arrived at the house that had windows showing the outside world. Peeking through, he was relieved to see his ship prepared to leave port. He was now more than ready to escape this place. Turning his attention over towards the loading crane revealed by the opening inside the house, he ran over to inspect his next move.
“Well, it’s all or nothing…” He said to himself, leaping powerfully onto the crane. His hands grasped the rope as he slowly slid down. Rope burn decided to grab his attention, but once on the ground, a sense of relief overcame him as he saw just how close he was to the ship. Running towards the dock, he was able to see another one of his crewmates, waiting for him to arrive. “Get the ship out of here!” He yelled, motioning for him to cut the ropes.
Surprised, the man looked at Reynard with confusion. “Sir, where’s Gregory?” he asked, still following through with the orders and untying the ropes.
“Gregory’s unavailable, but that’s not important.” Reynard said, helping loosen the ropes.
Once the ropes were all untied, Reynard ran aboard the frigate and stared down at his crewmate. “We need to get out of here now!” He yelled, searching for Harold. “He could be here any mi-
A loud gunshot could be heard in the near vicinity, causing Reynard to duck for cover. Rising his head above the ships side, he came to the realization that Harold was much closer than expected. “Get aboard now!” He yelled, allowing the crewmate to run aboard via plank, picking it up behind him in order to keep anyone else from coming onboard.
Reynard turned back towards another one of his crewmembers, manning the wheel. “GET US OUT OF HERE!” he yelled…
Harold lowered his gun. It was too late to attempt anything now. Reynard had escaped, and was now headed to who knows where. A sore pain tugged at his hand as the adrenaline from the chase had worn off. Now all he could do was wait for his hand to heal…
Reynard leaned against the mast, catching his breath. The crewman he’d seen on the dock approached him. “Where do you plan on going now?” He asked.
Reynard smiled, looking off into the distance. “Away from here.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“And that is how I met your father.” Reynard said, ending his story.
Ivan somehow felt strange knowing that Reynard was once so vulnerable, but after having an encounter like that, it wasn’t surprising. He’d always thought of Reynard to be a all controlling pirate king of sorts.
“Now there’s still one more part we need to reflect on.” Reynard said, implying that Ivan’s turn was up. “Tell me about that night, tell me everything that happened, all those people you killed… everything.” He said, taking the legal document out once more.
Ivan felt his heart try and leave his chest. Now he’d be retelling the story to the enemy, the one he was sent to get rid of. Besides the obvious discomfort you feel when talking with your enemy, he also took discomfort in having to remember that moment, but at the same time he had to let it out… “Well,” He said, knowing there was no way to back out now. “If you insist…”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ivan listened into the conversation going on in the adjacent room. “I told you, we’re going after him tomorrow, we don’t want to do anything special while we’re still hot.” One of the men said.
“Does that even matter? I mean we’ve been chased for God knows how long. Everywhere we turn there’s another mercenary or pirate hunter waiting for us.”
“Oh look, little William’s afraid of some hired guns.” One of them said playfully. “If anyone, it was that person a few days ago that gave us any trouble. Unless there is more of him around, we won’t have any trouble taking out high value targets.” He said, obviously talking about his father.
One of the men walked over to the side of the room closest to Ivan. “You know, you lads better get some sleep.” He said, dismissing the others. “We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
Ivan could hear the unmistakable sound of a door being closed. Now all that was left was for the leader to check to see if everything was clear outside. Ivan readied his dagger, waiting for just the right moment. The door opened, and out came a rugged, dirty looking pirate. He didn’t notice Ivan until it was too late. He threw the dagger into his backside, in order to keep him from being able to evade his attack if he saw him. Once the target was dropped, re pulled the dagger back out, and continued onward inside the house.
The house was a complete and utter wreck. Order had trouble finding its way here. On the central table, notes and documents chaotically drew attention to themselves. Many of them were details about their future plans and such. One of the plans even described a plot to kill the town’s governor tomorrow afternoon. Ivan threw all the useless papers aside, and walked over to the next room in the house. Slowly opening the door, he soon came to realize that this is where they all slept, and today he was going to make sure they didn’t wake up. He tightly gripped his dagger, and neared his first victim…
~~~~~~~~~~ (Sorry that the part’s real short, but I didn’t want to write a bloody scene or anything
)
Ivan finished retelling his real life nightmare, and looked up to see what unexpected act Reynard was doing: clapping. “Good, Good!” he said, seemingly proud at what he’d just heard. “So you do have potential…” He said, nodding confidently. “This is exactly what I wanted to hear.”
Ivan retracted from his position.
’Great, now the enemy sees me as a possible recruit.’ He thought, visualizing Reynard leaning forward.
“Ivan, I see something in you that I’ve only seen in a few people before. You… somehow are able to be the most competent yet inconspicuous person I’ve had the chance to know. Even though I was hidden in plain sight, you were still able to set your way towards your own goal, and somehow, against all odds, you’re able to pull through and actually give me a scare at times.” He said, moving closer to Ivan. “Mr. Hood, these are troubling times in the Caribbean. I would be honored if you’d work for me, to help these other pirates come to their senses.”
’HE ASKED ME TO JOIN HIM!!!!! That’s it! I reached the stage where I’m so bad that the man I was sent to kill personally asked me to help him! Hah! I still can’t believe I’m not dead yet!’ Ivan thought, while back in reality he couldn’t think of anything to say back. Interestingly enough, he didn’t feel like he wanted to kill Reynard, but instead, almost felt like he wanted to join him…
’NO! Stop… thinking… THAT!’ Ivan was now breathing heavily, pondering the seemingly impossible question. On one hand he could agree and become the second hand man of the nastiest pirate in the Caribbean. And on the other he’d most likely be thrown out of the building and have Jack killed.
Ivan dropped his head. “Mr. Reynard, I’m afraid it’s too much of a high risk job to accept. I understand your problem with the rest of the pirates, but the reason they give is a valid one, and I don’t want to have the entire world against me.” Ivan said in a way that was the safest he could think of. “You do realize I was sent to kill you. For me, there’s no way out of it. In the time I’ve met you, you seem to be a very civil and understanding person. However, I’m afraid the job you have to offer me is one that’s too dangerous to accept, and I want you to know that with all due respect, I can’t go through with it.”
Reynard at first said nothing. Taking it all in, he kept his cool, while still being disappointed. Before he was able to speak however, the door flew open, revealing Stealthy. “Sir, I think you should come see this…”
~~~~~~~~~~
Comments? I howpe yu awl lyke!