The Road To Ruin (Lilias & Captain Maltese)
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: Captain Maltese on 12-12-2010, 20:24:17</h2>
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				Title: <strong>The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Captain Maltese</strong> on <strong>12-12-2010, 20:24:17</strong>
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				The highwayman stood waiting in the darkness of the autumn night. He was standing, or rather sitting on a horse, just where the road made a sharp turn along a protruding cliff. Due to this the hewn tree blocking further progress could not be seen by those traveling toward the next town, before it was too late for a speedy detour. The criminal was not making an easy sight of himself, with his clothes as black as the massive horse he was sitting on. Neither the black tricorne, the black gloves and boots, the long coat or the scarf hiding his lower face would be easy to describe in detail or be recognised later. But William, or 'The Gentleman Blackguard of Howlwood' as the rumor traders and newstellers were calling him in lieu of fortunately not knowing his real one, had only been waiting patiently for a few minutes. Then, he had seen in his spyglass the mail wagon pass over a conveniently bare hilltop a bit earlier on the road and had hurried to lower the tree he had cut for this purpose much earlier in the day. <br><br>It had pleased him that this time, there was just one horserider following the cab - it would make his task easier. Naturally there would be an armed man om the wagon beside the chauffeur, and there could be armed men among the eventual passengers too. But they might be surprised even so, because this was not Howlwood but Lower Birdpool which was much nearer town and the a place where diligence never had been stopped before. It was also more dangerous for highwaymen for that reason, but William was not doing this to ensure a safe life.<br><br>As the mail wagon rolled through the sharp turn and whinnying horses announced a panicked stop in the muddy road, William let loose the other part of his ambush. A tug on a rope released a wooden beam to shoot out and lodge itself between the wagon's wheels, and a kick on a concealed oil torch caused a prepared tarcovered log to roar into fire and blind the eyes of the mail posse just as the tall broadchested man known as 'The Gentleman Blackguard" rode out from the other side. One large blunderbuss in each of his hands, a terrifying sight to anyone who knew the slightest about the havoc such weapons wrought at such short distances, would have been enough to signal his intent if he had not also shouted for everyone to hear the familiar words... "STAND. AND. DELIVER!"
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>13-12-2010, 14:31:33</strong>
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				The shout was almost lost in the din - terrified whinnyings from the horses, a loud creaking noise as the front axle of the coach was almost wrenched out, and cries of dismay from the passengers, muffled by the lowered curtains of the carriage. But even without the sound itself, everyone knew what was going on, at the mere sight of the approaching figure.<br><br>The coachman had his hands full trying to calm down the rearing horses, who still threatened to get tangled in their trains or even overturn the coach. His companion up on the box had jumped down already, but it wasn't the kind of man who usually guarded coaches - he was little more than a boy, and held no firearm, only a long hunting knife; wicked-looking in itself, but no match for their attacker. <br><br>The mounted escort from behind had ridden up and had the highwayman in his line of fire, but with only one gun of his own, he didn't seem too inclined to reckless firing. 'Go away, blackguard,' he said gruffly. 'There is nothing here for you to take - just people. Go away and we will forget we saw you.' There was no sound from the inside of the coach now, only the barest twitching of the curtain, as if someone was trying to look out without being seen.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Captain Maltese</strong> on <strong>14-12-2010, 00:50:01</strong>
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				"What you have of value is for me to judge, my good man. And put that weapon down if you value your charges' lives!" William calmly turned his face away from the escort rider and spoke loudly toward the darkness. "Hold your fire, men! Shoot only if they do!" He turned back, ignoring the rider to look down at the younger guard and speak with a kind voice. "IF bravery could win any fight then you would no doubt be sherrif in a week, young master. Stand down, drop your worthy blade and be at ease, not even the king would ask more of you tonight."<br><br>Urging his horse forward with his knees, with one barrel at the escort and the other directly at the coach curtain, William advanced until he was fifteen feet away. "Very well ladies and gentlemen, we ask you to come out of the wagon with your hands up. Do bring your traveling pouches with you. We wish you no harm but believe us, our errand is deadly serious. Be kind and cooperate and noone will suffer harm. On this you have my word as a gentleman." The words came smoothly, but then again they had been practiced a hundred times before he was satisfied. One of the hardest parts had been to utter the last line without smirking. Then William moved the blunderbuss a little so it covered the driver, and added in a low voice: "The mailsack, please."
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>14-12-2010, 22:26:31</strong>
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				The lad looked daggers at the highwayman, then, very ostentatiously, sheathed his knife at his side and stood with his arms crossed and a very black look on his face. He wasn't going to give in all the way and relinquish his blade, and his resentment was obvious. The escort, on the other hand, weighed the odds and lowered his firearm slowly. He seemed to sense a bluff, but didn't want to take chances.<br><br>'Mailsack?' guffawed the coachman. 'There ain't no such thing, guv'nor - told ya so.' As if to underline his point, he jumped down from his box as well; there was nothing left on or under the seat. 'All people, tonight,' he added, just as the coach door creaked open and the passengers started to come out.<br><br>The first was an elderly man dressed in black, in an old-fashioned curly wig and ruff, clutching a satchel to himself. The town notary was a familiar face to all local people, although at his age he didn't travel much on business. He was followed by a young girl in a servant's pinafore, who looked terrified almost fit to faint and leaned on the old man as much as he was leaning on her for support.<br><br>Finally, another woman stepped down from the coach, unaided. Presumably the girl's mistress, she was taller and more willowy, and kept the hood of her black velvet cloak pulled over her head. Flashes of her wine-red dress showed through the black folds, but her face was in shadow. None of the passengers offered a word.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Captain Maltese</strong> on <strong>15-12-2010, 14:54:12</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				William was nonplussed for a moment. No mailsack meant no valuable packages or bank transfers. In all probability the mail official had simply not reached the evening wagon in time or nothing had been ready to send. What rotten luck! Now his winnings on this dangerous gamble was down to whatever trinkets he could score from the passengers. No wonder the coachman was grinning!<br><br>A mean mood struck him. The highwayman gave the coachman a withering glance. "Perchance we should torch the wagon to teach The Royal Mail a lesson instead... with you on it, giving you a ride to hell!?" As he let the blunderbuss' sight wander from the driver and along the little line of passengers, the prospects of the evening dimmed even further. William let his eyes glide carefully uninterested past Mr Needler the scrivener whom with he had had dealings under his real identity, somewhat disinterested at the likely dirt-poor servant - and focused like a raptor at the third passenger. A person of elevation. And of money, and grace too. A plan formed - but first, he had a reputation to maintain. Motioning his steed forward, he waved the driver and lad over to stand beside the escort. "Now don't move about, my men have itchy trigger fingers and we don't want any completely needless accidents do we?'<br><br>The bluff was strengthened by his hazardous gamble of not pointing any weapon at them after this point. With the potential defenders out of at least sword's way, he rode closer to the passengers. Hanging the left hand blunderbluss on the saddle William reached out his gloved hand to the the notarius first, bluntly ripping the satchel from him. "And your moneybag, good Sir. Hurry now!" The words were barked, and he was flicking the satchel open even as he looked at the servant. He would have smiled if it had not been for the scarf which made the effort pointless, but made a point of finding a more soothing voice for her. "You can be at ease, fair maiden, your heart is surely the greatest pearl you carry and what criminal would be able to steal that from a girl of virtue?" The sugar was gone from his voice again as he dropped the satchel in a saddle bag for later inspection - it would be left on the road somewhere for the next wagon to find, as was his custom - and steadied most of his attention on the third passenger.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>"Ah ah, what do we have here? A lady? Show yourself, so I do not make an affront UN intentionally. He looked into her eyes as he almost accidentally pointed the weapon toward her servant."And once you have revealed your beauty, reveal your purse - and hurry, the wagon is late enough as it is I am sure!" 
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>16-12-2010, 00:01:59</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				The notary made a reflexive move to get his satchel back, followed by an almost equally fast retreat when he found himself briefly in line with the firearm. With a sound between a sigh and a growl, he tossed his pouch, quite fat on the way back from a business session, onto the ground. 'Might as well rob the dead, you blackguard,' he griped, but still he seemed more upset to see his papers lost than his fee.<br><br>The maid, meanwhile, quailed at being addressed, making instinctively to press against her mistress, but when the highwayman's attention shifted to her, she shrank back towards the old man, leaving the lady to face off with their attacker alone. That wasn't lost on the woman, and she shrugged lightly, though visibly, before raising her hands to push the hood back and off her head.<br><br>In the light of the still flaring and crackling log, she seemed much younger than her stance would have suggested. Perhaps twenty years old, with rich chestnut brown hair gathered at the back of her head and a few ringlets falling down her neck, and striking green eyes almost too big for her elfin face. A necklace of rubies drew attention to her fashionably low-cut neckline, and two matching cuffs adorned her wrists.<br><br>She turned her hands out towards the highwayman, showing they were empty. 'I'm afraid I don't have a penny to my name, let alone a purse, sir,' she said, with an effort to keep her voice steady. 'These baubles I'm wearing - the gems are glass, but the gold is real. You're welcome to them, if you but let us go.'
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Captain Maltese</strong> on <strong>16-12-2010, 14:14:09</strong>
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				William's robbery was a disappointment even if the travelers' valuables were making up a little for the lacking mail. The sudden appearance of the most attractive woman he had seen in quite some time even among the aristocracy he did meet, was an unexpected pleasure - no matter how unwilling on her behalf - and distracted him for several seconds. Then he shook out of it, but in his loins a new thought registered and slowly grew even as he spoke "Now why would we wish to retain good people already late to their beds and suppers?"<br><br>"Pick up that Sirs moneypouch and hand it to me. Then you can relieve your neck AND arms of what seems far too fair to me, on far too fair a maiden, to be mere 'baubles'. He stretched out his hand. "We have no more time for dallying. Hurry!" The blunderbuss was unwavering. Even so, the criminal's eyes were visibly roving over the noblewoman's bodily assets more than on their monetary ones.
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				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>17-12-2010, 00:25:22</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				The young woman didn't try to argue or stall. She raised her hands again, flicking her hair over one shoulder before unclasping her necklace. A moment of fiddling with the catch was the only sign she was not fully composed.<br><br>Necklace in hand, she proceeded to snap her bracelets open as well, then, gathering all the jewels in one hand, she took a step forward to reach the pouch, where the notary had tossed it. As she bent down, her cloak slid forward to cover her arms, the dark folds on either side only accentuating the unbroken view down the creamy expanse of her now bare cleavage.<br><br>Straightening up, finally, she took a couple of cautious steps towards the highwayman, careful both of the horse, whose ears were twitching nervously, and of the gun that was still trailing over her. She reached out both hands to offer the loot, meeting his eyes evenly, but unconsciously worrying her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment. 'Will that be all, sir?'
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Captain Maltese</strong> on <strong>18-12-2010, 14:59:09</strong>
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				William snatched the valuables from the lady's hands, and was about to answer affirmately in a suitably suave manner before a timely departure, when his ears told him that the lukewarm success of this robbery was about to turn into a disaster. Somewhat further along the road was a stony part of the road where it crossed a hill, and from there now came a familiar drumming of steel on stone. Clopping, and lots of it. A number of riders were approaching fast. A posse? Impossible, the wagon was not late! Some cavalry unit traveling to the next town? The highwayman was not going to hang around to find out. But neither was he going to be chased like a dog by expert riders and be hunted down like some hapless fox.&nbsp; <br><br>"No, unfortunately. Something came up!" With lightning speed and strength aided by desperation, he reached down and grasped the woman's upper arm and hauled her up to lie face down across the front of his saddle like a sack. Waving the blunderbuss threateningly at the escort and driver, he snarled a menacing. "if we are followed the lady gets it!" and kicked the sides of his steed with far more force than he'd normally do. It took off straight forward like a whinnying thunderbolt and bolted into a path on the other side of the road, and as it reached the edge of the forest William closed his eyes, pointed the weapon at the spectators - and fired. "B O O O M."&nbsp; <br><br>The weapon had been prepared for a farewell salute, for effect rather than damage. A triple load of gunpowder blasted into the night, enough to risk a weaker weapon's destruction, but there was no hail of iron nails or lead pellets like the other blunderbuss was loaded with - just a careful mix of easily-igniting sawdust and coalpowder. The resulting fireball was probably able to do considerable damage to someone right in front of the weapon but the effect on the target at this range was only the desired one - to shock, and rob them of their night sight as well as their hearing for a couple of minutes. The downside was that it would be heard and seen by the approaching force as well - but judging by the sound, they were coming at a gallop anyway.<br><br>As the highwayman held grimly on to his captive by the backside of her clothes AND the reins of the near panicking horse AND the heavy blunderbus with one hand, he used his free hand to tug a waiting rope just inside the forest - revealing his final trick as yet another heavy widecrowned tree majestically fell into the path behind them. In the thick forest, in the dark of the night, it might buy him a little more time against horses who would be reluctant to jump over sharp branches. He was grateful for his own foresight, because this time the getaway would either end in freedom or a short fall and a hard stop in the executioner's gallow. Time to get scarce. As they thundered away into the darkness along the not-really-existing path he had scouted out, he could already hear shouts as the horsemen caught up with the wagon. William patted the butt of the woman with grim humor and shouted "Hang on to your lunch, fair lady!" Then he let the horse show its pedigree as a race horse and they vanished into the wild night.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: The Road To Ruin (Lilias &amp; Captain Maltese)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lilias</strong> on <strong>14-01-2011, 23:06:22</strong>
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				The speed with which everything happened guaranteed havoc among the coach passengers. The horses reared in terror at the flash of light, one of them finally breaking the traces and galloping away. The little maid, equally terrified already, fainted quite away, the old notary supporting her, which left the coachman and the boy trying to stop the other horse from overturning the carriage itself, to finish off the evening's misfortune. The language they used in their efforts was nothing they would have dared utter in front of either woman.<br><br>The trotting in the distance rose to a full gallop as the riders, whoever they were, met the fleeing horse. It didn't take them long to round the bend and come within sight of the mayhem: three of the town militia with their sergeant and a pack horse, now leading the coach horse back as well. It took even less time for them to realise what had happened. The maid had regained consciousness in the meantime, and begged them to rescue her mistress, but the sergeant shook his head.<br><br>'Sitting ducks in the dark in them there woods, aye. Let's get you home, and we'll search by daylight. Don't want to get any of my men killed, or your lady.' He didn't envy the girl having to go back alone and tell the story, but he was not going to end his life riddled with lead either, if he could avoid it.<br><br>Meanwhile, the nameless young lady had allowed herself to be carried away as unceremoniously as a sack of potatoes. She had struggled reflexively at first, but the speed of the horse guaranteed she would only be mauled worse if she kept it up during that mad flight, so she had opted for going limp. There was definitely something of the expert rider there. She didn't even react at the impropriety of the pat. But if the highwayman thought she had fainted, he was disabused of the notion as soon as the pace slowed some, when she raised her head and twisted around to face him.<br><br>'Are you going to leave me on the road, on the other side of the woods? I can still find my way from there.' The hood had slipped off her head and moonlight, when it could slip through the trees, gleamed on her dark hair, but her face was mostly in shadow and there was no telling if she was mocking or serious.
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