This would have never happened if the Temple Knights had listened.
He was the only one privy to identifying the possible suspects. He was the one who sullied his hands combing the Brume for information - had been the one to recruit and conduct a brigade of highwaymen in Western Coerthas as a front to find out where the pilfered caravans were going.Â
He had heard that the Pillars would burn, but his superiors - wrapped in their own convoluted bureaucracy with their Lord Commander occupied - were much too busy clinging to promotions and favors from the highborns. So long as their own pockets were filled and they were due with minimum work, they cared not how things were done.Â
So when House Hildegarde fell that night, Dresden had expected it, but it wasn't the Knights who managed to squelch the flames before it spread. No, Dresden had tirelessly commandeered the sellswords, adventures, and even merchants of his highwaymen front. Hildegarde had fallen, but they had coordinated enough to save the other houses.Â
If they had only stifled their disdain for lowborns like him and listened. Lives had to be lost to bring the point across.Â
By the time it took to smother the blue flames completely, charred corpses both big and small were found beneath debris, unrecognizable. The burned smell literally lingered throughout the night and into the early morning hours. There was one scion left of Hildegarde, lucky as she was. Or perhaps not.Â
The man Dresden had been trailing for the past few weeks had been identified as Kudros Crendraven. Perhaps not only identified, but relatively known for his bounty through the secret echelons of the Holy See.Â
They knew and they hadn't told him.Â
"Ser Voltaire! You're under arrest!"
It was an unsurprising command. Lord Aymeric's new policy of having an open dialogue between the Knights and their citizens was contrary to what they had done. He always knew he would be the scapegoat should his mission go south. Dresden found himself surrounded by his own garrison in the early morning hours and left to drown as an inquisitor shouted out his crimes - crimes of which had been done and ordered in the name of the Holy See. Â
"That's the one! He knew what was to become of House Hildegarde." Those treacherous words came from his own Captain, one of whom Dresden once called trustworthy. He looked upon Dresden not with a warm nod, but a sneer unseen. Dresden had thought, almost despairingly, that this man was one of the only few who saw him not as a lowborn, but a potential soldier.Â
"I had not!" he snapped back, almost desperate as swords and lances advanced upon him. "Everything I had done was to protect Ishgard!"
Inquisitor Depardieu pointed accusingly at him. "Such words would not sway us, traitor! You were in league with the criminals who consorted with the Owl - we have eyewitness accounts from your fellow knights to prove it. Not to mention word from the Jeweled Croizer of your little operation with your highwaymen. It is just like lowborn scum like you to make a profit on the blood of one of our once prominent houses!"
Dresden had no choice but to keep his silence about the highwaymen. He would not incriminate his own men just to save his own skin. "You would put one of your most loyal men to the edge, so you would not take the plunge yourself," he accused his captain and gestured to the men he once called his own. "Have I not proven myself to you enough? The Fury sees all - do you believe you will be saved from her wrath upon judgement? I risked everything to give you the very information needed to catch the fiends who have done this! If you had only listened my warnings!"
"Listen not to this betrayer!" Depardieu warned sharply. "Ser Voltaire of the Temple Knights, you are hereby accused of conspiring against Ishgard and the complete annihilation of House Hildegarde. You will find, unfortunately, that something as trial by combat will not be afforded to you."Â
His heart thumped so hard against his ribcage, he was sure he would have been in the throes of a stroke had he been an older man. With a frustrated snarl, Dresden slowly raised his palms up in surrender. "You will regret this," he promised bitterly. "Knives to the back of our countrymen, turning a blind eye to save your own. Do you not see? Ishgard cannot survive like this! The only crime I am rightfully accused of is trusting my 'betters' to protect Ishgard when I should have done it myself! I swear to you, upon the blood and ash on this very stone, I will not let it happen again! I will protect Ishgard on my own terms - with or without your help!"
In the ensuing silence, Dresden snapped his fingers and a rain of arrows littered the sky above. His captors quickly stumbled out of the way and in the ensuing chaos, Dresden quickly escaped over a low hanging bridge, shoving Inspector Depardieu in the process. He made a break for the lower levels for the Brume, Puru's voice ringing in the linkpearl.Â
The only safe haven now was deep in the ice and mountains of Western Coerthas where his highwaymen waited for him. It seemed that now, this new enterprise was now a legitimate operation.
He was the only one privy to identifying the possible suspects. He was the one who sullied his hands combing the Brume for information - had been the one to recruit and conduct a brigade of highwaymen in Western Coerthas as a front to find out where the pilfered caravans were going.Â
He had heard that the Pillars would burn, but his superiors - wrapped in their own convoluted bureaucracy with their Lord Commander occupied - were much too busy clinging to promotions and favors from the highborns. So long as their own pockets were filled and they were due with minimum work, they cared not how things were done.Â
So when House Hildegarde fell that night, Dresden had expected it, but it wasn't the Knights who managed to squelch the flames before it spread. No, Dresden had tirelessly commandeered the sellswords, adventures, and even merchants of his highwaymen front. Hildegarde had fallen, but they had coordinated enough to save the other houses.Â
If they had only stifled their disdain for lowborns like him and listened. Lives had to be lost to bring the point across.Â
By the time it took to smother the blue flames completely, charred corpses both big and small were found beneath debris, unrecognizable. The burned smell literally lingered throughout the night and into the early morning hours. There was one scion left of Hildegarde, lucky as she was. Or perhaps not.Â
The man Dresden had been trailing for the past few weeks had been identified as Kudros Crendraven. Perhaps not only identified, but relatively known for his bounty through the secret echelons of the Holy See.Â
They knew and they hadn't told him.Â
"Ser Voltaire! You're under arrest!"
It was an unsurprising command. Lord Aymeric's new policy of having an open dialogue between the Knights and their citizens was contrary to what they had done. He always knew he would be the scapegoat should his mission go south. Dresden found himself surrounded by his own garrison in the early morning hours and left to drown as an inquisitor shouted out his crimes - crimes of which had been done and ordered in the name of the Holy See. Â
"That's the one! He knew what was to become of House Hildegarde." Those treacherous words came from his own Captain, one of whom Dresden once called trustworthy. He looked upon Dresden not with a warm nod, but a sneer unseen. Dresden had thought, almost despairingly, that this man was one of the only few who saw him not as a lowborn, but a potential soldier.Â
"I had not!" he snapped back, almost desperate as swords and lances advanced upon him. "Everything I had done was to protect Ishgard!"
Inquisitor Depardieu pointed accusingly at him. "Such words would not sway us, traitor! You were in league with the criminals who consorted with the Owl - we have eyewitness accounts from your fellow knights to prove it. Not to mention word from the Jeweled Croizer of your little operation with your highwaymen. It is just like lowborn scum like you to make a profit on the blood of one of our once prominent houses!"
Dresden had no choice but to keep his silence about the highwaymen. He would not incriminate his own men just to save his own skin. "You would put one of your most loyal men to the edge, so you would not take the plunge yourself," he accused his captain and gestured to the men he once called his own. "Have I not proven myself to you enough? The Fury sees all - do you believe you will be saved from her wrath upon judgement? I risked everything to give you the very information needed to catch the fiends who have done this! If you had only listened my warnings!"
"Listen not to this betrayer!" Depardieu warned sharply. "Ser Voltaire of the Temple Knights, you are hereby accused of conspiring against Ishgard and the complete annihilation of House Hildegarde. You will find, unfortunately, that something as trial by combat will not be afforded to you."Â
His heart thumped so hard against his ribcage, he was sure he would have been in the throes of a stroke had he been an older man. With a frustrated snarl, Dresden slowly raised his palms up in surrender. "You will regret this," he promised bitterly. "Knives to the back of our countrymen, turning a blind eye to save your own. Do you not see? Ishgard cannot survive like this! The only crime I am rightfully accused of is trusting my 'betters' to protect Ishgard when I should have done it myself! I swear to you, upon the blood and ash on this very stone, I will not let it happen again! I will protect Ishgard on my own terms - with or without your help!"
In the ensuing silence, Dresden snapped his fingers and a rain of arrows littered the sky above. His captors quickly stumbled out of the way and in the ensuing chaos, Dresden quickly escaped over a low hanging bridge, shoving Inspector Depardieu in the process. He made a break for the lower levels for the Brume, Puru's voice ringing in the linkpearl.Â
The only safe haven now was deep in the ice and mountains of Western Coerthas where his highwaymen waited for him. It seemed that now, this new enterprise was now a legitimate operation.