Wake of the Dead | Three

Chapter Eleven | Jasper

Thump. Another initiate crumpled to the ground as a brutal punch was delivered across their jaw. Jasper narrowed his eyes against the sun to watch their training. By this time in the warm season, the nights were freezing and the days were blistering. Sunburns littered across Jasper's arms, shoulders, neck and back. His hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, he didn't imagine he smelled too good either. First thing he'd do when he escaped--find new clothes and take a dip in the first stream he found. The yells and screams from the young adults as they gripped onto one another and rolled across the ground in a ball of fury and rage only grew louder. If Killian was here, would he be with them? Jasper thought to himself.

The thought of Killian being among the monsters here--among him--made Jasper's heart clench. He didn't want his partner even witnessing how harsh the Silence initiation was, to know Jasper had once taken part in it. He'd like to think he wasn't a harsh mentor to Minora, but she could easily say otherwise. He hadn't exactly been in a sound state of mind when he decided to take on an apprentice, but that wasn't a good enough excuse, was it? If I had done something different maybe she wouldn't still be here. Jasper shoved those thoughts to the back of his head. Minora wasn't a young girl when he'd left, she'd made the decision to stay and keep hurting others. He only wished she hadn't. 

Jasper narrowed his brows as a familiar face stalked over and hauled one of the apprentices off of the other. The two still attempted to claw at one another--one even turned on their mentor--Luke. So, Luke had gotten his own apprentice now? Wonderful. Lord knows what they'll turn out to be. Nothing like him at best--a spitting image at worst. But it wasn't Jasper's place to save them from their own life decisions--not when his own life hung in the balance. He had a group to save, he had Killian to find. Anybody who associated with his enemies was now either with or against him. Those against him wouldn't meet a kind fate. It was a dark thought, but one Jasper wouldn't hesitate to execute in theory. Of course there were exceptions. Not many. But some. 

"Ash," Luke said harshly, "Come." Ash seemed to be maybe eleven or twelve, much younger than the other apprentices, but from Jasper had seen the kid had held his own pretty well. The boy's eyes were an electric, harsh blue. Greyish-brown hair was what mush have given him his namesake, but his expression was dead-set in a small frown. The boy followed Luke over to Jasper, his fists clenched. As they got closer, Jasper could practically see them shaking, seething with unhinged anger. But why? Why was Ash so angry? 

Jasper's eyes slowly trailed down to the knife Ash held in his hand. So they were grooming children to fight for them, then? The group had stooped low by the time Jasper left. But this was a new type of low--Hellishly deep. "Well, say hello to my ex boyfriend." Luke said with a dashing smile. Jasper avoided meeting his ex-lover's eyes to hold back a heat creeping along his cheeks. "You remember everything I said about him, right boy?" Luke's voice hardened. Jasper's brows narrowed even further when he saw Ash flinch ever-so-slightly at the change in tone. Has Luke been beating him? Jasper ground his teeth. It wouldn't surprise me. 

"Yea," The child's voice was surprisingly gruff, as if the chords had sustained some sort of damage--it was raspy, coarse. "I remember."

"Well then," Luke said softly, eyeing Jasper from behind Ash's back. "What do we do with traitors?" 

Almost as if in a haze, Ash started forward with a single footstep, gripping his knife tighter. "We punish them." Jasper bit down even harder on his tongue, a snarl wrinkling at his nose. He wanted to blame the kid, he wanted to be furious with them. But looking into those wide, innocent blue eyes...he couldn't. It wasn't their fault. They didn't have the same experience or reasoning as Minora did when she was in training, how could he not forgive a child that was being indoctrinated against their will by adults? Ash paused, then looked up at Luke uncertainly. "I don't want to."