Jinx Unchained

Chapter One

Samantha sighed as she gazed forlornly at her watch and saw that it only read half past three. She still had four-and-a-half hours to go before the morning shift showed up. She looked over at her companion who was soundly asleep, lying on a roll-out mat they'd both brought so they could take turns at catching a few winks during their utterly boring night shift. She thought about waking him up so she could at least have someone to talk to, but she decided against it. It'd be cruel to him, and she didn't want him to return the 'favor' when it was her turn to sleep.

The whole thing wouldn't be so bad if she at least understood why they were doing this, but the truth of it was that she had no clue. Her gaze drifted towards the cell near the back of the corridor, where the assassin was lying on a little bit of straw in a corner. He'd been afforded no comforts apart from water, and he had received no medical care in the several days since they'd dumped him in here. Given the extent of his injuries, she knew the latter part was effectively a death sentence, and she didn't understand why they didn't just kill the bastard then. Nobody had come by to question him either—not that it would have really achieved anything, seeing as how he was unconscious for large parts of the day, and was delirious with pain and presumably fever when he was awake. Large sections of his neck, chest and hips were burned black, and the wounds oozed puss almost continuously. She'd seen the mage, Lux, blast the assassin full in the chest with her magic, crumpling him almost instantly. The glee she'd felt at watching the bastard burn still made her chuckle from time to time. He and his companions had tried to kill Martin and Jinx, as well as Cassie, and every member of the Champions was still supremely pissed off at the thought of it.

The lieutenants had decided he needed guarding, and so two people were stuck here—watching a nearly dead man—in eight-hour shifts. Out of all the things she'd ever done, nothing had ever been as boring as this.

She got up and idly sauntered over to the rear cell, where she observed the assassin crumpled up, almost in a fetal position. He was lying motionless, and she wondered if perhaps he'd died already. It took nearly a full minute of standing motionless and really focusing her attention before she could hear his soft little wheezes. His breathing was so minute that it really was a miracle he was still alive—she had to admit the man came from hardy stock.

Standing there, thinking he was dead, gave her an idea. What if she just got her pillow and smothered him with it? Surely it was a mercy to kill him, seeing as he was in this state and wasn't going to get better on his own. He was in excruciating pain all day when he was awake, and obviously nobody felt he had anything to give to the cause, information or otherwise, so he was just lying here waiting to die. If she used her pillow, there'd be no trace of it. She could just say he'd passed in the middle of the night, and then she'd be done with this garbage detail with nobody the wiser, and the assassin would be spared further pain.

She stood torn for a long time, debating internally on whether she wanted to go through with her plan or not. She cared nothing for the assassin, and it wasn't as if she'd never killed before either. But this would be plain murder—no matter how much she tried to sweet-talk it by saying he was going to die anyway and that it was a mercy to put him our of his misery—and murder was a damn sight worse than killing someone in battle.

She took in a deep breath, let it out through her nose, then whispered, "It's your lucky night tonight, assassin." She'd think about it again tomorrow, but for tonight, she'd let him be. It was only another hour or so until her companion would wake up and she could get some sleep; then, her shift would be over again for the rest of the day.

She smiled to herself as she started walking back to the guard room. She was quite looking forward to the rest of her day, seeing as how she'd go see Mirella again, and the two of them always had a lot of fun toget—