AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey there! Here's another update, quicker than I expected it would happen!

I'm so excited...I was at a movie theater yesterday to see the new Spider Man movie - which was great, by the way - and in the lobby I saw a banner advertising next month's Lego Ninjago Movie! Less than 7 weeks until its release!

Shoutouts to ninjagogirl luvs iceage21, Willow Falk, MasterofCupcakes, WalrusWins257, MMM, and Loki God of Evil for your great comments on the previous chapter!

In the chapter below...well, the chapter title says it all...


Chapter 43 - A New Year Begins Badly in a Prison Camp

"Skylor!" Kai reached behind his neck, firmly taking the red-haired beauty's hands into his own and breaking her embrace of him. Holding her hands tightly in front of him, he looked into her emerald green eyes.

"You're a beautiful woman, Skylor, but...my heart belongs to Sam, and I pledged to love and cherish her for the rest of our lives together. And what about Jake? You promised yourself to him when he gave this ring to you." Kai tapped on the piece of jewelry on her left hand.

Skylor looked down, tears filling her eyes. "Oh, Kai, I'm just so unhappy. When I first joined the Purple cause, I was happy that Daddy was finally pleased with a choice I'd made. And, at first, being an army officer seemed glamorous and exciting, especially when Jake and I began courting."

She wiped a tear. "But now every day I'm surrounded by dirt...and smells...and cussing, and I haven't seen either Daddy or Jake in months, and no one treats me nicely, and I'm so lonely…" She cupped her face in her hands and sobbed.

Kai felt badly for her and patted her on the shoulder. "Oh, Skylor, don't cry. I'll be -"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of commotion outside the closed door of the office room.

"What in the deuce is going on around here?" a booming voice roared in the main room. "I go away for one week and the discipline around here flies out the window!"

"Oh, no!" Skylor gasped. "It's Colonel Doolverr! He wasn't supposed to return from his holiday furlough until tonight! He won't do anything to you, but my reputation is on the line!" She looked around quickly before throwing herself backward on the sofa.

Kai didn't need Skylor to tell him who the voice belonged to. He recognized the voice of the burly Purple officer who had interrogated Kai and Jay when they were first brought to Kryptarium Prison. The same man who had burned Kai's foot with a fireplace poker.

The office door swung open to reveal the menacing frame of Colonel Doolverr, closely followed by two of his subordinates. Sergeant Brossette, who had been on sentry duty in front of the registration building, stood in the back with a worried look on his face.

For a moment, Doolverr's narrowed eyes surveyed the scene.

"Major Amber, what is going on here?" he demanded, noticing her tear-stained face.

"Colonel Doolverr, I'm so glad you came when you did!" Skylor lied as she stood up and rushed to the side of her superior officer. "I was just about to bathe when this prisoner somehow sneaked in and tried to assault me!"

Kai's jaw dropped at hearing the whopper Skylor had just told.

"Lieutenants, secure him!" the colonel barked. The two subordinates came out from behind the ranking officer, and each grabbed an arm of Kai.

The colonel peered intently at Kai. "Well, if it isn't Corporal Smith," he gibed. " Can't say I'm too pleased that I have to deal with you, too, along with the other problems I've discovered after returning from furlough only a HOUR ago!"

He continued. "It's a shame I was told not to torture you as long as your wife cooperates in satisfying certain...demands of" - he glanced at Skylor - "a high ranking officer from the Third Purple Division."

Skylor inhaled sharply. Which officer? she wondered. Do Daddy or Jake know about this?

Kai glared at the commander, his eyes narrowed in anger at the thought of his beloved Sam being mistreated. "What do you mean by 'demands'?" he wanted to know.

The colonel smirked. "Well, I'm told she's quite a beauty, so I think you can guess what kind of demands I'm talking about."

He continued. "If I weren't already married, I'd be tempted to take a journey over to that ranch - Gradamod, Garmadon, whatever it is - and make demands of her, too!" he chuckled.

"You bastard!" Kai hissed. He lunged at Colonel Doolverr, but the subordinate officers' grip on him was too strong.

The Purple colonel laughed. "You know, Smith, I was told not to torture you, but nobody said I couldn't do this," he sneered, just before he landed a punch right into Kai's abdomen.

Skylor gasped.

"Ohhh," Kai moaned as he doubled over. If his arms hadn't been held by the soldiers, he would have fallen to the floor.

Colonel Doolverr folded his arms across his burly chest. "That was for your attempt to harm me. Let's go out to the main room where we can discuss your attempt to harm Major Amber. Sergeant, go place the end of the fireplace poker in the fire and move those privacy screens."

Sergeant Brossette's face turned pale at the mention of the poker. "Y-yes, Colonel Doolverr," he replied nervously before he left the group to go by the fireplace.

Colonel Doolverr looked at the two subordinates and tilted his head toward the door, indicating that they should be the next ones to go by the fireplace. They did so, half walking and half dragging their prisoner between them.

"Colonel, perhaps I was too hasty in assuming he was going to assault me," Skylor babbled as she followed her superior officer into the main room. She, like Brossette, had become very nervous at the mention of the poker. "You know, come to think of it, it probably was all a misunderstanding on my part. You see, back before the war started, Corporal Smith and I were once sweethearts..."

"Silence, Major!" the commander boomed. "In case you were wondering what I was going to do with the hot poker, I'm not going to do anything with it."

Skylor breathed a sigh of relief.

"YOU'RE the one who's going to use the poker on him," the ranking officer clarified.

"What?!" the redhead blurted out.

The colonel shrugged. "I was told not to torture him. But there's no reason why YOU can't."

"But..."

He frowned at Skylor as he removed a glove from his pocket. "Look, Major Amber. The only reason I approved a female officer to serve in my absence is because you happen to be the daughter of an old friend of mine. Now show me that you have the guts to be a real officer, and don't be an embarrassment to your father!"

Skylor accepted the glove but avoided eye contact with her superior officer. "Yes, Colonel Doolverr," she said in a subdued voice.

She walked over to the fireplace, passing Kai without looking at him. By now, the Yellow soldier had recovered enough from the punch to regain awareness of his surroundings. He watched sorrowfully as she placed the glove over her hand, then slowly bent down and grabbed the handle of the poker, lifting the iron out of the fire.

"Hold him, men," the colonel ordered.

"Uhhh," Kai groaned as the soldiers slammed his chest against the wall, each man pressing an arm against it as well. Temporarily breathless from having the wind knocked out of him after the wall slamming, Kai rested the one side of his face against the wall which allowed him to see what Skylor was doing. He watched her nervously.

The green-eyed officer walked slowly over to the prisoner. The hand that held the hot weapon was slightly trembling.

"Hurry up, Major! It's going to cool off!" bellowed her superior officer.

Avoiding eye contact with Kai, Skylor timidly held up the poker to his right shoulder and made contact.

As the hot metal seared his bare flesh, Kai squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth, sharply inhaling but uttering no other sound. Skylor's eyes watered.

"You can do better than that, Major. Mark the other side of his back," the colonel urged.

Skylor tightly pressed her lips together. Gingerly she held up the poker and touched his other shoulder.

This time, Kai moaned in pain.

"Major Amber," the commander said exasperatedly, "let me show you how to do this properly."

He purposefully strode behind her and put his burly right hand over her grip of the poker. He led her hand close to Kai's lower back and angled the heated rod of metal so as to allow maximum contact of iron and flesh. Then he firmly pressed the fire implement into Kai's skin.

Kai loudly wailed, the pain so intense that he could not stand up anymore. Colonel Doolverr signaled to the subordinates, and they guided the prisoner's fall to the ground so that he landed on his stomach.

The burly officer let go of Skylor's grip and brushed his hands together, finally satisfied with the punishment that had just been meted out. Skylor practically threw the poker in the fireplace; she couldn't let go of it fast enough.

"That's how you do it, Major. Now go put your clothes on and do something with Yellow. Just don't let him die, 'cause...someone over there in the Third Division will get mad at me. Lieutenants, come with me. I'm leaving to go have a whiskey. I need one badly."

Skylor and Brossette saluted their superior officer. Doolverr saluted back and left with the two lieutenants.

Once they were gone, Skylor rushed over to the inert Kai, followed closely by Brossette. The Purple officer kneeled down beside the Yellow soldier, who had passed out. His back was a mess.

"Brossette!" Skylor shouted, looking up at the sergeant. "Go next door to the hospital and get an orderly to help you bring Corporal Smith over there!"

"Right away, Major!" Brossette replied, hurrying out of the room. He was anxious to get help for the man who he considered to be a friend.

Skylor stroked Kai's hair a few times before she stood up to run into the office to put on her uniform, all the while mentally kicking herself for causing the awful ordeal just endured by the sweet brown-haired cowboy from Garmadon Ranch.

She wondered if he'd ever forgive her.