AUTHOR'S NOTE:
A BIG HOWDY to everyone! Nearly five months have passed since my last update to this or any of my FFN stories in progress!
In the time since I last posted, I've continued to be involved in writing. I spent time editing the romance novel I drafted in November, and I joined a romance writers' association with the hope of publishing my work at some point in the near future.
But all this time, my unfinished FFN stories, just like children, clamored for me (albeit internally) to give them some attention, and I finally had a chance to do so! XD
In the chapter below, the action follows the events which occurred at Kryptarium Prison in Chapter 43…
Chapter 48 - A Sergeant Struggles
Sunday, January 1st, 8:30 pm…
On his off-duty hours, Sergeant Brossette could often be found at the one of the local taverns of Jamanakai Village, downing a few beers and having some laughs with fellow Purple Army soldiers or civilian friends or even strangers. He loved to have fun with whoever he was with.
Tonight, however, found him taking a walk in a contemplative, somber mood. The awful events of a few hours ago had shaken him.
Before the unpleasantness began, he had happily been guarding the registration building, per Major Skylor Amber's request. It pleased him that the major trusted him well enough to play a role in her secret bending of the rules, for allowing a Yellow Army soldier like Corporal Kai Smith to bathe in a warm, private environment was not exactly something that would be looked upon favorably by the Purple Army. But throughout Brossette's life, ever since his schoolboy days and continuing through his wild youth, he himself liked to bend rules, so he appreciated the spunk demonstrated by the red-headed beauty.
And Cho! Co! The attractive looking major was indeed very easy on the eyes.
But then that peeshwank, Colonel Doolverr, had unexpectedly shown up at the building with those two lieutenants of his, and yet again had personally insulted him with the name "lazy swamplander" before shoving him out of the way and barging past him into the building. The colonel had then bullied Major Amber into severely punishing Corporal Smith with a hot fireplace poker, even when the woman recanted her original claim of attempted assault.
Perhaps telling her initial version of the story wasn't a nice thing for the major to have done, but she had taken it back fairly quickly. Her superior officer's actions, on the other hand, were definitely NOT forgivable.
Against the chill of the first night of January, Brossette shoved his hands deeper into his pockets as he walked. He hoped that he would never again witness an act of brutality as had been inflicted upon his friend Smith, nor observe the look of extreme devastation in someone's eyes as Major Amber had displayed when she had urged Brossette to move quickly to summon help.
The sergeant felt the need to burn off some energy, feeling like a pacing tiger in the cage of the Purple Army. During his growing-up years, his mamere, who raised him when his parents died, had always tried to encourage him to curb his restlessness by channeling his energies into doing something productive. But for most of the times when he had felt at loose ends, he hadn't heeded his grandmother's advice, and instead he pursued rash courses of action. Ruefully, he realized that if he had only heeded her advice last spring after Yvonne had jilted him, he would not have enlisted in the Purple Army when the war broke out, and today he would not have had to experience all of the unpleasantness.
A few minutes more of walking, and Brossette found himself behind the hospital building. From the dim light shining from the interior through the windows, he could see where a large unchopped pile of wood sat beside a smaller chopped pile. An ax lay on the ground in between them.
Might as well restock the firewood. Maybe it will help Smith somehow, he thought, knowing that his friend was somewhere in the adjacent medical building, suffering terribly from the burn on his back. Wood chopping seemed to be a productive way to burn off nervous energy, so the sergeant set a small log in position, picked up the ax, and swung hard.
Crack!
The log split cleanly, to Brossette's satisfaction. He put the pieces aside and set up another small log. He decided to pretend it was Colonel Doolverr.
Crack!
"You deserved that, you peeshwank!" Brossette declared to the newly split log.
"Sergeant Brossette."
The quiet voice of a female startled him. He whirled around to see Skylor standing about a dozen feet away.
"Oh, uh, Major Amber," Brossette stammered in embarrassment, dropping the ax on the ground and saluting her.
Skylor lowered her head and waved her hand to the side, indicating that he needn't continue the formality. "Don't bother saluting, Brossette. I don't care anymore."
He recognized a tone of despair in her voice, which alarmed him. Does she have bad news about Smith? He quickly walked over to where she stood. "Major, how is he?" he anxiously queried, knowing that she knew who he was speaking of.
Skylor looked up at him, and he could see in the dim light that her eyes were red with crying. "Kai is heavily sedated now," she informed him. "He'll have to lay on his stomach for quite a while. I got him a private room. I figured it was the least I could do after I…" She burst into tears.
Brossette couldn't bear to see a lady cry, regardless of her stature as a superior officer. "Sh, sh, Major, let us sit on the woodpile over this way so that you can compose yourself." He gestured for her to proceed toward it, and he followed her.
They sat down next to each other on the stacked pile of chopped wood. Being in close proximity to her, he could smell her enticing floral perfume. He struggled not to let it distract him.
He was taken aback by her next action, however. She rested her head on his shoulder and sobbed, "I H-HATE this w-war, Brossette!"
Skylor had just echoed his exact sentiment. "Mo comprende," he murmured, indicating that he understood how she felt. "War can sure make the misere."
The red-haired beauty took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I was telling Kai just today about all the things I hate about this place, like the food, and about how lonely I am, and what happened today sure didn't change my mind. I hate being ordered around! I hate people being hurt!" She began to cry again.
Brossette wanted badly to comfort the distressed young woman but wasn't sure how. Should I put my arm around her? Would she think that was too forward?
Skylor shivered. "And I h-hate feeling c-cold all the time!"
Her comment answered his internal question. With his heart beating fast, he put his arm around her, briefly rubbing her opposite upper arm to generate a bit of extra warmth. "It IS hard to get used to these cold temperatures," he babbled in order to conceal his nervousness. "Bracque! In the bayou where I was raised, it rarely gets this cold. If I was back there right now, I'd be fishin' for trout! And redfish, too."
She raised her head to look at him, wiping the tears from her face. "Your home sounds like a magical place," she commented, seeming to be calmer.
Brossette chuckled, happy that she was beginning to feel better. "I don't know about magical, but it is beautiful," he wistfully remarked, staring into the darkness. "On my way home from the sugarcane mill, I used to love poling my pirogue past the tall cypress trees and watching the squirrels play on the branches and seeing the eagles fly. And listening to the bullfrogs. It was so peaceful, just like Heaven on earth," he sighed.
He looked back at her and saw her looking at him with a slight sparkle in her emerald green eyes.
"And when you came home from the sugarcane mill, was there a family to come home to?" she asked, a small smile appearing on her face for the first time that night.
He was flattered at her interest in his personal life. "There was indeed...my mamere, er, grandmother. She raised me after a fever took away my mother and father." He frowned. "But she passed away about two months after I left for the war, so there's no more family left for me to go back to."
"I'm sorry to hear that." It was Skylor's turn to feel compassion for her conversational companion. "Well, the bayou sounds like a wonderful place to live," she commented while adjusting her seated position on the wood pile.
Did she just nestle closer to me? he wondered, feeling more of her body press against him.
"Are there any prospects for a Mrs. Brossette in your future?" she asked cheerily.
The blood pounded in Brossette's ears at the question about a possible future wife, but he attempted to act nonchalant. "I had a sweetheart up until the war started. She's kind of the reason I'm here right now. She jilted me and I enlisted to forget about her. But someday I hope to find a woman who will want to be my wife."
Brossette's eyes traveled from Skylor's beautiful green orbs to her cherry red lips, which seemed to beg him to kiss them at that moment. They were so tempting, and the moment seemed right.
Bracque! What am I thinking? She's a beautiful woman with social connections and I'm just a poor man! He swallowed and turned away from her, mentally scolding herself for entertaining the thought of stealing a kiss.
"Yes, I love the bayou. But you, Major, you seem like you'd be more at home in a fine mansion in a big city, eating beignets while wearing silken gowns and diamond necklaces. You deserve to be surrounded in the daytime by flowers and servants...and in the nighttime by the arms of a rich man."
He dared to glance back at her. She was frowning.
"Mo chagren," he muttered in apology for seeming to have made her unhappy. He let go of her and abruptly stood up, turning away from her. "I am sorry for my bouche...er, mouth. I will stop being coo-yon and escort you to where you want to go next."
She rose slowly. "I wish to go back to my quarters now," she announced with a formal tone in her voice.
"Yes, ma'am," he mumbled, wishing he could sink into the ground.
They left the hospital area and walked to the officers' residences in silence. She led the way to the door of her personal quarters. She unlocked it and stepped inside.
"Good night, Sergeant Brossette," she said stiffly.
"Good night, Major Amber," he replied before she closed the door.
He walked back to his own quarters, mentally kicking himself for acting like a fool in front of the red-haired beauty.
I should have kept my mouth shut and not let the conversation go where it did. Why did I even think she could have an interest in me anyway? Everyone knows she is betrothed to a Purple Army officer, and even if she wasn't, she seems to have some feelings for Smith.
That night, in a dream, Brossette saw Major Amber wearing her emerald green wrapper, just as she had in the afternoon. But in the dream, she walked toward him with a smile on her face, loosening the fabric belt which held the wrapper closed...
