Ghosts: A Quelondain Short

by Mireille Chester

  Chapter Eight

  Jasper looked down the hall as he opened the door to the room. The passage was dark, empty. He glanced back to make sure Luke was still asleep. Satisfied he wouldn’t be interrupted, he quietly closed the door.

  “Jasper.”

  The whisper sounded just beside his ear and he turned quickly, his dagger in hand. He was alone. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and resumed his walk down the hall.

  “Jasper.”

  He froze, trying to keep from panicking. He turned slowly.

  “Mum?” He frowned at the sight of the tigress standing by the door to his room. She took a step and fell to her knees, the blood soaking into her fur suddenly bright in the lack of light. He ran to her side and knelt beside her, his hands pressing over the wound. “Hang on, Mum. I’m here. You’ll be alright this time.”

  He felt the tears run down his cheeks before he saw them fall onto his mother’s blood soaked fur. He looked behind him at the sound of a door opening.

  “Asper…Ared ow.” Jared’s muffled cry was a dagger to Jasper’s heart. He glanced down at his mother and a sob choked him. He looked back to the door, trying to decide where he should be. Jared’s scream into the pillow jerked him to his feet. He ran to the room and stopped short. It was empty other than a small form on the bed.

  “Jared?” His heart dropped at the sight of his brother’s blue face.

  His father coughed in the corner of the room. Jasper made his way to his side, his legs and arms feeling like lead.

  “Dad?” He looked behind the chair. Jesse’s sightless eyes stared up at him.

  “Jasper!”

  He looked out the window and a growl exploded from his chest at the sight of Jane being dragged into the woods. He swung the chair as hard as he could and broke the glass so he could go after her. Without thinking, he shifted, his claws digging into the wet dirt.

  Something slapped him hard across the face. Jasper slid to a stop and turned to take on whatever had attacked him. The feel of a hand connecting with his cheek brought tears to his eyes.

  He blinked and found himself staring up into Luke’s worried eyes. The pressure on his chest lifted as Luke got off of him.

  “By the moons, Jasper, you’ll wake everyone if you don’t stop that!”

  Jasper tried to slow his breathing. He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. He could hear the crackle of the fire in the fireplace, could feel the bed under him. He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face.

  “What was I doing?”

  “Screaming, growling. It’s hard to explain.”

  Jasper let out a breath.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Luke asked, concerned.

  Jasper shook his head. The brothers jumped at the knock on their door. Luke swore under his breath.

  “Open up, boys, it’s just me.”

  Luke let Blue in the room.

  “Are you alright? It sounded like you’d decided to finish your errand tonight.”

  Jasper shook his head. “I was dreaming.” His jaw tightened and he looked out the window where the sky was starting to lighten outside. He moved his gaze back to Blue. “How are you going to explain our disappearance after the fact? You shouldn’t have told them we were your nephews.”

  Blue shrugged. “I’ll say we received word your aunt on your father’s side needed the help more than I did.” He smiled. “Don’t worry yourselves on my account.”

  A groan from in the hallway caused them all to turn. The scarred man looked into the room, his bloodshot eyes squinted.

  “Is the kitchen opened yet?”

  Blue nodded. “I was just on my way there. What can I get for you?”

  “Just a glass of breat juice.”

  The innkeeper nodded. “Will you be staying another night?”

  The Maj shook his head, a small smile making its way across his lips. “I’ve things I need to get done.”

  The brothers tensed, but remained seated.

  Once their target had returned to his room, Blue turned his attention back to the boys. “Take your things and go wait in the pub. You’ll be able to see him leave.”

  Luke frowned. “Why are you helping us?”

  Blue shrugged. “I’d do the same if you were a couple of Majs hunting down a Namael that had done the same to their family. The fact that he means to do it again just reinforces my belief the man is better off dead. If you think you’ll need a hand, I could come along,” he offered.

  Jasper shook his head. “We’ll manage.” He stood and pulled a tunic over his head then bent to pull on his boots. “Thank you.”

  Blue nodded and left. Luke looked around the room to be sure nothing was being left behind.

  “Going somewhere?”

  Luke turned with a growl. “As a matter of fact, we were,” he growled at the man with the scar. The older Maj was staring intently at Jasper.

  “I was wrong last night. It wasn’t you I killed; you’re too young and the eyes are different. Your father’s were green, weren’t they? Were they still opened when you got back to the cabin? He was so surprised. It was brilliant!” He chuckled at the growl that made its way up Jasper’s throat. He pulled his dagger. “I told those idiots there was no way the baby was the son we were supposed to kill.”

  Jasper crouched low as Jim did the same.

  “But, do you know, what the best part of that mission was? It was the fun I had with your sister.” He sneered. “Who would have thought it? Such a fiery one she was.”

  Jasper launched himself, shifting in midair. Jim’s eyes widened as he fell under the tiger. Jasper twisted as the Maj’s blade slid across his side which caused him to fall into the wall behind them. He looked back in time to see Luke kick the man in the head before winding up and doing it again. He took a deep breath and shifted back.

  The brothers looked at each other across the man’s limp body.

  “Here?” Luke frowned.

  “Well, we can’t just let him go! He’ll get himself a pack to hunt us down.”

  Luke swore and nodded. It was now or never and the thought of letting the man who’d killed his family go free made his skin crawl. He registered Jasper’s warning a fraction of a second before feeling his legs getting swiped out from under him. His head connected with the table and exploded with pain. Dots speckled his vision and he blinked, trying to keep them darkness away. He heard the sound of Jasper tackling the other man as he stood and both of them crashed into the wall. The picture hanging on it fell and the frame shattered at their feet. Jim growled and pushed the smaller man backwards. Jasper caught himself on a shelf and pulled himself back toward the Maj. He slammed his shoulder into Jim’s chest. Luke pulled himself up, shook his head to clear it, and pulled one of his daggers. His brother heard the sound and stepped away. The dagger flew through the air.

  The hard thud it made as it stuck in the wall caused Jim to cry out in surprise. He stumbled to his feet in time to get thrown to the ground by his fellow Maj. Luke’s knee pressed into his sore chest and he groaned.

  “We had orders,” he managed to choke out.

  “We know about your orders,” growled Jasper. Luke took his second dagger and pressed it to Jim’s throat. “We also know what you’re doing heading back north.”

  Jim managed to get one of his legs between Luke and himself and pushed the younger Maj away. The three men stood, all of them bleeding, their chests heaving.

  Jim grinned at the sound of footsteps coming toward the door. “Looks like this is about to turn into a fair fight.”

  The door opened and the brothers tensed. Jim’s eyes widened with surprise as a blade slid across his throat. Blue let the body fall to the floor and the brothers relaxed.

  “I’m sorry, boys. I’m sure the two of you were doing well enough on your own, but it wasn’t going to be much longer before someone came to see what the ruckus was abou
t.” He wiped his blade on the dead man’s tunic before putting it back. Kale’s eyes bulged out of his head as he rounded the corner.

  “By the moons, what happened here? I heard some noise and thought maybe your nephews were being robbed. I was coming to give them a hand!”

  Blue shook his head. “They’re fine. It seems Jim came barging in here accusing Jasper of being some man he’d killed a while back. The boys were defending themselves when I came in. I killed him.”

  Kale grunted. “It doesn’t surprise me in the least. I just met the man last night and there was something off about him.”

  He was answered by three grunts of agreement. “Do we know where he’s from? Did he have family?”

  Blue shook his head. “From the sounds of his stories, he was on the guard. We’ll hand him over to the pack that came in a couple of days ago.” He gave the brothers a pat on the back. “Let’s get you home to your mom, boys.”

  They smiled and nodded before giving Jim’s body one last glare as they left the room.

  Chapter Nine

  “Well, I guess this is it, yeah?” Luke took a deep breath, suddenly exhausted.

  Jasper nodded. “Yeah.”

  “How was your night?

  Jasper shrugged. “I haven’t had any dreams since we killed the last one.” He looked to the north. “I’m going to join the guard.”

  Luke nodded and looked south. “I’ve come to that conclusion as well. It won’t be much of a difference, I’m sure, but maybe I can keep the pack I belong to from doing what Jim’s pack did at the cabin.”

  Jasper nodded. “We’ll need some rules. If we’re ever made to fight each other, there has to be ways to make sure we don’t have to kill each other.”

  “If our packs meet, we take each other on first thing. Whoever gets hit first has to go down and stay down.”

  “And the other is free to fight?”

  “We’ll still have to do our jobs. But if I’m not worried about what’s happening with you, I’m more likely to stay alive.”

  “True.”

  “I’ll see you in four months?”

  Jasper nodded. “At the lake in the Blue Woods.” He pulled his brother into a hug. “Stay safe, Luke.”

  Luke smiled and returned the hug. “Stay safe, Jasper.”

  Clear blue eyes met deep brown ones. The brothers took one last look at the other before shifting and heading in different directions.

  Other books by Mireille Chester

  The Chosen One Trilogy:

  Crossover

  Journey

  Destiny

  About Author

  Mireille Chester is an Ottawa born French Canadian now loving life on the prairies. Her love of reading and writing blossomed at an early age and developed into a passion which she pursued by authoring fantasy novels.

  Mireille has a second passion in her life; her love of animals. She hopes she makes a bit of a difference in their lives by donating her grooming services to the Prince Albert SPCA.

  Mireille lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with the greatest of her loves, her family, which includes her husband, Kyle, and their three children, Anthony, Emery, and Ashtynn.

  She can be reached by email at mireille.chester@gmail.com or through her website www.mireillechester.com .