Snippet #1568041

It was late night. Jake was almost asleep when he heard a knock on his door. "Jake, are you awake? Can I come in?" Crys' voice sounded on the other side of the door.
"Sure, come on in." Jake answered, sitting up on the bed and rubbing the blurriness away from his eyesight.
As the door opened, he watched Crys take a slightly hesitant step into the cabin. "I'm sorry." She mumbled. "You should be sleeping... You have to leave in the morning... I shouldn't..."
"No, no, no... It's fine." He assured her, getting up and pulling her further into the house, closing the door behind her before she changed her mind. "I really can't sleep anyway." He lied.
She chuckled. "You were sleeping, weren't you?"
"Eh, sleep is overrated." He stated, a smile crossing his features.
"Sure, it is now." She smiled back. "You will be seriously regretting this in the morning, though."
"No... I would give up sleep for you at any time." He stated, walking back to the bed and sitting down on it. "Do you have something you need to say to me?" He asked, a little curious.
She sat next to him and turned to face him. "I'm not sure, I guess I'm just..."
"Scared?" He asked.
"Terrified is more like it actually." She sighed. "What if you don't come back?"
"What if a flaming meteor descents from the sky and destroys the whole land?" Jake laughed.
"It's not funny, you ass!" She exclaimed, punching him in the chest.
"Ow..." He laughed out. "I know what you mean, but we both agreed it was for the best."
"The best for the clan." Crys corrected, frowning for a second. Then she removed the golden chain and locket that she had around her neck and opened it.
"That's empty, you know." Jake said, "What are you...?" He left the sentence unfinished when Crys pulled a knife and made a small cut on her index finger, letting blood drip inside the locket. "Why are you doing this?" Jake asked, confused.
"So you'll remember..." She closed the locket and put the chain around his neck. "...That when you get hurt, so do I." She poked the side of his head and added, smiling. "So, if you can't be careful for your own sake, do it for me."
He laughed. "You silly little girl. I always do everything for you." He said.
Crys laughed as well, but soon the room fell silent. Jake has lost himself completely simply staring at her, Crys rarely ever smiled like that. It was truly a beautiful thing to see. Jake let the silence linger for a while, then he reached for her hand, that for some reason she had simply let rest on the side of his face once she was finished poking him. He took her hand in his and then, he touched the center of her palm with his index finger. Crys seemed confused by the gesture and so, she tried to brake the silence. "Jake, wha-" She started."
"Hush." He silenced her with less than a whisper, beginning to move his finger, tracing letters on the palm of her hand, slowly, one after the other, until he finished with a question mark. He then waited a second for Crys to put all the letters together in her head.
When she laughed, he frowned for a second, until she spoke. "I'm not answering that unless you actually say it." She stated.
"Oh, I will" Jake answered, smiling. "When my assignment is over. Until then..." He took off his graduation ring, dropped it on her open hand, and closed her fist around it. "This is for you to remember something."
"What would that be?" She asked, with a small frown.
"No matter what happens. No matter what I say, or do... I'm always on your side."

The memories burned inside Jake's mind as he headed home. If there was a place in the world he could call home it was that camp, however... Not for much longer. When he was expelled, he never truly disconnected himself from his oath, he lived by it. He surrendered his life to the Pack. That never changed once, not even then and certainly not now. So this was it. Forcing Crys to execute him for treason would be last time he would ever hurt her. Hopefully she would hate him enough not to suffer from it for too long.
He took his time walking back to camp. He was in no hurry to face the consequences of that night's events. Inevitable as it was... He simply couldn't resist the impulse to delay it as much as possible. He was afraid that what he had to tell Crys would crush her. He even considered lying, making her believe he was actually loyal to Newhaven, maybe it would hurt less... The only problem was that it wouldn't work.

As he paced through the trail slowly, morning came and passed. It was long past noon when he crossed the main entrance, not paying attention to any whispers and stares, none of it mattered right now. All he needed to do was find Crys, and so he stopped the first active he saw and asked for her. "She left shortly after making sure Ali was fine."
"Oh... What about Evin?" He asked.
"Sleeping. Doesn't want to be bothered." The man answered, rolling his eyes.
Jake sighed. "Alright. Where is Allison then?"
"Home. She won't stay with the healer's, you know what she is like."
Jake chuckled. "She is a stubborn idiot. I'll go see how she is doing then." He said, parting ways with the man and heading towards Ali's cabin. It would be nice to check on Ali before she got the news of what he did. They hadn't actually talked in quite some time. We he got there, however... Ali was asleep in her bed, and Annie asleep in a chair beside the bed, in what seemed to be a very uncomfortable position.

He chuckled, and gently shook Annie awake. "Do you want me to take over for you? You look like you need a real bed."
Annie stretched in her seat and sighed. "No, I'm good for now. I'll be sleeping for quite a while after I heal Ali. So... Don't worry about me."
"How is she?" Jake asked, pulling another chair and sitting beside her.
"Good, for someone who had three cracked ribs and a slightly cracked skull." Annie stated. "What is it with this girl? No matter how much trouble she gets herself in, she just won't die!" Annie stated, laughing.
"I don't know. Is that a bad thing though?" Jake laughed.
"No... Just really strange, that's all." She shrugged.

"Enough about sleeping beauty there... How are you?" Jake asked, leaning back in his chair. "We haven't really talked in a while."
Annie sighed. "I'm fine, I suppose... I think I miss the ruins though. Actually, I miss Alistair."
"Alistair?" Jake asked raising a brow.
"He talks to me." She stated, simply. "The other healers, here or there, don't talk to me. I feel like I have a freaking disease!" She sighed. "Well... Nicolette talked to me, but she left, so..." Annie shrugged. "She asked me to take care of her garden though. So I have something to do."
Jake sighed, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Tell you what, cousin... If I can I'll go back to the ruins with you."
Annie looked at him and frowned. "Why would you do that? You don't like the ruins..."
Jake sighed. "Let's just say that pretty soon I might need a safe place to stay."
"What does that mean?" Annie asked, turning to face him. "What did you do Jacob?"
Jake nodded. "You'll know soon enough." He stated. "Do you have any rum in that kit of yours?"
Annie nodded, pulling the bottle out of her bag.
Jake snatched the bottle and took a sip, then passed it back to her. She simply stared at him. He laughed. "Really, you never took one sip?"
"It's against our clan rules." She passed the bottle back to him. "And yours too."
"Ah, but there are rules... And there are rules." He said, taking a large gulp. Meeting with Crys intoxicated would be a crappy idea, but really, how much worse could it really get?"
"Anything you tell me is confidential." Annie stated, out of the blue.

"It won't be a secret very long, but it's not your place to hear it cousin." Jake mumbled, putting the cork back in the bottle and setting it aside for now. He didn't say anything else until Annie waved something in his face. "Do you know who this belonged to?"
Jake took a quick look at the silver ring and sat up quickly. "Where did you find this?" He asked.
"My mother had it, why?" She asked.
Jake nodded. "I don't know anything."
"Bullshit!" Annie exclaimed. "Who's is it?"
"I can't. This is something to talk to your mother about, not me. It's not my business." He said.
"Is it Sebastian's?" She asked him.
Jake looked at her in disbelief, and once he realized she was serious he laughed. "Hell, no! Bastian didn't have a graduate ring, he was never an active. Why would you think that?"
"By the way people react to it..." She mumbled. "It's like the thing is cursed."
"People?" Jake frowned. "Who else did you show this to, Annie?"
"Just Crys." The girl answered.
"Oh... Well... I that was her father's Crys would flip. She would jump at your mother's throat." Jake laughed.
Annie looked at him confused. "Why?"
"Alright. I shouldn't even tell you this much, but it's common knowledge amongst the clan, so... Why the hell not?" He sighed. "When an assassin receives a graduation ring and puts it on his finger for the first time, he, or she, is swearing to be forever bound to the clan. That is why when a clan member retires it's normal for that person to take the ring as a reminder to always keep the clan's secrets. So, when a man surrenders his graduation ring to a woman he is, with that gesture, binding himself to her as well." He explained all that with slight bitterness to his tone. "Do you get my meaning?"
"So it's practically an engagement of sorts?" She asked, more to herself than to him. Then the information finally sunk in. "Oh... Oh!" She exclaimed. "My mom... Kept this all this time..."
"She left the clan, but he never did. And it's not something you should be parading around with. So, take my advice and go talk to her." He muttered.

Annie nodded and went silent for a while. Then out of the blue, she turned to him with a wide smile. "You!" She pointed at him.
"What?" He asked, opening the rum bottle again and taking another drink.
"Crys has your ring! She wears it around her neck, I saw it!" She exclaimed.
"I was infiltrated Annie. I couldn't wear it. That's all." He mumbled, lying through his teeth.
"But..." She started.
"That's. It." He muttered. Then he sighed. "If you don't mind leaving me alone with your patient. I'd like to be as alone as possible right now."
Annie sighed. "Fine. I'll heal Ali and go to sleep. But you have to stay and make sure she stays in bed."
"Fine." Jake mumbled, rubbing his eyes before the girl could notice the tears.

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Ali was feeling warm and heavy by the time she woke up. She was still in pain, but not as much as before. She opened her eyes to find Jake leaning forward in his seat to see if she was actually waking up or just moving. She tried to speak, but nothing understandable came out.
"What?" Jake asked.
She sighed and then managed to pronounce words correctly. "Did Annie heal me?"
"Yes, but you can't get out of bed." Jake answered.
She nodded, slowly beginning to sit up. "I don't plan on it. Not yet at least." She mumbled, sitting up on the bed and rubbing her eyes until everything gained focus again. After doing that, she began to open and close her hands in order to regain full movement, she was feeling a little numb. Then she smiled at Jake. "Would you do me a favor?"
"Sure. What do you need?" He asked.
"There are two wooden boxes under the bed, get them for me." She told him, rubbing her temples.
Jake got the two boxes she asked for and sat them down on the bed. "What are those?" He asked, curiously.
"Tool boxes." She said simply opening them. "If I'm stuck here, might as well keep busy."

Jake watched Ali open the boxes and pick a nice piece of light wood from it. From the other box she took a carving knife and began to quietly work the piece of wood. Jake watched, intrigued, as it started to take shape. That until she stopped and spoke, not looking at him. "In the other room, there is a brown box on the table, get me a string from it."
Jake walked to the second room of the house and realized why Ali had put her bed on the front room along with dining table. She had turned the bedroom into a workshop. Jake looked around to see several unfinished projects, including an unstrung lute. "Wow, Ali... I didn't know you took crafting this serious." He noted, finding the box and getting a bow string from it. When he came back she was painting the wooden figure of a chess queen with a thin brush. He left the string on the bed and sat down again. He gave Ali an intrigued look when she painted only half of the piece, leaving half of it in it's natural light wooden color. "What is it that you're doing there, Ali?" He asked.
"It's a gift." She said, taking the bow string and passing it through a metal rim she had, at some point, attached to the top of the chess piece. After tying a knot on the string she waved the dangling chess piece in front of Jake's eyes. Then she chuckled. "It kind of helps dry the paint, I'm not just showing off."
"But you are showing off." He laughed. "It's a queen, so it's not for me, too bad, and it's definitely not for Crys, so... Who is it for?"
"It's for Ella." Ali nodded. "It's a thank you."
"For saving your life? Since when do you care?" Jake laughed.
Ali shrugged. "Well, for that too, but also for the very enlightening talk we had. I wouldn't have found out what I did without it."
Jake smiled. "Really? What did you girls talk about?"
"Chess, duh." She said, waving the pendant in his face.
Jake laughed. "Well, sure, what was I thinking?" He nodded. "Why is half of it black and the other half white?"
"The black represents the Wolfpack, and the white represents Newhaven." Ali explained, setting the piece down on the bedside table to dry properly.
"I see." Jake said. "That's really nice."

Ali sighed laying back on the bed. "Did everyone get out of it okay?" She asked.
"Yes." Jake answered. "Did Crys tell you anything?" He asked.
"No. I talked, she listened. Then she dumped me here agonizing and screaming and went off to meet someone." Ali mumbled, a little bit upset. "Fine, I guess. I just wish she wasn't acting so strange. At least I wouldn't worry. I mean... Did something bad happen down there?"
Jake sighed. "You'll know soon enough." He sat back opening a half empty bottle of rum and taking a drink. "Everyone will know soon."
"Where's Evin?" She asked.
"Resting, or so I've heard." Jake muttered, a little bit of anger in his tone that didn't really go unnoticed. "Nice of him to check that you're alright." He added.
Ali laughed. "He was the first one there Jake." She nodded. "People are a little bit too hard on Evin, he's not a bad guy at all." She chuckled. "Plus, if he actually came to check on my health I'd immediately think he was dying, or at least severely ill."
Jake sighed. "It's a possibility." He mumbled.
"What?" Ali raised a brow.
He chuckled. "Nothing, nothing at all."

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[Healer's Camp]

Alistair was the first to notice the assassin that walked past the gates. Assuming he had surrendered his weapons, but knowing he probably kept something hidden on him, he approached the man. "Lena is now resting. I will call for her, since she has been expecting you, but wait here until you are called into the tent." Alistair told the man, walking to Lena's tent, and entering with exaggerated caution. Well, not really. Lena wasn't someone one would like to startle.

"I don't know how he did it Dani. What do you want from me?" Lena was shouting, she knew better than anyone just how badly mistaken she had been. For years. She couldn't understand how it happened.
"I want you to explain to me, how a man infiltrated your clan with the intent to murder and neither you or Alistair caught on to him!" Dani exclaimed. "I'm not accusing you of anything, that would be pointless, but I need to understand."
"I don't understand!" Lena shouted again. She had never been fooled, by anyone, in her entire life. She wasn't a bleeding heart, she didn't fall for sob stories. She only valued people that had been able to prove their worth. This man had, and still... He was nothing he had made himself out to be. "I don't...Understand." She sighed, hiding her face in her hands. Dani was the only person to ever see her in this state, she had only been in such a state two times before. Dani's hand grabbed her shoulder and Lena heard her sigh before breaking the silence. "You can't blame yourself for this." She stated.
"I saved his life, trained him, and gave him every information he needed to hunt those people and kill them. Don't patronize me, every life he took is on my hands. You husband's life included!"

A loud thud caused Lena to raise her head. Dani had slammed her fist on the wooden table. "Don't ever repeat that. Never. Do you understand? We have walked this path before, you know where it leads!" She sighed. "Don't ever repeat that." She asked in a softer tone.
Lena nodded. "Well... He better pray you find him before I do. I swear, I don't even know what I would be capable of if I ever lay my eyes on him again."

Lena sighed as she felt someone shake her out of her dream. It was release, but not quite. She was still so tired... Worst than that was the memory itself. She had never regretted anything so deeply before in her life. Even within the White Shadows, only Alistair knew the truth of what happened. Regret... What a bothersome feeling.
"What?" She finally mumbled, opening her eyes.
"Evin is here. You said it was important to talk to him." Alistair stated. "Bad dream?" He asked.
"Mind your own business, boy." She said sitting up. "Please tell him to enter."
Alistair sighed shaking his head. "As you wish, mistress." He muttered out, heading out of the tent and walking up to Evin. "Go right in. She is awake, and in a bad mood if I may say so."

Lena was wide awake in the few steps it took the assassin to enter her tent. She motioned for him to sit and then spoke. "I know you have your own reason to be here. So I will make my notice a short one: Blackpond is currently pressuring my clan and, if the situation does not resolve itself in any other manner, for the protection of my people I will evacuate the clan to the desert. That means that any healer left in any point of this land will be summoned back to travel with the clan. There won't be one White Shadow left in Valcrest. Consider your clan warned."
She then sighed, knowing what was to come. "As for your reasons for coming here... Say, how may I assist you?"