The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 31 - A Dark November Night

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

In the chapter below, Kai and Jay find out who else is at the abandoned farmhouse...

Chapter 31 - A Dark November Night

Something kept poking Kai's ribs. The groggy Yellow soldier was annoyed because the poking was waking him up, and he was not ready to waken.

"Wake up, you Yellow scum!" a gravelly voice ordered.

As Kai struggled to open his eyes. the last seconds of his last memory flooded back to him...seeing Jay on the ground...the strange noise...the intense pain in his head.

His head still hurt, but he found he could not move his arms to feel his injury. His wrists were bound behind his back with rope - probably from the coil he had been carrying. He was lying on his stomach on the floor of a dim room illuminated only by a single candle. He assumed the room was inside the farmhouse that he and Jay had been circling.

The poking was being done by the foot of the person ordering him around. In the dim light, Kai could see that the color of the person's winter slicker was purple. Another Purple soldier was leaning against the far wall of the room, calmly smoking a pipe. The aroma of the pungent tobacco filled the room.

"Sit up!" the gravelly voice ordered.

Clumsily, Kai brought himself to a sitting position against the nearest wall without the use of his hands or arms. In the process, he saw that Jay was already awake and sitting against the wall. Jay was trussed up just like he was.

Kai and Jay looked at each other. Jay's face displayed worry.

Now that he was situated, Kai had the opportunity to study the Purple soldiers. The one with the gravelly voice wore the insignia of a corporal. The pipe-smoking soldier was a sergeant, one rank above the corporal.

"Looks like we all were assigned to do reconnaissance tonight on each other," the raspy-voiced corporal chuckled.

Kai and Jay remained silent. Kai glared at the corporal. This did not go unnoticed by the Purple soldier.

"Don't give me that look, Yellow. Else I might give you back one of your bullets, used," the corporal smirked. He reached into his winter slicker and pulled out Kai's gun, twirling it in his hand a few times. "I have to say that you cowboys have some fine weapons. They'll make a nice addition to our collection." The Purple soldiers had rifled through the holsters and pockets of the Yellows in their unconscious state.

The pipe-smoking sergeant, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened up and walked over to them. "And in case you're wondering how we know you're cowboys," he sneered, "we enjoyed reading your letters." From a pocket of his uniform, he produced two envelopes. "We particularly enjoyed reading the one addressed to you, Smith, telling you you're gonna be a daddy!"

"You dirty dog! Give that back!" Kai hissed, clenching his fists and wishing his arms were free to take a swing at the sergeant.

Both Purples laughed. "What's the matter?" the sergeant continued. "Don't want anyone to know it took you a whole year to plant a seed?" The men continued to laugh while Kai gritted his teeth, frustrated that God's timing for a happy event in his life had been deliberately misconstrued for the purpose of humiliating him.

"Don't worry, Smith," the sergeant assured Kai as he finished laughing. "SHE obviously thought you were man enough, if she gave you this nice piece of jewelry." And with that, the sergeant reached into another pocket of his uniform and held up Kai's wedding ring.

With his hands tied behind his back, Kai felt the ring finger of his left hand with his right hand. The wedding ring was indeed missing. He looked over at Jay. Jay frowned. His wedding ring was missing, too.

"You know, Smith," the sergeant continued, "it sounds like your woman's not too good at baking or knitting, but with all the practice she got at a certain other activity this past year, I'd like to test her skill!"

At that moment, Kai wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off the sergeant's face. He quickly swung his legs underneath his body, which then allowed him to propel himself into the lower legs of the sergeant, knocking him over like a bowling pin. The pipe flew out of the Purple soldier's hand and landed a few feet away.

The momentum of Kai's action caused the cowboy to roll until he ended up on his back. When he stopped rolling, he found himself facing the barrel of his own gun.

"Looks like we got us a hothead here, Sarge," the gravel-voiced corporal announced, cocking the gun and holding it close to Kai's face.

The sergeant got back on his feet and retrieved his pipe. "We'll have to make sure we put that in our report when we turn in these Yellow pieces of waste. Colonel Doolverr loves the feisty kind of prisoner. Gives him a chance to show his creativity in cruelty," he chuckled. "For example, here's something he might do." With that, he kicked Kai's side with force. Kai winced in pain.

Jay spoke up in an attempt to distract the Purples from harming his friend further. "So where are we going?"

"Well, Walker, right now we're taking you back to camp with us," the sergeant replied as he prepared his pipe for smoking once again. "Then in the morning, you'll no doubt be heading south to Jamanakai Village and good ol' Kryptarium Prison."

The corporal put Kai's gun away in his pocket. "Shall we put 'em on the horses now, Sarge?"

The sergeant nodded. "Yep. We already got their names and ranks from their letters."

"All right then. Get up, Yellow," the gravelly-voiced corporal snarled. With both hands he grabbed Kai's winter slicker and unceremoniously yanked the prisoner up to a standing position. The red and yellow scarf, knitted by Sam and tucked inside Kai's uniform collar, caught the attention of the enemy captor.

"Is this the scarf she knitted?" the corporal asked, taking hold of it and yanking it off Kai's neck. Kai grimaced at the discomfort of the skin burn caused by the quick sliding of the rough wool fabric.

The corporal detected the strawberry scent of the scarf and held it to his nose, taking in a deep breath. "Mmm. Best scent I've sniffed in months. Now that I know where she lives, maybe I'll go visit her and sniff her in person!" he chuckled.

That set off Kai again. With all his might, he rammed his shoulder into the corporal. Both of them fell to the ground.

The sergeant, who had just lifted Jay to his feet, quickly reached for his gun and hammered its handle onto Kai's head while he was sprawled on his stomach. The Yellow soldier groaned, then remained still.

"Thanks, Sarge," said the corporal, slowly rising to his feet and dusting himself off.

The sergeant grinned as he re-holstered his gun. "That oughta put the hothead out of commission for a while. Now drag him outside so we can load these Yellow scumbags on their horses. Move, Walker!" he ordered Jay, shoving him forward.

Jay scowled but did not resist. He figured he'd better avoid injury to himself in order to keep an eye out for his unconscious friend's well being.

Once they all were outside, the two Purples hoisted Jay onto Wisp. "By the way, Walker," the sergeant smirked, "Smith's letter said his wife was knitting a blanket for your baby for Christmas. She said not to tell you."