The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier

Chapter 48 - A Sergeant Struggles

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

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.