"This isn't just a lesson to them." Jack says, "This is a lesson to you, for defying me." He pokes a firm finger into Mavers' shoulder.
"Defying?! We -" Maver begins but is cut off.
"Do it!" Jack snarls, his pale face turning red from anger. "Unless you want to join them on the post?"
Jari gasps, her eyes widening.
"Then chain me." Maver growls.
"Maver, no!" Jari shouts.
"What did you say?" Jack's question sounds more like a threat than anything. As if he can't believe his subordinate would take the side of a street rat than his Captain.
"I said chain me!" Maver doesn't waver in the slightest.
The camp goes quiet, the other hunters watching. The people in the crowd erupt into whispers, shocked by what the hunter is saying.
"What, you think I won't?" Jack glares at him. "Jari. Cuff and chain him with the gutter rats."
Jari's hands clench so tight, her nails draw blood. With stiff movements she does it.
Rancid watches as the hunter named Maver glares at his leader. When Jack turns away to talk to Marner, Jari and Maver exchange a few words, their voices too low for him to hear.
Suddenly, Warner kicks Rancid's knees, and he falls against the post, the chains clinking.
"Do it."
Rancid doesn't say anything as he glares up at the hunter. He can't see his younger brother anymore but he can hear the thwacks of skin hitting skin, and Palik's quiet whimpers.
The hunter, Maver, doesn't make a sound as his comrade beats him.
Rancid clenches his jaw tight as Warner punches him in the gut. He gags, his empty stomach threatening to spew acid.
"Harder." Jack orders, taking in the crowd's reaction.
"But-"
SMACK!
Jack back hands Jari, her head whipping to the side, red hair sticking to her lips.
"Keep talking back!" He spits. "You damn sympathizer, I'm your leader, now stop questioning my orders and hit. Him. Harder."
Jari licks the blood from the inside of her cheek, but does as he says.
"The kid passed out." Jari snaps at him.
Rancid flinches. He desperately wants to look behind him to see the damage done to his younger brother, but it's impossible to move.
"You knocked him out?" Jack growls.
"You're the one who told me to hit him harder." Jari hisses at him.
"Wake him up and unchain him." Jack waves a dismissive hand.
"Yes, sir." Jari mocks.
A bucket of cold water splashes on Palik, Rancid, and Maver. When Jari unchains Palik, he's dragged in front of Jack. Rancid can see him now. He takes in the blue and black discoloration around his jaw, the way his left eye is swollen shut.
"Hey, focus, you brat." Jack slaps Palik on the cheek a few times.
"I'm going to make sure you can never use your sticky hands again." Jack snickers. "Corey, hand me your axe."
Corey, a hunter who has been quiet this entire time, steps up and happily obliges. He's a large man at 7 feet tall, his beefy muscles nearly ripping out of his hunters uniform.
"No!" Rancid shouts, "I told you to punish me instead!" He lunges forward but the chains keep him rooted in place. "Don't do it!"
"Now if I do that, you're little brother, will never learn his lesson. Isn't that right?" Jack leans down and lightly slaps Palik's bruised cheek.
"No! You leave his fucking hands alone!" Rancid pulls at the metal chains, the links clinking loudly, but his struggles are futile.
"Jack, you're going too far!" Maver shouts.
"Shut your fucking mouth, Maver!" Warner hits the back of his head with the hilt of a knife he had strapped to his side.
Maver hisses and glares up at him, his green hair a mess as it slips out of his tie. Corey forces Palik's hands flat on the floor, and the boy lets out a loud sob.
Jack raises the axe and swings down. Blood splatters.
"Aaaahk!"
Rancid doesn't look away, his eyes glued to the butchering of his brother's appendages. Blood drains from his face, his body aching as the chains dig into him.
Jack does it again, and Paliks other hand severs from his wrist.
"Bet you won't steal again." Jack wipes blood from his cheek, his grin feral. Palik lays on the floor, unmoving.
"We need to cauterize his wounds!" Jari cries as she falls to her knees beside him.
"Do it then." Jack waves at his healer. He tosses the bloodied axe back to Corey, who catches the handle with ease. The giant of a man disappears behind the tent to clean off his weapon.
Rancid watches, unable to do a thing as Jari burns the stubs of his brother's forearms.
"What about the other kid?" Maver asks, his voice hard.
"What about him, huh, Maver?" Jack taunts as he circles around the two still stuck against the pole.
"Let him go!" He lunges forward only to come to a yanking stop as the chains hold him back, "You've set your example!"
"Nah," Jack snickers. He squats down so he's face to face with Rancid. "I'll leave him there as a reminder. And you can stay with him."
***
"Hey, kid."
"What?" Rancid mutters. His eyes are glued to the night sky, the sight of the stars making him feel so small and insignificant. Just how long will they keep him chained here?
All night?
He needs to check on Palik. After Jari, the priestess, cauterized Palik's arms, she gave him a poultice. Farron took him back home, and Rancid trusted him enough to care for him.
Has their mother noticed his injuries, or was she too intoxicated? Will she blame this on him? Rancid pushed the thought away, it doesn't matter who's to blame.
"You should've left it alone." The hunter's words bring him out of his thoughts. Maver is still chained to the pole along with him. "The punishment wouldn't have been so bad if you hadn't intervened."
"So, what?" Rancid mutters. He attempts to flex his arms, they went numb a while ago. "You're saying it's my fault my brother is handless?"
"What? No!" Maver shakes his head, "That's not what I'm saying."
"I don't care what you're saying." Rancid glares at the large tent, where the demon hunters have turned in for the night. "Palik is only eleven. He didn't even open any of the MRE's, didn't even make it past the lot of you, and that leader of yours-" Rage bubbles in his chest and Rancid cuts himself off. He bites his tongue hard enough to draw blood.
It doesn't matter what he says, what's done is done, and right now, his anger will only cause him to act irrationally. Rancid ignores the Hunter chained to the post behind him, and eventually falls asleep under the dark sky.