Corruption Rent: Day 5

Word Count: 30,002

Summary of Events:
Chapter 9:
Agathe's captors and her captor's captors were not getting along so she had to reprimand them. Étienne visited Jacinthe and was told that she was expecting a child. And Agathe and the rest arrived at the Le Suid camp not far from Premierpetit.
Chapter 10:
Étienne, having reached the vicinity of Le Suid camp, was waiting to go into battle in the second wave when someone noticed a fire was behind them. They discovered that Premierpetit was aflame and worked to put the flames out. Étienne then realised that one of the damaged houses was that of his brother-in-law, in which Jacinthe had been living . . .

Excerpt of the Day:
"Étienne dug even harder. She'd slept on the other side of the bed. He wanted to know. He had to know. But he didn't want to find out. Regardless, he dug. If he stopped now he'd never begin again. No one would let him. He had to find out now. He couldn't wait. He didn't want to know.
Peeling away more stones, he suddenly stopped. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like his eardrums were throbbing. He was gasping for breath because he was exhausted, but he didn't want to breathe. He wanted to hear nothing. He wanted to have the silence to really take this in and realize what this was.
Taking them up in his hand, he looked at them. They looked like little, partially burned bones. He was catching his breath now. His head was starting to go quiet, his mind was starting to work, to figure it out.
In his mind he pieced the bones together into a hand. Hand bones. They looked to form a hand the size of Jacinthe's. Jacinthe. No. No! No! No! No!
"No!" Étienne cried. He clutched his hand around the little pieces and clutched his fist to his chest. Over and over he screamed the word, tears seeped out of his eyes and down his face. In his mind images of her, his beautiful, his beloved, flashed. Snippets of her voice teased his eardrums. Sensations of her touch, fingers all over, lips against his own, arms embracing, her whole body warm and close to his own in the dark of night.
He could feel activity moving around him, hands — rough hands, mens' hands — pulled at him, but he just balled down, clutching the bones in his hand. He wasn't moving from here. Not anywhere.
"Chevalier de Versant," a gentler touch — but still a man's hand — touched between his shoulders.
He opened his eyes and looked where the focus was clearest. More bones. Many broken, but laying in the shape of a human. A Jacinthe-sized human. No!
A hand took his jaw and raised it and turned his gaze up into the face of Chevalier duPont. Concern was etched all over his comrade's face. He couldn't believe Chevalier duPont's change.
"Chevalier de Versant," Chevalier duPont repeated. "Who is this?"
Étienne pulled his head away from Chevalier duPont's fingers. Tears streamed down his face, breaths came shaky, unwilling to stay put long.
"Who is this?" Chevalier duPont prodded.
Étienne couldn't bring himself to speak her name. He couldn't force it past his throat. He couldn't make his vocal chords move. He couldn't utter the sound. A few whimpers escaped. But not her name.
"I will kill them," he finally said. "All of them. I'll kill them. Not one of them will see daylight again. They will all die."
"Chevalier de Versant," Chevalier duPont said. "Who is this."
Étienne's breath came quicker, he felt his throat beginning to block up. He had to say it. He had to speak her name. Just once. One more time.
"Jacinthe.""

Chevalier: shehvahlhyeh
duPont: dyupon'