05 Jump Ship

“Juste, why?” Lord Abirham asked Juste about his disgraceful behavior. He was his only child, so it was very hard for him to get totally angry with him.

Juste wanted to tell his king father that he hated his own kind, for eating human flesh out of greed for their supernatural gifts.

But his lips couldn’t choose the right words to say.

Deep down, he knows he will be insensitive to his own if he badmouths the nature of the fellhounds. So he bowed his head and kept silent.

But his father wanted to reason out with him.

“Juste, if you wanted the girl, you could have told me. You can have anything you want in this castle.” Lord Abirham had thought Juste merely needed to release his s*xual urges.

He added, “There are better female fellhounds for you here. Do you want to run away with this frail witborn?”

By this time, Chastine was getting more confused. She had no idea what was really going on.

What was Juste’s motive to get out of here? Was she preoccupied of her own escape that she didn’t ask of his reason? It suddenly dawned on her.

“Juste what’s going on? Why do you need to get away?” Chastine was bold enough to ask of his redeemer’s motive to escape his clan.

Silence befell the forest. There were only the loud echoes of water next to the bridge, falling deep into the lively river.

Juste mustered enough steady composure to clear all false speculations of his behavior.

He looked at his father straight in the eye and said, “I don’t want to eat my tribute. Witborns, fellhounds, even bloodhunts, we’re all the same.”

Lord Abirham raised his brows in surprise. Meanwhile, Chastine gasped.

“As the next in line to lead our clan, you need to keep the gifts the wolf-god gave our bloodline. You must bear it, son, for the sake of your kin.”

“NO.” Juste blurted out a resounding disapproval. He might as well defect from them instead of consuming human flesh.

“Juste,” Lord Abhiram was growing impatient in reasoning out to his only son.

But as Juste’s father, he had chosen to understand his son instead.

Juste, as his father thought, just might have this phase in his youth, growing angsty and rebelling against old ways.

The clan leader continued his hope of getting his son back through reason.

However, Juste just would have not of it. He did another impulsive thing in front of his father.

Seeing the only option to escape his father’s clutches, he glanced at Chastine and asked one thing that would test another of her skills.

“Chastine...” Juste held her hand.

“Yes?”

He breathed deeply. “Do you trust me?”

Chastine couldn’t answer outrightly.

“It’s just a yes or no, Chastine,” added Juste.

Chastine’s heart beat faster. She took a leap of faith at her half-*ssed answer, “Yes?”

Juste then looked at Lord Abirham for one last time and bade farewell to him, to the only parent who raised him for 13 years.

“Goodbye, father…”

He then sprinted towards the noisy waterfalls as he dragged Chastine along with him, jumping off the ground and into the abysmal body of water below the bridge.

“AAAAAHHH!!!” Chastine screamed for her dear life.

She didn’t think her day could get any worse.

But there they were, freefalling with little chance of surviving.

Will they be hit by rocks? Will they be in one piece as they take the plunge? Chastine’s mind was filled with dread about their current state.

After the long fall, they dived foot-first down the bottom of the waterfall. Touching the water surface felt like hitting pavement.

Their adventure with the falls didn’t stop there. They were quickly engulfed by the cascading torrents so they couldn’t rear their heads out the water.

It was a hard struggle. Chastine was running out of breath.

But her willpower and grit overcame her fear, worry and exhaustion. She managed to swim away from the downward pull of the torrents.

Juste, however, was nowhere to be found.

“Juste? Juste!” cried Chastine, as she look to her left and right, hoping to catch any sign of Juste’s body.

Without any sign from Juste, she thought that he was still at the bottom of the waterfalls.

She dived in the river again and looked for him. Luckily, she spotted him below.

But alas, Juste was drifting; he was looking unconscious and lifeless. Chastine gathered up her remaining strength to pull Juste out of the water.

She swam towards the surface with Juste’s body in tow, carrying a portion of his weight as she makes way for shore.

Chastine thought she could pass out at any moment, but her will to live and her will to make sure Juste is alive kept her moving.

She was physically drained, but she immediately did a resuscitation to revive Juste, pumping her hands onto his chest.

“Juste!” Her fist was pounding onto his heart.

In a manner of minutes, Juste coughed out a mouthful of water.

“Hah, hah, hah…” Chastine was catching her breath. “What were you thinking?!”

Juste wiped his mouth with his hand. “Thanks. I don’t know how to swim. For witborns, I heard it was natural."

“You what?! You’re as reckless as a badly spun tink tank!” She was still catching her breath.

Juste just laughed at their little reckless adventure. He was happy that he’s finally having a first taste of his freedom.

But celebrating his freedom was cut short as he noticed Chastine about to lie down from her position and began shivering. Her lips turned purple in color.

“Chastine. Chastine!” Juste began to worry about her health.

He noticed her exhausted, but it didn’t occur to him that she would have hypothermia.

Granted, it was because of Chastine’s skimpy gown that she had developed a short but fatal illness by the cold.

He hesitated to set out a campfire as he thought of his father being hot on their trail.

Fires let out smoke and smoke is seen at a good distance, so his father might find their whereabouts if he lights up a fire.

He needed to find another way to warm up Chastine so her temperature goes back to normal.

Without any hesitation, he carried her out of the wet surface. He then searched for a dry place filled with foliage.

He then started to undress Chastine. Then he unbuttoned his coat, jacket, and shirt.

Juste then began to place the shivering Chastine between his arms, wrapping her tightly to both keep their body heat from escaping.

“Chastine, just hold on,” Juste whispered onto her ear. It sent a different kind of heat within her body. “Sorry, this is all I could manage.”

Juste went for her hand and he wrapped it tightly into his, as he waits for Chastine’s shivering to die down.