Rancid frowns when Jack strikes Maver in the face, the sound of bone hitting bone loud. Maver doesn't stumble and fall the way Palik did, though. Instead he stands firm, and the green haired hunter reaches a hand up to wipe the dribble of blood at the corner of his mouth.
"Jack!" A woman with red blood hair pushes forward. She's dressed a little differently, adorned in a white and gold robe and the symbol of a goddess stitched to her chest piece. A priestess. "Do you need to go so far?"
"Yes, he does!" Another hunter steps forward to defend his leader.
"Mercy is a luxury." Jack says. He glowers down at Palik, a nasty bug to a powerful hunter like him. "I must set an example or more will come." He turns his glare to the crowd once more. He raises his hand to strike the brown haired boy before him again.
Rancid clenches his jaw and lunges forward, ignoring Farron who shouts from behind him. He jumps in front of his brother and winces when Jack slaps his face. His head whips to the side, his feet steady on the ground as his hands curl into fists. The entire right side of his face pulses with an ache, and he can taste blood in his mouth.
Damn, hunters sure are strong.
"Rancid!" Palik gasps, his hands curling into the back of his dirty shirt. Rancid's cheek pulses and he licks the cut on the inside of his cheek. He lifts his hand to rub at the now sore spot, ignoring the migraine that dulls behind his eyes.
"Huh?" Jack looks down to see that someone else jumped in time to take the hit, protecting the young boy who stole from him.
"You little rat!" Jack snarls. "Do you want to get punished too?!" He pauses when he sees Rancid's heterochromia eyes, one blue and one green.
Rancid doesn't say anything as he stands in front of Palik, his glare fierce.
"Hey, don't get involved, kid." The guide steps towards him, a calm aura radiates around her, but it does little to help the situation. Rancid doesn't know much about the two classes, only that it's a priestess's job to keep a hunter from going rampant. So why isn't she doing that? Unless Rancid is wrong and she's not a priestess but something else? What was the other class? There's the hunters, the priestesses, and what else? Palik probably knows better than he does.
"It'll just make it worse." She shoots a nervous glance to her team Captain.
"Yes." Rancid ignores her warning entirely, his focus only on Jack. On the hunter who's eyes shimmer with an unstable gleam. He definitely looks like he's on the verge of rampage. "I'll take his punishment, so please spare him."
"Ah, damn." Maver mutters from a few feet away. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Jack. . ." The female warns as she tucks strands of red hair behind her ear.
"Oh? Is he your younger brother?" Jack snickers, ignoring everyone else as well.
"Yes. He didn't actually eat your rations." Rancid glances at the unopened MRE's that lay a few feet away from them. It's no surprise that no one else has tried taking them yet. Not when a kid is about to be punished for already doing so. "Just let him go, and punish me."
"Ha! Who knew rats could be so loyal?" Jack cackles. "I thought everyone was out for themselves in dumps like this." He nods his head at the filthy dirt road.
"Jack, I think that's enough!" The priestess snaps. Her pale face is turning red with anger. It almost matches her hair.
"One more word out of you, Jari, and I'll punish you right next to him!" Her captain snaps at her.
Jari, the priestess - or not priestess, Rancid doesn't know anymore - clenches her jaw. Her guilty eyes swing to Palik and then to Rancid. When Maver puts a hand on her shoulder, she finally takes a step back.
"Cuff 'em both." Jack orders.
"What?" Palik scrambles up, stumbling on his feet and crashing into Rancid's back, his sweaty brown hair stuck to his forehead. "No-"
"Now!"
Rancid catches sight of Farron and his younger sister, Folly in the crowd. He steps forward, ready to intervene, but Rancid gives a slight shake of his head. If Farron gets involved, he'll just get punished along with them.
Farron needs to stay by Folly's side to protect her. He seems to understand this as with a tick in his jaw, the brown haired man retreats back into the crowd. Rancid hopes he takes the girl home, away from the mess that's about to happen. She doesn't need to see it.
"Chain them to the post." Jack says, gesturing to the wooden stake they've propped up when they made camp.
"You're going to do it out here?" Maver scoffs out, his dark eyes scanning the crowd of people that only seems to grow by the second.
"We're setting an example right?" Jack grins from ear to ear, his malice visible in the crease of his cheeks. "How can they see the example if we hide them away?" He turns towards the crowd and puts his hands on his hips. "Now. Chain them."
The silver coins in Rancid's pocket jingle as he's shoved to his knees, his arms bent against his back at an awkward angle. His shoulders strain and he swallows back his groan of pain.
"Hold on." Jack says. He bends down and digs in Rancid's pocket. He pulls his fist out and opens it up to see the amount of coins in his hand. "You steal these too, boy?" He counts the silver with an arched eyebrow, "It's not much, but I'm sure it's more than you could ever have. There's no way you just happened to get your hands on five silvers."
"No, I wor-" Rancid's head snaps to the side when Jack smacks him.