Chapter 7
Wylan
Wylan did not trust these people. Inej seemed somewhat nice, but Kaz’ reputation preceded him and Wylan had disliked Jesper since their first meeting. He was too arrogant, too sure everyone that met him would automatically adore him. Well, not Wylan.
If it hadn’t been for his dire situation, he would never have come on this insane trip. But as it was, he was homeless and desperately needed the money. Sleeping under bridges and relying on people’s mercy did not quite suit him.
Right now, Wylan was trodding behind the other three, who were discussing whether Middle-Earth had prisons or not, and, if they did, whether they could end up there for whatever reason. Wylan did not give a shit about the criminality-rate; he was too busy loathing all the walking they had to do. He missed the wagon. Looking at Kaz, who was quite heavily limping now, he almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
On top of the disastrous amount of walking and shitty people, Wylan felt he didn’t have nearly enough to do. Sure, he was doing as much as any of them, but he was here as a demolitions expert, and so far, he had only thrown stuff any kid living on the streets could make at a bunch of trolls.
Wylan also doubted if Kaz would actually give him his rightful portion of the gold, should they ever acquire it. Knowing Kaz, having seen him work, Wylan thought it very much possible he would use the argument that Wylan hadn’t done any proper demolitioning and deny him his share.
The longer he thought about it, the more he felt he should never have come.
The landscape seemed never-changing; mountains to their right, the Ocean to their left, plains of grass all around them. The sun was scorching the back of Wylan’s neck and his stomach was growling. It had to be around lunchtime, but none of the three walking in front of him showed any signs they were going to stop soon.
They didn’t. They did not stop until the sun had sunken low on the horizon and dinner time had almost passed. By the time he finally sat down next to the fire Inej had conjured up, despite an obvious lack of wood, Wylan was more annoyed than even he thought had been possible. He hadn’t eaten, had barely slept and despised the company he found himself in. Things couldn’t get much worse.
They sat around the fire, Jesper, Inej and Kaz talking while Wylan listened. They weren’t saying much, really, just talking to have something to do.
Wylan noticed Jesper sending him sideways glances occasionally. He made sure his face conveyed the dislike he felt for the boy.
Inej also glanced Wylan’s way, then looked at Jesper and nodded towards the tent. The nod had been barely noticeable, and probably hadn’t been meant for Wylan to see, but he didn’t care. The two of them could talk shit about him all they wanted.
Jesper
'What are we supposed to do with him?' Inej asked, referring to Wylan. She was sitting cross legged on the floor of the tent, while Jesper lay on his side on a random mattress and looked at her. She looked worried.
'I don’t know,' Jesper said. He really didn’t. Wylan had been annoyed, sulky and honestly just angry ever since he had arrived at the haven, and at this point Jesper didn’t know what he would do. They needed to find a solution.
'I think we should just try talking to him,' said Inej, sounding kind of doubtful. 'I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? He already hates us.'
Fair point.
'Can you do it?' Inej went on. 'I’m horrifyingly bad at this stuff, and besides, he’s known you the longest. Maybe that accounts for something.'
Jesper did not feel at all like having any sort of conversation with Wylan, who seemed to hate him especially, but looking at Inej, he immediately decided he would do it. He would do anything for Inej.
Now it was a matter of finding the right moment. Jesper figured his best chance was to wait until the other had gone to bed. Inej, according to their plan, went to bed pretty much straight after dinner. Kaz sat up a bit longer, pretending he wasn’t nodding off the entire time, but it didn’t take him too long to disappear inside the tent as well.
Jesper’s heart was racing by now. Wylan stirred, looking like he was about to follow Kaz. Jesper shot up, terrified he’d miss his moment. 'Wylan,' he said softly. Wylan looked over at him. Jesper thought he looked a little less mad, more tired. It gave him the nerve to continue: 'I think we need to talk.'
Wylan nodded slightly. 'Sure,' he sighed.
'Do you hate us?' Jesper asked. That definitely wasn’t the best way of going about this, but he panicked. He really needed to know what was happening, and he desperately wanted Wylan to like him, or at least not hate him. Jesper had this thing where he needed everyone to like him, which was why he was always messing around, making jokes. If people just thought he was funny, maybe he could… he didn’t even know what he was searching for.
Wylan looked bewildered. 'Not.. necessarily hate you guys, no,' he said, not meeting Jesper’s eye.
'So I actually don’t believe that,' Jesper responded.
Wylan took a deep breath. 'Fine. No, I can’t stand you guys. You’re all so happy and confident and sure of yourself. Like, you know for sure everyone you meet will adore you and do what you want. If it hadn’t been for the money, I would never have gone with any of you, especially Kaz Brekker.’ Wylan spat out the name. ‘He has like, the worst reputation in the Barrel possible, and that’s saying a lot. So no, I don’t like nor trust any of you.' Wylan immediately stood up, looming over the fire. He looked quite dangerous, and, Jesper thought, quite pretty too.
He stood there for a few moments, before turning around and walking off to a nearby tree, where he disappeared into the shadows.
Jesper sighed wearily. Suddenly, he had no energy left; it felt as if he would collapse any moment. He was too tired to get back to the tent. And, although he wouldn’t admit it, he wanted to stay out here in case Wylan decided to do something stupid, or, less likely, come back to talk more.
When Jesper woke with a start, he couldn’t see anything. For a moment, he started to panic, before he realised the fire had simply gone out. It was a starless night, though not cold. Surprisingly, Jesper wasn’t quite uncomfortable, but still, he couldn’t go back to sleep, no matter how much he tossed and turned.
After about half an hour, he decided to just walk around a bit. Maybe he could check in on Wylan, see if he hadn’t run off. Though Jesper doubted he was stupid enough to do something like that; he did not know where they were or where they had to go, and going back was hardly an option. There was just the Ocean back there.
Wandering over to the tree where Wylan had walked off to hours earlier, Jesper spotted a lonely shadow sitting on a branch about two metres off the ground. He walked with a bit more noise to make his presence known and avoid scaring Wylan to death.
It worked; Jesper saw Wylan looking down and noticing him. He immediately looked back up, staring straight ahead of him.
'Mind if I come up?' Jesper whispered. He didn’t want Wylan to spend the night up there, all alone, while his hateful feelings grew.
Wylan shrugged, and Jesper took that as a yes. With some difficulty, he climbed to a branch at about the same level as the one Wylan was sitting on.
They didn’t say anything, but Jesper thought it felt somewhat peaceful. When he glanced at Wylan, he could see the boy wasn’t extremely tense or uncomfortable. Eventually Wylan dozed off, and so did Jesper.
They could go back to hating each other tomorrow.