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Chapter 4 "You're a very lucky man," Bella smiled, patting his shoulder. Jez managed to smile in return. "I don't feel it," he croaked. "Lucky to have a friend like Ki, also," she added. "He probably saved your lives," she said, lifting her eyes to Ion as she spoke. "I know," Jez said softly, fixing Ki with his soft, blue eyes once more. "We need to wash the wound," Amma's voice barked. "Just in case." Bella nodded her head. "Of course. Just because the bullet did not break it does not mean that it was not already tainted by another poison." Jez blinked very slowly. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?" "Sorry," Bella said with a nod of her head. Bravely biting down on his bottom lip, Jez awaited the final punishment of the night. His arm was now on fire, burning like wildfire, spreading up to his shoulder, making sweat sting and burn his eyes. He wished it to be over and closed his eyes. A new, hot fire of flames raced up his arm as the cleansing liquid splashed into the open wound. Onwards it spilled, splashing down against his legs, soaking him in its substance. His arm screamed and burned and he wriggled on his seat, desperately trying to resist the instinctive urge to pull away from the torture. But still onwards the liquid poured, still brighter and hotter the fire burned. Nausea swept over him and he moaned out, gasping out a pained breath. "Stop it!" he heard Ki ordering. "For Gods sake, stop it!" But still onwards the liquid fell and Jez cried out again. On the brink of explosion, Ki stepped forward and knocked the bottle from Amma's |
hand, sending it spiralling across the room, splashing everyone in its path. "What the hell are you doing?" he shrieked.
"Washing the wound," Amma said in a stiff, tight voice. "You were trying to hurt him!" Ki raged forward, grabbing Amma by the front of his shirt, realising for the first time since joining this family just how fragile and weak their leader was. Always he had struck fear in Ki's heart but now he seemed like a very vulnerable old man. "I'm going to kill you," he breathed. But before he could progress any further, familiar hands came down against his arms. Ion's iron grip pulled at him, spun him away. "Get off me!" Ki shouted but Ion ignored his outburst. Without turning back to check on Jez, knowing that he was big enough to take care of himself, Ion bundled Ki out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into their shared bedroom. "Get off me!" Ki bellowed again, shrugging Ion violently away. "Getting angry won't help," Ion said coolly. "Getting angry is the only thing that can help!" Ki snapped back. Then after a couple of deep breaths said, "Didn't you see what Amma did? He was hurting Jez - deliberately." "I know." He paused, blinked slowly, allowed Ki a few more moments to calm down. "Hitting him won't help. You know that." "I didn't know what else to do." He had his back to Ion but the elder man could hear the quiver that was beginning to work its way down into Ki's usually deep and strong voice. "I know." There was no other reply that he could give. Patiently he waited. He knew what was to come, what was needed. |