Deep Water | Neteyam

22.

"No! Do not hurt her, okay? Do not-" Spider didn't just come closer to the situation; he came into the situation.

Khalo couldn't help himself but wonder if he was dumb.

"Stand there!" Quarricth interrupted him.

Khalo took a closer look at Spider.

He seemed out of breath, his hair messy, sweat all over his body.

"Don't move." He kept on pressing the knife even harder against Kiri's throat.

Khalo didn't understand, why Spider should be out of breath.

A soft "Don't." came from behind him, and he realized that Tuk and Kiri actually knew and liked this guy.

"Stay behind me, Tuk." Khalo said calmly. He didn't want to risk Tuk going to that boy.

Of course, he knew Tuk wouldn't, knowing that it could hurt her. But he didn't know if this knowledge of hers also applied to Spider. Because he knew this knowledge didn't apply to Sully's.

"Not a step!" Quarritch turned to Jake. "Cuffs on! Now!"

"You son of a bitch." Khalo didn't understand most of the orders, instructions, or conversations Jake, Quarritch and that monkey boy had, but he could assume.

"Please don't hurt her." Spider pleaded again. Khalo was once again distracted, looking to where Spider just came from.

He wasn't able to spot anything, but he could swear on Eywa, that he saw something.

That's when Neytiri came around the corner, just to mirror Quarritch's actions on Spider.

"Release." She demanded. "Or I cut." It was not a threat; it was information, a statement.

Khalo grabbed Tuk's arm, without even noticing. His eyes focused on the human boy again. He expected to feel some kind of sympathy for the boy under Neytiri's knife, but he didn't.

Realizing, he couldn't care less about whether Neytiri would cut his gut or not. He looked at Spider, so scared under the sharp edge of the knife.

Thinking this way, scared Khalo.

"You really think I care about some kid? He's not mine. We're not even the same species."

Of whatever Quarritch said, Khalo only understood fragments. Quarritch's english sounded different from the one, that Neteyam taught him, or the one Neytiri, Tuk and Kiri spoke.

Spider now again spoke up.

"Just please don't," he paused. "Don't hurt her. Just please let her go."

Khalo gave up trying to understand what all of them were trying to say.

Till there was this sentence.

"A son for a son."

It was his confirmation that it truly happened. Either his boyfriend or one of his best friends were now dead. This thought, together with one of his other friends under a knife, so close to their throat that it was already bleeding, gave tears the way into his eyes.

With his free hand, he quickly wiped them away, only now realizing that Neytiri was about to stab Spider.

Which made Quarritch release Kiri, fear all over his face.

For a moment, everything just sat in silence, right before Quarricth pushed Kiri to the ground, making her fall.

"Kiri, Kiri." Khalo heart Tuk call out for her from behind him. Kiri directly came over to them, hiding with them behind her dad.