Firstborn

Chapter 15 - guns 'n' whips

A/N I'm sorry  I'm a day late. I spent the day with my camera capturing Victorian ships and checking out the Prime Meriden of the world 0 degrees longitude.

Half an hour earlier

"Get up Chaz! The boy only kicked you once. Stop writhing on the ground like a whore!" Major commanded.

Chaz instantly stopped moving and raised his hand to be pulled up. Major sidestepped him and signalled to his other two sons to help instead.

Under his hood, Avi smiled -it used to be him beaten to a pulp writhing on the ground.

"It's his fault Papa, he tricked us...he said you sent him...Meeru told us you hadn't..." Chaz pleaded as his older twin brothers helped him up. "But don't worry Papa. Nothing happened; we managed to stop him before he could do anything."

Major fired his gun for the second time, ending Chaz's rant.

"Just a few days ago I took you to task for putting him into the building with the very thing from which we are trying to keep him apart. What is wrong with you boys? How could you be taken in by Avi, so easily? I reminded you that no one was to step past the post in the ground." Major pointed in the direction of where the post used to be and wondered where it had disappeared to. He caught Avi glancing over his shoulders but carried on talking to his sons.

"This time, I even gave you three army guns to keep people out!"

The three brothers made their lame excuses but Major was not listening. Instead he made his way to the place from which Avi had spotted the missing post.

Avi eyeballed the twin barrels of Major's rifle aimed at his head. Despite his quickened heartbeat, he kept his composure and pushed the rifle down. Major bristled. Avi had called his bluff. He knew his grandfather couldn't shoot his own. Besides, how would he explain the mess a short range fire would make of his skull as accidental?

"Put your hood down and show some respect."

Avi didn't stir.

Something snapped in Major.

Avi's behaviour confounded the onlookers. Avi knew what he was doing. He was no longer giving others power over him even if they were his Dada.

Major had to do something - but what? Since when did Avi have the nerve to challenge him? Since he visited the outbuilding - was the simple answer.

The outbuilding...the creature... the whip! Major had a solution to his problem. No he couldn't possibly use the whip on his family member any more than he could shoot one, could he?

Not knowing how to break the impasse, Major snapped, "Why couldn't you have stayed away?"

"I just wanted to see her properly to make up my own mind up about her," Avi was surprised by the nakedness of his own words. They were devoid of pleas and excuses and while he thought his clarity showed his honesty, Major and the rest thought it showed something else.

Avi had gone too far.

Out of control, Major barked at Riki. "Go and fetch my belt. Perhaps the rules of the outbuilding need to be engraved on his body."

Riki responded quickly and came back with the whip with Meeru close on his heels.

Major snorted. "I wonder when you were going to turn up Meeru. How, I wonder, is the guardian angel going to stop his lashes?"

Meeru put herself in front of Avi's body. "Avi, apologise to your Dada and he won't whip you."

"Don't make promises on my behalf. He will be whipped now but maybe his apology will reduce the number of lashes."