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."
Wide eyed, Avi surveyed Major with puzzlement but no contempt in his own eyes.
"Dada, you will whip me just because I went to the outbuilding...I didn't even get in."
Major blanked him.
"According to Uncle Chaz, she didn't hurt me; she can't be as dangerous as you think."
"Please Avi, stop!" Meeru pleaded.
Avi ignored her. "Dada what exactly did Rosetta Aunty do for you to lock her up?"
Meeru put her hands to her mouth in shock.
As soon as Rosetta's name left his lips Avi registered his mistake. Major's facial expressions turned from grave to murderous in milliseconds.
"He said her name...how does he know it?" Major cried out, quickly eying each of his children present, one by one. They all stared blankly back at him. His eyes darted back to Avi, who had the same stance as before. His arms were loosely hanging by as if he really didn't understand the significance of what he just did. Major refused to be fooled.
"Who is the traitor who gave you the name? Tell Me! Who is it?" Major was foaming at the mouth.
"What is the big deal about her name?" Avi asked. He knew the lashes were a certainty but if he got more answers then maybe it was worth it.
Major savagely grabbed hold of Avi's shoulders and hunted for something in his face. "Her name is a big deal. It is a powerful catalyst. By uttering her name aloud you have unleashed her dark magic on yourself and all of the firstborns of my sons."
Dark magic! Avi didn't know what Dada was talking about or looking for but he let him complete the investigation of his face, unflinching and curious.
Major raised Avi's hood a little and then rapidly backed away from him. Avi intuited a change in his Dada, and as he moved away he felt a thread connection between them break.
Avi panicked. He needed his Dada - even contempt was better than withdrawal.
"Papa, what did you find?" Chaz asked. "Is he deformed like her?"
"This is what I found!" Major tipped Avi's hood off his head with the end of his rifle. "I found nothing."
His uncles came forward to look and could not believe what they saw.
"Where are your bruises and the rings on your forehead, Avi?" Niki asked.
"They healed naturally, Dada," Avi said, quite evenly, choosing to address his answer to Major rather than his Uncles.
He knew they would think he was lying, but his body had healed itself. Even modern science surgeons now believed the body could do so in some circumstances.
Major moved Meeru aside.
"Tie him up boys before he completely turns. Once he gains too much strength we won't be able to beat the devil out of him. We were too late with the other one."
Niki and Chaz approached Avi as if he were a malevolent creature rather than their nephew. Nervously, and with unnecessary brute they held him tight by the arms and began to drag him to the poles where Rosetta was usually tied for her beatings- unnecessarily. Avi showed no resistance, and in any case he was distracted by a returning Riki.
Avi's eyes were pinned on the infamous belt. Riki placed it with great care in Major's hands. Clocking Avi's interest, Major fed his belt lovingly through his fist several times before cracking it against the concrete floor of the compound. Ker chack!
Sucking in his breath, Avi toughened and tightened his body muscles as his uncles tied his wrists and legs to the poles. He knew he had the strength to overcome his uncles. However, he would accept his Dada's punishment as everything else from him had been withdrawn.
Avi tugged at the ropes tied to the poles and wrapped the slack tight round his fists. His Dada had never whipped his grandchildren or sons before. The thought brought moisture to both of Avi's corneas and the drops dampened the vamps of his shoes - his final tokens of compassion for his Dada.
"Crying already?" Major mocked.
"Don't fool yourself Dada; this will hurt you as much as it will me - more perhaps."
Ker chack! Major hit the ground.
Meeru once again flung herself in front of Avi, covering him with her body and wrapping her arms backwards around his torso.
Major fired the gun for a third time.
"Niki you have my permission to shoot Avi in the head if Meeru does not step aside." Meeru winced - Niki was a great marksman and Meeru knew he wouldn't miss his target. She turned around to face Avi and with the saddest of eyes looked at him as if to ask for forgiveness, kissed one of his hands and stepped aside. The twins seized her roughly by the arms and moved her to the side.
Avi snarled at them.
They didn't need to hold her. Meeru had the capacity to stand like a statue if her slightest movement could harm her nephew. Her brothers knew that. They had tested her resolve on more than one occasion in the past.
Major positioned himself a few strides behind Avi. Avi waited.
How had his actions of trying to see Rosette and repeating her name turned him into a pariah?
Ker chack! Ker chack!
I've got to concentrate on something, something innocuous.
He pictured the leather belt in his Dada's hand when he pretended to scare seven year old Avi and Gag and their cousins. He used to crack his belt in exactly the same way, harmlessly, against the concrete floor in his bedroom when they played the sneaking up game - the game that always ended with Dada giving out sweets.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
Despite his own advice Avi couldn't think of anything but the belt.
The belt held pride of place on a peg on Dada's bedroom wall. At some point in the distant past they allegedly held Dada's army regulation trousers up, but that was a long time ago. Now it remained in the house for one purpose only - to keep Rosetta in line. Avi had never witnessed the beatings. However, all in the house were familiar with her blood curling screams during the sessions.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
Till the present moment he'd thought she must have deserved it because it had never been used on anyone else. Now he knew better.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
Meeru made an inaudible noise.
Avi grimaced. He was no longer standing straight.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
A loud yelp escaped from Meeru. Chaz's elbow connected with her mouth and cheekbone. Her teeth accidently cut her bottom lip and drew blood.
Avi's eyes stung with anger.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
Avi realised the layers of clothes on his back stopped his skin from breaking. The welts would only leave discoloration even if he didn't have the capacity to heal.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
After twenty lashes Major stopped and passed the belt to Chaz. Avi's brain was slowly shutting down. His vision distorted and arranged Meeru's facial contours into reflections as though made by fairground mirrors. Her split lip and cheekbone bruise monstrously grew larger than the rest of her face.
Ker chack! Ker chack!
Meeru sniffles were too loud when the lashes continued.
Avi was cross with her. He wasn't a weakling. He could fight his own corner. Hadn't his uncles found that out earlier in the day?
Chaz stopped at fifty lashes and walked around to the front of Avi. Within his brothers' and father's sight, he turned and swung the belt wide and hit Meeru, knocking the last sob out of her.
A bubbling volcano erupted in Avi and spurted out of his mouth in an almighty roar. The ferocity of his anger stoked his strength. With two short tugs of the rope still in his fists he brought the poles he was attached to crashing down.
In a knee jerk reaction the twins dropped their hold on their sister and moved and picked up their rifles again.
Avi was free of all his restrains but he didn't flee- there was no point.
"Meeru get back in the house!" he bellowed.
Meeru ran but in the opposite direction. She charged up the hill at the back of the compound and disappeared out of sight.
"I can outrun Meeru," Chaz spoke relishing the hunt.
Major shouted, "No...not you. I need all three of you here. We will deal with her later."
Chaz looked disappointed.
Meeru's disappearance plugged the vent of his volcano and Avi took a long, deep breath. He hoped she didn't come back. If she did, siding with him would cost her dearly.
Occupied with thoughts of Meeru, Avi missed the insidious glances between Major and his uncles who surrounded him at four compass points, with their guns again.
The brutal beatings took their toll on Major's nerves yet they had failed to break Avi.
Major took a cursory walk around Avi, looking for weaknesses in his stance and posture. "Still standing? Very impressive but don't you see it proves you are not my grandson, Avi."
Avi faltered. Major smiled. He'd made a chink in Avi's armour.
"Are you saying I'm not your grandson because I showed bravery or because I didn't apologise like I always did before? Which one is it Dada?" Avi asked in disbelief lifting his head to get a good look at Major.
"Fifty lashes wouldn't kill a man, especially a clothed one but how is it you are not unconscious and are still standing relatively well. The strength you used to take down the poles is not human. For heaven's sake they were set in concrete!" Major's loud voice was inflected with some admiration but mostly abhorrence.
"Are you saying I'm not human?" Avi asked in disbelief. He scoured the ground where he uprooted the poles. A pneumatic drill couldn't have broken the concrete as well as he had.
Avi was overwhelmed by his own strength, giving Major some hope that the old Avi was still there.
Major quietened his voice. "You are in a sort of limbo from what I remember, not yet Blessed but no longer human. From my memory, you can only be Blessed once you are initiated by a Blessed and have treaded onto the other side of the path, into the jungle."
"From your memory..?" Avi repeated the words not as a question but really as a reflection. "...Is Rosetta a Blessed and the tribesmen leader?"
Major nodded.
Avi finally made the connection. "Was she meant to take me across?"
"Dada, I don't want to be a Blessed. You're wrong. I haven't lost my human qualities at all." Avi wasn't going to give up on his family yet, whatever they were like.
Major moved closer over to Avi. Using the butt of his gun he traced Avi's face. "Meeru was meant to keep a very close eye on you and was to report any changes yet it is quite obvious she hasn't."
Avi didn't flinch but he puzzled about that too. Meeru looked after him most evenings when his temperature rose. Earlier she implied she reported to someone. But if it wasn't to Dada, then to whom?
Major continued. "Chaz's stupidity has allowed the creature in this outbuilding to connect to you and impact you, even when you were stuck in your room. Did she tell you her name while healing you?"
Avi closed lips tightly and stared ahead.
"Answer me dammit! If she spoke to you then she broke the pact." Major removed the nozzle from Avi's forehead and aimed at the outbuilding.
Avi held the gun. "No! It wasn't her."
"If she didn't then who...was it any of you?" Major turned on his sons.
"How could we, we only just found out her name this evening," Riki appealed. "We were young when she first came. If she had a different name we don't remember."
"She's always been 'Crazy' to us," Niki protested.
Chaz had had enough of being in trouble with Major. "Papa, all we knew was that we weren't to ask about her real name so Avi was safeguarded from it."
Avi interrupted. "And why was that Uncle Chaz?" Although Avi asked Chaz the question his attention was upon Major instead.
"Because you are the bastard of Crazy and my oldest brother."
A guttural growl came from Avi, as he rushed Chaz.
A fourth bullet rippled through the air and this time found its target. It tore through Avi's jeans, entering his left thigh from behind and came out in the front. Avi fell to the ground onto one knee. As he tried to stand Niki shot a fifth bullet, it buried itself in the flesh of the already wounded thigh. Avi lay on to his side in agony. Niki reloaded his rifle.
Blood continued to spurt from the back and front of his left thigh soaking through the material of his jeans. Avi expected an outcry from his Dada, but none came.
"Is this... human... enough for you Dada?" Avi stuttered as his body buckled and squirmed.
Major's face was as that of a dead man - devoid of expression.
Avi turned away from his Dada in disgust.
"You are my first grandson and legitimate one too. "
Chaz began to protest and stopped.
"Chaz is confused. Rosetta was your father's first wife but the cold truth of the matter is Avi. And I don't want you to forget this." Major took a few seconds to deliver the blow. "The moment I saw her transform and realised what you would become, I was ready to kill you even though you were a defenceless three year old."
Somewhere deep inside Avi knew his Dada was telling the truth.
"Why didn't you then?" Avi could barely speak and was unable to keep his eyes open. Niki's bullet had torn a major artery and he was losing blood fast. His body temperature was plummeting and his brain was shutting down. The battle to live had begun to disappear and his heart slowed. His ears faintly heard someone running on the concrete and someone shouting as if under water. His last thought was:
In action movies, the cop always shoots the leg and the villain lives but the reality is -I'm dying.
"MAJOR! STOP! Stop before you kill him!" Dev appeared from nowhere.
Major looked down at the puddle of blood under Avi's body and then at Niki's countenance numb with horror. He slipped to the ground.
Niki was furious. "He was meant to heal himself; I thought he would heal himself!"
Dev bent down and listened to Avi's heart. "I think I can hear his heart but I'm not sure."
He untied his tartan scarf and deftly wrapped it around Avi's leg. "Major, you are two days from removing the curse but you need him alive. Riki call Dr Verma. Perhaps he can come over as he doesn't live far. The army ambulance won't come now, it's nearly curfew. Even if they could, it will be too late for Avi. Major only the Crazy can help now."
Niki snapped out of his 'rabbit in a headlight' state and wobbled. "No, you mustn't call anyone. I'll be arrested for shooting him."
Dev grabbed hold of Niki. "Dr Verma will not ask any questions if Riki says Major has called him. If he does, I'll tell him that Avi has accidentally set off his gun with it in his lap. He'll recognise Avi's name and will understand to be discreet."
Riki came back. "No one is answering. We will have to take the car out and bring the doctor ourselves." He started back to the house and then stopped. "Papa, your outbuilding keys are missing. They weren't in their usual place near the telephone."
"Never mind the keys, Riki. Go quickly with Dev, now! Chaz take your gun and see if Rosetta is there."
Chaz left and soon came back running from the outbuilding. "It's open and she's not there!"
Major frantically scanned the compound. "She can be in the shadows, anywhere, waiting for the curfew...Go boys lock yourselves indoors. It's me she'll want when she finds out what's happened to Avi."
Niki and Chaz didn't protest and wait to help their father. They ran in and locked the house.
Major sat down and held Avi in his lap and when no one was looking, stroked the mop on Avi's head as he lay dying.
A/N Thank you for reading my chapter. It means a great deal.