Ya'll have been such good eggs about these postings, I have one more chapter for you before I head back to work tomorrow. For those of you taken by surprise when I literally put Nick in harms way, well all I can say is that I try to spread the angst around as evenly as possible. Some of you know how I feel about Heath. Nope - you don't have to be an empath to know that. But, as I've said on another board recently, Nick, eating cookies in my bed & dropping crumbs wouldn't get him the heave ho either…
Chianna
Chapter 15Nick's roar of anger and pain carried to the bunkhouse and cowboys streamed into the barn. Before the snake had a chance to draw back, Nick's own lightening-like reflexes served him well. He grabbed then snake at the midpoint of its body and swung its head into the side of stall wall until there was no doubt that it was dead.
With only one good arm breaking his fall, Heath was not quite successful. When he put out his right arm to brace his fall, his lack of balance pitched him left and his injured side hit the ground. The pain exploded in his shoulder, numbing his fingers and Heath's only coherent thought was that he was going to get bit because there was no way he could move now.
Suddenly he heard Nick's roar and opened his eyes to see Nick reducing the snake to a bloody pulp, drop it and sit heavily next to Heath. At first Heath's mind could not register the events that just occurred through the haze of pain. He saw faces at the entrance to the stall and felt Nick run his hands over Heath's limbs. Finally understanding what his brother was doing, Heath took couple of deep breaths to clear the cobwebs.
"I fell Nick, but I'm OK. It didn't bite me before you got here."
"Mr. Barkley, are you OK? I saw it bite you."
Both brothers turned to look at Nate. Suddenly Heath realized that the boy was not talking to him – he was looking at Nick. He felt hands helping him to sit up as he saw Ciego took a knife and slit Nick's trousers up to mid-thigh. Moving the cloth aside revealed puncture wounds that could only mean one thing. He was spared because his older brother sacrificed his life for Heath's.
Fear, anger and love were at war in Heath's heart. Anger was the easiest to face and pushed it's way to the front of the crowd of emotions that threatened to overwhelm the young cowboy.
"Dammit Nick! What the heck were you thinking? With a whole barn full of tools, couldn't you have found something better to fight that snake with than your own blasted leg?"
"How fast can a snake strike, Heath?" Nicks voice was level and reasonable. Almost like a teacher asking a fundamental question that he assumed the whole schoolroom could answer.
Heath blinked. The question seemed to him to come from left field.
Enunciating with even more precision, Nick repeated, "How fast can a snake strike? Not sure? Well this is how fast I think it takes - just long enough for me to realize that I couldn't imagine what my life would be like without you here. You're too weak to fight a snake bite, Heath. There wasn't any more time to grab a weapon or call out for help. You were falling, the snake was striking and I made my decision, simple as that little brother."
Heath was humbled by his brother's love and sat there speechless.
Ciego cut across the puncture wounds and started to draw the poison out. Then he sent Nate out of the barn to get some dirt mixed with water to make mud that he promptly slapped on the wound and wrapped with an improvised bandage.
"Carry the señior to the house. I will go get the doctor."
"I don't need a pack of nursemaids carrying me. I can walk to the house myself."
"No señior. The more your heart works, the faster the poison goes though your body. Let us do all the work, Señior Nick. Por favor."
Heath placed one arm on Nick's and pushed him back, and this time Nick did not resist. The boy's heart was in his eyes and Nick could already see that in his silence, Heath was already blaming himself for what was happening to Nick. They were quite a pair, since Nick had keenly felt responsible for what had happened to Heath.
Jarrod came running into the barn with Nate, who had obviously alerted the family since Audra and Victoria were running as well, there skirts hiked up to increase there speed. The three family members saw the dead snake and Nick's leg at the same moment. Wordlessly, Jarrod helped Nick up to his feet and clasped hands with one of the other men, providing Nick with a seat to carry him to the house. Nate gave Heath a thin hand and helped him to stand as they all went to the house.
Very little discussion followed in their wake. All of the hands had seen or heard about someone snake bit at some time or another. Very few could recall a complete recovery. Some knew folks that lived but whose effected limb was so badly damaged that it was amputated or grossly disfigured.
TBC…