Sun & Sea - Book 2

Sun & Sea - Escape and explanations

Arthit was encircled. The five guys had spread around them, and as much as he wanted to protect Nong Fah, it would be difficult to both prevent the attackers from harming them and make their way towards the exit. The only reasonable way for them to get out would be to get into a corner, so they couldn't approach Nong Fah, knock them out one after the other, and run to the exit when they would all be down.

There were only two flaws with his plan: he couldn't reach a corner, because now the gangsters were all around them, and also he didn't know how to fight, he would never manage to knock out those muscular adults who had obviously been trained to fight.

Still, he couldn't stay motionless. An arm in his back around Nong Fah, to protect him and keep him close, he tried a step forward, with an agressive stance, and a shout, to impress the guy in front of him. The attacker took a step backwards, feigning to be afraid and amply escaping the clumsy blow. One of the assailants moved closer in Arthit's back, and Arthit turned around, throwing his leg in a desperate gesture. This time his foot caught the man in his chest and he was projected backwards. Arthit was the first one surprised that his kick had landed. He quickly turned around to face the four other men. The fifth one wouldn't take long to be up again. Should he try to be quick enough so they wouldn't have time to get up, if he couldn't knock them out?

He threw his fist at the man in front of him. This time the attacker seemed annoyed by the waste of time, and he caught Arthit's fist mid-air, and twisted it behind his back, making him kneel on the ground and howl in pain.

"P'Arthit!" Little Saifah shouted, tears running down his cheeks, wanting to approach, but not daring to.

The man grabbed Arthit's hair with his second hand and pulled it backwards, exposing his neck.

"I've played enough. The boy is our hostage, if you can't pay for him, you'll pay with your life." He spat on Arthit's face and let go of his arm, then threw his hand aside to one of his henchmen. The man understood the assignment as once, putting a knife in the extended hand.

The man holding Arthit's hair licked his lips with an evil smile.

"Man I like this job so much," he said with rapture.

"Don't! Please don't!" Little Saifah had jumped to his brother and was hugging tightly Arthit's neck. "Don't hurt P'Arthit, Sir, please!"

Arthit was pinned down by the hand holding his hair, but he still managed to wriggle strongly enough to loose Nong Fah's grip.

"Nong Fah, stay out of this! Don't come any close!" Arthit roared.

Saifah had his eyes wide opened, and he could only watch in horror the knife rise and fall to slice Arthit's offered throat.

A kick from behind had the knife fly to the other side of the room. In the same movement, the attacking shadow wrapped around the attacker's neck and bent him backwards. A loud crack was heard as the man's body folded back and he heavily fell on the floor, unmoving.

Arthit was suddenly free and fell on the floor, searching for his breath. Nong Fah ran towards him and grabbed the fabric of his shirt tightly, squeezing hard with his little fists, looking in awe at the ninja who had entered the room.

The shadow hadn't stop and, like a gust of wind, quickly jumped on the next man menacing Arthit and Saifah, kicking his legs, having him fall on the floor, and expertly hitting his sternum, taking his breath away.

He marked a small pause, crouched on the man he had put down, and raised briskly his head, his hair falling in front of his eyes, giving him a dangerous look. He glared at the two remaining henchmen from under his hair.

Arthit had never seen Talay so determined and lethal. He was darker than he had ever been, even during street fights, like the raging sea trying to take all ships down. He was quick and precise, not a single useless move, straight to the point. Now he understood why he was called Talay. Because he could be unpredictable and deadly, like the sea.

The two remaining men looked at each other and threw themselves together at Talay with a shout, encouraging themselves. It looked like Talay was at a loss, because he froze in place as if he had been terrorized by the attack. But Arthit knew better. The attackers charged with renewed faith, seeing him unmoving where he was like a frightened deer. They had knives in their hands.

But Talay was just sparing his strength, waiting for the right moment. He sprang up between the attackers, and hit them behind their necks with the edge of his hand, throwing them both inconscious on the ground.

The second man had somehow regained his breath and was trying to get up with difficulty. He was still unstable, but he still launched himself at Talay with a shout, his knife held in front of him. Talay very easily dodged him, and the man tripped on his own feet and tumbled on the floor, impaling himself on his own knife with a cry of pain.

Talay moved at once to hide this view from Saifah. Arthit had also gathered Nong Fah's head in his hand and pressed him hard against his chest. All opponents were down; he quickly rose, still holding Nong Fah, and ran out of the room.

At once the shadow was upon him, blocking his way.

"Move!" Arthit said to Talay with the most agressive look he could master.

"No," simply answered Talay. "It's too dangerous, you can't just come out like you came in, or they'll find you again. Come, I'll guide you," he said, taking Arthit's wrist to have him tag along.

Arthit wrenched free of Talay's grip with an angry look. Talay looked hurt, but swallowed it and turned back to lead the way out.

They had been running for so long, and now were far away from Talay's house, somewhere in the streets. It hadn't seemed that anyone was following them. Arthit suddenly stopped and put Saifah down, panting. He was so tired. He staggered. "P'Arthit!" Saifah exclaimed, making Talay stop and turn to see that Arthit had stopped. He ran back to him.

"Are you okay?" He asked, putting his hand on Arthit's shoulder. Arthit flinched and freed himself from the touch with a disgusted expression.

"P'Arthit, if you're so tired to have carried Nong Fah, why didn't you let P'Lay carry me?" Saifah asked.

Arthit looked at Talay with anger in his eyes. Indeed Talay had asked him several times if he was ok, and if he should carry Saifah instead, but how could he trust him? He was the one who had kidnapped him in the first place.

Talay was looking at him with a mix of embarrassment and expectation.

"I could have, you know," he proposed once more with soothing gestures, his body slightly crouched to look less impressive, his rejected hand holding in the space between them, aimed at Arthit, his palm towards the ground, as trying to calm a wild dog.

Arthit broke, not caring anymore if anyone was still after them, and threw his fist in Talay's face, catching him totally off guard and throwing him on the floor.

"You would expect me to willingly give you my brother? To you who kidnapped him and had me believe he was dead. To you who saw me breaking down from this loss while you were secretly hiding him a house away from me. Oh, how much fun you must have had!" Arthit exploded.

Talay rose up, wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth and licking it clean, his gaze not letting go of Arthit. But when Arthit jumped on him, he didn't know what to do, so he just let Arthit grab his collar and almost hit his forehead against his face.

Arthit continued to shout, right into Talay's face, his own face distorted by anger and hurt.

"How wicked of you, to have seduced me the way you did, in hopes that I wouldn't go look for my brother! Do you really need the money this badly, that you even have to hold onto children to get more? I thought you were a hero who was saving them..."

The look Arthit gave Talay while saying this shattered Talay's heart. Talay could see pain replacing anger, tarnished trust and treason layered above a hint of desire. Talay could sense Arthit's inner fight, torn between his attraction and unconditional trust towards him and his reason tearing him away from Talay, who had destroyed his world.