Shards

Chapter 74 - Nightfall

It was sometime between twilight and dusk when Lord Yuan appeared with his cronies. He weaved drunkenly towards Ghost, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and hanging onto one companion for support with the other. His friends were no better, having accompanied the lordling in his drinking, they too were intoxicated.

They entered the courtyard raucously, laughing, joking and pushing each other playfully breaking the quiet sombre atmosphere. They headed straight to the prisoner. An Elite who was holding a cup of warm water to Ghost's cracked lips trying to give him a much needed drink paused in surprise at the unexpected interruption.

"Move away," Lord Yuan barked at the Elite, knocking the cup rudely out of his hands. The warm water splashed wastefully to the ground.

"I apologize Lord Yuan but no one is allowed near the prisoner."

"I said, MOVE AWAY! No one was allowed near him before the whipping, now he is totally harmless! Move out of my way or I'll tell Lord Zhai to have you all flogged as well!"

"You better listen to him," grinned Chu Feng. "He will be married to Lady Shuang tomorrow. You wouldn't want to cross a new Lord of the Ruling House would you?"

Everyone knew that like Lord Zhang earlier, Lord Yuan was required to relinquish his family name in favor of House Zhai once he married into the Ruling House. So technically his friend was right. Lord Yuan was to be a new member of House Zhai the next day.

The Elites glanced at each other uneasily. They would be in trouble if they disobeyed any member of the Ruling House. Before they could say or do anything else, Lord Yuan pushed aggressively past them.

"Stand down if you value your hides," warned Li Guang as he followed his friends nearer the silent prisoner.

Lord Yuan peered into Ghost's pale blood streaked face.

"Eh! Why are you not dead?" he asked confused. "You should be dead, either from your injuries or from the cold by now. Shouldn't he have bled out by now?" Shun Xi turned to his friends for confirmation.

"Maybe he's dead and doesn't know it," laughed Chu Feng nastily.

"Then I'll help him realize it and be a real ghost like his stupid name," said Shun Xi. He stepped back sizing Ghost up. "Which hand was it that was dislocated? The right or the left?"

"The right, I think,' replied Li Guang nodding drunkenly. "Yeah, I'm sure the stories we heard said it was the right arm. I remember thinking how difficult it would to hold chopsticks if it were me.

"The right?" Shun Xi grinned evilly handing his bottle to Li Guang. Hold this, I need both hands."

Cracking his fingers, Shun Xi stepped behind Ghost.

"Hold him."

Chu Feng obligingly held Ghost's arm in place. Grinning evilly, the drunken lord placed his right hand on the Shard's right shoulder carefully measuring the amount of strength he would need for the job. The next moment, he made a swift move. He withdrew his hand to strike the shoulder joint with enough force to dislocate it.

"POP!!"

"Aarrrghh!!" Ghost grunted in agony. Pain exploded in his right shoulder as he sagged even more. His whole body shook uncontrollably, puffs of breath accompanied his irregular gasps.

"Hahaha, spot on Shun Xi! Your martial arts training was not in vain after all."

"Of course not!"

Lord Yuan retrieved his bottle, took a swig of his wine and spat it out onto Ghost's face. The Five flinched groaning as the alcohol stung his many open wounds.