Page 110 of Chained

I paused, halfway through the process of unravelling a bandage and glanced up at him.

"Didn't you?" I asked.

"You know I didn't," he smiled.

"I guess it would have been a bit... dishonourable to kill him in cold blood," I said eventually.

"And I wouldn't want that." Coal laughed but stopped quickly, placing a hand on his ribs again. "Okay, don't make me laugh."

"Alright. How can I help? What should I do?" I asked, holding the bandage between my hands uselessly.

"Just run your fingers down my ribs one at a time pressing lightly, I want to know how many are broken." He took the bandage from me so that I could do what he asked.

"Okay." I took a deep breath, placed my fingertips on the highest rib and pressed gently.

I tried to ignore the fluttering of my stomach as I touched him and continued the inspection. On the third rib, Coal flinched away minutely and I drew my fingers back quickly.

"Sorry," I breathed.

"It's fine, I count one so far." He smiled encouragingly and I carried on. The next two ribs caused him pain too but that was it.

"Three?" I asked.

Coal nodded and glanced around the clearing, his eyes lit up as he noticed something.

"Do you see that plant over there? Big green leaves, little pink flowers." He pointed to a patch of shrubbery.

I moved around the clearing, using his torch to look for something that matched his description. I almost missed it because the flowers had closed their petals for the night. I grabbed a handful of the plant and brought it back to him.

"Grind it into a paste," he instructed and I did so using a smooth round stone and a hollow in the base of a nearby tree root.

While I was making the paste he tied a bandage tightly around his thigh over his pants. The tourniquet did the job and slowly stopped the bleeding.

I presented the pungent green paste to Coal and he nodded.

"Smother it over my ribs, then rinse your hands off. It has numbing properties so might make it difficult to fire your gun," he told me.

I scooped up a big blob of the paste and smeared it gently over the huge bruise. I felt Coal tense at my touch and tried to be as careful as I could. A tingling numbness started to radiate from my fingertips almost as soon as I touched the green mush.

I wiped the excess off on my jacket and rummaged in my pack until I found a bottle of water. I rinsed the remainder off as quickly as I could then offered the bottle to Coal. He took a swig.

"Could do with some of that whiskey around now." He grinned and handed it back. "Can you bind those bandages over the paste? I'll tell you when they're tight enough."

It took several minutes of me wrapping and tying bandages until Coal was satisfied. I sat down next to him on the springy moss-covered ground and sighed. My eyes were trying to force their way shut again and I had to stop myself from laying back and giving in to sleep.

Coal took a slow, deep breath and stood up."It's working." He smiled down at me, offering a hand to help me up too.

"I'd rather not tug on your arm while you have three broken ribs," I said, refusing his hand and finding my own way to my feet.

Kaloo took the hint and set off in the direction Alicia and Laurie had taken, her nose to the ground and tail wagging high in the air.

We followed at what I felt was a pretty decent pace for the walking wounded and I was hopeful that we wouldn't be left so far behind after all.

"Are you tired?" Coal asked.

"Or concussed I guess. You?" I smiled wryly.

Coal looked away and didn't answer.