Retreating to Evernight Waterfalls - Part 1
Sharp whistles of wind.
A heavy rain of arrows coming from the high wide skies pierced the ground right where the soldiers were standing.
Jian turned towards the direction of the sound of drumbeats on the ground and saw horses, leaping between the trees, and galloping towards the new arrival of vengeful soldiers.
Leading the attack was his uncle.
And before long, ringing clash of swords being drawn resonated throughout the forest.
Fearing for the worst, the rebels had left The Six Pillars, reached the woodlands, accidentally met up with a distraught Li Ji, and had sped up to their rescue.
When Shufeng opened his eyes he saw his executioner face down to the ground, an arrow shot across his throat. He exhaled and jeered at Hades who had once more failed to seize him.
The tingling and numbing feeling in his limbs had disappeared and replaced by the feeling of emptiness. Neither his arms nor his legs were able to move.
He could smell his blood—a lot of blood. He sensed his vital energy leaving his body. Hades might after all won the fight!
Slowly his eyelids felt very heavy and collapsed upon his eyes, his mind could not formed thoughts, his fingers and toes could not wiggled, and his heart could only beat faster to protest against death.
All of a sudden, strong arms slid under his armpits and locked around his torso. Straight after, he felt his body being dragged away from the fight, hauled up a slope across leaves and twigs; then he heard the horse neighed when he was being pulled on top of it.
The man jumped and sat behind him, attaching himself like a barnacle to his limp body. Overhearing his saviour's conversation, his consciousness fell into a deep rest.
"Take my horse. We will hold the soldiers back while you make your escape. You will be safe once you reach Evernight Waterfalls. Someone who has been waiting a very long time to meet His Highness will help you out. I entrust you to my trusted man Suroyi to guide you there."
"Uncle, did you meet a young woman on your way here?" hurriedly inquire Jian as he bit his bottom lip.
"She is safe at The Six Pillars with Suroyi, anxiously waiting for the both of you."
Upon hearing those words his jaw unclenched at once.
"Uncle, thank you!" he said bending at the waist to lean towards him. His hand hugged his uncle's shoulder. "Please be careful. We will see each other at Evernight Waterfalls."
His uncle would have loved to say so, but swords have no eyes. Instead he simply smiled and slapped the horse's hind.
"Protect His Highness, go!"
Then Jian watched his powerful figure racing back to the fight.
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Shufeng with Jian, and Li Ji with Suroyi, rode on throughout the decaying sunlight, then under the starry sky. Finally they stopped for only the amount of time necessary to treat the prince with acupuncture.
Shufeng laid flat on his back barely conscious while Li Ji examined his injuries and changed the bandages. The blood loss caused by the gash on his thigh had been severe, however she had managed to stop it by closing up the flesh using a sewing needle and cotton thread.
She finally inserted the last of the silver needles into the pools of Qi where Qi is concentrated and more accessible. Just as water flowing through a landscape, the flow of Qi follows the divisions between muscles and the clefts between muscles and bones, some of it collecting in the small hollows and depressions, folds and creases of the body to form pools of Qi. Li Ji was spinning each needle to conduct this stagnant Qi from the needling site towards all of the meridians, increasing the available flow of energy into Shufeng's body.
Once the treatment was completed, they shortly resumed their journey under the cold crescent moon.
Hours passed and they still rode on.
Gradually in the east, the sun bloomed like a dahlia flower stretching its petals outwards and filling the sky with rich shades of rose and amber, gold and magenta.
It was a radiating hope, another chance to live.
They lifted their tired eyes, and before them, far in the distance, they saw a heaven-touching tumbled mountain mass drenched in brilliant sunlight—Evernight Waterfalls.
Two waterfalls gushed over the rocky ledges and streamed into a river rushing down mounds and hills, and winding its way into grasslands; then spilling over the gravelly bed of the river down. The edges of the stream were threaded in silver and glinted in the aureate light.
"Let's descend the cliff and rest by this river for a few hours," suggested Suroyi.
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"Lie back down, Your Highness. You have lost a considerable amount of blood. Save your energy and let your blood regenerate." Soothed Li Ji while she forced onto him a fourth helping of refreshing water from the stream. "You need to replace the fluids you have lost."
Shufeng lifted up his head and showed a ghastly face, bloodless lips and eyes frozen over like the surface of a lake.
He drank the cold water, then ignoring her words and the searing pain throughout his body, he sat further up.
He had falling in and out of consciousness during their journey and his surroundings had changed once again.
His hoarse voice cracked as he spoke: "Where are we?"
"Your Highness, look!" Jian pointed up in the sky, "Evernight Waterfalls. We are almost there. You are safe."
From the distance, the peaks were like harpoon tips and the two waterfalls resembled tears on a wrinkled face.
"Your Highness," added Suroyi. "Please stay strong."
"Jian, any news from your uncle and his men?" asked Shufeng depressed by the thought that his friend might loose the only relative he had now left.
Jian lowered his head, the inner corners of his brows drawn up.
"The messenger owl is not responding to my whistle. I fear Zingzing is lost, and I cannot send a message out."
During the chaotic battle in the woods, Jian's pet owl Zingzing had been frightened and had flown away. Without the messenger owl to communicate with his uncle, they were ignorant of the risks surrounding them.
"Please avoid too much movements, Your Highness." Li Ji's voice was commanding. "Not only you have suffered a serious gash on your upper thigh, but while fighting, the wound on your shoulder had reopened, and I can hear a murmur on your punctured lung. Your lung has yet to heal from the stabbing," she winced as she mentioned—stabbing. "Please, do not aggravate your injuries."
Her eyes drew his attention to her clothing. Her robes were torn to shreds, and she couldn't spare any extra fabric for bandages unless he wanted to see her nakedness.
Shufeng winked at her and said with a smile, "I haven't forgotten about my second royal decree. When I am Emperor, no other woman in the whole empire will be arrayed with the finest clothing but you."
At that moment, his attention swerved to the jade hilt of the dagger she was carrying at her waist—his dagger with its dragon's red spinel eye glaring at him elicited his anger, tinged with a hint of sadness.
Li Ji had followed his line of sight, a wisp of complication filling her eyes. She should have had disposed of this symbol of Emika's betrayal but she had disobeyed the prince's command.
She shuddered. While nonchalantly covering the dagger with her apron she was expecting a scolding.
Why would it be in her possession? Shufeng loathed looking at the object! Even the thought of its nearness was detestable!
In that moment, they were both aware of the cloud of the horizon, but they stood there unresponsive.
Despite the ferocity of her act, Shufeng still adored Emika to the point that he had endangered his life in attempting to meet with her.
Thus, she could not tell him that she had kept this dagger to return Emika the favour!
Once Shufeng would be safe; she would return to the capital, into the Emperor's Imperial City, and avenge her family and the Second Prince.
Meanwhile Jian had queried Suroyi about the individual expecting them at Evernight Waterfalls.
"He is the one giving us orders," replied Suroyi.
Jian's eyebrows raised and arched. "So this man is your leader, not my uncle?"
Suroyi simply nodded.
"What is your leader's name?"
"No one knows."
"My uncle told me that he had been waiting to meet with His Highness for a very long time."
"Yes."
Jian was rapidly tapping his fingers on his scabbard. Exhaling loudly he insisted: "Is he from your clan?"
"No one knows."
"Have you met him before?"
"Yes."
Evidently Suroyi was a man of few words! However, Suroyi opened his mouth again. Jian leaned forwards and stopped to draw breath. Suroyi's lips seemed to move but he closed his mouth even faster than he had opened it, and without uttering one single word!
Jian simply said, "Nice chat."
Suroyi nodded with a small smile.
Jian was still shaking his head and grumbling as he walked back towards Shufeng and Li Ji.
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By nightfall they finally reached the base of Evernight Waterfalls. Suroyi secured the two horses to a tree and led his three companions to their new camp.