59 Volume 3: of Gods and Devils (1/2)
The Fairy Doctor Zufu had long since taken all his medical equipment and medicines out of his over-sized satchel and neatly arranged them nearby. He sat with Lu Shao and Ye, behind Jin, waiting for the Fairy Princes to return with their Mother. No one moved, they barely seemed to breath, as the minutes ticked by.
When the two hour mark neared, Jin finally stirred. Unfolding his legs, he quickly stood up, his hands clenching and unclenching.
”Father?” Lu Shao asked timidly, standing up too.
”She comes.”
The little boy began to shake from relief while Ye let out a ”phew” sound.
”How long?” Ye questioned as he jumped onto Jin's shoulder.
”Hm… she was taken far, so a bit. It will take them time to bring her back.”
The little fairy lowered his voice so that Lu Shao couldn't hear:
”How is she?”
Jin's eyebrow twitched and his lips flattened into a line.
”She is alive.”
Hearing this, Ye closed his eyes and grimaced. The image of her broken body was seared into the fairy's mind. It was good that she was alive, but that she was only alive… her condition must be terrible.
They waited almost another thirty minutes before Shi Ji and Mei Hua appeared. Since they were on the very border of Jin's territory, they saw them before they felt them.
Shi Ji could have arrived sooner, but he didn't dare go full speed. Every jostle caused further injury to his Mother's body. Rather than focus on speed, he focused on his steps being smooth and light. He made a rather peculiar figure, running with a strange elegance as though he were a dancer with a face filled with worry.
Jin had his arms wide and took Mei Hua from his son the moment the boy stepped close enough. The tall, usually proud but slightly silly man, stumbled at the sight of his wife. Even though he'd felt what she was going through, seeing it up close crushed him further.
”Mountain flower… what have they done to you… what have they done to you…” His voice was raw as tears spilled down his anguished face.
Everything about her was broken, cut, and sliced. Not just her body, but her soul. The poison they'd used on him, they'd used on her. It had been in a smaller amount because she'd only been hit by one arrow, but it had still been highly effective. It looked as though a black pit with tiny tendrils extending from it had formed over her entire soul. On her body it showed like a sickly green infection emanating from her shoulder and spreading across her chest and up her neck to her face.
How she'd survived so long was a mystery. But every second the poison remained, was a second longer it devoured her body and soul. Of all her injuries, the poison was the most dangerous.
He put a hand above the injured shoulder that was the source of the poison and lifted, intending to remove the poison and then immediately heal his wife. As the poison visibly shifted under her skin, Mei Hua's body convulsed violently.
”Old Man!” ”Mommy!” ”Stop you fool!”
Three separate voices cried out in horror, while Doctor Zufu didn't even bother; the elderly looking fairy stepped forward and forcibly removed Mei Hua from the arms of a stunned Jin.
Laying the woman down, Zufu knew without even looking she'd stopped breathing.
Seeing her limp form, Ye jumped onto Jin's face, clasping it with his tiny arms and legs and said in a fury, ”What the hell is wrong with you?!”
”I— I— only wanted to remove the poison!” Jin explained, his whole body shaking from shock. It had worked with Ye and himself, and he'd been trying to be gentle with his wife. He hadn't expected her body to react that way.
Doctor Zufu hovered one wrinkled hand over Mei Hua's chest (where her heart was located) and another over her forehead and concentrated. Both his hands began to glow hot white.
He breathed in and breathed out. His hands followed his breathing rhythm, rising and falling. After only a few seconds of this, his strained face suddenly relaxed and his hands stilled. Mei Hua's chest was now rising on it's own.
Without moving the location of his hands, he let each rest on Mei Hua and the white light began to throb softly. He remained this way for a few minutes before retracting them completely and giving a satisfied nod.
When Jin shuffled closer and reached out a hand to check on his wife, Doctor Zufu grabbed his wrist.
”Do. Not. Touch.”
The elderly fairy did not even bother being polite. He'd almost lost his patient once because of his Lord's meddling, he'd not let it happen again.
Jin saw the Fairy Doctor's hard expression. Immediately he retracted his hand and took a step back, his face filled with anxiety. Ye, who'd been on his shoulder, smacked him and hissingly told him to stop interfering.
Doctor Zufu stood up, now ignoring his Lord, and walked over to his medical supplies. Rubbing his chin with his eyebrows scrunched together, he began lifting ceramic bottles while talking quietly to himself. He'd nod or shake his head occasionally and either left or took a bottle based on whatever conclusion he came to.
The Fairy Doctor took the bottles he'd selected and set them near Mei Hua's head. Each bottle had a pill or liquid in it. For the pills, he would simply place them in her mouth and wait. They naturally dissolved on their own, without her even having to swallow them. The liquid he measured out in careful doses and carefully fed it to her, massaging her throat to get her to swallow.
While he worked, no one dared interrupt him. Not even Jin, who could only hover nearby feeling miserable and anxious. Some of the effects of the pills and potions were more obvious than others. One changed her deadly pale skin color to a more normal pink. Another miraculously healed all the cuts and bruises. Others showed no noticeable effect at all, but the Fairy Doctor seemed pleased by some result only he could see.
When Doctor Zufu put away all his bottles he gave a nod and then turned to Jin and bowed.
”My Lord and Young Masters, the worst is past.”
Lu Shao burst into tears, while Shi Ji sank to the ground in relief. Ye ran over and gently touched Mei Hua's face, crying silently.