Chapter two - Uncles!?
A week passed as they traveled hard and steady Aloradyths injuries healed slowly especially with no spirit energy. Her Mother nursing her as best she could with what little she knew about medicine. The last of the suns rays clawed across the tall mountain all around as the carriage bumped and rolled along make Aloradyth drowsy as she lay with her head in her Mother's lap. Mia Mia, her Mother, had fallen asleep hours ago propped up against the side wall of the cheap looking carriage. Unbeknownst to them soldiers crept through the woods watching the carriage as it drow drew closer to the small village were they had made camp. The leader seeing the shadow of a woman gave a silent order to his men. Suddenly the carriage came to an abrupt stop. Loud voices could be heard outside Aloradyth reached up to wake her Mother only to find her eyes open and her finger against her red lips telling her to stay quiet.
The sound of metal clashing together could be heard outside along with the shouting and the neighing of houses. Silence suddenly rang out so loudly it was nearly deafening. "Check inside." A voice commanded followed by a "Yes General!" The door to the carriage was suddenly ripped open. A young soldier around 18 stuck his head in and looked at them before disappearing just as quickly. "They are there!" A voice sounded.
They could hear boots hit the ground and the running of feet before another young man looked in. She heard her Mother gasp before she jumped up and threw herself at the young man, almost knocking her to the floor. "Mia Mia!" The young man cried happily as he caught her and hugged her tightly. Setting her down he turned to look at Aloradyth. "Who is this with my beautiful older sister?" He asked looking her up and down a smile on his face. Her Mother took him by the arm and turned him to face her. "That is your niece Aloradyth. My daughter." She told him looking at her with pride.Then a slightly frown appeared on her face as she bluntly said. "She's crippled."
The man froze for a moment before he nodded his head and jumped the three feet into the carriage. He knelt down in front of her and smiled kindly. "May I pick you up?" He asked his blue eyes sparkling with laughter. She paused then nodded ones only after her Mother had given her permission. He turned around and called out another man's name. "Young Jun come here!" His deep voice carried easily through the night air.
Three young men came to the call cousing the man in the carriage to laugh. "Young Lei, Young Ming, Young Jun. Meet our niece Young Aloradyth." Her eyes went wide as she looked between all four men. They were all identical! Her Mother seeing her experience laughed as she took up introductions.
"Aloradyth meet you quadruplet Uncles Mou the one who is in the carriage with you, Lei the silent one in the middle, Ming the one on the right, and Jun the one on the left. They are all the best General our kingdom of Zhi has ever produced." She said with great pride. Aloradyths jaw had dropped as she looked between the four young men again. 'How am I going to be able to tell the difference between them?' Was her only thought as Mou the one in the carriage turned back to her and scooped her up and handing her to one of the three men outside the carriage. The one who took her held her gently a smile on his face as he saw the confession on her face. "Lei." Was the only thing he said as he began walking up the road. It was a five minute walk before they reached what was once the Cave Valley village. Tents were scattered around what was once the market. Soldiers milled about talking and eating their dinner. As Uncle Lei walked through, the soldiers that saw him saluted, then stared as the saw a tiny delicate girl in his arms.
"Back to you posts!" He boomed when he noticed the stares. He finally reached the house that was once the villager mayor's home. A tall wall stood around the house with thick wooden gates that stood open the house looked like a traditional Chinese house with a large courtyard in front and three smaller houses flanked the main home the pillars were not red but a muddy brown color same as the tiled roofs.
"Doctor Man Lie Shu!" Lie call as he walked to the small courtyard on the right. The last of the suns rays began to fade when they walked into to courtyard. The house in this courtyard was the same size her Mother and her had lived in for so many years. Soldiers appeared with lanterns to light our way as Young Lei made his way in to the main bedroom of the side courtyard. Young Lei sat her down on the soft bed and walked to the door looking for the doctor. She took a moment to look at her Uncle as he stood waiting. He was tall and slim with wide shoulders and a very handsome face. Deep set blue eyes that flashed and sparkled with hidden warmth. Straight nose and a soft set of lips that were set in a straight line. The type of face that made girls squeal and through themselves at him begging him just to take them.
"Doctor Man Lie Shu!!" He shouted a frown on his face. His black hair that was tied up on the top of his head in a ponytail fell to just below his shoulders. The cool breeze blow through the open door cousing his hair to sway enticingly. She shook her head and turned to look at the room. Although there wasn't much to see because the room was so dimly lit by only three or four oil lamps placed around the room. She could make out a small table with a mirror on the far end of the room next to a paper screen and what looked like the bathroom. In the middle of the room sat a table with four large stools set around it and across from the bed was a lush lounging bench. Around the bed were pink curtains with purple and blue butterflies and darker pink flowers embroidered on them. The room look very feminine and almost to frilly for her taste but as she sat there she couldn't help but feel contented.
"Doctor!... " Young Lei started but was cut off by a slightly annoyed elderly man who was coming up the path. "I may be old but I still have ears Prince Young Lei!" She watched the elderly doctor come up the three steps to the room. He was short with a large white beard and small black beady eyes a large nose and long unkempt white hair, in his hand was a worn cloth bag. He fixed his eyes on Aloradyth and narrowed his eyes. "Is this my patient?" He asked as he came over to look at her. Then he sat down on the stool Young Lei pulled over for him. "I apologize for my appearance." Doctor Man Lie Shu said reaching a hand up to touch his head. "We have been traveling none stop for over two weeks now and we just arrived not to long ago."
He took her hand with out any other preamble and checked her pulse. He grunted. "Lay on your stomach so I can feel you back." She started to tell him about her broken ribs when Doctor Shu glared and he stood up. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her over befor flipping her ruffly onto her stomach. Her Uncle saw this and stiffened, anger flashing across his normally invasive face as he stood up from were he had been leaning against the wall.
Doctor Shu hearing her small cry of pain popped her ruffly on the back of the head. Uncle Young Lei saw this and his face darkened his blue eyes narrowing. "Doctor Shu." He said his voice dropping into a near growl as he took a step closer. "Keep in mind she is my niece." He warned his hands curling in to fists that he quickly hid in his sleeves. Doctor Shu's face went pale and his hands shook as he began to feel along her spine. He quickly withdrew his hands and sat back down.
"There isn't much I can do." He said his voice shaking. He cleared his throat and continued. "I can make it so she can use her legs but she will probably never be able to do more than stand for more than five minutes." He cleared his throat again and mumbled. "It will take two months before she regains feeling and a year before she will be strong enough to stand for the first time." With that he opened his bag and pulled out a set of acupuncture needles.
"I'll start the first round of treatment now." Without waiting for a response he began sticking the needle through her thick dress with great force into her back. Her eyes widened in pain for it felt like someone was punching her back with fist full of needles. It didn't feel like he was even doing acupuncture at all for he was missing everything single one of her acupuncture points. After what felt like forever he began to simply rip them out again. She stifled the scream as she whimpered then bit her lips and closing her eyes as she came to realize how very weak she really was and how much she needed to get stronger.
From out of nowhere her Uncle grabbed the doctor and pushed his away from her. "Can't you tell your hurting her!?" It wasn't the same Uncle, Young Lei, but another of the quadruplet I turned my head to see what happened to Young Lei only to see him and my other two uncles holding her angry mother away from the doctor. In her hands was one of her Uncle's sword her beautiful face was a mask of fury, her eyes had tears in them as she looked at Aloradyths pained expression. She almost laughed as she saw how hard her huge Uncle's struggled to keep her tiny mother from harming the doctor.
"Beat him Mou!"Her Mother said as she struggled to get free of her brother's grasp. She looked at the uncle who had the doctor pinned to the wall next to the bed were she was laying. She couldn't help the small giggle that escaped nore the rolling laughter that followed it. She was laughing so hard she didn't see everyone in the room freeze and stare wide eyed at her as her laughter rolled out sounding like birds singing. Her Mother dropped the sword and came running to feel her head to see if she had a fever.
"Aloradyth?" She asked worry written all over her face as she began to slowly pull the rest of the needles out of her back. "Are you okay?" The last needle came out and she immediately stopped laughing. She looked at her mother and nodded her head. Mia Mia sighed in relief and sat down on the bed. She then helped Aloradyth to turn over onto her back and sit up. It was then that she saw through the open doors that the courtyard was full of soldiers that all had a little bit of disappointment on their faces.
Her Uncle Mou grinned as he saw this and lifted the elderly doctor and throw him out the door to the soldiers in the yard. "Have at him." Then slammed the door shut and leaned against it smiling smugly. "I hope he didn't hurt our little princess?" He asked looking at were she sat on the bed next to her Mother. I didn't say anything as she lay down and closed her eyes. Seeing this her Mother stood and pulled the blanket over her before she shooed the men out of the room. "Good night Aloradyth. I'll be back in the morning to help you get up." She said before she slipped out the door and closed it. She waited a long time after she heard it go quickly outside before she sat up. Gitting her teeth as she thought about what the doctor had said. She scooted to the edge of the bed and let both feet to hit the floor. Gently she started to put pressure on her legs one at a time until she could feel her knees lock. Holding onto the side of the bed she stood wincing a little at the pain she felt in my legs. As soon as the pain stopped she let go of the bed and just stood there. Then she sat back down and grinned, a year to stand her butt. She scoffed as she tucked herself back into bed and fell to sleep.