WangXian Forever Book 8

Chapter 105 Decoy

"So...if that's a decoy...where do you think Rumi's mother hid the real thing she left for him?" Wei Ying tapped the side of his nose thoughtfully. "If it was me, and I knew that my kid had a problem with water...that'd be the last place I'd hide it..."

"Mn. Agreed. But look..." Lan Zhan pointed to where the light from above hit the waters just so...

"Is that a wooden chest? It sure looks like one." Wei Ying transferred Rumi over to Lan Zhan and began taking off his upper robes but Lan Zhan stopped him.

"Do not go in there." He added, apprehension in his voice.

"But then...how are we going to find out what it is?" Wei Ying asked him.

"We can find another way." Lan Zhan stubbornly insisted.

Wei Ying raised a brow, questioningly.

"We can." Lan Zhan repeated.

"Fine, fine...I won't go in if you don't want me to...but ... oh! Oh, my!" Wei Ying clutched his arm in excitement. "We've been thinking about this all wrong! She put it inside the water because that's exactly what she wanted him to do!" Wei Ying smacked his own forehead.

Lan Zhan frowned at him for that alone.

"Explain."

Wei Ying beamed at both Rumi and Lan Zhan, his voice ever so patient.

"She must have known about Rumi's aversion to water...right? What about the first time he ever had a bath...or tried to drink water? There's no way she didn't know...so it stands to reason that in a place where only Rumi could go...she would make sure only Rumi could get what she left behind. And I'm going to guess one step further and say that something special is going to happen when Rumi touches the water."

Rumi whimpered and held onto Lan Zhan’s neck tighter.

"I do not think that is a good idea." Lan Zhan protested.

He rarely, if ever, disagreed with anything Wei Ying suggested. In his eyes, Wei Ying was correct all the time...and ended up proving it. However...this child was terrified of what he was suggesting.

"Okay...do you remember that day on the beach, when Rumi ran away because he thought he had accidentally hurt me?" Wei Ying looked too excited...

"I cannot forget it." Lan Zhan assured him.

Any memory that involved Wei Ying was unforgettable...but when it involved him getting hurt...Lan Zhan often wished he could forget it.

"Well...neither could I and I got to thinking, what we could do to make Rumi feel safe around water...I mean, he might never, and that's also okay, it's just that he should be able to feel safe even if we're not around, right?" Wei Ying was shifting from one leg to the other, filled with nervous energy.

"What has Wei Ying done?" Lan Zhan asked him, guessing that whatever it was, it would probably be something terrifyingly awesome.

"I thought, since we might be visiting the beach more often because of the sea...but Daden Yaonu and all of Li XiWang's extended family, Shui...I wanted Rumi to feel better about going there. So I created a talisman that acts as a shield. And only Rumi can penetrate it...or a part of him. Shall I show you both?" Wei Ying didn’t even wait for a reply, he began rummaging around his sleeve until he found what he was looking for.

"Look Sweetheart!" He waited until Rumi looked at him, his purple eyes like pools of darkness, warily clinging to Lan Zhan still.

"I wanted anyone standing next to Rumi to be protected too, otherwise he'd feel awful, right?" Wei Ying beamed at them both and activated it.

The yellow talisman paper burned brightly for a few seconds, the red writing flaring crimson fire and then a transparent sheen spread out from its centre, stretching as wide as five people standing arm in arm.

"Wei Ying should show by example." Lan Zhan told him, clearly impressed. "When did Wei Ying achieve this?"

"Oh...side project...I can’t remember!" Wei Ying waved a hand absentmindedly. "Anyway, Rumi, come here. Let's give this talisman a thorough testing."

But Rumi did not want to.

He held on even tighter, not just with his limbs, all four which were wrapped around Lan Zhan’s body, but his tail too was secured around Lan Zhan’s waist.

Wei Ying sighed...this was not going well...

"What if Rumi doesn't have to actually touch the water with his hand?" He mused.

"Wei Ying!" Lan Zhan wanted to stop him with that train of thought.

Maybe it would be better to talk to Rumi first.

Wei Ying watched Lan Zhan make himself comfortable on the coarse, pebblestone shore. The water was far enough away that it wouldn't bother Rumi...but the poor child had been traumatised.

"Rumi...sweet child." Lan Zhan continued to say warm words of comfort in his ear, rubbing his little back.

It took a good twenty minutes for Rumi to just sit in his lap and not impersonate an octopus.

Wei Ying went to sit next to him, and took his tiny hands in his.

"My sweet, sweet boy...please...I....do you trust us?" He whispered.

Rumi would normally not have hesitated to say yes...but it was heartbreaking that he had to think about it first. He nodded.

"And you know what promises are, right?" Wei Ying coaxed him.

Rumi held out his little finger as proof.

Wei Ying beamed at him and curled his own Pinky finger around his one.

"Then, I'm promising you, that shield...it's going to protect all three of us. No question about it. And the sooner we get this done, the faster we can go and eat ice cream with Li XiWang and Grumple. Deal?"

Rumi appeared to be thinking about it.

Lan Zhan poked Wei Ying’s knee.

"Huh?"

"Uncle Qiren does not like ice cream." He supplied, helpfully.

"He might..." Wei Ying insisted.

Lan Zhan shook his head.

Rumi stood up. And before they could prepare, he passed his hand through the shield where it shimmered like liquid, letting it pass through. And as soon as his hand touched the water, it was repelled with such a force that all the water in the lake hit the roof, and the walls.

But even stranger than that, was that it disappeared through the holes that were carved strategically around them, leaving the lake bed damp and no longer submerged.

On this side of the Shield, all three persons were bone dry.