Emeralds and Enemies

Chapter Fifty-one

San Jin passed the reins of his horse over to his guard and clambered up beside the carriage driver before they approached the palace gate. He gave the man a quick nod and then tried his best to blend in.

"Your teacher is going to have a hard time living down you having to help him home from a party." One of the guards at the palace gate joked with Junseo as he waved them through.

Inside the carriage Il-don tried to hide his surprise at the relaxed tone the men took with his companion. He couldn't help feeling a bit intimidated. Junseo had mentioned taking a shortcut through the Palace to get from the Sun Temple to the Medical Academy but Il-don had not realized this meant getting to know the palace guards well enough to call them by name. Their driver had the correct password but it was Junseo's presence that put them through ahead of the waiting line.

He also tried not to be jealous when he realized the butler recognized Junseo. He had to wonder why the other boy had the privilege of coming to Knight-Master Lie's private apartments and what it meant about his status on the team. Whatever questions he might asked were swept away by the urgent concern Junseo now expressed as he looked directly into his eyes.

"I need to know how long your bloodstone has been tuned to you, and if you know how to throw an anchor to any other stones."

"My affinity started to show about six-months ago. It took almost two months for the first tuning. It was a real bugger." Il-don shivered as he remembered the sensations. "I am not sure what you mean about throwing an anchor into another stone. I just use the common mantras."

Junseo turned to San Jin. "I haven't seen many flashes lately so hope you are ready lay down a cleaning barrier."

San Jin swallowed hard and nodded. "Things steadied right down with the new pair. The onyx makes everything easier."

"Okay. Good. I should be able to guide us through the cleansing and purification steps but I must warn you what we are going to try won't be easy. I am going to set some shields but since I don't know what type of poison we are fighting; it might be a bit tricky." Junseo went over to a bookcase and took out a set of jade pillars which he positioned at the corners of the bed where Knight-Master Lie rested.

"Poison?" Il-don looked a bit closer at their patient.

"It seems like it. That is why I needed you here with your bloodstone. I am hoping we can do a purification but I don't know how deep it will run so the emerald anchor will really help." Junseo seemed to be running through a list in his head and then took out his own crystals and got ready to start the meditation.

"Shouldn't we have a silver vessel to catch it in?" Il-don had read about the different uses of bloodstones.

"You are right!" Junseo hurried over to a cupboard and pulled out a couple of small silver bowls. He put one at the head and one at the foot of the bed. "Have you done this before? Are we missing anything? How would you like to start?"

"No, I only read about it. I am not even sure I know the right mantras." Il-don could not get over how fast Junseo had been to offer him the lead. He thought the way San Jin seemed happy to follow along with the others even though he was the eldest a bit odd before but appreciated Junseo's confidence.

"Ok. We will ease into it with a Moon salutation. I will get you to hold the baselines. I am sure you will feel it when the jade anchors. Then we will raise the key to set the emerald purification field," Junseo gave him a warm smile.

Il-don fell into the rhythm of the chant and felt the strength of the jade pulling on his stones. He stayed rooted where he was and kept the harmonies running even when he felt a surge of energy from behind.

Their song grew louder and the air shimmered. For a moment it felt like he was being squeezed by a large snake but then it released. A chime rang three times and he could feel Junseo bringing their mediations to a close.

Il-don rubbed his eyes. He felt completely drained. He saw a man in white carefully approaching the silver bowl at end of the bed. It was full of a putrid looking liquid. The man covered the bowl with a silver plate then carefully lifted the bowl into an ebony box. He repeated the procedure with the bowl at the head of the bed before looking at the boys who were leaning against each other.

"You should have waited" the man said with a mild tone.

"I wasn't sure we had time to wait." Junseo said quietly.

"You might be right. Why didn't you call us to come to the forge?"

"When I spotted the signs, all I could think was how the dragon takes care of her own and that he needed to be here to get her help," tears started to roll down Junseo's cheeks. His sleeve rolled back as he swiped at the tears and the palace healer pursed his lips.

"You should never attempt a cleansing when you have an open wound like that" he said as he gave the burns a close examination. "It is a good thing you added the emerald line to hold your barriers but you know what could have happened if they didn't."

Junseo nodded. He did not say a word.

"Right. I can see you understand. Now I am going to have you get some rest while we take over. There will be an avalanche of questions for the three of you but they can wait until morning." The court physician ushered the boys into the spare room and then supervised the cleansing of the sick room.

Knight-Master Lie woke up briefly and eagerly drank down a cup of water. The healers took this as a sign the poison had cleared his system and they all started to breath a bit easier. By morning his color had returned to normal and he complained about being only served porridge when he was hungry enough to eat a whole water buffalo. He had no clear recollections after leaving the wedding only what he called fever dreams.

San Jin was certain he had his own kind of fever dream. He thought he had woken in the night to see Junseo floating on silver mists. Then he had felt like he had been given a warm hug while soft music played all around. The next thing he knew Knight-Master Lie was bellowing about an insufficient breakfast. He had expected some side effect from the way they had used his crystals the day before but he felt full of energy. And hungry. Hungry enough not to be shy about joining the others in the dining room.

He was surprised to see Junseo was still there when he usually would have left for the dawn rituals at the Sun Temple. When Il-don made the gesture for the start of the sun salutation Junseo grinned.

"We aren't cleared yet so I got to sleep in a bit. At least until the old guy started complaining about his food." Junseo could not resist teasing Knight-Master Lie. His look of affection erased any possible offense his remark might have caused.

"I am sorry I was not up to offering you a proper welcome to my home yesterday and I understand I have you to thank that I am here at all." Knight-Master Lie nodded to San Jin and Il-don.

"I was happy to be able to help Junseo with what he needed." Il-don answered. As he spoke, he realized how true the statement was. There was no sneaking insecurity demanding more attention. Junseo had understood what needed to be done and just trusted him to hold up his end. It struck him this was what being part of a team meant. Just trusting in each other and being jealous over who might take the lead. He had to look away to get his emotions under control.

"Are we going to be in trouble for not waiting for the palace healers?" San Jin asked because there seemed to be a lot of different people in gowns and masks going in and out of Knight-Master Lie's bedroom.

"Professor Yip will probably tear a strip off me later. Nobody is going to blame you. I am not sure if I remembered to tell you just how awesome your barrier was." Junseo smiled and then went on, "If we didn't have your emerald there was no way we could have cleared things up. The bloodstone helped lift but we could not contain and purify on our own. I'm not sure even the palace physicians could have held the field the way you two did." He bit his lip because he did not intend to let Knight-Master Lie know just what a near thing it had been.