Death Wish

23.Angel

About two hours since they fell the giant blue waves carried their interlocked bodies until they had been washed up on a shore far away.

Jian suddenly awoke from a deep slumber the suns rays radiating his face he began rubbing his sore brown eyes with his sandy hands coughing out salt water. Lying on the hot sand was beginning to get uncomfortable for him and he tried to get up by lifting his body upwards but there was a weight on top of him which made it difficult to make the slightest movement upwards.
When A strong smell of blood filled his nostrils he then seen the someone with long wet raven hair now wavy from being wet wrapped around his waist.

Still out of touch with reality He Imagined the person as a beautiful angel that came from the heavens to take him though he could only see half her face her beauty made his heart warm  but he then quickly got rid of those crazy thoughts see it was actually his friend Hong badly bleeding .

"Hong! Hong! Oh gods may he be alive!" He cried trying to wake Bao up. This is all my fault he thought: "If I had just stayed at camps like he told me none of this would've happened...he may die because of me...that's if he's not already dead...."
The prince began panicking he did not know what do he didn't even know where he was in the first place! He slowly stood up to look around for any clues of his whereabouts where he seen a nearby village in the distance. The prince put Bao on his back whom to his surprise for a man in the army like Hong he was quite light to carry and felt soft and it reminded him of what a woman would feel like being carried.
He began walking following a trail of footsteps on the sand in to the woods that led him to a local village.
It was quite a challenging walking up with Bao on his back and what made it more difficult was the woods were very mucky. His feet got stuck in the sticky muck a few times causing him to nearly drop her a few times but he made it despite inconveniences. 

At the village he decided to run to the first market stall he seen and begged one of the workers to lead him to the nearest physician.  A market seller took them to a house few minutes away.
At the physicians house there was a very short elderly man dressed neatly in his physicians uniform with unusually long silver hair and his beard and moustache reaching his knees sitting on straw mat brewing tea with a traditional fan.
"That's physician Huo he's the best in our village", said the market worker before leaving.
Jian quickly took an unconscious Bao of his back placing her on the wooden floor and got on his knees.
"Physician Huo please save my friend he's been stabbed badly by a ruthless villian! I'll do anything please just  save his life! I'm the Crown Prince Jian I'll reward you greatly if you save him!" He pleaded.
"Crown Prince Jian you say?", physician Hang chuckled.
"Yes please believe me!" Jian replied.
"If you are indeed the Crown Prince I demand 210 gold coins if I save your friend!" The man said mockingly.

Jian swallowed sweating from all the stress as he did not have such amount of money on him not even a bronze coin, he had to come up with plan to save his dying friend.
That's when he remembered his father had given him an imperial gold seal before he left for war and had kept it in his under garments at all times.
"I have an imperial seal from my father look! As your crown prince and future emperor of Tang  I command you to save my friend now!" Jian said with authority showing the old man his seal.
Physician Hang narrowed his eyes to make sure the imperial seal was legit he then nodded gesturing for Jian to bring Bao's body on top of the straw mat.
"Thank you very much Physician Huo I will make sure to reward you immensely in the future if you do a great job!" Jian said with gratitude.

"Right your friend seems to be badly injured I have a few herbs that can heal his wounds rapidly also I'll have to stitch his cut. This tea that I'm brewing here should regain his consciousness. My dear prince will you go fetch two full buckets of water for me in my garden while I prepare for his treatment?" The old man said examining Baos injured body.
Jian nodded and headed for the garden.

Physician Huo took Baos ripped bloody shirt off to see that underneath her breast were bind with bandages, he quickly let go of her moving a great distance away from her body.

That's a woman! He thought shaking his head.
"I can't possibly operate her! Why did he lie that she's man?!"  He said to himself.
He looked at her pale bleeding unconscious state and a slight pang of guilt hit him, she only had a few minutes left until she died of excessive blood loss.

Physician Huo could not possibly operate a woman he'd have to get one of his female assistants to help him. Jian returned to the room with two full heavy wooden buckets of water in a hurry.
"I'm bac- wait why haven't you began yet?!" He asked the physician confused.
"You failed to mention that your friend was a woman as a Crown Prince you know the laws I can't possibly operate a woman!" The physician said in a stern voice.
"A woman?" Jian swallowed.
He then let out a loud laugh but physician Huo still had a serious look on his face which made Jian realise that he wasn't joking.
"I don't why you think Hong is a woman that's crazy! That's the famous general Wei's son you are insulting!" Jian said shaking his head.
"My friend is dying so if your going to be unserious about this with ridiculous excuses I'm going to find another physician to save him!" He added.
"My Prince I know you are not stupid you must've known deep down that's she's no man! If you want you can go find another physician they'll tell you the exact same thing!"
"Okay let's say he is a woman are you just gonna let her die?!"
"Of course not one of my female assistants is gone on an errand she will be here shortly she will follow my instructions and operate your friend".
"So what do we do now?"
"I think it's best if you go clean yourself up my Prince at the backroom there's a bath and you'll find some clothes on shelves to wear".

Jian agreed he really did need a bath he was beginning to smell pretty bad so he quickly headed to the backroom. The Prince poured the round wooden bathtub with lukewarm water and began undressing before entering the bath. This bath wasn't as luxurious as he's used to but it was still perfect he felt a weight lift off his shoulders.
He then started thinking about what Physician Huo said about Hong being a woman and it all started to make sense to him. Jian thought of all the things that didn't add up about Hong like when he had him on his back earlier how light and soft he was that was when everything clicked.

"If that Isn't Hong who is it? They look so alike? Where's the real Hong? How did a woman become a General? Should I trust this fraud? God's help me!" Jian sighed sinking in to the bath.

vote please sorry with very late updates!