Chinese Touch

Chapter 17-Healed

I woke up to the cold touch of Bao's fingers on my leg. She was removing the bandage from my left leg.

"Bao," I hissed, "stop! It's not healed."

She looked up and smiled. "Isn't it?" She removed the bandage fully and I winced, expecting to see a great cut. But all that was there was a tiny scar. I flexed my leg and it didn't hurt anymore. I looked at my right leg to see that the hole left when we removed the splinter was also gone.

Chang walked proudly into my view. "I told you my spit heals." Then she took off to hunt. I crawled from under the bush to see Ai building a small cave over the top of a fire.

"What are you doing?"

"We need fire to cook, but we can't risk the fire and smoke being seen."

"Oh. Okay." I sat for a few minutes just staring at my legs, then stood and walked into the forest.

"Ming, where are going?" Called Bao, running after me.

"To look for food."

"Chang's out hunting, she'll be back soon."

"I can't live off meat. I need berries or something."

"Okay, just be careful."

"Aren't I always?" I asked, and Bao glared at me. "I'll get going, then." And I ran off into the forest.

~#~*~#~

I hadn't gone too far when I saw a crumbling mound of shaped rock. I walked up to it and studied it closely, making sure my gloves were on. If this creature had a heart, I didn't want to bring it to life in the broken state it stood in.

After examining the statue for some time, I finally figured out that it was a horse. It was missing one front leg, and the other was broken, so its front had fallen down. Half of its head was missing and the tail was cracked in numerous places. It would be cruel to bring back it's life.

I found it strange that there was a statue out in the middle of nowhere, but found it even stranger that, not ten paces away, stood another one. This one was of a bird, made massive, and it was cracked in half, straight down the middle. A strange feeling spread through me, and I shrugged it off as the side effects to the rapid healing.

Then I came across something even stranger.

"Bao!"

"Ming!" She cried, and I heard her footsteps pounding through the forest, twigs cracking and branches snapping as she rushed to me.

"Ming, what's-" Her eyes widened as she skidded to a stop beside me. "It can't be..." She walked up to the opening. The little room was set in the hillside. She ran her hand along the carvings over the crumbling entranceway and breathed out as she realised what she was looking at.

"It is..." She spun around to face me. "Ming... Ming, we've found it!"

"What?"

"Come see!" She waved me over and pointed into the room. I took a step back and gasped.

"What... But... How..."

"Ming." She turned me so I was looking into her eyes. "We've found it. We've found it. We've found the way to beat the Emperor! We've found the Dragon's Lair!"