Crane (14 page)

The village was large by local standards, but it was nowhere near as big as Kaifeng. Hok saw perhaps one hundred buildings of various sizes, and several of them were smoldering in the rain. They passed by rows of storefronts riddled with holes from
qiangs
on their way to the central square.

Once they reached the square, Hok immediately identified the
xiang mu
tree that PawPaw had mentioned. Hok thought about how she might use it to wake Seh, but that thought only lasted a moment.
Once the villagers realized that PawPaw had arrived, Hok and PawPaw were overrun with injured people of all ages.

A group of men quickly set up a small tent, and Hok and PawPaw set up their makeshift clinic inside it. Hundreds of injured villagers lined up outside in the fading afternoon light, shivering in the cold rain. By the time night had fallen, the rain had mercifully ceased. Several large fires were started to help chase away the chill for those still awaiting treatment, and oil lanterns were brought into the tent to work by. It was a very long night.

Most of the wounds Hok saw were from
qiangs,
and they were unlike any she had treated previously. Weapons-practice mishaps were fairly common at Cangzhen, and she had gotten quite good at dealing with those types of injuries. While a sword or spear could slice flesh and cause blood loss, the wound could be treated in a rather straightforward and obvious manner. The wounds simply needed to be wrapped tightly and the dressings changed often.

Qiang
wounds, on the other hand, required much more skilled attention. The lead balls fired from a
qiang
left gaping holes in the skin that could not be closed by simply realigning the remaining sections of flesh. The holes had to be filled, and clean packing material was in short supply. Additionally, the
qiang
balls shattered bone, crippling the victim and leaving fragments that needed to be removed. Fragments of bone could lead to infection.

Unfortunately, Hok also encountered a few patients who were beyond help. Hok tried her best to make them as comfortable as possible, using any means she could think of. In some cases, that meant Dream Dust. PawPaw kept a small supply, and Hok let her administer it. Hok wanted nothing to do with it.

By the time Hok had seen the last patient, the sun was rising and she was so tired, she could barely keep her eyes open. PawPaw came over and handed her a piece of ginseng root to chew on for energy.

“You did very well last night,” PawPaw said. “I would say that you will make a great healer one day, but I believe you already are one. Thank you.”

Hok frowned. “Don't thank me. It was my fault that—”

PawPaw raised her hand. “I don't want to hear any more of that kind of talk.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Let me tell you a secret. I communicate with a man called NgGung who possesses vast amounts of information about people and events in this region. I know who you are and I believe you've done nothing wrong.”

Hok blinked. “I've met him,” she said.

“Wonderful!” PawPaw said with a smile. “Then there is nothing more to discuss on this topic. What we haven't discussed yet is what you plan to do next. What do you have in mind?”

Hok rubbed her tired eyes. “I'd like to stay here. These people need treatment. So does Seh.”

“But what about your other brothers?” PawPaw asked. “NgGung told me you had a total of four
brothers who survived the attack against Cangzhen. Haven't you made plans with them?”

Hok shook her head. “I don't even know where they are anymore, except for Seh, and I don't expect he'll be fit to travel for several weeks at least. Until then, I think I can help the most people by staying here. After that, I'll go in search of my brothers with Seh.”

PawPaw smiled. “That is very thoughtful of you, helping the majority. These villagers will never forget your selflessness. I suggest you stay with me until enough people recover to the point that I can handle the remaining treatments myself. We should reach that point about the same time your brother Seh is fit enough to travel. How does that sound?”

Hok thought more about Seh and frowned. “Do you think Seh will recover completely? And what about Sum?”

“Honestly, I think they will both be fine,” PawPaw said. “Sum will wake to a terrible headache that will last a few days, but it will wear off. As for Seh, he is young and appears fit. His body is waging war against the poison as we speak. There is only one sure way to verify Seh's condition, though, and that is to wake him. Come, let us gather the necessary ingredients and go to him now.”

PawPaw pulled a small knife from her basket and handed it to Hok. Hok collected several branches from the
xiang mu
tree hanging over their heads, and they left for PawPaw's house.

L
ess than an hour later, Hok and PawPaw arrived at PawPaw's home. They were greeted with a pleasant surprise. Sum was awake.

Sum and Cheen sat beside one another on Sum's bed in PawPaw's bedroom. On the other bed, Seh still lay unconscious. Hok was happy about Sum, but worried about Seh.

PawPaw walked over to Sum and took hold of her left wrist. “Are you feeling all right?”

Sum smiled weakly and nodded. She slowly turned her head and pointed to the back of it. There was a large lump and a bit of dried blood in her short black hair.

PawPaw released Sum's left wrist and grabbed the
right. Hok knew that PawPaw was checking Sum's various pulses. At the same time, PawPaw stared deep into Sum's eyes, looking for signs of concussion.

PawPaw let go of Sum's wrist and leaned back. “Except for a big headache, I think you'll be just fine.” PawPaw pointed to Seh. “Has he woken?”

Cheen shook his head.

“I was afraid of that,” PawPaw said. She turned to Hok. “Would you like to try and wake him, or should I?”

“I'll do it,” Hok replied, and she got right to work. She knelt next to Seh and reached into PawPaw's basket, removing the knife and a section of
xiang mu
branch. She made several deep cuts in the branch and twisted it round and round upon itself. Drops of pungent liquid formed along the slices. Hok's eyes began to water from the acrid fumes.

Hok blinked several times and wiped one finger along the length of the
xiang mu
branch, then dabbed it on Seh's upper lip directly below his nostrils.

Seh's body jerked, and his eyes flew open. He lifted his head, then swooned and lay back down, his eyes closed.

“Hok?” Seh muttered. “Is that you?”

“Yes,” Hok said. “We are in the home of a healer. Her name is PawPaw. How do you feel?”

“Awful,” Seh replied.

Hok reached out and took Seh's hand. “You were poisoned. You are lucky to be alive.”

Seh took a deep breath, and Hok saw tears forming in the corners of his closed eyes. “I remember,” he said.

PawPaw cleared her throat. “Why don't we let your brother rest awhile? I'll come back and give you a thorough examination later, Seh.”

“Yes …,” Seh replied. “I'd like to be alone.”

Hok wasn't surprised.

“Have a good nap, then,” PawPaw said. She stood and left the room. Cheen helped Sum stand, and they followed PawPaw out.

Hok let go of Seh's hand. “I'll come back later, too. If you still want to be alone then, just let me know.”

Seh nodded and Hok left the room. She found PawPaw waiting for her.

“So, what do you think?” PawPaw asked.

“Considering what he's been through,” Hok said, “I think he looks good.”

“I'd have to agree,” PawPaw said. “That is why I didn't bother to poke and prod him just yet. I was concerned that he might have suffered some sort of paralysis, but he lifted his head when he spoke and he gripped your hand. I also saw his toes move.”

“Paralysis?” Hok said. “I never thought of that.”

“Depending on the poison used,” PawPaw said, “there could have been permanent damage to the pathways that carry signals to certain parts of his body, particularly to the internal organs and limbs. This is especially true if the poison came from a venom as opposed to a plant.”

“I suppose AnGangseh could have used a venom-based poison,” Hok said.

“Exactly,” PawPaw replied. “After all, her name does mean
Cobra
in Cantonese. She probably wanted to immobilize him.”

Hok nodded. She thought about sharing what little she knew about AnGangseh, especially the part about AnGangseh being Seh's mother. In the end, though, Hok thought better of it. If Seh wanted his secrets shared, he should be the one to do it.

Hok rubbed her eyes. She was exhausted.

“Let's get some rest ourselves,” PawPaw said. “When we wake up, I'll make us some rice and a nice pot of ginseng soup. We'll need all the energy we can get. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Over the next several weeks, Hok and PawPaw established a routine. Each morning they would travel to the village to check on the scores of patients, and each evening they would return to PawPaw's house. Hok kept her head clean-shaven and continued to wear the clothes PawPaw had given her the first day. The outfit was a lightweight gray peasant's robe and pants that fit Hok well and suited the increasingly warm weather.

In some ways, Hok's life at PawPaw's house reminded her of her life at Cangzhen. While she didn't particularly enjoy pretending to be something she wasn't—a boy—at least life was relatively peaceful here. She worked hard with PawPaw, but she had always worked hard at Cangzhen, too.

Meanwhile, Seh slowly began to recover, though he had not yet gotten strong enough to leave his bed. Sum was recovering much quicker, and she and Cheen spent much of their time fishing on the slowly receding river and keeping an eye on Seh. Hok wished she could spend more time with Seh, but she was gone all day and exhausted at night. The few times she did try and talk with him, he shooed her away or pretended to be tired. She assumed he was upset that she was gone so much. She didn't blame him.

In time, the number of village patients decreased to where Hok only needed to be in the village a few hours each day. However, she was busier than ever. She spent any remaining daylight and often some of the night roaming the surrounding forest with PawPaw, collecting herbs and berries and other medicines to replenish PawPaw's severely depleted stockpile. Hok tried a few times to convince Seh to join them, but he was never interested. PawPaw said that Seh was now able to walk around, but Hok had only ever seen him in bed with his eyes closed and a pout on his face.

There was a point when Hok thought Seh's downhearted mood had to do with his snake. She'd seen it slither out of the house on more than one occasion. However, it always returned, usually with a rodent-shaped lump in its midsection.

Hok began to worry about Seh. While his physical health had improved greatly, his mental state appeared to be deteriorating. He was growing increasingly
moody, and often said things that were downright mean if Hok asked to examine him. He would only let PawPaw attend to him, and Hok felt that her brother was beginning to slip away from her. While they had never been extremely close at Cangzhen, they had a strong mutual respect that Hok had always felt, partially because Seh had known that she was a girl but had concealed it from everyone.

Hok felt that that respect was now gone, and it bothered her. She used to think that he was upset that she spent so little time with him, but now she was certain there was more to it. She wanted to know if she had said or done something to cause this. Or perhaps his behavior was just an unfortunate side effect of the poison. Regardless, Hok needed to know if she could remedy the situation. She decided to talk to Seh about it.

The next morning, Cheen and Sum left to go fishing, and PawPaw was outside laying herbs to dry in the sun. Hok went into the back room and, as usual, found Seh lying facedown. “I'd like to talk with you,” she said.

Seh didn't reply.

Hok knelt on the floor, next to Seh's head. “I'm worried about you, Seh. You seem depressed.”

“I'm fine.”

“I don't think so,” Hok said. “PawPaw told me that she was going to add some wild date seeds and young rose flower to your daily teas to help strengthen your spirits. Has she?”

“I don't know,” Seh replied. “I stopped asking the ingredients long ago.”

“That's funny,” Hok said. “The Seh I know was always very curious. He would never consume anything without knowing exactly what was in it.”

“Perhaps the Seh you know is gone,” he replied. “Perhaps he was left back at the river. Why don't you go look for him? Just leave me alone.”

Hok shook her head. She decided to try another approach. She stood and walked over to one corner of the room. Hidden under a stack of baskets was the scroll she had recovered from the small of Seh's back after he had been poisoned. She retrieved it and returned to Seh's side.

“I almost forgot about this,” Hok said, unrolling the scroll. “What is it?”

“What does it look like?” Seh said without looking up.

“A dragon scroll, I suppose. Except the writing looks very hurried and the parchment does not seem old. There is a sketch of human
chi
meridians on one side and a pressure-point sketch on the other.”