Bai Li crested the hill as Meili rode her horse to the edge of the pool and let Tufei dip his head for a well-earned drink.
Just as Li Fengfeng had said, there was only one accessible bank. The rest of the pool had steep banks and was densely forested.
Tricky jumped into the water and was swimming about happily, cooling down after his busy exertions.
Bai Li decided to join her at the pool and escort her home. He didn't want to startle her, so he gave her a few minutes for Tufei to finish drinking.
His practised eye caught movement in the forest on the facing hillside.
An archer! The man's nocked arrow aimed at Meili.
"Meili!" Bai Li shouted her name, spurring Rishi towards the pool just as the arrow was loosed.
Meili looked behind her in surprise at his shout. She thought it must be one of her brothers to call her informally like that.
As he watched, the arrow flew high. Too high to injure her or the horse he thought with relief.
It lodged itself in the centre of a huge hornet's nest that hung from an old poplar shading the drinking hole.
Murder hornets, thought Bai Li as he galloped.
Their sting was said to be like a red-hot poker inserted under your skin. Too many bites and people had been known to die.
The nest broke in half and the lower half fell into the pool, striking Tufei's haunches on the way down.
There was absolute silence for a few seconds as Meili looked up in shock, wondering what had just happened.
Then her horse let out a scream of pain, rearing onto its two hindlegs. He watched Meili cling with her legs as she clasped her own back.
She also screamed now, and the sound of agony hit him like a punch to the chest.
"Rishi! Go!" he shouted, loosing an arrow towards the archer as he flew down the hill.
The unseen man tumbled from his hiding spot, rolling down the hill with an audible groan.
Tricky raced from the water barking and spitting with rage.
Tufei continued to rear and buck on the bank of the pool, crying high pitched whinnies of pain.
The horse turned suddenly and galloped madly into the dense forest.
Tufei raced blindly into woodland that was barely rideable. Meili had a tight grip on him with her thighs while she continued to claw at her back with one hand. She wrapped her other arm around Tufei's neck and lay flat, desperately trying to avoid the sticks and branches that Tufei was breaking through as he galloped.
Bai Li pivoted and streamed after them.
Her horse was maddened with pain so the chase was incredibly difficult. Rishi struggled to keep up with Tufei. Bai Li was terrified he would lose the pair.
"Meili," he shouted ahead. "Jump off if you can."
His voice was lost in the panicked whinnies of Tufei.
Meili was absolutely silent. She was in intense agony with a pain in her back unlike anything she had ever felt before.
She was terrified for her life as Tufei rode her through the forest like the hounds of hell were chasing him.
Tricky followed them, but he struggled to keep up with the horses and soon, even Rishi had left him behind.
The dog kept on running, using his nose to scent their trail, whimpering as he ran.
Bai Li had no idea how long and how far that damn horse ran, but it felt like miles before he was able to get Rishi up to draw level with him.
He reached across and pulled the girl from her galloping horse onto Rishi. Drawing Rishi to a stop as soon as he had her. He jumped down with her in his arms.
Her face was white with pain and beaded with sweat.
"Tufei?" she muttered.
"He's been stung by hornets Mei Meili. So have you. There's nothing you can do for him now. You need to focus on yourself."
There was a large cave entrance up the hill to their right. He ran with her in his arms into the shelter of the rock. He laid her down gently on a bed of moss.
"Where's the bite Meili? I need to remove the stinger and treat the site."
She shook her head mutely. The pain was so intense she couldn't speak.
"Dizzy," she said faintly.
"Jesus Christ," he grunted, starting to pull at the ties to her dress.
That was the last thing she remembered before she passed out with the pain.
Bai Li pulled out his dagger, ready to slice off her complex outfit and get on with saving her life. He hesitated. If she was to survive this, there was no scenario where she could return in an outfit that had been torn to pieces.
Her life as it was, would be over and she would definitely have to marry him. While he might like that, it wasn't the start to married life he had envisaged.
He set about struggling with the intricate bows and laces that tied the skirt to the top, finally managing to remove the outer layer, leaving her in riding pants and a complex-looking chest binding.
He sat her up, sweeping her long hair aside, looking for the end of the bandages. The knot was on her back, but more importantly, the bite sat on her shoulder blade. The hornet must have crawled down her collar and stung her when she reached for her back.
He gently unwound the chest binding, laying her face down so he wouldn't see her chest. He did his best not to look at her, but even having her bare back exposed was making things difficult for him. He was only human after all…
He looked away as he gently felt across her legs through her riding pants for any other swellings.
One bite thank god, he thought.
He found the centre and swiftly removed the stinger.
He strode deeper into the cave, collecting moss and wetting it to make a poultice. He gently pressed the green paste over the swollen area, blowing on it to try and cool her angry red skin.
The rough soldier couldn't help but notice that he had laid her on her chest so she was pressed down on her cleavage which was just visible against her ribs. He wasn't sure if this would be hurting her, but he thought it best not to try anything to alleviate the problem.
When she came to her senses, he would have enough trouble on his hands.