Chapter 43

Desire wasn’t her regular self by the time it was nightfall and there was still no sight of Sylvester. She sat in a corner for long, away from the others who had all cuddled up at the same spot, afraid of what was going on outside the walls.

Fei sat beside her and held her hand. Even though she didn’t say anything, words weren't needed to express her emotions. She was assuring her friend that everything was going to be fine.

Trying to get her mind off the ongoing situation, Desire decided to show Fei how she made the cut and how she’ll apply the healing ointment and herb before waiting for a few minutes for the bleeding to stop.

She also showed her how to properly stitch up and how the lint must be placed on the stitches wound to avoid it getting infected while healing.

The two girls later on held on to each other and slept off like everyone else in the vacant space closest to the front door. Nobody could go into their rooms to sleep for fear of the unknown.

It was during midnight when they heard a loud sound. It was different from the ones they’ve been hearing and this one seemed like a wall was being broken down and it was coming from the back of the house.

Everyone rushed to the direction of the sound and saw it was a large door being opened at the wall of the house in the backyard section. No one knew the door even existed until that day. Before anyone could panic about them being attacked, they recognize the uniforms of their soldiers and their knights.

One by one, wounded, hungry and tired, the ten soldiers who had gone with Sylvester trooped in, while Desire’s heart leaped with joy.

“Where's the master?” Lady Nor asked one of the soldiers.

“We do not know. We only separated after he told us to use the back door. He had gone back to get Ying after we dropped him when he got hit with that thing” One of the wonder soldiers replied.

Desire cried out but quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She was so sacred that she thought she was going to die.

Lady Nor held her before she fell.

“He’ll be fine, Desire. I promise you that the master is fine. Hold yourself together Desire. Be strong for him” Lady Nor whispered into her ear.

“Be strong Desire. At least we have to help these wounded soldiers. Please Desire! Please” Tears streamed down her eyes as she watched every soldier cry out in pain. Some wounds were minor, while others were severe.

She stood up slowly and directed Fei to attend to the minor injuries while she called Sandra to her side to help her with the others. Still heartbroken, she sent out the orders like the last time and everyone went on to perform it but thrice the first time.

By the time Desire was through with the six soldiers that needed stitching, it was daybreak already. Desire hadn’t slept a wink, she was awake all through the night taking care of the soldiers. Even though she tried persuading Sandra to go and rest, the little girl refused and stayed with Desire all through.

The soldiers who had gone to secure their gate came back by morning to check on their friends, hear the story of what was happening around them, and also to have their breakfast before resuming their duties. They could tell how lucky they were since the wall surrounding the mansion was built fifteen feet tall and the gates were strong enough to withstand the strange object.

“What was that sound? Where was it coming from? One of you said it was a long, black object” The court lady asked the soldiers. Even though the noise had stopped, they all were still scared.

“Nobody knows what it was. Not even Master Ho knew…”

“It was a gun” The spoon that Desire held dropped to the floor as she heard that voice.

She turned and saw her master looking at her and he smiled immediately when their eyes met. Desire ran to meet him at the back entrance of the house but she couldn’t hug him as he was holding a wounded Ying.

“Can you help him?” Sylvester asked but Desire couldn’t give an answer. She kept on looking at Sylvester, checking him from his head down, trying to convince herself that he wasn’t a ghost.

“She’ll help him. That’s all she had been doing” Lady Nor replied, prompting Desire to nod her head as tears rolled down her eyes.

“Help him, please” Sylvester wiped off her tears with his hand as he handed Ying over to one of his soldiers.

Ying was placed on a bed as he grunted in pain, one of those strange objects was in his leg, right leg, and an arrow was in his right arm, though the arrow had been broken, Desire knew she had to remove both almost at the same time.

She touched Ying’s face as he gently opened his eyes to look at her. A lone tear dropped from her eyes. She didn’t know how to feel. She had been worried about Sylvester forgetting totally about this brave man who could go extra miles to save anyone from death.

“It’s okay, Desire. Do your job, I’ll be fine. But no spider web stitches this time, woman” He joked making Desire laugh through her tears.

“I can’t assure that but I’ll manage to do better,” She replied.

Desire first put the healing ointment and herb on his arm to stop bleeding while Sylvester walked over with a gin, a local strong drink and poured some in Ying’s mouth.

“Swallow it, Ying. I know you don’t take alcohol on a normal day but this will help to stop the bleeding fast and reduce the pain” Ying nodded and swallowed the hot drink.

Desire and Fei got to work, with the latter working on his arm while Desire cut his leg up, removed the object and stitched him up. By the time they were done, Ying was already sleeping.

Sylvester went on to check up on the wounded soldiers who were already treated by his woman and he couldn’t be more proud of her.

“What is this, my lord?” The head of knights asked as he took one of the objects and showed it to Ying.

“It’s called a bullet and what they put it in is called a gun. I think the barbarians got it from the countries across the oceans” Sylvester explained.

“The Barbarians? Why are they fighting us, my lord?”

“The king allowed it, he declared a war on those who were thirsty for one already. He chewed more than he could swallow”