XInye's view

Once the man was sewn up, we dressed him in the cotton clothes we provided everyone, but I was concerned. The man was swimming in silk undergarments, and from what I could tell, only royalty or the Noble families could wear silk. So I went to Xin before I fell asleep.

"Xin," I put my hand on his arm, drawing his attention to me as he was in the process of organising everyone for the day, something that had been interrupted because of my walk.

"Xinye! How can I help you, my beautiful wife," he said with a smile reaching his eyes before pulling me in for a kiss.

"I am worried about that person we brought home," I said, opening the topic.

"Oh, why? Should I be jealous?" he joked with me.

"No, but I am concerned. I noticed his underwear is silk," I commented.

"Xinye! What are you doing looking at a man's underwear?" he exclaimed, "I really need to watch out for you, don't I."

"Good grief," I said, "You are being ridiculous. You know I was a nurse, and I used to look after sick people, it was my job to notice things, and that sort of thing, my good sir, is like a slap to the face - you couldn't miss it."

"But I did," he said, "And everyone else did."

"And you look with your eyes closed, too," I retorted, earning myself a hearty laugh.

"Well, that is true," he agreed, "This is one of the many reasons I married you. We need to find out who this man is as soon as he awakens."

"I think, given his suspected rank," I said hesitantly, "Only our most experienced carers better look after him."

 "So basically, you, Ying, and Fergus," Xin said, sighing, "Just don't overdo it, ok?"

"I won't, but I will do what I can when I can. You know I do not like leaving things to the others for too long as they were not trained as I was," I said, worrying.

"But you did train them," Xin reminded me, "and I think you did a good job."

I shook my head, "No, there is so much I have not taught them, and I wish I could, but it seems every time there is an emergency needing us to look after each other and the community, I can only last so long before blacking out."

"I know, and those times have been invaluable in teaching us," Xin offered his comfort, "I trust you, love, but be careful."

"I am always careful," I say, dismissing his worry. I perhaps should have listened to what he had to say, and maybe things would not have led to the mess that was to occur.

Prince Dudo's view

Taiji had sent me, as his brother, on a mission to round up more fighting men for his army. It was by sheer chance I had come across the monastic town. Being sick of war, I decided I would take a month-long break here. The views were fantastic, the monks and townfolk friendly. I felt the most relaxed I had been in years.

I had been there a week, and one of the local guides took me to all the sights in the area. The nicest being a waterhole just out of town.

"Do not swim here," the guide warned, pointing out the alligators, "If you get the odd one of these, you might be able to swim here, but not here. This family of alligators is vicious. Everyone in town knows to avoid this spot."

"Where do you go swimming then?" I wondered.

"I will show you," and he then took me to the other side of town, in the opposite direction of this watering hole, to a smaller, more secluded one. It had an enormous overhanging rock on one side, and the spot had a sandy bottom and sandy sides to walk in comfortably. There were even rocks further up suitable for cleaning clothes.

"It is a pretty area," I admired it, thinking to myself that I would go back to the alligator-infested one for quiet and not to swim, to sit and think and draw.

It was three days before I headed back to the alligator waterhole, and when I arrived, to my amazement, three people were swimming. A very white older lady and her two children.

I went to go forward to warn them, but as I did, they exited the water and headed home. This happened for four days in a row. Each time I went to warn the family of the dangers, they went home, the lady pushing some strange contraption. 

When I first saw the lady, I did not think much of her, she was too plain to be beautiful, but as time passed, I noticed her gentleness toward her children, allowing them to be children—admonishing them when necessary.

I decided to go earlier and see if they showed up again. I went at daybreak this time. It turned out I did not need long to wait. The lady and her children showed up not long afterward. The lady lay out a blanket and set out food for a picnic that had been stored in the strange chair with wheels attached to each leg. The family then had breakfast. 

They rested awhile afterward and then went swimming. It seemed they were in the water a quarter of the day before all of them packed up and headed home. All I could do was watch.

Each day I returned, and each day, they were there. I think that was when my obsession with the woman started, and for the first time in my life I wanted someone other than my two wives. As each day passed, I found her more and more desirable, to the point I jerked off as I watched the innocent family swim.

I do not know why I did not approach them. It was my right as a prince to have whomever I wanted within reason. For some reason, I was prevented from making myself known. Each night I would burn with a fever, dreaming of that woman. Dreaming of what I would do to her should she come within touching distance. I decided about the second week of watching I would make her mine, come what may.

It seemed to me that the local guide lied and that the alligators were harmless at that time of day. It had been three weeks of me watching the family and seeing them have the same routine for a bit over two weeks. They were late in the day. I decided to get in the water and swim.

I thought it would be better for them to find me swimming and introduce myself that way. I was mistaken.

I was happily swimming in the water, in my underclothes (I had put my outerwear on a rock folded for protection) for perhaps 5 minutes before I was brutally attacked. The creature grabbed me by my arm and pulled me into a spin underwater. I started punching the alligator with my other hand. The alligator stopped spinning, allowing me to stand for a minute, and I started calling for help, "Help! Help me please!"

But no one came. I should not have been surprised by this as the guide did say not many came this way despite its beauty because of the danger of the alligators. But I was surprised.

"Where are the lady and her children?" I wondered, "Perhaps they were nymphs from another world?" I immediately scoffed at myself for the thought. Nymphs were said to be insanely pretty; a person would want them straight away. This was not the case with this family. 

Yes, the children were beautiful, as if they were divine beings come to earth, but my eyes and heart had been turned by what I thought once a plain woman. 

My thoughts did not stay on them long as the pain in my arm was excruciating. It felt like it would fall off any minute, and my fight with the creature... I was losing.

I knew I was not going to survive then, but still, I yelled, and as I felt my consciousness slipping, I groaned out from the depth of my spirit, "God help me."

It was then I saw the lady running in like a warrior, waving a stick and whacking the alligator with it. I recognised the language as that of the foreign devils that occasionally traded with us. I did not know the language, though. The only word sticking in my memory was "Jesus," as if that was the God she was calling on.

The alligator snapped my arm clean through then and swum off with its prize. It was all too much for me. I felt my consciousness fading, but I felt the woman tugging at me and pointing to the chair she had used with her children.

As I had seen her children hitch a ride on the chair when they were leaving the waterhole, I understood she wanted to get me to there so she could push me to where ever it was she lived. I nodded and tried to stand and help her get me there, but I was too weak. I kept falling, almost pulling her with me each time.

We eventually got to the chair, and I sat in it and slumped over to try and stop myself from falling out of the chair while she pushed me. I knew if I fell out of it, it would be over for me. There would be no way that frail woman would be able to pick me up again if I was unconscious.

She started pushing me when suddenly a beautiful man took over, I almost mistook him for a female, but he was wearing men's clothes. 'Perhaps he is just effeminate," the stray thought went through my head. 

"Stop!" the strange word was sounded, and the chair stopped. I opened my eyes, and I was astonished to see the woman start undressing. 

'No, don't do that. These men aren't worthy of your beauty,' I thought. Apparently, they thought the same thing as they tried to stop her. She shook them off and started wrapping the belt around what was left of my arm. 'Oh,' I thought, 'that's what she was doing. Saving me. What a wonderful woman.'

Once she had tied off my arm, stopping the bleeding as best one could in such a situation, she indicated to the effeminate man to go again. I passed out then, feeling myself being pushed up the mountain track in the direction the children and her would go at the end of their swim. 

I remember seeing a man run fast past, and that same man carrying the woman back. I thought I was hallucinating, though.

When I arrived in front of a manor, another man took over my care and pushed me to a room, and then he undressed me, leaving me only in my drawers, and deposited me into a bath that smelled a little strange. 

Another man came in and asked, "What have you put in the water this time?"

"Ginger, Garlic, chamomile, echinacea, and white willow bark," the second man replied as he undressed my royal person.

"Stop," I objected, "You have no right to touch me!"

The man ignored me and thoroughly cleaned every bit of my skin, paying particular attention to the cuts. I decided just to let him do it as it would hurt more to fight the obviously well-intentioned man.

The man watching the process disappeared for a while before appearing again to say, "She is ready."

The man cleaning me must have been waiting on this word as he took me out of the water, still in my underwear, wrapped me in a towel, put me on the chair, and dried me off, throwing the bloody towels into a basket before wheeling me over to what I assume was the hall of this manor.

The hall was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There was a strange table in the center of it and a sideboard with what looked like various knives on it.

"NO!" I objected, but it did me nothing. The last of my strength left me; all I knew was a blackness enfolding me.

When I woke, I woke to the lady sitting next to me holding my hand. It felt as if her strength was being poured into me with her touch.

"Oh, you're awake," she said in a strange language that I did not understand before she asked, "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

It was then I felt all the pain everywhere and nodded.

She acted straight away, giving me a poppy syrup which eased my pain, almost immediately taking me away. She would not let me sleep, though; she sat me up and fed me soup.

It was delicious and filling, but it had no lumps. It was only fluid. I guess she understood my stomach was in no shape to handle anything more.

For, what I could tell, was the next few days, I went in and out of consciousness as my body struggled to heal itself. My appetite improved with each day, and I was more active than the last. It seemed to me that it was just her looking after me and that annoying man who would bathe me twice a day in that horrendous smelling bath.

Whatever was in it worked, though. My wounds stayed clean and were healing nicely. Even though there was no hope for my arm to recover, I struggled with its loss. I often fell into bouts of melancholy followed by sobs wracking my body as I mourned its loss.

The kind woman sat holding my hand, giving me comfort and strength through it all. I got bolder and hugged her outright, my tears often soaking her clothes, and she would pat my back.

Each day she spent with me, I wondered what I had seen in other women, and as I already had a first wife, I decided that I would steal her away for my second wife. I kept that idea to myself, though, as the men next to me would often glare at me, warning me not to be so familiar with the General's wife.

I did not see the General in the times I was awake, though I was told by the two men that had rescued me and were sleeping in cots next to me in the hall that he had visited each night, taking his wife to bed, at which point Fergus would look over me. 

When I was better, I was left with the two men. No-one looked after me. I played helpless longer than I actually was as I enjoyed the lady I now knew was called Xinye, feeding me. I remember her looking at me skeptically when I was well enough to feed myself, but she fed me anyway.

Ironically, I did not see her again when she felt I was better. Instead, it was Fergus who was helping me recover with walking and condiment use. When I was better, I finally met General Xin.

"Xin!" I greeted him warmly, "How long have you been here?"

"This is my home Dudo," he smiled at me warmly, "I apologise for not recognising you sooner you were a bit too much of a mess when you arrived. What brings you here? And why were you swimming in that hole? Surely the locals warned you against it?"

"I see. Thank you for your hospitality," I said, "The locals did warn me, but I saw a lady and her two children swimming in it for three weeks at the same time each day. So I thought it was safe."

The General's eyes narrowed then, "Were you spying on my wife and children?"

I felt afraid then with his presence. I knew from first-hand experience the terror this man was on the battlefield. I had only fought beside him once and refused to again. Both his tactics and fighting style were brutal. I had heard he had a son who took over for him, "No," I lied, "So, I heard that you had a son who took over from you on the battlefield?"

"Yes, my wife's son took over. I adopted him as I did not think she could have any more children," he nodded.

"Is he as terrifying as you?" I wondered.

"I am told he is more terrifying as he is coldly calculating on top of what I taught him" Xin smiled with pride.

"Who is your wife? Will I get to meet her?"

A strange look overtook his face, as if he was insanely jealous of me, "No, you will not be seeing her again while you are here. But you have met her."

"What is with the look?" I asked.

"I know what you did with my wife," He said menacingly, "She is too kind to say anything to you, but now you are better. She does not want to meet you again."

"Can I not see her again to thank her?" I ask him.

"I will ask her," he agreed, "But if she decides to see you, I will be with her and her guards and her son."

"Her son? She has a son here? I thought you said he was on the battlefield?" I said, confused.

"A son in on the battlefield, sure, Another son is with my sister and is her husband, and her last son to her first husband is here," Xin explained.

"Wait, how old is your wife?" I said, suddenly thinking that beautiful woman was not in her 30s like I had thought.

"53" Xin smiled then.

"You are kidding, right?" I said, shocked. There was no way that woman looking after me was 53.

"No, I am not," he said earnestly, "I bet you thought she was in her late thirties, like me, right?"

I nodded, "How is it possible?"

"When I met and married her, she was 48," Xin explained, "When I found out, I was as shocked as you. I honestly thought that she was dying of cancer, but she was not. She had my two beautiful children. But before that, I had resigned myself to only having her children to her first husband as my own."

"How did you meet her?" I wondered.

"You know those people that arrived suddenly here?"

"Yes? Were they not all enslaved?"

"Yes, I bought and freed her. Sometime later, her son was brought to the palace as an interpreter, and her other son came in a horseless carriage later again. I adopted them both when I married her," Xin explained.

"Did you not say your sister married one of her sons? Did you adopt him too?"

"No," Xin shook his head, "that would be too weird. It is weird enough that my sister is married to him."

"I see," I nodded. Despite finding all this out, I still planned to take her from the General. It just would not be as easy as I thought.

🍀A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. Please let me know if you see any errors, as this is unedited.