Chapter 17. A treatment for collapsed man
AT THE SAME TIME
MEI SHEN’S POINT OF VIEW:
A heavy thud shattered the quiet of the village edge. I whipped around, heart leaping. A man, no, a stranger, was collapsing onto the wooden footbridge, skin burning with fever and face pale as winter frost.
"Help!" The word slipped from my lips before I could stop it.
I hurried forward, hands shaking as I caught him, steadying the weakening body against me. His breath was shallow, ragged, like he was drowning in air. Sweat slicked his brow, and his eyes fluttered open, faintly storm, green but glazed with pain. I didn’t recognize him. Not a traveler I had seen before.
"Stay with me." I whispered fiercely, fear tightening my chest. "You can’t die here."
His fingers twitched weakly, and a cough tore from his throat, harsh and rattling. My mind raced, panic blooming. I needed to get him somewhere safe, somewhere warm. I gathered him carefully into my arms, the weight of his burning body almost too much to bear. Every shallow breath he took sounded like a battle, and I felt my chest tighten with helplessness. Villagers watched in silence, whispers trailing like ghosts, but I barely noticed. All that mattered was getting him somewhere warm, somewhere safe.
The path was rough and slippery, but I didn’t slow, not even when his body sagged heavily against me, nearly slipping through my fingers. Finally, I crossed the threshold of my small home and set him down gently on the narrow cot, the familiar walls suddenly feeling too empty, too quiet for the storm raging inside me.
I pressed a cool cloth to his fevered forehead, fingers trembling as I searched my shelves for anything that might help, a bitter root, a healing balm, water. His storm green eyes fluttered open again, momentarily clearer, but still clouded with pain and confusion. He looked like he was drowning beneath his own skin and I didn’t know who he was. But he needed me and that was all that mattered. I pressed a cool cloth to his fevered brow, hands trembling but steady. His breathing was ragged, caught between life and something darker.
"Just hold on." I murmured, gathering herbs from the shelf with shaking fingers.
I crushed the leaves, mixing them with water, then gently fed the bitter tonic to his cracked lips. His eyes fluttered open briefly, storm green, clouded with pain and locked onto mine.
"Mei... Shen..."He whispered.