The Last Chance

8. Somewhere On the Water and On the Land

The sky became darker. It was nearly in the afternoon. Po's glance glued at Gongmen City which became smaller and smaller while the little boat cruised along the coast. He had no idea what he should do now. He realized he had deserted Mantis and the others. But otherwise, he was worried that the attackers would kill Shen. He just hoped that his friends were okay.
He heard Shen's moans. Po grabbed the paddle and canoed faster away from the city. His glance was determined.
He wanted to know what happened in the night. That's what he wanted to know before Shen died. It was his right to know the truth. As long as Shen was in his nearness, it wouldn't be wrong to keep him alive until the danger was over for him and the others.
After a while he stopped and panted. "Oh, little break."
He put the paddle aside and leaned back. Lost in thought, he let wander his glance. His eyes stuck on Shen, who moved a little with closed eyes.
Po sighed. He stood up and rummaged in a wooden sea chest box to find something to release him from the cord.
He found an old knife and went with it to the peacock. Carefully, he put away the blanket and cut through the rope. The lord breathed with hissing sounds when the rope was losing around his wings. Po threw the cord away and thought about what he should do next.
He winced. Shen began to move firmer and tried to crawl. Suddenly, the peacock made quick movements. His eyes were wide open. Po flinched a few steps. What's up with him? Was he going to choke or to attack?
In the next second, Shen jumped forwards, he bent his head over the railing of the little boat and... disgorged.
Po did nothing. He let him vomit. Had it been all too much for him? Or was something badly damaged?
It wasn't long. After less than 10 seconds, Shen lifted his head again and breathed heavily. With trembling wings, he clung to the boat. Po touched his back.
"It's okay."
Suddenly, Shen moved his head in his direction and looked at him with hateful and ashamed eyes. To vomit in front of his biggest enemy, it was humiliation than nothing more in the world. But he was still too weak to attack him. He moved his beak, but Po couldn't understand what he said, but he guessed, it weren't positive words.
But then, Shen managed to form clear words. "You... dead."
Suddenly, he rolled back his pupils and closed his eyes nervelessly. Po bent down and held his upper body which hang powerless over the boat railing.
Carefully, he brought him back into the boat. He rolled him on his back and watched him. Po controlled his pulse and felt the heart was still beating. Slowly, he petted over Shen's head. He had pity on him. Would that lord ever change? Po couldn't understand that such a powerful ruler had thrown away all what he had in his life just to become a cruel military leader.
Po laid him down again and looked for some materials to clean his old and new wounds. The old wounds from the cannon crash were already healed, but there were still little splinters of wood inside. Some of them were a little inflamed. Po had no idea to treat such kind of wounds. He decided to clean them with water and to take care of them later when he would find a doctor.
Po sighed. Where should he find a doctor? Po winced. What will Shifu say? Or all the others?
He shook his head. There was still time for this later.
With a towel, he cleaned Shen's head wound and wrapped another clean cloth around it. Shen narrowed his eyes tensely. He felt the pain, but he had no force to wake up again. He had to recover.
After Po was ready with that, he covered the lord's body with the brown blanket again. Then he lay down beside the peacock and watched the lord's breathing moving chest. At least his heart was still working. Maybe it was improbable that he would die. At least, he hoped. Tiredly, he closed his eyes to get a little sleep.
Meanwhile, the boat swam along the forested beach. The waves floated it closer to the mainland. Suddenly, the boat stranded. Po opened his eyes and looked around.
Woods and trees grew on the beach. He decided to leave the boat here. He had still no clear aim, but they had to find a place where they are in safe for a moment.
Carefully, he took the lord back in his arms, the blanket still tightly wrapped around him, and marched through the forest. At least the peacock wasn't very heavy so that it was no problem for Po to carry him.
After a while, Po became hungry.
"Stupid. No lunch." He sighed deeply and looked to the sky. "I could need a little sign from the universe now."
In the next second, he saw a wooden cart with vegetables.
Po looked at it with surprised big eyes. "Wow, that was a quick answer. Thank you."
He walked faster and put down Shen in the grass. He grabbed a big radish from one of the wooden boxes and took a bite.
"Mmmmh. Like at home."
He stopped and eyed the big wooden cart. Then he had an idea.