"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. It must be one of her brothers to call her informally like that.
As the commander watched in horror, the arrow flew high. Too high to injure her or the horse, he saw with a huge sense of relief.
The arrow lodged itself in the centre of a huge hornet's nest that hung from an old poplar shading the drinking hole.
Murder hornets, Bai Li registered 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.
Meili looked up in shock, wondering what had just happened, at the same time trying to see who it was that was crashing down the hillside towards her at such a frantic pace.
Then her horse let out a sharp whinny of pain, rearing onto its hind-legs.
The commander watched Meili cling to the stallion with her legs, as she clasped her own back.
She also screamed now, and the cry of agony hit him like a punch in the chest.
"Rishi! Go!" he shouted, shooting at 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 snarling with rage.
Tufei continued to rear and buck on the bank of the pool, filling the forest with his piercing 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.
She lay flat against Tufei's neck, desperately trying to avoid the sticks and branches that he was snapping and whipping 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 the crazed Tufei.
Bai Li was more and more concerned that he would lose the pair.
"Meili," he shouted ahead, "jump off if you can".
His voice was lost in Tufei's panicked whinnies.
Meili was absolutely silent. She was in intense agony with a pain in her back unlike anything she had ever felt before, the pain distracting her from the hair-raising ride as Tufei carried her through the forest like the hounds of hell were chasing him.
Tricky followed after the pair, 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 and yipping anxiously as he ran.
Bai Li had no idea how long and how far that damned horse ran, but it felt like miles before he was able to get Rishi to draw level with him.
He reached across and pulled the girl from her galloping horse onto Rishi, drawing the warhorse to a stop as soon as he had her safely in his arms.
He jumped down to the forest floor and ran his eyes searchingly over her, checking for wounds and stings; her face was white with pain and beaded with sweat.
"Tufei?" she muttered, through lips clenched with pain.
"He's been stung by hornets Mei Meili. So have you. There's nothing you can do for him now. Focus on yourself and managing the pain."
There was a large cave entrance further up the hill to their right. Bai Li ran with her in his arms, carrying her into the shelter of the rock formation.
He laid her down gently on a bed of soft, damp moss.
"Where's the bite Meili?" he asked her urgently. "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, her eyes fluttering.
"Jesus Christ," he grunted, starting to pull at the complicated 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 to camp 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 exactly 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, his large fingers fumbling until he 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 wound around her chest.
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 swiftly removed the stinger, then gently unwound the chest binding, laying her face down so he wouldn't see her breasts.
He did his best not to look at her, but even having her bare back exposed was making things challenging for him. He was only human after all...
He gently felt across her legs through her riding pants for any other swellings. There was nothing.
He quickly swept his hands over her curvaceous bottom. He pulled at his collar. This was getting to be extremely difficult for him.
He reached around under her and felt across the soft skin of her tummy. It was smooth and flawless.
He struggled to maintain his focus and stop his mind from wandering to places it shouldn't...
He scratched his head at the ethical dilemma facing him. Did he check her chest area for bites, an action so forbidden to him that just the thought had caused him to break out in a full body sweat.
Sweat started to trickled from his temples into his eyes.
Should he take the chance that the bite on her shoulder blade was the only one?
What if she came to while he was checking her chest?
Should he feel it, or look at it?!
In the end the choice was easy, she must live, and the consequences of his actions would either be buried forever more, or dealt with if they came to light.
He took a shaky breath and reached under her chest.