Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse

Winter was looking in the wrong direction, so she was slow off the mark.

"Winter, run!" screamed Arrie.

"Winter!" Feifei shouted. "Tubiàn! Get out of there!"

Delphi already had her bow knocked and managed to get an arrow away, but not before the bird reached the petite Winter.

Winter looked up in fright to see the huge, masked bird bearing down on her.

It had plummeted downwards and now it swooped right towards her as she ran to Feifei, trying to get off the exposed bridge.

Feifei started to sprint onto the bridge, her sword raised and shield in hand, but she was at least thirty metres away from the girl.

The bird dipped over Winter with its wings outstretched, a sharp spur visible on the tips of each of them.

She bent backwards as low as she could contort herself, which was remarkably low, being a gymnast. She looked like a limbo expert shuffling under the lowest rung.

Even so, she felt the bird scratch her as it passed. She righted herself and kept on running.

Feifei reached her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, providing overhead cover while they ran for the shelter of the trees.

The bird settled itself back on the grassy bank and turned its back on them. Seemingly satisfied that its job was done; so long as no one was on that bridge.

"Are you okay Winter?" Feifei asked her with concern, looking her up and down.

"It scratched me Feif. It didn't hurt, but it could be poisonous?"

"Yes, possibly," she said cautiously. "Even natural plovers have a poisonous spur. Do you know if it hit you with its wing? Or was it its beak or its claws?"

"I didn't see for sure, but possibly its wing?"

Delphi shouted from the other side of the bridge. "Is she okay?"

"She's been scratched," shouted Feifei. "I'm checking it out now."

"We'll cross further up or downstream and meet you one hundred metres north on the highway."

"Roger!"

"Where did it get you Winter?" asked Feifei.

"Looks like my boob."

Winter showed Feifei the tear on her top. She pulled it down slightly and exposed an angry red gash on the upper curve of her breast.

"Don't be frightened. We have good medicine with us. We'll get you treated."

"Okay," Winter said in a tiny voice.

"That's what you get for being such a badass who can bend over backwards when you're running forwards."

"I nearly slipped under it. If it wasn't for these implants, it would have missed me. They poke up higher than I'm used to. Normally that would have been air…"

Feifei gave her a rare hug, patting her back gently. "We've got you baby. Don't worry."

Feifei hoisted Winter up on her horse and they trotted off to wait for the others to cross and catch up to them.

By the time Delphi and the girls reached them, Feifei's temperature was already up, and the gash was starting to swell alarmingly.

Delphi looked at the wound in concern.

"Ruby." She motioned for Ruby to join her out of earshot.

Ruby rode over, with Arrie insisting on tagging along. "I need to hear the plan too Captain," she insisted.

Delphi nodded. "She's going to need treatment and some bedrest. We'll lead the guards on the road to the north, then we'll double back and pick you up this time tomorrow. We'll try to buy you twenty-four hours, but you haven't got much more than that. Arrie, I think Ruby is best placed to nurse Winter."

"Let me do it Captain," said Arrie. "Ruby can brief me on everything I need to know, and I'll look after her night and day and protect her from anything incoming."

"Hmm," Delphi thought the idea over. It wasn't a terrible pairing. Arrie was braver than Ruby, and she was certain to throw everything she had at caring for her. "Alright Arrie. Listen carefully to everything Ruby tells you now. We'll go and scout you somewhere to hole up and treat her while you're debriefing."

Arrie nodded with determination.

Delphi and Feifei settled the girls in a little brick farmhouse well off the road. It had access to a small flowing creek for water. They deliberately only took two horses to minimise their tracks in, leaving the pair stocked up with medicine and one horse.

Delphi and Feifei gave Winter a quick kiss. She was flushed and dripping with sweat, her hair plastered to her forehead, but she smiled through what was clearly a lot of pain and hugged them both as best she could with her good arm.

The tough Feifei dabbed at the corner of her eyes as they rode away from the farmhouse.

"Will she be okay?" she asked Delphi.

"She's a lot stronger than she looks. Remember the backbone she drew on when that octopus held her underwater? She'll get through it."

In the locked cottage, Arrie gently removed Winter's top and tried not to look too shocked at the ballooning swelling.

Winter's left breast was now twice the size of her right, and Arrie was immediately scared it might rupture the implant.

She set to work getting antibiotics into her friend, then cleaning the site of the scratch, and gently releasing the pressure by easing fluid out of it. Winter soon passed out, so it was lonely work, fetching and carrying water all day, keeping the girl's temperature under control, reducing the pressure from the swelling.

Finally, well into the night, Winter's fever broke, and she opened her eyes, looking around the firelit bedroom with confusion. She smiled weakly when she saw Arrie, remembering where she was and why.

"Thank you Arrie," she whispered croakily.

"Here, don't try and talk, have some water.""

Arrie propped Winter up and she drank a little. Arrie gently wiped her clean of the fever sweat until she felt mildly human again.

"My booby hurts so much," she said groggily.

"It would baby. It's twice the size it should be. Now that you're awake I can give you some more pain killers."

As the drugs took effect, Winter at last fell into a deep, fever-free sleep. Arrie dropped her head onto the bed beside her and slept, sitting on the floor holding Winter's hand.

Arrie let Winter sleep in for as long as she dared, then gently shook the girl awake.

"Sorry Winty, we have to go now. If we don't leave, we'll miss the girls, and the guards will work out where we are."

"It's okay Arrie. I can do it. I feel a lot better this morning," she assured her.

Arrie gently felt the swollen breast.

"It's not as tight as yesterday. I'll need to keep an eye on the swelling to make sure it doesn't rupture your implant. I'm afraid I'll need to keep releasing the fluid as we ride if it doesn't start reducing on its own."

Winter pushed herself upright. "I can manage. Let's do it."

------------------

The commander was following the girls' tracks north when Han called out from behind him.

"Commander, they seem to be one horse short?"

"It's probably Lili's horse that you're riding, man?"

"No. One less than that."

The commander rode back and read the tracks with Han. Sure enough, the girls were now riding six horses instead of seven.

"Han, Bo," he ordered. "Take the binoculars and head back to where they slept last night. See if you can find tracks for that missing horse. You might find Delphi's sent one of them on a side mission. She'll be vulnerable. See what you can do about catching her if she's alone."