The King, The Prince, and The Warrior

Chapter 28

The pilgrims stared in shock as Wukong carefully held his unconscious supposedly dead lover in his arms "But-but....you told us he died, centuries ago!" Zhu Bajie exclaimed in shock "I-I did, but...how is he still alive?" Wukong said finding his voice again as he stares down at the prince, Macaque let out a small groan in pain his face scrunching up a bit "somethings wrong" Wukong said walking to a tree and gently placing Macaque against it. He opens the cloak up more and they gasped at what they saw, Macaques fur was also charcoal black but most of his fur was missing, he was skinny that his ribs were practically poking out of his skin, old and new scars were scattered across his body along with burn marks, old and new bruises were everywhere, his clothes were nothing but dirty rags hanging off by strings, dirty bandages were wrapped around his arms and over his chest, and on his right leg was a black bear trap, blood dripping off it

Wukong saw the bear trap and immediately went to take it off Macaque but when his hands touched the metal he felt an unimaginable agonizing burning pain "AHHHH!!!" Wukong shouted letting go of the trap pulling his hands to his chest "Monkey/Brother!" Tripitaka, Ao Lie, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing said going to the copper simian "nnng I'm fine" Wukong said looking down at his hands seeing the nasty burns on them "what the heck was that?!" Zhu Bajie said looking at the bear trap "is it laced with some kind of magic or something?" The pig demon said touching the bear trap before pulling away "wait" Sha Wujing said looking at the bear trap closely "this metal, I've seen this before" the water spirit said looking back at the group "what is it Sha Wujing?" Tripitaka asked looking at his disciple "this is Dark Metal, the strongest metal ever known, this metal can not only hurt demons, but even immortals, and even...a celestial being, it says that this metal can even kill a powerful celestial" Sha Wujing said looking back at the bear trap

"B-but how are we going to get it off him it we can't touch it?" Ao Lie said looking at the bear trap,  Wukong grits his teeth and grabs onto the bear trap, pulling it apart again ignoring the blinding pain from his hands as well as the sizzling noise from it "Brother, wait, you can't touch it, it's hurting you!" Sha Wujing said as the copper simian groans in pain "the love of my life is in more pain for who knows how long, I'll be fine" Wukong said through gritted teeth. Blood started to drip from his hands as he use his strength to pry the bear trap open,  the bear trap creaks and slowly began to open when Macaque let out a yelp and a distress chirp, snapping Wukong out of his concentration and he lets go, pulling his hands to his chest "I can't....I can't it hurts" Wukong said his hands bleeding

Tripitaka looked at his disciples and to the wounded tanned simian, looking at the bear trap and down to his hands 'Demon, immortals, and celestials can't touch the metal, but....what happens if a human touches the metal' Tripitaka thought looking back at the bear trap, he touch the chain part of it and nothing happened 'It isn't effective for humans' The great monk thought looking back at the bear trap. Then he thought of something he had never thought of before, he grabs onto the teeth of the bear trap and began pull them apart "Master, what are you doing!?!" Zhu Bajie exclaimed making Ao Lie, Sha Wujing, and Wukong look at the monk "the Dark Metal isn't harmful to me, so I can touch it, and get this off of him" Tripitaka said grunting in pain

"Master...please don't hurt yourself....I-I just need a second, and I'll do it" Wukong said grunting in pain "I can't stand seeing any of my disciples in pain, I can do this" Tripitaka said, the bear trap creaks and slowly began to pry apart, the great monk groans in pain as blood started to trickle down the trap but Tripitaka kept going. The teeth of the bear trap slowly pulls out from Macaques legs making the tanned simian whimper in pain, Tripitaka pulls harder and harder ignoring the pain from the bear traps teeth digging into his hands and finally Macaques leg was free from the bear traps teeth, Ao Lie quickly and gently removed the tanned simians leg from the trap

Sha Wujing quickly placed the crescent moon blade end of his wooden staff into the trap, holding it in place as the great monk pulls his hands out, more blood dripping off from his wounds, Zhu Bajie quickly swung his rake down into the trap destroying it "Master, let me see" Ao Lie said taking the monks hands they had teeth marks from the trap and they were bleeding, the dragon boy grabbed some cloth and placed it on the wounds "nnhg I-I'm alright, I-It just stings" Tripitaka said wincing. Wukong looks at his master, then to Macaque who was still unconscious, and then to his hands seeing that the wounds had closed up but the nasty burns were still there "Wujing keep an eye out for any demons, Ao Lie treat masters wounds, Bajie stop the bleeding from Macaques leg, I gotta get something, I'll be right back" Wukong said summoning his cloud and flies off at high speed

Zhu Bajie quickly grabbed some cloth and gently wrapped it around the tanned simians leg, Macaque whimpers from the pain but was still unconscious, Sha Wujing looked around his weapon at hand as he scans around the area for demons or wild predators. 3 minutes later Wukong came back "I got the thing how's Macaque and master? " Wukong looking at the pale face of the monk "the bleeding hasn't stopped for either of them" Ao Lie said looking at his brother, Wukong looked at the monks pale face and to Macaque seeing the tanned simian paler "I gotta hurry" Wukong said going towards the luggage and pulling out the metal teapot and cups "Wukong, what are you doing?" Sha Wujing asked as Wukong went to a nearby river "master and Macaque are loosing too much blood they'll loose conscious, and the scent from their blood will attract demons and predators, in order for it to work it has to be a liquid" Wukong said filling the teapot up, he uses his power to heat up the teapot faster

When it was hot enough he opens the lid and pulled out two crystals the size of lotus petals, Ao Lie gasped, recognizing the petals "are those petals from the Lotus of Innocence?" Ao Lie said looking at the petals "yes, they'll stop the bleeding and heal their wounds" Wukong said dropping the petals into the teapot, the water began to bubble and glow "cover your eyes it's going to be bright" Wukong said closing his eyes, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and Ao Lie quickly covered their eyes while Tripitaka stared an awe as the water glows brighter and brighter, Wukong peaked his eye to see the monk still looking and covered the monks eyes with his hand just as a quick flash of blinding light shines from the teapot scaring some birds in the area

When it was over Wukong opens his eyes seeing the water was normal "you can look now" Wukong said pouring the tea into the cups, when they were filled he hand the first cup to his master "here, drink this master, it'll heal your hands" Wukong said, Tripitaka begins drinking it tasting a sweet honey and smokey flavor from the tea 'It tastes like Keemun black tea' Tripitaka thought as he drinks it, then his hands began to glow as they began healing. When the monk finishes the tea he looks down at his palms to see that the wounds close up a bit and the bleeding had stopped, he looks to the unconscious tanned simian as Wukong carefully pours the tea into his mouth seeing that the injury on Macaques leg was healing

"What about your hands, is there any left for you?" Tripitaka asked looking at his oldest disciple "it's fine master, there already healed up, don't worry" Wukong said showing his hands to the monk letting him see the healing burns. Ao Lie then began wrapping the monks hands as Wukong wrapped Macaques leg up, as he ties the cloth strip his head jolted up as he looks around scanning the area, he heard a faint twig snapping and turned to the direction to see a shadow figure ducking behind a tree "demons, they caught the scent, we need to go, now" Wukong said gently picking up Macaque bridal style, the others didn't argue or questioned it sensing the same feeling the copper simian was and they quickly packed up,Tripitaka quickly got on the white horse dragon and they began to leave unaware that a single strip of cloth with blood on it was left on the ground as well as a leaf with blood

After a while they were far enough from the danger and they came to a stop "okay, we're safe now" Wukong said, then they heard leaves rustling and they turn to see an old woman carrying a basket "oh, I did not mean to scare you all" the old woman said smiling "it's alright, you did startle us" Tripitaka said, the old woman smiled then noticed Macaque "oh, Is he alright?" The old woman asked looking at the tanned simian, Wukong glances at her and shifted away from her a bit "he's hurt, we're trying to heal him" Wukong said. The old woman looked at them and held out her basket "here, take this, there some things for your friend and injuries" the old woman said

"Oh, we can't" Tripitaka said politely "I insist, you all need it more than I do" the old woman said with a smile, Sha Wujing takes the basket and looks inside seeing a jar filled with ointment and clothes a red hanfu jacket with black lapel and cuff sleeves, black baggy hanfu pants, and black boots. They look back at the old woman to see her gone like she wasn't there "come on, well set camp here" Wukong said gently placing Macaque against a tree and began to tend to his wounds