~~[:///* MULAN 2.1 *\\\:]~~

Chapter One

firework falcon

Fireworks exploded in the night sky; blazing paint spattered by some celestial artist above the Imperial Palace, whose many pillars were the brilliant red of wet ink. The countless rafters were decorated with gold foil and complex patterns of blue, green and white; everywhere crowded with red festival lanterns. On the four corners of each and every roof, a procession of guardian beasts was carved – lions, dragons, horses, dogs, snakes; all led by golden roosters bearing tiny emperors.

It was a mockery.

He had answered China's challenge; crossing the Great Wall, crushing their army, even holding a blade to their leader's throat. And now the people of China were laughing in his face, celebrating his demise before he had even breathed his last.

Flat on his back in a courtyard behind the main square of the Forbidden City, Shan Yu had no choice but to glare upwards with loathing in his core.

An avalanche did not burn like this.

There was a soft thud behind him and his yellow eyes flicked round to find the source. They met the thin face of his archer, approaching over the cobbles on soft feet.

The archer made no move to aid the most dangerous, brutal warrior he had ever met. He knew that nothing less than a shattered spine would stop this man standing up on his own.

"Jian Shi," growled Shan Yu, calling his henchman's name. His skin crawled with ice, hair prickling from an old instinct. On the very edge of death Shan Yu's voice did not tremble. "The soldier that made the mountain fall, that woman…"

Jian Shi rubbed his throat bitterly; he had been strangled using his own bow by the one his chieftain spoke of. "I know her," he spat.

Shan Yu closed his eyes, relaxing. He did not need to give the order, and that alone was all the acknowledgement of trust his followers had ever required. A vicious smile bared sharp teeth stained with his own blood.

Death came in the single beat of a drum.

With the cry of a striking falcon, swooping low over the warlord's corpse in an eerie salute before soaring out of sight into the limitless dark heavens; death departed.

~2.1~

By Alliriyan