For any of you who are not familiar with the system of measurements used, a yard is about .9 meters, and a pound is about .45 kilograms.
Anyone who would like a visual representation of the weapon I attempt to describe, type "atlatl" in Google Images.
Warning: this chapter is about hunting and will briefly mention killing and butchering animals.
Finally, please rate and review.
Aurora's awareness of her feelings for Mulan was slowly driving her insane. She had developed cravings for the warrior's touch. These cravings were making her reckless, indiscreet in her actions towards Mulan. In fact, last night, she had planned the evening around her desire it be close to Mulan. It had been very cold last night, so Aurora suggested that they sit close to the fire and tell stories. She told the famous story of King Arthur and his knights. Mulan shared a fable about a maiden who died after trying to brake a deal with a dragon. More importantly, Aurora had spent the time leaning against Mulan and when they went to bed, she was again invited into Mulan's bed roll.
They had continued following the stream until presently, they were standing at the base of a twenty foot cliff the water was cascading off of. Aurora came up next to Mulan, and it took every ounce of self-control she had to keep herself from slipping her hand into Mulan's. She squinted up the rock face. "Well what do we do now?"
Mulan looked from the cliff to Aurora. "I think we should make camp here and climb it tomorrow. I know it is a little early to set camp, but we don't know what it's like up there and I don't want to leave the stream. What do you think?"
"I, wait, you want my opinion?"
Mulan looked puzzled. "Yes, that's why I asked."
"Oh, well, I-I guess I agree with you. Everything we need is down here." Aurora could feel the blush creeping up her neck. Mulan eyed her skeptically until she gave a curt nod and moved to prepare a shelter. Aurora went to complete her normal self-appointed tasks of building a fire and setting traps.
On her way down to the stream Aurora berated herself for her stupidity. Why would she say something like that? "Everything we need is down here." What a stupid thing to say. Her mouth was functioning without her brain's consent and this was the outcome. Honestly, while Mulan was speaking, she was only half listening. She was thinking about how perfect Mulan looked with the waterfall behind her. Then when Mulan gave her that look, Aurora was terrified that she had guessed at her secret feelings. Aurora knew she had to be more careful, but also knew she was losing control. She also had no idea what Mulan felt for her, which made the idea of discovery that much more daunting.
When Aurora came back, Mulan was sitting on a log she had pulled up to the fire tying sharpened stones onto feathered shafts no longer than four feet. Beside her were two, small branches. Each branch had a small offshoot that had been broken off. Mulan looked up when she heard the approaching princess. "Are you ready to go?"
"Where?" Aurora asked, her head tilting to the side in curiosity.
"Well earlier, I saw some rather fresh looking wild pig tracks. We should try to track them down. If we get one, we won't have to worry about food for about a week. I'm just finishing the spears."
Aurora was excited. Finally, she was going to learn to hunt. The only hunting she had ever done was with dogs or falcons. Then, all she had had to do was follow them on her horse and give the order for the servant to kill the beast. More recently, there were the animals in the traps that had to be taken care of, but that had only occurred a couple times over the last two weeks. They were also already contained. All she had to do was remember where she set the trap.
"Alright, are there any preparations you need help with?"
Mulan looked around the area for a moment. "Could you get a rock and scrape the bark off of that tree? Make the bare spot about the size of your hand."
Aurora did what she was asked. Mulan was finished by the time Aurora had made the mark and came over to the princess carrying the two branches and four of the ten spears.
Aurora looked at the weapons. "How did you make those so fast?"
Mulan stopped in front of her. "Well I already had the spear heads and feathers. I just had to put them all together. Plus, you were down by the river for a while."
Aurora, feeling the need to defend herself, said, "I walked down river a ways to set the traps."
Mulan seemed to ignore her statement, choosing instead to get back to the task at hand. She handed one of the branches to Aurora along with a spear. "Okay, so before we can go try to track the pigs, you need to learn how to use this. This branch is used to add power to you throw. Hold it in your right hand with your last two fingers and thumb. Put the butt of the spear against the nub and steady it by setting it between your index and middle fingers." Mulan paused there to make sure Aurora was doing it correctly, and then continued. "Step back on your right foot, with your hand over you right shoulder. Throw it like you would a normal spear, your wrist will flick forward and the spear will separate from your thrower. It will look something like this."
Mulan put a spear in her own thrower and mimed the throwing motion slowly for Aurora to see. Once she made sure Aurora understood, she reset and hurled to spear at the spot on the tree thirty feet away. The spear embedded itself a few inches in at the center of the target. Mulan seemed pleased with her work and look to Aurora for her to try. At first Aurora had trouble, but with Mulan's help she managed to get her first spear in the tree just above the mark. After a few more shots, she proved she was competent. Of the four spears they used for practice, three had lost their heads in the tree. They collected the usable spears. Aurora carried four while Mulan had three as well as the knife. Together, they set off into the woods.
Aurora followed Mulan back through the bushes to where Mulan had seen the tracks. She stopped and crouched down to inspect the ground, then looked at the base of a nearby tree. "Aurora, look, they must not have pass by her that long ago. The mud on this tree is not completely dry yet."
"Why would they rub mud on the tree?"
Mulan, who had started walking in the direction the tracks were pointed answered, "They like to lie around in the mud to keep cool, and rub against trees to scratch their backs. The mud gets transferred from their backs to the bark."
Aurora, satisfied with this answer, followed quietly. They walked about 100 yards until they came upon a clearing up against a cliff. In this clearing, four female, adult pigs were lounging around while about twenty older looking piglets were exploring their surroundings. Fortunately, the wind was coming off of the cliff, so the presence of the women went unnoticed. Mulan grabbed Aurora's arm and pulled her back a safe distance to talk.
"This might be dangerous. They are cornered, so their instincts are going to tell them to charge at us if we attack."
Aurora considered this piece of information for a moment before asking, "How dangerous?"
"One of us could get mauled. They're fast and vicious. Especially if we go after one of the young ones, which we will have to do because we won't be able to carry one of the adults back to camp, even together."
Aurora again considered carefully before asking, "Do you think it is worth the risk and will we be able to get it up the waterfall?"
"We will defiantly be able to get a small one up the waterfall. As for being worth the risk, I think it might be. Our luck at trapping and fishing has been great, but I don't want to depend on luck." Mulan's face fell a little. "Also, I don't really know the area we are in. The stream we have been following could end soon, or we could get to the edge of the forest. It would be good to have food with us."
Aurora was starting to wonder who Mulan was trying to convince. All of the points she had sounded valid to Aurora. She ventured, "If there is a way we can do this to minimize the risk, I think we should go for it."
Mulan nodded. "We better go get another look at them and pick out which one we want. Then we will attack from a flank so the others don't feel cornered. Agreed?"
Aurora nodded, "Agreed." With that, they crept back towards the clearing where the pigs were still resting. They crouched there, watching the piglets until Mulan pointed out one of the smaller ones. "That one, it has got a limp from a poorly healed broken leg."
"How can you tell?"
"Look closely, it is crooked."
Aurora looked again and saw that the back left leg was indeed crooked. "Okay, so now what side should we choose?"
Mulan looked around before deciding. "The wind shifted a little. It is coming from the right, so we should go to the left. Pigs have a good sense of smell. Once there, we wait for a good shot. If everything goes well, we will kill it on the first shot and the rest of the pigs will flee in the opposite direction."
"What's the worst that could happen?"
"We miss completely and get charged at." Mulan stated matter-of-factly. They made their way around the clearing to the desired position. Once there, Mulan looked at Aurora. "If something goes wrong and they charge us, climb that tree." Aurora nodded and they crouched in the ferns waiting for a good time to strike.
As they waited there, Aurora took the time to wrap her mind around what exactly they were doing. More importantly, what they were doing together. Two weeks ago, Mulan would have never allowed Aurora to go hunting with her, let alone suggest it. She was grateful towards Mulan for putting so much time and energy into her, to teach her how to do these things. Aurora couldn't help but wonder if Philip would have taught her how to survive or would even be okay with her learning these skills. She decided not. Philip would have tried to keep her as his perfect, innocent princess; the girl he fell in love with. He would have never taken into consideration that because of the change in environment, it would be good for her to learn how to cope. He didn't accept change well, but Mulan seemed to. Once Aurora got her to begin, Mulan had been pushing Aurora to adapt. It was just another thing Aurora loved about Mulan.
Aurora's gaze drifted from the pigs to Mulan who had the cutest look of focused determination. She remembered were supposed to be looking for an opportunity to strike and tore her attention back to the clearing. The piglet they had targeted was rummaging around in the dirt right by its mother. Then the mother got up and trotted towards the other piglets. Mulan's whispered "Now" was barely above a breath. She launched a spear at the abandoned pig, shortly followed by Aurora's. Both shots embedded themselves into the pig. It fell over squealing. The mother ran to its fallen offspring as the others fled in the opposite direction. Suddenly, it lifted its head and smelled the air. Grunting, it turned towards Aurora and Mulan.
"Aurora, climb the tree, it is going to charge." Aurora was up about seven feet before she noticed she wasn't being followed. Twisting back, she could see Mulan had pulled the knife out still crouched on the ground. The sow was pacing in front of the tree line as if looking for the warrior.
Aurora panicked. "Mulan move!"
The sow charged strait for the tree Aurora was sitting in. It got to the base of the tree and jumped up on its hind legs, supporting itself against the trunk. As it was snapping at Aurora's ankles, which were far out of the animal's range, Mulan took the opportunity to grab their quarry. Mulan quietly approached the fallen beast and leaned over it to remove the projectiles. In a final attempt to survive, the piglet flailed at Mulan, managing to clamp its jaw down on her wrist before the warrior slit its throat. The sow pivoted from the tree and charged back into the clearing. Mulan must have anticipated this, because she was already swinging herself up into a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. The pig circled the clearing once before she went back to her now dead piglet. She nudged the carcass with her snout before letting out a mournful squeal and trotting in the direction the rest of her group had fled in.
Aurora went to jump down from the tree, but saw Mulan shaking her head. She understood that she should stay put for a few moments to make sure it was safe. From across the clearing, she could see that Mulan was cradling her right hand tenderly. Fearing she was seriously hurt, Aurora jumped down, despite the warning and walked into the clearing. Seeing there was no threat, Mulan also left her tree and met Aurora by the carcass.
"Mulan, your hand! What happened? Is it serious?"
Mulan attempted to smile reassuringly at Aurora, but it ended up being more of a grimace. "I was punished for my carelessness. The little bastard had a really strong bite. I think my wrist is broken."
Aurora looked at Mulan's injury. "We have to get back to camp to treat that. Come on." She turned to leave, but was stopped by Mulan.
"We have to bring this with us," she said, nudging the piglet with her foot, "as well as the weapons." Mulan bent down, removed the spears, and started lifting the carcass with her good hand.
Aurora rushed over to stop her. "There is no way you are carrying that all the way back to camp with one hand! I will do it."
Mulan straitened up with an amused expression. "It weighs at least twenty pounds. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Aurora already had her arm under it and lifting it close to her body. Mulan's eye fell on the dropped knife. "Wait, cut the head off before we go. We won't need it and the body will weigh less without it."
She retrieved the blade and handed it to Aurora who chopped off the head and buried it. Mulan kicked at the ground to try to get a layer of dirt over the blood. They weren't that far from their camp and didn't want any wondering predators to stumble into them. Mulan tucked the knife and spear launchers into her belt and insisted that if Aurora was going to carry the pig, she could carry the five remaining spears in her good hand. Aurora reluctantly agreed and the two set off from the clearing towards the camp.
It was dark by the time they made it back to camp. Aurora dropped the body and went to rebuild the fire. Mulan handed her the knife again and asked her if she felt up to starting to clean the kill while Mulan cleaned and bandaged her wrist. Mulan promised help as soon as she was done.
Aurora turned back to the corpse with the knife. She started by removing the hooves. Then she slit it up the belly and pulled out all of the internal organs. After the body was skinned, she took all of the unwanted parts away from the camp a little and buried them. When she returned, Mulan was preparing a rack to smoke the meat on. Concerned, Aurora asked Mulan if she was okay to be working with her injured hand.
"As long as I am careful, I will be fine. It's wrapped pretty tight, so I can use it to some extent. I can't lift anything heavy with it and, being right handed, I should stay away from knives for a while. I assure you, I am well enough to dry meat."
Aurora, still not convinced asked, "Don't you think you should rest?"
Mulan nodded. "I promise I will as soon as the meat is taken care of."
Aurora grudgingly accepted Mulan was not going to back down on this. She sliced the meat and handed it to Mulan, who put it on the rack. When all of the meat was smoked dry, the resulting jerky was packed away.
Aurora moved towards the shelter, suppressing a yawn, but was stopped when her name was called. Turning to Mulan she asked what was wrong. Mulan blushed a little as she explained, "You're covered in blood."
Aurora looked down and saw she did indeed have blood stains all down her body. She looked back at Mulan. "You are too. What do you suggest we do about it?"
Mulan paused, then started slowly, "Well, it is too dark to wash it out now but it's not good to go bed covered in blood. The sent might attract animals…"
All Aurora wanted to do at this point was go to bed. Without waiting for Mulan to finish, she took off her clothes and went to hang them off of a branch. When she turned around, Mulan was right in front of her putting her own clothes with Aurora's. She was effectively trapped between the tree trunk and Mulan. Aurora instantly felt a strong urge to grab the warrior and kiss her right there, but managed to suppress it. When Mulan moved, Aurora found she was slightly disappointed, but followed her to the shelter. She stood in the entrance way as Mulan lay down. Holding the blanket open, she asked Aurora if she was coming.
Aurora wanted to more than anything, but was worried about Mulan. "I don't want to hurt your hand more than it already is."
Mulan laughed at this. "Don't worry about me. Now come here before you get sick."
Aurora relented and snuggled into Mulan like she had for the past two nights. Despite the long day, sleep would not come to her. She had too many thoughts swirling around in her mind. The flippancy with which she had been regarding Philip recently scared her. Wasn't he her true love? If he was, how could she be in love with Mulan? She was, without a doubt, in love with Mulan. It was the most concrete thing in her mind. This feeling she experienced, even now, when Mulan touched her was unparallel to anything she had ever felt with Philip. It was the feeling she had only ever heard about in the great romance myths. She loved Mulan. How had Philip woken her? It didn't make sense. Aurora thought about these questions for quite some time before she came to a startling realization: she didn't care. Of course, she was grateful to Philip for waking her and he would always be a special person to her, but Mulan was just… more. The question that worried her the most now presented itself. Did Mulan love her too? Aurora analyzed her time with Mulan. She started with the night Philip was with them, and then the time spent with Snow and Emma. Finally, she looked at the last couple weeks with extreme care. It was the time frame that Mulan had really opened up, and when Aurora realized her own feelings. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find a definitive answer. The only way to find out what Mulan was thinking was to ask her. That prospect terrified Aurora, but she had to find out, before these emotions destroyed her. She fell asleep wondering just how she was going to approach Mulan with this topic.
