Hello everyone!
A Girl and a Mountain is officially off hiatus. Can't promise chapters will be coming quickly or anything, but the new update is here. I've edited it to the best of my ability, and it hasn't been beta'd, AND I wrote it at 4:00 a.m. this morning, but it's passable and a good bridge between Mulan's escapades in the forest to their arrival in the Forbidden City. We'll be seeing more of our favorite characters soon, so stick around!
It didn't surprise him when he was flooded with satisfaction that she had apparently not only awoken, but still had the spirit within her to attempt to kill him. She still had that fire, she was still untamed.
He would not admit, however, that he was also somewhat relieved. It meant that the battle was not over and the war had not been prematurely ended. It meant that she was not as weak as he had thought—if he had a true nemesis at all, it was her, and he reveled in it.
She glared at him in response to his words, continuing to try and force the blade through his neck. Mulan was a cunning one, having deduced that the only weak spot he had on his body was his neck—and even that was only susceptible to a blade. Somehow, she had approached Ruyun without the steed knowing and had pilfered one of his daggers.
He admired that she did not give up even when there was no way she could kill him now that he was awake, but he would not give her a chance to somehow best him when his life was possibly at stake. Fa Mulan was the only one who had ever achieved a victory over him and even though he gave her much more credit for her wits now and no longer underestimated her, he would not overinflate his ego again and allow her to stay this close to his person with a blade aimed at his throat. Therefore, with an easy swing of his arm, he sent her flying away from him.
She landed hard on her back and it winded her, but even so she would not give up. She scrambled to her feet and flew at him again, but he drew his jagged sword and parried the comparatively tiny blade, sparks crackling with the force of the blow before she was thrown back yet again.
"Now is not the time," he told her. "Do not waste your energy."
She made a loud, guttural snarl from the back of her throat and charged once more. Bordering on exasperated, he flicked the dagger away with the tip of his sword, disarming her, and then snatched her other wrist up before dangling her uselessly in the air. She cried out angrily as he shook her like a ragdoll, only the tips of her toes touching the ground and supporting her.
"There will be other opportunities to try again." He wasn't quite sure why he was encouraging her efforts to try and kill him, but he did know that there was immense satisfaction in foiling her attempts. The wild look in her eyes as she glared at him was pleasing and in that moment, he realized that she was much more like a Hun woman than she would ever know.
Unless he told her, of course. "You would make a fine Hun wife," he commented casually as she dangled there, shaking her lightly for effect and earning a glob of saliva at his feet when she spit at him and missed.
Even though it was by all means a compliment coming from a khan, especially when aimed towards a Chinese woman, she apparently didn't see it that way. "I would never stoop that low," she growled through grit teeth, obviously in pain from his grip on her wrist.
"It doesn't seem you have a choice," he replied cruelly. "Soon, when we return, you will be my wife."
She stiffened furiously. "That will never make me a Hun!"
"I seem to recall that Chinese women take on the surnames of their husbands, essentially becoming one with their family," he mused, his tone mocking. "By all means, I believe that marrying me makes you a Hun."
"A Hun could only be so lucky as to have a Chinese wife," she shot back hotly.
"And I will have seven," he retorted, amused. He very much enjoyed this new form of battle; verbal sparring. "But I disagree. If it were not to secure the throne by having a half-blood son, I would much prefer one of my own women. It is a pity his blood will be diluted by weakness."
She deemed this unworthy of a response, or perhaps she was too angered by his comment. Either way, she lashed out at him, bouncing off the tips of her toes and aiming a kick at his abdomen.
He allowed it to land just so she would see how little it affected him. The blow all but bounced off and then he dropped her while she was still half-suspended in the air, making her land hard on her side. Despite the rough landing, she was immediately on her feet, even though he was already sitting down again.
"Fighting me will get you nowhere. You might as well cooperate for the time being; it's not like you have any other choice."
She was flushed from the exertion and there was a fine sheen of sweat on her body. It didn't go past his notice that her ripped changshan had parted precariously to reveal the creamy white tops of her breasts. When she noticed the path of his gaze, she violently pulled the fabric back into place and marched over to the other side of the campfire.
It did somewhat surprise him that there was no shame in her eyes at the evidence of what had happened, although that it was replaced with white-hot fury was less so. He was more than pleased that she did not let what had happened affect her terribly—instead, she seemed to draw strength from what she'd gone through.
Indeed, she was more like a Hun than she would ever admit.
He saw no point in tying her up again, given that she would undoubtedly either work herself free, or, even more likely, find a way to use it to her advantage. Against Fa Mulan, no advantages should be given lightly. Besides, he had gotten plenty of rest while she'd been unconscious and he was alert enough that he could watch her for the rest of the night.
She was glaring at the fire as though it had personally offended her and to his surprise, the fierce, angry look on her face stirred his blood. However, he reigned in his baser instincts and settled for simply watching her. She glanced up at him for but a split second, acknowledging him but at the same time not, before returning her gaze to the fire.
Shan Yu mused on how it was possible for China to have created such a creature. Despite the fact that she was a female, she fought as ferociously as a man and had wits that exceeded almost all of his enemies, male or female. Mulan was sharp and cunning but strangely seemed to have a sense of honor—however, given that she had attempted to kill him in his sleep, he felt confident that his proximity to her was getting rid of that obnoxious, useless trait.
If she was going to combat him—if she was truly going to attempt to take his life—then she would have to hone herself into the greatest warrior a woman of her stature could be.
The only way she could do that was if she embraced the Hun lifestyle. The Han would never agree to train a woman, much less put her as a priority over other men, even when she so clearly should be.
Amused at the thought of her being indoctrinated, turned into a true Hun, Shan Yu wondered idly if she would ever stand at his side willingly. It wasn't something he cared about either way, and he felt it was safe to assume he preferred her as an enemy…but the thought was interesting. Should someone as great and mighty as he have someone as intelligent and wily as Mulan at his side, what opportunities would not be attainable? What army could truly stand in the way of a Hun army with a superior khan at the head, fueled by the daring cunning of his khatun?
It was there that he stopped his train of thought. Khatun…Mulan…
The two thoughts seemed to mesh seamlessly and it was then he realized that Mulan was the khatun he sought.
In hindsight, it wasn't as unexpected as some would think. Had he known she was a woman from the start, he would have immediately set out on his search for concubines with her as the reward, the treasure his map led to. Yes, she had eviscerated his army with her cunning and what some who didn't know her might consider sheer dumb luck, but any person, man or woman, who could fell over one thousand warriors with a single, well-placed cannon could be considered worthy of respect. The fact that she was woman apparently discounted her in the Han's eyes, but had she been a Hun warrior, she would have been treated to a feast in her honor and sung praises for her victory on the battlefield. He was even more certain now that the blatant disregard for her Mulan's brilliant mind because she was a female had driven home his victory—had she been present during the siege of the palace, it was entirely possible that she would have found a way to defeat him.
Shan Yu found him on a blade's edge. He was loathe to kill her now, and not just because she would make a satisfying wife in bed, nor because her intelligence marred with his own brute strength could become a deadly combination in their sons. It was something more, now. Inexplicably, there was something more.
It went beyond respect for her tenacity, went further than his admiration for her cunning mind, spiraled beyond his care for her usefulness in battle or fighting spirit. It had even less to do with her attractiveness as a woman, although as she was bathed in a new light in his eyes, he found her almost irresistible. It was something fickler than words could describe; it was mercurial, like a plume of smoke in the night that was clearly visible but impossible to grasp.
He put away the thoughts for another night, calmly watching her as she gave him one last wary glance and then curled up on her side to sleep, clearly deciding that tiring herself out by staying up the night would be unwise in her situation.
Mulan slept deeply, he noticed, not shifting restlessly on the hard ground or discomfited by the lack of bedding. If he was cut of a softer cloth, he would have taken the moment to truly revel in their compatibility. It was so clear now that he saw it and it made him wonder how he had failed to see it before. As long as Mulan did not go unconscious for days every time that something went drastically against her beliefs, they were the perfect match. As khan and khatun, they could easily rule all of the continent.
Except for the hate she felt for him, which he no longer felt for her. However, he didn't much care that she hated him, as she would not be who she was without that intense will to fight. Whether or not she agreed to it, she would be his khatun. He would relish knowing that she knew she was so close to him, would know so much of his plans, might even have a semblance of control in the situations she was thrust into, and yet she would never be farther from winning the war.
Quiet settled over the camp as Mulan drifted to sleep. The crickets, so loud the night before, were quiet and almost nonexistent—perhaps it was such a clear lack of them that had made him notice their absence. He was unperturbed, although it was possibly a bad omen that the wildlife seeming to be acting so strangely lately.
He mused on his situation throughout the night, knowing that this was the last evening he would spend in the wilderness before he returned to the Middle Kingdom's unfortunate excuse for royal housing. There, he would find his other wives prepared for wedding, but Mulan would of course be the first. He would be busy rebuilding the Middle Kingdom and Steppes, merging them into one and creating a whole new China. It was a challenge he had not been met with before and he was rather eager for it. One could not be a conqueror without conquering, but it did not end with the previous emperor's head rolling on the ground. There was much to do to ensure that he left behind his legacy.
At long last, the night sky faded from black to blue. It was promising to be a stiflingly hot day and while Mulan's body was pleasing in any other instance, he was not looking forward to sharing close proximity in the heat.
The fire had gone out just as the moon reached its peak. However, in the warm summer of the Middle Kingdom, they were hardly necessary for comfort. Mulan hadn't shivered even once throughout the night.
She was, however, a light sleeper, proven by the fact that the moment he clicked his tongue for Ruyun to stand, she was jerking awake with the dagger tightly fisted in her hand.
He glanced at her with a distinct look of boredom, but did not turn his back to her and instead let Ruyun come to him. He still had some rope and Mulan would obviously need to be restrained while they rode; she had the dagger and he wouldn't be surprised if there was something else on her person that could prove to be a plausible weapon. He couldn't prevent all the scenarios, and restraining her was his best option; he needed to be able to focus and the possibility of her attempting to gut him while he directed them back to the Forbidden City was not welcome.
When he approached her with the rope, Mulan snarled silently at him. He knew then that she would not allow herself to be restrained without a fight.
"I will allow you to keep the blade if you cooperate," he offered with a smirk. Would she accept a small defeat in lieu of having a weapon, or would she decide to fight anyway?
She hesitated for only a split second, the pause only warranted by a glance to a nearby bush. Was, perhaps, her sentient guardian present? He followed the direction of her eyes, curious.
In that moment, she darted away. It was futile, but it was her answer nonetheless. She was right not to trust him, and he supposed she wouldn't be who she was if she hadn't tried to escape at least once more. If she had willingly allowed him to restrain her, she still would have had the dagger taken from her, regardless of what he said, and it almost pleased him that she wasn't so foolish as to put any kind of trust in an enemy.
She barely got twenty feet away before Ruyun cut her off, Shan Yu cornering her quickly afterwards. It was a pitifully easy feat to tie her wrists together once more and then haul her onto the horse with him. Ruyun was a horse fit to hold someone of Shan Yu's stature, so the slight weight added on by Mulan wasn't going to affect the horse's pace. He probably weighed three times as much as she did.
And so, with the sun just barely creeping over the horizon, they set off for the Forbidden City.
And that's a wrap. It's also a shorter chapter than most of my others, but I hope you all can forgive me. I was listening to the Mulan soundtrack on my way to get some juice around midnight and suddenly got inspired. So, this is the product of that.
I hope you all will leave me some wonderful reviews! A big thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed; it means so much to me. :)
Cheers!