Author's Note: Alrighty, here's another chapter! I hope you like it! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Chapter Forty Two: I Did!
We arrive on the balcony and see Shan-Yu laying on his stomach on the ground, Captain Li atop him pinning his right arm behind his back.
"Chien-Po, get the Emperor!" I shout.
Chien-Po does a small, hasty bow and states, "Sorry, Your Majesty," before picking the Emporer up with ease and running to the rope I knew would be there. Holding the Emperor in one arm, Chien-Po removes the blue scarf from his armor once more and uses it to slide down the rope to the street, knocking the lanterns tied to it down as he goes.
"NO!" Shan-Yu roars in frustration when he sees the Emperor disappear to safety. He uses his elbow to slam Captain Li in the face, forcing him to release the hold he had on him. Shan-Yu rises, and I see that he is at least a head taller than the captain.
One after another my friends make their way down the rope just as Chien-Po did, but I wait on the balcony instead of following, watching the fight.
Before the captain has a chance to recover from the last blow, Shan-Yu grabs his head and slams his massive skull into Captain Li's head. I wince at the sickening sound. The captain slumps, unconscious, but Shan-Yu is not done. Fueled by his furry, he picks Captain Li up and tosses him across the balcony, and the captain's unconscious body lands hard on the ground.
"Come on!" Yao shouts from below, waving for me to join them. I think back to my words from before.
'The most important thing is saving the Emperor, got it?'
We have done it. We have saved the Emperor. We have done what we needed to do. Yet I can not bring myself to leave Captain Li Shang here to die.
Shan-Yu starts towards me, his eyes almost crazy with anger. My mind races. I need to do something! I catch sight of Shan-Yu's twisted blade laying on the floor near me, and, using both hands, I pick it up and swing it as hard as I can at the rope. It slices it easily and embeds itself into the wood of the red column.
'I've done it.' I think. 'I've cut off Shan-Yu's only way to the Emperor…And quite possibly my only escape route.'
Shan-Yu rushes over to the side of the balcony, leaning over the railing in a small attempt to grab the rope, to salvage his victory.
I ignore him, rushing to the side of the unconscious Captain Li Shang. He is still breathing, so I grab his shoulders and shake him. When that does nothing, I slap him lightly on the cheek.
"Captain," I hiss, "Wake up! Please, we have to go! Captain!" I hear the panic creeping into my voice.
The captain's eyes open a little. "Mulan?" he asks weakly. Suddenly, his eyes open wide in terror. "Mulan!" he cries. I turn to see Shan-Yu looming over us, his sword raised high. I instinctively attempt to roll away, the captain doing the same in the opposite direction.
I'm not fast enough.
Abruptly, a sharp, stabbing pain appears on the right side of my forehead. I open my eyes and for a moment all I see in my right one is dark crimson. My right hand flies to my face, and it is soon slick with blood too. I feel a cut on my face just above my right eyebrow. Using my palm, I try to wipe the blood from my eye.
I see Shan-Yu a few feet away, his sword raised above the barely conscious captain still lying on the ground. Ignoring the searing pain on my face, I jump to my feet and unsheath my sword, countering Shan-Yu's downward strike toward the captain. He didn't see me coming and is not prepared for my sword to get in the way of his, so the force of it sends his sword flying out of his hand. Not phased, he redirects his attention to me.
For a man his size, he moves quickly, and without truly understanding how I got there, I find myself pinned to one of the red columns holding up the roof of the balcony. The force with which I am slammed into it knocks the air from my lungs and breaks off bits of stone from the column. Shan-Yu has one massive hand pinning my hand holding my sword above my head and the other locked around my throat. His grip is tight, and I drop my sword as both my circulation and breathing it cut off, letting it clatter to the ground. He smiles menacingly, and I stare back into his yellow eyes rebelliously. This makes him chuckle quietly.
"You…remind me of someone," he states slowly. "A young man I saw once on the battlefield, actually. You both have the same rebellious glint in your eyes, along with the same spark of insanity." His smile widens. "He buried my army, so I killed him. It seems as if you will meet the same fate."
I know in an instant who he is talking about: Ping. Me. Which means that he doesn't recognize me. It makes sense. My hair is down, he didn't really get a chance to see my face before it was covered in blood, and he simply wouldn't expect a woman to be capable of destroying his army.
My lack of response seems to anger him more, and his grip tightens around my throat. My lungs burn, and though I have tried to remain calm, my natural instincts kick in suddenly, and I thrash and kick, trying desperately to get a breath of air. My lungs are on fire, my neck hurts, and things are starting to get blurry. Black spots appear in my vision.
"LET HER GO!"
I look past Shan-Yu's massive form to see Captain Li coming at the villain, his sword raised high. Then, he brings the blade down hard on Shan-Yu's back.
I expect blood. I expect a scream of agony. I expect Shan-Yu to fight back. But, he does not move, and no blood flows from his back. The only sound is the clash of metal meeting metal as Captain Li Shang's sword smacks hard against the armor Shan-Yu has on. The armor that was concealed by his clothes which are made out of animal skins and leather. The captain looks just as surprised as I feel.
Finally, Shan-Yu releases his hold on me, and I crumple to the ground, coughing and gasping. It feels as if all the energy has been drained from my body as every single one of my wounds make themselves known by sending shooting pain through me. The black spots from my vision do not clear. The only thing keeping me from losing consciousness is the sound of Shan-Yu's deep, threatening voice.
"Fool!" he mocks the captain angrily as he stalks closer to him. "You idiots think that we Huns are so uncivilized that we go without armor!"
It doesn't make sense. Huns don't wear armor, I've killed enough to know that. I have even heard officers joke about how Huns are too ignorant to wear armor.
As Shan-Yu walks closer to the captain, he picks up his twisted sword. "Do you really think I would be stupid enough to walk into battle with nothing protecting me?! As the leader of the Huns, my armor is made out of metal so strong, no blade can penetrate it, not even my own!" Captain Li raises his sword to protect himself, but Shan-Yu's anger fuels him, and he knocks it easily from the captain's hand. Grabbing him by the tie of his red cape, Shan-Yu places the tip of his sword on Captain Li Shang's neck.
I still feel weak, lying here on the ground, bleeding, but seeing the captain in danger snaps me out of my rest, my mind searching for a way to save him… I look at the rubble lying next to me, the bits of stone that broke off of the column when I was slammed into it. Suddenly, I have an idea.
"You took away my victory!" Shan-Yu shouts at Captain Li Shang.
I force myself to my feet, grabbing a chunk of rock in my fist as I rise. Without hesitating, I chuck the rock at Shan-Yu's head.
"No!" I shout at him. Both Shan-Yu and the captain look at me. Using one of my hands, I pull my hair up and away from my face as if I were planning to put it up in a topknot. I look very deliberately into the eyes of Shan-Yu.
"I did!"
I watch the recognition cross Shan-Yu's face.
"The soldier from the mountains," he gasps. The captain is immediately forgotten as Shan-Yu drops him to the ground, stalking his way over to me, the one he now wants to destroy.
I turn quickly, running down the small set of stairs and out the way we came in, slamming the red double doors behind me. I lean back against the doors, trying to use my body to barricade them. The doors begin to give way as Shan-Yu tries to knock them down. Then, just left of my head, a giant fist slams through the wood, sending splinters flying. I gasp in surprise before running quickly from the door. I dart down a random hallway, and at the end of that one, I turn down another. I hear Shan-Yu's massive footsteps echo close behind me. My instincts scream at me to run, to get as far from the danger as possible. Panic clouding my mind, I obey, running as fast as I can, trying to lose Shan-Yu in this maze of hallways. I am glancing over my shoulder to see if he is still behind me when I slam head-on into a wall. I quickly realize I have found a dead end, and the wall I slammed into has a window in it. I pound my fist against the wall frustratedly, uttering every single bad word I have ever heard from the men at camp.
'No more running,' I tell myself. 'I need a plan!'
I try hard to figure out a plan, but it is so hard to focus with the bang of the fireworks…
'Hold that thought!' I tell myself. The beginnings of a plan are starting to form on the edge of my mind. What was it I had been thinking about before when I was running through the crowds? About how the sound of the fireworks reminded me of the cannons we used in battle…
Slowly, the plan comes into focus, and I know just what I need to do. I turn and retrace my steps until I am out of the dead-end hallway. I inhale deeply before shouting at the top of my lungs,
"I'M OVER HERE! COME AND GET ME SHAN-YU!"
