Chapter Forty Three: Six Words
My shout is automatically answered with a growl of frustration from Shan-Yu. The pounding of footsteps gets louder as he rushes to find me, or maybe it is just the pounding of my own heart in my ears. I immediately take off running again, this time with a clear goal. If my plan is going to work, I need to lure Shan-Yu onto the roof, which means that I myself need to find a way to the roof first.
Abruptly, the hallways give way to a larger area, not quite a room, but wider than the hallways. Here, the ceiling is held up by large red columns, similar to the ones on the balcony. In one wall, a window gives me a glimpse into the dark night. I see that I am on the topmost floor of the palace, which means that the roof is near. I just need to find a way onto it-
An enraged Shan-Yu bursts into the room, interrupting my thought. At once, he begins swinging his blade powerfully, ready to destroy and nothing more. I look for cover and rush behind the closest column. I duck just in time for Shan-Yu's sword to cut right over the top of my head, slicing the thick wooden column in half. I run behind another column, only for the exact same thing to happen. At the third column, I leap up, wrapping my arms around it and shimmying up above Shan-Yu. Unable to slice into me, he settles for chopping the bottom of the column.
I cling on to the column for dear life as it falls, an involuntary scream ripping its way out of my throat. My stomach lurks as the column crashes through the wall of the palace, but, instead of continuing to fall, it stops once it hits the floor, protruding horizontally from the side of the palace. However, the force of the abrupt stop to the massive column's fall knocks my grip loose, and suddenly, I am knocked off, gripping onto the side of the column with both hands, dangling hundreds of feet from the ground. My nails dig into the wood of the column as I cling to it, and gasps echo from the courtyard below as people catch sight of me.
"Losing your grip?" Shan-Yu teases menacingly. He stands on the other end of the column, the part still inside the palace. "Let me help."
He stomps his foot hard on the column, causing the entire thing to shake momentarily. My grip loosens. I am not ready to give up, however. Just like I did all that time ago when Captain Li Shang challenged me to a spare on a log over a ravine, I swing and use that momentum to flip myself back on top of the column. Shan-Yu's wicked grin is swiftly replaced by frustration. His sword held out, he gingerly takes a step out on the column. I instinctively take a step back, only to realize that there is no more space to backup onto. I am not the only one to notice this.
"If you were smart," Shan-Yu growls, "You would let yourself fall. Trust me when I say that becoming one with the pavement below is a much more painless ending for you than the one I have planned." His evil grin returns.
I look not at him, but the roof only a few feet away. A plan forms in my head as I stare him down, not responding to his threat. He takes my silence as a sign of his victory.
"Any last words before I slaughter you?" Shan-Yu asks.
"Yes," I say, my mouth pulling up into a smirk as I look him in his sick, yellow eyes. "Come. And. Get. Me."
Before he has a chance to process my ultimatum, I make my move. Throwing all caution to the wind, I leap from the column, both of my hands outstretched. Time seems to slow as I reach for the wooden decoration protruding from the roof, and I hold my breath, knowing that if I don't grab it, I will plummet to my death.
I feel relief like never before as both of my hands firmly grasp the wooden decoration. Not wasting any time, I pull myself onto the slanted roof of the palace and begin to put my plan into motion. I see the open tower from which fireworks are being set off and run across the beam at the peak of the roof to get there. Two men in red are standing in the tower, continuing to ignite and set off fireworks despite the danger that our entire country is in.
"Hey!" I shout to get their attention. Both men look at me. "Get down from there, now!" Maybe it is the urgency in my voice, maybe it's the blood covering half of my face, but something makes these men evacuate the firework tower quickly without so much as questioning my authority. If only all men could listen like that.
Once the men are gone, I search the tower quickly for the largest firework I can find. I grab a large yellow one with a red tip. Tucking under my arm. I throw myself over the rail of the tower and back onto the roof. Setting the firework down momentarily, I turn myself so that I am facing the tower still full of fireworks. Holding both of my hands up, I make a frame with them, trying to figure out the best way to make my plan work. I take a step back-
Shan-Yu bursts through the roof inches from where I stand. With a gasp, I quickly turn to face him.
"Looks like there is nowhere left for you to run," he growls.
I look him in the eyes as I draw my sword. "Perfect."
"I will say, you fight well, for a little Chinese Girl." He smiles at his clever nickname before his face becomes serious. "Drop the sword," he demands, "and I will make your ending quick."
"Never."
"Why, girl? No matter what you do, you will die!"
When I say nothing, he continues.
"The Huns and the Chinese agree on one thing: the place of our women. And that place is not in our armies. We both have the same punishment for it: death." His voice does not lose its threatening edge as he explains this to me. "Even if you miraculously defeat me, you will be killed by the very emperor you came here to protect!"
His words are true, but they do not strike fear into my heart as I know he wishes them to. I am too determined to be scared, too high on adrenaline to feel anything other than the pounding of my own heart. Nothing shall deter me.
"In that case," I reply, getting into a fighting stance, "it would look as if I have nothing left to lose."
"Your mistake." Is the last thing I hear before everything is drowned out by the clashing of our swords. The fight takes all of my focus. Shan-Yu's strikes are powerful, but my small size allows me to dodge his attacks. As if keeping up with the fight isn't hard enough, I also need to watch my footing: one wrong move and I will go tumbling off of this roof in a second.
I fight harder than I have ever fought before, using every bit of energy I have left. A hard blow from Shan-Yu's sword against mine sends me back a foot or two, and I hit the roof hard. I jump back to my feet, but not as strongly as I would have liked. The fight is draining me, and Shan-Yu knows it.
We stare each other down, pausing the fight for a few moments while we both pant.
"Why do you keep fighting?" he yells, frustrated. He was expecting a quick, easy fight, not something drawn out like this. "You know you can't win! Look at you! You are weak and bleeding!"
I know his words are part truth. I am not at my best right now. I have lost a lot of blood, and I have not slept well in the past few days. I am drained but will continue to fight anyway, even if it is a losing battle.
My lack of verbal response irks Shan-Yu. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP?!" he roars.
These six words, words I am so very familiar with, seem to break that dam that I have carefully built over the past few years to protect myself from the pain that is my past. These words bring everything flooding back.
-Flashback-
Fu pushes me to the ground once more before kicking me in the kidney. I curl up into myself like I am a scared six-year-old again and not a determined thirteen-year-old. Every part of me hurts. I just want him and his stupid brothers to leave me alone.
Fu seizes me by the collar and slams me hard against the ally wall, holding me up so that my feet can not make contact with the ground or with his body.
"Really, Mulan! Why don't you just give up?! You're a girl, which means you were born worthless and that's just how you're gonna die! Quit trying to be anything more!"
He slams me hard to the ground and walks off with his two brothers.
-End Flashback-
It is strange how the things we want to forget most are also the things that drive us the hardest. I let myself be completely submerged by the flood of memories that I have locked up for too long. The daily beatings given to me by Fu, Niu, and Lei. The pain I felt when Meili and Mushu were ripped out of my life. The words Father said to me my last night at home. Meixiu's burnt body. Chi-Fu calling me a treacherous snake. Captain Li Shang telling me where I belong.
I straighten up, all of the pain seeming to fuel me, making me want to fight harder. Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I know the answer to those six words. Without giving Shan-Yu time to react, I lunge at him, my attacks swift and strong.
"I don't give up because every time someone told me I couldn't do something, it made me fight harder to prove them wrong!" I shout.
"I don't give up because every time someone insulted me, it made my skin thicker! It made me more resilient!
"I don't give up because there are people who need my protection, and I refuse to let you hurt them!"
As I yell these words, I felt like a weight is being lifted off of my chest. I have finally answered one of the questions that has haunted me for my entire life. But I can think about this later. My swift attacks are starting to get to Shan-Yu as he struggles to keep up with me. Then, I see the opening I have been looking for. With all my might, I slam my sword against Shan-Yu's, and he loses his grip. His sword comes spiraling through the air, and in one fluent movement, I sheath my sword and catch his at the same time. He may be disarmed, but I can't kill him with a blade. No, that is where my plan comes into play.
Without hesitation, I plant the tip of the twisted blade into the roof and use my momentum to hurl myself over the sword and kick Shan-Yu right in the head. Dropping into a crouch, I sweep my leg under his, and he falls with a mighty thud. Grabbing his sword once more, I slam the hilt into his skull, not quite knocking him unconscious, but definitely disorienting him. I pin him where he lays by piercing his clothing with his sword and embedding it into the roof.
Snatching up the firework I had set aside before, I leap over his body and begin on the final phase of my plan. I grab the flint that I always keep in my pocket and begin to light the fuse of the firework just as he begins to get up. He stares at me with the firework for a moment looking confused. Then, he sees just where the firework is aimed: his chest. He doesn't have time to do anything but try to scramble out of the way before the firework goes off, slamming him in the chest and carrying him through the air a couple of feet and into the tower full of other fireworks. His screams are barely audible as hundreds of fireworks go off at the same time, blowing up the tower and Shan-Yu in their colorful explosions.
I turn quickly and begin to run in the opposite direction, muttering to myself "Get off the roof. Get off the roof. Get off the-". I have just reached the edge of the roof when the force of the explosion catches up with me, pushing me off. I stretch my arms out like I am a bird and tumble through the air for a second or two before grabbing hold of one of the lanterns strung up on a rope. I hang on to it and slide down the rope the same way my friends escaped from the balcony, knocking lanterns off as I go. When I get close to the grand staircase once more, I let go and land gracelessly on the hard platform between two flights of stairs. I first land on my shoulder before the force sends me tumbling until I land flat on my back. Once more, all of the air is knocked from my lungs. I open my eyes to see Shan-Yu's sword skidding across the platform a few feet away from me. I lay here for a few moments, eyes closed, trying to catch my breath.
"Mulan!" shouts a familiar voice. And suddenly, Mushu is next to me, grabbing my shoulders and forcing me to sit up. "What happened to you! Your face⦠Mulan! Say something!"
"Am I dead yet?" I whisper, opening my eyes tiredly. And with that, he stops fussing and wraps his arms tight around me in an embrace.
"Nope," he chuckles quietly. "Not yet, sister. Not yet."
I chuckle a little too before another voice joins our reunion.
"Hey! Nice of you to drop in!" I hear Ling shout.
Mushu lets go of me and helps me to my feet, and there, rushing towards me, are Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po, and they are all beaming. I feel so light and gay, I laugh loud at Ling's stupid joke. Soon, the others join in.
Author's Note: So, what do you think? I'm sorry if the whole "impenetrable armor" thing was kinda dumb, but I really wanted a good excuse for Mulan to blow Shan-Yu up instead of just stabbing him. Well, leave a review to let me know what you think!
