~Thanks for the Review I hope you like this chapter!
Chapter 12: The Tragic News
Shang and his man were on their way to find if any remaining Huns or Mongols were left behind from the recent war.
Shang stood up tall and proud on his white stallion. Him and ten other solders walked along the path of the dark forest. The wind blew peacefully and the sky was clear. In the dark forest it was dark, moist and muggy. As they looked around their surrounding to find any life or any sign of remaining Huns or Mongols, they found none.
"All right, there is no sign of them here, we'll make our way to the mountain tops and see if any are there, then we can return home." Commanded Shang. He clicked on his heels and went into a nice steady canter out of the forest.
But up in the tallest tress in the of the dark forest lurked ten of the remaining Hun's they had on their black cloaks so as not to be seen by the Chinese solders. The one nodded to the men and they all climbed and jumped down from where they were and headed the mountains.
Some where still injured by the war that happened not to long ago. But they still had one canon and some arrows to finish off the solder that were looking for them.
Shang covered his face with his arm from the snow that was blowing everywhere. He called out to his men, "Just hold on, we'll be out of this soon." He could barely see anything because of the snow.
Suddenly as he looked back at his men a canon came right in between him and his men making a big explosion making him fall off his horse. As he got up he could see that they were being shot at by arrows. He got up and began to walk towards his men when he suddenly felt the sharp pain of an arrow that had pierced through his side. He cried out in pain.
He fell to his knees and looked around the was no sign of his men or where the arrows had came from. It was silent now; all he could hear was the sound of the wind blowing through the cold retched air. He breathed in hard he began to feel weaker and weaker.
He put his hand through his pocket and held out a magnolia flower, he then clutched onto it tight, his eyes began to feel heavy, "I'm sorry.....Mulan" He then fell to the cold, snowy ground.
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Mulan was in the garden standing over the bridge watching the fish swim in the fresh, glistening waters. She sighed, she wondered how Shang was, she missed him dearly. As she stared deep into the water she could almost see Shang and her smiling and holding hands.
"Mulan?" Said a familiar voice that could only be Mushu. She looked up and smiled at him then frowned and continued to stare into the waters. Mushu bit his lower lip, he knew this was heard for her. "How are you?" Asked Mushu.
Mulan continued staring down but merely just shrugged her shoulders. "Hey come on, I'm sure he's fine"
"I hope your right, I just don't know what I would do if anything bad happened to him....I don't want to lose him Mushu"
"I know" He sighed, "I know"
The sound of hooves came from the front of her house. Mulan looked up and smiled, "Could that be?" She began to walk slowly towards the sound. She heard it again, and immediately ran towards the front of her house. Mushu smiled and was about to follow when he caught glimpse of the head spirit guardian in the Shrine window just shaking his head at Mushu in a sad and depressing way.
Mushu now knowing what this meant turned around towards where Mulan headed off to and frowned, making his ears turn back. He looked down at Crikee and said, " This doesn't look good for our Mulan, Crikee" Crikee chirped sadly.
As Mulan made her way to the front she was about to call out Shang's name when she noticed that it was only Wang. She frowned but tried to keep a smile to be polite. "Wang? What....What are you doing here?" She feared that he was here to tell her some bad news about Shang, she quickly prided that it wasn't anything bad.
"Um...Can we go inside? I have to talk to you?" Asked Wang quietly and politely.
"Sure" She led Wang inside and told him to get comfortable while she made some tea. Her parents were gone shopping for food and some clothing. As she came into the room with the tray with their teas she set it down and headed it to him.
"Thank you" He said, taking a sip of her tea. Mulan noticed that he was nervous and he seemed to be a bit depressed about something. She had a bad feeling about it.
"So....Um....have you heard anything about Shang?" She said breaking the silence. Wang stopped everything and put his cup down. He put his hands together and looked upon her.
He sighed, "That's why I came here." He then looked away waiting for her response. Her eyes began to water and she was breathing hard.
"So....Um....Where is he?" She asked in between sniffles.
"Well um....They were suppose to be home a couple of days ago but we haven't heard from them, so we figured that him and his men might.....The remaining Hun's or Mongols might have attacked them and we think he might even be...dead." He looked at Mulan noticing that she was staring to get upset, A tear rolled down her cheek onto her clothing.
"So...you guys are just going to sit here and wait, what if they're in trouble?" She snapped. She got up and began to pace back and forth across the room. As Wang got up the door opened at the same time to reveal her parents. Both Mulan and Wang looked at them. Mulan's eyes were red and tears continued to go down her check.
Mulan having enough ran into her room and slammed the door behind her. She fell onto her bad and cried harder and harder, she hurt so much. This was the one thing that she feared of hearing and she had just heard it.
As Mulan stayed in her room, Wang had explained the whole thing to them. As night fell he left to go return to the palace. He too wanted to find Shang, but knew that he had a job to do and the Emperor was the only one that would allow him to go. For as he left to return to the palace, a small tear formed in his eyes and fell down his cheek. 'Why?' he thought.
Fa Zhou opened the door slightly. He saw that Mulan was on her bed sitting up, staring at the mirror watching herself as tears flowed down her cheek. He walked over to her and sat at the edge of her bed. He put his arm around her and held onto her tight. Her bottom lip began to tremble and she quickly rapped her arms around her father tight and cried. "Baba......" She cried out.
"Sh.........Sh......I know, I know" He said trying to calm her down, but it was no use, her heart was broken for she had lost the only man that she loved in her life. The only one that under stood her, saved her, loved her. Why did it have to be like this?
As the night went by, Mulan stayed up her parents were asleep and she continued to stay in her room staring at the flower that was in her hands. She twirled it back and forth with her fingers. She sighed. Mushu and Crikee entered her room and sat next to her on her bed. "You ok, babe?" Asked Mushu.
Mulan stayed quite, she lowered her head and sniffed. "Mushu, you know how I told you that I wouldn't know what to do if I lost him?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I think I know what I have to do."
Mushu looked at her surprised, "What? You do?"
"I'm going to go find him"
"Mulan, you shouldn't, What if Hun's or Mongols are still out there, what will you do, than huh?"
"Mushu, I love him, and I got to take that chance, Besides he did the same for me." Before he could object Mulan got to her feet and still in her dress began to pack a few things.
"Mulan, if you do this you should at least take some one with you." Suggested Mushu.
"I am going to take someone, you"
"Woo...woo...I meant like Wang, you know a solder." She took her stuff and quietly went to the barn where Khan was and began to tack him up. Mushu got on the Khan's back to talk to her before she even got on and rode off. "Mulan, I really think this is a bad idea"
"Mushu, nothing you say is going to change my mind. I love him and if he is in trouble, he's going to need me." Mulan took a hold of the front of the saddle and hoped up, making Mushu go on top of Khan's neck.
"Mulan, what if Shang is dead?" Mulan stopped and shook her head.
"Are you coming or not?"
He groaned, "Fine, let's go!"
Mulan smiled and leaned over and whispered in Khna's Ear, "Lets go Khan!" Khan neighed and raised himself on his hinge legs and galloped away.
They ventured through the towns to get the Dark Forest, once they got there; there was no sing of them anywhere. As the night went she had to make camp and sleep for the rest of the night until the morning came and there she would be able to see better.
When she had finally got to the mountaintops she felt like all hope was lost and there was no way she could find Shang. She sighed; Khan was surveying the snowy land when he saw red in the snow. He neighed; Mulan looked up and saw that there was something red in the snow. "Come on!" She said and galloped towards it. As she retched it, she got off her and ran to it but it was only blood. She fell to her knees, she felt so defeated and felt that she had betrayed Shang.
Mushu pitting her saw that there was a tiny trail of blood that was leading to the cave not far from them. "Hey Mulan, look there's a trail and it leads in there." Mushu said pointing to the blood trail then the small cave.
"Do you think it's him?" She asked as they began to walk towards the small cave.
"I don't know let's go check." Mushu hoped onto Mulan's shoulder while Crikee and Khan were right beside them. Now they were only a foot away from going inside, Mulan gulped and headed inside. As she looked inside the cave she noticed that at the top of the cave there was some water that was dripping from it, as she then continued to look around, her heart stopped. She was now staring at Shang, who was unconscious and had a wound on his side and some scrape makes all over him.
She ran towards him and picked up his hand to check his pulse. She breathed in and out in and out, scared that he was lost, tears ran down her face, he was.............
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Aw...I left you guys with a cliffhanger, you know, I now this might sound pathetic but I was almost going to cry when I was typing this, Please review!