Chapter 9: The Front
They spent the next week marching off to meet the rest of the troops. Mulan was at the back of the line, walking alongside Khan who was pulling the wagon with their supplies. Yao, Ling and Chien-Po were back there with her. On the night that they had almost discovered her in the lake they had apologized to her for being mean and had offered to start over and be friends. They had turned out to be good guys. They were light and funny and they loved to joke and laugh all the time. They were misfits like her so she felt comfortable with them; she knew she had nothing to prove to them and they didn't have any expectations of her. The reverse was just as true. Yao was gruff on the outside, but he was a softy inside. Ling was a prankster and a dreamer and all he wanted was to meet the perfect woman. And Chien-Po was just a sweetheart. His size was the equivalent of four people. But he was gentle and kind, and all he wanted was food and peace. She was having the time of her life pulling up the rear with them, playing and joking. In her entire life, she had never had friends that she could be like that with. The only living creature she'd ever been able to truly be herself with was Khan.
Shang was riding at the front of the troops on his stallion and Chi Fu followed him. Mulan was relieved to be all the way back where he couldn't see or hear her. She'd had an experience with him, too, on the last night at camp. He had seen when Yao, Ling and Chien-Po almost discovered her. He had suddenly seemed protective of her because of that. He had also apparently seen her in the flesh, judging by the dark crimson color that his face turned when they talked about it. She had ended the conversation and turned away from him to leave; but he had grabbed her and pulled her toward him. She had been so sure that he was going to embrace her and kiss her, she was waiting for it with anticipation. She had been prepared to have him right then and there, and it wouldn't have mattered if she died right after that. But he had stopped himself and let go of her, leaving her feeling confused and frustrated. And, once again, he told her to go home. That despicable Chi Fu showed up right after that and announced that the general had sent news for them to join him at the front.
Every day was spent on the move now. After sunset they stopped and made camp each night. Then they would be off early each morning, resuming their march toward the front where Shang's father was stationed.
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They had been marching for another week now. Right now Mulan was listening to the other soldiers, humoring them as they bantered about the type of women they wanted to have. They all wanted beautiful but brainless women who would wait at home for them, cooking and sewing and keeping themselves pretty. She almost scoffed out loud at their talk. She didn't know why women would want to become that. She now knew for sure that she never wanted to be one of those women. It was just as well that she'd failed the matchmaker's test. But she listened to the men and laughed along with them. Then Yao and Ling put her on the spot, wanting to know what type of woman she wanted. She told them she wanted a woman with a brain who spoke her mind. They looked at her like she was nuts and she laughed at them. They were still laughing as they came around the bend. The sight that greeted them made them freeze in their tracks and their laughter stopped as if it had been cut off with a sword.
The entire village had been burned. There were some burnt out skeletons of structures left, and there was a bell that hung on one of the structures that kept bonging eerily in the wind. Shang ordered them to search for survivors. They all spread out and began to search the area. Mulan walked toward the end of what might have been a street and found a little doll lying in the snow. She picked the doll up and clutched it to her body sadly. Their enemy was cruel and without honor, just as her father had said when he'd talked about it. They did not discriminate between men or women or children. They killed for the sake of killing.
Shang was suddenly standing next to her. "I don't understand it. My father should have been here."
Mulan looked at him sadly. A thought crossed her mind about what might have happened to his father; but it was not her place to say it. She knew that he had not yet thought of it; or if he had, he could not make himself believe it yet.
Chi Fu started crying out for the captain and he turned and walked over to the edge of the ridge where Chi Fu was standing and pointing. Mulan and the other soldiers followed him, looking down into the valley. The sight was horrific. There was nobody left alive. The soldiers, the stallions, the villagers; they had all been killed. The stench of burning flesh hung sickeningly in the air. Bodies, bloody, broken and mutilated, covered the valley. She had never seen anything like it of course; and judging from the look on Shang's face, neither had he. This was his first battle, too. He looked shocked and horrified. Chien-Po handed Shang a helmet with fancy plumes on top. From the look on his face when he took it, she knew it belonged to his father, whose body lay out there among the rest of the bodies of the fallen soldiers.
She watched as one of the other men quietly handed him a sword. It must have also belonged to his father. Shang accepted it from him, then walked away from everyone. She watched as he quietly made a memorial to his father with his own sword and his father's helmet. He knelt on the ground and bowed before the memorial, praying. She approached him softly.
"I'm sorry." It wasn't much, but there weren't adequate words for a situation like this. She just wanted him to know that she felt for him.
He looked up and stood up, sheathing the sword that the soldier had given him, then turned to her. He didn't say anything. He just looked into her eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder for a moment, acknowledging her sympathy. Then he walked towards his horse. She watched him as he leaned on his horse for a moment, his eyes closed, his face tortured with grief. Then he pulled himself together and mounted his stallion, taking command again and being strong for his men. He told them that they had to get to the Imperial City to protect the Emperor and ordered them to move out.
Mulan placed the doll she had found at the base of the memorial he had made, knelt and said a quick prayer for the little girl and the other children and innocent civilians who had been killed, then stood and followed the troops, knowing that as long as she lived, the grisly scene would remain vividly in her memory.
They marched through the night. There was no time to lose. In the morning they were marching through a snow-covered valley. The valley was surrounded by mountains. They were moving along silently, when suddenly a cannon shot out of the cart that Khan was pulling. Everyone froze. Mulan turned back and scowled at Mushu, who was sitting there pointing at what looked like the cricket. So that's where the fire-breathing dragon had gone to; he'd gone and sat on top of the cannons. 'Real smart, Mushu,' she thought.
Shang rode back to her demanding to know what happened. What could she say? She quietly cringed as he began to reprimand her, lashing out at her fiercely. He was interrupted when an arrow hit him in the shoulder and knocked him off of his horse. Suddenly there was a swarm of arrows raining down on them. He yelled for them to get out of range as he pulled the arrow out of the armor protecting his shoulder. The soldiers began to bolt toward the protection of a cliff with an overhang, away from where the arrows were coming from. Mulan grabbed Khan, trying to pull him and the cart. A flaming arrow hit the cart and it caught fire. Shang shouted for them to save the cannons. The soldiers emptied the cart, passing the cannons down the line, saving most of them. Mulan swung her sword and freed Khan, who was jumping and whinnying hysterically, from the cart. She mounted him and began to ride him away as the cart exploded. The force of the explosion knocked her off Khan. She found herself lying in the snow, Mushu beside her. She pulled herself up slowly, stunned. Mushu made some remark, but she just grabbed him and ran to join the rest of her troops, Khan beside her.
One by one, in response to their captain's orders, they fired the cannons at the mountains where the arrows had been coming from. He ordered them to hold the last cannon. They stood absolutely still, watching the mountains and waiting for the smoke to clear. As the smoke cleared, the Hun army appeared at the top of the mountains, on three sides. The army of the enemy was huge and they were just a small band. Mulan looked at Shang and saw from his expression that he was shocked at the size of the enemy's army and at the predicament that they were in. He had made a mistake and she knew it; and she saw in his face that he had realized it too. The mistake his father had made, then he. They had both underestimated their enemy. That enemy was now charging down the mountains toward them from three directions. She watched as Shang masked the shock and the defeat in his face and turned to them, gallantly telling them to prepare to fight.
"If we die, we die with honor."
He looked at her then, meeting her eyes. She just nodded to him and drew her sword along with the others, thinking what a pointless thing it was. They were on foot; the entire Hun army was on horseback. A strange look filled with a myriad of emotions crossed Shang's face as he looked at her; then he looked away.
"Yao," he ordered, "aim the last cannon at Shan-Yu."
As Mulan held her sword out, she caught sight of the reflection of one of the mountain peaks over the valley in it and an idea came to her as she looked at the volume of snow that covered it. She realized what Shang was thinking; if he took out the leader, maybe it would discourage the rest of the Hun army. It was a good idea; but he was thinking too narrowly. What they needed was a more offensive plan; they needed to take out as many of the men in the Hun army as possible; so that even if they were killed themselves, which was going to inevitably happen now, no one was left alive to harm the Emperor and their country. She knew she would be acting without her commander's order, but she didn't care. She knew she was right and there was no time to explain it to him or anyone else. She sheathed her sword and dashed forward, knocking Yao out of the way and grabbing the last cannon.
"Hey! Ping!" Yao protested.
"Ping! Come back! Ping!" Shang was yelling.
She charged toward the oncoming Hun army with the cannon, her heart pounding in her chest. Shan-Yu was in the lead by several yards, galloping toward her. Mushu was riding on her shoulder as always.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Mulan," Mushu muttered.
She ignored him and kept running until she got to the spot where she could aim the cannon just right. Shang was running after her still, yelling for her to stop. She ignored him. She set the cannon in the snow and aimed it at the right spot on the mountain peak that she'd seen reflected in the sword. She tried to light the flint to set it off. But she was suddenly hit by Shan-Yu's falcon, and she fell over, losing the flint. She searched in the snow desperately for it, but to no avail. She looked up, seeing Shan-Yu galloping toward her, getting closer. She looked at Mushu, grabbed him, then aimed his mouth at the cannon, pulling his tail so that a stream of fire escaped from his mouth. The cannon was lit and she aimed it at the spot on the mountain. The cannon went off, sailing toward the spot that she'd aimed for.
"You missed him!" Mushu shouted, flying away on the cannon. "How could you miss him? He was three feet in front of you!" He read her mind half of the time, but he still hadn't understood her plan. The cannon sank into the mountain, exactly where she'd wanted it to and the blanket of snow on it was already tumbling down off the peak, down into the valley and onto the Hun army. She smirked at Shan-Yu, pleased with herself, and he turned back to look at his army, that was now getting buried under the avalanche of snow tumbling down on them.
"No!" she heard him yell. He let out a blood-curdling yowl and she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as his sword swiped at her, knocking her backward and over. She clutched her stomach and pulled herself to her feet. The avalanche was rolling toward her quickly and she had to try to get away. She began to run, coming up to Shang who had stopped and was standing there gaping at the oncoming avalanche in a daze. She grabbed his hand and turned him around, pulling him into a run with her.
Khan came charging up to her through the snow and she mounted him. She rode up to Shang, who was still running. She reached her hand out to him. He grabbed it, but then the snow began to overtake him and he lost his grip on her hand. She gasped as the wave of snow sucked him under and away from her. She steered Khan and tried to find him, fighting against the snow that was more powerful than a tidal wave, searching frantically. She finally caught sight of Shang passed out, his limp body riding the wave of snow.
"Shang!" she cried out desperately, terrified that she was about to lose him forever.
She steered Khan toward him and when they had caught up to him, she leaned over, grabbed him and pulled him up. She draped his unconscious form over Khan in front of her so she could brace him against her with her legs if necessary. Then she began to steer Khan, trying to see where the rest of the troops had gone to take cover.
"Mulan!"
It was Mushu, riding the wave of snow on someone's shield.
"Look, I found the lucky cricket."
"We need help," she shouted over the roar of the snow. As she said it, an arrow with a thick rope tied to it came sailing over to them from the troops, landing in Mushu's hands. He handed it to her and she began to tie it securely around Khan as they were dragged perilously close to the edge of a cliff. Mushu jumped on Khan's back then, with the cricket.
Mulan used her legs to secure Shang against her and Khan on either side as they went over the cliff and shot the arrow up toward where she'd seen the arrow come from. Miraculously, someone caught it. Their freefall was stopped and they were hanging in mid-air. Then they were being pulled up to the top of the cliff. As soon as Khan stepped solidly onto the cliff, she cut the rope so he could walk away freely. She got off and knelt on the ground, weak and panting. The other soldiers had pulled Shang off of Khan and they had set him down on the ground beside her. He was starting to come to. He sat up and opened his eyes, turning to her, an incredulous expression on his face.
"Mu…Ping. I've never known anyone like you in my life! You are the craziest person I've ever met!"
She looked down at the ground, still panting.
"And for that, I owe you my life," he continued, his voice soft, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "From now on, you have my trust. And my respect."
She looked up at him and smiled. The other soldiers began to cheer for her and called her the bravest of them all.
Shang held out his hand and took hers, helping her to stand. He had that lopsided half-smile that she loved on his face as he looked at her. That's when she felt the sharp pain in her abdomen, where Shan-Yu had swiped her with his sword. She groaned and clutched at the pain, looking down and noticing that she had a huge blood stain soaking through her clothing, seeping all over her hand.
"What's wrong?" Shang exclaimed, alarmed.
She sank back down to her knees, trying to brace herself against the pain and removed her hand for him to see. The pain was so excruciating that convulsive shivers went through her body with each throb, as if she had a fever, and she was feeling very weak. She was suddenly lying in the snow and she saw Shang's handsome face over her.
"Oh, no, no. Hold on. Hold on…please…" she heard Shang saying; then she blacked out.