Wow! Lots of people reviewed right away! I'm glad you all liked the training thing! Don't worry about romance! I have almost everything planned out...sorta. I hope everyone understands the scene changes in this chapter… I'll explain more at the end for those who didn't. Okay, on with this chapter!!
Disclaimer: not mine.
Last time:
"Are you okay?" Shang asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." She answered.
"Good." Shang replied. "Breakfast will be ready soon." He turned with out saying anything else and walked away.
Mulan sighed and walked silently behind him. As they passed their tents, Mulan entered hers and changed into a different training outfit. When she exited her tent, she was surprised to find Shang waiting for her. She had thought that he would have continued without her.
As soon as he saw her, he turned and continued towards the cook's tent. The rest of the troops had assembled and were in the process of eating breakfast. They followed-through with their morning ritual of lining up after breakfast. All were anxious to find out the results of the night's training 'game'. Shang did not disappoint them.
"I suppose you all want to know who won last night?"
"Yes, sir!" They answered together. One recruit was looking particularly smug.
"Unfortunately," Shang stared in his direction. "There was a tie." The man's face fell. "There were two players left at dawn. I will not say who because I do not want any anger directed at them." He nodded slightly at Mulan; she returned with a small smile. Neither of them thought that anyone noticed the exchange. However, someone did. The man who thought he had won. It angered him that a woman took away his victory, even if the reward was just one day off. She was just a woman and she should not be here in the first place.
"You all have five minutes to get to the archery range. That will be our morning session." Shang told all the recruits. The troops walked off, some to their tents, but most went right to the archery range to get the better bows. Mulan followed behind and grabbed a bow and a couple arrows. Shang soon arrived at the archery range and began the session
Three Months Later
Mulan woke up freezing. She reached blindly for her blanket but instead, her hand landed in something cold and wet. Her eyes snapped open and she suddenly realized that she was covered in snow! She had forgotten to tie the tent flaps shut so the snow had blown in all night.
She sighed and pushed the blanket off of her feet and stretched. Mulan got up and changed from her wet pajamas into her dry training clothes. She grabbed everything that was wet and took it with her out of her tent. While the recruits were eating breakfast, she built a fire by her tent and hung everything over it to dry. Then, she went to get some breakfast for herself. As she was walking, she thought about Shang's attitude towards her lately. His attitude was worse than usual lately. She thought that he was stressed out over something.
Before she made it to Sung's tent, though, she was called back to Shang's tent. Wondering what he could want, Mulan turned and walked into his tent. When she entered, she immediately noticed a man she had never seen before. He was dressed like the imperial messenger that came to her house many months before.
Mulan then looked to Shang. He had the same cold look in his eyes as usual. He motioned for her to sit at the low table in front of him. There was a cushion for her to sit on.
"You will be running the training today." Shang seemed to order. "I need to talk with an imperial messenger, so I can't be there. The training will be target practice with the cannons. You will take the troops to the valley a short distance from camp so I can speak with the messenger in peace."
"Yes, Shang." Mulan answered. She was a little nervous because she knew that some of the soldiers did not respect her rank.
"I will inform then that and insubordination will be punished." Shang added coldly as Mulan stood to leave.
"Thank you." For some reason, Mulan felt compelled to bow before leaving the two men. As she exited the tent, she wondered why.
'I never feel like I have to bow for him,' she thought. 'Why would he do that now?' She shook herself out of her thoughts as she entered the tent for breakfast. After everyone was done, the troops assembled in their line and Shang explained the day's training.
"Today's training will be target practice. You have all fired cannons before, but this time, there will be mannequins out in the field. There will also be snow, as you can see. These will affect the difficulty of the session. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. There is one difference from previous training exercises." Murmuring among the troops could be heard. One of the few who didn't turn to their neighbor was Mulan. She rolled her eyes and Shang glared at the rest.
'Haven't they learned yet?' Mulan thought to herself.
"The difference is that I will not be overseeing it. Mulan will." Shang glared down the line. "I expect no report of insubordination from Mulan. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"Very good. Mulan?" Shang glanced in her direction. She stepped forward, waiting for instructions. "The cannons are loaded in a cart for your horse to pull. The mannequins are not set up. You will have to do that yourself."
"Yes sir." Mulan replied with a nod. Shang then dismissed them and they set off to the training area Shang had described. Khan pulled the cart full of cannons, led by Mulan. The recruits followed them to the large field in a valley. It was a twenty minute walk from camp.
When they got there, Mulan detached Khan from the cart and, using a slipknot, tied him to a tree nearby. She then set up one of the targets in the field, after setting up several more, some to each side a one a long ways back, she returned to where the recruits were waiting. The exercise would be much like the one she did in training, only there weren't any tents close enough to blow up.
"Set up your cannons!" Mulan ordered. They all aimed as best they could. "Fire!" The young men scrambled with their flint to light their cannons. More than two minutes went by and no one managed to light one. It was taking way too long and Mulan let them know it.
"That's way too slow!" She yelled. "We'd all be dead by now if this was real! Hurry it up!" Finally, one managed to get his lit. This seemed to cause a chain reaction as the rest lit theirs. Explosions could be heard all along the valley floor. Of course, all failed to hit any of the targets Mulan had placed.
"Now that you have figured out how to light them, do it faster so that when you aim, your cannon does not sink a little in the snow!" She shouted so all could hear.
"Do you have any idea why the Emperor sent her to my camp?" Shang demanded of the messenger. He was sitting behind the table. The messenger, looking quite afraid, was now sitting where Mulan had before.
"N-no, sir!" He stuttered in fear. "I w-was only sent to s-see how things were g-going!"
"Set up your cannons!" Again, the troops set them up, aiming carefully. "Fire!" The first one went off almost immediately. It took a few seconds for the rest, though. Again, none managed to hit.
Mulan chose to run through the exercise several more times before giving instructions on aiming better. After a few more tries, it was almost time for lunch. Mulan decided that they had time for one more shot before making the hike back to camp.
"You may want to aim just above your target to make sure you get enough distance!" Mulan instructed. "Set up your cannons!" She waited a few seconds. "Fire!" The first cannon went off immediately. Everyone else stopped trying to light theirs when they saw its angle.
"Too high!" One recruit yelled. No one could move as they watched it head directly for the mountainside which was covered in fresh snow.
"Oh no…" Mulan whispered. Images of Shan-Yu flashed through her head. "RUN!!" She bellowed. The recruits didn't need to be told twice. They turned to run but Mulan feared it was too late. They had to cover the whole clearing before making it up to the next ledge and the wave of snow was gaining fast.
"What do you mean, 'how things were going'?!" Shang was almost yelling.
"The Emperor wanted to know how things were going with Mulan." He seemed to be getting a little braver, though he shifted uncomfortably on his cushion.
Khan was way ahead of the group when he suddenly turned back. He had pulled the slipknot out and was now galloping towards Mulan. Mulan had a feeling of deja-vu as she swung herself onto his back. She managed to get Khan to slow enough so she could turn and see how the recruits were doing. The youngest ones were at the front. They ran past her and Khan tried to follow but Mulan wouldn't let him. Several recruits were not used to snow and were struggling to get through.
"Keep running!" Mulan yelled at them. She urged Khan towards them. Two of the three were the older men. These two were hastily lifted onto Khan's strong back. "Get going!" Mulan ordered Khan, slapping his hip. Reluctantly, he ran towards the ledge. The first men were just reaching it, but Mulan knew that she and the last young man were not going to reach it.
She could hear the thundering snow behind her as she ran. She refused to look back, though, because this would only slow her down. It was getting louder and louder! She pushed herself as hard as she could, but it just wasn't enough! Khan had just reached the ledge. He jumped over, landing on a small outcropping about ten feet down.
Mulan was almost there! Just a few more feet! Suddenly, she realized that the recruit wasn't next to her. Frantically, she turned her head just in time to see him get engulfed in the snow. She pushed hard, running faster then she ever had before. She jumped over the ledge just as the snow caught up with her. It was too late. It swept her over the ledge and farther down the mountain. The other recruit was swept next to her and she grabbed hold of his unconscious form.
More and more snow flowed over top of her. She fought to keep at the surface, but she was exhausting quickly. There was no was she was going to keep this up much longer.
"I'll tell you how things are going! She's a distraction! The only reason she's still here is because the Emperor said she had to be! Lately, she's been even more distracting! Tell His Majesty that I want that woman out of my camp!" Shang roared.
The avalanche of snow started to slow its pace as the incline became less steep. Mulan's entire body ached from her efforts. She forced herself on, though her strength became less and less. She was slowly losing consciousness. Finally, her body gave in and she saw blackness. The snow piled on top of her, burying her and the fallen recruit.
"Yes, sir." The messenger stood, gave a short bow, and left the tent.
Well, that certainly was exciting, wasn't it? Believe it or not, this fic will soon be coming to a close. Now, the scene changes- when the scene was on Shang, they were in the tent. When it was on Mulan, they were in the valley. It was all happening at the same time.