Disclaimer: As usual, own nothing except my people.
CHAPTER ELEVEN – Buried in the Snow
A/N: Yes, over 100 reviews!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!
Big thank you to all my reviewers who managed to get me to where I am now. YAY! So big big thank you to people who reviewed Chapter Ten and to everybody who's reviewed and read my story. Thank you so much and I love you all!!
Oh yeah, and just so you know. The part with Shui Jing and the house-fire is not the dream Mulan had! It actually happened and it all works in with the story, so don't think it was her dream.
Mulan was walking in absent-mindedly around the Palace. She had left her mother, grandmother and Li Jia as soon as she had heard the description of the man. Disorientated, she had wandered into the Gardens, where its breath-taking beauty had shaken her out of her stupor.
The gardens were enormous, surrounding the Palace with forests were growing behind and around. Every single flower known to mankind (A/N: Well, the Chinese...maybe not mankind) was growing in abundance and glades, thickets and small ponds rounded every corner. Different passages led into different areas of greenery while birds cooed above, hidden away in the treetops.
"Tao...raped my mother. Tao raped my mother," Mulan sat down on a tree stump and angrily kicked its rotting bark. "Tao did? TAO did? I thought he had changed,"
"Mulan! Mulan!" The Gang, minus Fung, ran down the path towards her.
"Huh?" She turned around and looked at them.
"What happened?" Yao asked, eagerly. He sat down on an opposite tree stump. "With your mother and all that,"
Chien-Po and Ling sat down on the grass in between them, forming a square. "How are you doing?" Chien-Po asked her gently.
"I don't know. I mean, it's a big thing. My father's gone for the moment and my mother is five months pregnant, as she was raped by a former Hun, who I got to know very well!" She snapped. "How do you think I'm doing?!"
"Tao?!" Ling exclaimed. "Tao raped your mother?" He paused. "Your mother was raped?!"
Mulan nodded. Yao looked sadly at her.
"How you holding?"
"I don't know. I mean, how am I meant to react to this? I guess...I would be all right if my mother was pregnant from my father and...I guess I could cope if my mother had a one-night stand with a man and then felt really sorry about it...but how can I be when one of my friends raped her?" Mulan said, trying to put everything she was feeling into words.
"I don't know," Chien-Po said. That was the truth, he and the rest of the Gang had no idea what to say.
"I thought this guy was my friend, you know. I really did...and yet..." Mulan sighed. "How could he do this to me?"
"Okay, let's look at this logically," Chien-Po put in. "Mulan, Tao didn't even know you existed when he..." Chien-Po paused, not wanting to say the actual word.
"Go on," Mulan said, gently.
"...raped your mother. He was probably under the orders of the Huns, he probably wasn't in his right mind when he actually did it. He wasn't trying to hurt you,"
"But he did. He, also, didn't mention anything to me about it, when I was with him!" Mulan snapped.
"Maybe he didn't know that you were her daughter," Yao suggested.
"Of course he did. I'm Fa Mulan, Fa! How could he not know? He even told me that he knew who I was," She replied.
"Fa isn't a rare surname, he might have thought that you were someone else," Ling added.
"I guess...why didn't he tell me?" Mulan snapped again.
"Did he tell you anything else about his past?" Chien-Po asked.
"Yeah, he said that he...was kidnapped and killed his first victim at the age of six," Mulan offered.
"He didn't add anything to that, did he? Did he actually give you any information about the numerous murders he had committed, forced or not? He didn't say anything extra than you wanted to know, so why should he have to tell you that he raped a woman?" Chien-Po reasoned.
"That does make sense," Mulan said.
"Let's say that he knew that you were the daughter of the woman he raped. He wouldn't tell you that, would he?" Yao added.
Mulan sighed and nodded. "I know you guys are right...and yet it's so hard to accept it. I'm just so mad at him...and my father, mother and myself,"
"Whoa, that's a lot. Why are you mad at your parents?" Ling asked.
"Mama never told Baba about the rape, did she? Why didn't she? Did she think my father would disown her?" Mulan asked them.
"Maybe she wanted to forget about it, all together," Ling suggested.
"How could she? The baby was growing inside her, she must have realised that it was. That bump in front of her would have reminded her of the rape," Mulan answered. Ling shrugged, beaten.
"What about your father?" Chien-Po asked. "Technically, he didn't do anything wrong,"
"He hit Mama...and me," She said. Chien-Po bit his lip.
"You know, Mulan, that is isn't considered wrong for husbands to hit their wives or children, as long as they are just doing it to keep them in check and he doesn't kill them," Chien-Po explained. "When I was little child, my father would hit me if I disobeyed him. I don't think of it as...abuse, it was more a lesson,"
"Yeah," Yao put in. "I would get hit by my father and I don't think much, anymore,"
"Did they ever do it in public?" Mulan asked. They both shook their heads. "What about you, Ling?"
"My father never hit me," He answered. "Never,"
"So how would you feel if he did?" She asked him.
"I don't know. Either anger at him, but more likely shame, because I would have done something wrong. I don't think he would just hit, for the sake of it," He explained.
"What did I do wrong?" Mulan protested.
"Well, you did yell at him when he was in a bad temper," Yao suggested. Mulan groaned.
"Come on, don't blame yourself," Yao said, then paused. "Why are you blaming yourself?"
"For trusting that bastard," Mulan grinded her teeth together and her fingers curled into fists.
"You couldn't help that. You obviously thought he was...charming?" Ling put forward.
"'Charming'? Never trust charming men! Never ever trust charming men!" Mulan scolded her herself and rubbed her temples.
"You don't trust me?" Ling protested. "I'm very insulted!"
Mulan grinned. "Shut up,"
"Don't be that angry at yourself. You couldn't help but like him, because he's your friend," Chien-Po added.
"I hate him now," Mulan hissed. "I hate that...son of a bitch!"
"I know," Chien-Po patted her hand. "Come on, let's get back up to the Palace, it's getting cold out here," Chien-Po stood up and looked around. "Not to mention dark,"
Mulan stood up too. "Yeah, I guess,"
::::
"Well, that banquet kind of sucked, huh?" Mulan said to Mushu, as she walked down the corridor to the Dining Room, where the rest of the Gang were eating breakfast, the following morning.
"I guess. Well, your bit did. My part was good...all the food..." Mushu grinned at the memory. Mulan turned her head to look at the little red dragon on her shoulder.
"What?"
"Yeah, never mind. So, how you doing, babe?" Mushu asked.
"Pretty much the same as I told you last night," She said, stopping outside the Dining Room door. "Do you think my parents will be in here?" She gestured to the door.
"I don't know about your dad but your mum and grandma aren't. They already ate earlier,"
"Earlier?"
"Yeah, about a half an hour ago," Mushu said.
"Yeah, all right," Mulan said, leaning against the door and stumbling into the room.
"Hey!" A chorus of voices yelled out to her and, as usual, Tiao Zao came running towards her, for a hug. Mulan bent down and scooped the little boy, smiling, despite her sadness from the previous night.
"Hey, Little Flea!" She gave him a peck on the cheek and a grinning Tiao Zao, gave her a kiss back. "Aaw,"
"Feeling better?" Chien-Po asked her, from behind Tiao Zao's head. She nodded and put Tiao Zao back on the ground.
"Yeah, a little bit," She smiled.
Shang came up from behind Fung and Yao and smiled at her. "The Emperor said he wanted to see you after you've eaten. We figured it was something important as he delivered the message to us personally, instead of getting a messenger to do it,"
Mulan nodded. "Sure,"
Along with the rest of the Gang, Shang and Tiao Zao, Mulan sat down at the table and helped herself to some porridge. She spooned some up and let it trickle back into the bowl.
"Not hungry?" Shang asked.
"Not much," She said, but ate some anyway, so they wouldn't start freaking out about her not having eaten for a while.
Nothing was said as they ate their breakfast. Mulan could see Shang watching her, out of the corner of his eye. She hoped he wasn't comparing her to Chien-Po, who was sitting next to her, as she had only eaten half a bowl of porridge and Chien-Po had eaten three.
After they were finished, Mulan stood up and was about to leave, when Tiao Zao caught up with her.
"Where are you going?" He asked her.
"I have to go see your grandpa," She said.
"Ooh, ooh! Can I come with you?" He asked her, putting on a sweet and angelic voice. It came out sickly and thick, like treacle. (A/N: They didn't have treacle, but go with me)
"I guess you can," She said. He held up his hand and she took it, ignoring the stickiness that seemed to be either from his morning porridge or it was trait of 'sticky hands' that all six year olds had.
::::
"So, how did it go?" Fung said, pouncing on Shang as soon as Mulan had left the room, Tiao Zao in tow.
"What do you mean?" He said, looking up from his porridge, to see the eager faces of the Gang staring at him.
"Telling Mulan that you love her, duh!" Ling said, moving up to sit opposite Shang and propping his chin up on his elbows.
"Oh yeah...it didn't happen," Shang said, stirring the contents of his bowl with his chopsticks.
"What? Why not?" Chien-Po said, astonished.
"Tiao Zao came and got in the way. He said that Mulan's grandmother wanted to see her so she got dragged away by Tiao Zao," Shang said, staring down at the bowl.
"Oh..." Yao said. "Well, that sucks,"
Shang looked up. "You think?"
"Actually, yeah..." Fung said. Shang sighed and pushed the bowl away and looked at the Gang.
"What am I going to do?" He asked them.
"You'll have to tell her. Come on, you haven't lost anything. She didn't even know what you were going to say," Fung said.
"I have lost about half my courage to tell her. There's no way I can tell her now. It's too hard!" Shang protested.
"This is the new General, who will lead us into many battles, some victorious and some not," Yao said. "He can work out battle strategies, talk to high-ranking officials and stay brave in the face of danger...and yet he can't tell a girl that he loves her,"
Shang flicked some porridge in his face. "Don't start,"
"Look, nothing is going to happen unless you tell her. You were going to tell her last night, so just try and do it again sometime," Chien-Po suggested.
"I can't. Every time that I've tried to tell her, something happens or I lose my confidence," Shang said.
"When have you tried to tell her?" Yao said. "It was just yesterday!"
"Hello? I've tried like ten times!" Shang snapped.
"Ten?!" Chien-Po and Ling cried.
"That many?" Fung said. "Whoa, Shang. You really do suck at the whole love thing," Shang shot a death-glare at Fung.
"Okay, let's think. Well, first there was the 'you fight good' time, when she had just saved your butt from Shan-Yu," Mushu said, popping up from under the table, from where he and Cri-Kee had been eavesdropping on their conversation, while managing to eat five bowls of porridge between them.
"That's one," Fung said.
"Guys...can we please not count how many I've tried to tell her?" Shang pleaded.
"Then, you went to her house to tell her," Chien-Po said, ignoring Shang. "I'm taking it you didn't get round to tell her?"
Shang rose his eyebrows. "If I had, do you think I'd be sitting in this room and having a conversation with you lot about how I can tell her that I love her?"
"...oh yeah...you can have a point," Chien-Po said, embarrassed.
"That's two," Fung said, keep score on his fingers.
"He followed her when she went into the forest around Wu Zhong," Ling said.
"You saw me?!"
"That's three," Fung went on.
"In Wu Zhong, after we had finished swimming in the lake, he hung back when she did," Yao remembered.
"Four. Oh yeah, he definitely tried in the Palace cells, when we were being held there," Fung said.
"That's five," Yao said.
"Guys..."
"He stayed and talked to her after we killed those Huns in the curtain," Yao said.
"Six," Fung said, holding up six fingers.
"After she had the nightmare, night before last," Mushu said,
"Seven,"
"Oh, after the executions!" Chien-Po said.
"Eight,"
"Last night," Yao added.
"Nine," Fung started to laugh. "You've tried and failed nine times to tell her?" The rest of the Gang and Mushu started to laugh. Cri-Kee wasn't laughing, as he felt sorry for Shang, who was now red and trying to act normal.
"Okay, I'm not very good with the love thing," Shang said. "You happy now? I've admitted it!"
"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy. Let's just think of a plan where you can tell her and we'll make sure that no one interrupts you, so we'll hold on to Tiao Zao and things like that," Fung said.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Yao grinned.
"No, it's not. Something will happen. Anything could happen, and it probably will. Every time that I've tried and every single time I can't. It's not like I want to but that I don't want to keep getting hit down every time I try. It does hurt, you know," Shang said, sadly. Fung frowned.
"Don't worry man," Mushu said. "You'll tell her someday and then you'll be glad that you've been trying for so long,"
"I hope so," Shang said.
"Yeah, don't worry," Fung said. "It'll turn out fine,"
"What'll turn out fine?" A voice said. They all turned around to see Mulan and Tiao Zao coming over.
"Nothing," Fung said.
"Yeah, nothing," Yao said.
Mulan rose her eyebrows and sat down opposite Shang. He looked annoyed and upset. "Are you all right?"
Embarrassed, Shang nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine," Shang was starting to go red and as Mulan was looking weirdly at him, Fung decided that it was a good time to change the subject.
"What did the Emperor want to tell you?" He asked.
"Oh, he just wanted to tell me that my father left for home last night. Can you believe that? He didn't even tell anyone!" Mulan said.
"Oh..." Fung said.
"What are you doing to do?"
"I guess I'll have to go back home. My mother and grandmother are staying here, that's already been arranged,"
"What are you going to do when you get there? No offence, you're father seemed pretty angry. What if he doesn't want to talk to you?" Chien-Po asked.
"I don't know. I'll think of something," Mulan said. "I'm actually going to leave now, because my house is far away from here. It's like...a few days or something,"
"Yeah...oh, great idea!" Ling said. "We'll come with you! You might get a bit lonely on the journey anyway,"
"Oh, okay, sure. That'd be good," Mulan smiled.
"Okay, that's settled. Shang, you're going to come too, right? You have that...stuff to pick up from Wu Zhong, right?" Fung said, treading on his feet.
"What? Oh yeah...I got to pick up some stuff," Shang lied.
"Right, if we go via the Tung Shao Pass, we can stop off at Wu Zhong and then go to your home. That'll take about three days, or so," Fung said, quickly calculating days and maximum distance they could travel in a day. "Wu Zhong is about two days, not including the night, away from the Palace, so give it an extra day to get to Mulan's house. That's okay with everyone, right?"
"Actually, that fits in really well. I have an appointment to meet my betrothed!" Yao said, excitedly.
"Already? Have long have you been betrothed?" Mulan said.
"I don't know. I'm not good at counting days," Yao grinned.
"I didn't know you could meet your betrothed before the wedding," Fung said.
"I don't think you can, but the Emperor handled my match. He gave me the privilege of allowing me to see her before we get married. She actually lives in a village near yours, Mulan. So while you go talk to your father, I can go see her and get the wedding sorted out," Yao said.
"Can I come with you guys?" Tiao Zao asked everyone. They all paused.
"I guess you could. You'd have to ask your father and grandfather," Shang said. "Even then, your father might want to come along,"
"Okay, I'll go ask him now," Tiao Zao got up and ran out the room.
"He's sweet," Chien-Po said.
"Yeah, he is. He's so...lively too. He radiates energy, I swear," Mulan said, smiling.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go pack for the journey," Ling got up, followed by the rest of the Gang. "What's say we meet in the Plaza, in about ten minutes?"
"Sure,"
::::
"Come on, come on!" Mulan snapped, impatiently.
She, Fung and Tiao Zao were waiting in the Plaza. She could see the small forms of Shang and Ling coming from the stables and Yao was nowhere in sight.
Mulan was sitting on top of Khan, Tiao Zao in front of her. She had been given strict instructions from Ming Hua to never let him out of her sight. Fung had been with her at the time and now he shared the responsibility of looking after Tiao Zao with Mulan.
Fung was sitting on his own horse, bags and packages were strapped across the back of the horse. He was impatient to be off as well.
Shang and Ling joined them, both on their horses. Khan and Shang's horse were not the best of friends, which showed as Khan trotted away from Shang's horse when Shang went forward to talk to Fung.
"Khan doesn't like your horse, Li Shang," Tiao Zao said, patting Khan.
"You can call me Shang," Shang said.
"Okay,"
"Oh, there's Yao!" Fung said, pointing in the distance to the small figure of Yao. When he finally caught up with them, Mulan frowned at him.
"You took your time,"
"I had problems finding my horse," Yao panted. "Someone had let him out the stables and he was roaming around in the Palace Gardens,"
Fung and Ling looked away. Mulan noticed this and giggled.
"What?" Yao said.
"Nothing, come on, let's go," She said. She pulled Khan around and followed Shang and Fung out the Plaza Gates.
::::
Their first break was after an hour, as Ling said that he needed to relieve himself. They had stopped in the middle of a small wood, in a clearing. Ling had run off to behind some bushes, followed by Yao. Chien-Po went for a walk while Fung and Shang sat, talking.
"Mulan, how long until we get there?" Tiao Zao said. Mulan lifted the little boy off the horse and put him on the ground.
"I don't know exactly, Little Flea. We have to go through the Tung Shao Pass first, which is a big...pass through the mountains. It'll be snowing there," She explained.
"Oh...I love snow!" Tiao Zao's eyes lit up. "Can we have a snowball fight?"
Mulan smiled. "I doubt it, Little Flea. We're probably going to want to get through the Pass as soon as possible. It's not a very comfortable place to stop overnight,"
"How do you know? Have you been there before?" Tiao Zao asked. He sat down on the grass, leaning against Khan, who was also kneeling on the grass. Mulan sat down opposite him.
"Yes, I have," She paused, remembering everything that had happened there. "I never thought I'd have to go back there, again,"
"What happened?" Tiao Zao asked.
"A lot," She said, truthfully. She cleared her throat and began to tell him all about what had happened in the Pass.
"Is that it? You killed them all in an avalanche, then you went to the Imperial City? Baba told me that Grandpa had told him that you were left behind,"
Mulan grimaced at the memory. "Yes...I was," With great reluctance, she told Tiao Zao about Shang discovering her identity and how he rose the sword above her head...and how she was scared...and how unforgiving he looked. Mulan bit her lip.
"Shang was going to kill you?" Tiao Zao said quietly, looking over at where Fung, Shang, Yao and Ling were sitting. "Whoa..."
"I know. Little Flea, don't ask him about it, or bring the subject up with him, okay?" She looked at him. "Can you promise me that?"
"Sure," He gave her a big grin.
"Mulan, we should be off now!" Chien-Po said, having returned from his walk.
"Okay!" She said. She hoisted Tiao Zao back up onto Khan, then got on herself.
::::
"I don't want to sleep here," Tiao Zao said. "It's too cold!" He gestured to the trees around him and the approaching darkness.
"We can always make a fire," Fung said, from his horse. He was riding next to Mulan, who was in the middle, squashed between Fung and Chien-Po.
"In a wood? That happens if we burn the place down?"
"Yeah, somehow I don't think that's going to happen," Fung said. "We do watch the fire, you know,"
"I know," Tiao Zao said.
"We'll have to stay here," Shang said, stopping his horse. "I don't think we can go much further and it's getting dark,"
"This has been the most boring day of my life," Tiao Zao muttered, as he slid of Khan. Fung sniggered.
"You think this is boring? Try listening to one of your grandpa's speeches at some big ceremony. That bores the crap out of you,"
"What's crap?" Tiao Zao, with childish innocence.
"Um...ask your father," Fung said, walking hurriedly off, in search of wood to make a fire.
"What's crap?" Tiao Zao asked Mulan. Mulan smiled.
"Stuff," She said, pulling a blanket out of her pack. She sat down in front of the little pile of twigs that Chien-Po has collected and watched as Yao tried to set it alight.
Tiao Zao sat down next to her, pulling the blanket off her and onto him. Mulan rolled her eyes, watching the twigs, which had been successfully set alight by Ling.
::::
They sat around the fire, talking and eating. Mulan ate little, saying she didn't have much of an appetite. Tiao Zao gave Chien-Po a run for his money, managing to eat twice as much as Chien-Po did. Chien-Po was still sore about it as he pitched his tent. Mulan put hers up between Fung and Tiao Zao's.
"I wouldn't let it bother you too much," Mulan said to Chien-Po, as he sat by the fire. The others were pitching their tents behind them.
"No, I'm not angry at him. Just that...with my illness, it's been giving me all these headaches and I'm finding physical exercise a lot harder now," Chien-Po explained.
"Oh...maybe you shouldn't have come with us," Mulan said.
"No, the doctor told me that I must go on and live my life as normal. The illness is making me bad-tempered as well," He said sadly. He picked up a twig, chucked it on the fire and watched it burn.
"How are you feeling?" Mulan asked him, gently.
"Tired," He said, truthfully.
"Go to sleep,"
"I can't. My body is tired but my brain is wide awake. Sleep doesn't come easily to me, anymore," He sighed.
"Maybe you should just rest. Not sleep, just lie down," Mulan said.
"Yeah, maybe you're right," Chien-Po stood up and patted Mulan on the shoulder. "Thank you,"
"No problem," She smiled. She watched as she entered her tent, and one by one, her companions went to bed. Mulan stayed by the fire to make sure it had completely died out, before going to her own tent.
::::
"How long until we get there?"
"About half-way now, Little Flea," Fung said. He was now calling Tiao Zao 'Little Flea' as well. "Maybe I've been hanging around Mulan and him too much," He thought. "We have to go through the Tung Shao Pass first,"
"Is that the big mountain?" Tiao Zao asked.
"Yeah...kind of," Fung said, ruffling the little boy's head. Tiao Zao had taken a great liking to Fung, as well as Mulan, and was now riding with Fung.
The Tung Shao Pass had not changed, in Mulan's opinion. The snow continued to fall thickly around them, forcing them to bury their faces into their collars, in a bitter attempt to keep their noses and cheeks warm. The mountains loomed down above them, their glistening white tops threatening to fall.
"This place hasn't changed," Mulan said to Shang, who was riding next to her.
"I don't think it would change easily, Mulan. It is a load of mountains and snow, after all," He smiled at her.
"How long do you reckon it's going to take for us to get through here?" She asked him.
"Probably an hour or so," Shang said. "I don't know, you'd have to ask Fung. He was much better at arithmetic and geography in the Academy than me, or Wei-Xian," Shang said.
"You know Wei-Xian?" She asked.
"Yeah, he went to the Academy with Fung and I. The three of us were best friends there," Shang said.
"So, you know May-Lynn also?" She said, cunningly. Shang flushed and stared straight ahead.
"Yeah, she went to my school, before the Academy," He said.
"She's a bitch," Mulan muttered.
"So I heard. Fung told me about the things she said to you. That was really out of order. She doesn't know anything about you and your reasons for going into the army so don't listen to her,"
Mulan smiled at her, relieved that he didn't still like her. "He deserves better than that bitch," She thought.
"Here, do you want this?" Shang asked, holding out his hand. Mulan smiled.
"Another biscuit?" She giggled, picked it up and swallowed it whole.
"That's better," He grinned. Mulan would have grinned back, but the biscuit was hurting her throat. "Are you okay?" He asked. He reached over and patted her on the back. Mulan coughed.
"Yeah, I'm good now,"
"You still need practise. It's quite an art to be able to pick up a biscuit and swallow it whole,"
"They are quite big, you know,"
"I know,"
::::
"Do we have to stop again?" Ling moaned. He sat down heavily on a snow-covered rock.
"It's not my fault that I need to pee!" Yao said, scrambling off his horse and running off. Fung smiled.
"Yeah, I got to go too," Tiao Zao said. He started running off in the same direction as Yao, when Fung stepped in front of him and turned him the other way.
"You probably wouldn't want to see Yao, at this particular moment in time. It's probably not a pretty sight, right Mulan?" Ling said, laughing from where he was sitting on the rock, next to Chien-Po. Chien-Po began to grin too as Mulan blushed.
"What?" Fung and Shang said, simultaneously.
"Guys!" Mulan snapped at Ling and Chien-Po.
"Come on, you have to admit, it was funny, right?" Chien-Po said.
"Not for me!"
"What? What happened?" Fung asked.
As briefly as she could, Mulan explained to Fung about Yao's King-of-the-Rock scene, when she was at Wu Zhong for the first time.
Fung found it hilarious, while Shang was horrified.
"Mulan saw Yao naked?" Fung said, laughing his head off.
"Only a bit. I looked away before...I saw anything," Mulan protested. Fung continued to laugh wildly and was only silenced when a snowball hit him in the face. He turned around to see a grinning Mulan, sheltering behind Chien-Po. Fung picked up a snowball and hurled it at her. She ducked, so it hit Chien-Po.
Chien-Po flung two snowballs at Fung, who retaliated with two more, which hit Ling and Mulan. Soon, all four of them were engaged in a large snowball fight. Shang was sitting at the side, not wanting to join in.
Shang finally got a bit bored of watching the four of them run around, chucking snowballs, so he decided to go and find Tiao Zao. He wandered around in the direction of where Tiao Zao had gone and finally spotted a small figure sitting on the ground.
Shang ran up to Tiao Zao, to find him crying.
"What's wrong?" Shang said, bending down next to him.
"I hurt my ankle," Tiao Zao sobbed. "I tripped over something,"
"How can you trip over snow?" Shang asked.
"I don't know. It wasn't snow. It was back there," Tiao Zao pointed a few yards away.
Curious, Shang went over, knelt down and started shifting through the snow to find what Tiao Zao had tripped over. He stopped when he felt a piece of cloth.
"Hey, Tiao Zao, give me a hand with this,"
"I can't! I have a hurt ankle!" Tiao Zao whined.
"What's going on?" A voice came over to them. Shang and Tiao Zao turned to see Ling coming towards them.
"Yao pushed me over, because I hit him in the eye with a snowball and then they all ganged up on me, so I ran off," Ling said. "What's going on?"
"Tiao Zao hurt his ankle by tripping over something. I think it's here," Shang said. "Tell you what, you start shifting all this snow and I'll help Tiao Zao with his ankle. Okay?"
"Sure," Ling replied and started scrabbling amongst the snow, sending white flakes flying.
Shang pulled Tiao Zao's hair ribbon out and bandaged it around the little boy's ankle, tightly.
"Ow! Don't do it tightly, it hurts more!" He complained.
"It's better if you do it tightly. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. I'll have to carry you back anyway, it's probably better if you don't put any weight on that ankle," Shang said.
"Shang! Come and see this!" Ling cried frantically, from where he was crouching in the snow.
Puzzled, Shang went over to where he kneeling in the snow and stared in horror.
A girl was lying there, buried in the snow. Her lips were blue, her fingernails were solid black and parts of her skirt hem were missing, burnt marks showing what had happened to her.
"Oh god," Shang breathed. "Is she dead?"
Ling felt for her pulse. "No, but it's really weak. Come on, help me finish digging her out and we'll have to take her with us,"
A/N: You should know who that is and if you think back to my summary, I said that 'Ling makes a discovery'....Don't worry, everything works out. Thanks and review!!
