Chapter 15

Reunion

Captain Yao had immediately set up a search team for Mulan shortly after discovered her missing. Two generals had gone missing in six months? This couldn't be coincidence! Captains Ling and Chien Po would remain at the camp, setting up the recovery efforts from the short battle and draft the next plan of action.

What was most puzzling was the low number of casualties in the skirmish. Had this all been a set up to capture Chinese military leaders? To what end? Yao could only wonder about the purpose of the attack. He would have to retrace the evidence later.

With the few clues he had, Yao was determined to find General Fa and figure out who was behind all of this. He and Chien Po and Ling had all promised each other at Shang's funeral that they would watch out for Mulan. With Shang gone, they knew she would need their support and have one less guardian beside her.

When Shang had disappeared, Yao had been out scouting, and any traces of General Li had been a few days old by the time he had returned. Yao had an advantage this time with an immediate response to a kidnapping. He had grown up in this region as a boy, and his father had taught him the properties of the terrain. He had learned a bit of tracking from his father too, and he would put it to good use now.

'Hang in there, Mulan,' Yao thought, silently praying for her safety. 'We'll get the bastards this time.'

Yao motioned for his assembled search party forward. They would need to travel downwind, and quickly, in order to catch up with the kidnappers. He had to hope that they kept Mulan alive for a reason, and that her time wasn't running out.

"Sir, orders from the capital!"

Hamano took the missive from the Japanese soldier, efficiently scanning its contents. He squinted a bit, as it was near dawn and the sun had not yet peeked out from the horizon.

Dear General Hamano,

I have sent an envoy to the Imperial City of China, in hopes of establishing a diplomatic alliance. Do not engage them if at all possible. You do not need to acquire the lady warrior, but be on guard for anything.

I will send further instructions when I have more information. Again, be careful, cousin.

At the bottom of the note was the emperor of Japan's seal, marking its authenticity.

The emperor of Japan would not require Hamano's strike team to capture General Fa, only to keep an eye on her. He would trust Hamano's team to make the best of the situation.

"Lovely!" Hamano muttered sarcastically, irritated at the complete change in plans. Couldn't his government make up its mind?

With the double warning to be careful, and the mention of their blood relation in the note, Hamano wondered if the emperor was trying to warn him about something. Combined with his suspicions about Shan Yu, and his role in stealing General Fa, Hamano was beginning to doubt any information from the Huns, and any real, sincere attempt at an alliance.

He hated feeling like a pawn in an elaborate chess game, ready to be sacrificed at any time. He knew his cousin, the emperor of Japan, would not be playing these games without good reason.

As one of the few relatives of the emperor who despised politics, Hamano had become a trusted, if a little too honest advisor and informant. He knew his role was to keep his ear to the ground, feeding the emperor reliable information from the military, and to watch for internal threats. He did not envy the emperor's constant barrage of threats, political manipulations, and misinformation.

'Misinformation, this is what this is all about,' Hamano deduced. He didn't trust the Huns anymore, and it sounded like his cousin, the emperor, didn't either. He wasn't receiving consistent information from internal Japanese intelligence sources, which made him feel like something was amiss. If he couldn't trust anyone associated with Shan Yu, and he couldn't trust someone on the inside...

This left only one person as the potential source of misinformation: He could no longer trust Sui Fu, despite her status as his niece.

--

Mulan's fear of losing Shang again was never realized.

She could still remember feeling her heart in her throat as a rope system was lowered from the dim skylight. Her lungs stopped functioning for a second, and she froze like a trapped animal, waiting for any sign of a threat. After that second passed, she willed herself to be ready. 'I am a warrior, I must be prepared for anything!'

She couldn't actually see her potential rescuers, and was wary of any help offered. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she prepared to defend herself. Fa Mulan would not be tricked by false gestures of help a second time!

'We should get Shang out first, he's sick,' she thought, feeling his burning skin under her fingers. 'He looks awful,' she admitted, noting his pallor, 'but at least he's alive.' She had to shut the emotional part of her mind down, afraid to hope, and focus on escape.

A man in a foreign military uniform barked at her in accented Chinese, asking about their condition. Mulan hesitated for a moment, but decided that getting Shang out was more important and less risky than finding another way out alone.

"One unconscious, one capable."

After she replied, the man gave her a sharp nod and stepped out of view. She prayed to her ancestors that she made the right choice, not only for her sake, but for Shang's as well.

What felt like eons passed before she got a response. Surprised, she looked up to the skylight again, trying to discern anyone from the backdrop of pre-dawn sky. She recognized that voice!

As soon as Yao's grinning familiar face appeared in the skylight, she knew everything would be all right.

--

They were received at the coastal camp with a mixture of enthusiasm and chaos by Chinese troops. General Fa was back in top form, issuing order left and right, urgent but less unhappy than anyone had seen in many moons.

She was a flurry of motion and efficiency: she quickly geared up men to aid the returning search parties with debriefing and reporting, arranged for General Li and other wounded prisoners to be delivered to medics for treatment, and immediately scheduled a meeting with the leader of the Japanese troops. After that, she planned to write a report to the emperor herself. She was sure he would be fascinated by these new developments, if only she could find the appropriate words to say. He didn't even know she had been kidnapped (not once, but twice!), and he would be happy to hear of General Li's return.

After being rescued by a joint Japanese-Chinese search party (Hamano's and Yao's), General Fa left a few people from both groups behind at the strange underground cave system where she had been held. There were other prisoners down there in the holding cells, and she didn't know how long their window of opportunity would be to get them out. The other prisoners would be delivered to the Chinese camp, and they would investigate the circumstances of the caves.

The mystery of her (and Shang's) kidnappings kept stewing in her mind. Who took Shang six months ago? Why was he still alive? Who was this Sui Fu who had originally "rescued" her? And why would the Japanese help her now? Mulan was most curious about the Japanese involvement and the character of Sui Fu, since she was sure that they were her original captors.

With so many questions bouncing around in her mind, Mulan felt like she was barely reaching the tip of the iceberg. Whatever was happening, it was something big, and China's army had to be ready

By the time Mulan could meet with the Japanese military leader, it was almost noon. The past day's events wore on her, but she knew that this was a rare opportunity for some sort of diplomatic truce.

"General Fa, we would like to aid you in every way possible to investigate the events surrounding your kidnapping," the leader of the Japanese troops assured once they entered her tent at camp. Her three friends and captains, Chien Po, Yao and Ling were present, as well as General Hamano. The rest of the Japanese soldiers had voluntarily given up their weapons, and were setting up camp nearby under supervision. Mulan sat at the head of the table, and motioned for the men to sit down adjacent to one another.

"Why should we trust you?" Captain Ling accused, rounding on the man in foreign military dress before Mulan gestured for him to sit across from her. "We don't even know who your are."

"This is General Hamano of the Japanese military," Captain Yao answered, interjecting before the general could speak. He felt like he could trust the man, and he would give them a benefit of a doubt for now. "They helped us with rescuing General Fa and Li, and are currently helping us recover over a dozen captive Chinese soldiers."

"He is dressed similarly to the men we had a skirmish with last week," Chien Po observed as he sat next to Yao. Chien Po could sense from the way this older man held himself that he was a man of integrity. He didn't seem like the type to outright lie for personal gain. 'There has to be a good explanation,' he silently hoped. Ling continued to look disgruntled. Of the three captains, Ling had become the most protective of Mulan in Shang's absence.

"I have an explanation for that," Hamano replied calmly, removing his helmet as he took a seat. He was seated directly across from General Fa, with her captains on either side of him. "We were the people you fought at Wu Ting."

Before Ling could say anything (his eyes were practically bulging out of his head, and his face was turning red with outrage), Mulan gestured for him to stay silent. The Japanese had made overtures of trust thus far, surrendering their weapons and sending their leader into a situation where he was outnumbered. She would wait for the real motivations to be revealed. She had watched Chien Po's reaction to the Japanese leader, knowing that he was a keen judge of character. As general, she knew that it was key to keep a reign on her external reactions and not give anything away. This was something she had learned from Shang.

"Not the most diplomatic of statements, General Hamano. Why don't you elaborate?" Mulan prompted, her curiosity peaked now.

"Our information told us that a confrontation with you was inevitable last week," Hamano continued. He left out the orders to capture Mulan, since the information source, Sui Fu, was suspect. Even if Sui Fu's information was reliable, the emperor was using different methods to pursue diplomatic relations now, and there was no need to anger one of China's war heroes and her friends.

"We tried to limit bloodshed and fatalities at Wu Ting, but we knew that we couldn't kill you Fa Mulan, above all else. You are too high in Emperor Tang's favor, and we did not want to start a war with China."

He hesitated a moment, gauging their reaction. Did they believe him? It was only part of the truth, but it would have to do. When no one spoke, he continued on.

"We decided to be on the defensive. If your troops attacked, we would be ready. We were ready for you at Wu Ting, I won't deny that."

"That's interesting, General. We were told that an attack from you was imminent," Ling spoke up, still doubting the man's word. 'He has a point,' Mulan considered cautiously. 'Who was our source on the Japanese attack?'

"Allow me to show you further proof that Japan is sincere in its diplomatic endeavors," Hamano pleaded, sensing a shift in power in the room. He handed Mulan the emperor's letter he had received earlier, stating that kidnapping Mulan was not the objective and that a diplomatic envoy had been deployed to the Imperial City. Mulan read over the note, handing it to her friends to read too. Ling's expression of shock and confusion mirrored what Mulan felt internally.

"If we both of our signals were crossed about the attack, do you think we both have a common enemy? Who would benefit from both of us fighting?" General Fa thought aloud, looking to the men in the room for answers.

"Internally, we've been receiving conflicting information," Hamano offered. "I highly suspect you are familiar with Sui Fu and Shan Yu?"

The gasps that echoed throughout the room were enough to answer his question, and Mulan could hardly hold on to her stoic expression. Perhaps this man had real answers!

--

AN: Sorry for the abrupt ending. Does anyone like this story? Pacing? Characterizations? Too many new characters/plot twists? Anything? Negative and positive comments welcome, as long as they're constructive.

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