Thank you Yira for encouraging me to continue this story and being my cheering section!

Shortly after Shang and Zhou had left for 6 months, the Huns crossed over the wall. This time they were led by Shan Yu's son.

Much like Shan Yu's army, they were making their way to the Imperial City and destroying every village in their path. They never left survivors.

Once again, Wu Zhong was filled with foot soldiers, captains and generals as they prepared to face the enemy. Zhou was one of four medics, just as he had been when the Mongols had invaded. But this time he wasn't in training, although he knew there was always more to learn.

Shang remembered how the Huns had ambushed his company in the Tung Shou pass with flaming arrows. If they could find where the Huns were camped, they could try to beat them at their own game.

Imperial scouts were sent out and within a few days had located where the Huns were camped. Shang and another general took 4,500 men and two medics, including Zhou, to ambush their enemy.

Knowing that the Huns were experts in stealth, they left at sundown and reached the valley where they were camped. On a signal, each soldier fired flaming arrows from above the valley without stopping. Tents and weapon stores quickly caught fire.

The Huns began returning fire, using the burning objects around them to light the arrows. By the time they responded, it was too late. Only about 100 Huns survived.

Or so the Chinese thought.

A second Hun army had split off into a different camp, anticipating an attack from the Chinese.

Getting word of the ambush, they crept up on the Imperial army and started shooting as the Chinese were retreating. Many soldiers were lost as they exchanged fire with the second group of Huns.

As the Huns ran into the enemy lines, swords were drawn and direct combat occurred. A runner had been sent to summon the rest of the Imperial army. They left immediately to come to the aide of their comrades and surprise the second Hun army.

The Chinese were able to finally defeat the Huns and kill their leader, but the cost to their own had been enormous. Out of a total of 6,500 troops who had engaged in battle, 2,500 were lost. Another 500 injured, 200 critically.

As Zhou and the other three medics were working to stabilize the critical soldiers and prepare them for transport, the more stable wounded were taken back to Wu Zhong.

Among the gravely wounded was Shang. He'd been hit with flaming arrows twice, both of which had landed directly into his right upper leg. The second had pierced the bone. He was quickly growing weak from blood loss, so two of the medics worked quickly to stop the bleeding. Zhou was able to ride back to the camp with him.

Over the next two days, the four medics worked around the clock treating the wounded. Despite their efforts, more soldiers died, bringing the number of dead up to 2,600.

The bleeding from Shang's leg wounds had been stopped, but after 3 days infection began to set in. The wounds became red, hot and swollen and the pain in his leg increased. His body burned with fever, stealing his reason. Just like when he'd gotten wounded after the Mongol attack, a foot soldier was sent to bring Mulan. She left Mingzhu and Qiang with Liu and Fa Li.

Mulan stayed with Shang and kept cool rags on him in an effort to reduce the fever, but it stubbornly clung to him. His leg remained red and hot and the skin was pulled so tightly by the swelling that it was shiny.

In his feverish delirium, he began talking in his sleep. When Zhou came in to check on him, Mulan was bravely sitting next to him mopping him off with cool water, but he saw she was shaking. It didn't take him long to figure out why.

"He's wounded! Get help! Ping… Ping… Hold on. Hold on."

"Shut up, Ping! It's time to pay up. You owe me." Mulan was stunned for a moment. It almost brought her back to those days, hearing Shang speak as he had all those years ago, but with some meditation she was able to bring herself back to the present.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mulan. I'm sorry."

"Father, No! Mama! Mama!"

"You killed her! You killed my mother!"

"Thanks to your new friend Ping, you'll spend the night picking up every single grain of rice."

"Ping, dammit. Don't fight me!" Mulan shut her eyes and took several deep breaths. Shang's delirious murmurings were dredging up some very unpleasant memories.

Zhou whispered to his mother. "Who's Ping?"

"That was my name in the army."

Zhou put his arm around his mother and they watched helplessly as delirium tightened its grip on Shang.

"We're the only hope for the Emperor now!"

"Ping's a girl?"

"You're mine, you little bitch." Mulan visibly flinched. That was something the old Shang of years past had called her and she hadn't heard it in decades.

"Mama, are you ok?"

"I think so." Mulan was shaking and sweating, but determined to stay by Shang's side.

"Mama, you haven't slept."

"Neither have you, Zhou."

"I'm an army medic. I go days without sleep. I'm used to it. Go get something to eat from the mess tent and then take a nap in my tent. You don't need to see any more of this."

Mulan shook her head stubbornly.

"Prepare to fight. If we die, we die with honor."

"Mama, go! I've got him. Watching Papa so delirious isn't good for you. Not when we don't know what might come out of his mouth. Medic's order. Eat and rest."

Seeing he wasn't relenting, she stood up to go. "You sound just like my mother."

"Don't make me chase you with a cup of tea like Grandma. Go! I'll get you when his fever breaks."

After eating a bowl of rice and broth, Mulan walked around the camp. The moon was full and illuminated the camp with silvery light. It reminded her of the night she'd climbed the pole and retrieved the arrow Shang had shot at the top of it. She had been sent home that evening, due to an inability to keep up. Then instead of actually leaving, she used the weights and spent the entire night figuring out how to get to the top with them. When Shang had walked out of his tent that morning, she'd thrown the arrow at his feet. He'd decided to allow her to stay.

Mulan realized that the same determination that had gotten her to the top of that pole is the same determination she'd used to face adversity ever since. She laughed when she saw an arrow at the top and weights laying by the bottom of the pole. It had been 23 years, but she was determined to try.

It took her a couple hours, but she reached the top using the weights to pull herself up. When Zhou came out to get more water to keep Shang cooled, she threw the arrow at his feet. He laughed when he saw his 39 year old mother sitting at the top of the pole. He knew the story of her climb.

Mulan slid down and went to Zhou's tent to sleep and he hurried back to Shang's tent with more cool water from the lake.

At dawn, his fever had broken and he was sleeping quietly, no longer delirious. Zhou woke up his mother. He wasn't surprised to find her face and his pillow tear-stained. The stress of his father's illness had been difficult enough for her, but listening to his delirious chatter had shaken her. Seeing her reaction to it was heartbreaking.

Mulan tended to Shang while Zhou assumed care of several critically injured soldiers. Within a few hours, he was near passing out on his feet from several days without sleep. Another medic ordered him to his tent to rest, just as Zhou had done with his mother the day before. When Zhou resisted, the other medic summoned Mulan, and they both made sure Zhou ate and rested.

The encouraging sign of his fever breaking didn't last. Shang still hadn't regained consciousness. His entire leg was swollen and red. His toes were beginning to turn black.

Two days after the fever had broken, it returned. Zhou brought the other medics to Shang's tent and they discussed what to do. It was clear the general teetered between life and death.

They faced a difficult decision. His toes and now his foot were turning black. His leg was beginning to rot from the infection. Amputating his leg could cost him his life. Allowing the dead tissue to remain definitely would.

With Mulan's consent, the four medics made the decision to make a last ditch effort to save their general by amputating his leg. It would mean he would never lead an army again, if he were to recover.

Mulan stationed herself by the pole she had climbed a few days before. Of course, she would not be permitted to stay in the tent during Shang's surgery. But she hoped that the determination that the pole represented to her would somehow keep him alive.

It was hours before they were done. Mulan feared the worst when she finally saw a grim-faced Zhou emerge from the general's tent. Shang had survived the amputation procedure, but there was still a long road ahead, and no guarantees.

Mulan was shocked by how pale Shang was when she was finally allowed to see him. He had lost a fair amount of blood. She pulled the blanket back and looked at the stump that had once been his leg. It was wrapped in bandages. She knew that if he made it through the infection and surgical recovery, this would be next to impossible for him to accept. Her husband had been a strong, healthy general of the Imperial Army for over 22 years. He was a formidable opponent in martial arts and sword-fighting, and had trained thousands of soldiers. She quietly prayed to the ancestors that they would help him survive this, physically and mentally.

Shang remained unconscious for 5 more days after his procedure. Mulan knew it was a blessing that he was not awake to have to endure the physical pain. Even so, the medics gave him small amounts of opium frequently.

She and Zhou were there when he woke up.

"Mulan?"

"I'm here, Shang. So is Zhou."

"What happened?"

"Do you remember those arrows that hit your leg?"

"Yes"

"They made your leg get infected all the way to the bone. You spiked fevers and were delirious. Then your toes and foot started turning black." Mulan turned to Zhou, wanting him to explain to Shang about his leg.

"Papa, we had to take your leg. Otherwise the infection would have killed you."

"What do you mean, take my leg?" Shang pulled the blankets up and looked at his stump. "How am I supposed to be an army general with one leg?"

"Papa, if we didn't, you would have died."

"Maybe you should have let me." With that, Shang turned his face away from his wife and son.

For the next several weeks, he barely spoke. He just watched everyone and everything around him. Mulan and the medics struggled to get him to eat or drink anything. When he did speak, it was to ask them to let him die. Gradually, his appetite returned and color came back to his once ghostly white cheeks.

Whenever Mulan became discouraged and disheartened at the despair Shang felt over losing his leg, she climbed the pole. The soldiers at the camp, many of whom had not ever mastered retrieving the arrow, admired her determination and strength. Once, she spent a whole day with them as one by one they reached the top and threw the arrow at her feet with her instruction and encouragement.

After the last soldier had thrown the arrow and climbed down, she looked up to see Shang standing in the doorway of his tent on his one leg, with Zhou by his side and a sturdy crutch under each arm. The entire army cheered and saluted him as he made his way to the center of the camp. He smiled for the first time in months.

"General, every one of your soldiers has mastered the pole." Mulan told him proudly. "It's time for you to go home. Mingzhu and Qiang will be so happy to see you."

With help, he climbed into a cart for the trip home. Once again, the entire army saluted him and he saluted them back. He was glad he was alive.

It had been 8 months since Shang and Zhou had initially left home, and 6 months since Mulan had come to Wu Zhong. That's how long Shang's recovery had taken.

As Mulan predicted, Mingzhu and Qiang were ecstatic to see their father. They had known he was injured, but not how close he had come to dying. The sight of his stump saddened and shocked the two children, as well as Fa Li. But they were all happy and relieved he was alive.

After greeting his siblings, Zhou raced into the house to see Liu. He stopped short in shock at the sight of a newborn in her arms, with a one year old Wei by her side. She had discovered she was pregnant just after he'd left for Wu Zhong, and just given birth that morning. She'd sent a village boy to the camp to alert Zhou of her labor, and he had encountered them returning and had raced back to tell Fa Li they were already on their way. She'd only been in labor for a few short hours before giving birth to a baby girl.

Zhou and Liu named her Meili.

Shang and Mulan now had two grandchildren. Fa Li had three grandchildren, a granddaughter-in-law and two great-grandchildren. Wei may not have been of Fa blood, but he was very much a part of their family.