Chapter 12

When the three victors returned with the news of the Emperor's endangerment, Shang didn't seem too surprised, although he gave me his condolences. Come to think of it, I could count on one hand how many times I have ever seen him shocked by something. A leader with a good head on his shoulders was something to be treasured.

Speaking of which, he had already sent a messenger to the Imperial City.

Chi Fu was busy screaming various threats and demands, but nobody cared.

"Aw, will ya shut yer trap already?" Phaedra snarled, as I tied him to a chair.

"Shut up, you little whor-"

Shang slammed a punch into Chi Fu's face. "Keep a civil tongue in your head, or I will take it from your mouth!" The General snarled, dark eyes blazing with anger.

I knelt in front of the traitor, slamming a blade into the chair, inches from his groin. "I would harken to the General if I were you. He wants you alive to face the Emperor. If I had my way, things would be very different!" I growled, and he spat at my feet. "Go to hell, Assassin!"

I snorted. "Oh, no doubt that I will someday, but for now, you're stuck with me." I leaned in close, and continued. "Shang is going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer truthfully. If you lie, and we shall know if you do, I will cut off your shriveled inch of a cock first."

Chi Fu glared hatefully at me. "Why should I tell you anything?"

Phaedra smirked. "Because ya're dead either way, slime-ball."

As Chi Fu sneered, Mulan handed me one of the letters taken from the Templar camp.

I cleared my throat. "According to this particular letter, the Templars intended to kill you after you had outlived your usefulness."

Chi Fu paled. "You lie!"

Mulan watched as Alaric tensed with anger. Even a noble and loving man had an ego, and Alaric had a substantial ego. He never took slights against his honor lightly.

"Read for yourself."

Chi Fu did so, and his face turned a remarkable shade of green.

It didn't take much persuasion to get him to talk after that. The Templars were the main ringleaders of the invasion, but somehow had only sent a single Grand Master to lead the Templar officers, which was the man whom we had disposed of in the Greek Fire ambush.

"That's all I know." Chi Fu finished, and Alaric snorted. "Do I look stupid? There is more to it than sending a single Templar leader-"

Mulan interrupted them impatiently. "It's a trap, Al, that whole raid was a set up!"

Chi Fu said nothing, and Alaric stiffened. "Of course! The Templars sacrificed one of their own to lead the Assassins away from the Emperor."

Chi Fu sneered up at Alaric. "You let a woman do the thinking for you? How far you have fallen, Assassin!"

Alaric smirked at him. "You got outsmarted by said girl, you gutless worm!"

Chi Fu hissed at me in outrage. "And look at what you have done to her! China's first heroine is now an Assassin's whore!"

Alaric moved for him, but Mulan got there first, punching the offender in the face.

"Who are you to lecture me about morals, you traitor?" She said in between several punches, and I had to pull her out of the tent to keep her from killing the bastard.

"That's enough, Mulan!"

She whirled on him, eyes blazing, shaking with rage. "I want to be the one to kill him, do you understand? I want blood!"

Alaric shook his head, suddenly looking scared, as if fearful of her. "Not you, never you."

She snarled in frustration. "This again from you! Am I not strong enough for you, not good enough for you? Stop trying to protect me!"

He flinched. "It has nothing to do with strength or heart."

She folded her arms. "Then why are you so protective of me? Why do you always try to hide the unpleasant bits of what you do?"

He let out a cry of frustration, taking her by the shoulders. "You want the truth? You want to know why I keep you from seeing what I am capable of? I just cannot bear the thought of you becoming like me. You are a person who is capable of so much good, who can bring out the best in people like me."

Mulan stared at him, shaking her head. What was he talking about? "Alaric, I'm not a perfect person. Don't make into someone I'm not. I'm just as flawed as everyone else is."

He shrugged, looking pained. "Maybe you cannot think of yourself that way, but compared to the many people I have known, you are the very best that humanity has to offer. If I did not find you, I would never have come so far."

She stared into his sincere gaze, realizing that he looked up to her, pinning all his hopes and dreams onto her. "Please don't look at me as this flawless being who can do no wrong. You'll only be disappointed."

He shook his head stubbornly. "I do not think that you are a perfect flawless person, but you are the closest person to being perfect than anyone else I have ever met. That is why you will not be the one to kill him. killing someone changes people, as it did me. I do not want that for you, and he is certainly not worth the effort."

Mulan bit her lip, both touched and scared by the utter devotion in his eyes. "All right, darling. I guess someone else can deal with him instead."

He looked very relieved. "Let me take care of that bastard. I have something in mind for that scum."

As Alaric and Mulan were arguing outside, Phaedra continued from where Mulan had left off, beating the hell out of their prisoner. "Give me one good reason why I shouldnae kill you!" She snarled, and he spat blood in her direction.

"I don't need to abase myself to the likes of you, Assassin girl!"

She smirked, and opened a gash across his left cheek. "This girl's gonnae enjoy killing ya slowly!"

Phaedra was waiting for Shang to intervene, but he didn't. When she glanced at him, his face was impassive, almost detached.

"Let's just slit his gullet, and be done with it. This grease-stain is no use to us now."

Shang nodded. "Do it."

For the first time in years, Phaedra was floored. "What? Can ya say that in me good ear?"

Shang looked at Chi Fu, who looked equally stunned. "Let us face the truth, Traitor: you were going to die sooner or later. It seems fitting that it be done by an expert, and a female one makes it all the more fitting. You never did like women, did you?"

As the former Emperor's toady stammered, Phaedra raised an amused eyebrow at Shang. "Which is ironic, since the only woman who would have ever had him would be his mother."

Shang chuckled, and Phaedra came to the sudden realization that Shang was using the threat of death to get more information out of Greasy-guts.

She doubted the handsome general would really allow her to kill him.

"You certainly know how tae make a girl's day, don't you?" She asked, drawing her sword.

Shang gave her a smile that weakened her knees, and sent her heart racing. "In more ways than one, my dear." He responded smoothly, but they were cut off by a testy voice.

"Focus, you two! I cannott leave you alone for a moment, can I?" Alaric had reentered the tent, looking annoyed.

Phaedra swore colorfully. "Can't ya let well enough alone?"

I ignored her, focusing on Chi Fu. "As for you, you are going to keep talking. I have a feeling that you know about how the Templars are going after the Emperor."

Alaric was concentrating on Chi Fu so much that Shang and Phaedra were able to sneak out, but Mulan noticed.

Smiling, she shook her head. She would deal with 'The Lion' later, as she was the only one who could calm and control it.

"If I didnae know any better, General, I'd say you were tryin' tae seduce me." Phaedra said, and then gasped for breath as Shang's lips pressed down the length of her neck.

"Is it working?" He asked, as she arched her neck back, allowing him more skin to taste.

"Maybe," she said, grabbing him around the neck and pulling him down for a long, hard kiss.

As their lips and tongues melded, she shoved him against the wooden wall of the camp, her hands undoing the hair knot at the back of his neck, allowing his hair to fall to his shoulders.

"If you ask me, I think ya look better that way." She said, as they parted for breath.

He sighed, resigned to her continual unspoken efforts to break every cultural norm that China had, and not minding it as much as he thought he would have.

True, they had been through a few nasty shouting matches, but the little firebrand was just too irresistible to let go of.

She was no flimsy woman of giggles and blushes, like so many women he had been around. She was a no-nonsense, down-to-earth, rustic warrior maiden, and she was proud of it.

And he was proud of her in return.

Phaedra contemplated the god-like General, stroking his prominently muscular chest.

If some bloke would have told her that she would fall in love with a by the book, stunning foreigner who was both infuriatingly proper and honorable, she would have knocked the person upside the head.

But here she was, but not without or doubts. "Shang, about us: I am learnin' yer language just fine, but I'm still tryin' tae earn respect from your soldiers, and it's been difficult."

Shang nodded, knowing that the fact that she was a warlike woman and a foreigner bothered many of his staff, as it bothered the soldiers under them, and Phaedra was having difficulty getting along with the more ornery ones.

She continued, combing her hair with her hands, which was a habit that she had had since she was a child when she was anxious. "If it is that hard tae get around with the men, how can I expect the Chinese tae be any different. If we do stay together..." She trailed off, looking pained.

He laid a kiss on her forehead, and finished her sentence for her. "If we stay together, we will get through it when the time comes. I only expect from you what you can do."

She nodded, smiling up at him. "Aye, ya do. Thanks, handsome."

Smiling, he pulled her into another deep kiss.

Mulan smiled, as Alaric slammed his fist into Chi Fu's face for what seemed like the dozenth time that night.

She would be lying if she said she was feeling sorry for Chi Fu, but the look of feral concentration on Alaric's face made everything better!

"Yes, you have already told us the Emperor is in potential danger from your friends, but that does not explain the armies at China's doorstep, so speak, or I shall start with my knife!" Alaric snarled.

And then grimaced mockingly. "Well, it looks like I need to clean the slime off of my hands when I'm done with you. You are quite disgusting, aren't you?"

Chi Fu, who was quite bloodied by now, finally gave it up. "The invasions are only a smokescreen meant to distract you assassins from the Emperor. There will not just be one attempt to kill the man who abandoned his most loyal advisor! We have several variations and attempts that will bring the old fool down, while the Chinese armies will be preoccupied with-"

He never finished the sentence, as I knocked him out with an elbow to the traitor's left temple.

"Well, I'll be damned. He was actually useful for once." I said, before looking at Shang and Phaedra, who had just reentered the tent. "Do I want to know what you two have been doing?"

Phaedra shrugged, as Shang looked embarrassed.

"We'll talk about this later." I growled, then looked at Shang. "Send another message to the Emperor, and tell him to expect any and all types of assassinations that will be used on the Emperor. As a matter of fact, I'll go myself. I need you and Phaedra to stay here, and meet the invaders in combat. Mulan, I must ask you to stay with these two-"

She interrupted me, her face set. "I'm coming with you, and you'd better believe that!"

I nodded, smiling tiredly. "Very well." I sighed, looking at each of my friends in the eye.

"One way or another, it's going to be over soon. The end is coming soon, and we have to make sure that we are the ones on top when it's over."

Shang stepped forward, and grasped my hand, surprising me. "We will, Alaric."

I nodded, smiling slightly. "Very well, General. Your father would be proud, and I'm damn glad to have you as a friend and ally."

Before I left, I gestured at the traitor. "What will you do with this cockroach?"

Shang, in turn, gestured to Phaedra. "Leave it to the Hellcat."

I nodded at Phaedra, who gave me a kiss to the cheek. "I'll do just that. Farewell."

With that, Mulan and I left the camp minutes later, Shang's messenger leaving before us, having the faster horse.

The battle for China was soon at hand.