They rode through the night, not stopping to rest, the sound of Khan's hooves beating out a drum like rhythm as mountains, paddies, rivers and forests flew past them. The sky was unusually clear and the moon hung low in the sky, bathing the riders in a milky glow.
Shang was uneasy with the clarity of the night. Although he could see the path ahead of them, enabling them to navigate the rougher terrain, they would also be easy to spot by anyone looking for two soldiers on the run. And anyone could be looking.
His fists tightened in anger around the reins as he urged the horse on. Truthfully, he had no idea what they were up against. When he had received his briefing all those weeks ago, the task was clear, the enemy known. The Hun army was vast, but at least he knew who they were. A clear target at which to aim. Now he felt like he was shooting into darkness at the edge of a vast ravine. The enemy had shifted and widened. Who knew how many spies had been bought by Chi Fu and his agents? How many enemies lay on the road before them?
All he knew is that they had to reach his father and the Chinese army as soon as possible. Perhaps by luck, or by the grace of his ancestors, he had received word from his father only the day before. He and his troops were based at a village in the Tung Shao pass, high in the snowy mountains overlooking the Imperial city. In his letter, the General had written that he anticipated that the Huns would head straight for the city to take control of the Emperor and claim their victory with the least possible effort. This advantageous position gave the army the ability to spot any direct approach made by the Hun army. The General also expressed his wish to see his son's troops join them before long. Shang had meant to go straight to Chi Fu with this news, but in his distraction with his discovery of Mulan (and in truth, in no mood for another certain jibe from Chi Fu regarding the performance of his recruits), he had neglected to do so. How glad he was now for this. As far as he was aware the traitorous councillor remained unaware of this latest move, and that might just buy them the time they needed.
Mulan had been silent for the the duration of the journey, and suddenly Shang felt her lean back into his chest, her head drooping forward. He glanced down.
She was asleep. He gently tightened his grip round her waist to stop her slipping from the saddle. She must be exhausted, and he didn't blame her. She had experienced her first taste of battle and bloodshed, and killed two men. She was lucky to be able to sleep at all, ghosts of the dead had a funny way of appearing behind your eyes even when you closed them.
As they continued their gallop across the countryside, Shang wondered with increasing dread what would happen when they reached his father. It had been one thing to continue her deception amongst a bunch of largely inexperienced men in the camp. Could she do the same alongside seasoned soldiers, experienced and hardened men? Would they be as easily fooled as he had?
Shang realised he faced an impossible choice. He would not be able to protect her if the General discovered her. But he would also not harm her, even if ordered to do so. He felt a growing desire to not only protect her from harm, but to be near her, as a moth is drawn by a candle. It was a dangerous realisation, he knew, but it was one that he could not shake.
They were several days from the Tung Shao pass. He would just have to coach her further until then to ensure she could remain as inconspicuous as possible. He shifted his arm where it had gone numb with her weight across it, and felt a flash of pain across his shoulder where the Hun had struck him. He grimaced to himself. When you were on the run for your life, an injury was the last thing you needed. Without his armour too, he felt particularly exposed. Surviving the next few days would not be easy.
As the first tendrils of light snaked their way up through the sky, Mulan stirred. Shang leaned down and gently shook her shoulder. "Mulan, are you awake? We're approaching the Yellow Dragon Caves. We'll stop there for a a while to rest". Shang's body ached from the long ride and his shoulder was throbbing worse than before. He longed to be free of the saddle.
"How long have we been riding?" Mulan mumbled groggily.
"Around six hours. We rode through the whole night but I don't think we were followed".
Shang brought Khan down to a steady trot as they approached the caves at Zhangjiajie. The Yellow Dragon Caves were a beautiful natural wonder. Set into the lush foliage of the mountains they provided a network of caverns to serve as hiding places and for shelter, as well as an abundance of fresh water pools and rivers in side the caves themselves. As they followed the narrow path through the woodland Shang felt a little less uneasy. They had good cover here, and should be safe for a few hours.
Mulan sat up, more alert as the caves came into view. "It's beautiful" she whispered.
In spite of himself, Shang smiled a little at this. Even in their situation she could still recognise the wonders of their country. That thought made him even more determined that they should save it.
At the entrance to the cave Shang dismounted from Khan, the usually effortless manouvre made awkward and clumsy by his wounded shoulder. He grimaced as he landed, but looked straight up to Mulan, extending his hand out to her to take to jump down.
Instead of taking his hand, she gave him an odd look and jumped down without help, but with much more grace than he.
"Sir", she said gently, looking at him with a worried expression. "Please, your shoulder." She petted Khan and began to fiddle with the packs on his saddle. As Shang watched her she seemed to think for a moment, before looked up at him with a small flash of fear. "Also, you must not help me like that in front of your father. I'm afraid that if somehow I do not die by the Huns then I will be killed anyway by the General's soldiers. They will see right through me".
She looked down sadly at the helmet in her hand. "Perhaps you were right all along".
Shang winced and cursed himself for that careless blunder. He had intended to help her to protect herself from discovery, and yet she had more sense than him. He would never forgive himself if he brought her to harm by his own rash actions.
"I'm sorry, Mulan" he said stiffly. "Ping", he corrected himself. "I'm sorry Ping." He strode off awkwardly through into the dark entrance passage of the cave. "Come. We've made it this far. We must carry on".
Inside the cave it was dark and cool. The cavern was vast, but interrupted by the twisted and undulating rock formations. They extended down from the ceiling and pushed up from the ground, forming a bizarre forest that glistened damply. As Mulan and Shang picked their way carefully through the maze they passed a number of small pools, their surfaces glassy and calm like black mirrors. The occasional drips of water falling from the cavern's ceiling echoed loudly around them but otherwise it was deathly quiet. Shang watched Mulan urge Khan gently through the unfamiliar terrain, having sensed the horse's unease.
Before long they came to a reasonably large pool with a area of flat rocky ground at its shore, and a hollow smaller cavern scooped out of the side of the rock. Shang scanned the area critically. This would serve as some shelter and respite from any unfriendly eyes. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it would serve them well enough.
As Mulan led the horse to the shore of the rock pool to drink, Shang lowered himself to the hard ground with an unwilling groan. Gods, the pain was strong now. He could feel fresh blood leaking from his shoulder, darkening his robe. The already murky surroundings were becoming increasingly blurred and shapeless before his eyes.
"Shang!" He shook his head to clear his vision and saw Mulan before him, reaching into her pack. She began pulling out various small bottles, a roll of bandage. He felt a sudden rush of shame and embarrassment, and hastily made to get to his feet. "Ping, don't…"
She put her hand firmly on his chest to stop him standing. "Sir, you must let me help you". Keeping one hand on his chest she tentatively began to peel back his robe where the blood had fused against the material. Shang grimaced at the sensation of flesh tearing from cotton. He heard Mulan let out a low gasp as she examined the wound.
"It's small, but deep, and it looks like it might be infected." Her brown eyes were dark with concern as she began examining the small vials she had pulled from her pack. She found one, and held it up to the light before removing the stopper. "I can dress it and give you something for the pain, but this needs a proper medic". Soaking the piece of wadding in liquid from the bottle, she held it up to the wound.
"Gods!" Shang swore as the liquid touched the wound. Jerking his arm away, he knocked Mulan clean off her knees. Next thing he knew, he felt himself being pushed roughly back to the ground.
"Lie down", Mulan ordered, brushing dirt from her tunic. This was the closest he had come to hearing her angry. "I'm sorry Shang, but you are no good to anyone like this. If you don't let me help you, then you are as good as dead, and then what will happen? I know that you must feel that a woman isn't good enough to help you, but unfortunately that's all you've got. If you want to find the army and bring Chi Fu and the Huns to justice, then you are going to need to shut up and let me do what I need to do".
Shang saw the rise and fall of her chest as she caught her breath, and the knot of her brows and thought better of attempting a retort. He nodded silently. "Just do it" he said softly, looking away. As the liquid sliced through his shoulder like a curved blade he didn't utter a word but stared blankly at the vast blackness that stretched like a tiger's open mouth above him.
When she was finished, Mulan handed Shang a tiny blue bottle of liquid, no bigger than his little finger. "For the pain", she said shortly. "If I were you I'd get comfortable, it should make you sleep for some time".
Shang moved awkwardly to a patch of the least rocky ground. He glanced at the bottle in his hand, but thought better of asking her what was in it. Opium, likely enough, but he could think of nothing better than losing himself, if only briefly, in a painless, untroubled sleep.
"Thank you" he managed. He nodded to Mulan. "You should get some rest yourself. We'll need to be up and back on the road before long".
She nodded, almost imperceptibly. "Drink up", she chided softly, turning away to gaze at the water.
Obeying her, Shang lifted the vial to his lips and drained it. He leaned back against the rock with a sigh. Gradually, he watched as the open tiger's mouth above him yawned and distorted, its swirling jaws looming hungrily towards him. Willingly, he fell into the darkness and saw and heard no more.
In his dream, Shang was back at the shore of the lake at Camp Wu Zhong. His arm was bandaged and although stiff, did not hurt as before. He took a breath of cool night air and gazed at the calm stillness of the water's surface. As he watched, he noticed a ripple break the mirror of the lake's surface and saw the shards of water dance lazily towards him. Only vaguely annoyed, he looked for the cause of the disturbance. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he perceived the slight figure moving hauntingly through the water. The fox spirit was back, her lithe body arching as she twisted her hair from its ribbon and seemed to look at him knowingly before ducking under the surface of the water. As she emerged sleekly, he recognised her as the same spirit who danced before him in what seemed many moons ago in a dream. For it was surely, all a dream. Unlike before however, he did not look away, and nor did he want to.
He moved closer towards the edge of the bank, a willow tree's soft branches shook in the breeze against his arm. Impatiently he reached to brush them away, not taking his eyes from the spirit.
Shang's hand collided not with soft leaves, but hard rock. As he let out a shout the lake and the grass melted away before him, the dark cavern and cold dampness of the air returning. The "willow"was a rock formation snaking its way up from the ground. Blinking, as his eyes adjusted he saw the cavern pool, its surface rippled as the lake in his dream. As he stood,he looked down and his shoulder was indeed still bandaged, as in the dream, but with faint whispers of pain threatening as the opium wore off.
He felt a soft hand on his arm and turned to see the spirit stood before him, her hair still wet from the lake.
"Shang! You're awake". Shang realised in the halfway world between sleep and lucidity, that she was real. But she was not a spirit of the night.
"Mulan…" he pressed a hand to his head to clear the remaining visions from his eyes. When he opened them, she was still there, water running down her face, her soldier's robes awkwardly clinging to her small frame, thrown on in a hurry.
"Shang, are you alright? I heard you shout." She gestured to the pool. "I was bathing". She looked at his shoulder. "How is the pain? You may have had some hallucinations with the opium, but it should have helped to numb the wound".
He shook his head softly. He wasn't sure whether what he had seen was real or not.
As he looked back at her, a single drop of water fell from her hair and landed on her bottom lip. Absently, he reached out to touch it, a test of reality. With a jolt, he felt her skin and the water below his thumb,and he remembered everything. The weeks of training, the rescue at the gorge, the battle in the moonlight, Chi Fu's betrayal, her. He wiped the droplet of water away from her mouth and tilted her chin up with his hand. She said nothing, but only stared at him, her eyes widened slightly.
She said nothing still even as his body moved as though of its own accord and he leaned down to kiss her. She said nothing as she tentatively brought her hands up to wrap around his neck. She only spoke as the clink of metal and the sound of murmured voices began to drift towards them. Breaking away from him, she made out in a low horrified whisper:
"Shang, we were followed. There's someone else here".
Okay so next chapter up, took a while! Appreciate the comments if you have any thoughts, as this has taken a slight turn from the expected! Enjoy :)