fault,” she whispered. “Shan-Yu was attacking me, and Shang took the blow.”
“Hey, hey, it could’ve been worse,” Mushu replied. “It could’ve been you, not him. At least you’re still alive.”
Mulan gave her guardian dragon a reproachful look. “You’re not helping.”
“What’d I—”
Mulan ignored him and untied her scarf. “Everyone, give me your scarves. We have to stop Shang’s bleeding.”
One by one, the soldiers passed her their scarves, and Mulan knotted them together into a long bandage. Carefully, she lifted Shang’s armor, opened his tunic, and started wrapping his wound. His blood was warm, but his skin was cold—beads of frost dusted his cheeks and neck. When she was done, she reached to take his pulse again. Her hands shook.
Shang’s pulse was faint. Too faint. But he was still alive.
“We need to make camp,” she said finally.
“We need to go to the Imperial City,” Chi Fu corrected her. The Emperor’s adviser slid out of his corner by the rocks. Frost covered the tips of his thin mustache, making the hairs droop like whiskers on a catfish. He wrapped his robes tightly about him, clearly unhappy to be out in the cold and showing no gratitude that they were still alive. “We must inform the Emperor that the Huns have been defeated.”
“We can’t travel with Captain Li like this,” Mulan argued. “He needs to rest.”
Chi Fu gazed at the captain and wrinkled his nose. “He won’t survive a wound like that. The captain is a man of honor. He’d understand.”
“We’re not leaving him,” Mulan said firmly.
“Your duty to the Emperor comes first, soldier.” Chi Fu frowned at her, his beady eyes unblinking. “Or must I document your insubordination?”
“Leave Ping alone,” Yao growled.
“Yeah,” Ling chimed in. “If not for Ping, we’d all be dead. He saved us all.”
Chi Fu harrumphed and turned to face the group. “All this is Ping’s fault. If not for his foolishness, your captain would still be alive.”
“He is still alive,” Mulan insisted stubbornly. “We’re not leaving him behind.”
“Who put you in charge?” Chi Fu retorted.
“No one,” she replied. “But Captain Li Shang is our commanding officer.”
“And the Emperor is our ruler!”
“Then we’ll…we’ll take Shang with us.”
The other soldiers nodded in agreement.
“Impossible,” Chi Fu snapped. “We don’t have enough supplies to take our time. The longer we wallow in this…this blizzard, the sooner we’ll all die. Besides, he wouldn’t survive the journey.”
“He will,” said Mulan fiercely. “I’ll care for him.”
Chi Fu scoffed. “Lunatic boy.”
“I will, too.”
“So will I.”
One after another, the soldiers pledged to help their captain.
“Order, people, order!” Chi Fu crossed his arms, and a crooked smile spread over his mouth. “Very well,” he announced, “Ping will take care of the captain during the journey back. But if he falls behind, we won’t wait for him. Getting to the Emperor is our top priority. If anyone else tries to help Ping, I’ll report his name to the Emperor for insubordination.” Chi Fu paused so his threat could sink in. “Understand?”
Yao opened his mouth to argue, but Mulan was quicker. “I understand,” she said. “Captain Li will be my responsibility. I don’t want anyone to get in trouble.”
“We can’t let you do this alone,” said Chien-Po.
Ling agreed. “Yeah, we all want to help the captain.”
“I’m the only one left with a horse,” Mulan replied, glancing about her sadly. The snow had buried Shang’s and Chi Fu’s horses, along with many of their fellow soldiers. Only now did she realize how drastically their numbers had dwindled. So many of the men she’d trained with had been killed—either by the Huns’ initial attack or in the avalanche. She inhaled. “Khan can carry us both. I won’t fall too far behind.”
“But—”
“A wise decision,” Chi Fu interrupted. “I am the Emperor’s counsel. That means I’m now in charge. I see supplies in the snow that the Huns dropped. Retrieve as much as you can. Move swiftly. We leave in an hour.”
No one dared argue with Chi Fu’s orders, but as the soldiers glumly went about gathering provisions and gear from the snow, Mulan could read their thoughts. They knew Shang was gravely wounded.
Well, she refused to let Shang die.
She swore to herself then and there she would do whatever it took to save him.
They might have won the impossible battle against Shan-Yu and the Huns, but it was a grim march to the Imperial City. Not one of the soldiers laughed or sang or smiled. Even Chi Fu didn’t wear his usual smirk. A stranger passing by could have mistaken them for a funeral