it spurred her courage.
Her sword blazed brighter than ever before. The demons raised their shields to protect themselves from her sword’s glare. “I am trying to reach the portal with my friends,” Mulan shouted over their cries. “I give you this one opportunity to leave in peace.”
“You think we’re afraid of a girl?”
“No one wants to accept my offer?” Mulan scraped her boots against the rock. “Your loss.”
With a unanimous howl, the demons charged.
Have courage.
She half closed her eyes, remembering her months training under Shang’s command. He’d taught his soldiers to outrun an onslaught of burning arrows, to turn a simple wooden pole into a deadly weapon, to fire arrows into pomegranates in midair.
All achievements she’d thought were impossible. Until they weren’t.
Speed, endurance, strength. Precision, focus, confidence, Mulan told herself. I am the coursing river, the raging fire. I am the warrior.
She waited until the demons were close enough that she could smell their rotten breath. Now! Mulan thrust her sword into the lava streaming through the rock and heaved upward, swooping the burning embers into the demons’ eyes.
They screamed, wailing in pain and flailing for their eyes. A few still attacked, shoving their swords and spears blindly in her direction. Mulan picked her first target. She swept a foot forward and lunged, countered one demon’s attack, and then kicked him in the shin and tripped him. He fell over the ledge.
Like with the ghost bandits, she slashed through the demons’ spears and whips and swords. This surprised Huoguai’s soldiers, and she destroyed as many of their weapons as she could before the demons had recovered from her initial attack.
Larger demons appeared, emerging from the boiling craters. They looked much like the others, except they had odd numbers of eyes and arms and ears that looked stitched together out of different creatures—part bear, part tiger, part snake.
She gripped her shield, kept it high over her chest. The demons were large and powerful. They attacked high, above her ribs and side. Their only weakness was their lack of speed. Mulan needed to use her smaller size to her advantage. She was able to evade most of their attacks with her nimble footwork and quick thinking. She even managed to make two of the demons accidentally strike each other by ducking right before they swung at her. But she knew it was only a matter of time before they defeated her.
Her wrists started to tire from the thrusting and blocking. The arm carrying her shield shuddered every time a spear or sword jabbed at it. Her muscles tightened, and her grip faltered. Someone’s chain whip lashed her arm, and she cried out in pain.
Ignoring the searing pain in her arm, Mulan dropped the shield. She couldn’t carry it anymore. She’d have to use only her sword.
The demons could sense her tiring. They flanked her, three on each side.
“She’s weak,” they said. “Let’s finish her off!”
They attacked, but she was ready for them. She ducked and drew a sharp arc across their calves. Ash poured out instead of blood. From their screams, she knew she’d hurt them.
Hurting them wasn’t the goal. Stopping them was.
She was gaining ground. Holding her palm to the flat of her blade, she pushed the closest demon into the bubbling crater. Another whipped her back with his chain.
Mulan arched in pain, feeling the searing lash cut into her flesh. The demon laughed, and down came his chain again. This time, Mulan jumped to the side and blocked the chain with her sword, catching it in the blade. She yanked the chain away and coiled it over her wrist.
Shang should’ve included these in our training, she thought as she caught her breath. If I get out of here, I’ll bring it up.
She charged at the closest two demons, wrapping the chain around their legs as she dodged their attacks. Then, as they stumbled toward her, she blocked their attacks and pushed them off the Cauldron. One by one, they fell, but Mulan didn’t give herself a moment to rejoice. She’d learned from that mistake the first time—with Shan-Yu.
One last demon awaited her. It was just her luck that he was also the biggest. She threw her shoulders back so she looked bigger than she was and copied ShiShi’s best, most intimidating snarl.
The demon roared in response. His sword was as broad as her face, and it whooshed in the air whenever he swung. Mulan darted away as he attacked, dodging and crouching as the demon heaved his sword at her