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THROUGH THE JADE GATE
The Next Chapter of Fa Mulan's Adventures
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"Father."
Dou-Man, the Hun ruler, turned and the arrow sailed straight through his heart. As he stumbled backward, the world reeling, Dou-Man tore his eyes from the life seeping through his shirt, looking around wildly for some explanation. He found it as he dropped to his knees, craning his neck towards the shadow above. His last, swimming vision of the world was that of his murderer's, high atop his saddle, bow still aimed.
Dou-Man was horrified, but not entirely surprised.
Chapter One
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Twenty Years Later…
For her mother's sake, Fa Mulan resisted the urge to scowl her reflection.
The beautician admired her handiwork without the usual restraint. After all, she had just accomplished the impossible. Imagine--she'd be telling her grandchildren about how she had painted the famous lady solider into a geisha.
Fa Li, who had watched the laborious process from the door, politely dismissed the beautician. The beautician collected her set of face paints and left with a bow and one more proud glance at Mulan. When they were alone, Fa Li lowered herself onto the cushion next to Mulan's and observed their reflections in the facing mirror. For Fa Li it was like looking at two versions of her self. She saw her present, proper if no longer youthful, and then her former face, lovely if no longer girlish.
"You look beautiful, but I haven't ever seen a face so long."
"Is it that obvious?" asked Mulan sheepishly, absently tugging at her hair.Fa Li gently swatted Mulan's hand away from the intricate hairdo. "Stop that. You'll ruin it." She adopted a sweeter tone. "Mulan…child, what is the matter?"
Mulan shot the mirror a sidelong look. The face wasn't hers, but she had seen it before. Heavy paints had coated her complexion porcelain, embellishing her cheeks and eyelids with vivid, unnatural colors. It was the face she had donned almost exactly two years ago. So much had changed since, but here she was again, a hopeful bride, demure, submissive, and pleasing to the eyes.
But this time her costume wasn't for practice. Today she and Shang would marry. And the notion was making her ill.
It wasn't that she didn't like Shang—she loved him—but her trepidation grew as the hour neared. Was she prepared to hang up her armor for good while Shang was off fighting in some distant war? Could she really be contend to rear children while Shang was off on adventures without her? Mulan resented him already and they weren't even married yet.
"Just a little nervous," Mulan lied, attempting a smile.
"That is only natural." Her mother withdrew the Fa Family's treasured hair ornament from her sash and placed the magnolia comb neatly into her daughter's hair. With a rare grin, she added, "Try to hold on to it this time."
Mulan laughed in spite of herself.
Far Away, In The Capital, Chang'an…
The rainless storm rumbled across the river basin where Imperial City stood majestically illuminated in the lantern light of the summer evening. The Emperor swept across his balcony, deep in troubling thoughts, coming to lean on the edge rail. The courtyard below was empty apart from a few sentries stalking the perimeter—quite a different scene from the night of terror that had reached its zenith upon his palace rooftop.
He sighed at length.
It was time to involve the courageous lady solider again. She couldn't possibly have realized the consequences of killing the Shan Yu. Whispers of the brazen girl had traveled across the Middle Kingdom, no doubt leaking over the Great Wall, infuriating what remained of the Huns tribes. And if they had learned that she belonged to the Fa Family…
The emperor grimaced, closing his eyes to the night. He should have insisted she remained at the palace, a refuge from a dangerous family lineage. She was a marked woman from birth, even without the Shan Yu's blood on her hands.
The whole thing was an unfortunate coincidence.
This moon marked the anniversary of an another death, a death that had been strategic at the time—"kill one to warn a hundred"—but it had proved to be only one more reason for the Hun tribes, usually split by petty rivalries, to rally behind the Shan Yu.
Now he would have to send her into the belly of the best to right the wrongs of twenty years ago.
He hoped she could forgive him.
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Author's Note:
So that was my first stab at a Mulan fan fiction. I hope you liked it and feedback would be greatly appreciated.Thanks,
F.J. Stellar