Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Twenty Five

"Iris... wake up! Come on!"

Kayde shook her as he was attaching his sword to his hip. Her eyes blinked open and a hand flew to her head. With a groan, she surveyed Kayde, and immediately wondered why he was rushing to grab his sword and other things. She heard the bell tolling through the walls, but didn't register it through the headache she had.

"What's going on?" she slurred, "Gods, my head hurts."

He didn't laugh at her as she halfway expected him to. Instead, he used a hand to roughly pull her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little harshly. With another movement, he pulled out one of the prickly fruits and stuffed it into her mouth. Confused, and a little agitated, she began to chew on it. Her face still pinched at its flavor.

"Do you not hear the alarm bell?" he pointed it out, and then it all made sense to her. "We have to go."

Understanding jolted through her. Instantaneously, she began scanning the room for her weapons, finding them lying dormant on the side table next to her bed. She quickly grabbed them, stuffing them in their scabbards, and readjusted her gauntlets. She didn't say anything to Kayde as she pulled her hair free from the very untidy topknot and fixed it back

"Is the town under attack?" she asked, remembering Zayn's warning from earlier.

"I can only assume..." said Kayde, who was now making his way to the door, "Only one way to find out."

Iris followed him, aching head still full of questions. As they walked, she asked them.

"How do you know that it's an alarm bell?"

"Get your wits about you now, dear girl," he said, and swiftly began rubbing her temples as if that would somehow increase her cognitive function. "What else could it be? It's a loud bell that is ringing in the dead of night."

Iris nodded dumbly, and decided not to question him further. After that, the both of them made their way down the inn's stairs. She suddenly realized that she didn't remember this place at all. How had she even gotten to the inn? She pushed that thought aside, however, as there truly more pressing matters at present.

It wasn't a very big building, so it didn't take very long for them to get to the main lobby.

She didn't see any of her scouting group there. She hoped that they were ahead of her rather than behind. Either way, she and Kayde rushed out the door, both trying to be quiet enough to not draw any attention.

It didn't take long for her to see them. There were ten heavily armored men within the village's premises. The tunics that each of them wore was inscribed with a symbol that Iris had never seen before. She immediately assumed that these were Tokens. Iris wanted nothing more than to run headlong and attack them on sight... but none of her group were there, and she knew that she would die if she were to pursue them now, even if it was only a small group of them.

"Shit!" she cursed, "where is the General?"

As if in response, the inn's door opened again to a very alert looking Zayn. Not far behind him was Ra and Shen. The general saw Iris standing there within seconds and went up to stand beside her. Wordlessly, she pointed to the soldiers in the middle of the city. He narrowed his eyes, noticing that two of them were carrying torches.

"Tokens," he said quickly, confirming her suspicion. "Damn it."

Iris waited for instructions, but he gave none. At least, not verbally. With one last look at all of them, he ran forward, drawing his sword. Ra followed suit after him, running a bit more slowly than Zayn.