Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Fifty Five

The grand fortress was in the general's sight. At the present moment, he and his men were crouched about a hundred feet from it, staring at it... but saying nothing. None of them knew what to say. All of them had been training and traveling for what felt like forever, and now? Now they were here: their destination. Zayn was healed enough and it was time.

"What now, general?" Dregar finally asked.

Zayn looked over at his soldier, surveying him. This whole time, he'd known Dregar to be a brave and intelligent man. For the most part, the swordsman had been completely somber and serious about this whole mission. But now... now as they all looked upon the end of their journey, he saw a fire in the man's eyes.

"Now we get in. Let's head for the back entrance."

"Very well, sir," Dregar answered with a nod and began leading the general toward the other entrance.

After a moment, the swordsman stopped walking and pointed toward the building. Zayn couldn't quite tell what he was supposed to be looking at. With a turn of his head, he raised an inquisitive brow at his soldier. All Dregar did was nod forward in response. The general turned his head back and squinted his eyes, trying desperately to find what his Dregar what motioning to.

After nearly ten minutes, something happened. A door opened. It surprised the general when it opened because the door was so cleverly disguised that it blended right in with the rocky citadel. He watched as a woman walked out of it. He was surprised at how scant her dress was, but showed no emotion in his expression.

"See?" Ra asked quietly, "I told ye."

The general nodded in response, noticing the small veil that concealed her face. On a vacant thought, he wondered if that was some sort of strange custom here. He wouldn't be surprised to find out that it was.

"Should we go through there?" Shen spoke up after a while.

"Hm," the general voiced, "I'm not quite sure. Right now, it seems like the best option. I'm just worried that these women will frighten at the sight of us coming in through their somewhat secret passageway. If there's anything we don't need, it is a bunch of shouting... people."

It was in this moment that he wished all girls were like Iris. Brave. It would make this part of this mission a hell of a lot easier. Then again... it would be bad if all of them knew how to fight like his previous soldier did.

"Right," Dregar spoke, "But won't alerting a bunch of soldiers be worse?"

"Quite possibly," Zayn agreed, "but we can't dispatch a group of innocent women. We can defeat their soldiers. The soldiers we can keep in check."

"Ha!" Ra laughed, "Not sure innocent is the right word for those women. They're concubines." It was a jest.

The general snapped his head to the warrior, and chuckled slightly in amusement. In that regard, Ra was right. The women there were there for one reason alone, Zayn knew. However, they had no say in the death of Eldian soldiers; therefore, Zayn would not kill them... else he would be no different from Erodyne.

"What does everyone think?"

"Well, I agree with you general," Shen started, "I do not want to kill a woman. I do not want them screaming and alerting others. I say we take our chances with the few soldiers on the way in. After all, the fortress looks all but emptied out."

"I say we go in through the back entrance," Jehrth disagreed, "We don't know how many men are standing about inside. It's too risky."

"I say we go with the soldier route. I'd rather kick some ass before I made a lady scream," Ra added, looking at his general as he spoke. The general nodded and then cast his eyes at Dregar. "Got a score to settle with them shits."