The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan

by Sherry Thomas

  “I might know something,” says Kedan, his tone still completely flat. “Captain Helou guarded the Wall for a while.”

  “That’s right!” I can’t help interjecting. “I remember you two talking about it while we were on top of the beacon tower.”

  “That might have been the first time I spoke to him about it directly—before that, I heard it from a cousin of his.” Kedan’s lips pull to one side, as if he’s vexed that he spent so much time talking about Captain Helou with the man’s relatives. “I don’t know the name of the fort, but he said it wasn’t far from where we were, and the commander he served under is still there.”

  “When did he guard the Wall?” asks Kai, his voice tight.

  “Eight, nine years ago, I gather.”

  Kai closes his eyes for a moment. “Then I know where it is.”

  “That’s right!” cries Tuxi. “Along this stretch of the Wall, only one garrison commander has served continuously at the same post for that long. Captain Helou plans to come through Futian Pass.”

  “Never heard of it.” Kedan’s voice is still quiet, but not as listless.

  “It’s not a major pass,” says Kai. “In fact, it doesn’t even merit the term garrison. It’s mainly there because a beacon tower was needed at the location.”

  “Where is it, exactly?” I ask.

  “Southeast of here. Not too far, but I don’t know the precise distance.”

  “But can Captain Helou actually get through it? Does he have the necessary pass?”

  Before I left the garrison, I was given a new pass that enabled me to travel beyond the border under Kai’s supervision. But I can’t use it alone. If I rode up to a border garrison now, from the north, by myself, I’d be escorted to a holding cell until it could be determined whether I’d deserted my mission.

  Kai nods. “He, Master Yu, and I were given comprehensive passes. That’s one reason I sent the two of them off in the wake of Bai’s trickery, because they wouldn’t be stopped on the imperial road for lack of authorization. So, yes, Captain Helou will be able to come through Futian Pass—or any pass along the Wall.

  “But the pass applies to only him; his Rouran escorts will present a problem. Which is why I think he will come through not at a random pass, but at a place where he served—served well, no doubt—and is still fondly remembered by the commander. A stranger asking to come in with twelve passless riders would be refused outright. But a well-liked old subordinate, who now has the favor of a royal duke? He might be able to fool the commander with some grand excuse and manage to get those Rouran riders through.”

  “Your Highness, are thirteen men sufficient to take control of Futian Pass?” asks Yu. “I assume that is Captain Helou’s goal, and not simply to get past the Wall.”

  “There are eighty men at the pass. In open combat, Captain Helou and company would be at an overwhelming disadvantage. But suppose they win the commander’s favor, then poison the food or wine . . .” The princeling nods grimly. “Yes, they can take charge of the pass that way.”

  Tuxi sucks in a breath. “I haven’t been to Futian Pass myself, but I remember riding by the crossroad that leads to it. The way is little used, as it leads to no village or settlements, but it joins the imperial road only thirty li northeast of the capital.”

  We are all silent, digesting his words.

  “So . . .” says Yu, sounding a little less imperturbable than usual, “if Captain Helou takes control of the pass, that is where the main Rouran force will come through. And if they do, they will easily get within thirty li of the capital.”

  “And if they reach the imperial road at night,” says Kai, “and mow down the sentries—or if Lord Sang orders the sentries to stand down—then they could be at the very gates of the palace before the emperor is any wiser.”

  Alarm pulses through me. “Who is responsible for the security of the palace? Not Lord Sang?”

  “No, not him,” answers Kai. “The palace guards are selected for their loyalty and skill at close-range combat, and they serve under Captain Chekun, one of my father’s cousins. But Captain Chekun and Lord Sang are on very good terms—which is not to say that he’s personally involved in Lord Sang’s schemes. Only that if Lord Sang wants to deceive him, it should not be difficult to accomplish, given the trust Captain Chekun has in him.”

  “Is there no end to Lord Sang’s reach?” moans Tuxi.

  “Of course there is an end to his reach,” says Kai. “Our problem is that he has orchestrated this scheme so that it takes place at the very center of his web of power.”

  “So . . . we go into that web of power?” I hear myself ask, my voice hesitant.

  Kai looks around. “Any objections, my brothers?”

  No one speaks.

  “Then it will be as Hua xiong-di suggests.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  The time of a cup of tea later—not that we have such luxuries now—I’m still rolling my eyes at the princeling’s pronouncement.

  It will be as I suggest?

  I would never suggest such a thing. I very distinctly remember recommending that we make sure the forces stationed in and around the capital do not leave, so that the Rouran never come south of the Wall.

  Fortunately, my companions are all highly intelligent and understand very well that this is the princeling’s intention.

  Still. Grumbling is good. Grumbling keeps me from thinking about the madly nonsensical feats we are about to undertake. If my mind strays even remotely in that direction, the soles of my feet tingle, as if I were standing above a bottomless precipice, about to lose my balance.

  As it will take Captain Helou several days to reach Futian Pass, we decide to rest ourselves and prepare for our next course of action. Kai also wishes to spy further on the Rouran encampment and get a better sense of their numbers. I do some chores—grooming my horse, sorting through my few belongings. Yu takes some rest—his has been an even more ­arduous road than ours. Kai and Tuxi are engaged in an intense discussion, presumably on how Tuoba Xi, Prince Anzhong of Luoyang, can convince his father that one of his favorite nobles is conspiring against him.

  Kedan has gone back to the stream again. I waver over whether he’ll want any company, least of all mine, but after some time, I join him anyway. “Dried apricots, my brother?” Mutton jerky wasn’t the only thing Yu took from the Rouran stores.

  Kedan sighs. “How can I say no to such a delicacy?”

  We each eat a dried apricot, him wolfing it down, me taking the smallest bites possible to make the preserved fruit last. The tiny brook meanders by, a scant trickle. Still, plants grow lustily on its banks, and to my surprise, I discover a few wildflowers among the green leaves, the blossoms so tiny they are scarcely bigger than pinpricks.

  I scour my brain. Nothing. Confronted with Kedan’s pain, I draw a complete blank on appropriate things to say.

  And then I see my mistake: Inappropriateness is the only way forward.

  “Remember what you said about the special affection His Highness feels for me?”

  Kedan shifts in place. Good, I’m getting a reaction.

  “You were right. Last night he held me tight and whispered into my ear.”

  Kedan stares at me, then glances surreptitiously at Kai, still deep in conversation with Tuxi. He proceeds to study my face with an almost humorous concentration. “Nooo,” comes his conclusion. “He would never do that.”

  But underneath the denial there is definitely a twitch of hope.

  I lower my voice. “Oh, he did. Embraced me so hard I could scarcely breathe. Touched my face too.”

  Kedan’s jaw drops. He casts another look at our austere leader. “Him?”

  “I know, right? Such a cold fish by the looks of him.”

  Kedan shakes his head. “You are jesting, Hua xiong-di.”

  I point my right index finger
at the sky. “I swear on the Heaven above.”

  “Don’t swear idly. There’ll be consequences.”

  “If you don’t believe me, ask Master Yu. He saw us.”

  Kedan’s jaw drops farther than it did last time. “Master Yu would have given you such a lecture that you wouldn’t even have dared to look at him today.”

  Finally I burst out laughing.

  “I knew you were joking,” said Kedan, both relieved and clearly disappointed.

  “I’m not. It really happened. I just didn’t tell you the circumstances.”

  I describe for him, in as vivid detail as I can, our fear that we were about to be caught and our last-ditch effort at portraying ourselves as nothing more than a pair of amorous Rouran fighters. Neglecting to mention, of course, my own turbulent reactions.

  Kedan listens with scandalized delight. When I finish, he blinks a few times, and then bumps his shoulder into mine. “I was right, Hua xiong-di. Trust me, if it had been me down there with him, he would never have done that. Not even if we were about to be chopped to pieces by a horde of Rouran fighters.”

  There is a hint of a smile in his voice.

  “I don’t know. Should we go ask him?”

  Kedan sucks in a breath. “For that, Master Yu will beat you.”

  “Not if His Highness stands in front of me and shouts, ‘If you are going to beat Hua xiong-di, you have to use the rod on me first!’”

  This time Kedan does smile. “I didn’t guess it in the beginning, but Hua xiong-di is a brat.”

  “Better watch what you say about His Highness’s beloved. Or Master Yu will beat you.”

  Kedan laughs softly. At the sound, both Kai and Tuxi look toward us, astonished. Which only makes Kedan’s mirth spill over even more. When he finally gets himself under control, we sit for some time in companionable silence.

  I have accomplished my aim: All I wanted was for him to feel like himself again, however briefly. But after a little more hesitation, I say, “Speaking of special affection, Kedan xiong, I think Tuxi xiong has been really worried about you.”

  “Hush. Don’t go around spreading rumors,” he says, but without any real heat to his words.

  I say no more, giving him time to chew on the idea.

  Sure enough, a while later, he says, “Tuxi xiong is far too superior a man for me. I mean, have you seen his handwriting? It’s as handsome as any great calligrapher’s. He’s so learned and I’m not even literate.”

  “Illiteracy isn’t a permanent condition. We are all born ­illiterate. I can teach you to read right now.”

  But Kedan shakes his head. “I don’t know what he can possibly see in me.”

  I roll my eyes. “We men are shallow. You know this—you are as shallow as the rest of us. Of course Tuxi xiong is besotted by your outstanding beauty.”

  His beauty isn’t quite as outstanding as Kai’s, but he has an adorable face, especially when he laughs. Kedan shakes his head again, but he is blushing, the color spreading all the way to his ears.

  I give him a slap on the back. “His Highness is watching us. I’d better go do something else before he decides to beat you for taking me away.”

  This earns me another smile. “Let’s by all means avoid that sort of trouble. And by the way, Hua xiong-di, you’re a good man.”

  I smile back at him. “That I am, my brother. I’m nothing if not a good man.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Not long after, Yu gets up from his nap. Kedan approaches him. The two speak briefly, then Kedan walks away toward the southern end of the valley.

  The princeling, Tuxi, and Yu confer for some time. After that, as I expected, Tuxi seeks me out.

  “Where did Kedan xiong go?” I ask.

  “Master Yu says he asked for permission to go for a walk. Said he’d be grateful if he could range farther afield for a bit.”

  I sigh. “Did you ask him about Captain Helou?”

  “I did. He said he stopped hoping long ago that Captain Helou would return his affections, but he thought that it was all right to engage in one-sided hero worship, since Captain Helou seemed destined for greatness.”

  That potential for greatness might yet blossom if Captain Helou’s side prevails. Greatness tends to be measured only by the height, breadth, and duration of power achieved, with little attention paid to the suffering incurred in that achievement.

  I look in the direction in which Kedan disappeared. Most of the ridges and spurs we have encountered in this mountain range have a roughly north-south orientation. But the southern end of this particular valley runs into a sharp slope that cuts crosswise, a rocky surface with its share of stubborn shrubs and small, twisty trees. Kedan was ambling across the slope earlier, easy and graceful in his progress, but now he is no longer in sight.

  I wonder if I’ll ever see anything but lean, sparsely clad mountains again. But I’d be content with this less-than-­ravishing panorama if it meant I wouldn’t need to go anywhere near Captain Helou and his master. I inhale the clean, cold air, thankful to be still safe.

  For now.

  “So what did Hua xiong-di do to cheer Kedan xiong-di up like that?” asks Tuxi.

  Aha, the question I’ve been expecting.

  I grin. “Gossip.”

  Kai commanded me never to call Tuxi by anything but the name he gave us—never even to think of him as anything but Tuxi. At first I thought it would be difficult. But the opposite is true: I keep forgetting his extraordinary background because he is still the same kind, sincere, and slightly diffident man I first met, still the same good, comfortable friend.

  “Gossip?” he says uncertainly.

  “Yes. Kedan xiong enjoys scandalous news, so I was telling him . . . stories.”

  “Oh.” Tuxi looks crestfallen. “I don’t know that much gossip. No wonder I couldn’t make him feel better. Kedan xiong-di clearly responds to someone more fun, like you.”

  I tsk. “You are too hard on yourself, Tuxi xiong. If anything, Kedan xiong is in awe of you. He feels inferior next to your erudition and penmanship.”

  And he will drop dead if he ever learns that Tuxi’s father is the emperor of the North.

  “Really? You don’t think he finds me boring? Or . . . awkward?”

  “No. And if you ever get the chance, teach him to read and write.”

  Tuxi brightens. “You think he’d like that?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Tuxi’s expression turns dreamy, as if he can already see the two of them seated at a desk, the four treasures of the study spread before them. Then he says shyly, “I do know some gossip. Court gossip, mostly.”

  I smile. “Regale Kedan xiong, then, when you teach him.”

  “I think I will.” He takes a deep breath. “If we ever get the chance.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I take a nap too. At dusk I wake up, groggy and disoriented. My body is stiff, but unlike the first few times I slept on the ground, I barely noticed how uncomfortable my bed was: I’ve never been so deprived of sleep in my life and fell supremely unconscious as soon as I lay down.

  Tuxi is keeping watch; Kai, like me, is slowly sitting up from a nap. In the distance, Kedan approaches. He’s too far away for me to make out his features in the deepening dark, but his gait evinces a bit of bounce and jauntiness. I glance at Tuxi, who sits a few paces from me; he looks both nervous and hopeful.

  But they do not get an opportunity to speak alone. As soon as Kedan reaches us, Yu distributes food, and the topic turns to our next course of action.

  “Your Highness,” says Tuxi, “I know you are against my going down to the Rouran encampment. But I feel I should attempt it in case I learn something important.”

  “No,” says Kai instantly. “Besides, it’s too late. You can’t cross the ravine when it’s this dark. You could break your neck going
either down or up.”

  “But Master Yu knows a more straightforward way into the encampment.”

  “No.” Kai stands up. “And I’ll hear no more of it.”

  Tuxi leaps to his feet. “But there is still so much we don’t know. The signal you mentioned, for example, that Lord Sang means to send when the royal duke and his men have left the capital. If we don’t know what kind of signal he’ll use, then how will our side know what to watch for?”

  “If Tuxi xiong goes, then I’ll go too, to help keep him safe,” says Kedan quietly.

  We are all on our feet now. I glance at Kai, unsure what I should say or do.

  Yu bows. “With your permission, Your Highness, I will also accompany Master Tuxi, since I was the one who inadvertently gave him the idea.”

  Kai sighs in exasperation. “At this rate, all five of us will be going down to the Rouran encampment. Is the specific nature of the signal worth the risk?”

  I cringe at the thought of repeating the trip from last night. Real danger or no, the fright alone probably took several years off my life.

  And then I see something in the southern sky and an even worse fear sears my spine.

  “Brothers.” I manage to push the word past my suddenly closing throat. “We will not need to find out what the signal is. Look behind you. That’s it!”

  We do not have a clear line of sight to the Central Plain because the slope that cuts across the southern end of our valley is just high enough to block the view. But there is a gap at the top of the slope, and through that gap, a golden nimbus shines in the night sky. When I squint, the nimbus resolves into hundreds if not thousands of pinpoints of light.

  “Sky lanterns!” cries Kedan softly.

  Tuxi rubs his eyes. “Surely they weren’t launched from the capital itself!”

  “No, but if the forces of the central commandery marched out earlier in the day, there would have been plenty of time for Lord Sang to send a rider to a town close to the border.” Kai’s voice is grim. “If those sky lanterns had been stowed earlier, the rider could pretend to be an imperial messenger and order the town’s residents to light the lanterns—an entreaty to Heaven above to protect us from the Rouran.”