A Kind Of Bravery: A Mulan Retelling [1st Draft]

3. The Messenger

Chapter Three:

The Messenger

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The fallen rider was dressed in the scarlet red cloak of a messenger sent from the kingdom of Ecrivenia and the cloak was slowly being stained with the dark color of the man's blood.

Harriet fell to her knees beside him, holding a hand to his wound as hard as she could. Maybe if she could stop the bleeding-

"The king-" the man coughed, cutting off his own words.

"What about the king?" Harriet asked, pressing her hand harder on to the wound while she used the other to brush some sweat-matted hair from his face so she could see his eyes clearly.

"You need to tell King Frederick-" another cough cut across his words as he brought his hand up to cover his mouth and his black beard. Harriet swallowed in fright as his hand came away slicked with blood. "Tell the king that knights bearing the insignia of the kingdom of Carigan have attacked the outer villages, close to the southern mountains. I do not know if-" He gave another hacking cough. "I don't know if there were any survivors, but the outposts need men. The war can no longer be avoided."

Harriet's eyes widened as she listened to the man's words. "The war can no longer be avoided?"

"No. It was a direct attack on unarmed and innocent people," the man explained, his voice cracking with his words. Harriet shifted beside him, reaching for his hand despite the fact it was covered in blood. She didn't even have to put any of her training to use to know that the man was dying, and there wasn't all that much she could do. She had no supplies, she didn't even have a cloak. The least she could do was try to carry him back, but Harriet doubted he would survive the jouncing from the horse's gallop.

"What's your name?" She asked, gripping his hand tightly.

"Daniel Martin," he replied, his brown eyes glittering with unshed tears in the light of the moon. "Please, I have a family- a wife and two children. Please let them know how much I love them. Tell them I didn't suffer."

"But-"

"Please," Daniel said, and Harriet nodded. She never enjoyed lying, but the fact that in his last moments this man had the foresight to try and ease his family's oncoming grief, spoke volumes about what kind of man he was. She had never met him in her life, but her heart clenched at the thought of the grief his wife and children would be subject to.

"I will tell them what you have asked me to," she promised, and the messenger let out a sigh that while rumbling with the sound of fluid in his lungs, told her that he was relieved.

"Thank you, now, please go to the King and tell him my message. I cannot let it wait any longer."

"I don't want to leave you alone," Harriet protested. She had been around enough death in her lifetime to know that no one deserved to die alone, especially when company was so near at hand.

"I will not be alone, not really," Daniel said, his eyes leaving hers to gaze up at the starry heavens, making the small lights reflect on the whites of his eyes. Harriet still hesitated, not wishing to let him pass away by himself but upon seeing her expression he wearily shook his head. "Please, you must go, quickly! Time is of the essence!"

Harriet shakily got to her feet, still staring down at the prone figure of the barely breathing man. She didn't want to leave him, she wanted to wait, but he had asked her to leave and so she would. She gave him one last look, gazing to where he lay on a bed of fallen leaves and moss, before gathering her horse's reins and getting onto his back.