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

15. Dangers and Dragons

Chapter Fifteen:

Dangers and Dragons

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The dragon roared again, and Harriet had to force herself not to let her hands fly up to her head. Her head was pounding from the sound, and as she looked around to see the faces of the men behind her, they all had similar expressions.

Terror and hopelessness gripped her and everyone around her, but as Leopold's leg gently nudged her arm, she turned to look at him, matching his grim expression. They had known it would be a tough fight, but it seemed not only were they hilariously outnumbered, but also at a terrible disadvantage. They certainly didn't have a dragon under their control.

Harriet could see the other army getting closer, and she adjusted her shield in front of her subconsciously. In mere minutes they would meet.

"Forwards!" Leopold shouted, his voice booming even against the sounds of the approaching army. Harriet broke into a jog beside everyone else, and then into a run, her legs pumping as they brought her closer to the other side.

Her heart was in her throat, her mind buzzed with adrenaline, and she felt like she was going to throw up from the fear, but she kept running. Everything seemed to be moving faster than normal, and suddenly, Leopold shouted for them to halt less than one hundred yards from the other army.

"Stop! Shield wall!" He called, and Harriet dropped into a crouch, placing her shield in front of her as the other men pressed in and they all crowded around each other, forming a wall of shields around and above them. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Leopold dismount and then usher the horse away, and then with deafening sounds her attention was brought back to the soldiers about to run into their wall.

With a clash, the other army ran into the wall, and Harriet felt her shoulder strain from the effort of keeping them back and her ribs contract from the sheer force of it all. For a few moments it was all just the battering of the army running into the shields, attempting to force their swords through the wall of shields, but then the army of Marenta and Ecrivenia moved forwards.

As one body, Harriet and the rest of the army moved ahead, beginning to go on the offensive. Her arms and shoulders ached already, but despite the pain she soldiered through, sticking her own sword through the cracks to join in the offensive effort.

Suddenly the shield wall broke, and just like that, it was no longer ordered combat. However, in moments the other army backed off, and Harriet and the other men looked around each other, confused. That was until they saw what was hovering above them.

"Get under your shields! Quickly!" Harriet heard Leopold shout from somewhere nearby, but she was already following his orders. She brought her shield up and over her just in time for it to be hit with a burst of flame. Sweat was beginning to trickle down her face from the heat, and she could feel her arm burning, but instead of focusing on those aspects she looked around her.

To her right she saw Garreth in a similar stance, but as she glanced behind her she felt abruptly sick. Some men weren't so lucky as to get under their shields in time and Harriet turned away and shut her eyes, not able to look at the men currently burning as her eyes clouded with unshed tears.

The dragon finally let up and as he flew upwards, the other army advanced, trying to catch them all off balance. Harriet slammed her still hot shield into whoever had decided to try and get to her, keeping them away with the scorching metal.

While Harriet did use her sword, she never looked to see if she found her target. She didn't want to know or focus on it, and despite the fact she felt her shoulder becoming bruised from the effort, she preferred using her shield. Maybe if she was lucky she could just knock everyone who approached her out instead of killing them.