The Dragon Awakens

Chapter Thirteen

Lanie flew through the rest of her lessons, only grabbing an apple for lunch before going on a jog around the camp to keep her anxiety at bay. Mushu assured her that nothing bad was going to happen but Lanie wasn't so sure. Physically moving her body made her brain stop moving so fast and she really didn't need this kind of distraction. Her legs going numb with exertion and lungs pushing against her ribcage was the distraction she needed.

"Ping, what's going on with you?" Yao hissed at her as they approached the pond for their swim and dive lesson. Lanie had panicked when this activity had been added to the schedule but they wanted the soldiers to swim in their full uniform to get used to the waterlogged clothes. She'd done this with the DA on the beach in a hurricane and almost drowned.

"Shang wants me to have dinner with him in his tent," Lanie answered flatly. Yao raised his eyebrows and turned quickly back to the water.

"What for?"

"Hell if I know." The whistle went off and Lanie dived into the water, thankful for the blissful coolness of it. Her clothes were instantly ten pounds heavier but she kept pushing and kicking towards the other side. She gave a powerful kick in the middle of the pond, the deepest part, and didn't move. She tried again and barely moved an inch. She turned and checked to make sure all her limbs were clear but as soon as she stopped treading water her body began to sink under.

Lanie took a deep breath as she went down, thanking Dragon Army yet again for her training. She pushed hard towards the surface but her muscles screamed with every movement and even her lungs didn't want to listen to her. She managed to get to the surface and let out a scream for help before slipping back under. Trying not to panic she started to untie her shoes and then pulled off her heavy cargo pants to reveal her compression shorts. This helped slightly from pulling her down faster but she still couldn't reach the surface. She'd need to take off her shirt but if she did that everyone would be able to see straight through her tank top to her sports bra and the dragon tattoo on her shoulder. The same tattoo Mushu had on his upper chest.

With a last-ditch effort and a massive push off the muddy bottom, she broke the surface and screamed again, trying to swim to shore, but her body wasn't having it. She slipped back under and this time her lungs did not have enough oxygen to sustain her. Lanie's eyes fluttered and her limbs relaxed. She started floating gently towards the bottom of the pond with the fish and seaweed when an arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled up to the surface. Lanie coughed but could do nothing more than let her body get dragged along to shore where she was promptly dumped in the sand. She rolled over and vomited up the water she swallowed, throat burning.

"I thought you could swim!" The man beside her shouted and Lanie glanced up at a furious and very wet Shang. That water really does something for his abs, she thought in a daze.

"I can," she spluttered, collapsing on her chest.

"Sir he's one of our strongest swimmers," Liv, the swim instructor said above her. He tossed her a towel and she caught it and quickly covered her legs. Shang glanced at her long legs, less hairy and pronounced than some of the men, and frowned. Lanie started coughing again, bent over on her knees, and he turned his attention back to Liv.

"So how does someone who's an incredible swimmer almost drown?" he snapped and Yao took a tentative step forward.

"He went for a jog around camp during lunch sir. All he had was an apple," he explained and Lanie groaned and glared at her so-called friend.

"That's the stupidest shit I ever heard. We give you a break Fa, you take it. You don't go for a god damn stroll and not eat anything on top of that! Are you an idiot?" he asked her and she shook her head.

"No sir."

"Then stop acting like one. Get your ass up and over to the infirmary." He took a towel from Liv and started drying himself off and Lanie stood, wrapping the towel around her waist.

"Hey, you good?" Yao asked her as she began walking around the pond back to the base camp.

"Sure. Next time, keep your mouth shut will you?" she snapped, not even looking at him as she began jogging away with bare feet through the woods.

_+_+_+

"I don't know what he expected me to do with you but your feet need bandaging and honestly you probably just need a meal and a nap," Doctor Holt told her when Lanie was finally laying on a cot in their infirmary tent. Doctor Holt had let out a small stream of curses when she'd told him what happened, and explained why her feet were cut and bleeding.
    "Jacob!" Dr. Holt called. The chef poked his head into the tent, eyebrow raised. "Make this man some food, pronto." The chef disappeared quickly and Lanie laid back on the cot as Dr. Holt began to sanitize and bandage her feet. The cot, as simple as it was, felt like she was laying on a cloud compared to her sleeping bag. The pillow was fluffy under her head and the blankets were soft. She closed her eyes for only a moment and when she opened them again it was almost dark outside and a bowl of cold soup and clean clothes was sitting next to her.

"Mulan. Mulan!" A voice hissed from the other end of the tent. Lanie shot up and looked into the dark corner but Dr. Holt was gone. The tent was empty. "Mulan come here," the voice snapped impatiently and Lanie stood on her bandaged feet and pulled on the clean pants and shuffled over to where Mushu was huddled behind some barrels.
    "Man you sleep like the dead. My legs have no feeling in them whatsoever I've been waiting so long," he snapped and Lanie's only response was to yawn and stretch.

"What do you want?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Here drink this, it'll give you some of your energy back for the rest of the evening. Glad you didn't drown today kid, I would've missed you," he joked just as Lanie heard the sound of the flap move and she turned where Dr. Holt was standing there looking at a clipboard.

"Ah, you're awake. How are your feet?" he asked, walking over to her.

"I'll be okay. Thank you, doctor," Lanie said softly, going back to her cot and pulling on her socks and boots.

"Well, that's good news because Captain Shang is rather impatient to see you in his tent. It's dinner time." Dr. Holt told her and Lanie shot up. She'd forgotten.

"Thank you!" she called as she ran out of the tent and to Shang's cabin where the light was shining brightly inside.