Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Ten

It was early the next morning when Iris felt a nudge on her shoulder -very early the next morning. The touch did hardly anything to rouse her. She kept her eyes shut tight, blissfully unaware that someone was trying to wake her. Another nudge came, this time harder than before. This one woke Iris... to an extent. She kept her eyes tightly shut, but through the haze of exhaustion, she listened. She listened for any sort of sound that indicated it was time to get up. There was no sound, save for the crickets.

Something pinched her cheek moments after. Her eyes opened with a start, looking around the room for the source. The first thing she saw was the window of the barracks. It hadn't dawned yet. It was still dark outside. Now, Iris sat up, her eyes zipping around the room -finding the answer she sought almost immediately.

Kayde was standing five feet from her, with his hands patiently clasped together. He was waiting on her.

Iris was more than startled at his sudden appearance. "How did you get in here?" she mouthed. Now, she scanned the rest of the room and found that no one else was awake -no one else had any inkling at all that Kayde had entered at all. That thought almost sent chills through her. All of these well-seasoned soldiers and none of them had been able to catch the guardian. Iris shook it off and mouthed a second question. "What time is it?"

Kayde raised his eyebrow, but didn't offer much of a reply. He brought one finger to his lips as a reminder and used his free hand to gesture for her to follow him. He whirled away and exited the cabin just as quietly as he'd entered. Iris decided then that he was very much like a cat, in every sense of the word: a sort of serene predator.

She stood from her bed, careful to not make her own noise. Being extra mindful of her steps, she made her way through the door, which was thankfully still cracked. The distance was a short one, but it sure didn't feel like it. Especially because she had to walk slow. Speed was not suited to stealth when donned in chainmail armor.

She got to the door after what felt like ages and then turned around to her fellow soldiers once more. No one had stirred, thank the gods. She walked outside, shutting the door softly behind her.

Kayde waited on her right outside. She offered a small wave in his direction, a sort of hey, I'm out... I did it. He just nodded in return and then, after a few long moments of eye contact, he bolted out into a run. Iris was left figuratively in the dust, confused on why he'd just started running. After a few moments, she took off after him. Oh, how the chainmail encumbered her. Still, she caught up just enough to see him.

Green eyes turned a shoulder to face her, and Kayde slowed to her pace. Otherwise, he didn't stop running. He led her into a grove of trees without a word. Iris immediately recognized this place as where she'd first entered the training camp. Were they leaving? She couldn't figure out for the life of her what was going on.

"What are we doing?" she said through gasps once she'd decided no one would hear her. "Why are we running?"

"We're exercising," Kayde answered simply. His voice was clear and unbroken, completely unfazed by the running. Iris noticed at that moment that his legs were doing most of the work. His chest and belly stayed steady as he glided smoothly over the ground. The only other detectible movements were his arms, which moved back and forth like steady pendulums, and his hair that whipped in a curtain of glistening black behind him.

She must have looked like a caveman right now, plodding clumsily about in her father's chainmail armor. "Exercising?" she huffed, not used to running with all the extra weight. "It's the middle of the night, Kayde." Her words were enunciated one-by-one by the thudding of her feet.