Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Eighteen

General Zayn had stayed in place a couple hours after everyone else had went back to their cabins. In fact, he was there long after the fire had died out. He had no idea why he had stayed so long. He guessed it was because the warmth of the flames had felt so good to his skin --perhaps it was also because he was a bit nervous.

He looked up to the sky and noticed all the stars that were sprinkled across it. Seeing this, he knew that night had been long upon him at that he should go to sleep, but he was not tired.

This was his third time doing this -leading a scouting group- and he was still seemingly nervous about what was to come.

Out of the people he'd chosen ever since he'd been here, there had been only one death. It had been last year, when they raided the headquarters of an army camp. The man who died was name Angrir, and he was the rogue of the group.

Zayn remembered it like it was yesterday.

Angrir, along with all the others, had been a friend to him. Until the night that he died... of course. The general didn't wish to reminisce on the event, but that didn't stop him from visualizing that night.

They had been successful in their mission that night. In fact, he and his men were all walking away from the camp when it happened. There had been a man left barely alive near the encampment's exit. The man had stood up so fast... and Angrir didn't even have time to turn around before the sword was shoved into his back and all the way through to his stomach.

If it had have been Zayn, the blow would have just bounced off his armor. However, Angrir w
hadn't been so lucky. Immediately after the stabbing, one of Zayn's archers had shot an arrow right through the murderer's eyebrow. The general remembered just how fast Angrir had slumped, and then fell to the ground.

He hadn't even gotten a chance to tell his soldier goodbye.

This year, he would make changes in his group. The warrior would always be the last to leave because he had the heaviest armor. This time, he would put the lighter men in the middle. He thought of the archers a little bit... but Ingred was the one that he would protect the most. He would never let another rogue die as Angrir had. He, the other swordsman, and the warrior were supposed to distract from those in light armor.

This time... he would.

Zayn finally stood from his spot and walked over to the cabin in which he slept. He entered, and lit a candle in order to see. He then removed his tunic and threw it on his bunk haphazardly. Instead of laying down on it, he just sat on the floor, and grabbed the map he had drawn.

Upon unrolling it, he began to study it. He wished he had actually seen the fortress in person. As of now, he felt as if they were thrown into this blindly... and they were.

"Maybe we'll get the chance to explore the area first," he murmured to himself. "Fucking hell."

Not coming up with any way that they could infiltrate the area, Zayn cursed under his breath and shut the map quickly. Once he stood, he noticed that the room was started to feel stuffy. He figured that he was just frustrated to the point of needing fresh air.

He grabbed his sword just in case something happened, but otherwise left without his armor... and even his tunic.

The night breeze felt good to his bare skin and with a few breath, the general had calmed down significantly.

"Damn it," he grunted to himself, the words a breath on his lips, "I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. Might as well do something useful."

Then, he took off into a jog. He wasn't going fast by any means, but the air still whipped coldly onto his face and through his hair. This did wonders to ease his mind. He was just beginning to enjoy the run when he heard a familiar voice.