Love or Law

Mark of the Dragon

Morning came early in Shang’s camp. By the time the sun had made its first appearances over the distant mountains the last of the supplies had been loaded into the wagons, the few tents that had remained standing had been disassembled and stowed away, the men had eaten their breakfast and they were on their way with their packs and blades in hand. Mulan had been so busy working that she hadn’t had a chance to ask Mushu about the night before, for which he was incredibly grateful. He still hadn’t figured out how to break it to her. Mulan was happy to note the dark circles under her friends’ eyes, and found herself giggling quietly every time she caught sight of them.

Yao and Po were just extremely happy to see the morning. Their night had been a strange and scary one. A night that they would tell about to their children and grandchildren for years to come. They would end up christening it “The Night of the Dragon” and, as is always destined to happen with great stories, exaggerating it beyond belief.

The two men also didn’t waste any time in filling Ling in on all that had occurred. Ling, for his part, tried to laugh it off as nothing but their imagination gone wild but seeing the fear still lingering in his friends’ eyes made him wonder. After thinking long and hard on all they had told him, Ling came up with a brilliant idea.

“Guys! Guys!” He exclaimed suddenly as they marched along, “You said that the dragon-god thing mentioned something about Ping carrying the “mark of the dragon”, right?” He asked, using his fingers to make quotation marks.

Yao and Po nodded wearily in response.

Ling grinned and puffed out his chest proudly, “Well then, it’s simple! All we have to do is look for that mark! If it’s there it means that what you saw was true and if it’s not then it’s all just been some big hoax and we’ve got nothing to worry about!”

“Ok…but where would the mark be? I’ve never seen it on Ping before…” Yao said thoughtfully.

Po nodded, “That’s true, but have any of us actually seen Ping without a shirt on?”

“You’re right!” Ling exclaimed, “So it has to be somewhere on his torso. That would explain why he never takes his shirt off or goes swimming with us. The only time we’ve ever seen him was that time we caught him by surprise at the lake and he stayed under water the whole time. He probably doesn’t want people to see the mark. Maybe it’s really ugly!”

“Where could it be though?” Yao asked.

“Maybe on his shoulder?” Po suggested.

“No, we’ve seen his shoulders bare before, remember? There’s nothing there.” Ling quickly shot that idea down.

“Ok. Perhaps on his chest?” Po responded mildly.

“Or his back.” Yao put in.

Ling grinned evilly and rubbed his hands together, “Men! I believe we have our mission. Operation “Find the Mark” will commence…NOW!”

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(And for a little fun ;p )

Meanwhile, towards the back of the long line of marching men, Mulan had finally managed to corner Mushu.

“Come on, Mushu! I told you everything that I did last night! Now it’s your turn. How did you get Shang to change his mind about me?”

“I didn’t do anything special!” Mushu hedged, “I basically did what you did, with a little more flair and pizzazz of course!”

“Why are you being so vague? Are you hiding something? What did you say to him?”

“NOTHING…that…important…really…”

“Muushuu!”

“FINE! I might have mentioned something about you saving his life later in the future, okay!”

“WHAT!! You didn’t! How could you!? How am I supposed to do something like that!?” Mulan yelped angrily.

“I don’t know! Maybe we could stage something!” Mushu threw the idea out in a panic.

Mulan threw up her hands in exasperation causing Kahn to toss his head a little.

“Please tell me that’s all you said.” She moaned.

“Weeelll….”

“There’s more!?”

“ImighthavesaidthatyouwouldsaveChina.” Mushu muttered very quickly, but not quickly enough.

“MUSHU!”

(To be followed by a violent scene that is much too scary to describe as Mulan finally loses her temper with Mushu and acts on her impulse to physically attack him)

“WAAH! Not the face! Mulan, please! NO! Let go! AH! GAH! MUL-AAAAN!”

(End Scene)