He was floating like a leaf, but he crashed to the ground like something concrete. The big guy crouched over Aury, and even though Mabel had been distant from them she felt intimidated by him. But Aury did not have the training she had, and he was feeling even more scared.
She didn't know what was that vertigo running through her body, if it was courage or stupidity, but she didn't like seeing guys like him disturbing a guy like Aury. And even though she was feeling a little insecure, because she had never fought with anyone before, and her father and his drunk friends didn't count, she wouldn't just stand there or pretend that nothing was happening.
Since the day Aury first talked to Mabel until this day, he has never failed to have lunch with her. And one of the main things her father taught her was to be grateful and never abandon a friend.
"Never," He used to say.
"Hey." Her voice came out weak, and her eyes were closed. She pressed them together, talking with more conviction: "Hey, you!"
Aury turned his head back. As for the big man, he was already facing Mabel, so he could see her very well. He raised his body away from Aury, outraged by being interrupted in the middle of his sick fun, his eyes steady and intense staring at Mabel. Somehow she knew that nothing she could do would stop what was happening, and that's not what she was planning; neither he nor Mabel would allow it to happen at that point.
The big guy walked past Aury, like a predator changing his slaughtered prey for another pulsating life. He walked over to Mabel like someone who can't avoid the inevitable. Aury was looking scared, an expression of disbelief that she had intervened for him. If she could say something to calm him down, she would say she knew what she had to do.
But there was no time.
"Why don't you mess with someone of your own size?" Mabel said to the big guy, even though it was quite contradictory as she was smaller than Aury.
She didn't wait for his response.
"Focus all your strength on your leg," His father told her once. "Don't you forget it."
"I won't forget it."
The punch in his belly was so unpredictable that the big guy gasped by surprise. Mabel didn't waste time and her fist rose from his belly to his chin, pushing his head behind. The punch wasn't strong to the point of taking out some blood, but the big guy slid his hand through his nose, giving her a ferocious look.
She didn't take a single step back, and she was ready if he hit her back. And when he did, she boosted a jump in the air to punch him in the face. That was her intention, but when she threw her arm back to pick up momentum through the air, the big guy pushed her chest back and she fell to the ground.
If there was a disadvantage in a fight for a woman, it would be having breasts. Mabel got up from the ground at the same time as the big guy walked up to her, but he was faster and grabbed her by her hair. Well, that was another disadvantage of a woman in a fight.
The more agitated she got, the more her head hurt. Having her arms over the big guy's hands, she raised her knee and punched him in a man's sensitive area. At least that's what she thought she was striking; her head was being held by the big guy's hand, and she couldn't see anything. She thought she had struck it when the big guy retreated immediately and forgot about his prey as he couldn't stand the pain.
Mabel didn't waste any time. In a fight, you can't waste time.
With the assistance of her hands, she took the big guy down by his wobbly legs and he fell, like a bag of potatoes spreads through all over. His head hit the ground, and for a few seconds he didn't have any reaction. She managed to take her sword back.
She got closer to the big guy lying on the floor in order to aim the sword to his neck, only a millimeter of distance between the tip of the sword and his skin. And she never felt so powerful before.
"I got you." She said, triumphantly. The big guy looked at her with furious eyes. But her eyes, dominant. And Mabel realized that it was only possible because he was caught off guard. In the future, maybe the victory would not come so easy.
"You can put your sword down now, Mabel."
Mabel was looking down as the big guy was on the floor, and that voice certainly didn't come from him. It was also too deep and imperative to be from Aury. There was no way it came from the commander because he was facing her, and this voice came from behind her. When she realized, she noticed the arena wasn't empty anymore.
The whole kitchen was here watching them.
She turned back towards the sound, and she saw the general right behind her. He wasn't looking satisfied or proud of her. Cutting the connection between them, the big guy kicked the sword pointed at him with his boot.
"What's happening?" Navi said.
The big guy didn't answer the prince. Mabel was wondering how bad it would look for a soldier get into a disproportionate fight with a girl and lose it, so she could understand why he did not want to talk about it.
Mabel looked away from the big guy's eyes to look at Navi. "Your soldier was bothering my friend, and I thought someone should stop him."
"This someone had to be you?"
"Who else could it be? All your soldiers are cowards!"
Navi was laughing, even though it was a sarcastic dry smile; Mabel had never seen the shape of his teeth before, nowhere near or far. They were aligned and white. Teeth and mouth matching perfectly together.
"You just called all these men cowards." Navi opened up his arms showing them to Mabel. "You are an intruder and you are in their territory, and now they will be eager to prove you wrong about them."
"As you can see, I can defend myself."
Navi shook his head. "I don't think so."
"You don't have to worry about me."
"I'm not worried about you. I'm just making sure that you stay out of my way." He looked in her eyes. "From now on you will be part of the kitchen staff, and from now on you will be away from the training camp. You will be in charge of what the soldiers’ food, so you will not be a risk for my men or for yourself."
Before she could stop herself, she said: "You can't do that." It was unfair! The big guy didn't care to push her down, and surely wouldn't mind doing it again.
"I really can. Or have you forgotten who I am?"
"You have to stop using who you are as an excuse."
Navi probably never had someone look at him before with so much hatred. People must have cursed the prince in their minds and their hearts, but never before with their eyes. And all of this was very obvious in Mabel’s face. He didn't mind, though. "I hope this was the last time we had this conversation."
Mabel took a step forward, but Navi stopped her from saying whatever she was trying to say.
"I thought you would be happy with the news, since you seem to worry about the weight they're gaining." Navi said. If the prince has not punished her that day when she went up to his room, he was punishing her now. "And you won't need to wear these trousers in the kitchen."
XI
"She says goodbye to her family at dawn."
The Ballad of Mulan
◊
"I hate the prince." Mabel said in a nervous voice she barely recognized as her own.
"The prince probably knows that. You don't hide it very well." Aury said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's not a good idea to have enmity with the prince, or with anyone, actually."
"The army is going to Turilessa. They are going to establish an alliance; did you know that? Do you know how much we need an alliance now?"
Mabel collected dishes and cutlery while Aury watched her work at the cafeteria, leaning his back against the wall. He could help her, so the work would have ended up faster, but he preferred to keep resting on the floor.
"So that's it? You want to follow the general on a mission because you don't trust his troop will do a good job?"
That wasn't the truth. Mabel would not be motivated to leave the safety of her town for simply not trusting the general, but the real reason was her brother. She had not seen him since she was too
young to be aware that her older brother was being exiled forever, so long ago that she would hardly recognize him if she saw him, so long ago that no one else would know where to track him. In a normal situation they could never meet again, and leaving Navon was the only way she could ever see him again.
She could not ignore a promise, especially a promise made to her father.
"I just want to be a part of something, Aury. It can't be that impossible. Besides, the general needs to learn a lesson." She stopped organizing the dishes to look at him. "They're leaving tonight. Do you want to hear my plan?"
He shook his head. "I don't want to be your accomplice."
"Liniquer was summoned." She said anyway. "I was thinking I could attract him somewhere and lock him up, and then I could go in his place. What do you think?"
"I think it might not work. Instead of what you may think, the soldiers aren't stupid."
Mabel kept thinking the plan was good enough.
She never thought of herself as an attractive person. She wasn't as graceful as the other girls in the village, so she wasn't sure if her plan could work. Somehow, she was the kind of girl he liked; he would follow her even if they were heading for hell. She believed the show with the big guy in the training camp has contributed to it. If she wasn't attractive to him before, she seemed certainly a badass now. And some guys like it.
Aury e Mabel sent a note to Liniquer asking him to meet with Mabel at her house. And while the soldier was inside her house waiting for her, Aury was waiting outside the door ready to close it and lock him there. That was the plan; simple and dirty. Liniquer would only be released from the house when the troops were far away.
The other part of the plan consisted in Mabel's camouflage. But that was the easy part, as long as she would keep her head covered, what definitely would happen. When troops went out on expeditions, the soldiers had to use an armor strong enough for to the cold of the roads, which also served as a safety item if they were ambushed. The hardest part was keeping the disguise until they were far enough, so they could not send her back home.
Luckily, they didn't stop to rest. They left before sunset, so they didn't have to interrupt their trip. That way, when the sun was more intense, they would have arrived at a nearby lodge.
Mabel didn't think it would be that easy. The only one who might be able to find out that Liniquer wasn't Liniquer was the commander, and he was just ahead of the troops. No one knew better about his army than the commander, and Mabel was simply invisible to the others. However, at some point she knew she would be uncovered, and that situation wouldn't last forever.
Mabel has never been in a tavern before, but from the moment she stepped her foot in that place, she knew what a tavern was like: men and drinks everywhere and women around their necks. That was the image she had, even with the midday sun shining outside.
"Are you just going to keep the helmet on all day?" A soldier named Yelsew asked the alleged Liniquer as he walked past Mabel, with a mocking smile on his face.
Would this be the time she would take off her helmet and show herself? How much longer would she be able to prevent that from happening?
The commander put his hand in Mabel's shoulder when he walked through the door, and just like the other soldier, he had a smile on his face, but this time it was an understanding one. The commander probably thought that Liniquer froze because he, as a man, has never been in a tavern before.
Navi was just behind the commander, ignoring the paralyzed soldier at the door blocking the passage. But the next soldier wasn't so kind:
"Get out of the way." The big guy said after he pushing her way. Mabel was perplexed enough with the place to recognize him. Sven was twice as big as she was, so his strength could easily destabilize a distracted body like hers.
He wasn't ugly, the big guy. He had good muscles, good arms and good eyes; the only person Mabel knew that had blue eyes. The appearance of his hair was of someone who was exposed too long in the sun and ended getting a rebel golden color, as well as the golden hairs on his face. His only problem was thinking he was on top of the world and that with his strength he could solve anything. So most of the time he wasn't that smart.
Mabel kept paralyzed when the army had occupied an empty table. By the narrow gap on her helmet, her restless eyes could glimpse at her table filled with men, then more tables with more men, and more men. And she started to think that was a bad idea, after all.
"Are you going to stay there?" Yelsew had a warm need to accommodate everyone. His hair was shaved, and the only apparent hair on his entire face were his dark eyebrows like the deep of the ocean, highlighting his black color. The edges of his face were deep, and both his cheeks had a risk that tuned to his chin; and his smile could blind people as his teeth were extremely white.
"Leave him alone," Sven said. "He probably never seen so many naked women before."
The soldiers laughed. Even Navi laughed, with his way of disguising a smile as if he didn't want to be seen laughing, as if a smile would make him vulnerable.
Yelsew stood up, and Mabel didn't notice when he approached her and threw his arm around her neck in a camaraderie gesture, dragging her to the table. "Sit down." Yelsew said, pointing to the table in front of him where she was supposed to take a seat.
They just kept looking at her, the helmet hiding who she truly was behind the armor. She saw Sven rolling his eyes to Liniquer, and Yelsew shook his head, while the commander cursed himself for had chosen Liniquer for that mission, and she saw Navi who wasn't even looking at the inexperienced soldier.
She sat in her place, slowly and hesitant. Only some time later, very slowly, she took her helmet off with both hands and put it on the table. No one paid attention on trivial gesture of a soldier disarming, except for Yelsew, who looked at her with an open mouth when she uncovered herself.
Navi got up so fast that the chair fell behind him; convincing Mabel the ground was collapsing under her feet. "What are you doing here?" But his reprimand sounded weak, almost under his breath.
Suddenly, the place seemed empty and arid. No one said a word; there was just the sound someone coughing somewhere. Mabel stood up, as she knew she needed to give some sort of explanation. Somehow, she could not look at Navi directly in the eyes, because his reaction, as well as everyone else's, made her feel stupid.
"I told you I had to find my brother."
"And I said I would help you."
"But you didn't." Her outrage gave her courage to face him. "I'm here because you didn't."
"So you decided to follow us here because you didn't get what you wanted?"
She looked at Navi with mock boldness. "Let's just say yes." It wasn't exactly like that, but the prince asked her a question and she had to give an answer, even if that would make him even more nervous.
There was conflict in Navi's face. Then his hands started trembling with exhaustion, alleviating them as he passed his hand over his head, leaving finger marks on his wavy hair. "Sit down and eat. I'll see what I can do about you."
"Do you…"
"I told you to sit your damn ass there!"
Navi's soldiers were shocked when he shouted, heads of the outsiders in the tavern rising like terrified deers in the woods hearing a threatening noise. Even Navi was surprised with himself; he had never lost self-control before. But now that he had, nothing could change it.
"I'll tell you what's going to happen to you. At some point, you will get hurt enough to incapacitate you from doing anything else, and then you will live the rest of your life in misery. Does this remind you of anything?"
"My father saved your father's life, don't insult him!"
"There is a consequence, that's what I'm saying." His face was burning. "This is not for you."
"It's not up to anybody to say what I can't do."
Navi would never have kicked the chair in that situation. But he was now taking out all his frustration on it, kicking and kicking, until Yelsew pulled him away by the arm.
The fact of being a girl should be an impediment for her to get out of her town, to do anything she wanted, or to be who she wanted to be? That's what their looks showed; that she had no right to be there. And that wasn't true.
"I'm not hungry." Mabel told them. "I think I'm going to go outside and get some fresh air."
Mabel got up and walked out the door as fast as the wind. As Mabel was leaving the tavern, a group of men was coming in. They looked at her as if she was a prey and she stared back at them, not fearing their dirty looks. Men look at women all the time, but Mabel didn't like the way those malicious eyes looked at her.
"What are you looking at?" She asked them. They didn't answer her, and they proceeded to walk in the tavern with malicious smiles on their faces.
Her hand touched her belly when her stomach growled out of starvation. But how could she sit at the table knowing Navi was looking for a way to screw her? If he needed an excuse to take her out of the army, now he had one, and Mabel was very nervous about her destiny to consider eating with them as nothing was happening.
XII
"At dusk, she camps by the Yellow River's bank."
The Ballad of Mulan
◊
"Should someone go after her?" The commander asked, but he didn't seem willing to do it or anyone else, actually. Their concern was with the food being served any minute.
"Has anyone ever wondered why women are not accepted in the army?" Sven grumbled, pointing his finger to his back toward the door where Mabel left. "Women are trouble."
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