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Li Shang is just one among hundreds; he knows that. And yet he can't help but feel that this is a punishment from not just his own ancestors but those of the entire empire, because this is not what he expected after the emperor's death.
When Shan Yu cut the emperor's head from his body Shang had been collapsed on the floor, his skull fractured. He was barely conscious and didn't understand what the man was saying when he addressed Mulan, but she must have.
"I am not the voice of my empire," she told him, looking up defiantly at his hulking shape. "The emperor's sons--"
"Then bring me one of them," he said carelessly.
And it was done.
The emperor's son offered money, but of what use was Chinese currency to a distant invader who had no desire to remain and rule what he had conquered? Food he seemed to consider a pittance, and it was only when the emperor's son suggested concubines that Shan Yu's head did a bird-like tilt, the first sign of interest he'd shown.
"That may be all your kingdom has to offer," he said, "but I claim first choice."
"Of course," the emperor's son stammered, bowing low.
Shan Yu smiled with all his sharp teeth and pointed to Shang.
He wasn't sure what was said after that, only that Mulan's rage was so great that she had to be restrained. But as a Hun lifted him from the floor, her eyes were on Shang's, and her gaze spoke clearly enough. I will come for you, it said.
And now... now Shang opens his eyes to a clear blue sky and an overwhelming nausea. The surface he lays on is moving roughly--a litter of some kind, he eventually gathers, pulled behind a warhorse. He has no idea where they're taking him, but he throws himself to one side and lands heavily in the dirt. It's all he can do not to vomit, but he gets his hands under himself and scrabbles for purchase on the rocky terrain. Then a heavy weight thumps down beside him, and another on the other side, and hands grab at him. He smacks the hands of one man away but there's another, and another, until the weight of the Huns is crushing him. It presses the air from his lungs, blurs his vision. He'll die like this.
But he doesn't. A hawk's cry interrupts the violence, and when the sea of soldiers--both male and female, he realizes shakily--parts, there is Shan Yu once again.
The man doesn't speak. He comes to his side and crouches down, as if Shang is a stream he's going to drink at. He reaches for him, and Shang's hands instinctively come up to protect himself, but Shan Yu simply grabs him by the wrist, easily wrapping his strong fist around the delicate bones, and pulls his arms to one side. For a moment no one speaks.
Finally, Shan Yu chuckles. "Does this mean you intend to walk?"
Thinking of the others taken as concubines, he starts to answer in the affirmative--he will not be given preferential treatment--only to finally get a good look at those still on horses. Riding astride the war horses are those same "concubines," double with those that remain from Shan Yu's army and staring at him silently. Slowly he shakes his head.
Shan Yu laughs at that. He jerks his head toward the litter, and the hands still holding him drag Shang back, depositing him unceremoniously back where he began.
"I am not afraid of you," he says, though Shan Yu is out of sight. The man chuckles.
"Good," he says. He comes into view and swings up onto the horse dragging the litter. It's his horse, Shang realizes with a sinking heart. "I prefer my concubines to have a bit of fire in them."
"The emperor..." He shuts his mouth as the horse, as all the horses, start moving again. The nausea makes him groan, and the world spins.
"The emperor is dead." Shan Yu tosses it back as easily as if it were an exchange with one of his own men on the subject of the weather. "He no longer matters."
"That's why you came to fight him," he manages to spit out. He closes his eyes against the whirling sky above him. "Because he didn't matter."
"To fight the emperor?" Shan Yu laughs, long and low. "No. I came to fight the emperor's army. I came to kill the emperor. He was an old man, and foolish. He built his wall and challenged my strength. You can see how that turned out for him."
He can't keep conscious any longer. Li Shang lets his head roll back and sleeps.
He comes to in a camp--Shan Yu's army must have stopped for the night. The world is dark around him, but by reaching out he can feel tanned hides. He is inside a tent.
"I see you've decided to rejoin the living."
Shan Yu's voice makes him cringe internally, but he must be entering from outside, because there's light suddenly--a fire in the distance. He blinks up at the man, whose bird-like yellow eyes meet his without malice. After a moment he looks away.
"You're more reserved when you don't have an audience."
He doesn't answer. He runs his fingers through the furs covering him. He's in a makeshift bed now, but he's unsure if it's his or if he is intended to warm the invader's bed even now, as badly injured as he is.
Shan Yu moves in close. His eyes seem to glow in the dark. "A shame. You were chosen for a reason."
"I..." His voice cracks, and he hates it. "I don't care about your reasons."
There is a smile in Shan Yu's voice. "Don't you? Would not the wisest course of action be to care very much about my reasons, when those reasons are in turn the only reason you draw breath?"
His mind is sluggish. He can't quite keep up. He chooses to say nothing.
"I chose you because you are a fine soldier for what you are. You commanded Fa Mulan, yes? And she was the one of all your men who came the closest to defeating my army."
Shan Yu is close beside him now, speaking softly. His voice is so low and soft it's difficult to connect it with the man who ordered the emperor to bow to him.
"But unlike her, you are no real leader of men. You need direction. I can give you that direction."
Despite his better judgement he laughs out loud, and those glowing eyes spark with a moment of anger. But again he smiles.
"Your emperor was a weak man," he says. "He sent thousands of young men to die for his battle while he stayed in his palace with his soft-handed children. I led my people into battle because I am strong, and when the day comes that I am not some other will take my place. Is that more or less honorable than your emperor's way?"
He wants to argue, but how can he? The emperor is dead, and Shan Yu is still alive.
"Something to think about." Now Shan Yu slips under the furs and Shang winces, waiting for the rape he knows is coming. But instead Shan Yu settles in beside him.
"There is food at the fire," he says. "If you are thirsty one of the others will give you drink. Show them the respect they deserve, and no harm will come to you."
That is the last thing he says. Soon the tent is filled with the quiet breaths of a man sleeping. Shang lies awake for a long time before turning his face away and joining him in slumber. He does not know what the future holds, but he suspects that, for now, at least, his place is here.