108 第21章 最终的对决（3）

第21章 最终的对决(3)

Once again, Böri Khan came at her. Using the staff, she blocked his sword and then spun, her movements f luid. The staff became a twirling blur as she moved this way and that. Böri Khan tried to follow the dizzying motion but he stumbled. Taking advantage of it, Mulan stopped spinning and whacked him across the face. He let out a cry as his hand went to his cheek. 
Mulan kept moving. Racing back in the Emperor’s direction, she heard Böri Khan on her heels. Turning around, she lifted her bamboo just as Böri Khan’s sword sliced down toward her head. Mulan cried out as her bamboo spear cracked, breaking in two as the Rouran’s sword met wood and then continued down, slashing a rope that hung nearby. Without the rope holding it steady, one of the giant crossbeams pressed against the scaffolding came free. It swung back and forth in the air above, between where Mulan stood and the Emperor was imprisoned. 
Watching the long piece of wood, Mulan had an idea. She leapt for the crossbeam in an attempt to use it to get to the Emperor. But the beam was too high. Desperately, she grabbed at it and hung there, her arms wrapped around the beam in an awkward hug. With her added weight and the momentum of her jump, the beam began to tilt and spin. 
Böri Khan, his face f illed with rage, took a running leap and grabbed hold of the opposite end of the crossbeam. The wood groaned under their combined weights as they hung on either end. At the same time, Mulan and Böri Khan hoisted themselves to their feet on the beam. They swayed, their balance uneven as the beam beneath their feet rocked back and forth. 
Peering down at the ground, which now seemed very far away, Mulan took a nervous breath. Böri Khan was not going to stop until he defeated her. She saw him begin to maneuver toward her, his weight causing the beam to raise up behind her, forcing her closer to the middle—and to the Rouran. It would only take one swing of his sword for Böri Khan to knock her off. She had every reason to retreat. 
But then, as if there was something in the back of her mind that kept reminding her why she had to carry on, she heard Commander Tung’s voice in her head, reading aloud the Pillars of Virtue. She heard the Emperor, urging her to rise like the Phoenix. She saw, in her mind’s eye, the magnif icent bird. And she knew, in that moment, she would not give up. Slowly, she bent her knees and lifted her arms, taking the now familiar stance of the warrior that the commander had taught her. With her center of gravity lowered, her balance grew stronger. The room around her faded and she was back beside the lake, practicing the moves Commander Tung had drilled into the soldiers. As Böri Khan came at her, she moved forward and backward, pressing and then yielding, all the while staying steady and focused. 
Böri Khan, on the other hand, grew less focused. As Mulan deftly met every one of his moves, his face grew redder. His sword’s movements became less controlled. Letting out a furious scream, he lunged at her. 
Mulan barely had to move. Using his energy against him, she let him race by on the narrow beam, grabbing the sword right out of his hand as he passed. When he stopped at the end of the beam, he turned, only to f ind the blade of his own weapon pointed at his throat.