I Order You!

Ambushed? There were no sounds of fighting outside. I peered out the window. Instead of being surrounded by petty thieves and bandits, as normally happened, our threat was far graver. The snow had just stopped, leaving behind snow covered mountains and knee-deep snow in other areas.

We had been heading toward the snowy mounds and if I looked carefully... were those... troops? "Can we fight them?" I heard Lu Qing Yu ask faintly behind me. "No, we estimate they've sent about 2000 elites." Gu Yin said. I felt faint immediately.

They sent 2000 people just to kidnap (or kill) Lu Qing Yu and me? All along, they hadn't done anything. We only had barely 50 guards altogether and we were pulling along a heavy carriage. Even if we got rid of the carriage, it was so cold now and the snow was so deep, we probably wouldn't survive or run very far if we were to get out now and make a run for it.

"How much time do we have until they get here? What do we have that we can use?" Lu Qing Yu asked as I popped my head back into the carriage. A semi-circle of guards was now standing behind Gu Yin, looking very grave. "According to our scouts, at their speed... 5 minutes." Gu Yin said, before they continued discussing possible routes of escape. To me, it seemed hopeless.

My body shook as I thought of dying here, beneath the snow before Hua Xia even got to see my lightbulb. Unsteadily, I opened the carriage door, inviting a mound of snow on the roof to deposit itself on me, and got out.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Lu Qing Yu grabbed my arm. I looked back at him uneasily, then felt the coldness penetrate into my body. "Silly girl." He patted the snow off. "Come back and sit here." Snow. Falling on me. Was this the apple that fell on Newton's head? "Wait. I know how to save us." I burst out, unsure if I was embarrassing myself.

I half waded, half swam to the back of our carriage, where our supplies were. Since we had made a trip to the towns, we had naturally brought back some alcohol. Loads of cheap alcohol in fact to feed the many soldiers lucky to get their hands on them. Since it was cold, alcohol could warm us up.

I pulled at the door, and it clattered but didn't open. The soldier standing on guard looked at me oddly. "Open it! Quick! And get me a flame!" I said. He made no movement. "I order you!" I shouted angrily. Time was running out as we spoke. He quickly opened the door. Haha! I grabbed a couple bottles with me, as many as I could carry, and rushed to the front of the carriages.

I set them down on the snow and started to open each stopper. "What's this? Are you drinking now?" Lu Qing Yu finally found me and started chiding. "No. Listen to me. I know how to get rid of them all. Get me a lot of paper, and a flame." I said. He looked at me skeptically. I stared at the approaching troops.

"Hurry up before they get here." "Do what she says." Paper and a torch were finally brought over to me. Sheesh. They should have more faith in me.

I tore the paper into strips and stuffed them into the open bottles, then set them down. "Quick! More bottles! All of you do it with me! We need as many as possible!" I shouted angrily. "Do you have any better ideas? I don't think so!" I shouted behind me. They brought out more bottles and all began stuffing. "Make sure the paper that pops out doesn't have any alcohol on it. We are going to be lighting the ends of the paper with fire." I said. "What?"

"Hurry up." The troops were now in plain view, and I could see them passing under the last stretch of snowy mountain. After that was just flat snow which they would make quick work of. They weren't close enough. Hands shaking, I untied the first husky beside me, who had taken a liking to me over the days. The husky had a large satchel attached to it, which I hastily emptied out.

Then I stuffed as many bottles as I could into the satchel, grabbed the torch, and with adrenaline fueled strength, leapt onto the husky. "That way!" I proclaimed, patting the husky gently. The husky took off in the direction of the mountains, to shouts from the convoy I left behind. "Stop!" everyone screamed as they saw me run off. When we were somewhat close, I placed the torch in the husky's mouth. "Be good, hold this for me for while." I said, then lit up the first bottle. Here's hoping my Mulan idea would work.

With all my strength, I hurled the Molotov Cocktail in their direction. It hit the snow, exploding. A large burst of fire appeared from the ground. Startled, the troop formation briefly altered to avoid the fire. "Hohoho." "Come on. A bit further." I patted the husky.

As my legs clung on desperately to keep from falling off, I kept lighting up more cocktails, this time aiming at the snowy mountaintops. "Take this!" I threw them at the mountain. They disappeared in fiery explosions into the snow covered mountain, smoke the only trace they were ever there.

By now, the disgruntled convoy had caught up to me, intending to bring me back. They looked marveled yet angry. "Did you bring the Molotov cocktails?" I asked. "The what?" they asked. I looked around and saw they had dutifully turned around and brought a whole crate of the cocktails as soon as they saw the first one explode.

I started grabbing and throwing. "Throw them as hard as you can at that same bit of mountain, quick! We are going to cause an avalanche." I said. "We are going to do what?"

"Hurry up!" I shouted angrily. The guards, who had much more arm power than I did (understandably), were much more effective at hurling Molotov cocktails than I was. "Throw some at the enemy to prevent them from coming further! And you guys! Dismount the carriages and find us cover! Be prepared to run from the avalanche!"

As they threw the cocktails, I ordered people around. "Lu Qing Yu, go and hide." I found Lu Qing Yu. "I'm not going to hide." he said. "Your Highness, please hide. An avalanche will be very hard to escape." Gu Yin pleaded.

"Alright. If you aren't going to hide, come and help." I gave up immediately and handed him a Molotov cocktail. The more hands on deck the better. The few of us threw the cocktails crazily at the mountain, with some intentionally landing in the path of the Rouran, who could not go any further.

Enraged, they would try to swerve and find another route, but would be met with more cocktails. 5 minutes had definitely passed, but they were still minutes away, unable to move from their initial position. The fire not only caused a violent explosion (due to glass shards and a large amount of alcohol), but also melted the snow, eroding their path.

Finally, just as we were running out of cocktails, there was a large rumble from the mountain. I stumbled as the ground shook. "Uh-oh." I said. I picked up the last cocktail and threw it at the direction of the troops. Then I got back on the husky. "Time to run!" I shouted as we all scrambled to race to cover.

On the way back, we passed the carriages (regrettably) "Where's the cover?" I shouted at the guys who were supposed to find cover. "Here!" the guys shouted, poking their heads out of a very big boulder we had passed some time back.

They could barely be heard over the sound of snow, slate, rock and whatever else that was coming quickly behind us. I didn't dare to look back. "Over there!" I shouted, afraid the guys beside me didn't hear. The entire Molotov cocktail throwing crew threw ourselves behind the boulder.