Note to Reader: I came to a sinister realization, today: this story may rub up against the 75,000-word mark. Maybe even beyond that. At this point in the story, we've only just finished Act 2 of what I think will be a Five Act work. Regardless, it's done when it's done and it will be done, unless I die, of course [knocks on wall].
Feedback is always appreciated. Otherwise…
Enjoy the heady symbolism.
Chapter 9: Fiends Abound
Qilaq had pulled a chair into the corner of the room. It was next to the window and opposite the door. He half-dozed and half-mused throughout the evening, foregoing dinner. Aimi didn't feel that he should go without food, though, so she brought up a plate of dumplings before returning to eat with her family and Azula.
Lee was peculiarly quiet and, when prompted by his momma to talk about it, he just shook his little head dramatically. Aimi didn't press her son, while Nobu sat seemingly unaware of anything but the food on his plate and the pressure in his chest.
After dinner, Azula thanked the mousy cook for the food and returned to her room. Qilaq was still sitting in that same corner, staring at the wall through the rays of fading light that angled through the window. She noticed the plate Aimi had brought up was clean and she smiled, for no good reason.
The two of them sat in a vacuous silence. The sun disappeared behind the hills and darkness blanketed the town.
At last, Azula turned to say something, but stopped when she heard a commotion of feet and hollers off in the distance. She got up and hung her head out of the window. A mob of enraged townsfolk came down the street from the east, rumbling and brandishing the requisite torches and farming implements that seemed to manifest whenever angry people with a purpose coalesced.
"And now, it's blown up," said Qilaq from his darkened corner. "Wonderful." A mild orange glow rose from the street, like a luminous low hanging fog, as the mob stopped in front of the inn. The hollers were loud, commanding and nigh incomprehensible at first, then they died down a bit to a low grumble of angry murmurs.
Nobu noticed the light approaching behind the curtained window of his study. He stood and went to the front door. As he moved to open it, he heard something behind him and turned. His wife stood pale in the dinning room doorway, holding her large black frying pan tight with both hands. She didn't need to vocalize; her fear was plain on her face.
Light feet pitter-pattered down the stairs. Lee stood in the middle of the staircase with his red, wood dragon in his left hand and his Firebender figurine clenched in his right. "Papa, I…" Lee didn't want to get in trouble, but he felt like it was his fault. He wanted to tell his papa he was sorry, but the words shrank away in his tiny throat before they could come out of his mouth.
"Go upstairs, Lee," said Nobu calmly. His son obeyed immediately and ran upstairs.
"Nobu…" tried his now shaking wife, all her color gone, say for the pale yellow in her eyes.
"Don't worry yaself, Aimi. I'll handle this."
"Oh, it's really happening this time," she shuddered like a tiny wren in winter.
"We came here to get away from this," he said with a defeated resolve. "No safe place left, I guess."
Upstairs, Lee stopped in the doorway to the room where the Northerner's were staying. Qilaq saw the frightened little boy standing there and drew up a smile. "Come on, Lee. You can sit here," said the Waterbender, slapping his knee. Lee ran over on wobbly legs to Qilaq who picked the boy up and sat him on his lap.
Azula heard the front door open and then close again. The mob sucked all the sound out of the night air as Nobu stepped out into the street and faced them. "Your father's taking care of it, Lee," Azula assured the little boy, who was still clutching his two favorite toys. She wasn't very hopeful about the situation, but she couldn't let Lee see that.
"I'm sorry," said Nobu in a gruff but apologetic tone, "but I don't think I have enough rooms to put all ya up for the night."
The man at the front of the mob spoke out. He was broad shouldered with a green short-sleeved shirt that clung to the tops of his biceps. A full brown beard matted his chiseled jaw and his bright green eyes gleamed in the fire light. "It's time for you Fire Nation Fiends to leave."
"Leave?" coughed the innkeeper with what sounded like amusement.
"That's right," affirmed the man with a clear bass voice. "What, did roasting people alive make you deaf, too? Leave!"
Nobu was certainly not at a loss for words, but no matter what he said it would make no difference. He was a realist and could only make his case in simple, practical terms, so, in spite of the adversity, he did. "I pay my dues. I plumb drains and mend roofs, when I can. I think me and my family deserve a bit of peace, like everyone else here."
"Our children aren't safe!" trumpeted a high feminine voice from within the crowd. The mob rumbled with agreement.
"You think money and community work makes you acceptable?" voiced a tall, gangly man next to the mob leader. Nobu noticed the man's tunic resembled a potato sack to the point that it probably was a potato sack.
"I try to," answered the gaunt, grizzled innkeeper. "Yes, I think it should. I brought my family here to escape the fear of being, at any moment, killed by some maniHACk…" he struggled to suppress his wretched hacking. Aimi covered her mouth to stifle a worried gasp as she watched through the front door she had cracked ajar. Nobu regained his composure and picked up where he left off. "…on the street, dying for the sake of destruction."
"Face it, Fire Fiend…"
"Red Worms!" a shrill voice interjected.
"…you're a menace, you and you're whole family. All of you. We don't want you here. We never wanted you here, so just leave. Get outta here or we'll get you out ourselves."
"You aren't going to force us out of our home," Nobu stated firmly, while avoiding any sort of malice in his gruff tone.
"Home? Where do you think you are?" scoffed the man in a potato sack.
"You took my Wei from me!" cried a high, breaking voice from the back of the crowd. Nobu thought about arguing his case further, but it would do no good. How could he argue with their grief?
"This is our home," said the man with the sharp green gaze. "This is our country, so get out!"
The mob leader pointed down the empty westward road. The angry townsfolk completely block the eastern way.
Nobu had no choice. He suppressed his reflexive coughing and growled away the gunk in his throat just enough to make his next words as clear as the lustrous amber flames that wreathed his black pupils.
"My family and I will stay, safe. I will not yield, in this."
The mass of bodies quivered as people shouted and threw out their fists towards the innkeeper.
"Red Menace!"
"Get 'em!"
"Put out your torches! He'll use them against us!"
As everyone stomped out their torches and the orange light shifted into silver-laced darkness under the moon, nearly full, the hulk at the front of the crowd stomped into a firm fighting stance. The tall man and a stout adolescent with wide feet formed up on either side of the large leader.
Nobu tensed his haggard sinews and grimaced as he took a challenging position. Several of the more timid people in the back of the now tenebrous crowd ran off, while the rest cheered for blood even louder, now that the Fire Fiend seemed to be readying an attack.
The mob leader didn't give Nobu a chance. He stomped his left foot and a melon sized hunk of the earthen street shot into the air. The ex-boiler stoker could barley manage to take in a breath to generate a flame. Regardless, he advanced and threw his fist straight at his opponents. A flame sprung from the innkeeper's hand.
There was a dull crack, as the piece of street ushered up by the brawny man smashed into Nobu's hand, snuffing out his flame. The grizzled Firebender gasped in pain and, before he could cradle his broken hand, two more rocks, smaller than the first, slammed into his side. The force of the blows knocked him to the ground and he slid to a halt, splayed out in a heap.
Azula winced as she watched the three Earthbenders stone Nobu. They could kill him. She turned to Qilaq who wore a blank expression while he covered little Lee's ears with his callused brown hands.
As the three men descended on the fallen Firebender to the cheer of the crowd behind them, the front door opened and a frying pan flew at the mob leader's head. He easily blocked the weakly thrown object with his large forearm. They halted their advance.
"Nobu!" Aimi cried, running to her injured husband. She knelt by him and started to cough up sobs.
The brawny Earthbender walked up behind the woman and coiled his huge hand around her neck. She let out a little yelp as he tossed her into the stone wall of her home. "We'll deal with you later, whore," he said.
A blue shape flew out of the inn's second story window and pounced on the large man about to stomp on Nobu. It was Azula. She dug her knee into the man's kidney and pulled her fist back with an enraged look on her face, but before she could unleash a fireball on her victims head, the tall man grabbed her by the arm and the hair. He tossed her across the street, pulling a few strands of her shoulder length hair out in the process.
Azula quickly recovered and rose. She shook her head and flipped her raven locks out of her eyes. One unruly strand still clung to her cheek. She cursed herself for diving into battle without tying her hair back.
The three men rallied to face their new foe. "What are you doing?" asked the hulking man as he rose from the ground. "You're protecting them?"
Azula didn't say a word. Any idiot could see what she was doing. She just adjusted her stance, pointed her open hands at Nobu's attackers and narrowed her golden eyes. Up in the window she had leapt from she saw Lee watching with Qilaq behind. They both wore a look of dumbfounded awe, like when she had almost set the bully kid on fire.
Her foes surrounded her. The crowd had recovered from the initial shock of her decent from the sky and had resumed their cries for blood: her blood. The tense young woman's eyes darted around, trying to adjust to the dim twilight. She could make out the faces of the three men, but the crowd was an indistinct writhing blob of fluxing, screaming silhouettes.
The stout adolescent charged her with a scream. She turned and feigned a charge forward, but as he swung wide at her head, the lithe woman ducked and swept her foot under her attacker, taking his legs out and causing him to fall flat on his back. He gasped as his wind left him.
The bulkiest of the three took this opportunity and stomped, causing the ground under Azula to jump and catapult her westward. She rolled to cushion the hard fall, but still ending up on her face.
She scrambled to her feet and ran at her enemies as fast as she could. The two standing Earthbenders pulled more pieces of the street up and punched them at the charging woman. One whiffed over her as she ducked, while another roughly grazed her arm, catching on her robe a bit.
When she was in range, in one fluid motion she turned her back to the men, crouched, leapt into the air, raised her right leg high over her head and, as she struck her foot down on the street, a bright burst of orange fire exploded out in a wave and threw the two Earthbenders to the ground.
Every face, every expression of shock, horror, awe, pain and anger was illuminated by the flash. More of the mob ran off and, as the initial flame dissipated and died away, the darkness returned, deeper than ever. "Wow, I knew it," said Lee in awe of the spectacle. "Wow, Firebending." The boy turned and noticed Qilaq leaving the room. The boy followed him down to the kitchen.
"Stand back, Lee," said the swarthy man. Lee did obeyed and watched the magic from the base of the staircase.
Qilaq motioned at the wall on the opposite end of the kitchen, hand over hand, as though he were dragging in a fishing line. The faucet started to wobble and clang in the cracking wall.
Outside, Azula turned when she heard something happening in the house, but she had to react when the tall man got up and punched another rock at her. She winched as it glanced off her bicep and threw her other fist out, setting the man's potato sack tunic aflame. He fell to the ground and writhed, screaming.
In the kitchen, a huge volume of white water spewed from the faucet and streamed through the air towards the Waterbender. He swirled the flood of liquid around his body and then whipped his hand towards the open door. The hovering stream of water split in two and one doused the man on fire. The other stream drenched the fire starter.
"Wow," gaped Lee in further awe.
"Stay there," said the Waterbender as he shut the boy into the house.
Azula just stood there like an irked wet cat. This was the second time that man had soaked her. Unless it was a bath, she detested being wet.
Qilaq stepped out into the street and drew the water off both his fiery companion and the tall man who was now comfortably not on fire. The Waterbender then turned to the gawking crowd in the shadows, while the water rose into the warm night air like bloated soap bubbles.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said with a cordial smile, "return to the tranquility of your homes." Some of the people in the dark talked amongst themselves while others started to get very vocal about their anger towards this intervention.
"Please," the amiable Waterbender pleaded. Now the shadows were spitting slurs at him. "I warn you, you don't want to test me," he said, evening out his voice.
The crowd leaned forward as though it was about to charge as one black mass.
"Get the fuck outta here!" Qilaq screamed, his visage instantly wrinkled with menace, as he whipped some of the floating water out of the air and into a rough sword of ice.Other globules flash froze into jagged shards like razor, crystalline stars. All the warmth was sucked out of the summer night. Everyone went cold.
The mob quickly dissipated and ran off down the street. Even the most stalwart of them lost heart when left in the chilling presence of the menacing Waterbender.
Azula was frozen in shock until she noticed the last of the mob had gone. She took a step towards her companion. "Qilaq…?" she said softly. He turned on her with a stygian look. The moonshine highlighted his swarthy skin. His dark blue eyes pierced the night and her blood went cold at the sight. She put on a stern face to mask her fear.
There was a dreadful silence.
Qilaq closed his eyes and let out a calming breath. The air felt warmer all of a sudden and the hovering frozen shards and icy blade melted instantly, splashing into tiny puddles all over the now pitted street.
He walked over to Aimi who was cradling her husbands head. Azula followed suit. "Here, let me see," said the Waterbender, gently motioning the tear-soaked woman away. Nobu tensed in pain under the feather-light weight of Qilaq's hand upon his side. "He's got a broken rib and some internal bleeding." Aimi let out a crestfallen moan. "You're going to have to live with the pain," Qilaq continued, looking into the injured innkeeper's half open eyes. "But I'll stop the bleeding."
"You can do that?" Aimi quavered in disbelief. She took the words right out of Azula's mouth.
Qilaq said nothing as he grabbed the man's gnarled right hand and set the bones. Stifled gasps of pain pulsed from the injured Firebender's mouth. The Northerner then rested his hands on Nobu's side and torso. The broken man convulsed and wretched. It was making Qilaq's job much more difficult. He pushed hard on Nobu's chest. After a few agonizing seconds, the innkeeper vomited up a white fluid lace with blood and then relaxed. He started breathing evenly and fainted.
The relentless tension finally broke and the three kneeling by Nobu's side could breathe easy with him. A thankful tear streamed down Aimi's already wet cheek as they gathered up her husband carefully and brought him into the inn.
Qilaq didn't feel he needed to vocalize how incredibly lucky the man was. He survived and that's all that mattered.
After he was in bed, the Northerner left and went out the front door. Azula followed after she had confirmed that Aimi and the now present Lee were okay. She walked out the front door and turned to see Qilaq leaning on the wall to her left.
"Go inside and get some sleep," he said without looking at her, his arms crossed. "I'll stand guard and discourage any would be trouble makers."
She nodded, still shaken from the whole experience and went up to her bed. She lay awake throughout the night. It wasn't until the first hints of sunlight brightened the dark that she was finally able to fall into an exhausted sleep.
At high noon, the rays of the summer sun warmly touched the hairs on her arm and she awoke. Today was the day. She shoved the covers off her naked legs and quickly dressed to leave. As she went downstairs, she noticed the door to Aimi and Nobu's room was ajar. She wondered how they were doing.
In the room, she saw that Nobu was asleep in the middle of a large bed. Aimi was asleep sitting up against the nightstand, with Lee's head resting in her lap.
Azula smiled and then she wondered about Qilaq. When she opened the front door, she found him in the exact same position he had taken the night before: leaned against the wall, arms folded, and a watchful gaze surveying the street and passers by. There were very few people out on this street today, Azula noticed.
"Have you been up all night?" she asked her silent companion.
"I think so," he responded, leaning the back of his head against the wall and rubbing his eyes, under which dark, purplish bags drooped. "I may have nodded off for a couple minutes, but other than that… seeing as how you aren't throttled, I think my discouragement was successful."
"What now?"
"Now we leave." He pointed vaguely over the houses. Over the far away din of the bustling town, there was the faint sound of the enormous stone train grinding against the stone track. "What can we do? Our train's pulling into the station. It's time for us to go. Don't make this more complicated," he said as he pushed off the wall.
Azula hesitated and looked back into the house, but then reluctantly decided. "I'm not going to. Let's go." It almost felt wrong, leaving their hosts in such a sorry state. "I must be going soft," she mumbled to herself. It was an unfamiliar feeling, radiating from the pit of her stomach to the bridge of her nose, but, as Qilaq so coldly stated, it was time for them to go.
As they sauntered off towards the train station, a voice called to them. "Bye Qilaq. Bye Shila." It was Lee, standing in the open doorway of his home.
Azula smiled, feeling even worse about leaving. Thankfully, Qilaq turned and spoke. "Tell your momma and papa 'thanks' from both of us."
"I will," said the boy and the two of blue-robed benders walked down the street and out of sight of the inn.
