Chapter 9: Within the Mouth of the Beast
"Don't you think you were a little too…you?" Mai asked the princess.
Azula looked over her shoulder at the kunoichi and pinned her with a glance of disdain.
"Don't worry, Mai," the firebender grinned as she turned back to the cave. "Even if she has caught on—which I highly doubt. She's not the sharpest tack in the box—she can't very well refuse to cooperate. We're far from civilization and I could leave her here to die if I wanted too. Also if she refuses, she'll be sent back to the executioner's block."
Azula smiled coldly at the entrance of the cave.
"No. She will not fail."
"So where have you been?" Katara asked.
"Just about everywhere," Aang replied.
"Have you been to the Fire Nation?" Ty piped up.
"Yup."
"The Northern Water tribes?" Sokka asked eagerly.
Katara frowned a little. She had wanted to ask the airbender that.
"I've been up in that area, but I've never actually visited them."
"Have you ever seen a real waterbending master?" Katara asked excitedly. It had always been her secret dream to see a master waterbender in action ever since she realized she could bend.
"Yeah. It was awesome to watch him bend," Aang answered.
The waterbender sighed. "I wish I could see a master bend," she said mournfully.
"What do you mean?" the airbender inquired. "Haven't you seen one?"
"No, I taught myself to bend. I don't really remember anything before my family moved to the Fire Nation." She glanced over the side of the saddle. "Where are we?" she asked, changing the subject.
"The Cave of Wonders," Sokka quipped. He dodged a cuff from Katara. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly.
"Don't be a smart-aleck," she smiled.
"We're almost there," Aang answered.
Katara nodded and moved closer to Ty.
"So how did you meet Lady Hinata?" she asked the gymnast. Maybe I can figure out why she's so off.
"What?" the gymnast gave her a puzzled look. A second later, her face lit up. "Oh! Hinata! Right! I don't know. We kinda just always knew each other. Family connections."
"Why do you like her?" Katara tried a different approach.
"Well…I know she doesn't look it, but Hinata is actually really strong. She's very talented, a prodigy really. She's one of the strongest firebenders in the world. I wouldn't want to go against her in battle. I guess I sorta think 'better with her than against her.'"
Katara resisted a grin. This was the sort of thing she had been looking for. Ty was afraid of Hinata. But why be afraid of her if she was the pacifist she presented herself as? Evidently, Hinata was not so calm and kind.
"Why are you asking?" Ty asked.
"Oh, no reason. Just curious," the thief smiled disarmingly. Well, two can play at the game of treachery, Katara thought.
The bison began to descend and the group became very quiet. Appa landed smoothly. The quartet alighted and stood, silently surveying the landscape. The dark room was empty of treasure, save a large gold statue in a niche. The statue was of a beautiful young women; in her extended hands was a large ruby, held out as if to say that it was all yours. Katara wrenched her gaze away from the giant jewel. Her eyes took in a large lake of water. In the center was a stone tower, the top illuminated by a beam of pure moonlight.
"So where's the teapot?" Sokka asked.
"Top of that tower," Aang replied.
"How are we supposed to get to it?" Ty puzzled. "It's out in the middle of the lake."
"Bending," Katara whispered. "You bend your way to it."
"Huh?" her brother and the gymnast stared at her.
"Airbenders use a gust of wind to leap over; firebenders make streams of fire to propel themselves over. An earthbender bends rocks up to create stepping stones, and a waterbender rides a wave across," the waterbender explained.
"Exactly," Aang smiled.
"You guys wait here." Katara walked to the edge of the water. She tried to ignore the knot in her stomach at the thought of going there all alone. She was afraid of what monster might guard the teapot.
"Wait!" the airbender joined her. "I'll go with you."
Katara felt the enormous burden lift. Her thought of being alone, possibly stranded, fighting to the death, had frightened her. If Aang was there, she felt safer.
Katara nodded and stepped into her element. She sucked in some air as the freezing liquid touched her skin. She allowed her body to adjust then began to gather the water behind her. She watched in envy as Aang flew to the teapot. He didn't have to feel his muscles seizing from the cold or fight the violent shivers racing through his limbs.
When the wave behind her was tsunami-sized, Katara allowed it to sweep across to the tower. As the wave broke, she pulled more water into it, stretching the height, keeping herself even with the top of the tower. She stopped the wave mere inches from the tower and stepped off the water. With a crash, the liquid rejoined the lake.
"Impressive," Aang smiled.
"Thanks," she answered as she stepped into the beam of light.
Her heart plummeted to her feet when she saw the teapot. Despite the expensive jade it was made from, it was one of the plainest things she had ever seen. No decorative flourishes or carvings. Just a banal design rendered in jade.
"This is it?" she asked incredulously. She picked it up, stirring up years of dust. She coughed slightly and waved the dust away. "We came all this way forthis?"
"What's wrong with it?" Aang asked.
"It's just, you know, for such a powerful magical object, it's—" she paused, groping for a good word. "Plain."
"Some of the best things come in the simplest packages," the airbender answered mysteriously.
The thief opened her mouth to ask for clarification but never had the opportunity to.
"Sokka! NO!" Ty's voice echoed up to them. The two benders looked down to see the water tribe boy grab the ruby from the statue's hands. Ty Lee was a few yards behind him, sprawled across the floor.
"Inferiors!" the dragon's voice reverberated through the cavern. The ground shook from its volume. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, shaken loose by the shout.
Sokka grinned sheepishly and placed the ruby back in the statue's hands. He jumped back as the statue began to melt and hot gold dripped onto the rock floor.
"You shall never again see the light of DAY!" the words were followed with an explosion of lava from the water.
Katara screamed and stumbled away from the pedestal the lamp had been on as six-foot flames shot up from it.
"Come on!" Aang shouted, grabbing her hand. The thief hugged the teapot close as Aang jumped toward the rest of their group.
Below, she could see the tiny shapes of her brother and Ty scramble onto Appa. The giant bison went airborne, and Katara glanced down.
"Umm, Aang, are we gonna make it?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah. Appa will catch us."
Just after the airbender said this, the two benders landed with a thump on the animal's saddle. Aang scrambled to the front and grabbed the reins. "Hold on!" he warned them.
Katara tucked the teapot into her obi then turned to her brother. "You idiot!" she screamed. Panic pulsed through her, turning her limbs to ice. "Look at what you did! If you had just listened to me for once, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"Stop yelling at him!" Ty shouted at the waterbender over the rushing lava behind them and crumbling cavern.
"He's my brother! I'll yell at him whenever I so well please!" the thief yelled back. "Besides, he deserves it! Because of him, we're all going to die!"
"Die?!" Sokka screeched in a very unmanly voice. "I don't want to die!"
"Well, you should have thought of that before you disobeyed the big sand dragon!" his sister answered angrily.
"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna be dragon food!" Ty wailed. "I don't wanna be dragon foo-oo-ood!"
"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!?" Aang shouted, turning around to face his terrified passengers.
The two girls shut their mouths. Sokka pretended to have never lost his manly cool.
"This is no time to panic." Aang turned to face forward.
Katara closed her eyes. Aang was right. People were counting on her, depending on the fact that she could stay level-headed during a crisis.
"Start panicking," the airbender suddenly said.
Katara opened her eyes to see that they were hurtling toward a dead end.
All four teenagers screamed simultaneously. Katara almost thought she saw Appa roll his great eyes at their human hysteria. Just before they hit the wall, the bison turned so he was parallel to the apparent dead end. A shaft of light illuminated the end of what had turned out to be a passageway. The great beast corkscrewed around and down into the lighted exit.
The teens stopped screaming as they burst into the blinding room of pure gold.
"We're almost there!" Katara shouted joyously. They were going to make it! They were going to get out of here!
"Umm, Katara," Sokka said nervously. "We might want to go faster."
"Wh--" Katara began but stopped when she saw the tsunami of lava behind them. "Aang! We need to put on some speed!"
Aang glanced back. His eyes widened in fear. "Yip yip!" he shouted to Appa. The bison sped up, bringing the exit ever nearer.
The lava wave broke and crashed behind them in a scalding splash of molten rock. Aang expertly steered the bison around a giant pillar of flames that sprang up in front of them. Three more towers of fire appeared suddenly and the group dodged them. The bison rose, taking them up toward the exit.
"Oh my word!" Ty screamed and pointed to the bison's left. "We are going to die!"
Katara followed the gymnast's finger and gasped at the sight of a hand of flames. The waterbender glanced to the right to see the same sight. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see if she would get crushed.
They soared through the fiery hands and the hands snapped closed behind them. Lightning flashed across the small glimpse of sky above them. The dragon roared and the patch of sky changed shape accordingly.
"I'm gonna get ready to jump," Katara told her brother. He nodded to show her he heard. The thief began to crawl toward Aang. She was beside him when she was suddenly launched forward. She saw a flash of Appa bellowing in pain as a rock pushed against his tail, carring him downward.
Her momentum carried her forward, toward the last piece of the stairs that had once wound down to the ground. She slammed into the rock and felt the air whoosh out of her lungs. She began to tumble down the stairs toward the edge and her doom. She shoved the thought of the pain out of her mind, acting on years of experience. Just like the laundry lines. Pain could wait. Her hands automatically reached for something to hold. Her fingers caught hold of a stair edge and gripped it.
"Whoa!" she gasped as her body swung below her. She glanced up, looking for a way to haul herself to safety. She saw her brother above her clinging to the rocks. She frowned. That ruled out her only chance. Her eyes lit up as Lady Hinata appeared at the top of the stairs.
Sokka scrambled to safety and Katara attempted to pull herself up. Her feet touched the edge of the stair but slid off, breaking apart the edge. Katara refused to let her eyes follow the chunks of rock downward.
"Help me up!" she shouted to Hinata desperately. It was her only chance. Sokka had disappeared out of her line of sight. The firebender was her only way out.
"First give me the teapot!" Hinata demanded, her face contorting in rage and greed.
So that's how it is, Katara thought bitterly. She decided to try again. "I can't hold on!" the thief replied. "Give me your hand!" She let go of the edge with one hand and reached out to the firebender.
"Give me the teapot!" Hinata ignored Katara's hand.
Fine. Be that way, the waterbender thought and reached into her obi. She removed the teapot and held it up to Hinata. The firebender's eyes lit up like yellow flames of greed, and the girl leaned toward the waterbender, straining for the jade teapot.
The firebender grasped it and laughed cruelly, insanely. She snatched herself back to safety, bringing the treasure close. "Yes! At last!" Hinata proclaimed, standing and holding the teapot high above her head. She laughed, the eerie sound spiraling up into the stormy sky.
Katara panted, waiting for Hinata to finish. Where are you, Sokka?
The firebender seemed to remember that she had unfinished business and handed the teapot to a waiting Mai. Sokka suddenly appeared with a rope, obliterating the Fire Nation girls.
"Here! Grab on!" he shouted, tossing an end down to his sister. Katara smiled and grabbed the rope.
"Thanks!" she answered. "You've always got my back!"
Sokka grinned and began to pull her up. Hinata appeared behind him without warning. She knocked the water tribe boy aside and grabbed Katara's wrist before the thief fell. The waterbender winced as Hinata's grip tightened, threatening to crush her bones.
"What are you doing?" she gasped as the firebender hauled her upward. Katara's heart pounded, whispering that this was not going the way it should. Hinata had no intention of saving her.
"Giving you your reward," Hinata answered sweetly, returning to the person she had been when Katara had first agreed to help her. Her face darkened as if a dark cloud of smoke settled over it. "Your eternal reward." Hinata raised a dagger that flashed menacingly from a flash of lightning. The deadly weapon gleamed wickedly even after the light was gone, seeming to possess a light from within.
Then Katara realized why. The metal was slowly heating, glowing red-hot. "You're a firebender," she whispered. She recalled Ty's comment: "She's very talented, a prodigy really. She's one of the strongest firebenders in the world."
"Very good, peasant," the amber-eyed girl sneered. She brought the dagger down, aiming for Katara's chest.
"No!" Sokka shouted and threw his boomerang. The projectile knocked the dagger from Hinata's hand, and the girl gasped, releasing Katara to clutch her throbbing hand. The dagger tumbled past the waterbender as she began to fall.
Sokka jumped on Mai, scrambling for the teapot. The kunoichi growled and flung him away, into the cave.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" the two teens screamed as they tumbled down toward the deadly sea below them.
A/N: And cut! Hope you enjoyed it. You'll all just have to endure the agony of wondering whether Katara and Sokka survive.