A/N Thank you so much to everyone who has posted comments or subscribed. You all keep me motivated to keep writing these. Special thanks to Xamem for the constructive criticism. (I typed up chapter 10 and 11 after getting the alert on my phone.)
Enjoy all!
As they ran, Cayenne had Hawkee keep a look out. Twice they stopped thinking they had outrun the danger, and twice Hawkee screeched announcing otherwise. After they made it well into the forest, they found a small cave, and since Hawkee had kept quiet after entering the trees, Cayenne made the call to camp for the night. Saile poured water on himself to cool off.
"Ahh… that's feels better. I'm so sick of running! We should just fight them." He shook off the water like a dog, splashing Cayenne. She hit him in the gut.
"Watch it you idiot!"
"Shhh! Do you want them to find us?" Tain scolded, and slumped against a rock. He watched Cayenne look at Tora's clothes disapprovingly. He needed to ease the tension.
"Ah… guys, this is Tora, I met her in the city. She's got a warrant out too, same reason as us."
Tora smiled briefly then went back to keeping watch.
"Hopefully they'll stop looking for us soon and we can head to the fire nation capitol." Cayenne said quietly, "At least there we won't have to run for our lives anymore."
Tora looked back at Cayenne.
"I can come with you all to the fire nation, but I can't go to the capitol." She looked down.
"Why not?" Tain asked.
"I have my reasons." She looked back into the forest. Tain looked perplexed.
"What are those things you have on you?" Cayenne asked Tora, "I've never seen clubs like those before."
Tora looked back glad for the change of topic.
"Oh, these? These babies are the reason I got a warrant on my head. They're called guns.
I used to be in the air nation guard. I left after I found out what they were really trying to do, but not before I stole these. We were being trained in weapons, being trained to kill, not to defend. That's why I left."
"Those are the same thing the Avatar was talking about right Tori?" Saile asked.
"Yea… and it's Tora."
"I know. I like Tori better though."
Cayenne stood up. "Wait, did you say the Avatar had guns too?"
"Yea, he's on their side." Tain said.
"WHAT!" Cayenne practically screamed, "What do you mean?"
Tain recapped the Avatars speech and Tora filled in what he missed. Saile piped up and added comments too. Cayenne collapsed into a disbelieving heap.
"I can't believe it…" her voice was barely more than a whisper, "He was my master. He taught me everything I know. He always said he would be on the side of peace. How could he think that what they are doing is peaceful? How could he….."
The bushes near Cayenne rustled as the wind blew through them. Everyone jumped. Saile had water out and Tora had her guns pointed. Only Tain did not stir.
"Relax, if anyone was this close to us, I'd be able to feel their footsteps through the ground. We should all get some sleep; it's been a long day."
Saile yawned at the proposal of sleep.
"Good idea. Night guys!" he said and walked into the cave.
…
Saile really had to pee. It was the middle of the night when he decided to go out to find a good tree. About half way through his business, he noticed a fine feather on the ground. He finished and went over to it.
This is one of Hawkee's feathers.
After looking around, he noticed another feather, then another. He followed the feather trail to a bush, and when he looked behind it, Hawkee's crumpled body lay in a pool of blood. Saile felt something that he had never truly felt before: Anger. He heard someone move behind him. The anger consumed his body. Bending water, he spun to face a man dressed in pure white. The enemy. He let his anger flow into the water, and launched a ball at the man's face. Saile froze the water as it entered the man's mouth, and at the same time ran towards him. The man didn't even have time to react. Saile slammed an uppercut into his chin, shattering his frozen teeth instantly and knocking the man unconscious. He turned to see two more men run out of the bushes. Saile ran towards the camp as fast as he could.
"Guys! The air benders are here!" he yelled. Then a wall of earth slammed into him.
…
Saile's cry rang through the small cave. Tora was the first one up with Tain and Cayenne not far behind her.
"What's going on?" Cayenne asked, "Hawkee would have warned us of any danger!"
Tain looked at her and was about to say something, when a barrage of rocks came flying in the cave. He only barely made a wall in time to block them and ran out into the clearing.
"Cayenne, give us some light!" he yelled, but when he turned around, she wasn't behind him. He was alone. Tain reached up and drew his sword. It comforted him somehow. He crept ahead in the night until he got to a clearing. An air bender lay on the ground with his mouth open. He seemed to be missing most of his teeth. He looked around for any sign of Saile.
"So, you must be one of the punk kids that have been giving us so much trouble." A man stepped out from behind a tree almost directly in front of Tain. He was wearing pure white clothes and had a pure white Katana strapped to his side. His heavily slurred voice seemed full of confidence.
Tain readied himself in what he thought was a formidable battle stance. The man looked at Tain and laughed.
"Well, the Avatar never said dead or alive."
The man drew his sword and flew at Tain faster than he could imagine. In moments the man's sword came crashing down overhead. Tain only just got his sword up fast enough to block.
This is bad…
…
Saile opened his eyes to find himself somewhere in the woods. He had only just managed to cushion the blow of the rock wall.
Guess I should be thanking grandpa for that move. He thought to himself as he stood back up. I don't think I'd be getting back up if I hadn't got the water there in time.
He started to move but froze when two earth benders burst through the bushes in front of him. The two only paused for a second before sending deadly missiles of earth hurling at Saile. A wall of vines blocked the path ahead.
Well, here I go…
Saile turned around to face the two Earth benders.