Hey all, hope you had a good week! Thanks again to those of you that reviewed last chapter. Here's the next chapter...=)
The Third Head of the Chimera
Ack, Aang coughed, trying to dislodge yet another bug that had somehow found its way to back of his throat. Wincing as he swallowed, Aang allowed himself a moment to think about how he had gotten himself in such a predicament.
He had left Sokka and Toph over two days ago on his glider so he could go to the Eastern Air Temple while the two of them went to Gaoling on Appa, even though he would have rather taken the sky-bison himself. Travelling on Appa was so much easier—and there were no bugs to deal with either.
Now, as he soared through the clouds, riding updrafts and other currents toward his destination, he couldn't help but worry about both his small circle of friends and himself. He knew it was a tad selfish, but after his failure to capture the mysterious messenger, he was beginning to doubt himself. It wasn't so much that he was unsure of his powers as the avatar, but more his decision making process.
He was supposed to be leading by his example, not by his mistakes. It was as if he understood his powers but he was still learning everything that went along with his responsibilities. All the time he had spent up to and including his defeat of the Fire Lord had mainly been spent training for battle, there hadn't been time to work through the more difficult moral and ethical ramifications of his "gift", and his mistakes ate at him.
Lost in thought, he was surprised to notice the sun beginning to dip toward the horizon, its last rays caressing the peaks of the mountain range in the distance. Scanning the trees below him, he looked for a place to land to spend the night.
Finally deciding on a small clearing ahead, Aang gratefully allowed his glider to dip through the tree tops, but just as he was about to land, his instincts kicked in.
In a seemingly inexplicable action, he banked his glider hard to left, barely eluding the flaming arrow that had suddenly appeared in the space his glider had previously occupied.
As he whirled his glider once again, he saw the forest below come alive with movement, the flickering tips of at least thirty or more arrows sprouting from the darkness. They came at him like an angry hoard, nipping at his heels and burning his back.
Wheeling back toward the forest below, Aang airbended the arrows away with a quick flick of his wrist. He didn't know who these people were or what they wanted, but for once he could go back to the early days. There were no innocent people to worry about, no political ramifications, no moral qualms about fighting, there was just one simple course of action, and Aang took to it with a practiced ease.
Spotting the nearest archer, Aang flipped his glider into a staff, swinging it quickly to dislodge the enemy with a strong gust of air. He allowed himself to fall below the tree line before reverting his staff to its glider form as he leveled out a few feet above the ground.
He dodged one tree, then another before he spotted the next archer on a nearby limb. Twirling his staff once, he landed on the same branch. He ducked under the one arrow shot in his direction before throwing two fireballs in toward his enemy.
The archer was more nimble than Aang had expected, and he watched in surprise as he rolled out from under his firebending attack, all the while drawing a sword from his back. Countering with a blast of air, Aang managed to slow the archer's advance before using his staff as a brace to kick a blast of fire in his direction. The blast caught his foe in the chest, knocking him off the branch where he landed with a crunch in a heap far below.
Taking a brief moment to gather his bearings, Aang noticed the small clearing he had seen from the air ahead. Jumping down lightly, he proceeded carefully to the edge before peering out between the trees.
"Come out avatar," a voice called from above. "We know you are there."
Complying slowly and stepping out into the dwindling light, Aang brandished his staff before replying,
"Come out where I can see you," he ordered.
This time the voice didn't say anything, but a figure stepped from the shadows of an overhanging branch and into view. The fading sunlight barely illuminated the red war paint that slashed its way across his face, combining itself with a hideous scar that drew itself from left eyebrow to right lip, giving the man the appearance of a constant sneer. In his right hand, from ground to shoulder, stretched a carved bone longbow, red horizontal striping, that Aang assumed was a tally of kills from previous battles, lined it from tip to tail.
Directly behind the man, stepped another archer, one Aang had not noticed before. This one had the same face paint as the leader but his face was unmarred. Surprisingly it was him who spoke rather than the other,
"Avatar Aang," he stated simply, "you are surrounded."
Almost immediately, as if on cue, the trees around the clearing came to life as men stepped onto branches and out from behind bushes. They each wore the same stern, unspeaking mask of their leader as they brandished their own bows and weapons against the avatar.
Aang glanced around before raising an eyebrow ironically at the spokesman,
"Surely you don't think twenty five or thirty archers can stop me," he asked, for once opting for a more confident approach now that the opportunity for a peaceful solution seemed slim.
"We'll see," the spokesman said before raising his own bow and firing a shot down at Aang.
Aang didn't even grace this feeble attempt with a dodge but merely shifted his stance and brought a pillar of earth up directly in front of the projectile, stopping it in midflight.
Unfortunately for the avatar, the rest of the archers didn't wait to see if the shot landed, but each knocked their own bow and fired.
Dropping to a knee, Aang swirled his hands above his head, drawing water from the laden air, compressing it into a tight circle before expanding it outward into shards of ice, catching the each arrow in midflight before it reached him.
Drawing the ice back into water, Aang used it to whip the bows out of the hands of two of the archers before using the rest to freeze another two to their respective trees.
Ducking under three more arrows, Aang airbended himself into the branches above and began working his way around, clearing the trees of enemies. Just when he thought he had dispatched of the last of them, he came to leader who, surprisingly, hadn't moved from his branch the entire fight.
Seeing the avatar in front him didn't even startle the archer, instead he merely stepped toward Aang, placing one hand on his chest, beckoning him to follow before jumping nimbly down from the branches and into the clearing below.
"Avatar Aang," he spoke in a low baritone that resonated surprisingly well throughout the clearing, "now that we've dispensed with formalities such as this fool," he motioned down at his fallen spokesman, "let us settle this ourselves."
"Well…I mean…," Aang trailed off, uncertain of how take this new development. "Look," he tried again, "we don't have to do this, and you know how it's going to end."
Taking a moment to pause and look back up at the avatar, the man contorted his mouth into a smug grin, "yes, I think I do know how this is going to end, but please," he swept his hand to encompass the whole clearing, "please do try."
Aang, his adrenaline still pumping from the battle, was trying desperately to keep his anger in check and failing rapidly,
"Who are you and what do you want?" He snapped, jumping down warily from the branch and taking a stance across from his opponent.
The man shook his head, "only one question now, avatar. There will be more when we finish—if," he added, "you're still standing."
Aang rolled his eyes in annoyance before allowing him to continue.
"My name," he began, "is Colonel Shu Wong Kwo, leader of the Yu Yan archers, and you, Avatar Aang, are a problem that needs to be eradicated."
Not waiting for a response, the Colonel drew his ivory bow and began firing flaming arrow after flaming arrow at Aang with unerring accuracy. Unlike in the previous battle, each arrow seemed to guess Aang's next move, forcing him to earthbend boulders to intercept every projectile rather than simply stand still.
He managed to get by most of them when one grazed his upper arm, leaving a thin strip of blood and torn skin on the previously unmarred flesh. Hissing in pain, Aang resisted the urge to check his now bloodied arm as he abandoned his previously defensive strategy.
Flipping over another arrow, Aang quickly drew a sphere of water from the air, freezing it into an ice lance and launching it at Colonel Kwo. Seeing it come, Kwo's eyes didn't widen in surprise like Aang expected, but instead he threw down his bow and drew his hands together. Taking a deep breath, he quickly spread his hands, releasing a wave of fire outward from his body.
As the water evaporated into a cloud of steam, Colonel Kwo had the satisfaction of watching Aang's eyes, not his, widen in surprise.
"Like it, avatar?" He chuckled, "Admiral Zhao taught me himself."
Aang grunted unintelligibly, opting to test the Colonel's abilities first before advancing. Almost methodically, deliberately, Aang fired boulder after boulder at his opponent, forcing him to use his firebending defensively, never giving him the opportunity to catch his breath and counter attack.
Aang watched with growing satisfaction as Colonel Kwo became increasingly frustrated at his inability to counter the avatar. Finally, in a display of emotion that would have made Admiral Zhao cringe, he let his pent up energy explode, roaring in frustration, engulfing himself and the immediate area in flame as he let the wave of fire expand outward.
Throwing an arm up to shield his eyes as he whipped the air to allow the fire to pass over him, Aang turned back just in time to see the Colonel draw a pair of curved swords from his back, using them to funnel his firebending as he charged the avatar once again, a feral look of animalistic desire in his eyes.
Sidestepping another burst of flame, Aang countered with some of his own firebending, peppering the ground at his attacker's feet, knocking him off-balance and slowing his advance.
As Colonel Kwo stumbled to avoid the avatar's latest assault, Aang saw his opportunity. Sliding his foot forward, he incased first Kwo's right foot, then his left, in stone, letting him flail backwards as he landed heavily on his palms. Another quick movement immobilized his wrists and sent the swords flying.
Approaching his fallen opponent warily, Aang noticed beads of sweat dripping down his attacker's face as a bit a steam beginning to seep out from under the earthen handcuffs.
Recognizing what the Colonel was attempting to do, Aang quickly reinforced his bindings before speaking,
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said simply, "you'll only succeed in causing yourself great pain."
The Yu Yan archer merely grunted in response and redoubled his efforts, his face turning a bright crimson to match his face paint. His breathing grew shallower and shallower as his body tried to cope with the self-inflicted pain as he tried to melt away Aang's earthen restraints, the vein in his forehead pulsing with each effort.
But, just when Aang was beginning to worry that he might have to intervene to keep him from permanently hurting himself, the man slumped back against the ground, his shoulders sagging and legs going limp, his body exhausted by the effort.
"So what now?" he bit out, the energy and fire remaining in his eyes in stark contrast to the beaten condition of his body.
Aang paused for a moment, pacing in consternation in front of his captive; he didn't want to hurt him, and he needed information, but he wasn't sure how he was going to go about getting it. He needed to find out more about who was behind this deranged plot that seemed to not only involve controlling him but also seemed to have influences in the Fire Nation.
"Now you tell me why you insisted on attacking me," Aang countered, deciding on a course of action and allowing some firmness to enter his voice.
"Why?" Colonel Kwo laughed, "I did it because I could—because I wanted to."
"Because why?" Aang demanded.
"Ever think that it was simply because I didn't like you?" He shot back, his eyes flashing in defiance.
"No," Aang said evenly, "I'm pretty sure you don't like me. I'm just wondering why you went to all this trouble," he motioned to the many fallen archers around him, "simply to stop me. You, frankly, just don't strike me as smart enough."
Aang watched with silent satisfaction as the Colonel became increasingly incensed. This form of questioning—the quiet, subversive, and certainly non-lethal form—seemed to suit his conscience. He had learned, mainly from listening to Toph pester Sokka, what the best ways were to get under someone's skin and to get them speaking before their mind catches up with their mouth.
"I mean," he continued, seemingly oblivious to his enemy's silent rage, "you had to have a spokesman speak for you. What kind of message does that send?"
"You don't even know what you're talking about avatar," he finally spat.
"Oh really?" Aang turned, "enlighten me then."
"This is so much bigger than you and you don't even know it," he began to chuckle, his livid scar contorting his face into a sinister mask rather than one of mirth. He smiled up at Aang, enjoying his confusion, before slowly shaking his head,
"It's about power, avatar—it always is. It's something you have but don't understand. You see, power is like a drug, and once you've tasted even the slightest amount, you cannot help but be inexorably drawn to it. Whether it is someone or something, you can feel it when you step into its presence."
"But wh—," Aang tried to interrupt.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Colonel Kwo exclaimed, speaking over Aang's question. "I can feel it on you just like I could on him." He paused for a moment, one side of his mouth quirking in a display of amusement as he pondered his newfound revelation, "But you…you are stronger. He has underestimated you."
"Who!?" Aang almost yelled in frustration.
"He called himself the Seeker, but his messenger was the one who contacted me about my services—I only met him once," he said plainly, "but even if I did know his true name, I wouldn't tell you."
Dropping to a knee, Aang placed his face inches from the Colonel's, his gaze meet his unflinchingly,
"Where is he, and what has he done with Kat—ahhhhh!" He cried, jerking backwards as he grabbed at his wounded arm in an effort to stop the suddenly unbearable pain.
Lifting his hand slowly, he noticed bloody puss now oozing from the wound and slowly dripping down his arm. He hissed again in pain, feeling his arm throb as his adrenaline began to fade; he felt each pulse, each beat as it resonated down his arm and through his wrist.
"Do you know the reason the Yu Yan Archers dip their arrows in poison, avatar?" Colonel Kwo asked, trying—and failing—to feign nonchalance, "because it gives us power. Power over people like you" He uttered the last word softly, his voice dropping with each word as he emphasized every syllable until he trailed off again into silence.
Aang winced again, knowing that he didn't have much time and that he couldn't remain with the archer any longer. Not responding to his taunts or jeers, Aang took the small bit of knowledge he had gained, and grabbed his glider.
Taking off with a silent whoosh of air, he struggled to stay aloft, straining to put as much distance between himself and the Colonel before he couldn't travel any farther.
After about fifteen minutes of pained flying, just as his vision was beginning to swim in front of him, he saw another small clearing between the trees, with what could only have been a hut nestled snugly at one end.
Landing rather heavily, Aang stumbled, using his glider to keep himself from falling on his face. Slowly, arduously, he made his way to the small wooden doorway, climbing the first step and then the next. Just as he reached the doorway, the pounding in his ears and blood rushing to his head became too much, and he pitched forward, landing in a heap on the doorstep.
And, just as his world began to fade to black, his brain registered what he thought was a dark figure standing over him, but before he could make any movement or sound he felt his eyes roll back into his skull and a curtain of darkness fell over him.
Hope you liked it....Please tell what you think though and review. Oh, and just a note, there might not be an update on this story next week because I might be doing some stuff for Tokka week which starts February 8th. So, we'll see but keep a look out for that too. Well, I'm off to watch the Super Bowl now, Go Cardinals!