Chapter Four
They had been flying for the rest of the day and decided to make camp as the sun began to set. Katara set out the bed rolls as Aang made a fire. They were tired from a long day of travel so dinner was eaten in near silence. Aang had insisted that Katara move her sleeping bag between Appa and the fire as a safety measure. It was sweet that he cared, but this was getting ridiculous. It had only been a few days and she was already sick of the paranoia and added precautions.
"Good night Aang."
"Good night Katara." He gave her a peck on the cheek before sleeping on the other side of the fire.
Katara laid awake for a little while watching the stars flickering in the night sky. The crescent moon gently lit their surroundings outside the fires light. It was quiet aside from Appa's breathing and the soothing hum of insects. She found the night time lullaby luring her into the depths of sleep.
A few hours later when the flames were dying down, several shadowed figures stepped out of the trees. One motioned to the other four to surround them. A quick motion and two seized Aang and the other two seized Katara.
Katara yelled, startled.
"Katara!" Aang yelled struggling against his captors. He blew against the ground and launched him and the two men holding him into the air. He tried to kick them off and when his foot caught one in the hooded face, he fell into the tress, catching himself on a branch. The other grappled with Aang in midair. The hooded figure landed a solid blow in Aang's stomach and knocked the air from his lungs with a whoosh. They plummeted back towards the ground, Aang gasping for breath and the figure launching into the trees to catch him before hitting the ground. At the last moment, Aang made an air cushion to slow his fall to the ground.
He looked up to see Katara with her water tentacles raised, fending off two men and the third was frozen to a tree trunk. The two hooded figures were being kept at bay, but were agile enough to avoid any blows and were slowly advancing. Something came screeching out of the night and attached itself to one of the men's faces. Momo was chattering loudly and crawling all over the man, amply distracting him. The other man went to pry Momo off but the lemur bit him and the second man withdrew. Katara took the distraction to lash out and knock them over. Momo had flown to safety, but the men quickly recovered and started coming at Katara with a renewed vigor. It took all of Katara's concentration to keep them back.
Aang staggered to his feet and scooped up his staff. He heard a strange sound from above and he looked up and with a small yelp rolled to avoid one of the hooded figures from the trees diving for him. The man landed and squared off with Aang. He lunged again and Aang danced to avoid his grabs and blows and just narrowly avoided the other attacker dropping out of the tree.
Two faced Aang and the other two faced Katara. The fifth man still struggling against his ice bonds on the tree. One of the figures facing Aang looked at his companion and he nodded. The man took up a familiar posture.
"Uh oh." Aang mumbled and had to move quickly to bend the boulder that had been launched at him by the crouched man.
"Aang!" Katara cried dismayed to see that one of them was an earth bender.
"Katara look out!" He said diving through the air and tackling her as a boulder was sent in her direction as well. The water tentacles fell and all four men rushed the two of them. Katara quickly resurrected her defenses and Aang spun his staff, preparing for the next attack. Katara lashed out with a water whip and Aang followed it up with short blasts of fire so they put the shadowed men on the defensive for once. When rocks were hurtled their way, Aang would send them away with his own bending or launch them back at the attackers.
The dangerous dance of attacks continued until Katara screamed as the earth below her opened up and swallowed her legs before closing once more, trapping her in the ground. Aang whirled to help her and the four remaining figures merged on Aang. He didn't stand a chance. Just then with a loud growl Appa pounced knocking a few over and tossed his head launching one into the air and far from their battle. He batted another with his mighty paw, sending him into a tree and then sprawling to the ground.
"Good boy Appa!" Aang called pulling Katara from the ground with his earth bending. One of the two under Appa must have been the earth bender because a pillar from the ground lifted Appa off them and they were quick to jump back. Appa growled aggressively and faced against the two ton flying bison, the Avatar and a master water bender, the figures decided they had been out numbered. One grabbed the unconscious man from the ground and the other broke the ice with a rock and the man stuck to the tree turned to flee.
"Get back here!" Katara screamed and Aang went to give chase when the earth bender raised his arms and a thick dust clouded their vision and clogged their lungs. With an arm covering his face, Aang swung his staff and cleared the debris from the air. He casted her a quick look before darting after them into the trees. Adrenaline still pounding, Katara stood watching the trees, her senses hyper aware as she waited for something, anything to happen. She stayed near Appa, a settling hand in his fur and suddenly Momo flew to her shoulder out of the darkness, something clutched in his little furry hand.
"What is that Momo?" She asked as she took it from the flying lemur and stepped closer to the glowing embers that remained of their fire. It was a bit of dark cloth. Upon further inspection she found it to be the hood of one of the attackers. "Good boy Momo." Katara said scratching him behind the ear.
A rush of air warned her Aang was on his way and he dropped before her, face angry. "Damn it!" He cursed kicking the dirt. "They keep managing to slip past me!"
Katara hugged him tightly. "At least now we have a few clues."
"Like what?" Aang said bitterly.
"Like this." Katara handed him the bit of cloth and Aang held it out before him. He made the fire roar to life once more so he could look at it more carefully.
"How is this going to help us?" Aang asked examining the hood.
"Smell it." He gave her a strange look but did as she told him. "It smells dank… kind of earthy."
"Like underground?" She asked.
His face darkened. "At least one of them was an earth bender. That's probably how they keep getting away."
Katara nodded in the fire light. Momo leapt from her shoulder into the darkness once more. He came back with something else in his grip. Aang held out his hand and a small golden coin dropped into his palm. Aang held it into the light so both he and Katara could see it. A small flame emblem was tooled into the soft metal.
"There's another clue." Katara said.
"We need to get to Zuko as fast as we can." They quickly loaded up and Aang coaxed Appa into the air to continue their travel to the fire nation palace.
Hey, Sarahplainntall here. Hope you enjoyed it. Read and comment, I'll update soon. Sorry it took so long.