Chapter 3
"Quit struggling you little brat!" the soldier dragging Keiko up the mountain snarled. He kicked her in the side and continued dragging her up the mountain. Keiko winced and gasped for air as the soldiers finally came to a large flat area where two Fire Nation guards stood with their weapons guarding the entrance to the Fire Nation army's camp. "We've have a prisoner," the first soldiers said throwing Keiko on the ground in front of the soldiers. The guards opened the gate and then one of them said, "Take her to the prison hold." The first soldier snatched the rope tied around Keiko's hands and yanked her up off the ground.
Keiko stepped inside the camp and started walking towards the prison hold on the other side of the camp. "You should feel lucky," the man laughed. "Your going to be the only person from that mangy excuse for a village that is going to survive," the man said to her while pushing her out in front of him. Sheglared at the man andlooked around the camp and saw the Fire Nation soldiers preparing their weapons, sparring with each other, eating what looked to be the remains of a large animal, laughing and doing many other things.
"Hurry up, you filth!" the other soldier yelled. He kicked her square in the back sending her stumbling forward and then crashing face first into the hard ground. "Get up!" the man yelled again rolling her over and kicking her in the stomach. He grabbed her by herhair and set her on her weak, wobbly legs. A drop of blood came out of her nose and dripped of her chin onto the ground. Covered in dust she was pushed and shuvved until she finally fell to the ground in pain. Breathing heavily she tried to stand up while all the soldiers laughed and ridiculed her. One soldier made fun of her by saying, "She's just a stupid little girl. Why don't we just kill her and get this over with."
Little girl huh? "If I'm just a little girl then why don't you fight me you big oaf?" She questioned him through her grasping voice still struggling to stand. He smiled looking around at the other soldiers and said, "She has guts, I'll give her that!" All the soldiers watched laughing. Everyone in the camp started yelling, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" just as the boys she had been playing with earlierhad. "Untie her," the man said to the soldier who was holding Keiko. He took a knife from his pouch and cut the ties holding her. She rubbed her wrists and as the man she was going to fight got into his stance.
She got into the stance she had learned earlier that day as the soldiers laughed and pointed. Ignoring them she tried to remember all that Master Mamoru had taught her. The soldier stared back at Keiko and threw his right foot forward and shot a blast of fire at Keiko. She dodged one fire blast after another as she tried to find a moment to launch an attack of her own. He finally hesitated when she stepped in front of one group of soldiers and so she took this moment to attack. She Earthbended a mound of earth out of the ground and launched it at her opponent. She repeated this method sending three more rocks flying at the soldier. He didn't expect her to be an Earthbender so the first three rocks knocked him off balance. The last rocked smashed right into his stomach propelling him across the camp into a tent. The tent toppled down on top of the man and all the soldiers watching gasped.
Everything was silent until one of the men in the crowd yelled, "Get her!" How original she thought. She looked around and saw an opening in the crowd. She ran towards it and ran to theplace where the animals were being sheltered. She closed the gate and locked it. She turned around and smiled. Rhinos! Meanwhile, on the other side of the gate one of the men who had captured her was furious. "Get that gate open immediately!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. One soldier squeezed his way to the front with his spear. "Look out!" The man started spearing the gate in attempt to get it open.
"Stop!" one of the soldiers yelled putting his ear to the door. His eyes widened. The whole side of the camp where the rhinos were smashed into pieces as the small girl struggled to control the creature. It stamped around wildly throwing soldiers in all directions. Many soldiers attempted to board the wild rhino and gain control, but their attempts were futile and some even proved fatal. The creature charged for the front entrance. Many people also tried to knock Keiko off the raging animal with anything they could get their hands on, but to no avail. They jumped out of the way to avoid being squashed or impaled by the rhino's horn. After she was a good halfway down the mountainside she slid of as the rhino came to a halt.
Keiko panted as she jumped and ran down the mountain as she had after her Earthbending lessons with Master Mamoru. The only difference was that this time she was running away in fear not excitement. She made it to the bottom and started running through the tall weeds. She rushed through them heading towards the town. I have to tell everyone. She thought in panic. I have to warn them. She made it to the edge of the town and out of the field of weeds. "Help!" she screamed. "Help! They're coming!" She made her way down the streets and burst through the door of her house. She collapsed on the floor crying. "Keiko! What is it?" Shu asked standing up. Keiko looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's the Fire Nation! They're here! They caught me and took me to their camp and started hitting me!" she screamed. "They said they're going to destroy the village and kill everyone!"
"Oh my god." Shu said dropping his cup of tea. He started heading towards the door. "Michi. Take Keiko and get out of the village. Head towards the southern mountain. There is a tunnel that you can go through. It will take you somewhere safe," he instructed looking back at them. "Dad. What about you?" Keiko asked in fear of the answer she was going to receive. "I don't know," he responded. "It's more important that you two get to safety." He ran out the door. "Come on Keiko," Michi said heading to the door. She grabbed Keiko by the hand and the two of them rushed out the door.
One woman screamed pointing towards the northern mountain. A horde of Fire Nation soldiers on their rhinos were flying down the mountain at incredible speed. Keiko was frozen to the spot in fear. "Keiko. Keiko come on! We have to go!" The two of them started running up theroad towards the southern mountain (this is the mountain where the Learning Grounds are) as the Fire Nation soldiers reached the edge of town. The two made it to the edge of the other side of town where they started running through the tall field of grass. Keiko looked back while running and saw the village burn as the people screamed. She let a tear fall and looked forward. They made it through the field and to the edge of the mountain.
They ran into the tunnel and noticed that many other people were there as well. After about five minutes of running through the tunnel Keiko and Michi stopped to rest. Keiko looked around in the dim light and saw Tomo all alone. "Tomo!" Keiko yelled through her breath at him. He looked over at her and stumbled over. She looked at him and saw his tear stained face. "They..." he cried, "...they killed them! They killed my parents!" He grabbed Keiko's shirt and started sobbing as she hugged him and held him close. Michi tried to comfort him. After a couple ofminutes Michi said, "We should keep moving. The Fire Nation soldiers will probably come through here." She was right. As the three of them stood up a man yelled, "They're coming!" The man ran right past them and kept yelling the same thing over and over again. The three looked at each other and then started running.
They made it past others who were either too slow, too old, too sick, or who had given up hope. The sound of loud, heavy footsteps echoed through the tunnel. Michi tripped and twisted her ankle. "Awwww!" she screamed as she fell to the ground. "Mom!" Keiko screamed turning around and running back to her mother. "Go!" Michi screamed from the floor. "No! I won't leave you!" Keiko yelled as her tears splashed to the ground. Tomo looked back waiting for Keiko. "Keiko. Sweety," Michi whispered to her. "I know you don't want to leave me, but you must." Keiko nodded. Tears streamed down her cheeks and splashed on the ground. Michi wiped the tears from Keiko's eyes and whispered, "I love you Keiko. I love you so much." Michi grabbed Keiko as tears streamed down her face. Tomo put his hand on Keiko's shoulder. She took one last look at her mother and turned away. As the two were about to run a Rhino crashed around the corner and stopped right in front of Michi. Keiko took a step forward as to help her mother. Tomo grabbed Keiko's shoulder and said, "There's nothing you can do! We have to go." Keiko took one last look and ran with Tomo. Keiko stopped. "I have an idea," she said. Tomo turned to her and said, "We don't have time. We have to keep moving."
"Wait a second," she replied. She turned to a big boulder that was jutting out from the side of the cave wall. She took ahold of it using Earthbending and threw it to the wall opposite of it. The cave started to shake and huge boulders fell from the walls and crashed into the ground. The Fire Nation soldiers were now blocked off from the two of them. "Keiko! There were people on the other side of the rocks! Now the Fire Nation soldiers are going to capture them for sure!" Tomo yelled. "Listen," Keiko said pointing her finger at him. "Who would you have rather been captured? Usor them? I know it sounds mean, but there's a saying that goes 'The strongest will survive' and in this case we were the strongest." She put her finger down and started walking down the path. "Are you coming or not?" she called over her shoulder. "I'm coming," he said running to catch up to Keiko.
They traveled in the dimly lit murky cave until they came to a split in the cave. "Just great!" Keiko yelled kicking a stone. "Which way do we go now? Left?" she pointed to the left side of the tunnel. "Or right?" she asked pointing right. Tomo put his hand on his chin and looked form left to right. "Let's go right," he said heading for the right side. "Right it is," Keiko responded following after him. They traveled twenty minutes until they came to a dead end. "I'm guessing it was left," Keiko replied sarcastically. Tomo glared at her and started walking back. "Just a thought," she murmured. They got back to the spot where the fork in the tunnel was and this time they took the left side. After about an hour of weary walking Keiko squinted her eyes and said, "I think I see a light." The two of them ran as the light drew closer and closer. Finally they reached the exit to the cave, but what they saw was frightening.
"And where do you think you're going?" It was Fire Nation soldiers. "Run!" Keiko screeched as she turned and tried running into the forest. A man jumped out from the bushes and grabbed her. Tomo, who had tried to run the opposite way, was also caught by a man. "Ah, ah, ah," the man on the Rhino said wagging his finger. "It isn't very polite to run away when someone is talking to you," he mocked. "Tie 'em up!" the man yelled. Before the man holding her could tie her hands behind back she had an idea. She swung her foot forward and then swung it backwards as hard as she could hitting him square between the legs. He let go of her hands and grabbed himself falling to the ground. Tomo followed suit also hitting his captor between the legs. Before he hit the ground the two had already run off into the forest. "Don't let them just run away like that!" one of the men on the floor squeaked. Three of the men on rhinos turned and started chasing the two escapees. Keiko and Tomo ran as fast as they could until they came to a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff there was a field of trees and then a village. The two looked at each other as they heard the rhinos footsteps get closer. They grasped hands and sat down on the cliff edge and pushed off. They slid down and finally reached the bottom where they were sent flying. "You okay?" Keiko asked helping Tomo up. "I'm fine. If we get to that village we might be able to escape the Fire Nation soldiers." Tomo added brushing himself off. "Okay," Keiko replied. "That'll probably work. Let's go."
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"Um, Admiral Hiroshi? It looks like the two are heading towards that small village over there." said the scout pointing towards the village. "Let them go," Admiral Hiroshi said calmly. "Excuse me?" questioned the scout surprisedly. "They just attacked two of our soldiers and made you look like a fool while..." The Admiral whipped around and grabbed the scout by the throat. "First of all," he snarled. "No one makes me look like a fool. Secondly, do you think I give a damn about those two soldiers? And Thirdly, what I say goes. If you have a problem with that I'll burn you alive. You got that?" he growled staring the scout right in the eyes. "Yes sir," the scout choked. "Good," he said tossing him on the ground. "They're just two filthy Earth Nation kids. What are they going to do? Defeat the Fire Nation single handedly?" he said with a chuckle.
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The two made it inside the village and started asking travelers if they were by any chance heading to Ba Sing Se. After about the thirtieth no Tomo asked, "How are we going to get to Ba Sing Se if no one is going there?"
"We just have to keep asking, I guess." Keiko replied leaning against a wall in the shade. As he was about to walk away to continue asking he stopped. "Wait a minute. What are we going to Ba Sing Se for anyway?"
"Well first off it's the safest place for escaped convicts (which we are now) and second Master Mamoru mentioned that he knew someone in Ba Sing Se that was even more of a master at Earthbending than he was that could teach me." Keiko explained heading over to where Tomo was standing. "Let's ask him." Keiko pointed to a man who had just pulled into town in a wagon pulled by two Ox/Bison looking creatures. "Umm, excuse me!" Keiko yelled to the man. She made her way up to the wagon. "Sorry to bother you, but do you happen to be heading towards Ba Sing Se"
"Why yes, as a matter of fact I am. I'm going there to set up my merchant stand," the man replied. He was a slightly fat man with a balding head and weathered skin. "Well do you think you could give me and my friend a ride? Our village was just destroyed and we are the only ones who escaped." she asked hopefully. "If you help me load my supplies into my wagon then sure. It would be great to have some company on the trip." he answered. "You've got yourself a deal," she said reaching up and shaking the mans hand. "I'm Keiko," she said smiling. "My name is Zen. Nice to meet you." He smiled back. Tomo came up and introduced himself to Zen and then after Zen purchased necessaries for the rest of the trip Tomo and Keiko loaded them onto the wagon. Three hours later Zen was making sure everything in the wagon was secure. "Well looks as if we're ready to shove off," he said hopping into his seat. "You two should hop in back and get some rest. You look exhausted." They were, so they jumped in back and laid down as the wagon rolled out of town. I hope they're okay. Keiko thought remembering her parents. Wherever they are.