A/N: Bare with my speed here. When I said you're supposed to read it as an episode, I meant it. I'm pretending that I have to write this to be read in twenty minutes…which doesn't really work because people read at different speeds but whatever. This chapter jumps around a bit more than the other two, so I'm going to use a horizontal line where there would be a scene transition, okay?
Katara groaned as she moved her head, her eyes remaining closed as she rolled from her back to her side. "What hit me?" She asked no one in particular. "I remember we were discussing who should go and then Sokka…"
Katara's eyes snapped open and she sat up fully, "Sokka!" Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light. The lantern had gone out, but the door was hanging wide open and bathing the small room with grey predawn light. There was no sign of her brother.
Hearing a groan behind her, Katara turned around to see Aang sitting up and rubbing his head. "Ow…"
"Aang, Sokka's gone!"
"What?" The twelve-year-old Avatar jumped to his feet, looking around. "It can't be past sunset already!"
Katara got to her feet to, looking around frantically. "Aang, I think it's nearly dawn!"
A fluffy white ball sprung out of the corner, making both of the young teens jump in surprise. Momo chirped at them and blinked.
"Momo!" Aang said in surprise, rubbing his head against the lemurs.
"Momo, where's Sokka?" Katara asked. The little lemur chirped sadly before gliding off of Aang's shoulder and to the door. Katara and Aang followed, peering outside. The village was quiet except for a few guards standing at the edge of the street. The pair continued looking around until Katara spotted something on the ground that made her heart stand still.
"Oh no," she gasped as she dashed forward. She covered the couple dozen feet in a matter of moments to kneel down by Sokka's knife and club, which were lying in an X on the ground. She picked up the knife carefully, swallowing hard.
"It's not to late," Aang said, running up behind her. "We can still find him."
Katara nodded, picking up the club as well and getting to her feet. Her body language screamed determination as she and Aang walked toward the forest's edge…only to be stopped by two guards who had been concealed there.
"No one is to enter the forest until the sacrifice is over," said one of the guards.
"Especially not outsiders," said the other.
"That's my brother in there," Katara yelled. "Let me pass!"
"Tane has commanded we not harm you, since the sacrifice went willingly. He has also commanded that you are not to enter the wood. Turn around, and we shall let you go."
With a scowl, Katara did turn around. After a second she whirled around again and blast the guards with water from a nearby tap. She grabbed Aang's hand, racing toward the tree line. "Aang, come on!"
One of the now drenched warriors shifted, and put a round wooden horn to his lips and blew. Instantly, guards swarmed in on the pair from all directions. A few even jumped out of the trees, landing only inches from their noses. Katara and Aang were forced to stumble back, farther from their goal.
"No outsider is to enter the sacred wood!" One of the men said, taking a step toward them.
"I'm not going to just let you sacrifice my brother!" Katara yelled back. With a wave of her arms and a careful movement of her wrist, she pulled the water from the puddle she created earlier over. With a grunt of effort, she sent the water crashing into two more guards, knocking them down. Aang took this as his signal, and started circulating air in his hands before sending a mini-cyclone into the stomach of one of them men that sent him sliding a few dozen feet away.
The guards, however, had had enough of this. Some pulled out spears, while others began to move their bodies in an obviously practiced pattern. Katara ducked just in time as a large rock came flying at her head, and Aang barely managed to summon enough air to break his in half and have the two halves fly around him.
"It is Tane's will," said the same guard that had spoke earlier as he dropped from his bending stance, "that your brother die at dawn."
"We're here," the priest said as they entered a clearing. It appeared to be a meadow with a lone tree standing in the middle and a flat rock with chains attached underneath the tree. Beside the alter was some kind of fire, though how it was burning unattended Sokka could not tell. The priest gave another jerk of the rope and Sokka fell to his knees with a crash, unable to catch himself with his tied hands.
The rope had rubbed his neck raw, and he never wanted to walk another step in his life. The muscles in his shoulders had long ago cramped and now felt as though they were on fire. He groaned and hung his head as the priest came forward. As soon as the ropes tying his arms had been cut, Sokka felt his arms fall uselessly to his side. He'd planned to use his boomerang to fight off the priest, but there was no point in even trying now.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to lift my arms again," Sokka muttered. The priest tied the rope that still hung from Sokka's neck to a nearby rock as he easily hoisted the large pile of sticks and moving it around to near the alter. He unbound them, revealing they were in fact several bundles of sticks all tied tightly together.
As Sokka watched, unable to move, the priest began to set the sticks up around the alter.
Katara swung her arms forward, calling forth a large amount of water from the nearby town well and sending it toward the earth bender that had trapped her there. The earth bender raised his arms as well, summoning up a wall of rock to protect him from the force of the blast and send the water scattering in droplets.
Katara panted heavily, wiping sweat off her brow. She had long ago pocketed Sokka's knife, but she had lost his club somewhere.
"We need a plan!" Aang yelled from the other side of the well as he launched himself over the heads of the Earth Kingdom warriors and onto the roof. Katara glanced at the swiftly lighting horizon, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Aang, we're running out of time! Even if we ran we'd never make it!"
Aang dropped down next to his friend, using his airbending to send more soldiers flying backwards and by them more time to think of a plan.
"Appa! If we fly we'll get there fast enough!"
Katara sent a wave crashing over both their heads, taking three of the earth benders with it. "Then we better hurry and find him!"
Aang shot into the air once more, sprinting along the rooftops in search of his flying bison friend.
Sokka had very nearly fallen asleep when he felt the rope being jerked again. With a slightly strangled moan he was yanked to his feet.
"Get up," the priest snapped, even though the fifteen-year-old was nearly upright now any more. Using the rope to guide the sore-muscled boy they were soon standing by the alter. With a series of quick, solid movements the priest preformed some earthbending, shifting the rocks under Sokka's feet and sending him tumbling head long onto the stone.
While he was still disoriented from the fall, Sokka felt his body being ruthless jerked around and cold iron clasped firmly onto his wrists and ankles. He now found himself flat on his back and effectively unable to move.
Sokka watched as the priest removed one of the sticks from the top of the pile surrounding him, and his blue eyes widened as the priest lit it on fire from the burning oil nearby.
"What keeps it burning," Sokka asked, hoping to stall for time. The plan didn't quite succeed as the priest withdrew a silver dagger and turned to face the eastern horizon before answering.
"The spirit of Tane dwells in this tree, and it is the power of his presence that keeps the fire from going out."
Sokka made a noise of disbelief, which the green-faced man ignored.
Aang leapt off the roof, using his bending to create an air cushion and slow his fall. Appa, who had been tied using several ropes, raised his head and looked at him. With one swift motion of his arms, Aang sent a blast of air along the ground, uprooting the stakes that had tied Appa down. The bison stood and yawned as Aang rocketed up to land on his head.
"Come on boy, Katara and Sokka need our help! Yip-Yip!"
With one thump of his massive tail, Appa lifted off the ground to sail over the nearby rooftops, but Aang would allow him to go no higher. When he spotted Katara, now surrounded by the warriors and bending water in every direction, he urged the bison to go faster.
Appa landed with a thud, and used his heavy tail to bend air toward their assailants as Katara scrambled on. Once his friend was safely inside the saddle, Aang gave the reigns another jerk. "Yip-Yip!"
Appa had just lifted off the ground when Aang heard an excited squeal behind him. His eyes widened in realization as he turned and looked at the ground. "Momo!"
The little lemur was sitting on Sokka's club, hissing and swiping at the Earth Kingdom soldiers that had surrounded him. Running back along the bison, Aang snagged his glider from where it had been resting with the rest of their supplies and jumped off Appa's back. Swiping it in an arc, Aang sent the men sprawling before creating a cushion of air to soften his landing. Grabbing Momo and the club, he shot back in the air and grabbed Appa's tail just as the first light was appearing over the horizon.
Sokka was momentarily blinded as the first rays of dawn light caught the dagger's edge, flashing into his eyes. When his vision cleared, he saw the priest was now approaching him. Sokka's eyes widened and then closed with pain as the edge of the dagger was drawn along his face. He felt blood begin to trickle, and opened his eyes again. The priest was examining his blood.
"Dark…good. Tane will accept this sacrifice." The priest pulled back again, this time aiming to plunge the knife into Sokka's chest. Sokka closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain. He heard the whistling sound of the knife, and then a noise of metal on metal.
Risking opening his eyes, Sokka's mouth fell open. Standing above him, using the wrists of his armor to stop the knife, was Prince Zuko.