Chapter Two
The three girls trekked onward in their search for the fugitives. Last time she had counted, they had been chasing five. Now Azula reported that there were six. But Mai was too tired to count, and definitely too tired to be riding across the countryside on the back of her lizard. Leave it to Azula to go the extra mile to impress her father.
"Can we stop already, Azula?" Ty Lee whined. Azula's only reply was a dark glare at the exhausted girl. She couldn't expect Ty Lee to understand. The Avatar and Zuko's trails could not get cold. And if traveling all night (without the tank to give away their location) was the way to catch up, she would do it.
Mai knew there was no dissuading the princess, and she was disgusted with Ty Lee's inability to suck it up and keep trudging on. That was what Mai did every day of her boring life, wasn't it?
"Wait." Azula stopped the girls dead in their tracks. Her eyes lit up as she pointed out a miniscule column of smoke in the distance. Mai wouldn't have noticed it even had it been midday instead of midnight.
"It looks as though we have found our prey," Azula smirked.
"Finally," gushed Ty Lee. Mai looked at her disapprovingly. "What, you were thinking it, I just said it," she retorted.
"Shut up. I don't want you two loudmouths giving us away," ordered the princess. "Now, we don't even know if this is someone we're after. But if we get close enough and it is, here's what we do…" her voice shrank to a whisper as the girls plotted out their ambush.
A/N: Another short chapter. Don't be whiny, you know you love getting a good story without having to read an epic novel!