So I said it wouldn't end well. It did not. Welp, lets see how it goes.
Cole opened his eyes slowly. He wondered if the blinding flash of light was part of Bree healing him. But he didn't remember seeing that happen before. He went to move in the slightest bit to try and turn and ask Bree and was racked with pain. He hissed and slammed his eyes shut.
"Sensi Wu? Jay?" Cole asked with a grunt. Dam his neck and chest still hurt a awful lot. He opened his eyes again to look around and he was outside? What the hell. He felt around with his hands and felt the earth and dirt beneath him. What else was that.. leaves and... snow. Well that would explain why he felt wet and soggy, unless he pissed his pants. Which was he really that injured?
"Rumi?... Harumi!" Bree said questionably but then her voice getting more shrill and afraid.
Cole heard her scramble to get up and then pause. Then heard her rush to him and slide to her knees beside him.
Bree swore quietly and then more loudly as she assessed Cole's wounds. Using her free hand to start healing him. Cole tried to sit up and ask questions but Bree slapped his hands down until she was finished.
"Alright easy now, I only patched you up quickly. We need to get out of here and find some help" Bree stated. Getting to her knees and offering Cole a free hand to get up. Cole took it but immediately started asking questions.
"What did you do, where did you take us?" Cole asked quickly and loudly as Bree struggled to help him up with her one free hand. The loud shouts causing the baby to wail in her other arm.
"I didn't take us anywhere, I was starting to heal you. Harumi had just come in and handed me Alana because she was crying, there was a flash of light. The last I saw and felt was trying to grab a hold of Harumi again before I came to here" Bree answered. Significantly softer than Cole had.
Bree had then succeeded in pulling Cole to his feet but not calming Alana. Who now tantrum-ed and arched in frustration. Bree didn't usually look frazzled in caring for her daughter, but right now she looked freaked out and tried to rapidly calm and quiet her.
"We have to get out of the open and call for help, now" Bree said in a whisper that she forced not to rise into a screech.
"Why" Cole asked as he tried to stretch a little and felt the wounds pull at their edge. Bree eyed him up as if he was stupid.
"I have no idea where we are, if we are even in the same realm. Or why, or how or possibly thrown here by whom. I do know you just nearly got killed by a Kappa and if there are any around here we are frigging screwed" Bree spat in a whisper again. "Wait, can you do that awful dragon flying thing and at least get us off the ground here?" she asked.
Cole realizing she was scanning the bleak surroundings of the woods. If she would consider the elemental dragon that she had a panic attack over last time he pulled it out then they were in trouble.
"I can't pull it up when I am this injured, or tired, or scared" Cole answered her, this time in a whisper.
"At least it was a thought" she responded. "It figures your elemental powers, other kinds, must work a little like my own". With that after Bree had gotten Alana to calm she appraised Coles hulking form beside her average one. And huffing offered a shoulder. He was not walking out of here alone and both of them could sense it.
He took the offer and they started along. Bree finding a path that Cole wouldn't have even noticed if Bree was not leading. He tried not to put much weight on her, but even with her help he was barely making much headway. Bree paused and sliding a hand to his chest touched his warm skin under the tattered and shredded shirt. A glow of purple magic and he could breath and move a little easier.
"Thanks" Cole said with a quiet smile.
"Don't thank me yet" Bree said quickly. Freezing in place and listening. As softly as she could manage she whispered "We are being followed... or stalked. We need to get out of here".
They started moving forward faster. Both scanning around and seeing nothing. But hearing more movement behind them. Bree looking over her shoulder from time to time expecting to be jumped at any moment. Up ahead they could see an opening in the woods. Maybe a clearing. They hurried their steps until Bree yanked them to a stop. Causing Cole to hiss in pain. Bree immediately threw a shield of strong purple magic around them. Illuminated by the glow they could see several Kappa behind them in the distance now. On being spotted the kappa dropped all pretense of the stalk and began the chase. Closing the distance at speed. Both the young elemental masters jerked foreword. Stopping when they realized there was a bridge with water rushing underneath it.
"Shit!" Cole yelled, no longer attempting to quiet his booming voice. "Don't kappa like water?".
"They do, but I only see the ones behind us" Bree yelled in response.
Both looked rapidly around at their options. Forward over the bridge or back behind them. The only path being rapidly eaten up by the kappa behind them.
"Just go! The shield will keep them off us" Bree said with excretion.
Cole and Bree backed up onto the bridge. Once their feet hit the heavy boards something happened. Much like the blinding white light that brought both Cole and Bree to the woods to begin with. The blinding light caused both to shield their eyes and Bree to turn in place to block the brightness from Alana. Once it dimmed there was not silence, but a low thrumming hum. Beyond the edge of the bridge they could barely see thru a white ever so slightly glowing haze. But... no kappa rushed the bridge or the three standing on it. The woods beyond and the woods behind them now were now peaceful. Bree could no longer sense danger. But she still hadn't dropped her own purple shield. Looking to Cole and then shifting Alana in her arms in case she needed to run or re use her elemental magic. Cole shrugged. Then grimaced in pain. Bree took notice. Bree dropped her magic and nothing happened.
Cole reached a hand out to touch the white haze and yanked him hand back in alarm. The touch caused a ripple in the white haze and it grew more opaque momentarily.
"What is this?" He asked Bree. She shrugged in reply.
"I have no idea" she answered pausing. "It sort of reacts like my magic would". With that Bree pulled up a tiny ball of purple magical energy and bounced it off the shield. It popped right back at them and both ducked to get out of the way.
"Let me guess that wasn't good" Cole stated.
Frowning Bree tried to pop in and back out using Djin magic instead of elemental magic. With a start she bounced backwards knocking her down. Alana crying at the sudden jar. She looked startled. Before she got up or thought to warn Cole he drew up his elemental magic, the orange glowing brightly on his arms and creeping up his neck and took a punch at it. The haze didn't budge and all it did was send Cole flying backwards like Bree had.
"That was stupid Cole" Bree reprimanded him. Then realizing the blow had knocked him out cold. And he was bleeding again. The jarring landing on the ground from the bounce back had reopened some of his wounds again. She tried using her magic to heal him again and knew it would be only one more temporary fix. She needed to find help or shelter and she needed to do it fast. She grabbed Cole by the collar like she had with Harumi nearly a year ago and found he was much much heavier. And there was not a smooth layer of snow to help her slide him along. But rocks and leaves providing rough friction. And the jagged movements wanted to make his wounds open even more.
"I need to find some sticks and make something to drag him" Bree said, this time to Alana as much as to herself. Looking around she saw a few leaning on the bridge that would work. And then she noticed for the first time two small jackets on the railing of the bridge. One tiny and for a little girl and one only ever so slightly bigger for a boy. She quickly slipped the girl jacket under Alana, using the arms to tie a simple baby sling. And then held the boy one out with both hands. The faintest of memories stirred. But Bree shook her head and thought she could use the second coat to help bind Cole's injuries so she could hold him together till they found shelter. Once done with that she used her own sweater to tie the two poles together roughly then pushed and pulled Cole onto the poles and sweater. Giving the ends a tug she saw it would work. So Bree set forward on the path away from the bridge. Carrying Alana and dragging Cole behind her. Stopping every once in a while to scan for danger and then to erase their tracks.
"The master of earth is like dragging rocks" Bree said huffing and puffing as she pulled Cole along. The path meandered up hill. So even harder for her to pull Cole along. The forest around them was calm and quiet. She heard nothing following them and saw or sensed no danger. Bree refused to let down her guard and every so often stopped to scan the surrounding woods and then vanish the tracks behind them. It might make it harder for the ninja and Harumi to track them down. But she didn't want to risk being hunted by more kappa again. Bree shivered. Even with all the exertion the hard work was not warming her. The air was crisp when they set out. Now the sun was faded and the fall of night here let a brisk chill to the air. The temple of airjitsu was cold as well. Perhaps fall turned to winter sooner than Bree remembered in this realm.
Up ahead the rocky and unused path curved up steeply. Bree feared the path might have ended. When she saw that it turned into old and moss covered steps. Not up a hill. But it looked like a massive jutting pile of rock. In the darkness she could not see how high, but at least beyond what she could see. Her instincts told her that high and dry was safer than in the woods with no shelter. And perhaps she could find a cave like she had in the never realm. That would be ideal. A solid rock cave at her back. Even with Cole passed out and nearly dead she should be able to use her magic and shove a few rocks over the entrance and make a passably safe place to rest and heal Cole.
Pausing to check on Alana and Cole Bree worried. Alana was going to want food soon. And if she had to keep healing Cole out it the open she didn't want to attract attention. Glowing balls of magic or a hungry crying baby would certainly do that.
Stepping up the first few steps Bree tried dragging Cole up with the poles. He winced each time the ends would drag, catch on the step and slide onto the next. This isn't going to work she thought. She untied Cole from the poles. Even if she swung Alana to her back and dragged Cole up the steps by the arms it was going to be horrible on them both. Bree decided to see if she could pop in and out like a djin. She held tight to Alana and to Cole. Worried if it would work or not. She would get about twenty feet up the steps at a time. This might due she thought.
Bree continued up the old moss covered steps. Popping out and back in higher each time. At least this way she left no tracks. No one had come up here in a long time. Judging by the age of the fragile moss and lichens not in twenty or thirty years maybe. Plant life didn't grow like this quickly. Even Bo's elemental magic wouldn't have the fine tuning of time and age that these plants had. She stopped and tried to catch her breath. She had told Cole she couldn't move like a Djin indefinably. And she was not lying. This might be the farthest she has ever tried to go using the little bit of that kind of magic she inherited from her mother. Her mother Rowena or even Harumi could go so much farther and faster like this than Bree ever could.
She slumped to the ground with Alana tied to her chest and Cole across her legs. She touched his face and it was chilled. He was still breathing. But it was more shallow and coming less evenly. Oh hell she thought. He might be more likely to get hypothermia, especially if he had lost more blood than she had thought. Checking his wounds they were still closed. Sloppily. But they held. She had to think of a way to get some place safe and fast. These steps must have lead somewhere at some point. Probably to some long abandoned temple. If there were even ruins that might make a salvageable shelter.
Bree sighed heavily. She knew she could probably use some of her other magic. Bree couldn't shape shift like a Djin. Not with their traditional puff of burnt orange magic. She could shapeshift alright. But even her mother couldn't explain how. Or if it was elemental magic or not. Maybe it was not a trait all elemental masters of magic possessed and therefore her mother couldn't shift exactly like Bree, instead shifted like a true Djin. Or maybe she thought ruefully. It was something in her fathers bloodline. Whomever he might truly be. Wu of Ninjago or not. If her and Cole survived this night she might have to ask him more about the peoples of Ninjago.
Checking to make sure Cole was still out cold Bree summoned magic from within. She needed to shift into something large that could carry Cole and Alana with ease and quickly. With a grimace of annoyance She thought of Coles elemental dragon as he called it. That would work she thought. Using the magic inside her she shifted in a white glow. It was not elemental magic, but something else, powerful and with a vicious streak a mile wide. She hated shifting for that reason. Using the dragons large front claw she picked Cole up and slung him on top of her back. Little Alana cooed and slapped at the warm scales now covering Bree.
"At least you're amused" Bree said to Alana, slightly surprised she could still speak.
In this form Bree covered ground quickly. She didn't try flying. But even a brisk walk was taking her farther in a fraction of the time. The shifted young woman and her two passengers got to the top of the steps quickly. Stopping and starring in awe at the... castle... fortress? In front of them. Bree could see no signs of human inhabitants nor anything else. A kappa lair would be someplace dark and low and wet. A stone Fortress on top of a high granite mountain would never be their preferred habitat. The doors were not wood, but stone and metal. A heavy coating of moss and vines covered them. Reached up to steady Cole Bree scrambled up and over the walls. Clumsy to say the least. But she managed to get up and over without destroying any vegetation. That would have been a sure giveaway that someone had passed by.
Bree walked on, surveying for danger. A main street or path went up to a massive holding. She could see ramparts and platforms where it looked like cannons or some other kind of artillery much have sat. This place was certainly old. The main keep of the building ahead was shut by another set of stone and metal doors. Giving it a pull Bree was certainly not expecting it to open easily and soundlessly. She shut the hulking door behind her and moved a massive iron bar into its workings. She might not have been able to do that as a human. Speaking of her humanity she was growing exhausted. Bree knew she couldn't hold this form much longer. Moonlight poured in the broken out windows and thru holes in the roof. So she made her way easily up stairs and thru corridors. Stoped at the end of the road it seemed.
Bree set Cole down on the floor and then shifted back with a white glow. She sat back on the floor in exhaustion. Breathing heavily. This last door in front of her was stone, wood, metal. Covered in carvings Bree didn't understand. Pushing the handle it opened again. She grabbed Cole by the collar and drug him in. Shutting the door behind them. This room at least didn't have holes in the roof. It had small windows like most fortresses. The glass intact surprisingly still. But it looked half melted. Like it was set in place hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
There was a fireplace. Without moving Cole again Bree walked to it. Using her magic to make sure it ran clear Bree then grabbed the tattered remains of some wooden furniture and threw them in. Starting a fire with her glowing purple magic Bree set Alana down on the remains of her sweater. Reaching into the pack that Bree had nearly forgotten she had with she gave the baby some food she had packed inside and a sippy cup of water as Harumi told her people in Ningjago used. Bree found it surprisingly effective. Hauling Cole over to them Bree went thru the bag, pulling out some sleeping bags. Clean bandages and some herbal and medicinal teas.
Alana was far too interested in her finger foods to take notice of Bree cleaning Coles wounds and carefully using her magic to heal him. She wrapped him in the bedding as best she could. Then took the baby in her arms. She wiped her face and rocked her gently. Bree using a cleaning spell on them both. Alana fell asleep cuddling into her mothers arms. Then slowly Bree walked the perimeter of the room. Bree used her magic to seal the doors and windows from anything dangerous coming in. Then the fireplace too in case the fire went out during the night. Once done and utterly exhausted Bree laid down next to Cole and pulled the sleeping bags over top of them. Curling around her baby Bree fell asleep within a few breaths. The only sound of the fire slowly crackling over the old wood.
