Chapter 6

Tamaru froze as the Burnak blocked the path ahead of her. The very Rahi they had stolen the Makoki back from had tracked them down again. Meanwhile, the Kofu-Jaga swarm approached from behind. They were trapped again.

"How did he find us?" Taipu exclaimed.

"Makuta must've been tracking us while we were underground," Kapura stated, gripping his pike. "Maybe he's in control of the Kofu-Jaga, or maybe he just watched from the shadows."

"But somehow Burnak ever-knew where to seek-find us," Tamaru said, reaching for her disc. She was not eager to fight on the narrow cliff-side, especially not against such a dangerous beast.

Before they could act, Kapura pulled them aside as a mini fireball flew towards them; the Kofu-Jaga were still approaching. "I will slow down the fire scorpions," Kapura said. "You two need to stop the Burnak!"

Kapura suddenly disappeared, as he seemingly teleported back up the path and stabbed the lead Kofu-Jaga. As it screeched out, its brethren turned to attack Kapura, but the Ta-Matoran vanished and reappeared behind them, attacking again. The swarm wasn't able to keep up with his technique, and they slowed their progress as they tried to catch up to him.

Taipu, meanwhile, drew his pickaxe and charged forward. The Burnak ducked beneath his swing and then swiped out his paw, sending Taipu slamming into the rock wall. Tamaru acted next, throwing her disc, but the Burnak batted it aside too and sent it falling over the side of the cliff, where it disappeared into the mists below.

"Then we do this ever-hard way," Tamaru muttered to herself. She charged directly at the Burnak, who sought to knock her down just as he had struck Taipu earlier. But Tamaru leapt upward at the last minute, sailing over the Burnak's paw. She aimed to land on his back, where she might reach the infected Kanohi and release him from Makuta's influence. But the Burnak was already turning, and Tamaru missed and slammed mask-first into the ground.

The Burnak tried to pounce on Tamaru once she was down, but his jump was brought to a halt when Taipu grabbed onto his back leg. The Burnak swung his head, ready to bring his fangs into play, but Taipu was already swinging his pickaxe, and the thick end collided with the Burnak. The Rahi stumbled; disoriented but not seriously hurt. However, it gave Tamaru time to recover.

Her mind spun as she eyed the scene. Tamaru knew they couldn't continue this fight with the Burnak; he was just too powerful for them, and the path was too narrow for them to properly fight him. But where could they go, when there was a sharp drop to one side and a steep cliff to the other? Yet an idea came to Tamaru; the cliff had lots of jagged rocks and bramble growing in it; it wasn't that much different than the trees she was used to climbing.

"Miner, can you up-climb these rocks?" Tamaru shouted to Taipu, even as the Burnak turned on them.

"I think so," Taipu said hesitantly.

"Then time to high-flee!" Tamaru said, jumping up and grabbing a chunk of the rock wall. With her Le-Matoran grace, she was quickly able to scale the cliff, as if it were no more than a large tree in the jungle. Taipu also climbed up with relative ease, and they were soon out of reach from the Burnak on the path below him.

"I think we're doing it!" Taipu said, as the Burnak tried to swipe at them from below. "But Kapura is still down there!"

"We need to attention-keep Burnak on us until..." Tamaru started, but paused as the Burnak extended his claws and dug them into the rock. The beast started to scramble his way up the cliff after them.

"Oh no, he can climb too!" Taipu said. But as he was distracted, he lost his footing and slipped, falling back down onto the path with a sharp thud. The Burnak's eyes watched him for a moment, but then he turned his focus back on Tamaru.

Realization struck her. "He knows I have the Makoki stone," she said to herself. "He eye-fix on me, ignore others." She knew what she had to do; she had to lead the beast away from the other two. Kapura and Taipu could hold out together against the Kofu-Jaga, but not the Burnak. She needed him to chase after her.

The Burnak began swiftly climbing the hill after her; he was clearly an expert at rock climbing. But Tamaru was no amateur; she moved from handhold to handhold quickly, staying a few steps ahead of the Burnak. Nevertheless, the rocks were still wet, and inevitably her hand slipped. Tamaru tumbled down the slope and painfully landed on the path below. Behind her, the Burnak descended.

"I'll just need to speed-run along ground-path now," Tamaru said, getting to her feet. But then she sighted new shapes appearing further down the trail; the two Kavinika were walking up the trail, ready to block their escape.

Tamaru got to her feet and instinctively took a step back, and her foot brushed against the edge of the cliff. She glanced backwards and realized she was on the edge of a long drop. The mist hid the canyon floor, but she could see the rock walls rising out of it, and her fear started filling her. If she toppled over now, she would not be able to grab onto the canyon wall and climb back up; she would be done for.

Suddenly another thought broke through her fear; the fall would be a one way ticket for the Rahi too. If she could outwit the Burnak and cause him to leap off the cliff, he wouldn't get a chance to attack them again. This could be her way of truly defeating the beast.

The Burnak growled as it slowly approached Tamaru, but she needed him riled up. She reached into her pack and pulled out the Makoki stone. "Is this what you seek-desire?" she shouted. "If ever-want it you do, then ever-take it from me you must!"

The Burnak's eyes narrowed and he hunched back on his hind legs. Tamaru recognized the signs; he was about to leap. She tensed up too, ready to dodge herself. Behind the Burnak, she could see Taipu racing towards her; he also recognized the Rahi's stance, but he was too far away to help. "Look out!" he shouted in warning.

The Burnak darted forward with unexpected speed, jaws opened to clamp down on the Makoki stone in Tamaru's hands. Yet the Le-Matoran's quick reflexes aided her as she jumped to the side. Too late, the Burnak realized he had charged into a trap. His hind legs tried to dig into the dirt, but his momentum was too much, and he fell out into the opened air and started to drop. Tamaru tried to dodge, but her own feet slipped, and she started to teeter backwards. Even as she swung out her arms in a desperate measure to regain her balance, she took a glancing blow from the Burnak's rear paw. It was enough to shift her weight and she too fell over the edge.

There was a rush of red, and Kapura suddenly appeared on the cliff, reaching towards her. But he was too late, and Tamaru's hand was already out of reach; he couldn't save her. Yet something else stirred up in Tamaru; she still had the Makoki stone, but she couldn't allow it to be lost with her. Using her last strength, she threw the stone upwards, and Kapura managed to snatch it out of the air.

And with that, Tamaru fell.

The wind rushed around her, and Tamaru closed her eyes as terror took hold. This was how it was going to end for her after all. Her death wasn't caused by a Rahi or Makuta; instead gravity would be her undoing. In the end, her death stemmed from her greatest fear.

As she tumbled through the air, she felt a cool rush as she passed through the mist, and allowed herself one last sensation before her life ended. And then she hit the bottom on the canyon... with a splash.

The impact disoriented Tamaru, and she spun around crazily. But despite the pain and dizziness, one thought rose inside her; she was still alive! And she was wet... because she was underwater. She hadn't slammed into the rocky floor of the canyon, but rather splashed into the river below, and the impact had not killed her.

Tamaru regained her bearings, and realized she had been pushed deep into the river, whose current was dragging her along quite rapidly. Perhaps a normal Le-Matoran would've panicked and perished underwater, but not Tamaru. Unlike her fellow villagers in Le-Koro, she knew how to swim. She thrust her arms out and kicked upwards. A few moments later, her mask broke the surface, and she breathed in a mouthful of air. She now heard a new rushing sound; she was being dragged towards a nasty set of rapids. As she bobbed up and down in the water, she saw a small shoreline nearby, and she quickly started to swim towards it. She would be able to pull herself out of the water well ahead of the rapids.

Another sound reached her ears; it was the desperate barking of a creature in need. She turned to see the Burnak thrashing in the water nearby. As strong as the Rahi was, he clearly didn't know how to swim, and was panicking as he got pushed towards the rapids. For a moment, Tamaru was content to watch him get washed away; he had nearly killed her multiple times, and it would be poetic justice to let him drown. But Tamaru couldn't ignore the distress in his cries, so she adjusted her stroke and swam towards him. With a steady hand, she grabbed onto his back and started pulling him towards the shore. She struggled at first, because the Burnak was quite heavy and the rapids were very strong. After a few moments, the Burnak realized that he was receiving help, and started kicking at the water to move in the same direction. After an agonizing minute in the water, both of them were able to climb up to dry land.

Tamaru shakily sat down on the small sandbar, but the Burnak next to her completely collapsed from exhaustion. Tamaru turned her gaze towards him, wondering if he was still going to be aggressive, but the Rahi was now only resting. Tamaru's eyes darted to his back, where a few shards of a mask remained. Somehow, the Burnak had hit a rock in the river after his fall, and it had shattered the infected mask, which also broke Makuta's influence over him. The Burnak was a free Rahi again.

Tamaru removed the last remaining shards of the infected mask and tossed them back into the water. She gently stroked the Burnak's head, and he closed his eyes contently and let out a peaceful bark. She knew she didn't have to worry about him attacking her anymore.

Tamaru's looked away from the Burnak and glanced upwards. The wall of mist blocked out the sky, but she could still hear vague shrieks and rumbles and the occasional blast of fire. Her two friends were still fighting the Kofu-Jaga and Kavinika, but how could she help them, when she had fallen down here?

She paused again. She had fallen from a great height; higher than she ever had fallen before in Le-Wahi. And yet she had survived. Her fear, her vertigo, was still there, but now it didn't quite feel as sharp as before. It felt like something she could fight.

Tamaru got back to her feet, and observed the rock wall next to her. She could climb it, just as she had climbed earlier, and by doing so she could reach her two friends and help them. It would be slow going, and she risked slipping and falling again, but she knew she had to try.

Before she could begin, she heard a loud squawk. She turned in surprise to see something drop out of the mist; it was Kunono.

"Why be you here, girl?" Tamaru asked in surprise. Kunono landed on the sand next to her, and tilted her head upward. Tamaru blinked in surprise; that was the standard Kewa sign for their rider to mount them. But she had never been able to stroke Kunono, much less hop on her back.

Tamaru slowly approached and lifted up her hand, which Kunono gently rubbed her beak against. "You were sky-tailing me," Tamaru said speechlessly. "You've been eye-keeping on me this whole time, weren't you?" She paused, and then said, "My friends up there need spirit-lift; will you high-fly with me?"

Kunono gave off a loud squawk, but didn't allow Tamaru to mount just yet. Instead, she held up one of her talons, which clutched what Tamaru recognized as her bamboo disc.

"Much thanks," Tamaru said, retrieving the disc. "I'm going to need this for true-shot." She reached to pull herself up onto Kunono's back, but found that her arms were trembling. Kunono was finally trusting her, but was Tamaru really ready to fly? She shook her head to clear it; she was ready. She couldn't get rid of her fear of heights, but she could still face them head on. She had barely mounted Kunono before the Kewa gave out another loud squawk and spread her wings. Moments later, she was taking to the air, flying out of the mist and into the morning sunlight.

Tamaru felt the rush of wind as they rose up into the air. There was still fear inside her, but it nestled now in her stomach and not her heart. Her arms were still shaking, but she redirected Kunono and headed towards the cliffs, where she could still see her friends in action.

Taipu was in a wrestling match with the second Kavinika; the first one had already been knocked out and was recovering down the trail. The Onu-Matoran was using all his strength to hold back the Rahi's head, but it was slowly pushing him against the rock wall, hoping to crush him for good. Meanwhile, Kapura was darting between the Kofu-Jaga swarm, still teleporting around them. There were many disabled fire scorpions along the trail, but the swarm continued to advance on the Ta-Matoran, who was clearly tiring. Tamaru could see that he was breathing heavily and the distances were decreasing when he teleported.

As Kunono glided towards them, Tamaru readied her disc. This time, she was not making a hasty throw, but rather was taking time to aim properly. At the right moment, she threw her disc forward, and it slams painfully into the back of the Kavinika's head. The beast was stunned for a moment, and Taipu managed to push it off him.

Taipu gasped as he looked up and spotted his savor. "Is that Tamaru?" he cried out.

The Kavinika had recovered and charged towards Taipu again, but Kunono was already diving. The Kewa's talons latched onto the Kavinika's shoulders and lifted the beast up and over Taipu. The beast was too heavy for Kunono to carry far, but she could haul it for a short distance. Tamaru directed her up the trail, towards the Kofu-Jaga, and signaled for her to release. Kunono let go of the Kavinika, whose body was sent flying towards the swarm of fire scorpions. Kapura glanced over his shoulder at the last minute and spotted the incoming Rahi; he teleported out of the way just in time, and the Kavinika collided the Kofu-Jaga swarm and caused them to scatter.

"Ever-yes!" Tamaru cried out in glee, as she watched the Rahi struggle below. "Is this what fast-flying a Kewa is like? It's great-good feeling!"

However, she spotted something else out of the corner of her eye; the cliff-side was starting to fracture, likely due to the pounding it had taken from the Kavinika. It was about to collapse!

"Ready for quick up-pick?" Tamaru shouted down as she redirected Kunono back towards the trail. Taipu and Kapura were unsteady as the rocks beneath their feet began to shift. Tamaru didn't have time to land and have them mount the Kewa with her, so she took a more direct approach. Kunono dove downward and grabbed Taipu in her talons, just as the rocks crumbled out from under him. Kapura darted forward and jumped towards them; Tamaru reached out her hand and just managed to grab him, pulling him onto the Kewa's back as Kunono flew away. Behind them, the cliff-side crumbled, taking the Kavinika and Kofu-Jaga down with it.

"You survived," Kapura stated to Tamaru over the roaring winds.

"You're flying!" Taipu shouted from below.

"Yes I did, and yes I am," Tamaru said. "You still carry-keep Makoki stone?"

Kapura nodded, patting his own pack. "It has been recovered." He paused, and added, "I am sorry; earlier I was not fast enough to grab you before falling. I realize sometimes I cannot just move slowly, not when it counts."

"Worry-not, it out-work for best in end," Tamaru said. "Now, let us home-get to tree-bright Le-Koro before more Rahi try to quick-steal that stone from us again."