Here's a fight scene! And a set up. : ) Thanks for your support! 3
We made it to the small port just fine. It was once we were on the road to the temple that we ran into a bit of trouble.
Kuruk had never put a saddle on Agler, but he was starting to wish he had one. He looked longingly at Hinuns ostrich horse and sighed, patting Aggie on the neck. Maybe he could find a way to make a saddle for her.
"Hey Hinun." Kuruk nudged Agler up to Hinun "I know you want a chance to ride Aggie." He said, smiling. Hinun looked at the polar leopards two rather large front teeth.
"Nope. I'll pass."
"Please?"
"No. We're going to stop soon for lunch, just grab a sleeping bag or something."
Kuruk sighed. He had to try. They continued on for a few more minutes before Hinuns ostrich horse flicked its tail, starting on the path and causing a commotion. It took a bit of calming to calm the beast down. Agler's ears flicked back and Kuruk frowned.
"Now!"
In a second there were half a dozen arrows in their way, two hitting their supply wagon, and a few other hitting living targets that screamed or cawed.
Kuruk and Hinun quickly slid off their mounts.
"The barrels Kuruk!" Hinun shouted, quicky bending the water in his canteen in front of him. Kuruk jumped over a man that had been hit,
"Now!"
ducked again and made it to the supply wagon, quickly bending the gallons of water in the two barrels to move their containers, rolling the barrels to where Hinun was. The priests and their escorts had formed a circle, one of the priests had earthbended a wall around the people who couldn't defend themselves.
Kuruk and Hinun stood at the front of the path, where the voice had come from, two barrels in between them. Agler stood next to Kuruk, growling.
"Come out!" Kuruk yelled, settling into a waterbending stance. Next to him Hinun was in the same position, hands out and ready.
"Now!"
Another rain of arrows came arching out of the forest, but a wall of ice rose to meet them as Kuruk and Hinun moved in tandem, blocking the volley. Agler growled as her hackles rose and her ears fell flat back on her head. A yell came from the priests, a bandit had snuck around and was trying to raid their supplies. Kuruk nodded and Agler leapt onto the earthen wall, bounding over to the man, beginning to chance him.
One hand still holding up the ice wall Kuruk streamed a water whip and snapped it at a tree where an arrow had come from. A grunt came from the forest and Kuruk smiled. Hinun and Kuruk shared a glance and turned so that they were back to back, the water melting and going back into the barrels.
With a yell, eight bandits came running out of the forest. Kuruk, bending a stream of water from his reservoir, moved forwards, hands spreading out and pushing as the water captured two men and wrapped around a tree, freezing them to the large elm. Hinun had knocked the weapons out of the hands of three of the men who had come towards him with quick whips of water.
The bandits came closer and Kuruk and Hinun took the water and formed a wall around themselves, a circle of water that they controlled to flow around the two of them. The bandits hesitated and one came forward slowly, only to have his helmet knocked full around by a tendril of the water, the second hitting his head so hard he fell to the ground and was still.
"Leave now," Hinun said harshly. "Before we have to hurt you."
The bandits looked at each other and then looked at Hinun and Kuruk.
In a rush, everyone attacked. There were six bandits still standing and Hinun and Kuruk broke their wall and began to fight. Hinun managed to freeze one to the ground pretty quickly, and a second was taken out by Agler, but a third got close enough that he had to resort to hand to hand combat. Kuruk took another out with a whip to the head, but a man with a longsword had cut his arm and he dropped the water, turning to kick the man hard in the stomach and then, once his sword had dropped, rabbit punched him on his temples, dropping him. The last bandit then came after Kuruk and it was just the two waterbenders fighting off the last of the thieves.
Hinun and the man he was sparring with were evenly matched – he hadn't had that much training in anything other than waterbending and the fishing spear but he knew that if he could just get to the barrels he might have a better chance of getting the upper hand.
Kuruk had his hands full with this man, who was wielding his mace with deadly accuracy. It was all Kuruk could do to block it with sheets of ice, but the constant movement from water to ice required pinpoint precision and Kuruk wasn't sure he could keep it up. He ducked a swing from the larger man, turned on his pointer foot and swiped up, a water stream hitting against the mans jaw and knocking him back a few feet.
Kuruk smiled, seeing the man struggle to regain his footing.
"Kuruk!" Hinun yelled, paniced. Kuruk whistled once and Agler came bounding onto the mace-man, tossing him to the ground and batting at him with her giant paws as Kuruk ran to help his friend.
Hinun had been dropped to his knees and the man was twisting, about to deliver a punishing kick to Hinuns head when, with a yell, Kuruk jumped over Hinun, slamming his feet into the last thieves' chest. The two went tumbling on the ground and Kuruk stood up quicker, dropped down low, and pulled the last of the water from the barrel into his hands before slamming it at the mans chest, driving him to the ground again. Kuruk took a deep breath and the water froze over the man, fastening him to the dirt road with no movement but the ability to flail his legs.
"And that!" Kuruk said, kicking the man's hand. "is what you get when you mess with the Kuruk crew!"
Hinun started to laugh and Kuruk turned around, trying to hide his embarrassment. "I'm sorry, is something funny?" He asked, crossing his arms.
"Nope." Hinun was standing, a hand over his mouth as he tried hard not to laugh harder. "Just." He gasped, glancing at their escorts, who were starting to get their things together and compose themselves. "The Kuruk crew? Why not the avatar assembly? The Kuruk congregate?"
"Shut up."
"I got it! We can be the Kuruk clan!"
"I'll let you get beat up next time."
Hinun was still giggling as he got up on his ostrich horse. One of the earth priests had come over to where the last man had been frozen to the ground. He had brought over two other men who had looked rather official and were supposed to be guardians of the temple.
"Yes. I think he is!"
"Who is?" Kuruk asked, jumping on Aggie and riding up to where they were talking.
"This man is Kunxun. You can tell from the scars on his hands" One of the uniformed man said. Kuruk glanced down and saw two grotesque purple x's on either of the man's hands. Kunxun glared at Kuruk and the avatar was startled by how pale his grey eyes were. He had another scar on the side of his neck that wasn't so pronounced.
"He's a wanted criminal. We're going to take him to the province that's only a few miles from the temple. He can be tried there." A priest came up with a coil of rope. Kunxun's hands were tied tightly and his feet were hobbled before Kuruk melted the water with a wave of his hand.
Kunxun didn't try to resist, but allowed himself to be led to the back, where he was tied to the saddlehorn of an ostrich horse.
"Well." Kuruk said a few hours later as they were making camp underneath an overhanging rock. "That was fun."
"So if we're the avatar assembly, should I call you senator, or . . ."
Hinun laughed and ducked as Kuruk threw his water at him.
Kunxun's eyes glittered in the firelight as he heard the word 'avatar'. He glanced down at his bonds and frowned, then curled up in a ball and went to sleep.
Hinun and Kuruk grabbed their sleeping bags and were asleep quickly.
When the train woke up, the first thing that they realized was that Kunxun had escaped, the only thing left where he had been left, a few frayed pieces of rope.
"Well, it wasn't very good rope."
"So why didn't you use good rope?" Hinun asked, frustrated. The man had come dangerously close to knocking him into the reign of Yengchen.
"If he had escaped he would have ruined it!"
Hinun sighed and walked over to his mount, climbing up. Kuruk came up next to him as they began to move.
"What's wrong?"
"I would have bought him some new rope!"
Kuruk frowned, glanced at Agler, who seemed to shake her head.
"Right mate. I'll remember that."
Give me a shout! The next chapters nearly done, and it's a good one.