Chapter Twenty A Helping Hand

Nazca used the water on his arm to slam the nearby guards to the wall and freeze them there. He ran through to the fake wall he had created and kicked it with all his might causing it to crack along the middle and open.

"Go!" he told Mai and Ty Lee just as another guard called for backup, "I'll catch up soon."

The girls nodded and ran pass Nazca. As Ty Lee passed he told her, "Take this," handing her his cloak. She then followed Mai ] through the tunnel as Nazca turned to fight another guard, Nazca felt the girls get far enough away and just as a group of ten or so guards came in, he brought all the water around him together and slammed it up against the sealing of the tunnel causing it to crack and then shatter as water from the lake poured down. He sealed the roof with silent earthbending and made a huge wall of ice blocking off the tunnel from the both sides. The firebenders would eventual melt it but it would give the girls time to escape. Nazca could handle himself.

"Freeze!" one guard yelled.

Nazca turned around viewing the guards again and was amazed, a force of at least thirty guards had gathered. He would have to use another element to break out and he didn't want that so instead he did the only logical. He keeled down held out his wrists and surrendered. Three guards cautiously moved towards then, seized his arms and bound them behind his back and walked him off.

He awoke in a small and empty room except for one guard. Nazca was bound to the chair in the middle of the room. He studied the guard closely and realized that the guard was the warden. The warden looked at him curiously then spoke.

"You're a waterbender assassin."

Crap, Nazca thought. There was no easy way out of this one, they knew he was the assassin.

"So."

The warden stared intently at Nazca's eyes then said, "Look at me when I'm taking to you."

Nazca smiled then said, "I can't"

The wardens expression hardened then he said, "You can and you will."

He reached out and grabbed Nazca's head forcing him to look at the warden. The warden expression soften as he saw his eyes then he said, "Oh, sorry kid, I didn't know,"

He sighed and sat down on the ground, "You know I'm not mad at you at all."

Nazca brow creased, puzzled, "Why, I released two prisoners, unless…unless you caught them already."

The warden smiled, "I haven't even sent out a search party. The truth is kid, since princess Azula left you helped me out."

"How."

"Mai's my niece."

Nazca stared surprised.

"The thing is I want to just let you go so you can get them off the island with your waterbending but I can't just let you go."

Nazca thought for a second then said, "I've always got a plan."

The guard heard the five knocks, the sign that the warden was ready to leave. He quickly lifted the latch and opened the door. He didn't have time to register what happened until the boy was gone down the hall. Nazca had the warden with a sharp piece of ice at his neck and had forced him to give the secret code to leave. As the boy left he grabbed the guards knife and then began running. Then he turned the corner and was gone.

"What are you doing?" the warden yelled, "Find him and end him!"

Nazca sprinted down the hall to the courtyard. As he broke into the courtyard he quickly scanned around him for the nearest wall and began running for it. Then the alarms went off. Guards started pouring out into the courtyard looking for the problem, then they saw him. Nazca quickly climbed the wall but just as he reached the top, soldiers surrounded him from both side holding their fist ready to firebend.

"Surrender," one guard called, "You're surrounded."

Nazca stepped up onto the guard rail and took a breath.

The guard laughed, "You'll never survive."

Then Nazca jumped.

Ty Lee and Mai where hiding near the beach by a small fire Ty Lee had managed to build. The tunnel had led them all the way out to the beach where there was a large pile of racks that they used to block the tunnel off. They were waiting for Nazca to come but Mai was beginning to think he wasn't coming.

"I told you he probably got caught, we have to leave now before guards come."

Ty Lee shook her head, "No, he was able to fool us into thinking he was a firebender, and he was the assassin. There's no way they could beat him."

"How do you know he's the assassin?"

"C'mon, look at his cloak," she said lifting up the garment, "Tell me this doesn't look exactly like the assassins."

Mai sighed, "So maybe he's the assassin, how does that mean he'll be able to fight off all those guards, he knew he wouldn't be coming back."

"They why did he say so?!" Ty Lee pressed.

Mai sighed, "Why do you even care? He already admitted to lying to us once."

Ty Lee blushed shyly, "I just think we shouldn't abandon him."

Mai looked at Ty Lee curiously and was about to press deeper but decided against it.

"We'll give him until the morning."

Ty Lee smiled and the two girls prepared for bed.

Mai awoke to the smell of ocean. She then realized she was in the middle of the ocean floating on a block of ice with just Ty Lee. Mai carefully stood up to wake Ty Lee but then she heard a voice say, "Let her sleep a little longer."

Mai bolted up and looked around for the voice. She realized that what appeared to be the assassin's cloak and some other cloths was actually Nazca, the assassin himself wearing the cloak.

Nazca realized she was staring and asked, "So how's it look on me."

Mai shrugged, "I've seen better."

Then Nazca asked, "What color is it."

Mai turned and looked at Nazca confused, "What sort of question is that?"

"An honest one," he said with a shrug.

"It's black, why?"

Nazca sighed relieved, "Good, I thought it might be white."

Mai looked even more confused and Nazca taking note said, "I'm blind but I see with waterbending."

Mai nodded then said, "So how did you get out?"

"Easily," Nazca said smiling.

Mai's expression didn't change and she said, "What did you do?"

Nazca sat back on the walls he had made so the ice would float easier and said, "It was really all your uncle's work. We faked a scene of me holding him against his will and then I made a run for it. He was happy I helped you escaped and wanted me to get you out safely."

Mai nodded, "So where are we going know?"

Nazca got into a comfortable position and began to start pushing the boat with waterbending before saying,

"To war."