.chapter four, the fugitives
The sun had set over Sakuramura's bloodstained streets: the sudden and violent outburst spanned over only a few hours, but at this time of year at such a place as this frost-ridden South Pole, days didn't last exceedingly long and by midday the panoramic sunset had drenched the horizon. By mid-afternoon the shadow of a city and what was left of its population mourned under a serene moon.
"You know," began Sukai, "We really need to stop moving."
She and Kiro wandered blindly through a grand, pitch-black forest. Not many words had been exchanged between the odd couple since Sukai subtly save the life of the man condemned to death and Kiro docked their boat of ice alongside this fir-laden glade. Due to the massive canopy of pines, snow could not always make its way down to the forest floor, creating a strange, awkward and out-of-place mixture of soil and ice.
"No." Responded firmly Kiro, his fingers constantly twitching. He swerved left to avoid an invisible tree and Sukai followed in his tracks. "But-" she started, "aren't you starting to get a little tired of Sapbending? You've been at it for a good two hours at least, nonstop." Kiro sighed, fingers still twitching and dodging yet another tree, "Don't be a total idiot. Sapbending is child's play, and" Sukai took note that he indeed stopped to take a deep breath (so, as I thought, he is tired!), "I'm just sensing the sap so we can avoid the trees, not trying to snap off branches or fell the firs." He swerved right.
As Sukai followed him she shuddered with the ominous caw of a jet-black raven that soared overhead, an eerie omen casting a shadow on the moon's sleek surface. A twig snapped behind them and the nervous Sukai turned backwards out of sheer reflex. Kiro laughed. "Feeling scared of the little chipmunk, Angel?" Frowning at the clear play on her full name, Mitsukai, the girl began twiddling the fingers on her right hand. "It's okay, little girl, everything's gonna be okay-" But his arrogance was cut short by a swinging branch that hit him upside the head. Even that small effort, to Sapbend a single branch, made the girl fall to the ground in a heap.
"Pathetic." Kiro stopped moving and turned around, attempting to mask the pain that he felt from the organic assault. "Tired already? You haven't really gotten anywhere-" But Sukai flowed her hands, drawing liquid from the sparse leaves of the non-coniferous specimens and using it to trip Kiro. He fell with a muffled thud to the ground below, and Sukai whispered in between deep breaths: "The Earthbenders are here- we have to stop moving."
Looking carefully, Kiro saw that they were about at this forest's edge and in about twenty feet lay sweet salvation. However, outside this part of the forest one Earthbender slowly marched up and down the riverbank, patrolling for something or other. "Do you think he knows we're here, and he's waiting for us to come out?" Proposed Sukai. "No…" Came Kiro's voice. All of a sudden they began working together as a unit, with the gears in the boy's mind almost audible to the girl. "It seems to me he's just patrolling."
Their hearts skipped a beat as the man averted his gaze and stared straight at them. He remained so for about a moment, before turning around and continuing. They exhaled in relief. "What was that?" Sukai wondered aloud.
They lay on the ground unmoving for a while, watching him pace back and forth, hoping he would eventually call it a night. After about another half hour of waiting, Kiro swore under his breath. Sukai inquired as to what was on his mind and he answered in a whisper. "Do you notice how his path is getting less and less long? It used to take him about a minute to go up and down but he's at forty seconds now." Sukai pondered. "What does it mean? Maybe his rounds end soon and he's half-assing his job." But Kiro shook his head mournfully. "Before, he passed us less. We were more on the left side of his path, but now we're at the middle of his track, or about. It's shorter on the edges; it's like he's searching for us subtly…"
Sukai frowned. "How can he? It's dark. He either sees us or he doesn't. Doing all of this is a waste of time and-" Kiro attempted to suppress a gasp but didn't quite succeed, and Sukai noticed. "What? What is it?" "The water…" Kiro said, indicating some of the water Sukai extracted. It was between their heads as they lay on their stomachs, and caught the glow of the moon which made it quite visible.
"It rippled." Sukai rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and? Water does that all the time. Vibrations in the earth, right?" But Kiro bit his lip. "Look at the Earthbender's feet."
After a moment of watching, Sukai eventually saw it too. "Oh, that time when he stepped, he stepped really hard on his heel…" "…and the water rippled. Don't you get it, Sukai? Maybe I'll help you a bit more… Let's see how long his path takes him this time."
She stopped after about half a minute. "Thirty-two seconds is what I got. What are you trying to prove, I still don't really get it…" Kiro sighed. "Earthbenders are naturally attuned to the Earth. In fact, there's a special kind of Earthbending that requires a lot of skill, of talent to master, but is quite basic in the essence. When you can't use your eyes, Earthbenders have a trump card that lets them use their hands or feet to see as well; by delivering powerful blows to the ground they send vibrations running up it to a certain area, and in that area they can detect what the vibrations bounce against… Like… Like a bat's sonar. But, it's really tough to master so normal infantry soldiers can only distinguish large objects, like a rock or a"
"…person." Sukai finished, catching his train of thought. "So you're saying he sort of found where we are, without completely finding out where we are? So he found our general direction and stomps every once in a while to get closer… If he's at thirty seconds now it won't be long until he knows just about perfectly where we are."
Kiro nodded. "Exactly. And we can't move either; if he senses our movement, he'll know we're here and definitely call reinforcements..." When Sukai asked if they were just going to sit and wait for something to happen, Kiro shook his head. "I don't know yet, I'm trying to think too, right?"
They stared at his hypnotic movement as he walked up and down the forest's edge, glancing in every so often. They both wondered how it must feel to know that people are here, staring at you, without being able to see them in return. Probably frightening. Every time he slammed his heel against the ground and small ripples danced across the puddle's surface, they both winced, knowing that he was just a few seconds closer to discovering them. When he was at twelve seconds, Kiro came up with a plan. "Sukai." He started. "What can you do?" She frowned. "Probably lift a bit of water, maybe shoot one water whip… I can Sapbend for a minute, maybe, but I won't be able to move for a good while afterwards…" He nodded. "I'll handle it myself then…"
Knowing he was putting himself at a massive risk, Kiro stood up and assumed a proper stance. Flowing his arms, he caused the very small volume of water that was on the floor to rise. He moved it back and forth for a little while, before leaning forwards slightly on his left leg and shooting the small amount of water out in a vicious whip towards the guard.
It cut through the foliage and emerged as a wild animal. The man was startled, and he received the shot to the side of the face, causing him to pivot around in a one-hundred and eighty degree rotation. The tendril of water hit him again, but he almost avoided it this time. Afterwards, he slammed the ground, causing four walls of earth to surround him.
"Get up, get up!" Kiro grabbed Sukai's collar and helped her right herself. She frowned, gaining balance. Kiro was already on his way through the foliage towards the forest's entrance. "Brilliant plan." Spat Sukai. "A dead rat could've thought of that one." "C'mon, you pest," the boy began, "he won't stay in that little prison forever and-" But, just as they made themselves visible, the walls began falling and Kiro swore. "Get back in, back in!" They managed to get about three feet inside the forest and throw themselves against the ground by the time the man's eyesight was restored.
The aforementioned guard once more caused powerful contact in between his heel and the earth, and Kiro winced; they were very close, it would be more than simple for the man to discover them. Apparently, he was still having trouble though, since no matter how many times he searched he still dared not enter the forest. What the Hell's he waiting for?
And then he got it.
Terrifyingly, he made eye contact with the two through the bushes and began approaching; hand on the small, usually unused dagger at his waist. The two bit their lips. I don't know where the nearest water source is… We don't have the time to draw water from leaves, what does that leave us?! Was what ran through their minds at the same time.
Just do it, Hayate. The boy said to himself. He's right there. You have the element of surprise. Of course, he can get you, but it's the only way for you to make it out of here alive. That bridge to freedom is riiiight there…
So the boy took a chance. Leaping out of the water, he charged recklessly towards the man, baring his fists.
We're going to die. We need a bloody miracle… The guard was now about one foot above them, but they still remained sprawled out on the cold, hard floor in the utter darkness of the canopy.
Then they heard a primal scream.
Looking up, they noticed the figure of a normally-sized fourteen-year old blasting its way through the first two feet of the forest, extending its fists. Carelessly, he knocked a fist against the man's right cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. The man, shocked and surprised, let himself be caught off-balance. Recognizing an opportunity, Kiro and Sukai got up, jumping out of the woods.
The assailant and the boy followed them after the boy fell backwards out of a bush. The Earthbender guard had drawn his dagger, and chose to attack with it instead of the earthen battalion located under all of their feet. He delivered a few random shots which were avoided by simply pulling out backwards- but Hayate's lack of finesse in doing so caused him to stumble and land on all fours, to which the assailant violently responded by swiping the blade across his back and spine, drawing a line of blood as the weapon grazed Hayate's skin. In pain, the boy collapsed. "Stupid kid." Said the guard, raising his dagger for a far more painful blow.
Kiro had taken advantage of this convenient distraction, however, and noticed that the man was in reality guarding a bridge that was fairly large; it would be quite difficult to traverse by simply swimming in the river underneath due to its size. He managed to grab some water from beneath the bridge and raised it in the air, then blasted it forward carefully, nailing the man in the center of his chest. He was sent flying into a thick tree trunk, and Hayate cringed in fear. Kiro continued the assault, taking a deep breath and knocking the man out by hitting him painfully over the head.
"Well," be began, "that should about take care of that…" Sukai noticed that he was also panting now; no doubt he would have wanted to kill the man, but was quite simply too drained to exert himself any more. The Petalbender was pleased, and forcing herself up, walked over to Hayate and gave him a hand. "What're you doing here?" She couldn't help but ask. "Shouldn't you be back at the city?"
He frowned as he got up. "It's… A long story, but I'm sure it's the same as yours, Mitsukai. I just made it out, and I tried to swim across but it was just too much water… And the guard would have caught me if I tried to cross the bridge, so I tried to take him out." He sighed. "It didn't work so well."
Sukai chuckled. "Cute, but call me Sukai. Aaaand… I'm pretty sure you've already met Kiro over there." Truth be told, neither Kiro nor Hayate had noticed one another in the heat of their battle and they jumped up in frustration, pointing in an accusatory manner at one another. "YOU!" The two shouted simultaneously.
Hayate gritted his teeth, as did Kiro. At that moment, the exact same thought ran through both of their minds: Of the countless people living in Sakuramura, HE was the one that had to make it out with me? Feeling the tension between the two, Sukai smiled nervously before grabbing both of them by the arm. "It's great that we're all friends but… We can spend time bonding while we cross this fun bridge!" With obviously fake enthusiasm the young girl took one step forward, followed reluctantly by two rather frustrated teenagers.
The bridge was cold and their initial opinion was that it was made of wood due to the colouring; but in reality it seemed to be nothing more than dirty, rusting metal that chipped under their footsteps. They had no clue how long it had been since anyone had really used this bridge, or how much weight it could support. The constant crashing of the quick tide below made them shudder.
The air smelt of spring; the fresh, crisp air contrasted greatly with the sullen mood that had suddenly and unwillingly been dropped upon their now-heavy shoulders. None of them quite understood the gravity of the situation, nor could they really bring themselves to believe that Sakuramura and the places and people they loved were gone. The battle seemed unreal as well; Hayate survived only because of a fluke, and Sukai and Kiro were surprised they made it out of their recent encounter with the guard. Their instinct seemed to be their sole driving force in the entire matter, and they were not looking forward to the time they understood the whole situation.
They had gone halfway across the bridge by now, and Sukai, who was leaning against a rusting railing for support, cast a look across its edge into the clear river's perpetually moving waters. The moon reflected itself against it, and she found the sight beautiful, something that occurred rarely with her. Being a bit of an inner pessimist, Sukai tended to find the worst in things before seeing the positives.
Hayate and Kiro were far too furious cursing their luck internally that they had to get stuck with one another to notice.
The awkward silence was deafening, but as soon as they set foot off the bridge Sukai broke it with more artificial enthusiasm. "Well, wasn't that great?" Crickets responded nonchalantly. "I thought so too!" A sweatdrop crawled down the back of her neck. Where the Hell are we going to sleep tonight… She thought.
As they continued walking for what was probably another good half hour, stopping every so often so that the drained Kiro and Sukai could rest, they turned back all of a sudden upon hearing an earsplitting cacophony. The sound of metal scraping against metal made them all wince, and in the distance they could barely make out the shape of something massive collapsing into the lake. They paid it not too much heed, even though it was mildly nerve-racking they knew they were far away. They continued walking downstream.
After another few minutes, Hayate glanced casually into the river, expecting to see nothing more than rippling water and the circular figure of a moon etched upon the aquatic mirror, but he stopped and widened his eyes in surprise at what he saw. Sukai, who walked in front of him, turned around when she noticed he was no longer moving. "What's up? You look like you've just seen a ghost; your eyes are the size of the moon." Seemingly reminded of something, she began humming a little tune to herself in bliss. Hayate reached into the water slowly and pulled out a fragment of metal.
"Does this," he started, thrusting the shard forward, "look familiar to you? It's part of the bridge we were just on… Do you think that's what collapsed before?" Kiro was silent, but frowned, and Sukai answered in his place. "I don't really know what ELSE it could have been… I guess they saw the guy knocked out and figured someone made a beeline for the bridge. They probably don't care that much though, but they probably knocked the old thing down to make sure no one else did the same." Her pause was met by crickets once more. "Or, it's completely possible that they sent a search party after us and we're being stalked now. Yeah, that wouldn't be fun."
Hayate dropped the piece of metal back into the water and watched it flow away into oblivion. They continued walking uncomfortably and still in silence.
After yet another little while a small light became visible in the distance. As they got closer, the light became visible as a hanging lantern. It was at the entrance to a decently-sized cabin, which could easily pass for an inn. Sukai looked back to get the two boys' opinions- both of them just wore scowls and refused all forms of eye contact with her.
Sighing, she took it upon herself to knock and hope there weren't any nasty surprises waiting on the other end.