Chapter 5:
"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka wondered as they left the trees behind and entered a mountain range, moving into a canyon between two mountains.
"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth." Chong said he grinned as Sokka stopped in his tracks and spun to face the man.
"Labyrinth!" he demanded
"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Chong said waving the idea away. Sokka looked skeptical but he turned and continued walking anyway, causing everyone to start again to follow.
"All you need to do is trust in love. According to the curse." Lily assured and Sokka stopped dead in his tracks, causing everyone to walk past him. He ground his teeth and waved his arms around in frustration.
"Curse!" he shouted in exasperation.
They came to the end of the canyon to find a large tunnelled opening inside. A plaque stood at the top as moss fell from below it over the cave's roof.
"Hey-hey, we're here!" Chong said obviously. The cave was huge and Appa looked tiny compared to it.
"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked
"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever." Chong explained
"And die." Lily added
"Oh, yeah, and die." Chong added simply before he grinned "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song." he strummed a chord and sang deep and dramatically "And die!"
This didn't help Sokka and he became aggravated.
"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" he demanded.
Freya stared up at the plaque.
Trust in love… she thought and Zuko flashed through her mind. She shook her head. Don't be stupid, just cause you feel something does not mean it's as deep as love. she snapped at herself.
Yet. a voice spoke back and she sighed.
Moku caught everyone's attention by pointing on back through the canyon they'd walked through.
"Hey, someone's making a big campfire!" smoke was rising off the edge behind the canyon wall and the four looked at it with concern.
"That's no campfire, Moku." Katara realised
"It's Fire Nation. They're tracking us."
"Urgh, we had to be over confident and fly Appa straight to them. Of course they're tracking us, they saw Hell's Most Wanted." Freya complained pointing at Aang.
"So all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked as he turned to Chong.
"That is correct, Master Arrowhead." Chong smiled. Aang turned to look at Katara who had her back to him. Freya giggled and he glanced at her before she gave the thumbs up.
"Well, I think we can work with that." she said and Aang blushed before he grinned and turned back to Chong.
"We can make it." he decided
"Everyone into the hole!" Sokka instructed, waving his hand and taking the lead. Aang and Freya moved to the bison and took his reins.
"You'll be alright Appa." Freya smiled as she patted his side. The bison growled in disagreement but he didn't protest.
They continued into the darkness, leaving the opening of the cave behind them before the entire cave started rumbling. They spun around and gasped as the light that flooded in from the entrance way to the cave was disappearing, the entrance being blocked by falling rocks. The Fire Nation sat just beyond in their machines and were shooting grappling hooks at the mountain above the hole to cover up the opening.
Within a second the entire cave was dark as Appa growled.
"Anyone have a match?" Chong asked. Freya followed his voice.
"I got it." she assured. She took the torch and the entire cave was filled with the orange glow as the end was lit. Katara rose an eyebrow as Freya handed it back to Chong.
Appa was growling in distress, he had his paws up the now closed in entrance and was banging against it hopelessly.
"It's okay, Appa. We'll be fine." Katara said, patting his side as she was sympathetic to him "I hope." she added quietly.
"We will be fine. All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?" Sokka asked turning to him.
"Eh, about two hours each." he shrugged
"And we have five torches so that's…" Lily held the other four and she struck them all on the floor to light them all. "ten hours." she grinned.
Sokka ran over to her and grabbed them, threw them on the floor and began to stomp them out.
"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" he snapped
"Ohh, right." Lily said spacey.
"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been." Sokka decided as he climbed up to Appa's saddle and rummaged around to grab some paper. "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."
"Well, I'm going to scratch crosses into the walls at each intersection, that way if we come back to it we know what path not to take." Freya added as she patted her water pouch. Everyone shared a look as Sokka began to draw on the paper and lead the way.
The group began to move through the cave, Chong with the torch as Appa growled wearily. Freya patted him comfortingly.
It wasn't long before they came to a dead end. Sokka made them turn around and Freya put an X on the rock on either side at the turn before they followed Sokka again.
They hit another dead end and Freya marked it.
They came to another.
And another.
Freya began to get annoyed and agitated as Sokka made them stop and turn several times. At one point he went to make another turn and Freya stopped him.
"Sokka, we've been down that one." she pointed to her X on the rock and Sokka looked annoyed before he took another path. They came to another dead end.
Sokka stopped and began to turn his self made map this way and that. Katara walked up to him doubtfully. Freya looked around before she noticed something on the wall and moved towards it.
"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to." Katara confessed
"This doesn't make any sense; we already came through this way." Sokka said
"So we're walking in circles." Freya complained
"How can you tell?" Moku asked
"It's on my map."
"It's also on the wall." Freya said and everyone turned to a line that was on it. "I may have sliced a few walls when I felt like we were chasing our tails."
"We don't need a map. We just need love." Chong said as Sokka moved back towards the dark tunnel. Chong turned and he pointed to Aang as Sokka walked back past him. "The little guy knows it."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map, also." Aang said
"You know another way to get through a maze is to put your hand on the wall and continue without lifting your hand." Freya said as she patted the rock beside her.
"No, this should work." Sokka believed "There's something strange here. There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing." Sokka decided as he turned to them all.
The entire tunnel suddenly started to shake and everyone looked around surprised. Momo ducked into Aang's shirt as the airbender gapped.
"The tunnels... they're a-changin'. Ah, it must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here." Chong said dramatically as he moved around the tunnel.
"Right. If only we listened to you." Sokka said cynically, having snatched the torch from the man and Momo stood on his shoulder looking around.
"Everyone be quiet. Listen." Katara instructed and there was silence.
A yowling like growl sounded through the entire cave ahead of Sokka who stared into the darkness. Momo took flight in fright and Sokka watched him confused. Sokka rose the torch and pointed it forwards before suddenly a wolf-bat shot out of the darkness. Sokka was knocked over and Chong ducked. It swooped at Freya, Katara and Aang, the latter of which who turned to jump out of the way.
"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong complained
"No! It's a wolf-bat!" Moku noticed from beside him as the bat landed on four feet, it's wings folded up to it's sides. It growled before jumping into the air and swooping over them again. Sokka started waving his torch around to scare it off and the bat simply knocked it from his hands.
The torch went flying and hit Appa's foot, causing the bison to roar in pain. Momo chattered in response as Appa ran around the cave, jumping up and down and shaking the entire thing.
"Appa!" Freya cried as the wolf bat landed and ran off past them.
Appa ran and head butted two sides of one of the tunnels ahead of them and rocks started to fall over Sokka, Chong, Lily and their group. Freya gasped as cracks ran up the walls and dust filed the cavern.
"Look out!" she shouted as the boulders began to fall on the six.
Aang ran forwards and with a gust of wind blew Sokka, Chong, Lily, Moku and their companions out of the way just in time. Freya shot her water forwards and pulled Aang out of the way of the rocks as they began to crash in front of him. The two turned and ran away from the cave-in and Aang dived at Katara to move her from harms way.
Everything stopped and settled as the dust disappeared. The tunnel was lit by the torch on the floor. Appa stood a few paces from Freya, Aang and Katara on the floor and was pawing at the fallen rocks worriedly.
"Don't worry Appa, I'm sure they're fine." Freya whispered. She turned to Aang and Katara "Question is will we be?" they shared a look before looking around the cave.
"Well we can't just sit here." Katara decided
"We should get moving." Aang agreed.
The three turned and started moving, Appa following after them as Katara had picked up the torch.
There was silence between them as Freya ran her hand over the wall beside her.
Eventually they came to a corner and Katara grinned.
"Aang look!" she ran forwards and the light hit a dead end, only there was a carving in the way, a stone doorway with a circle in the middle of the frame. Two statues stood on either side of it as Freya and Aang ran after the girl.
"We found the exit!" Aang thought
"Just one problem, it's sealed." Freya grumbled annoyed as the two pushed against it.
"Some help Freya?" Katara asked when she didn't do so.
"Katara, it's stone. We can't move that and Aang can't earth bend yet." she said obviously "Why would you bar the exit like that anyway?" she questioned annoyed. The two shared a look before Appa growled from behind them.
The three turned to him as Appa snorted and started to paw the ground. The three shared a look before Appa ran at the door and the kids dived out of the way as Appa head butted the stone.
The circle within the door began to slide backwards before it fell and rolled to the side, leaving Appa to stare into the darkness.
The three moved and poked their heads into what seemed to be, not the exit, but a room. Katara jumped in first followed by Aang and Freya as she raised the torch.
"This isn't the exit." Katara realised as Aang walked forwards
"No... it's a tomb." Aang noticed as the girls followed him. There was a giant hole in the ground in which two coffins sat in the centre off, several carvings along and around the edges.