A/N: This chapter is heavy with military terms. Please refer to the index table for definitions.
Part 1: Flee of the Fallen
Chapter 11: Shadowed Pursuit
Index table of Avatar:
Na'vi: The indigenous humanoid species that inhabit Pandora in the Avatar universe. They are known for their blue skin, tall stature, and strong connection to nature.
Ikran: Also known as a Banshee, these are flying creatures on Pandora that the Na'vi bond with and ride.
Giant Heliocentric Tree: A large tree in the forest of Pandora that follows the sun's movement to maximize sunlight exposure.
Index table of military phrases:
Bank left: A command to turn or tilt to the left, commonly used in aviation.
On your four: Refers to a position on a clock face, indicating the direction (in this case, 4 o'clock).
On alert: Being in a state of readiness for immediate action.
At the ready: Being prepared and in a position to act quickly.
Shooters: Refers to firearms or people who shoot.
Check six: This term means to look behind you to ensure there are no threats approaching from the rear.
Climb and maintain altitude: This command instructs the pilot to ascend to a higher altitude and hold that position.
Copy: A term used to acknowledge that a message has been received and understood.
Tally ho: It's a signal of having visual contact.
Disengage: This command means to break off from combat or an encounter.
Bogey: A term used to describe an unidentified aircraft or potential enemy aircraft.
Push it up: This phrase means to increase speed, often used to escape a threat quickly.
"Rae! Where the hell did these shiny creatures take you?"Lizard's voice echoed through their connection.
Moments later, Rae's bright yellow Ikran descended gracefully into a small clearing in Mirkwood. The vibrant hues of his scales stood in stark contrast to the dark, shadowy forest surrounding them. His wings stretched wide, shimmering with an almost otherworldly brilliance in the dim moonlight filtering through the dense canopy above, revealing her weapons attached. As Rae touched down, she let out a breath of relief.
"Well?"Always the impatient one.
Rae's fingers found the familiar grip of Lizard's scale as she swung a leg over its back. "I'll explain during the flight. No time now—fly."
Sensing its dissatisfaction through their neural bond, Rae reached out and gently stroked its neck. The Ikran spread its wings to full length and launched into daylight.
"So, spill it! What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?"Lizard demanded.
Rae rolled her eyes. "Captured by some strange creatures called 'elves'. They threw me into a prison, but I escaped using some ivy while they were distracted by a wailing creature."She was not one to launch into vivid descriptions, especially after losing her family.
A pang of grief flooded their bond, but she tried to keep it back.
Lizard pretended not to notice her emotion. "Ivy, huh? I always knew you had a green thumb. Maybe you should take up gardening instead of getting into fights."
"Very funny. Wait, how did you know I got into fights?"
Lizard glanced up at her. "Do you seriously think I missed those bruises when we left in a hurry?"
"Of course not,"Rae huffed, too stubborn to admit it was right for once.
"Speaking of strange creatures, how well does that blue-eyed thing fight?"
Rae stiffened. "Legolas didn't pick a fight."
Lizard howled with laughter. "Oh, now that blue-eyed thing has a name! Lego, you said? I heard that's a toy human kids play with—vibrant colors for dumb ones. Which color is that Lego-with-an-extra- 'las'toy? I bet he's hot pink."
"How very observant of you. And Legolas is a prince."
"How very observant of you to memorize both his name and status in no time,"Lizard teased, flapping its wings in circles.
Rae rolled her eyes, then yawned. "Have you eaten these days? I'm starving, but I'm gonna sleep for a bit. Don't do back-flops."She found a spot just between its majestic wings and settled down.
"Fine, I'll do head-over-heel-flops instead,"Lizard chirped happily.
"Do you know what a heel is?"Rae asked lazily.
Her Ikran laughed lightly. "Get your beauty sleep. I've got your back. Or rather, you've got mine. Literally. Wait, you're on your back when you sleep, right? So it's like we've got each other's back."
"Wake up! Wake up, sleepy-head!"Lizard nudged her awake.
Rae barely opened an eye and roused as she mumbled, "What is it? Missing my excellent company?"
The Ikran mused, "Say that to Lego with an 'las'. I feel something's not right."
Alerted, Rae sat up and scanned their surroundings. It was well-known in Pandora that the animals usually sense danger more quickly than others, even beating the Na'vi in that zone.
The landscape below had changed from the dense, dark forest to the sprawling expanse of a vast mountain range loomed ahead, a breathtaking sight of towering peaks bathed in mist and snow. The sun was about to set as Rae realized she had slept away the entire day. The peaks rose sharply, their jagged edges dusted with snow that glimmered in the fading sunlight. As they rounded a peak, she felt a presence.
"Lizard, something is following us, something large,"Rae whispered through their bond.
"Are you certain? Check six,"Lizard replied. Certainly, every Na'vi warrior was familiar with military terms, which they found useful during combat.
She took another moment to squint behind them. "I couldn't see it. Climb and maintain altitude."
"Copy, hold tight,"the Ikran growled. Night had begun to fall as they soared higher into the sky. The crisp, cold air grew sharper as they ascended, the temperature dropping noticeably even for the Na'vi body. Kneeling on Lizard's back with one hand still grasping firmly to its scale, Rae focused intently. Her superior eyesight picked up faint shadows in the distance, silhouetted against the twilight sky.
"Lizard, there are more of them now. I see two, maybe more. They're closing in fast."
Through her keen Na'vi eyes, she could finally make out the full forms of their pursuers. As the forms drew near, Rae could hear their guttural, rasping breaths and the occasional bone-chilling screech that pierced the night air. The creatures, massive and horrifying, had wingspans that seemed to stretch across the sky, almost as large as Lizard. Its riders sat astride these monstrous mounts with an unnatural stillness, their dark cloaks billowing like tattered shadows. From a distance, they appeared as figures of pure darkness, seamlessly blending into the night.
"Tally ho, disengage."Rae's fear echoed in her thoughts through the bond.
"Damn it, Rae, what are they?"Lizard gritted its teeth as the wave of fear flooded through their bond, along with the terrifying screech of the beast.
Rae flinched as she felt the beasts getting dangerously close. "Bogey, closing fast. Push it up!"Lizard did not need to be told twice as they shot through the cold night sky, trying to get rid of their pursuers.
Hours turned to days as they maintained their altitude, the persistent presence of the unknown pursuers a constant shadow on their journey. At first, Lizard had complained without losing any speed, "I wish we were at home, with a hearth of fire beside your tent, top branch on that Giant Heliocentric tree, and the sun warming my aching back."
Rae rolled her eyes. Her muscles ached from the constant vigilance, though the keen eyes of Na'vi never wavered. "Your stomach, you should say. And don't forget my hands doing a stomach scratch for you."
"Definitely, a decent stomach rub sounds so nice. Wait, what did I just say?"Lizard stuck its tongue out as the laughter of its rider rolled through their neural bond.
But soon, both were too weary to complain or to speak to each other. Rae had been on long rides with her Ikran before, as she traveled to stay over at her friend's tent by the ocean during the rainy seasons of the forest. To her delight, the Ikran had caught a medium-sized bird that morning, leaving the skinning job to Rae as Lizard tossed the prey to its back.
"I can't believe I'm being spoon-fed like a child!"Lizard complained for the first time in days.
Rae shoved a chunk of bird meat into its mouth, an effective way to silence someone instead of saying, "Radio silence."
To their utter disappointment, their pursuer had not stopped. They did not seem to need food, water, or even rest. Even their beasts forever reeked of despair and death. They never flew near enough to be within shooting range but made sure to make their presence known.
Rae had initially believed that they would abandon them as soon as they headed out of the mountains, but apparently, the size of the pursuit only increased.
Two soon turned to five. Five turned to seven, then nine.
They were shadows, shadows among the world of the living, rotten inside their secrecy of the cloak.
"This is not gonna work. We can't stay airborne forever,"Rae sighed with frustration. She could feel Lizard tiring through their bond, even herself was weary because of the lack of sleep.
Lizard looked up, barely lifting its heavy eyebrows. "Yes, it is. We're going to find a clearing and-"
"On alert, at the ready."Rae's sharp eyes caught sight of the ominous figures closing in on them. Not only fatigue, but also the monsters have caught up with them.
"They're here!"Lizard shouted, its wings beating furiously. The dark riders, certainly tireless, spurred their mounts forward, closing the gap with terrifying speed.
Rae immediately stood up into a fighting pose and reached for her weapons attached under its wings. "Shooters."
The dark riders unsheathed their swords, a rare weapon for a Na'vi, and charged at them.
"Lizard, bank left!" Rae shouted as one of the beasts screeched at its tail.
She clung to its back, as its massive wings cut through the air, veering to the left. All the while, Rae dodged the swing of a sword from one of the dark riders.
The beasts shrieked as they closed in at once, their claws gnawing dangerously close to Lizard's body. "Fence out! Climb!" Rae called out, her eyes darting between two dark riders with their swords raised above their cloaked hoods, ready to strike Lizard's neck from both sides.
She drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and released.
The arrow hit right where the face would be for a normal person, causing the dark rider to screech in pain and almost lose control of its beast.
Lizard took the chance to shoot up toward the sky, Rae's grasp on its scales tightening.
"On your four!" Before Rae could even shout the warning, a beast came slamming headfirst into Lizard's side.
"Arghhh, get off me, you filth!" Lizard screamed as a wave of pain rushed through their bond. Nocking another arrow and firing, Rae's Ikran clawed at their enemy, delivering one of its powerful grips.
Rae barely had enough time to grasp Lizard's scales as it threw its entire weight onto the beast's bare skin, causing her arrow to miss the target by inches, embedding itself in the creature's shoulder.
The wraith staggered but did not fall, its dark eyes glowing with malevolence.
"Brace yourself!" Lizard's claws raked across the enemy's side. The beast screeched in pain.
Soon, the beasts were closing in again, taking advantage of their weariness from the long flight, all swords drawn, all claws unsheathed.
At short distance, bows were useless. Abandoning her bow to take up a pair of short knives, Rae lunged at the dark riders.
Her blade met the dark rider's weapon with a sharp clash. The force of the impact reverberated through her tiring arm. Swift as the passing wind, Rae countered the sword with a cross blade. Twisting in mid-air as she landed on Lizard's back, she thrust forward and sank the blade into the dark rider's chest. Pulling her knives free, she braced for the next strike.
Another dark rider closed in.
"Hold fast!" Lizard twisted in midair, narrowly avoiding the creature's teeth.
Rae saw her chance. She lunged, her knife aimed at the wraith's heart. The blade struck true, sinking into where the heart would be for a normal person. The wraith hissed, its dark form writhing in pain.
Two down, seven to go.
Her triumph was short-lived, as Lizard's roar of warning pierced the night. "Rae, on your five!"
The words barely registered. A dark figure emerged from the gloom, its blade a slender curve of malevolent steel. Rae's body jerked instinctively, but too late. A searing pain exploded in her gut as the dark rider's blade found its mark.
"Rae!" Lizard's voice was a distant echo. Oh, how she longed to look up and high-five her buddy.
Rae gasped in agony, the knives slipping from her palm as the strength in her arm drained.
She felt herself falling, the world tilting wildly. She could barely see the sky spinning above her, the chaotic battle of shadow and death, as the dark riders and their beasts screeched in triumph.
She hated that sensation—the feeling of having nothing to rely on. Not having her feet steady on the ground or upon her Ikran's wings.
She hated it because it was the same way her father, Nataya, Locke, her mother, and then Elara died.
She hated it because it was the only time she would scream.
And she had vowed never to scream.
So, she fell.
Not a single whimper escaped, just as she vowed.