Blood of the North (Avatar: TLA Fanfic)

Chapter 4d: Rabbit Meat

I lunge first, driving the table knife into Zéi's left leg. She shrieks as I dodge out of the way, leaving the knife in her leg. I crash through the bushes and into the fire lit clearing. The two boys are paralyzed, awestruck, confused.

"That's my baby!" I yell, each word its own tearing shout. Before I can reach Jiròu, a body crashes into mine from behind. I hit the earth hard.

"Zéi!"

I roll on to my back, only to be pinned by the girl, eyes fire, blades raised for the final swipe.

The boys save me, grabbing Zéi's arms and pulling her off. She lands four solid kicks before I can scramble to safety. I gulp air at the edge of the firelight.

"Zéi, stop! Calm down! You need to stop!" The boys are fully distracted trying to contain their friend. I see where the baby has been placed near the tent. I'm dizzy, but I can move in one direction.

I scoop my baby up, turning to see the three friends wrestling beside the fire. Zéi is overpowered and without her blades, but she cannot be subdued. I take a steadying breath and take wobbly steps across the clearing. I swipe my empty waterskin and the old man's dagger off the dirt where Zéi dropped them. Muttering curses under my breath, I head into the dark.

"Hey, come back!"

Dao is the one yelling, as if I've just walked off a game of ice-ball.

I move faster, as fast I can in the dark where I can't see. Once I am far enough from the firelight, my eyes will begin to adjust and by the moonlight I am sure that I will be able to get away from this place. I'm hopelessly lost heading in an unknown direction, but at least I've saved the baby.

"If you go that way," Jiròu's voice carries over the trees, "You will lose your baby forever. There's no way out!" The urgency tone of his voice makes me all at once doubtful.

"Yeah!" I hear Dao scream, his voice breaking, "The forest spirit will trap you here forever! And then you'll never be rid of us!"

The baby is like a drop of lava in my arms. I walk for long enough to feel the chill set in, but the baby is sweating against my chest. The sling the old woman gave me must still be with the insane thief girl and I curse Zéi's name. I curse the old woman, too, and the old man and all the townspeople. They all should have been able to help—there is no reason they could not have taken the baby into their care. I am suddenly certain that I have been sent into the forest to my doom. They all knew there was no hope. Even the field workers waving to me did it laughing at how I would be robbed and left for dead.

I am thinking all of this when I see a fire's glow ahead. My breathing grows unsteady as I run toward the light. Whatever it is, it has to be better than this aimless wandering. Maybe it is the merchant the bandits had missed, stocked with gold and weapons.

I slow as I come up on the campsite. A tarp is strung between trees, just like the bandits' camp. The fire is all but burned down, someone keeping it alive with a log. I see no carriage or animal, so I rule out the merchant. I catch the scent of something cooking, and then I see it. Someone has speared meat on sticks and propped them at an angle to the fire. They cannot be far because the fat has only begun to drip.

A sense like a rat's nose drives me into the campsite. I will be gone in an instant and the stranger will think an animal has taken his meat, not a boy or baby. My vision becomes jagged as I come to the fireside and begin to pull a stick from its bed of rocks. A shiver runs through me, to feel the heat penetrate my icy hands. I put the meat to my mouth and take ravenous, dripping bites.

"You're back!"

I am so startled, the baby slips in my grip. As she begins to cry, I turn to face the boy peering out from the tent. Dao. His hands are empty. Behind him, Jiròu is laying back on his elbows, eyebrow raised. I take several steps backward.