Intangible

16: Ukxo reypaytun

I tore through branches and vines, I climbed through roots. My hands were raw and purple from the rough bark. Gunfire still followed me. It was hard to forget the pain until the adrenaline from the shock hit. Tsu'tey is falling and I have to save him. 

An Amp suit disrupted my path. The man stomped out from behind the tree and was unaware of me until I bumped into him.

"Tsu'tey! Brother do you read?" Jake came in through my throat mic. Fear flooded my body when I realized that the man in the suit heard me. 

"You must be one of our traitors." He grinned. I hissed and I dropped my bow when he reached for his gun. I drew my knife and climbed the tree the man in the AMP suit appeared from. He began to fire.

I dodged his line of sight and clung to the back of his suit. I heard a great roar from behind me. It was her! The dark one from my dream hunt.

She screamed and leaped for the AMP suit. She was bigger than I remember, her dark skin and thick scales were decorated in red paint and scars. She was from the Anurai. I dropped from the man's AMP suit and she launched herself to him and tore into the metal with her teeth. He was ripped away from the suit and smashed into the ground. He was dead on impact.

She sighed as her eyes met mine.

"Palulukan." 

----------Tsu'tey's POV----------

I gripped onto leaves and vines, trying to slow my fall. I crashed into the ground and my whole body stung. I had wounds, many wounds. I kept breathing, I need to stay awake. I found my knife not too far away. Without my bow, the best I can do is hide. I do not have time to make another. 

I rose to my knees and looked around. The trees around me were on fire, everything was on fire. Screams from my clan and people were echoing through the burned trees. The pa'liyä maktoyu had failed and the tawtute were on their way. 

Dread filled my senses and I felt terrible sorrow and fear. I tried to stand, but moving is a great task, and I have little strength. I leaned myself up against the roots of a tree and began moving towards the front of the battle, she has to be there.

----------Our POV----------

She was not threatening me, but she was walking closer, closer, until my back was pressed against the jagged tree bark. Her snout gently touched my wound in my side as she gave it a sniff, a second sniff, a third. She turned and I thought she might run away, but she stopped before me and moved her kuru[neural queue] towards me. 

I grabbed her saddle, I put my arrows in the quiver, and I brought my tswin[braided queue] to her kuru. A sudden shock flooded my body and mind. She was filled with rage and sorrow, her life is tragedy. I saw her mate before the tawtute, the children, taken and put in cages, another rider, her death, another rider, his death, and now me. I saw the ceremonies they held for her, the Anurai clan, I saw their gazes. Their lives before their bone-filled valley was torn away by the greedy and manipulative aliens. Her name is Kilvanu, she has lived long, she has seen the dawn of hell's gate and she will see the end of it, even if it costs her life. 

"Kilvanu, I have someone I love. I must find him."

"Let us look." We began moving. I clung to the saddle which was textured by beads and twine, threaded and woven intricately. It was stained in blood. 

I moved into the area where I think he fell.

"I do not smell anything too different, you know his scent, I will know it if you think it." She told me.

I remember him. The scent of water, A'o flowers, moss, and warmth. The scent of the blue and yellow flowers which had been burned into a stain paste. Something unique to the omatikaya, our paint is used to stain the fibers we weave. 

Kilvanu found it quickly and followed it in a sprint. 

She stopped suddenly. There was panic rushing through her. I felt it in her feet, rumbling up into her body and mine. Stampede.

----------Tsu'tey's POV----------

I felt a rumble in the earth and I took for cover. There's only one thing it can be. I hear Neytiri through the neckpiece.

"Jake, Eywa has heard you..." She sounds shocked. A rush of orange, red and blue breaks through the forest from behind me. A talioang[sturmbeest] races by me and I hear screams shortly after. Another one, and another. Some 'angtsìk[hammerhead titanothere] rush by, trumpeting as they go.

"Eywa has heard you!" Neytiri screams with relief. Toruk makto had done this? I heard the screeching of banshees and a sudden great roar.

I held my ground, but clung tighter to the tree. First, a stampede. Now, a Palulukan[thanator]? I gripped my knife a little tighter. I heard it bounding towards my direction, so I tried to find a better place to hide, but there was only trampled ground and rooted trees. 

It stopped suddenly and I turned to face it. It was painted red! I knew I had nothing to fear, it was the Anurai's palulukan. Surely, the rider would not allow me to be eaten. I thought of the rider and I glanced to the beast's back and found a familiar face.

"Ean! What are you doing on the back of a palulukan?" 

"Making friends! Get on, I'll get you back to safety. Eywa's children will take care of the rest." Her sweeet voice sounded hoarse and confident. Loud and odd, not all of that was her speaking to me. This palulukan chose my Ean. I felt sudden pride and joy, there was love in there.

I climbed onto the back, warry still, it is a palulukan. 

"Tsu'tey, take my bow. Four clawed hands and a bow is better than just four clawed hands." She said. That was all her, the relief in her shaken voice, the fear in her eyes, her sorrow in her smile. 

I took the bow from her lap and nocked an arrow before we began winding through the trees.

----------Our POV----------

Tsu'tey is heavily injured, he can't use the bow efficiently without hurting himself. I have to make sure to keep hidden from the aliens. We ran and winded through trees, climbing hills and over roots.

An explosion rang over head and I saw the valkyrie. My heart sunk into my stomach when it was coming down at us. 

"Faster!" I breathed. We ran at full speed away from the falling craft towards the lip of the valley. Another, larger, explosion knocked the wind from my lungs and Tsu'tey and I from our seats on Kilvanu.

I opened my eyes through the blinding pain, I turned and thrashed my body once I saw Tsu'tey. His wounds opened again, the bleeding was picking up. I twisted myself onto all fours and I clawed at the dirt under me. I grabbed his arms and shook lightly.

"Tsu'tey, come on, we have to go!" He groaned and nodded, his nose scrunched and he touched my side. I hissed in pain, I had forgotten my own wounds. He gave me a worried look, a concerned and scared one, the wound had torn further, and the blood was leaking down my hip and leg. I looked down at it, and back at Tsu'tey.

"Call your palulukan, we must get you to healers quickly." He commanded shakily. He patted my arm trying to get me up and going.

"Do not forget yourself, your wounds are too great for me to leave you here. I cannot- will not ever leave you!" I shouted. I whistled for Kilvanu and hoisted Tsu'tey up first. I made Tsaheylu with her and began running.

"Don't ever whistle like that at me, I am not a Pa'li."

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know how to call you if not a whistle or bird call. But first we must get to the tree of souls."