Skipping Stones | Lo'ak

17

CHAPTER 17

       The group dispersed. Under the water everyone grabbed onto their rides and swam in all kinds of directions, trying to get away as quick as possible. 'Kanu pointed at a series of large underwater plants, meaning they should all take cover there.

Everyone followed behind 'Kanu as she was the first to swim by one of the leaves. They waited there for a while, unable to do anything else but look around, searching for any sign of the skypeople. While everyone was panicking, 'Kanu kept telling herself to not lose her cool. If she let herself think too much of the situation, she was guaranteed to have a meltdown and that would only get her - and possibly everyone else - hurt.

Soon a series of small submarines entered the water, heading straight toward them. Kanu could not believe it, how was this fair? Lo'ak turned on his ilu and motioned that they all swim away as fast as they could. 'Kanu looked past her shoulder as she sped through the waters with the others. They had just entered a forest looking cluster of plants and she hoped it would give them some kind of cover from the skypeople.

The chase was tiring - the humans had machines while they only had animals. They could not go as fast as them and the skypeople caught up quick. Lo'ak pointed downwards and the group willed their ilu's to go deeper. The plants grew more tightly together and they had to put a lot of concentration into where they were going so they would not get swept away by a leaf.

'Kanu swam behind Kiri and Tuk, and she could see as the younger started to slip and how Kiri tried holding onto her with one hand while putting distance between themselves and the machines.

They could see the lights from the machines hit the leaves in front of them and all this did was rise 'Kanu's panic levels as she wove through the plants, going deeper and deeper. The group had split up in two in an attempt to confuse the skypeople, but soon they were forced to turn back around when they noticed more machines up ahead.

One machine reached toward Lo'ak with its robotic hand, barely missing him. 'Kanu was beginning to get scared - more scared than she already was, that was - the skypeople had oxygen in their little machines but the group of Na'vi were swiftly running out of air.

'Kanu could see as Tuk's face was met with a leaf and her hands slipped out of Kiri's. The worst part was that 'Kanu could not even turn around to reach for the younger girl because one of the machines was headed straight toward her. Banking left, she managed to avoid its grasp but she was also driven away from the rest.

Alone and being chased through water was not an ideal situation - and that was why she felt a sense of relief wash over her when she caught sight of Tsireya, even though they were being chased by one machine each. 'Kanu could see a third machine headed for them and she realized it was getting warmed up to launch something at Tsireya. Not sparing a second to think things through, 'Kanu turned her ilu to face the machine.

The machine launched and the device hit her ilu. In a second the device revealed itself to be an airbag and the animal was lifted toward the surface without its will. With shaky hands, 'Kanu disconnected her queue from the ilu's. She had not expected it to hit her ilu, and she felt guilty as she saw it rising up to the surface against its will.

She was not even able to register the fact that she had lost an old friend when she realized she was surrounded by skypeople in their machines. Just as they were closing in, 'Kanu heard the call of an ilu and she turned her head to see Lo'ak headed toward her. She reached her hand out toward him and quickly held on when his hand came to contact with hers.

'Kanu was gracefully lifted onto Lo'ak's ilu behind him and her arm wrapped around his waist while the other rested on his shoulder. She looked back at the machines they had managed to escape as Lo'ak's hand traveled down to her thigh to keep her in place.