After the trees, the seas | Neteyam

Chapter 14

My heartbeat sped up immediately at the view of the tracker. Payakan had been marked. We got closer to the Tulkun. "Guys come on, help me out!" Lo'ak screamed. Neteyam jumped on Payakan and held out his hand to me. I jumped too, grabbing his hand as he help me get on Payakan's back. "Hurry! The ship is coming!" Lo'ak shouted. My heart was racing in my chest as I heard his words. I turned and saw the ship heading in our direction. We had to hurry. I went to him as he was trying to pull the tracker off. "It's not coming out!" he growled. I helped him, pulling on the tracker with all my strength, but it didn't move. Neteyam then joined us along with Tsireya, Aonung and Rotxo. We all tried pulling the stupid pinger. "Call it in! Call dad!" Neteyam ordered to Lo'ak. His brother looked at him, hesitant. "Just go! Do it!" Neteyam said as he grabbed Lo'ak's arm and pushed him away, for him to do what he ordered.

We kept pushing on the tracker as hard as we could. "1, 2, 3, pull!" Neteyam told us as we all pulled together at the same time with all the strength we had. It wouldn't work, how would that damn thing come out?! That's it! "Neteyam! The rope!" I screamed to him. He quickly nodded before jumping in the water, to his Ilu. He got out a rope. "Aonung!" he called as he threw him the other end of the rope. Aonung caught it and quickly tied it around the tracker as Neteyam tied the other part to his Ilu's saddle. "Alright, that's good!" Aonung said. Tsireya warned us about the ship getting closer, adrenaline was now at his highest. "Go, go, go!" I screamed as Neteyam swam with his Ilu. "Pull harder!" Tsireya screamed. "Come on!" I shouted. Then all of a sudden, the tracker came out, sending us all in water.

"Come on get out of here!" Neteyam ordered to the others as he grabbed the tracker. "Go that way, I'll draw them off!" he added before he looked at me. I frowned. "I'm coming with you" I said as I began to swim towards him. "No, go with the others Hayla!" he said firmly, pointing them. "What?! No, I don't even have my Ilu" I replied. "Then go with Lo'ak!" he kept arguing. "No Neteyam, I'm not leaving your side! We don't have time to argue!" I said sternly as I reached him. Lo'ak was waiting for us to decide. Neteyam sighed loudly and helped me get on his Ilu. "Lo'ak go!" he said to his brother. "Please be careful!" I told the youngest brother as he nodded and dived under water.

"Hold on!" Neteyam told me before we dived under water. We swam away from where the others went, trying to distract the sky people. We went as fast as we could. Then something close to us exploded, making me almost fell from Neteyam's Ilu. He caught my thigh and brought me back close to him as I tighten my grip around his waist. We kept swimming, running away from them. These seemed to be underwater bomb. Neteyam finally dropped the tracker. I turned my head to look behind us, I think we were good. My heart skipped a beat when I turned to see a bomb right next to me. The impact from the explosion was so strong that I was propelled off the Ilu and  everything went black.

***

"Hayla! Hayla! Hey wake up please!" I only heard his voice, but it was barely audible. He spoke again but this time his voice was loud. "Hayla!" I opened my eyes in shock as I felt a sharp grip on my arm. I coughed harshly as water came out of my throat. "Oh Hayla! Thank you great mother" Neteyam said trying to bring me to a nearby rock and keeping me at the surface of the water. I clung to the rock and tried to breathe, but it barely worked. I violently coughed again on all fours, as Neteyam rubbed my back softly. When I was finally able to catch my breath, I stood on my knees. He kneeled in front of me and looked at me with a worried sight. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. I nodded before he took me in his arms, holding me tightly.

"Do you know if the others are okay?" I asked him. He sighed before standing up. "They were captured by Quadritch" he said. "What? Where are they?" I asked as I stood on my feet. "On the ship" he said pointing to the boat. I turned and saw them as my eyes grew worried. "They have Lo'ak, Tuk and Tsireya.." he added. "We have to go get them!" I said to him. "For now we can't do anything, we'd get shot the second we would land a foot on the boat.. My father's controlling the situation, I guess..". The clan was gathered and waited for the command to attack. I also spotted Neytiri on her Ikran, keeping an eye on the situation from above. "Everything will be fine Hayla" he said pulling me into a hug. "You really scared me.." he admitted.

I raised my head to look at him with a smile. "Sorry.." I whispered as he smiled to me. I gently pressed my lips against his. We got interrupted by a voice coming from our communication device. My heart sank when I noticed it was Quadritch. We turned to look at the boat where Lo'ak, Tuk and Tsireya were being held hostage. Quadritch was speaking with Jake, through Lo'ak's collar, menacing him. My heart dropped when the demon held a gun at Lo'ak's head. I gasped loudly at the scene.

Jake told him that he was coming on the ship. I was freaking out, what if he kills Jake or Lo'ak... I turned to Neteyam with a worried look. "We have to do something" I begged him. He looked at me, concern now filling his yellow eyes. As he was about to speak, Payakan jumped out of the water and collapsed on the ship. We were now hearing screams from sky people. Jake, Neytiri and the metkayina clans had used this opportunity to attack them.

"That's our chance, let's go!" I shouted to Neteyam.