Blood of the North (Avatar: TLA Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Finding Her

     It had to be a trap.  And who else could it be set for but me?  I cautiously step forward and considered the direction it came from, I cannot afford to make a mistake and be caught.  If I am captured I may be killed and will be unable to save the baby.  Once I have agreed with myself where ecactly the sound came from I sprint to the left of where I assumed it was.  I look to my right as I run past and see a figure next to a half hidden trap.  The person stands up as I pass but I do not see their face.  The figure probably lived in the direction of the trap, so I sprint in that direction.  As I run, always paying attention to where the person may be behind me, I think about the trap.  It definitely did not look like any trap I have seen.  Before I let my thoughts stray I focus on my destination.  Up ahead I see firelight glowing from beyond the trees.  Stopping, I creep closer to the clearing that lay beyond the trees.  What looks like a permanent camp is set up there.  I look back, as I do not know where the figure from the trap is.  Suddenly I hear voices coming from the clearing.

     "Has she come yet?" A large man calls to nothing in particular as he enters the clearing.

     "No," a weaker voice responds, "She had better hurry, though...,".  A smaller, wiry man crawls out from one of the tents.  He is polishing a knife and grinning wickedly.  I immediately tense at the sight of him.  His very demeanor gave me the creeps.  I crept closer, trying to tell if either of them was the one who set the trap.  The older, thinner one had been in the tent, so no, but the larger one had just arrived.  He was much too big, though.  Suddenly a hand lay upon my shoulder.  I instantly grabbed the hand and pivoted on my right foot, using the leverage of my crouching position to flip the person over my shoulder.  They were light and easily went over, crashing into the clearing.  I immediately ducked back into the bushes.

     Both of the men whipped around, seeming to recognize the person.  I began to move away when the person I had flipped jumped to their feet and faced the men.  I stopped and checked to make sure I was not about to be ratted out.  As I did I saw the bigger man grab the person, who I recognized as the trap setter.  The other approached slowly, brandishing his knife and smiling.  The bigger man pulled down the person's hood and the mask they wore fell off.  The person was a girl.

     "So, did you get the payment?" said the smaller man, licking his teeth.

     "It got away-" the girl tried, fiercely anunciating each word.

     "Did you say it got away?" the small man seethed, his smile dropping from his face.

     "Yes, I-" the girl started, but the man smacked her across the face harder than I had ever seen someone smack another person, even in prison.  Instead of breaking, the girl turn her head back and screamed, tears of pain and hatred pouring down her face.  She struggled with the bigger man.  I decided then that I would save her.  I threw my knife at the bigger man, catching him straight in the face.  His head flicked back and he roared as he fell to the ground.  The smaller man let out an unbecoming shriek and turned to where I was hiding again.  I stood, revealing myself.  The man screamed and rushed at me, the girl seemed to be in a sort of shock.  As the man got closer I raised my hand and stopped him in his tracks.  He stood perfectly straight before I began bending his body unnaturally, agonizingingly.  I bent his ligaments as slowly and painfully as possible before they would break with a snap that, disturbingly to me, pleased me.  I launched his filthy body across the clearing and into a tree.  The girl was staring at me when she suddenly turned and sprint into the forest.

     "Wait!" I called after her, and started running after her.  I followed closely for a while before falling back.  I planned to follow her rather than scare her.  She slowed her pace a little, but kept running.  She made a sudden turn and I nearly lost her.  My pursuit took me through a tunnel of entwined tree branches.  The effect of them was purely ominous.  I came out in a clearing with only a small pool of water and large tree in the center of it.  I walked around the perimeter of the clearing and saw that all of the tree branches had been woven together and left to grow so that they formed a good barrier.  I moved my search to the pool.  It was made up of perfectly clear water and a palette of colours in the moss covering the bottom.  A rather abstract colour lead my eyes to the bass of the tree.  I could not believe my eyes as I saw the moss growing quickly form an arrow pointing up into the tree.  Peeling my eyes from the moss, I looked the trunk of the tree.  Two vines from dangling from a branch began forming a sort of ladder up into the tree. A slight wind picked up in the clearing and I heard hissed in my ears in a calming voice "Gooo... climb, to her...."  As if I had been possessed I walked toward the ladder of vines.  The voice had been so warm, so inviting.  Something in the voice told me that everything I needed right now was in that tree.  I began climbing, finding the vine ladder to be practically pushing me into the tree.