Elemental Fate Book One: The Dragon Girl

Chapter Three: Air Benders to the Rescue

The next morning seemed so peaceful and quiet. I got up and we walked father along the river until  Fino whined  and I knew that meant  he was hungry. The egg inside my pack hadn’t spoken to me much but as I took it out of the bag I heard it. Cold! I made two fire balls with my hand and rubbed the egg with them until it glowed hot. Warmmmmm. It sounded content enough so I began to build a fire ring. Fino whined again.

“Hold on boy, let me get a fire going.” He started barking. I ignored him and continued what I was doing. Then he grabbed my sleeve and started tugging me. I finally looked up to see him looking at the sky. Then I saw him too.

            There was a boy falling in the sky. I watched in horror waiting for him to hit the ground. But then he opened his arms and legs. The wind caught his cloth flaps and he soared up into the sky. He did flips and turns like a bird. I smiled amazed by this gliding boy and then I remembered the book of legends I read in school, and I knew that he was a bender, an air bender. I watched him until he disappeared into the clouds.

            With the fire going I cooked the last of our food and then started to pack up. A twig snapped behind me and Fino let out a growl. I turned a shot fire into the trees and a rabbit ran out of the burning bush. Its poor little tail on fire. I sighed. Relax Kyra or you’ll burn down the whole forest. I was putting my bag back on when the forest was suddenly quiet. Too quiet. Fino heard them before I did and barked at me to get going. I got up and we took off running. Four or five men on horseback were chasing us. I was running as fast as I could but they were gaining on us and then the ground gave way to a cliff. I stopped a few feet from the edge. The men had their guns aimed at me.

“Put your hands where we can see them! NOW! Do not fire bend or we will shoot!” I gulped and obeyed. “Remove your bag!” I gritted my teeth and obeyed. The men got off their horses and started to advance towards us when a strong gust of wind started them.  I looked to see what caused it when the cliff edge gave out and I fell.

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The girl and her lion/dog/thing were surrounded by the men on horseback. When I first spotted them I thought they were after us, a group of five Air benders were probably worth their weight in gold to the Earth King.  I hovered a bit watching as they got off their horses.

“Kale, don’t even think about it.” I looked over at Breesic. She had this motherly warning look about her. I flashed my most devious smile and dove down sending a gust of wind to get their attention. It worked and I flew up a bit. Where did she- I heard a scream and realized the cliff edge gave out. Without thinking I dove after her and scooped her up and then bent the air to shoot us up to the rest of the group. She looked up at me. Confusion turned into wonder which turned into happiness and then despair as she looked down below.

“I can’t leave him, they’ll shoot him!” She said referring to her pet below. I glided up to Breesic who was glaring at me. I shrugged and turn to Maiko.

“Maiko, do you think we can lift it?” I said gesturing to the animal.

“I think so sir, but those men will open fire on us.” I gritted my teeth.

“I’m sorry there’s just no way we can risk it miss.” She glared at him and then unexpectedly she punched me in the face and I dropped her. Then the most amazing thing happened.

            She drove down and started spinning herself around. Flames shot out and twisted around her. She hit like a giant fireball, scattering the men and their horses. She shot fire balls and made a wall between them and her pet. Four of the five horses took off and there men ran off with them. One still stayed with a gun in one hand and a horse in the other. She kicked fire at him, and his gun turned red hot in his hand. He yelled and his horse took off with him caught in the reins. She then turned and diminished the fire wall behind her as we landed in front of her.

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I panted dropping to my knees. Fino bounded over and licked my face. I reached up and scratched his head. I could never leave you.  

“Sooo.”  The one called Kale started.

“Weren’t expecting that were you.” I said standing up.

“You could say that. But I suppose you weren’t expecting to see a group of air benders either.”

“I actually think I saw you earlier. Well one of you at least.” The girl folded her arms and glared at Kale, who smirked at me. He had darkly tanned skin and black hair. His eyes were a soft brown and crinkled when he smiled. I could tell he was built and he was pretty tall too.

“I told you someone would see you, idiot.” She said through her teeth.

“Well it’s a good thing I saved her life then. Oh where are my manners. This is Breesic, the gruff looking male is Maiko and the blonde man is Halos and I’m Kale.”

“My names Kyra Wes-” I paused. “Kyra, just Kyra.”

“Okay, just Kyra.” He said shaking my hand. Cold! I gasped and ran to my bag. Bending down to take the egg out I paused biting my lip.

“Is something wrong?” Kale asked. I picked up the bag and walked over to where they all were. Then slowly I took out my egg and warmed it like I had before. Halos gasped.

“Is that a dragon’s egg!?” he asked surprised.

“Yes, the mother died and left it to me.”

“It’s beautiful. My grandfather use to tell me about fire benders and there dragons. I thought they’d all died out.”

“Well he wasn’t far off. This might be the last one, kind of like me.” I hadn’t meant to say that last part. A flicker of sadness flashed through his eyes. Whether it was for me or this baby dragon I wasn’t sure. I stood after placing the egg back inside my pack.

“Well thank-you for saving my life. I better get going, they’ll be back with more men.” I turned to leave.

“Wait! Why don’t you come with us. At least until we get to the city.”

“Kale, how the hell are we supposed to carry that.” Breesic said referring to Fino.

“We’ll put him on the cart of course.”

“But-” she protested.

“Breesic, it will all be fine.”