- Third POV -
"Hey, look! A sword made out of a whale's tooth" Beams Aang as he examines a sword. Sokka rushes towards Aang and snatches the weapon from his hands.
"Let me see that" Says Sokka as he looks at the weapon.
"This is a Water Tribe weapon. See if you can find anything else" States Sokka in a stern tone. Aang and Sokka begin searching the area for more weapons. Katara and Mizuki approach them curiously.
"Did someone lose something?" Asks Katara.
"No, we found something!" Exclaims Aang as he shows a spearhead lying on the ground beneath a few fallen leaves. Sokka kneels before it, brushes aside the leaves and picks up the spearhead, examining it and running his fingers along its point, noticing ash on it.
"It's burned. There was a battle! Water Tribe warriors ambushed a group of firebenders" Exclaims Sokka as he turns away from the tree and looks down the slope of the hill seeing a black spot on the ground.
"The firebenders fought back, but the warriors drove them down this hill" Continues Sokka as he races down the hill along a dirt path. He leaps over a few large rocks in his way and continues. Mizuki, Katara and Aang quickly follow him.
"So, then what happened?" Asks Aang curiously.
"I don't know. The trail ends here" Replies Sokka disappointed.
"Wait, look!" Katara points at a Water Tribe ship in the distance. The ship is half obscured behind large rocks, sitting idly on the shore.
"It's one of our boats!" Gushes Sokka happily.
"Is this dad's boat?" Asks Katara excitedly as she runs towards it. The others follow her.
"No, but it's from his fleet. Dad was here" Informs Sokka.
❀❀❀
"See Prince Zuko, a moment of quiet is good for your mental well-being" Says Iroh calmly as he takes pours Zuko a cup of tea. Zuko raises the cup to take a sip, but the ship suddenly jerks; the vibrations cause the tea in the cup to go flying, soaking Zuko's face and hair. Zuko grunts in frustration, pushes his ponytail back, and rises to see what the commotion is about. A large beast, called a shirshu, suddenly leaps onto the deck, a young woman mounted on its back. The firebenders flee from the beast.
"Look out! Argh!" Shouts one of Zuko's crew members.
"Get back! We're after a stowaway!" Shouts the young woman as she holds a rolled up whip.
"There are no stowaways on my ship" Replies Zuko as he gets onto the deck with Iroh following him. The shirshu tears off a chunk of the metal deck flooring and hurls it in Zuko's direction. Alarmed, the prince ducks for cover, the firebenders and Iroh move to the side, and the metal piece hits the doorway leading to the main compartments of the ship with a clang as they turn around to watch it hit the door. Zuko glares at the woman in frustration while the firebenders and Iroh take a firebending stance. The Shirshu sticks his head inside the hole and begins sniffing around. It focuses on a single barrel which topples over, revealing that a strange man has been hiding in there. The stowaway appears and begins to run away. The shirshu runs after the man who's trying to flee. The shirshu's tongue strikes the man who falls onto the deck, paralyzed, and with a terrified look on his face.
"He's paralyzed" Exclaims Zuko as his eyes widen out of shock.
"Only temporarily. The toxins will wear off in about an hour. But by then, he'll be in jail and I'll have my money" States the woman as she lifts the man and slings him over her shoulder. She walks back to the shirshu and mounts it.
YOU ARE READING
The dualbender (atla) book 1
Fantasy[completed] [currently under editing] Mizuki is a girl who lost her parents to the Fire Nation when she was twelve. After two years of hiding, escaping and trying to survive she found the Avatar with some help of the two Water Tribe siblings. She de...
