The Warrior and the Prince

14: The Siege of the North Part Two

 "(y/n) wake up... wake up!" A female voice called out to me and my eyes slowly fluttered open to see Katara leant over me. "Are you okay?"

Everything came back to me in an instant: the Fire Nation's attack, Aang entering the Spirit World and Zuko appearing from no where and battling us. I sat up quickly and looked around to see Aang's body gone. "No... no, he took Aang, he beat me and took him!" I cried, curling up into a ball, embarrassed. Kavik knelt down beside me, rubbing my back comfortingly.

"There's nothing you could've done," he said soothingly. We heard a growl from above us and saw Sokka and Yue on top of Appa, them landing beside us in the spiritual oasis. Katara explained the situation to them and the five of us unanimously agreed to find the Avatar and quick. We all climbed aboard Appa quickly telling Momo to wait behind incase Aang returned. Sokka sat on Appa's head, said 'yip yip' and soon we were all up in the air.

"Which way do you think he could've gone?" Katara asked as Appa flew into the air.

"He wouldn't of gone down into the city, it would've been too risky. There are water-benders and Fire Nation soldiers everywhere, he would've been seen," Sokka analysed.

"Do you really think he would've gone this way though? I mean, it looks pretty brutal," I said, looking at the landscape that was more in land than the coastal Northern Water Tribe.

"My father has forbidden people to come up here. It's far to dangerous," Yue said and I could see why. The landscape looked treacherous - for miles and miles there was just emptiness, it was a desert of snow and ice. Thick grey clouds covered the landscape, snow and hail pouring from them. It was as though it was a completely different place from the elegant ice-city we were just in and I could understand why Arnook had forbidden people from coming up here. It looked life-threatening.

The five of us kept our eyes peeled but the heavy snow was making it hard to see. Not only that but I was freezing as I had left my top layer at the oasis. "Hey guys, what's that?" I called out, pointing to what looked like a cloud of snow rising from the ground. Appa flew down to it and landed, Sokka, Kavik and I dismounting and going to inspect it. It looked as if the icy ground had been disrupted by something as there was an immense crack in the ground, looking as though it was a mile deep.

"This looks fresh," Kavik said, brushing his fingertips against the edge of the crevice. "C'mon, it's dangerous to stand this close. Lets keep looking," he climbed back onto Appa, Sokka and I following.

"Don't worry, Prince Zuko can't be getting too far in this weather," Yue tried to comfort us.

"I'm not worried that they'll get away in the blizzard. I'm worried that they won't," Katara said the words we were all fearing.

"They're not going to die in this blizzard, if we know one thing it's that Zuko never gives up," Sokka said firmly. "They'll survive and we'll find them."

Darkness was beginning to fall around us but I wasn't worried about us getting lost, after all we could still see the orange glow from the Fire Nation's attacks on the tribe. Time was running out however, as we knew that without the Avatar there was a chance the Northern Water Tribe would fall. A sudden glow flew over us as though it was a shooting star, and Katara immediately piped up with excitement. "Look! That's gotta be Aang!"

"Lets follow it!" I called out to Sokka who directed Appa in the direction of the light. It flew over the crevice and into an opening under a large rock. Katara and I glanced at each other as we flew closer and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Aang's distinct orange outfit emerge from the cave. Zuko suddenly appeared next to him, holding him by the scruff of his neck but we landed right next to them, Aang's face lighting up.