Behind the Flames .:H2OVanoss:.

.:Chapter 21:.

          David slid past the writhing serpent and grabbed ahold of Arlan's tunic before he went under again. He dragged the choking man to the bank, where a recovering Marcel ran up to assist in getting the water out of his lungs.
          "David behind you!!" Marcel warned. David leapt back over the water just as one of the serpent's many tongues lashed out. It barely missed.
          He skated all the way around the serpent twice, dodging tongues and teeth to distract it from the other two. All of a sudden, the serpent lost interest, and raised its head to smell the air. It had spotted another person losing hold of a piece of driftwood, scenting the dark red pool around his body. David saw it too, making his heart thunder in his chest.
          "Lui! Hang on!!" He moved as fast as he could go, matching the serpent's speed in a race for the air bender. The serpent opened its mouth and lashed out a tendril that wrapped around Lui's bleeding torso, lifting him out of the water and dragging him back towards its snapping jaws.
          David saw and took the opportunity to slosh a wave over the tongue and freeze it in place. The serpent screamed, tugging at the frozen block, unknowingly dropping Lui in its struggle. David swooped in and barely caught the air bender; 'barely' as in he caught Lui's wrist at the last moment before he was lost to the rapids. He used the water to lift Lui up and placed his arm under his shoulder.
          "Are you ok?!" He demanded, skating over to the shore. Lui coughed up water and nodded with through his shivering.
          "D-David.." When his feet were on the solid ground he lifted his shaky hand, stained in blood, and showing the nasty chunk of skin missing from his hip.
          "Oh no, don't worry Lui, I'll fix you up!" He placed his water coated hands on the wound and began healing, but they both jumped at the sound of ice cracking and splashing into the water. The serpent freed its tongues and was already glued on Lui's blood.
          "Run, Lui!! It's good enough to stop you from bleeding out, just get out of here!" David screamed and formed his own long tendrils of water around his arms. He threw the water and froze it into chunks, forcing the snake back with each heavy blow.
          "David-!"
          "Get somewhere safe! I'll be fine, go!" He looked back and smiled reassuringly. Lui refused to move at first, but Arlan's and Marcel's hands grabbed him and dragged him up the gorge before he could protest.

          "Help!!" Craig coughed heavily as a wave splashed over him yet again. His body tumbled helplessly with the waves over and over. He'd lost sight of everyone, even the serpent, as the water's strength forced him under longer than he could hold his breath for. Long ago he had lost his glasses to the current, blinding him even more under the water. He felt his chest painfully convulse with the lack of air and his muscles grow weaker in each kick.
          His eyes slowly drifted shut to the soft sounds of a bird chirping in the distance. It oddly soothed his stress and calmed his fear, until, he gained a new mysterious strength in his body, and scrambled awake when he bumped into a large stone. He gripped it and began to climb it until he broke the surface. Gasping for air, he clung to the rock with all the strength he could possess.
          A random chirp woke him from his daze. He looked up into the eyes of the green sparrowkeet with the pink head- holding his broken glasses in its yellow beak. "Oh, thank you.." he smiled, reaching a shaky hand out to touch it. The bird placed the glasses on the rock, chirped at him again, and fluttered out of sight before his finger could feel its ghostly feathers.
          He remained still on the rock for a little while, then decided to get moving before he froze to death. He raised his head and picked up his glasses, slid them on, then gazed around. The first thing he saw was Tyler further downstream, clinging to an overhanging tree root, looking around frantically. He caught sight of Craig for a brief moment, then gazed back up the stream at the approaching serpent.
The beast tried to coil around David as he skated by, but he was barely inches out of the reach of the serpent. Jonathan flew by a second later to lend a hand.
"H-hey! Over here!" Craig waved desperately. David saw him first, and left the monster with Jonathan for a moment. As he approached, Craig pointed at Tyler. "Don't leave him!" David looked at their leader, then back down at Craig, then back at Jonathan, who was snatched by the leg by one of the flailing tongues and left dangling helplessly in the air.
"Shit, you're gonna have to help Tyler!" David grabbed Craig's arm and practically tossed him onto the bank on the other side. It was a rough landing, but now he was only a couple feet from Tyler. Alarmingly, the man was not moving too much, and looked to be in serious pain.
"Tyler, are you alright?!" He bent down and reached out a hand. "Hurry! Before it sees you!"
The man looked like he was going to reach out, but instead he hissed with pain and clung tighter to the branch. "I-I don't think I can let go without being swept away." He scrunched his face painfully.
"I'll hold on to you, don't worry! I promise I won't let go!" He grabbed the arm hanging on the creaking branch. "Give me your other hand!" Tyler hesitated. "Tyler!!"
The serpent slammed its body back into the water, sending a wave so large it shadowed over them before crashing down. Craig lost his grip on Tyler but managed to cling to the tree. When the water was sucked back into the river, Tyler was gone, as was the branch he was holding on too.