Fall of the White Lotus [Zutara/Taang]

25 | Keepsake

Music: Never Back Down, Two Steps From Hell

                     Despite his bad condition, Clocks turned out to be an amazingly good runner. Not only did he manage to keep up with Zuko and Katara with no apparent difficulty, he even outran them at one point. When he ducked into a small alley and disappeared from sight, the travelers shared a look of disbelief before rushing after him.

Zuko was the first to notice that the thief had stopped running. The rain and the darkness made it difficult to see, but the weak light coming from a window above them enabled him to perceive the dull glimmer in the thief's eyes, indicating that Clocks had turned around and was waiting for them. 

He came to an abrupt stop and, spinning around, was only just in time to prevent Katara from knocking them both into the thief. The waterbender gave a muffled yelp when Zuko caught her in his outstretched arms and momentarily held her against him to stabilize the both of them. She was acutely aware of his embrace and blood rushed to her cheeks, but Zuko didn't seem to notice her awkwardness as he released her with a curt nod.

To distract herself, Katara pulled her cloak tighter around her and scowled at Clocks, who stood perfectly still in the middle of the dingy alley. She could swear he was wearing a smirk on his weathered features.

"Well, you couldn't glide down an ice-slide if your life depended on it, but you sure know how to run," she snapped at the thief, causing Zuko to give her a surprised look.

Clocks grinned a little sheepishly. "Ah well...I know I don't look like I'd be this fast, but a thief learns to run. It's the most essential defence mechanism he's got." His expression turned into a grimace. "Of course this trait proves to be completely useless when one decides to rob the Fire Lord."

This elicited a smile from Zuko, but the firebender said nothing.

"So, what do we do now?" Katara asked as her gaze flitted restlessly towards the street outside the alley, where the unnerving sound of a group of pirates in pursuit became louder with every second. It would only be a matter of minutes before the pirates caught up with them.

"I'll take you to the north gates, as I was planning to. We still have a good chance of staying ahead of them," the thief replied, though he cast a worried at the street behind them.

Zuko pulled up his hood and shifted the swords resting on his back. "Lead the way and we will follow you."

Whatever doubts he had had about the thief seemed to have vanished with the rain, and Clocks seemed to grow a little under the implicit token of appreciation. With new vigor the thief plunged back into the street.

"Follow me."

Abandoning themselves to Clocks' knowledge of the pirate town, the travelers blindly followed the thief through twisting streets and dark alleys. After a few confusing turns, in which they sometimes passed the same street corners twice, Zuko lost track of where they were. But he put his faith in Clocks, who seemed to know the city like the back of his hand.

Judging by the angry sounds of boots splashing behind them, Zuko could tell that the pirates were closing in on them. As they ran, he noticed that lights were being extinguished at a rapid rate behind the small, grimy windows, and an uneasy feeling stole over him. Suspicious, like everything in this mist covered seaport town.

There wasn't anything resembling a town square in the harbor town, which seemed to have been built with no apparent plan, but despite Clocks' evasive manoeuvres, Zuko noticed that each step took them closer to the north gates. Behind the ocean of crooked rooftops, the dense forest rose up in their view, black against the dark blue of the midnight sky.