7General Riko'rah began chortling menacingly when he saw what the soldier had brought him to.
"These two pathetic females are the "two companions of the Avatar" I should be worried about!" He guffawed even louder when his army joined him. Katara and Soraya became surrounded with mocking laughter and jeer.
Soraya, too annoyed to keep her state of incognito, boldly spoke up, "I'm the EMPRESS of the ENTIRE EARTHEN EMPIRE!"
This made the general chuckle.
"Pardon? Little girl, with the old Earth Emperor and Empress, both rotting in their graves as we speak, their eldest son is going to take over!"
"WHAT?" Soraya recoiled. With all her brothers ruling over something, her Father purposely left her as his successor; they all knew that. SHE was supposed to rule the empire! What was Nello doing on her throne! Had they thought she was killed, just drowned? She shook her head and set it aside, for the sake of their safety.
"Oh Yeah? Well you won't stand a chance against my Swan Stance!" Soraya grinned evilly and held her arms over her head to look like wings and lifted her right leg up. The Earth beneath the army began to rumble and the soldiers slowly backed up. Buildings trembled and threatened to fall.
"Hold your ground you wimpy imbeciles!" General Riko'rah barked. The other soldiers still hesitant received burns and slaps from Zhao along with harsh words.
"Now what," Katara anxiously whispered,
"Now" Soraya calmly replied. "We run."
The girls shrieked and turned around, sprinting to the hill behind them; where the Palace was. Screaming, they darted from side to side to avoid being scorched by fiery missiles.
The soldier who tipped General Riko'rah off to them turned to him now, "I'll go after them Sir!" Without waiting for approval, he raced in the direction the girls were heading. Riko'rah waved him off; other regiments were ahead anyways. They could seize him. Worthless mix. But he had to show authority.
"Two squadrons, Follow them." The soldiers exchanged bewildered glances. Which two? "FASTER! ANY TWO!" he screeched bitterly. About two-score soldier meekly stepped out, scrappily assembling into their operating positions and shot off.
"Retreat to the marketplace!" Soraya screamed. They ducked in the huge bazaar, hoping to blend in with the motley crowd. An array of shops lined either sides of the dirt path, pasted back to back with large colorful tapestries hung high from the ceilings of buildings for shade. Merchants yelled out their prices, and customers called for less. Mounds of rust-colored, lion-colored, moss-colored, and pomegranate-colored spices piled up like hills. Gold, silver, and jewels glittered about in the sunlight lustily, savoring to be wrapped about a woman's neck or a man's finger. Hovering in the air around them, the overpowering aroma of meats filled their nostrils: ostriches, pheasants, trout, bulls, geese, swine's, and just about any meat hung by morsels from the rafters of the butcher shops, dried and thoroughly salted. All the fruits and vegetables able to be conceived from harvest were found here as well. Cumquats, grapes, apples, berries, squash, eggplants, carrots, tomatoes, anything at all that could be summoned from the dirt. Squealing children ran around, chasing each other, or the Sweet Men, selling spiced rice balls, glazed hazel nuts, and other scrumptious delights. Mules lugging carts filled with goods slowly plodded along, their Masters screaming for people to clear a path.
Katara and Soraya dove in. Like green grape vines snaking around a vineyard stake, they deftly weaved and twined through the thick blanket of shoppers, nomads, travelers, and customers, desperate to lose the army. Katara pushed, Soraya shoved; she nudged, she kicked; she pinched, she elbowed. They continued like this, for about a half of an hour before Katara glanced back and pulled Soraya down a tiny alley, (if you would call it that, it was so small) behind rubbish bins. Soraya made a face at the foul odor but Katara lifted her finger to her lips, motioning for quiet. Much faster than how the road had cleared with the laboring donkeys, people rushed to the sides of the street as the squadrons pulled through, stomping in unison.
They passed by as indifferently as ever, barley noticing the citizens cowering in fright, much less the crack they were in…
After a few quick moments of Soraya squirming and pointing at the repulsive trash, pinching her nose and fanning herself, the girls stepped out. They quickly made their way out of the maze of shops then decreased to a slow saunter. As they proceeded to plunder on, the humidity increased, tiring them. Finally, they came to a drop in the road. Ahead, a gargantuan volcano loomed at the horizon, with luminous, orange magma, creeping down the sides and collecting in pools at the bottom, like the merchants cupping the glistening topaz jewels and letting them stream out of their hands to attract customers. There were deep jungles on either side of the molten road they traveled on. At the top lay the palace, made of cooled lava and painted ruby with maroon trimmings.
Soraya dropped to her knees in disbelief. They would never make it up. There was no way… for those who weren't Firebenders. She swallowed a large bit of dry, salty air, dreading what had to be done.
"The only way up is…" she began.
"Firebending" Katara finished.
Nellonfiro quickly strode to the throne room. He needed to make sure everything was prepared and organized. Tomorrow; would be the Funeral of both his Father and Mother, not to mention his younger sister, but anyone who knew her well knew she could survive a mere shipwreck. Traditionally, the entire empire was supposed to mourn a month for each royal family member or high noble. However, under the current circumstances, they would have to hold that off. For in two weeks, he would become the heir to his Father; he would succeed to the ultimate emperor's throne and be crowned "Grand Sultan".
A powerful blast of fire exploded from his thrust palm and hit a rocky part of the volcano, unusually painted mahogany. The corners of his mouth turned into a mixture between a snarl and a grimace as he nervously glanced behind him and prayed to Agni, that Riko'rah hadn't found had deserted. (Something rare, for firebenders had long abandoned their ancient religion, and instead of supporting the Avatar and piousness, were now in favor of the Fire Lord and self benefit. Spiritual Ceremonies were proclaimed to be held for religious reasons, but all, even the priest, had intentions to flaunt themselves and their finery to others. The mothers displayed their flirtatious daughters, ready and capable of being wed and becoming Fire Nation baby breeding machines at any given moment.) He was at the top of a rocky staircase made form igneous. The stones spiraled down around the volcano to its base; hidden by foliage and magma. Separate parts of it were activated by firebending. Suddenly, the mahogany slab of rock rumbled and slid to the right. He peered over his shoulder once more and ducked inside; oblivious or uncaring to the fact that the entrance's closing left a loud crashing reverberation afterwards. Katara jumped and turned to face the volcano once more.
"Did you hear that? That must have been-" Katara started then halted. The young princess was nowhere in sight. She padded forwards a few feet; towards the jungle.
"Soraya?" she hoarsely croaked. Both her heart and her head were pounding. She was ina state of panic, in an army section of the Fire Nation with the Conferential Palace directly ahead! There could be sentinels hiding in the jungles; yet most they had braved out at sea. She lifted her palm to massage her fevered brow as she staggered backwards. It was steaming… An arm abruptly popped out from a bush and dragged a speechless Katara in. She heard stark, callous screech like gibbons calling to one another before realizing that it had emerged from her own gullet.
NO! NO! OH GOD NO! THEY'LL SLIT MY THROAT WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT! WE WERE THE FINAL HOPE! AANG! AANG!
Katara could barely breathe given that her heart was pounding as fiercely as when medicine men hammered smoothed rocks together to grind herbs. Her petrified nerves had frozen leaving her lifeless and immobile. After the fraction of a second that had terrified the waterbender nearly to death; her chin smashed into the rough soil. She turned to glare at Sokka dressed in a Fire Soldier's armor. Soraya glanced back at Katara and silently returned to spying on the massive palace ahead through leaves she had pushed aside. Oblivious to Katara's entrance to the "sanctuary", Soraya spun to face the siblings with wan and numbed expression; looking ghastly as she spoke. She was terrified and she dare not say it but her features accurately articulated the message.
"Did you hear that?" she inquired trying to obscure her severely shuddering voice with a cough.
"What? Katara's battle cry?"
Katara smacked the back of Sokka's arm with a painful blow from her fist. Soraya turned back to the siblings and heaved a sigh; letting go of the leaves sand cutting off the faint rays of olive illumination.
"There was some noise! Rocks! ROCKS! I'd know the sound of boulders rumbling down the side of a mountain anywhere!"
"Doesn't everyone….?" Sokka sarcastically queried, and then put his palm up to his mouth to cover a yawn while tossing a pebble in his other.
Soraya could fell the back of her ears and neck burning up as if they had been brushed with something a ablaze. Her hands curled to clenched fists and she felt the corners of her lips arch downwards forming a scowl that bared her teeth. Here she was trying to help the AVATAR DEFEAT the FIRE LORD; and all he did was make sarcastic puns! THAT AREN'T EVEN FUNNY!
He's such a male chauvinist
Soraya was entirely fed up with Sokka; he had been complaining like an infant during their flight here.
I've tolerated enough!
Still crouching in the bushes like the rest, she struggled to keep herself from lunging at him and grab him by the large collar of the maroon Fire Soldier armor he wore.
With her turquoise eyes drilling through his, scorching with her fury, she hissed loudly,
"Not like that Sokka, you deranged delinquent! I meant it was deliberate! Someone or something shifted them, and no animals that live around the volcano or in the lava are strong enough to shift it except Scarlet Scorpions; who NEVER leave their nest! Someone forced the rocks down!"
"Who could survive that magma? Not even firebender, long enough to move those rocks surely?" Katara declared.
"Of course they can't stand it, well probably longer than we can anyways! But that's not it; the entrance must be somewhere in the volcano! A path! A path! There must be a path!
