Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 33: The Ambush

It was midday when Eagle Talon paused in his tracks. He opened his mouth and sniffed the air, and a look of concern crossed his face.

"What is it?" Little Leaf asked.

"Dunno." The young man's face was set into a hard line. "Stay here." Before anyone could protest, his lithe human form shrank into the dark brown tabby cat, and he darted up the slope and disappeared.

"Where's he going?" Lloyd asked with a frown.

"No idea." Little Leaf shrugged. "This is a more dangerous part of the mountains, so he's probably just being paranoid."

"Why is it more dangerous in this area?" Zane asked. He and Cole gently set Jay onto the ground, both weary of carrying him.

"It's just outside our territory," Little Leaf explained. "There are more mountain cats, eagles, bears, and human packs roaming about here. And we're not even talking about gorges covered with snow that you could fall through, icy rivers, landslides, and steep cliffs that stand above the clouds." Smiling she added, "The mountains are not a home for the faint of heart."

"'Human packs'?" Nya repeated.

"You know." The werecat gestured to Lloyd. "Like those bad men we ran into a few days ago. What did you call them, Lloyd?"

"Bandits," he confirmed grimly.

"Yeah, those," she said cheerfully. "We usually aren't very worried about them, since just one cat could totally kick a whole pack of their tails, but I guess Talon is just worried this crowd will draw bandits to us."

The group then waited in silence for the werecat's return. Zane adjusted Jay's slack body at a more reasonable angle against a boulder while Wu scanned the horizon. Matilda turned her back on the crowd and muttered inaudibly under her breath, not seeming to be talking to anyone but herself. Liana guided herself to a large flat boulder and sat down with a small sigh, looking quite tired, while Cole stood by idly and scuffed the dirt with his toe.

Nya watched the boulders where Eagle Talon had disappeared for a minute longer, then turned away. She saw Zane crouching down by Jay and joined him. She stepped lightly as if wary of waking Jay, when of course she knew that not even an exploding bomb would make him stir.

"I have scanned Jay's levels of protein and bodily fluids, and both are dangerously low," Zane murmured grimly. "He has neither drunk nor eaten for many days, and technically he hasn't slept, either. His mind is still strangely active, and stress hormones are high. He is in dangerous shape, and needs medical treatment as soon as possible."

Nya bit her lip in consternation. "Could we force-feed him, maybe? He can't go on like this for much longer."

"We could try." Zane still looked doubtful. "When I tried to give him a swallow of fried rice the other night, he only choked on it."

"Maybe a bit of water, then." Gingerly, Nya pried Jay's jaw open, then summoned an orb of water from the palm of her hand. Carefully she guided a small trickle down his throat while Zane watched intently. As it slid down his throat, he unconsciously choked and gagged, and spewed a few drops out of his mouth. However, his throat convulsed and swallowed the water, and both Zane and Nya breathed a sigh of relief.

Nya was about to continue forcing water into his system when Eagle Talon burst into view and bounded down the little valley, scattering dirt and pebbles. Everyone looked up and watched him as he skid to the bottom, heaving for breath.

"Bandits," the tomcat gasped between ragged breaths. "Coming this way. There are a lot—too many."

"We can handle them!" Cole declared confidently.