Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 81: Red Blood, Blue Fire

"Cole!"

Little Leaf's cry sounded shrill and pitched and echoed strangely. The winding streets were deserted. No sign of life stirred among the cobblestone roads, the compact houses, the minuscule gardens or shadowed alleyways. Rain pattered down in fat drops, the only other sound in the village. After the roar of chaos just minutes before, it felt as if the land itself were holding its breath. The four figures wandering unsteadily down one of the main roads wondered what had become of the enemies who had attacked the village—and of the ninja who had been defending it.

"Cole! Talon!" Little Leaf called again, cupping her mouth with her human hands. Her voice shook this time. She clenched her eyes shut and paused for breath.

"Where did you say you last saw them all?" Misako had her head turned toward Lou Brookstone. Lou met the other woman's gaze anxiously.

"That way." He gestured weakly eastwards of where they were. "Near the west end of the town. Where the blacksmith lives." The ragged words that tumbled clumsily out of his mouth could not match the ferocity of fear gripping his heart and twisting it in so many directions at once. It left him feeling weak, and he half-expected for the ground to fall before him and to send him plummeting down the dark, endless abyss that threatened to engulf his mind.

Yet he kept his calm—or, he tried to, anyway. He couldn't help but add, "We need to find them—please!"

"Liana's doing the best she can." Abruptly, Little Leaf looked at him straight in the face. "She'll find them, I know it."

Lou found himself staring at the young teenager. Those big robin's egg-blue eyes, the heart-shaped face, that fearless gaze... she looked so much like Silver Mist, more than Black Blood did. His heart twisted once more, this time with nostalgia—and perhaps, love not quite lost.

"Of— of course she will," was all he could reply with. He cast his gaze forward to where the pale-blond-haired girl stood still, back toward them. Her ponytail, soaked through with the rain, clung limply to the side of the quiver hanging down her back, the ends of the arrows sticking up past her head alongside the end of the bow. She didn't seem to take any notice of the others. She only stared blindly ahead, concentrating in silence.

Lou shivered. He had caught up with Misako, a familiar face he knew who was a friend of Master Wu's, and the werecat girl and Liana a mere few minutes ago, after fleeing the brawl between Cole, Eagle Talon, and Black Blood. In heaving gasps he had explained what was taking place, and Misako gave a hurried explanation about Liana using "mind-bending"—whatever that meant, another ninja term, he presumed—to fight Black Blood. The girl had spent several achingly long minutes standing in place with her eyes closed, breathing heavily and muttering under her breath every once in a while.

Then, suddenly, she announced that Black Blood was no longer attacking Cole's mind, but something was "wrong". Lou didn't understand what she or anyone else was going on about. All he cared about was finding out what had happened to Cole—and, perhaps, his other children, Eagle Talon and Black Blood.

Three children! Strangely, this was one of the main thoughts that kept coming back. It voiced over and over again in his head, bringing anew the shock of it all. Three! Not one, not just Cole, but three! Silver Mist's son and daughter—my son and daughter... I have a daughter...

"This way." Liana's voice jolted Lou out of his thoughts. He blinked and saw her tilting her head eastwards. "I can feel him."

There was a peculiar tremor in her voice. It made his stomach clench uncomfortably. "Is he all right?" he managed to ask.

"Please—" She turned her head toward them, and he saw that her face was twisted. She looked as if she were struggling not to cry. "We have to hurry. He's hurt. He's hurt real bad."