Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 108: The Heir of the Moonstone

Liana was on her feet now. She was shaking and feeling every muscle in her body ache in protest, but she was up. Her hands found the pair of nunchucks dangling from her belt. For some reason the warrior cats hadn't taken them. Perhaps they thought they would be useless once she'd been possessed by Raven Frost.

The noise was awful. She could barely make out who was an enemy and who was an ally. Occasionally she'd make out a familiar voice—Skylor swearing angrily to her far left. Matilda shouting words in a foreign language followed the blasts and whizzing arounds of her magic being activated. A tom's grieving wail. The voice she wanted to hear the most was Cole's, but she couldn't make him out amid the clamor that shook her to the bones. She hoped that meant he was simply too far away and not because he'd been—

A pebble clattered to her right.

Gasping, she swung her nunchucks up in time to smack something big and hairy. Something crunched beneath flesh and fur. A heavy weight fell within five feet of where she stood, followed by a groan.

Though her arms quivered, adrenaline surged through her body. Her grasp on the nunchucks felt solid and familiar. She wasn't hiding anymore. Now she could be useful. Now she had a job to do.

She spoke, and the combination of euphoria and anger made her voice shake. "Try that again, I dare you."

"My pleasure," a guttural voice replied. It sounded slurred. She wondered if she'd broken the nekomata's jaw when she hit him. He coughed, and she could just barely make out the sound of something wet dripping on the ground.

Claws scraped against stone. He was getting up. She adjusted her stance and began twirling her nunchucks around—over her shoulder, around her torso, around her knees—with lightning-fast speed. It felt natural to her. They felt like an extension of her arm in a way. The sensation of that deadly handle slinging this way and that was a comforting one.

She stood a deep breath. I can do this. I can do this.

She stiffened. He was moving to her right in a half-circle. She waited a second for him to take a step closer. When his hot breath touched her shoulder she whipped her hand around and smashed the free handle into his nose. Something else crunched.

The nekomata reeled back with a loud groan. "Ugh! You little—!"

Liana advanced mercilessly. Bam, bam, whack, bam. Her nunchucks were fast and heavy. At best they left bruises. At worst they broke bones. The nekomata's growls turned into half-hearted whimpers.

At last the big cat fled. She heard his claws scrabbling away. She didn't pursue him. She teetered in place for a moment, catching her breath.

Then light blinded her—it happened so fast. Her eyes watered from the shock of it. For a brief second she could see Philip's face. Half-shaven face, dark curly hair, a broad grin—she didn't know how she knew who that young man was. She just did, as if she'd always been able to see his face before his death.

Then it was gone as soon as it appeared. Darkness once more stole away her vision.

Stifling a sob, she staggered backwards—and felt a bony hand on her shoulder.

"Ancestors above, I only sent Orange Throat to retrieve you for me," an all-too familiar voice purred in her ear. "You needn't have broken his face to pieces, especially with him already being so ugly to begin with."

Panic flooded Liana's mind. "Not you—!" She started running, but that cold hand snatched her by the collar of her gi and yanked her back.

"You're coming with me, Daughter of No One," Raven Frost growled.