Bad Moon Rising | Book 4

19: The Liquidator

Art: Artist Not Found

The sky was still dim when Kida began to kick everyone out of their beds. She wanted to be in the Earth Kingdom by the end of the day and they no longer had a flying bison on standby. Most of those in their group were used to waking up at the crack of dawn and setting off quickly but not everyone.

Uzume and Rai were clearly dragging—the latter moving the slowest. "You think you could heal these for me, Kiki?" said Rai, gingerly pressing the purple edges of a bruise on his face.

Kida didn't even look up from the sleeping bag she was rolling up. "If you don't want bruises then fight better."

"Why? You won your bets didn't you?" After the fight, and once Sokka and Zuko had managed to peel Rai off the ground, Kida and Uzume had left with the contents of their pockets doubled in amount. That wasn't to say she approved of how she got it.

She finished the roll and began to secure it onto one of the backpacks. "Can't you go one night without causing trouble?"

"Yes, multiple in fact, but you took away my suppressants," he shot her a dark look, "so I had to find another way to sleep."

She got to her feet, tugging the pack over her shoulders as she finally looked at him. "If you want someone to knock you out then all you gotta do is ask. I'll happily oblige."

He wasn't offended. Instead, he gave her a smile. "That's so sweet."

"I'm the sweetest," she said in a sardonic tone, "now get off your ass so we can go. The meeting point with the royal air fleet is still a few hours' walk."

After they'd gotten the information from the old man, Zuko had sent a message to the palace ordering for an airship to be prepared. It was the next best thing to Appa.

"Fine, fine," he groaned.

There was a military base not too far west which already had airships waiting and soldiers on standby. After a short trek, they were greeted by a small troop that led them the rest of the way. Uzume and Rai were thoroughly amused by the soldier men; it even occupied them while they were up in the air. Kida hardly noticed. She was too busy pouring over a map with Zuko and a lieutenant from the base who claimed to know the Earth Kingdom well.

"We've gotten word that several of our more unruly citizens have been spotted here and here." The lieutenant circled two points on the map that were to the north of Yu Dao.

Kida pointed to a spot just south of the large city. "That's where we found June two summers ago. I remember seeing a lot of mercenaries around there. If we don't find Shiro we may find another tracker at least."

The lieutenant circled where she'd pointed. "We can stop there first."

Kida looked up at the man. "We?" Her frown turned to Zuko, looking for some explanation.

"We'll be able to cover more ground with more people."