This picture was always something he feared for his son, right from the day Cole had announced to him that he was a ninja. He always worried for him during the greatest battles and during the times he was gone on missions—even when Cole assured him that he would be all right and he had it under control, Lou could never help but fear for his boy. Logically he knew, more often than not, it was irrational for him to conjure up such horrid pictures in his head, for whatever happened, Cole always returned safe and sound (except for that time when he came back as a ghost, which scared the bejeezus out of Lou). All in all, it was simply the nature of a parent to worry about their child, and Mr. Brookstone was no different. Now, however, his darkest nightmares were coming true. Cole lay before him now, broken, wounded, and appearing half-gone. The silence of Misako and Liana only gave proof to the fact that the situation was as dire as he feared. Though they had been chased away, there was still the faint sound of crows cackling in the distance, and he remembered when the Serpentine Wars had raged through Ninjago—he had seen one battlefield where hundreds of fallen soldiers lay defeated, and it was there multiple murders of crows gathered greedily to feast. Lou felt himself heave a long, low sigh. With that sigh he lowered himself onto his knees, uncaring of the rain soaking through his pants—he was wet already, anyway. He crouched beside the blond girl, and took Cole’s hand in his. It was still warm, though stiff and unmoving. The lifelike heat gave Lou a small sense of relief. “It’s going to be OK, son.” He squeezed Cole’s hand in his own. “Just hold on.” “Hold on,” Liana echoed in a rasping whisper.
* * *
“Retreat!” Gray Strike’s call reverberated loudly throughout the main street on the village. “Moon Tribe warriors, retreat!” Just as suddenly as they had appeared at the gate earlier that afternoon, the many werecats, varying from bakeneko to nekomata to human shape, turned away from the battle—the battle they had been fighting furiously against one old man, one nindroid, and nearly three dozen dogs.
The two werecat warriors Zane had been exchanging blows with suddenly turned away from him. The nindroid let the metal claws he had strapped to his hands fall to his sides as he stood there watching, gasping for breath while his feline adversaries fled with their tribe-mates. Up the street, toward the gate they ran; in a scattered pattern the majority of warriors shifted into their small bakeneko forms, though never slowing. By the time the small army had reached the gate and was disappearing into the tall grass, they looked like a gushing river of multi-colored fur, meowing and growling all the way. Most of the dogs ran after them, wagging their tails and barking excitedly like it was a game. Others stopped and simply watched the retreat with satisfied pants, looking content with themselves. As the multitude of felines melted away into the greenery, their canine hunters followed joyously. The excited barking and furious yowling could be heard for several minutes afterward. Zane started after the Moon Tribe warriors, but was stopped by the end of a staff poking into his chest. He glanced over to his right to see Wu there, gazing at him calmly from under the brim of his straw hat. “We show mercy to a defeated enemy,” he said simply. Zane took a breath to protest, then decided against it. He only nodded, and Wu removed the staff from the ninja’s chest and leaned on it. Suddenly, the old man looked weary. “I wonder how the others are,” he murmured. A shout caught Zane’s attention. He looked up and turned his gaze down the street leading into the village. From the empty, desolate road a single, tiny figure appeared: a small white calico with two tails. By this time, Zane was well acquainted with the sight of Little Leaf in her feline form, and felt little alarm—until he heard her cry out: “Master Wu! Zane! Come quick! It’s Cole!”
Even after the attackers had fled the scene due to what Jay dubbed the “Cucumber Incident”, sounds of battle still reached the ears of the four Elemental Masters, and together—after putting out the worst of the fires caused by the sorcerers—they set out in search of the other battles. However, whilst they darted up and down the small winding streets, searching for even just one small cat to beat up, the sounds drifted away. Eventually, the humans found themselves simply wandering the quiet village. There was something eery and unnerving about a town without people in it. The streets were many, the farmer’s stall and pushcarts left on the streets were frequent, and the modest houses and shops were abundant, more than worthy of supporting respectable life. However, now that the citizens had fled, all was empty. Every road, every building was utterly devoid of life. There was no sound save for the dripping of rain passing and the quick padding of footsteps from the ninja and Skylor, and even then their noises only made the silence louder. Jay suppressed a shiver and kept casting wary glances at his surroundings. The houses they passed by stood towering over their heads like silent giants. The windows built into the pale plaster walls stared down at them like dark, menacing eyes. Every street that disappeared around a corner seemed to hold a sort of ominous presence. He felt as if as soon as they’d turn onto an unfamiliar part of the street, some creature would jump out from them from the shadows with a shrill cry. Although all four of them carried both advanced steel weapons and natural abilities of great power, they passed through these deserted pathways like timid mice. “So,” Jay broke the silence, giving an awkward cough. “Skylor… how’d you get back?” “No idea,” was the prompt response. “What do you mean, ‘no idea’?” Jay demanded, raising his eyebrows incredulously. “You’re the one who popped out of nowhere! Come on, give us an explanation! At least tell us what it was like!”
“I told you: I have no idea.” Skylor shrugged. She proceeded to brush a few soaked strands of hair out of her face as she said, “One minute I was fighting off a whole Polarian army by myself and making them believe I was a goddess; the next, I’m falling into someone’s cartful of cabbages.” Jay, Lloyd, and Nya all gave her funny looks. “Fighting off a what army?” Nya said. “It’s a long story. What I want to know,” Skylor turned her steely gaze onto them, “is why you seem to know what happened to me—more than I do, actually. So, I’d like to know why Kai and I were kidnapped by these weird giant cat-people, why I got thrown into some portal, got sick with hallucinations and woke up to find myself in a place that’s nowhere like I’ve ever seen in Ninjago where people were trying to destroy me.” Jay, Nya, and Lloyd exchanged looks, each one willing the other to be the one to explain. Finally Lloyd decided to take the burden. “Those cat-things are called bakeneko and nekomata. They’re shape-shifters, some of the oldest creatures in Ninjago. They took you and Kai away so that they pretend to be you—” “Isn’t that Matilda’s hat?” Jay interrupted. Lloyd flashed him an annoyed look. “What?” “Over there.” Jay pointed down an alley to their right. “Look!” He took off running. The others followed him into the alleyway. There, sitting limply on the filthy ground in a small clearing, a familiar-looking brown, worn-out, pointed hat lay abandoned. Its tip slumped at a plaintive angle. Jay bent down and picked it up, then looked around the alley. “Yup, nobody else in Ninjago has this kind of wacky fashion sense like hers. Where is she?” “There’s been a struggle,” Lloyd commented, observing the scuff marks and footprints disturbing the thin line of dirt and grit on the cobblestones. He glanced up at a few dark, sooty blast marks on the walls. “Magic always leaves a mark,” he commented dryly. “Who’s Matilda?” Skylor asked.
“She—” Nya stopped mid-sentence. Her gaze fell upon something a few feet away from where they stood. Abruptly, she strode over to the end of the alleyway and picked something off the ground. Jay followed her gaze. Several light-colored flower petals lay strewn about in a crude circle on the ground. Nya gazed intently at the leaf she held. Behind her, Skylor questioned, “What is it?” Nya turned to look at her, and replied, “Matilda, I think, is the one who got you back home.” She waved the leaf in her hand. “This is Traveler’s Tea. I’d recognize it anywhere. Skylor, I think someone opened up a portal for you to go through.” “But, if Matilda’s able to use Traveler’s Tea,” Jay protested. “Why didn’t she use it before now? Why didn’t she get Kai as well?” “You see the blast marks,” Lloyd pointed out to the walls and proclaimed, “She dueled one of the Seven Sorcerers here, or more. Maybe only they know how to get someone back from a realm, and she managed to get them to do it.” Nya asked, “Then… where’s Matilda now?” The silence that followed was a grim one.
* * *
Thunder still rumbled, but it was distant now, drifting away. The rain eased alongside the faint growl. The town the Moon Tribe had just attacked was out of sight now, although the tall buildings from the nearby city could still be seen on the horizon. The wretched, disgusting canines that had pursued the army of cats so eagerly were now gone, too; their yelps had drifted away into the trees back to their pampered homes mere minutes ago, after one party of warriors had led the wounded away while another party worked on leading the dogs onto an false trail and tricking them into falling into a shallow river. Every cat was glad to be rid their obnoxious pursuers.
They were stopping now, on a spacious hill that looked over open fields. Cats in human, bakeneko, and nekomata forms alike were grateful to stop and catch their breath and lick their wounds. They formed a jumbled circle, with the stronger warriors on the outside while the more weary stayed within: a Moon Tribe strategy in the case of an attack. This way the stronger warriors would protect those wounded and take on the enemy while those within the circle would be prepared to act as backup if need be. It was from this circle Eagle Talon detached himself. He ignored the few stares he attracted as he walked away from his tribe-mates and headed toward the edge of the hill. He was one of the few warriors still in his human body. The breeze made his skin get goosebumps and he felt himself shiver, for it was always colder without his fur pelt on. However, he did not return to either one of his feline forms. Instead he turned his back on his tribe-mates to stand at the tip of the hill, and there he looked at his hands. The bright red sheen, drying and darkening already, stood out on Talon’s pale skin. It mixed with the mud that was caked beneath his fingernails and the spaces between almost every finger. There had been a lot of mud out there by the village, very wet and marshy, made worse by the rain. At least that same rain had done its part in washing away most of the mud that had collected on his arms and legs during the battle between his brother and sister. Brother and sister… Talon swallowed hard. Cole was his brother. Connected by the claim of father to Lou Brookstone, Eagle Talon, Black Blood, and Cole were siblings—they the son and daughter of Silver Mist of the Moon Tribe; he the son of Arianna, previous Master of Earth… And they had nearly destroyed him. It was Cole’s life that stained Talon’s hands. His half-brother. You can’t protect both of us, Talon! I’m your brother. That’s what I supposed to do. Silver Mist would’ve wanted me to. I failed, Talon thought numbly to himself. This should never have happened.
Then came doubt: But in the end, it’s the right thing to do, right? I protected Black Blood, and most of our warriors got away in time before it could get any worse. I got the sixth moonstone. I saved my sister. My loyalty is with my tribe—they’re my family! Nothing else should matter… Right? It doesn’t change the fact, Cole’s voice, an unwelcome memory, croaked in his ear, that I’m your brother. “Shut up.” Talon said the words out loud as if Cole were standing there. His hands dropped to his sides, and he refused to look at them. He’d clean and groom himself later. Right now he almost felt too tired to sit down. “It’s the Sister of Darkness!” a voice cried. Startled, Talon swung around and scanned the crowd gathered by the trees. Tribe-mates in cat and human bodies alike were standing and crowding around something, exchanging surprised exclamations. With several dozen warriors, it was impossible to see what they were looking at from where Talon stood. Thus he went over and joined the crowd. “How did they capture her?” “Not so powerful now without her fancy stick!” “Why don’t they end her now?” Finally Talon pushed and jostled his way through enough muscular nekomata, tall human-forms, (and stepped on enough irritated bakenekos’ tails), to see what the commotion was about—and when he did, his blood froze cold. Matilda lay crumpled on the ground in the center of the large, furry crowd. Her hat was gone, leaving her shaggy brown, white-streaked hair to lay splayed out on the damp grass. Her arms had been tied behind her back. Over the woman stood Broken Fang, Rip Claw, and Lion Claw, all in their human bodies wearing triumphant expressions on their faces—although Broken Fang did have a black eye and had lost her cloak. Without warning, Black Blood strode forward from the crowd. The great big black cat padded up to the limp figure, then paused, staring at her with surprise. The crowd fell to a hush—as it always did whenever the Moon Tribe queen made an appearance. Talon held his breath and watched. Black Blood took a paw step forward and bent her head down to sniff the witch’s head.
Matilda popped her head up. “Boo.” Black Blood bristled and flinched backwards, but just as soon regained her composure. Forked tails lashing, she glared at the other three sorcerers. “What is she doing here? You should have ended her.” Lion Claw and Rip Claw, both looking so proud before, suddenly took a step backwards anxiously, and simultaneously they pointed at Broken Fang and chorused: “She did it.” Broken Fang met Black Blood’s green gaze with her own amber-eyed one. “I defeated her in battle. I claimed her as my captive. Now I claim her as my Dark Sleep subject.” Another murmur rippled through the gathering, but none dared speak up loudly. Black Blood’s ear flicked. “Raven Frost won’t be too happy about that. He has a bone to pick with that one.” Broken Fang smirked. “Raven Frost didn’t defeat the Sister of Darkness. I did. I am her rightful persecutor.” “Perhaps,” Black Blood acceded, only to add coldly, “But you risk the whole tribe by not only keeping her alive, but by bringing her along with us. Some humans are simply better off for us gone.” “Not this one,” Broken Fang gave a mirthless smile, exposing her inhuman teeth. “We could use her for bait. Ransom. An example to give those stinking, spinning Sons and Daughters of the Elements once and for all—” Her words were cut off by a startled shriek when Matilda jumped to her feet and seemingly ripped herself free of her bonds with her bare hands. In one hand she gripped her wand, the tip glowing a dull yellow. The woman cackled gleefully and shot a spell at Lion Claw with an obscure mix of syllables. In a flash of bright orange light, Lion Claw disappeared— —and a fat, startled-looking toad stood in his place on the grass. “It’ll take more than a stupid Nap Attack to keep me down, Broken Fang!” Matilda sneered.
Talon barely had time to react to the scene that had taken place within a second before the Moon Tribe warriors reacted. They surged forward with a furious howl, and cats of all shapes and sizes fell upon the witch in clawing, scratching, biting, raging, and fluffy hordes. Their cries only increased as Matilda frantically attempted to drive them off with spell after spell. In the rush, Talon was knocked to the ground. He covered his head with his hands and mashed his face down in the dirt. Screeches and screams split the air like a storm and made the ground beneath him shake. More blasts of light from Matilda made his vision blur, and he clenched his eyes shut. As the rush of the skirmish continued, he became aware of the scent of burned fur and smoke, and more cries of pain were added to the noise. Then—it subsided. There were still warning growls, hisses of hatred, and a few groans, but the silence that fell was swift, so swift that Talon felt fear clench his heart. Gasping, he jolted up into a seated position and looked. Matilda lay on the ground again, this time completely unconscious. Scratches stood out on her hands, wrists, and face, wherever she had skin showing. Her dark blue robes were nearly torn to shreds, mere tatters at the hems. Several more large holes had been torn into her forest-green dress. Over her stood Black Blood, chest heaving as she fought for breath. Rip Claw stood with her, patting gingerly at his now-singed beard and cringing at the smoke that wafted from it. “What did you do?” the older man muttered. Black Blood didn’t reply for a moment, too busy catching her breath. Then she said, “Paralyzed her. She won’t be moving or making a peep for hours.” Rip Claw gazed down warily at their fallen adversary. Then he held up something in his hand: Talon felt an uncomfortable jolt to realize that it was Matilda’s wand. “What should we do with this?” Black Blood looked at him. Suddenly her head snapped forward and she snatched the little stick in her jaws. With a loud crunch, the wand was shattered in two. The shards were dropped upon the ground, a few minuscule splinters joining them.
“That,” she spat. “Now burn the pieces.” Rip Claw hesitated. He looked anxiously at the stick, like he was expecting the shards to sit up and bite them if he came too close. “I said, burn them.” Black Blood’s voice became dangerously quiet. Rip Claw swallowed and hesitated no more. He held his hands out, palms facing the broken wand, and murmured some ancient words that only the Seven Sorcerers knew. Fire suddenly burst from the heart of the wood, and hot flames licked at the splinters greedily. This fire, contrary to that of the Son of Fire’s, was not red, but blue. Every feline watched in a still hush as the splinters blackened. Nothing else. They only darkened with heat, but they had yet to crack and split apart. “No matter,” Rip Claw muttered. “They’ll burn eventually. In the meantime, perhaps it would be best we keep on moving.” Black Blood gave him a cold glance, but otherwise did not acknowledge his comment. She only turned toward the crowd of feline faces watching her and announced, “We will take the Sister of Darkness. After all the grief she’s caused, it would be a shame not to make some use of her.” She nodded toward Lion Claw, Rip Claw, and Broken Fang. “You carry her. Take turns. She will be guarded only by sorcerers. She is too dangerous to be handled by any cat else.” She swung her gaze back to the crowd. “We are returning home now. We will rest when the sun sets, and get moving again when the moon sets. The trip will be longer this time, now that we have some wounded. Protection circle! Be on the lookout for any humans! I wouldn’t put it past the Sons and Daughters to sneak after us.” A few cats grumbled and muttered dismally at having to hit the road already, with barely a few minutes’ respite. However, none of them seemed to disagree that they were too close to human dwellings for comfort, and the mention of the ninja made several heads turn warily behind them. Thus the party of warriors formed the protection circle.
Once Lion Claw was transformed back from a toad into his human form (with no small amount of angry cursing), he, Rip Claw, and Broken Fang stationed themselves the middle of the circle. There they cast a spell that made Matilda’s body hover up in the air, and at the gesture of Broken Fang’s hand, the body floated beside them as they walked. With Black Blood in the lead, the Moon Tribe took up their weapons, helped their wounded get up to their paws, and set out into the woods on their way back to their mountain dwelling. Eagle Talon felt as if a cold, hard, heavy stone had been lodged in his stomach. He walked several paw-steps behind the sorcerers and their new captive. He looked at Matilda; her dusty brown hair waved gently behind her as her floating figure moved alongside Broken Fang. The ends of her long robes and dress trailed on the grass. From what he could see of her face, Matilda’s eyes were closed firmly, her form stiff and listless. There was no more fight in her. Somehow… Talon had never imagined that Matilda could ever be bested by someone else. Out of all the Sons and Daughters, of all the humans he’d met in the past month—the Sons and Daughters of the Elements, Sensei Wu, the policemen, the bandits—Matilda had seemed to him the most powerful. She may not possess elemental abilities, multiple shape-shifting forms, the same magic spells as the Seven Sorcerers did, or magnificent weapons of brute strength or modern technology, but there had always been a certain confidence she’d carried herself in—a confidence that promised a thorough beating to whatever challenge that appeared. Her sass, her nonchalant attitude toward her opponents, her sarcasm and wit, the smoothness in which she handled outrageous situations and how she always managed to keep a cool head… she just had so much fire, so much strength. With that much ease and confidence in everything she did, never once did Eagle Talon wonder if she would ever make a wrong move and find herself defeated. That prospect had always seemed impossible.
Yet there she was: broken, wounded, bested by Broken Fang, being carried away by the Moon Tribe, her wand burning in the grass behind them. The impossible had come true. Eagle Talon finally forced himself to look away from her. No good could come from recollecting his connections with the humans. As far as he was concerned, he had no connections. Not with Matilda, not with the ninja, not with his human father, not with Cole, not anyone. My loyalty is to the Tribe of the Moon. My family and my friends. The thought of Little Leaf suddenly came to him, but he shoved it aside angrily. Black Blood needs me. She would have been hurt without me today. I need to take care of her. That’s what Silver Mist wanted. And… if I’m not loyal to my tribe… then what am I? How can I respect myself? Where is the honor in that? Talon forced himself to feel nothing. He forced away the guilt, the regret, the horror, and the confusion that threatened to break into a roaring storm within him. He forced all those feelings into indifference, shaped them into his own will. He forced himself to be apathetic. Feelings were nothing, mere passing trifles of the mind. He had a duty to his tribe, to his home. Whatever it took, whatever the cost, he would fight for what was right. He continued walking alongside his tribe-mates, and with every step he took, the dark shroud creeping near his mind and heart began to gather and cluster like the malicious storm clouds overhead in the gray sky. He forced himself to feel nothing. During all this, while Talon was absorbed in his inner turmoil, his tribe-mates on their journey back home, and Black Blood on leading her cats away from the human dwellings, not one took a moment to notice Matilda’s limp form floating horizontally above the ground—or, to be precise, the expression she wore. She was unconscious. A dark spell had knocked her out and left her paralyzed, after being set upon by dozens of warrior cats. Yet, despite all this, the barest, smallest little smirk remained on the witch’s face.
Matilda had fallen beneath the sorcerer’s spell smiling because in the skirmish, she had managed to reach into one of the pouches of her leather belt, snagged several small vials and bottles, and dropped them. Not one cat had noticed the bottles lying on the ground after she’d been subdued. All had had their attention elsewhere, and now were leaving the hillside. Thus on the hillside they lay scattered: the multi-colored bottles, not so far away from the remains of her shattered wand that burned in Rip Claw’s blue fire.
Two full days had passed since the encounter with the Pingous soldiers in the marketplace. Since then, Kai found himself busy. Now that he was obviously well enough to walk from Nama’s cottage to the village and back by himself, his host had decided that she could use some extra help around the house. Thus Kai was assigned to assist Beenthina in feeding the chickens, to clean the kitchen and set the table before and after meals, to weed the garden (bonigs being the prominent vegetable), to help re-thatch the roof, and to go fishing with Jukeni. Kai might have complained about suddenly becoming the family’s housekeeper, but he knew Nama was being kind by telling Jukeni to help him and giving Kai plenty of free time in between to rest, for she declared he still looked sickly. Plus, the fact that she was letting him stay this long with her family had to be a sacrifice on their part, he knew, and he was inwardly very thankful for their generosity. Helping out with chores was the least he could do to repay them. At least Jukeni and Kaeden proved to be good company. Kaeden came by often enough to hang out or help with work, seemingly because he had nothing better to do. The two of them sometimes asked questions about the “island” of Ninjago from which Kai came, and he answered them to the best of his abilities. The prominent question concerning him, of course, was as to how he had ended up lying unconscious in the forest in a coma. Jukeni finally brought up this question on the first day after the market place-incident, when he, Kai, and Kaeden were sitting on the bank of the nearby creek, fishing. Honestly, Kai was more surprised that someone hadn’t asked him earlier. “Nama told me to leave you alone about it for at least a day,” Jukeni protested when Kai had voiced his incredulity. “She remembered you reacted badly when she asked you earlier, and she told me and Beenthina not to bother you about it until she said so. She probably think’s you’re some traveler from Tëbkinz who got mugged and dumped in the woods.” “‘Tëbkinz’?” Kai repeated.
