This time Talon caught it. Yet two more cries followed. Eagle Talon looked up to see a thin white crane and a small black raven diving at him, just as the phoenix and the falcon had done. Just as before, Talon leapt into the air and grabbed them with ease. As soon as his paws made impact, the birds burst into black dust and vanished, hardly without a trace. But Talon didn't mind. Not a bad day’s hunt, he thought happily. A strange shimmer on the grass caught his attention, and he looked to see something--no, several things--appearing. Faint as first, like seeing one’s reflection in a slow-moving river, their shapes and features became clearer. Talon reeled back in horror as he recognized their faces. “No… no,” he rasped. He felt every bone in his body grow cold as he looked upon the sight before him. Jay and Nya lay side by side together in the grass. They would have looked as if they were merely sleeping, if it weren't for the unnaturally pale color of their skin. Though their hands had been folded peacefully onto their chests, one of Nya's arms was stretched out, as if trying to take Jay's hand before falling unconscious. Nearby them lay three more people: Zane, Wu, and Matilda. Like Jay and Nya, they lay with their hands folded across their chests, like stiff, cold dolls. Though peaceful-looking enough, there was something terrible in how still they lay, and the sunlit air suddenly felt hot and stifled. Shocked, Talon stared at the sleeping people--and felt something hot and sticky cling to his paws. “Blind, blind, me oh my!” Kohuru’s voice cackled from the shadows of the woods. “One of a kind, such is so, is the fall of the blind!” Talon retched, and his horror increased with every hard pump of his heart. He stumbled back from the motionless people and forced himself to turn away. “Blind, blind! It can run, it can hide, but it will always be blind!” Kohuru chanted, invisible to him still. “No!” Eagle Talon broke into a run and fled—away from the humans, away from Kohuru’s mocking chant, and away from the things he’d done.
He fled through the trees. Their tall forms, suddenly seeming dark and forbidding, flashed by his vision. His paws padded swiftly across the forest floor. He didn’t know where he was going. He only ran. His heart screamed at him to run faster, yet no matter how much strength he put into his legs, to him it seemed he could never run fast enough. Suddenly, he stopped. He dug his claws into the dirt and stared. Before him stood an enormous dragon; its great wings rose high above its head and long arched neck. Scales of green and gold glittered brilliantly in the sunlight. The dragon cast its infinite green gaze upon Eagle Talon and uttered a low growl. A small cry sounded from the ground. Talon looked down at the creature’s giant paws to see Little Leaf in her human form. The dragon’s foot held her down none-too-gently as she struggled feebly and whimpered. The horror Talon felt pound in his ears was immediately replaced by hot fury at the sight of his little sister. “Get away from her!” He shifted into his nekomata form and threw himself at the green and gold dragon. Taking down the monster was easier than he’d thought. The dragon screamed its rage and writhed wildly. It flapped its wings in the air and bent down to snap its pearl-white teeth at the cat. Somehow Talon was able to deftly avoid its great claws and teeth. Within several swift, vicious seconds, Talon had brought down the beast. He took a few paw-steps back, feeling pleased with himself. He’d destroyed one of the most dangerous and powerful creatures in the world. Now nobody would ever be hurt by it again. Rendered harmless, what was left of the massive dragon looked feeble. Then, the dragon transformed. The same shimmer that had appeared over the bodies of the birds swept over the green and gold figure. The body shrunk and changed in the burst of brilliant light. With a sinking feeling, Talon watched as the dragon transformed into a humanoid, green-clad figure. Lloyd lay sprawled out before him, as if he were freshly-caught prey dropped by his hunter onto the food pile.
Uh-huh. I can't even imagine how I was able to be top on the post leaderboard. I spent way too much time on that.
I always thought that was an amazing achievement. I've been trying to catch up to you and the other top people for ages.
Yep it was pretty cool but I'm definitely not there anymore. I'm fifth now, but the top two haven't been on in a couple months. You're pretty high on the list yourself.
“Lloyd! No!” Little Leaf’s grief-stricken wail split the air. She raced over to the silent human’s side and knelt beside him. Tears ran down her face as she cradled his head tenderly. Then she looked up at her brother accusingly. “You’re a monster!” Talon opened his mouth, but he could force out no sound. His voice had been choked out by horror. He could only stand there frozen while Little Leaf sobbed wretchedly over Lloyd. It became dark. He couldn’t see Lloyd or Little Leaf anymore, but her cries grew only louder, and one word repeated itself over and over: “Monster… monster… monster…” The accusation burned in his brain. Then he was falling. Spiraling down an ink-black abyss. It was the same one he’d almost fallen into from the deck of the Destiny’s Bounty before Cole had grabbed him and saved his life. His human half-brother was not there to save him now. Eagle Talon opened his mouth to scream, but his voice had gone. He could only continue plummeting through the darkness where no sunlight dared venture. As he sank into the cold, black embrace, where the stench of death was strong, Kohuru’s voice rang out once more: “One of a kind, is the death of the blind!” It reverberated forebodingly in his head as he kept falling… And falling… Falling…
* * *
Eagle Talon awoke with a shuddering gasp. He stared into the darkness surrounding him, and wondered if he was still stuck in the horrific vision. Then he felt his claws digging into the moss of his bed and recognized the scents of his tribe-mates. When his breathing began to slow and he suppressed the sound of his panicked gasping, he could make out the soft snores of slumber from the other cats. All that evidence aside, when he peered into the blackness he realized it wasn’t the same as the one that had swallowed him whole in the nightmare—not quite as calculating and soul-sucking, so to speak. He was awake.
Talon fell back in his nest with a small sigh, but not of relief. He could feel himself trembling from head to tail. His blood was still pounding in his ears, his heart punching a swift beat into his chest. His fur bristled all over as if he were expecting some predator to leap up at him from the shadows at any second. Yet, all was calm and quiet within the Moon Tribe sleeping den. Slowly, cautiously, he lowered his head and tucked it between his paws and shut his eyes. The faces of the lifeless ninja were still staring back at him, but the images were fainter now, beginning to fade. Yet the stench was still fresh to him. He flexed his claws briefly, remembering. It was a long, long time before Talon even began to drift off wearily to sleep. In the time that followed, the main question that returned to the forefront of his turmoiling thoughts was: What was that?
Chapter 84: The Pawreleser’s Guide to Avoiding Unicorns
The trio of Pawreles fugitives eventually found a place to spend the night. Kaeden directed Kai to a small cave that sat tucked away against the rocky riverbank. The moon was setting and hints of dawn were seeping from the horizon when they found the spot and Kai landed his dragon by the dark river. Jukeni and Kaeden found themselves scrambling in midair when the dragon suddenly dissipated without a trace, and they plummeted with startled grunts while Kai landed smoothly on his feet. “Couldn’t ya give us a little warning next time?” Jukeni groaned as he stood and rubbed his backside. “My bad,” Kai replied, not bothering to hide his smirk. Kaeden led them into the small cave tucked away into the shelf of gray rocks that made a slanted cliffside several meters tall. There the threesome attempted to make their chilly, cramped conditions a little more comfortable by kicking away pebbles and clearing away a patch of sand to bed on. The sleeping conditions were pathetic, and all of the boys shivered and rubbed their arms constantly, being only in their thin night garments. Still, there wasn’t much that they could do to make themselves more comfortable. Jukeni wouldn’t even allow Kai to build a fire, for fear it would give them away to Pingous soldiers and spies. He warned him there were plenty of Pingousers prowling around the villages and forests, especially now after the break-in at Stonefort. “The military base we broke into,” Kaeden clarified for Kai. They’d settled as comfortably on the cave floor as they could when Kai asked, “I saw you guys that night, when you came back from the break-in.” “Really?” It looked like Jukeni frowned, although it was hard to tell, his face hard to see in the darkness of the cave. The only light source was from the narrow entrance, and there the blackness of night had not yet released its hold from the land.
Kai nodded, despite the boys not being able to see one another very clearly. He felt his arm brush against Kaeden’s thick fur to his right, and he shifted away as much as he could. “I wanted to ask about it the next day, but Nama never gave me a chance. Did you break in the fort by yourselves?” Ever since the revelation that Kaeden and Jukeni were rebel warriors, Kai had begun regarding the two of them with something like new respect. Obviously, they were not the simple-minded farm boys he had originally assumed them to be. “We had our teammates with us,” Jukeni explained. “There were about a dozen of all altogether that night. You’ll meet them when we get to Tinny.” “What about the documents?” Kai persisted. “Where are they? Jukeni, you kept them with you. That means they’re still at the house…” “Nope,” Jukeni responded triumphantly. His silhouette shifted and bent over, and after a few moments the crinkling of paper could be heard. “I’ve had it with me the whole time.” “In his pants,” Kaeden clarified with mild amusement. “Nice. You might wanna wash those before you hand them to your boss,” Kai deadpanned. Jukeni huffed, “They were in a secret pocket.” “What’s so special about these documents, anyway?” “They’re information and blueprints of all the neighboring military bases in this province, but the most important of them is of Lord Hälogen’s castle in Jämlen,” Kaeden responded. “His estate was originally built by the Pawreles provinces centuries ago. Back then, nearly every castle was equipped with secret passages, tunnels in and out of the castle, and sometimes even traps for invaders. They were mostly made for the royal families or high officials, which means—if we know where the right passages are—we could enter a tunnel that leads straight into the heart of the castle.” “One could even lead to Lord Hälogen’s bedroom! We could catch him in his nightclothes!” Jukeni seemed amused by the idea and chortled. Kai felt a surge of excitement surge as the realization set in. “You can get into his castle and teach him a lesson he’ll never forget!” “Heck yeah!” Jukeni cackled.
“And I’ll find a way to get back to Ninjago,” Kai added. Kaeden warned, “There may not be a way. No one really knows what Hälogen does, or how far his powers extend—if he even has any powers at all. The rumors of what he’s done are just that, rumors. He may just be pretending to be a mage to keep everyone fearful and in their place.” “Or, he is a mage, and we need to put an end to him as soon as possible,” Kai countered. Movement suggested Kaeden shrugged. “That too. Either way, we can’t get much done tiring ourselves. Best to sleep as much as we can now while we’re hidden and safe. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” As the three of them reluctantly scooted into awkward lying positions, Jukeni muttered, “Next stop: the headquarters.”
* * *
The night spent in the cave was not a comfortable one, and nobody slept for long, and when they did it was not with ease. During what was left of the night Kai kept jolting himself awake by rolling on a sharp pebble or whenever some limb of his cramped up from having to be folded at an awkward angle. When he did sleep, it was disturbed by fleeting images of Skylor trapped in a dark, cold, icy place, and memories of the vivid nightmares that had haunted him returned in faint pictures of fear and spine-chilling whispers. He seemed to watch his teammates pass away over and over again. Yet most of his disturbing visions were forgotten the next morning. The sun was only just rising above the evergreens lining the riverbanks when Kaeden decreed it time for them to get moving. They had no food, no supplies, few clothes, and no weapons aside from Kai himself, so it was all the more reason they get to the rebellion as soon as possible. Jukeni claimed that it was a day’s trek from where they were, and if they began their journey now and didn’t stop, they would probably reach the secret location by dusk.
Kai offered to use his dragon, but Kaeden reluctantly objected, saying that after last night, everyone in the land would be on the lookout for a flying red boonca-lizard, as he called Kai’s dragon. If they were spotted, it would make the hunt all too easy for the Pingousers, and they might even lead them to where the rebel base was. Kai was forced to accept his fate to travel by foot, but not without acquiesce. The boys crossed the river and traveled westward, according to Jukeni. Walking at a reasonably brisk pace, they trekked through the thick forests. The hours passed by slowly and uneventfully, and by each quiet minute the sun drifted higher in the sky. Birdsong came to life from the trees, and Kai saw the occasional rabbit or mouse scurrying away into the foliage as they walked on. The air beneath the shade of the trees was cool and fresh with the smells of the plants and dirt. The experience summoned a stab of nostalgia for Kai, as he remembered to himself some of the many journeys through Ninjago’s forests and valleys with his friends. Briefly, he asked himself if the team was wondering what had happened to him, and he wondered if they knew about the threat from Black Blood and the rest of the shape-shifting cat-things. It was around midday when the trio took a break to rest themselves and grab a drink of water from a spring. Kai used his hands to cup the water and gulp it down. It tasted cold and refreshing, despite the faint tang of dirt, completely untainted by human habitat. While he and Jukeni used their hands to drink, Kaeden got down on his hands and knees and lapped up the water in a canine—yet oddly dainty—fashion. “How much longer until we get to this base?” Kai asked as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Jukeni raised his freckled face to the sun and squinted. “I’m still thinking we’ll get there at dusk. We’re making good time.” “This was the easy part,” Kaeden said, getting up onto his hind legs again. “It’s morning and we still feel somewhat refreshed. But we haven’t had any food today, and by afternoon that’s going to start slowing us down.”
At the mention of food, Kai grimaced and clutched his hand to his belly. A few hours ago it had begun clamoring and rumbling discontentedly. “I’m already starving,” he complained. “I am, too,” Kaeden’s pointed ears twitched. “But we don’t even have anything to hunt with. Our best chance at food for now is passing by berry bushes. We just have to keep going.” “There’s always good food at base,” Jukeni moaned. “We always get the tastiest stuff from the rich Pingousers after raids. Eggs, bacon, toast… jam, fruits…” “You’re just making it worse,” Kaeden sighed. “I can’t help it! I’m hungry!” Jukeni snapped angrily. Kai muttered, “More like hangry.” He thought of Cole. It was a mere few minutes after the stop by the stream when the boys broke from the foliage and found themselves standing on the edge of a wide plain. Bright green grass stretched out as far as the eye could see, with the line of trees dwindling off to one side. Beyond the trees, a faint blue haze could be seen lining the horizon, which Kai realized to be a mountain range. Kai continued walking out onto the plain, stepping into the waist-high grass. He didn’t realize Kaeden and Jukeni weren’t with him until he heard Jukeni’s voice hiss, “Kai! What are you doing?!” Kai stopped and looked back to see the Pawrelesers standing beneath the shade of the evergreens, both staring at him in astonishment. “Get down!” Jukeni pleaded in a high-pitched whisper. Kai dropped down instinctively into the grass and let the tall blades close over his head. Heart pounding, he quickly but soundlessly made his way back to the trees at an awkward crouch. He darted over to his companions asking quietly, “What is it? Pingousers?” “No.” Kaeden’s voice was a soft whisper. “Unicorns.” Kai stared at Kaeden. He let his eyes follow the direction the dog-man’s hand was pointing to, and he scanned the vast grassy field.
Then, he saw them: nimble, pale shapes dotted the landscape hundreds of yards away. A few of them moved as long necks nibbled at the grass. They definitely looked horse-like, although they were standing at such a distance Kai couldn’t get a very good look at them. All he saw were a bunch of animals grazing at the fields as quietly and as peacefully as a herd of sheep. Kai re-processed the word Kaeden had used. Then he voiced a spurt of laughter. “Did you say— unicorns?” “Quiet! They’ll hear you!” Jukeni ducked his head and took another step back beneath the cover of the trees. “Unicorns!” Kai kept laughing. “You mean those magical horned ponies?” “Thank the Star Guards they aren’t magic,” Jukeni retorted. “Normal ones are bad enough.” Kai couldn’t reply for all his laughter. “I take it your unicorns aren’t like the ones we have here,” Kaeden deadpanned. Eventually Kai began to calm down. “Ha-ha, hah—no, they definitely aren’t. They aren’t even real, but they’re in magical stories meant for little girls.” “In Ninjago you read about unicorns to little girls?” Jukeni demanded incredulously. “Yeesh. That’s sick.” Kai didn’t hide the mocking smile he knew was planted on his face. “Right, right—so what’s so bad about these unicorns? Are they scarier in Pawreles?” Kaeden withstood Kai’s chortles and chuckles patiently, but without mirth. Now he said, “You wouldn’t ask that if you’ve ever seen a unicorn hunting. One stallion can take down a healthy adult lecourtie in seconds. They’re nomadic animals, but extremely protective over their grazing grounds, the females and their young. Getting close to a herd of them is a really bad idea.” “Next you’ll be telling me I need to watch out for pixies,” Kai snorted. “Only the venomous ones,” Jukeni protested. Kaeden ignored the second bout of laughter from the ninja. He merely cast a wary look at the shapes dotting the field before saying, “These must be traveling toward their summer grazing lands. They’ll probably keep close together, but it’s best if we go around and keep our distance anyway.”
With that the three of them turned and left behind the herd of unicorns. It was several minutes before Kai could finally stop his chuckles, and by then they were far within the safety of the trees.
* * *
Noon gradually became afternoon. The sun began its descent into the other side of the sky. Sunlight fell in golden slants through the branches and leaves. The buzz of the insects increased gently with the warmth, and the birds continued their songs at a lazier pace. The air was warm enough that Kai no longer felt chilled walking in only pants and his nightshirt. Despite the somewhat pleasant atmosphere, however, Kai felt pretty miserable. He had no shoes, so throughout the day he forced himself to trek for hours in his bare feet—he’d lost count of all the times he’d stubbed his toes on a rock or pricked and scraped his skin against a branch or thorns. Now his feet throbbed hotly, up to the point they almost felt numb, and several dark cuts and bruises could be seen from the layer of dirt that coated them. Jukeni’s looked much the same. Kai began to envy Kaeden’s canine paws that were equipped with thick pads. Kai was also very hungry and very thirsty. At this point he couldn’t even feel the sharp pangs of hunger or thirst. Those sensations were replaced with faint dizziness, the feeling of exhaustion and a certain level of irritableness he shared with the Pawrelesers. Jukeni had become snappish as their time without food lengthened. Only Kaeden seemed able to keep his everlasting patience and gentleness. They were quiet as they walked on. Lost in his own thoughts, Kai barely took note of how the forestland became more hilly and the foliage became sparser, yet there seemed to be no end to the tall dark trees that stretched on and around them ever onward. They drifted slowly through the quiet world of green leaves and cool shadows. Abruptly, Kaeden stopped. Kai, still somewhat alert due to his trained instincts, stopped as well. Jukeni, on the other hand, had his head in the clouds and proceeded to not only take no notice of his friend, but to walk into a thorny bush as well.
“Ouch!” Hastily he scrambled out of the leaves and rejoined the others. “Thanks for warning me about that bush. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys,” he deadpanned as he yanked several small barbs from his pants. “You have eyes, don’t you?” Kai retorted with a small smirk. “Maybe you should try using them every once in a while.” “Maybe you should try—” “Shh,” Kaeden muttered. “I hear something.” The two human teenagers quieted their bickering to look at the tall dog-man. Kaeden was staring straight ahead, large ears pricked forward. Kai peered in the direction Kaeden was looking, but he saw nothing but more trees and bushes. “What is it?” Jukeni asked. Kaeden murmured uneasily, “I thought I heard something. Voices. Up ahead.” Again Kai looked, but nothing stirred. The only thing he could hear was the distant twitter of a robin’s call. “Let’s keep going,” he suggested. “We’re all feeling on edge. It could be nothing.” “Kaeden has really sensitive hearing, Kai. If there’s something ahead,” Jukeni pointed out, “he’s sure to be the first one to hear it.” “Can you hear them now?” Kai addressed the question to Kaeden. Kaeden shrugged. “No.” “Then let’s keep going. We’ll just have to be quiet,” Kai said. They continued walking, but this time at a less brisk pace. Less than five minutes later Kaeden claimed to hear noises again. Another five minutes passed before Jukeni and Kai could hear them, too. Kai could hear the faint clamor of men’s voices, tones businesslike and discordant. There was the occasional clang of metal, and a faint humming sound that gradually became louder as they drew nearer. Eventually he realized that the humming sounded much like modern motor engines. “Hang on.” Kaeden stopped again. “Jukeni, are you sure this is the right way?” “Of course I’m sure,” Jukeni replied indignantly. “Then why are we suddenly so close to one of the outposts?” “Because we had to veer eastward a bit to get away from the unicorn herd— outpost?” “What else could that be? I hear landrunners,” Kaeden responded furtively. Jukeni inhaled sharply. “Oh, no…”
“What?” Kai looked back and forth between his companions. “What outpost?” “Pingous outpost. There’re hundreds of them scattered around this area because of how close we are to Jämlen,” Jukeni responded with a grimace. “I don’t know how many soldiers could be crawling around these woods.” “I thought you knew where you were going,” Kaeden said with a hint of exasperation. “I thought you knew where we’re going!” Jukeni retorted sharply. “We both go to the same place at the same time!” “Not this way. I don’t know this route,” Kaeden protested. “Oh, so this is all on me—?” Kai, feeling impatient and close to exploding with the pointless bickering, finally interjected hotly. “Argue all you want, but I’m going to check it out. If there’s not a better route than this, maybe we can take these guys.” With that, he turned and ran ahead into the trees. “Kai!” Jukeni yelped and stumbled after him. “Are you crazy? You can’t—!” His sentence ended abruptly. He watched in surprise as Kai leapt nimbly from the ground onto a sturdy branch several feet off the ground. The ninja swiftly clambered further up into the tree, using the strength in his arms and legs to support and pull himself up. He ascended with little noise. Branches swayed and leaves rattled, which was inevitable, yet Kai hopped from branch to branch with a light-footed adeptness that made the process twice as quiet as it would have been if anyone else had been climbing the tree. Before long, the ninja had disappeared among the thick boughs and lush canopies. While the Pawrelesers caught the occasional rustle and snap of a twig, they could no longer see him. “… All right, then,” Jukeni finally spoke, gaping upwards. “Guess Kai’s also half-mëekie. Have you ever seen anyone climb a tree like that?” “Must be a ninja thing,” Kaeden remarked simply.
It had been a while since Kai had last done it, but he remembered the training he’d gone through with his friends when Master Wu had taught them to hop from tree to tree as lightly and quickly as small birds. Before grabbing a branch he constantly looked ahead and planned where he would put his feet and his hands, and scanned the boughs for any signs of weakness. He avoided the branches that were too small for him and stayed close to the main trunk of the tree. He used his hands to grab and pull himself up, and his legs he used for support and extra strength for jumping and swinging. About halfway up the towering tree Kai paused. Right next to it stood a dark, ancient oak. Its thick branches looked like long gnarled fingers reaching out as a contorted hand would. Old as it was, it didn’t look brittle. With barely a second thought, he let go of his grasp on one of the branches he’d been holding, took a running start down the bough he stood upon—keeping his balance all the while—then leapt smoothly into the neighboring oak. He landed on one of the biggest boughs. He came down lightly, knees bent to absorb the shock, yet his bare feet throbbed in protest when scraped against the rough bark. His hands felt a little sticky with sap and bits of wood and dirt. Despite this, he searched for more branches, then jumped again. He kept at this for a few, relatively short minutes. He jumped from several more trees, which lengthened from half a dozen to a dozen and then beyond. His everlasting confidence grew the further he went. He became fast in his journey, finally getting used to the movement. He startled a couple of robins roosting in nearby branches, but he was otherwise silent. Finally, Kai saw the outpost. First he caught glimpses of something tall, dark, and gray through the tree canopies. He drew closer and closer, until he finally stopped among the boughs of another tall oak. There he was able to peer into a small clearing and detect where the noise was coming from.
I can't even imagine how I was able to be top on the post leaderboard. I spent way too much time on that. 
I'm fifth now, but the top two haven't been on in a couple months. You're pretty high on the list yourself.