Chapter 52: Zek
Tending to the ship was nothing short of pain staking work. The work itself was enough to make a man sweat, but below decks, in the engine room, it didn't help. We were making the most of what little tools and material we have on board, but the truth was, we weren't going to be going anywhere until Luke and Ka'lira came back with what we needed. And really, while the tools might be possible to obtain from a nearby settlement, the parts we needed, the scrap metal, none of us really had much faith in finding that at a local vendor.
And the truth was, the work would have been far more bearable had Ka'lira been here as well. Being able to get lost in conversation with her while working away on whatever I had too, hours could turn into seconds, and a day's work could become a few minutes of good conversation. The time always just seemed to speed ahead where she was involved. And right now, it would've been nice to have her around. Those two should be getting back soon now, right? Obviously, a part of me wasn't the most enthused about having her go out on something like this was Luke. Not to any discredit of Luke. It could have been any guy, but it was just that irrational jealousy over somebody who wasn't even mine to be jealous over. But I can't be the only one who feels that way? Right. I swear I can see the way she looks at me. Or maybe it's just my own reflection I see.
I pushed the thoughts aside. I had to stay focused on my own work right now. I didn't have the time to get carried away by pointless thoughts like these. I was in the engine deck, stripping off metal panels that seemed to have sustained damage, and to investigate the machinery between the panels to ensure the damage didn't extend there as well. It was painstaking work. Lots of heavy lifting, but I wasn't a stranger to work. Much less was Gordez. He'd been working since morning and hadn't even stopped for lunch, and dinner was quickly approaching, but something told me that food for him would be waiting until his work here was done, which would be days, but I couldn't bring myself to doubt his resolve in that regard. This ship was his baby. And he'd give his life for her. I could say that much with complete certainty. I smiled to myself. I had the feeling Gordez would make a great boyfriend, and eventual husband and father, assuming he was capable of transferring his affection of machinery to his own family. Which was a big "if".
I got up from where I was kneeling, wiping the sweat off my brow, begging for a cool breeze to come in, except I'd be getting none down here. I looked around, begging to see the skies, the rustling trees, but nothing. I was going stir crazy. I needed to go outside.
"Gordez," I said. I'm going to take a break. That alright?"
"Go ahead. Not like I can stop you."
"I'll be right back. Thanks"
As I turned to leave, I heard Kosah, or was it Zadok, asking, "Can we go too?"
"No."
"You let Zek go!" said the other, whoever they were.
"Zek's not my subordinate. You two are. So get back to work. I'll release you once you do your job right?"
I grinned, glad that my days being under Gordez were gone. As long as I'd known him, Gordez had always been Boss's right-hand man. The two of them were Navy men, so there was some inherent bond between them that you couldn't explain with words. Plus, they were the closest in age. Boss was 19. Gordez, though he'd never said his age, I'd put him at 18, already sporting whiskers that threatened to become a bear any day now. When I'd first been put in Iron Fire, Boss had put me under Gordez's direct command. Gordez was never social, he wasn't loud, harsh, mean, or anything along those lines, but he was stubborn, and expected the same dedication he put into something, which was a lot. I'd been kept up nights at a time to try to make repairs to damage to his tank, not the Shanzi, that he claimed was my fault to begin with. Hizo, by sheer happenstance, happened to be officially transferred to Iron Fire. By that time, Boss had decided I didn't need Gordez anymore, and he assigned me my own tank with Chez and Haz. A few months later, and Hizo threatened that he'd rather jump off of the walls of Ba Sing Se than take another order from Gordez, we all laughed, and Hizo was assigned to my tank. And that was the day I told him that the tank's name was Shanzi and he'd threatened to rip my throat out to defend the honor of his Yu Dao girlfriend who'd slept with, and I'd counted, 5 other men, begging for forgiveness, and promptly being forgiven by Hizo just as many times. I smiled back on the memories as I walked out on the deck, trying not to remember how my relationship with him had met its end. Maybe one of these days I'd get back to Yu Dao, see Shanzi, and give her the note that Hizo had had for her in his pocket the day he died in Citadel.
On the deck as well was Boss and Jadoh, leaning over the rail, crossbows in hand, watching the treeline for either our returning comrades, or something that required the use of such weapons to deal with. "Fresh air?" Boss asked.
"Fresh air," I confirmed.
"Then take a seat and get a load off." Jadoh said. "We're the ones with the easy jobs here. You sure Gordez doesn't want the extra help?"
"Gordez isn't fond of leaving our rears unattended. Besides. I think he's enjoying having Kosah and Zadok for himself to torment."
"Oh they'll be fine. They just have to wait until somebody new joins or merry band of mercenaries, then they'll be favorites just like I am."
I smiled. Jadoh was growing on me ever since Jianghe. He now knew enough to understand that he had much to learn and no long was the same cocky brat we'd picked up in that nameless fishing village, where I'm sure he'd been the best swordfighter among their old men and starving women. "I'd hardly call you a favorite, Jadoh," I said, smiling so he knew I was joking. Not like I had to. He'd been making a lot of progress in abandoning that short fuse of him.
"Not yet, you mean. You'll find in due time just how charming I am."
"Oh, I'm sure." I leaned against the railing next to where Jadoh was seated, stretching, letting the cool late winter or early spring breeze wash over me, the smell of the sea intoxicating, liberating.
"Hey, alter today," Jadoh started. "Want to get some more sparring done? I think I've made some progress these last few days."
"Oh you think, do you?" I smirked. "We'll see about that. You're on."
"It's a date then, but don't tell Ka'lira. I don't want her to get jealous of what we have between us."
"It'll be our little secret then." It was good to be able to have more people to joke with. One thing I'd noticed on this ship, everybody was lighthearted, humorous, except maybe for Boss and Gordez. Which I supposed was needed. We needed that balance, the ones to make sure we never lost ourselves to a good laugh. The ones to keep us in the here and now, just like Boss did when he said, "Machinery ahead. They're coming back."
I heard the noise now. The sputtering of the engine as it tugged along. He stood up, bow in hand. He knew he'd said they were coming back, but there was no such thing as overly cautious. Jadoh got up from where he was sitting, leaving one hand on the bow as he leaned over the railing, looking ahead to try to catch that first glimpse of Shanzi emerging from the forest.
And there it was, emerging from the forest, just as it should have, but instead of driving forward, to the lowered ramp, it stopped in place, about 100 feet away from our deck so they weren't in our shadow. What are they doing?
And where I expected the head of either Luke or Ka'lira to poke out of the tank, it was a face I didn't recognize, a young kid, and after him an older man, white hair and beard, the two of them armored in leather. We didn't know what to think yet. We were just pausing, not doing anything, still not sure what the hell we were observing. Was it another tank? No. That was Shanzi, alright. And we knew as much when a third man exited the vehicle, another young man, and the two of them went behind the tank, escorting two bound prisoners: Luke and Ka'lira. And now there was no questioning what we were looking at. Boss and Jadoh aimed there bows while I shambled backwards to where we kept our weapons and archery targets for practice, grabbing the nearest crossbow and nocking a bolt, running back to join Boss's defensive line as he yelled out to them, "Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing?"
The man didn't speak, and I wondered if we were about to start shooting. They weren't too far off. I could take out the old man, but getting the two hostage takers while keeping our own unharmed, that was different, especially when the 10, 20, 30, no, more figures began emerging from the forests, armed in swords, spears, crossbows, all manner of weaponry. "It may be in both of our best interests that nobody here starts shooting!" The old man called out. "Or there will be very negative outcomes for both of us." At that moment, the rustling of leaves could be heard, drawing our attention to the trees as hooded archers emerged from the leaves, balanced on branches, bows aimed at us, one in the middle, likely their leader, wearing a circular straw hat, a bow with three arrows aimed directly at us, provoking Boss's aim to be trained on him now.
"That would be Longshot, our archer. You can aim at him all you want. You wouldn't be able to hit him, but he'd most definitely be able to hit you."
Boss could see just how outnumbered we were, and that a single shot fired would mean the death of us all, but he wasn't about to surrender the only advantage he had: a killing shot at their leader, something we all prayed this new threat wouldn't be willing to risk. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"We came here to ask the exact same question, but we cannot productively do that with our weapons drawn on one another like we're in some sort of definite standoff."
"Lower yours then we lower ours!" Boss called. Then man nodded, turning to his men on the ground who lowered their weapons, and promptly to his snipers in the trees, who shortly did the same. Boss nodded his head at us to do the same. Building trust. A battle meant death. Every second until then had to be used the best way possible. The only way possible.
"We just want to talk," the old man called. "My name is Kiu. The two young men holding your friends are Jet and Kai. They've been instructed by me not to harm my friends, and they follow my orders, just as I'm sure your men follow yours."
Boss didn't bother trying to answer that, instead saying, "You can call me Boss. These two are-"
"Zek and Jadoh" I said. "I'm Zek." I spoke up because I wasn't sure what Boss had planned. If he planned to lie on our behalf. And if he did, and if they knew our names, then all the more risk that Luke and Ka'lira would be put in. I had my eyes on her the whole time. She had a bag over her head. They both did, but I knew it was them. I recognized her, her figure, the clothes she wore when she left this morning. And I wanted her to hear my voice, hoping that might be some small solace.
Boss looked at me, and his look told me that he'd planned on lying, and I'd ruined that. I don't care. We don't know how much they know, and I'm not risking Ka'lira to protect my identity. "So they are!" Boss agreed.
"We just want to talk to you. I believe we may have a lot in common regarding this struggle on the Earth Kingdom continent. As a show of good faith, that we come in peace, we will release on of our prisoners to you, the girl."
Thank Raava.
"If you really want to come in good faith," Boss said. "You'll release them both." My stomach tightened. Please don't antagonize them. Please don't make them rescind the offer.
"And leave me with nothing? It is one think to invite a stranger into your home, but another to give him the keys. Be thankful for what I'm giving you so far." The boy that had been called Jet cut loose Ka'lira bindings and took off her hood. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her. She seemed to be uninjured for the most part. I needed to see her closer to be sure. Jet said something to her, and she began walking towards us. More than anything, I wanted to run to her, to meet her halfway, especially when her eyes met mine from down below and she smiled at me, a sad smile. My body language must have said as much about my intentions as Boss had to look at me and shake his head so as to tell me, "Not yet."
I understood. All too well. And so I waited, excruciatingly, as silence dominated the small clearing, and Ka'lira was finally out of sight. Boss turned to me, and said silently enough so the enemy didn't hear, "Meet her halfway and get the others. Is the skill fueled?"
The skiff? "Uh-yeah. I think so."
"Good. Get her and the rest to it but tell Gordez to get up here." He turned to Jadoh. "Jadoh, when Gordez gets up here, I want you getting to the skiff as well."
"And leave you here?" I felt ashamed that I hadn't been the one to ask that obvious question, but the sad truth was, my mind was on one thing right now, and that was making sure that Ka'lira was alright.
"If things become a shootout, I want at least most of us to get away. You'll go along the coast until you find a Fire Nation ship or outpost, and you'll tell them what happened here."
"They'd execute you before they'd let the Fire Nation free you."
"We'll worry about that if it comes to it, but for now, get to the skiff, and it you hear shooting, you get out of here. Now Zek, go. Get Ka'lira and get ready to leave."
I nodded, running to the command structure, not worrying about how my haste appeared, flinging open the door, sliding down the ladder to the cargo deck where the ramp led in addition to the main deck, where she'd opted not to go, and right there, halfway through the cargo deck, was Ka'lira, who finished her home stretch with a spring as she ran into my arms. "They're Earth Kingdom. Tell Boss," she said, ever valiant, ever noble, ever loyal.
"It's fine. It's fine. We know."
"They still have Luke."
"He's going to be fine. We'll work it out. Ka'lira, you alright?"
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten caught. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry."
I saw the glisten of dry blood against the side of her head where she'd been hit. That wasn't the extent of her bruises. She had cuts along her arms and legs. And she had dried blood at her mouth.
"Don't apologize. It's alright." I looked at her and her eyes, glistened by droplets of water, met mine. "I'm okay. I'm okay now." And she leaned forward and touched her lips to mine and stayed there for just long enough to tell me that it was no accident. And I let Boss's orders to me wait for just those few seconds of bliss as we stood there, in the darkness of the Patriot, where the rest of the world ceased to exist for just a small moment.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone