Chapter 24: Never Give Up

"Three...two...one...attack!"
The patrol all leaped out of the bushes, jumping for the deer. Ash tried his best to push his fear away as he lunged at the deer. The deer snorted angrily and ducked as Rusty lunged for his head. Lucky Rusty missed, Ash thought, ducking as Nyx flew over his head, or he would've been ripped apart by the deer's antlers!
Nyx swooped at the deer, and Ash could tell she was using Airbending to make herself faster. She aimed her talons at the deer, but the deer charged at Nyx with its antlers, causing the young owl to retreat, and she flew further into the air.
Light, growling, charged at the deer, ramming her head into the deer's side. However, this was proven to be a wrong move, as the deer didn't budge and Light fell back, looking dizzy. As she shook her head to clear it, the deer butt her back with his head, luckily not using his antlers, and Light fell into Crystal, who had been ready to leap onto the deer's back. The two she-wolves quickly scampered to their feet.
Airia flew into the air and dive bombed the deer, who let out a loud snort of surprise. Ash watched as Airia bit down on the deer, but not do any damage surprisingly. The deer began to buck, and Airia flew off of the deer before it could do any damage to her.
Ash jumped at the deer and clawed it, but it didn't do any damage. Growling in frustration, Ash bit down hard on the deer. It let out a snort and bucked again, making Ash fall hard and land on the ground. He quickly got to his feet and jumped away when the deer charged at him.
Hazen growled at Ash. "Nice job, bug-brain! We're really winning!"
"I'd like to see you try to inflict any damage!" snarled Ash.
Hazen glared at Ash. Hazen then made fire appear in the air, and threw it towards the deer. However, the deer simply dodged it, and Hazen looked surprised. However, Hazen's surprise was quickly replaced by a look of anger, and he growled and lunged at the deer, but the deer turned and kicked at Hazen. Lucky for Hazen, he didn't get hit.
Airia flew at the deer again, and the deer used its antlers to catch Airia and throw her onto the ground. A feeling of shock came upon Ash as blood came from Airia's chest, and she collapsed, breathing heavy as blood kept spilling. The deer charged at Airia, prepared to make a killing blow.
"Airia!" Ash howled in fear. He jumped in front of the deer to block Airia, and he got hit in the shoulder with the deer's antlers. Ash breathed in hard, trying to get air, as blood began gushing from his shoulder. He stumbled a bit, but managed to stay on his feet. Airia, however, was knocked out.
Oh, no! The deer is going to win again! Ash thought, feeling weaker from blood loss. "Nyx!" he managed to yell, and the owl flew over to him. "Get Eclipse and Nightgale to get Airia and to heal us! Make sure another Bender escorts them! And go get the backup patrol!"
Nyx quickly nodded and swooped off. Ash could see that Light, Crystal and Twister were all jumping onto the deer, but the deer quickly bucked them off. They lunged again, not giving up, and, luckily, having no injuries.
Feeling even weaker, Ash turned to Airia to see her still bleeding. He licked her forehead. Please live, please live, please live, Ash begged the Peacebenders, collapsing onto Airia from his own blood loss. He looked up at the sky, knowing the Peacebenders must be watching this. Why are you letting this happen?! Ash demanded to them angrily.
Just then, growls came and animals came crashing from the bushes. Ash sighed relief as he saw it was the backup patrol. Following them quickly was Eclipse and Nightgale, with Mistletoe close to them, most likely their escort. Ash watched as Stone, growling, bit down on the deer's leg, Darner helping her.
The deer kicked them away, and Stone and Darner collided into each other. Darner helped Stone up. "Come on, you can do it!" he yelled encouragingly. Stone nodded, and ran at the deer again.
Stella tried Firebending, like Hazen did, but again, the deer dodged it. Full of confidence, Stella jumped at the deer and bit down on it, only to be bucked off. Stone also skidded away from the deer as it tried to hit her with its antlers.
Eclipse and Nightgale had made their way over to Ash and Airia. "You're gonna be fine, Ash," Eclipse breathed, "Airia will be too." Eclipse took some leaves from Nightgale and put them on Ash's shoulder. With some weeds, Eclipse wrapped the leaf onto Ash's shoulder. Eclipse pushed down on Ash's shoulder to make the bleeding stop. Nightgale was working on Airia, putting two leaves onto Airia's chest and wrapping weeds around it.
"Airia needs to go to the healers' den," Nightgale said. "How can we carry her?"
"I'll fetch Goldwing, he can. Ash, in a little bit, you can resume the battle," Eclipse nodded, darting off. Nightgale began pacing back and forth with anticipation and anxiety, looking down at Airia every now and again. Ash looked at her too, hoping she'd make it.
Eclipse came back, and Goldwing flew overhead, then came down to the ground, and looked at Airia, wide-eyed in shock. "That deer did this to my daughter?" he whispered.
"Yes, Goldwing. The deer will be killed, don't worry, just get Airia back to the healers' den!" Eclipse ordered. Goldwing quickly nodded and picked Airia up and flew off with her.
Eclipse looked at Ash's injury. "It'll be healed in a bit--" she began, but was cut off as the deer came charging for her. She moved out of the way, and Ash ducked out of the way too, unharmed. The deer ran off, and Ash realized it was heading in the direction of The Bending Tower.

Author's Note:
I can't wait to write the next chapter. .3.
Please check out Misitu's Art Central frequently, its posts aren't appearing on your dashboards! D8 Click here to see it!