Ezra and Shinah found Noah's company of soldiers fairly easily. Ezra recognized her brother's familiar figure chatting idly with his men near the small village's center. She ducked down, edging beneath the curve of the roof so that she was out of sight of the men.

"There he is," she sighed, glancing at Shinah. "Now we need to isolate him. How do we do that?"

Shinah's mouth turned down as he thought about the problem. Ezra left him to it, raising her head again to inspect the Fire Tribe soldiers.

When she came back down, her brow was furrowed. "There seem to be less of them today. Where did they all go?"

Shinah shrugged. Ezra let out a sigh, closing her eyes and leaning her back against the roof of the small house they were currently using as a stakeout post. She needed to speak to her brother alone, but she wasn't sure how to separate him from the other soldiers.

She highly doubted he'd come willingly. 

Her eyes sprang open. "Alright, Shinah. I've got a plan. Are you well enough to run?"

He nodded resolutely, and her eyes gleamed as she told him what they were going to do.

~~~

"Did you see that?" one of the men hissed, his eyes trained on the roof of a house not too far from the company of soldiers.

Noah narrowed his emerald eyes, searching for what had caught his comrade's eye. "See what?"

"There was a masked man on that roof!" the man replied, pointing.

"A masked man?" Noah muttered. He wondered if that had anything to do with the bandits they'd been sent out to capture. "Suspicious." He turned to the others. "All of you, stay here! Li-Ten and I are going to investigate something!"

In the shadows of the roof above the men, Ezra grinned to herself. If it was only her brother and one other, Shinah would have an easier time getting Noah alone.

If Noah saw her, he'd immediately turn the other way. Shinah's injuries had left him unable to move much recently, so Ezra doubted the soldiers knew that he was a bandit. He could lure Noah away from his men, and Ezra would take care of the rest.

As soon as Noah and Li-Ten dashed off, Ezra noisily made her way down the roof, landing with a thud on the balls of her feet.

The remaining men whirled towards the sound. "Who goes there?" one called.

Ezra let out a barely audible gasp before turning and sprinting in the opposite direction.

"That's one of the confirmed bandits!" one of the men shouted, pointing after her. "Follow that girl!"

Ezra grinned as the men thundered after her, their footfalls loud and entirely unsubtle. She wasn't sure if the men had any brains at all.

She continued running until she had to gasp for air, and then she turned to face the soldiers she'd herded like sheep. She'd led them exactly where she wanted; a wide, mostly deserted street on the outskirts of Katan Village.

Ezra slung the length of coiled rope that she'd stolen (erhem, borrowed) from the soldiers' Katan Village headquarters off of her body, clenching it tightly in her hands. There were five men in front of her, and her challenge was to take them all down without injuring them.

It wasn't going to be easy, but she had to do it. If she hurt one of Noah's comrades, he would hate her even more.

"Do you plan on taking us all on with just a bit of rope, girl?" one of the men sneered. "Why don't you set the playthings down and fight us with your real weapons?"

Ezra still had her sword sheath slung over her back and several knives strapped to her body, but she refused to draw them. "That would be giving me an unfair advantage," she quipped with a savage grin. "Besides, I don't really want to hurt you."

"Your funeral," he snapped, sprinting forward. He was so sure of his victory against her that he didn't even bother to draw the sword hanging at his waist.

Ezra ducked his first wild swing, bringing her knee up against the soldier's midsection as he blew past her.

"Oof!" he grunted.

She took advantage of his moment of dazed pain, darting in close to him and grabbing his wrists. With quick fingers, she tied a knot around his hands and stepped back, drawing the man's sword from his waist as she did.

She sawed through the rope and gave him a solid kick in the chest. He stumbled backwards a few steps before losing his balance and falling on his back. He groaned, curling around his bruised ribs.

Shit. Did I overdo the force on that knee? she thought worriedly to herself. She hoped she didn't break anything.

Ezra turned to the remaining men, blowing a piece of midnight hair out of her eyes. She should've asked Yona to help her put her hair up before the others left. "Well, this might go quicker if you all attack me at once. Come now, don't be shy."

"Who are you?" one of the soldiers asked her.

She grinned maniacally. "I'm naught but a lawless bandit. Capture me if you can!"

Three of the men rushed her, converging on her at once. She immediately chucked the sword she'd stolen away from her, not wanting to use it in case she severely injured someone. The weapon flew through the air to land on the rooftop of a nearby house, and Ezra grinned to herself. Nobody would be able to use it from there.

One man attacked from the left; she weaved past his punch, coming up under his guard with an elbow to the throat. He gasped for air and stumbled away as she threw her weight backwards to avoid the strike of another soldier's sword.

With a deft flick of her wrist, the rope she held snaked out and wrapped around the sword-wielder's hand. She pulled on the rope, causing him to drop the weapon, before ducking her head to dodge a wild punch from the third soldier.

Ezra grunted with pain when the the second soldier rejoined the fight with a foot to her ribs, teetering sideways a few steps before regaining her balance. Only one of the men remained armed; the others were fighting her with just their fists.

She made quick work of the three unarmed soldiers by wrapping her rope around their ankles and tugging them to the ground. While they lay groaning on the dirt floor, she tightened the knots around their feet and cut the rope so they could no longer move.

She turned her attention to the one man who remained standing; a veteran soldier, by the looks of the long scar that ran across his right eye. He held a broadsword in one hand, sizing her up with his one good eye.

"You're not half bad, girl," he told her, grinning.

She tilted her head. "You didn't want the advantage of attacking with your men?"

He shook his head. "Don't need it. You're coming with me. We'll be questioning you about the motives and whereabouts of this ridiculous Dragon Hungry Gang."

"It's the Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch," Ezra corrected automatically.

The man rolled his eye. "Whatever." With that, he sprinted forward.

Ezra was stunned by the speed with which the man moved; he was easily as fast as she was, possibly even as fast as Shinah. She hurriedly dropped the rope and pulled two daggers from her belt, crossing them to stop his first blow.

Her arms shook with the effort of keeping his sword away from her face; with a gasp, she shoved his weapon to her left and rolled to the right, coming up covered in dirt.

"Damn it," she hissed. Yun wasn't around at the moment to do her laundry for her, and she'd just dirtied her last clean shirt.

The man came at her again, swinging his sword with ease. Ezra ducked and weaved through the deadly dance, being held on the defensive with no opportunity to attack.

She danced backwards, twirling the daggers in her grasp, before sprinting forward. She feinted to the left before slashing her knives down to the right.

The soldier saw through the trick, swinging his sword in a wide arc that blocked her slash. But that hadn't been her real goal.

With his right side unprotected, Ezra kicked her leg up and slammed her shin against his ribs, landing a painful hit. The breath was knocked out of the man, and he stumbled backwards.

He recovered quicker than she expected, slashing out with his weapon. Ezra barely jumped back in time to save her eye; the sword left a shallow cut along her cheekbone instead, and she hissed aggressively.

Summoning energy from reserves of strength she rarely used, Ezra sprinted forward, parrying away a slash of his sword. She cut a shallow gash in the wrist of his sword-wielding hand, and he dropped the weapon with a gasp.

He was left entirely defenseless, and Ezra slammed the hilt of her other knife into his temple. The man's one good eye rolled into the back of his head before he slumped over, unconscious.

Ezra stood panting in the aftermath of the fight, relishing in the excitement that thrummed through her veins.

Oh, how she'd missed this feeling.

"What even are you bandits?" One of the men that she'd tied up by the ankles attempted to stand, only to be tripped by the rope around his feet. He slammed painfully back onto the ground, glaring up at the raven-haired girl with hate in his eyes. "You're all monsters!"

Ezra's eyes narrowed. "Yes. We are."

She made quick work of tying the men's hands together before taking off back towards center of town.

"That took too long!" she hissed to herself as she ran.

She put her head down and sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her. Sweat dripped down her temples, but she swiped a wrist across her forehead and kept running. Only one thought was on her mind:

I have to get to back Shinah! 

***

Sorry this took forever, guys! This past week has been crazy. Things have calmed a bit, so I'll have more chapters out soon!

--Veratia0011