Piandao breathed heavily as he ran down an alley in the lower ring. The exertion from the battle as well as the heat of the comet made his robes stick to him, and he regretted splitting up with Paku; he could use a refreshing gulp of water.
He peered out of the alley in hopes of detecting enemy troops. In the battle so far he had mostly fought only non-bending soldiers, under normal circumstances firebenders would not have posed a problem, but elite firebenders with ten times the power proved to be a problem for a non-bender.
The street he surveyed was most likely a bustling market area on any normal day, but like the rest of the city, civilians had chosen to stay inside for fear of being caught in a firebending battle. So now the street only harbored empty vendor stalls, garbage drifting across the street, and a fire nation battalion.
Piandao took a deep breath. There were eight of them, none carried weapons, so it was most likely they were firebenders, if he listened closely, he could just make out the voice of one of the officers over the din of the battle.
"-the flank. It's just one old man, and if we meet with Fan Shu's group, sheer numbers alone will overpower him. Move out." the gruff voice of one of the men said. But none of the men had the chance to move out, for Piandao was already upon them. The old man they spoke of was one of his allies and these firebenders weren't going to harm any of them. He was able to incapacitate the man closest to him with a single blade stroke. He didn't really need that arm. He sprang on the second men quickly slicing his throat beneath an opening between the helmet and chest plate. The third man saw his approach and was able to aim a slash of fire, but Piandao had seen his intention and avoided it cleverly, and approached from the side stabbing him under his arm and into his chest.
By now the element of surprise was no longer on his side and the last five men had regrouped, edging away from Piandao, fists ready to strike.
Piandao rushes them, with hopes he can confuse them long enough to attack them one-on-one and hold their fire. The men are not so easily fooled, and punched out fire blasts as tall as the two story buildings around them. Piandao dived out of the way, into another alley and crashed into a pile of crates. He sprung onto his feet again even though his side was crying out in pain. The men were then nearly parallel to the opening of the alley, approaching in the hopes of finding Piandao's charred remains. Piandao was surprised to see only four men instead of five, but had no time to ponder it as he attacked the closest man. The Firebender held up an armored arm in hopes of deflecting the blade, but it was of the finest iron and sliced through the gauntlet, severing the man's hand. The man screamed clutching the bloody stump. Piandao plunged the blade down inside of the large breastplate, killing the man.
He felt intense heat near his neck and berated himself for leaving himself open, even as he suspected the thoughts to be his last, he heard the echo of a sharp 'twang' so when he whirled around his would be killer had an arrow shaft in the neck chink of his armor. He slumped to the ground, utterly lifeless. The soldier next to him looks desperately for the source of the new attacker, but was likewise killed with an arrow in his neck before fire could leave his fingertips.
The last man is easily disposed of by Piandao, in his confusion he does not see the blade that severs his jugular. Piandao takes a deep breath as the last man slumps to the ground, the battle finished.
He looked up to the rooftops, where the arrows and his unexpected ally appeared from. At first he sees no one and assumes the archer had moved on, but he sees the feet of a crouched figure hiding behind the hanging laundry.
"Thank you, Archer!" Piandao calls up to the hiding man, bowing with one fist within the other, in the typical Earth Kingdom fashion. The man-or boy, rather-rises, and tips his large straw farm hat in a simple sign of acknowledgement.
"BASTAAAAARD!" Piandao whirled around when he heard the violent cry. The first firebender he had attacked, the one whose arm was cut off, was rising sloppily, slipping on his own blood. He was breathing hard, his helmet discarded, and snarling at Piandao. He waved his remaining arm around trying to summon his fire, his movements tired from blood loss. Piandao began to walk towards the wounded soldier, it would be better to take him out of his misery then risk getting an infection and dying a painful death. But before he could, the man seemed to gather his bearings, with fury and tears in his eyes he punched a fireball at Piandao, who was only barely able to jump out of the way.
"Not so high and mighty now, Old Man!" the soldier continued to yell. He prepared to unleash another wave of fire, but just as the flames flickered out of his hand he was pushed into the ground. The wind was knocked out of him, and before he could draw breath a knife was plunged into his exposed throat. The fire was snuffed out as his life was.
The attacker, a scruffy boy-girl?-with vicious red face paint, wiped the man's blood on her trousers in knife care that made Piandao cringe, before turning and giving him a two-finger mock salute. She turned away from Piandao and scurried up a gutter to meet with her archer friend.
They both moved across the rooftops, completely at ease with the heights, moving in the opposite direction Piandao was planning to go. He took another deep breath, the battle wasn't won yet, and sought out his next opponent.
He thought he heard someone call good luck behind him.