Equivalent Exchange
Chapter Ten: Horrors
Zuko stiffened and then stopped for a moment. The scream was that of a young woman or a child perhaps. Another shriek followed, this one more garbled sounding than the last one. He seemed to waver, one foot pointed back toward where they had come from and the other toward the inn.
"We can't help them," Mai stated. "At least, not like this."
The prince took her meaning; the group of violent looking men was Fire Nation. It was possible that they would recognize Zuko. The scar could give him away. Zuko didn't know how far news of his shame had spread. He had no way of knowing whether information about the 'deaths' of their group had been circulated throughout the military.
Even if they didn't know Zuko's face or story, the gold eyes that both he and Mai had, spoke of Fire Nation nobility. The men would be suspicious and that would most definitely not do.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Zuko asked.
"I'd like to get out of here," Mai replied. "But," she added with a sigh, "I know you want to do something. And I want to help you."
"Good," Zuko stated. "We need to tell Iroh and Jee."
As soon as they entered the inn, Zuko's uncle pounced on them. The rest of the customers were huddled together around a large table in the centre of the dining room. All of them looked nervous and quite a few looked scared.
"What is going on out there?" the retired general asked urgently. "We heard screaming."
Zuko explained the appearance of the riders and Iroh's eyes opened wide. He shook his head and stroked his beard.
"Not good," he muttered as he maneuvered Zuko and Mai into a quiet corner. "Those are the Rough Rhinos. Their leader, Colonel Mongke served under me in the army. This group he heads is not an official part of the military. But they are often under direct orders from the Fire Lord to take over strategically located cities or towns or ones that contain resources the Fire Nation war machine needs. Their tactics involve nothing more than terror and brutality. I've heard terrible accounts; burning villages, killing everyone, children included. They rape and they pillage and they kill at will. There's no one to stop them. They are sanctioned by Ozai, after all."
Zuko clenched his fists at the mention of his father and shot a fiery look Mai's way. That was it; he was hooked. He would not let thugs hired by his father ruin the Fire Nation's already horribly tarnished honour any further. Those 'men' were all that most Earth Kingdom citizens saw of his beloved nation. They needed to be taken down a peg. If Zuko were completely honest with himself, he would admit that the Rough Rhinos needed to be killed. He just wasn't sure if he could do the job. But the thought of stopping them made his blood flow hot and fast in his veins. He wanted a fight.
"Well, I won't let them destroy this town or hurt any people. Terrorizing civilians is unacceptable. It's a stain on our nation's honour, what we have left, and I won't tolerate it."
"And how will you do that?" Iroh asked pointedly. "You can't use your bending. All you have are your swords. Are you confident enough in your ability?"
"Yes," Zuko said after a few seconds of consideration.
"He's got me too," Mai interjected. "And don't even bother trying to stop me. I won't let Zuko do this by himself. Besides, I'm quite capable."
"These men are vicious killers with no conscience at all," Iroh stressed. "They will not hesitate to take you out if they get the chance."
"Then we won't give them the chance," Mai replied smartly. "I promise that we won't rush in and start fighting. We'll watch first."
"That depends on what they're doing," Zuko corrected. "We need to go now. But first I have to get something from my room."
He scurried up the stairs and retrieved the two masks that were stuffed into the room's small wardrobe along with his dual sword. Once downstairs again, he handed Mai her mask.
"See," he told Iroh, thrusting the blue and white grinning face out. "They won't have a clue who we are."
"What are those?" Iroh asked.
"Just some masks I bought in Sagami-wan. I thought they might be useful one day. Looks like I was right."
"So, you're taking on alter egos are you?" Iroh smiled.
"They're just masks," Mai stated as she tied hers up.
Even as she said those words, Mai felt a sort of freedom, the sort that comes from being anonymous.
"Strange," Jee observed. "You're almost frightening, both of you. I never liked masks. I don't like not knowing what's underneath."
"Maybe we'll scare the Rough Rhinos," Mai quipped.
"No," Iroh said firmly. "You won't."
He watched them leave through the inn's back door, anxiety etched deep into his face. The other patrons watched too and looked back to Iroh and Jee for answers.
"They're trying to help," he explained. "Pray for them."
Iroh felt uneasy about letting the two young people go; one was like a son to him and the other was fast becoming the daughter he never had. With every fiber of his being he wanted to protect the two. He wanted to go out there with ribbons of fire blazing from his fingertips and waves of fire pouring out of his mouth. He wanted to be the Dragon of the West just for a few minutes. The Rough Rhinos were everything bad about the Fire Nation and they needed to end, one way or another. But as his wife used to say whenever he worried a bit too much about their boy, Lu Ten, 'sometimes letting go is a good thing'. He held on to that thought with all his might and said his own prayer to Agni. He wasn't sure that the God of Fire would listen. Lu Ten was dead after all.
Once outside, Mai and Zuko walked quickly along the narrow alleyway that ran parallel to the town's main street. Alongside each business was another even smaller alley that led to the store fronts. When they approached the spot they had stood in when the Rough Rhinos first entered the town, the couple stopped and listened. Townspeople stood perfectly still as if afraid to move even an inch. The tension in the air was suffocating.
Mai and Zuko couldn't see what was going on but a terrible stench filled the air. Mai raised a hand to her covered face and looked at Zuko through the narrow eyes of her stark white mask.
"Something's burning," she hissed. "It smells like…like flesh."
It was tradition in the Fire Nation to burn bodies one day after death. Legend told that the people of the Fire Nation were born from ash, leftovers of Agni's all too common rage. As recompense for recklessly burning his underlings, Agni created a new race of people, from the ashes of their remains. Those people were set down on the volcanic islands of the Fire Nation and there they thrived and prospered. Upon death, their bodies were made ash again. So, they ended as they began, creating a comforting cycle.
Both Mai and Zuko had only attended one funeral. That was Fire Lord Azulon's. Royalty being royalty, the body was placed on a pyre of the sweetest smelling wood and it burned along with the dead flesh, neatly disguising the awful smell. Well, it didn't completely cover the odor. Occasionally the smell of roasted meat, like an overcooked monkeyhog left on the spit too long, would permeate the air. Mai recalled the smell. She had gagged then and she gagged now.
"We're too late," Zuko said mournfully. "They've killed someone already."
"Then we'd better get moving before they kill someone else," Mai urged.
Stealthily, they pushed their way through the people. No one seemed to notice them. Their attention was riveted on whatever was happening right in the middle of the main street. Zuko and Mai edged closer to the front of the crowd, stopping once they could finally get a glimpse of the action.
Zuko had underestimated. Three corpses lay in the hard packed dirt of the street. One was an unrecognizable mess; blackened bits of flesh hanging off bones that looked liked charcoal. Zuko could feel the heat still radiating off the body. Another lay nearby, a gaping wound in her chest, green robes now a mess of blood and gore. The third was sprawled out near the woman, his face in the dirt. The back of his skull was caved in and Mai immediately thought of the splattered melons that littered the dock on the day she stowed away on Zuko's ship. She could feel the gorge rise in her throat.
A lineup of young women and girls, ranging in age from about twelve to twenty stood with stunned faces. Some wept but most were silent and turned pleading eyes to the people they had known all their lives. The Rough Rhinos circled around the girls like desert vultures above a sick or wounded animal. Their leering faces looked horrifying in the sputtering light of the town's lanterns.
"They're going to…" Mai began.
"Yes," Zuko replied. "Are you ready?"
Mai nodded. "I take it we don't have a plan."
"Stop the bastards," he said in a dark tone. "I don't care what it takes."
As one of the Rhinos slid off his mount and approached a terrified young girl, his hand reaching out to grab her tiny breasts, Mai stepped forward onto the street and in one beautiful, fluid motion let her first set of tiny but deadly arrows fly. Though he wore chest armor, his upper arms and neck were both vulnerable. Two projectiles pierced the bicep muscle of his left arm and one grazed his neck. A thick stream of blood ran down his arm and into the brown wristband that he wore. A thinner trickle of blood moved down his neck and disappeared beneath his armor.
Roaring his rage, the man turned to face whoever had dared to attack him. The beginnings of flames sprung from his fingertips and his mouth twisted into something bestial.
"Who dares attack me, Colonel Mongke , of the elite Fire Nation task force, the Rough Rhinos?" he bellowed. "Show yourself! Only cowards fight behind masks."
"Only cowards kill innocent villagers and herd up young girls for their perverse pleasure," Mai countered.
Her normally expressionless, raspy voice positively simmered with barely repressed fury. Zuko stepped out beside her and brandished his swords. Behind his mask, the prince's eyes glowered with anger and indignation.
"Let the girls go and leave this place," he commanded in a haughty tone befitting a member of the royal family.
"No," Mongke replied. "My men and I like this village. The girls look very tasty, for Earth Kingdom scum, that is."
"I'm going to ask you nicely, one more time," Zuko stated slowly as if talking to an idiot or a young child. "Will you leave?"
Mongke snickered. He wiped at the blood on his neck and then threw a glance at his four men. They moved forward, closer and closer to Mai and Zuko. The line of girls, meanwhile, scattered into the crowd, no doubt looking for the comfort of family and friends.
"I think that means 'no'," Mai quipped and edged over so that her hip butted against Zuko's.
"It's two against five," Mongke said, stating the obvious. "The odds are in our favor."
He laughed again, so hard this time that the gold hoops in his ears swung back and forth and the feather that decorated his top knot quivered. Without warning, he punched outward and sent a ball of flame at Mai. She dodged it nimbly, her black hair swinging. While still in an awkward position, she let another volley of arrows go, this one at the burly man carrying a halberd smeared with blood. He cried out as the arrows pierced his unarmored abdomen and then came at Mai, twisting the pole that supported the huge axe like blade. He looked down momentarily at his blood soaked tunic. The arrow tips resembled strange buttons. With his attention wavering, Mai whipped a star shaped shuriken at his calf. The man shrieked and fell to his knee in agony. Meanwhile another Rhino readied a flaming arrow and sent it toward Zuko. He easily stopped it with his swords and then charged. Small explosives went off every few seconds too, hindering their vision and making them constantly anticipate and dodge.
The fight that followed was brief and intense. Mai's knives flew at all the Rhinos, ending up in meaty thighs and muscular arms, prompting cries of outrage each time one hit. For someone whose battle experience consisted of one throw at Zhao, Mai did incredibly well. Of course, maintaining cool was an art form for Mai. Her hands were steady and her breathing even. Two solid weeks of walking had increased her endurance as well.
Zuko was more emotional. His swings were wild sometimes but his passion more than made up for any mistakes he made. As the fight continued, he settled down and went at his task with gritty efficiency. At one point, the muscular Rhino who used chains, spinning them with dizzying speed above his head and then sending them out looking for heads to crush or limbs to entangle, managed to get his weapon wrapped around Zuko's ankle. He jerked the chain hard and Zuko fell, landing with a thump on the hard earth. The prince hacked at the metal links with his sword while the hulking man approached, ready to finish him off. Mai was busy evading both the halberd and fiery arrows. She looked at Zuko desperately, her mind whirling. From somewhere a rock came hurtling through the air. It hit the Rhino square in the head and he dropped unconscious to the ground.
Zuko quickly finished cutting the chain and scrambled to his feet. Another rock flew, this one close to the prince's head, and hit Mongke square in the forehead.
"What in Agni's name is going on?" Zuko shouted at Mai.
The townspeople moved forward then, as if inspired by the earthbender in their midst. The four Rough Rhinos who were still conscious were swarmed and beaten, then tied up like errant farm animals who continually tried to escape their pens. Their hands were pulled tightly behind their backs and their feet were bound together. Weapons were removed and sent to the blacksmith's shop so he could melt them down.
Mai and Zuko watched all this with a sort of sick fascination and wondered why it took so long for the villagers to fight back. As they edged away from the growing crowd of people, someone placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder.
"Where are you going?" a middle aged man asked. "You saved us."
"Look, we don't want any attention," Zuko replied, shrugging the man's hand off. He glanced over at the bruised and bloodied Rhinos and then over at Mai. She knew, of course, that it was the fear of recognition that worried Zuko just as much as a bunch of shoulder clapping and handshakes.
"We weren't in time to save everyone," Mai reminded the man. "You lost three people."
"Yes," he agreed. "And now we have dead to bury and orphans to look after. But still, without your help, our girls would have been….soiled," he finally said after searching for the right word. "My daughter was up there and I froze. After Chang tried to stop them and that man lit him up like an evening torch, I just stood there and watched. What kind of man does that? What kind of father does that?"
He was weeping now. Mai and Zuko watched with discomfort, unsure what to do.
"What are you going to do with them?" Zuko asked.
The man wiped angrily at his damp eyes and took two deep breaths before answering. He looked back over the crowd that was dispersing now, some people going home, others seeing to the unexpected prisoners and still others attending to the three dead bodies.
"We should kill them," he spat. We should set them on fire and watch them burn. But we won't. The Fire Nation is filled with nothing but power hungry, blood thirsty murderers. We won't become like them. Not if I have anything to say about it. But, they'll think twice before invading another town. That we'll make sure of. I need to get back to my wife and daughter. Thank you again, whoever you are."
When he turned back around, Mai and Zuko were gone.*
"Are you alright?" Iroh and Jee asked when Mai and Zuko gingerly opened the door to the inn.
Both men looked concerned and checked over the young couple with their eyes.
"We're okay," Zuko replied as he untied his mask and the dropped into a comfortable looking chair.
Mai followed suit, sitting beside her betrothed. She could feel the beginnings of lumps and areas that were sure to be bruised now that the adrenaline rush of battle was over. Carefully, she felt a spot on her leg and winced.
"Mai?" Zuko asked.
"Are you sure that you're fine?" Iroh questioned her again.
"Just a bad bruise, I think. I'll check when I go upstairs."
"Tell us what happened," Jee demanded.
The lieutenant caught the eye of a waitress and indicated the two young people. Within minutes she brought them strong tea and some sweet biscuits. Mai and Zuko recounted the events, taking turns, describing things from each of their perspectives.
"They killed three people," Iroh said sorrowfully. "And the girls….I shudder to imagine what would have become of them had you not intervened. The two of you make us both proud."
By now everyone in the inn had gathered round and was listening to the story with horror. Some left quickly, perhaps to comfort friends or relatives, perhaps to seek revenge, perhaps to see for themselves what they had only heard second hand.
The young couple shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Both wanted to go upstairs to their rooms and digest the events of the evening, disturbing as they were. Zuko reached across the bit of space that separated them and Mai took his hand.
"We're going to bed," he announced.
The grateful people murmured their agreement and moved aside for the pair.
"We'll talk tomorrow, Uncle," Zuko stated as he walked by the old man.
Iroh's intelligent eyes followed them all the way up the stairs.
"Come on in," Mai invited sarcastically as Zuko hovered in her door way, not letting her shut the thick wooden slab.
They sat down on the bed and stared at one another. Mai finally pulled up her pant leg and took a look at what was giving her so much pain. Her entire lower left leg was a mass of ugly looking bruises. Her pale hand looked strange against the splotches of purple and black.
"Agni, Mai that looks awful."
"It's just bruising but damn, it does hurt."
Kneeling down in front of her, Zuko heated his hands and placed them gently against the injured leg. Mai moaned her relief and gratitude.
"Sometimes I really wish that Agni had seen fit to make me a firebender too."
"You've got me," Zuko stated shyly and then ducked his head back down to concentrate on his work.
"Yes, I do, don't I?" Mai replied with a smirk. "Much as this feels wonderful, you'd better go to your own room, Zuko. I felt Iroh's eyes on me."
"Oh, okay," the prince agreed and stood up.
He leaned his head in and gave Mai a quick kiss.
"Goodnight," he said and left quietly.
Mai took off her clothes and discovered more areas of bruising. She washed her hands and face in the washbasin that sat atop a small table and then slipped under the covers in just her underwear. It was too much bother to look for her nightgown and she was exhausted.
For most of her life, Mai had hidden her emotions away. Free expression was frowned upon by both her parents and the majority of those in the nobility. It was only with Zuko that she had ever felt loved enough to let things out and even then it was a bit of a struggle. But that night, Mai cried tears of anger and sorrow. She cried for what her nation had become, she cried for the people she couldn't save and she cried for those left behind. And every time she closed her eyes the images of those three bodies, those three human beings on the ground hit her with the force of a tidal wave. Sometime in the night, she left her room, went out into the hallway and tried Zuko's door. It was open. She crept inside, locked the door and crawled in next to him. Propriety be damned.
Zuko woke up with a start. His sleep had been plagued with nightmares. The fight with the Rough Rhinos and the sight of the dead had affected him much more than he thought. When he realized that Mai was beside him he smiled and wrapped his arms around her, burying his nose in her fragrant hair.
They lay like that for another hour, until the morning sun refused to let them slumber any longer.
"I'll go get dressed," Mai whispered and snuck back to her room, but not before placing a kiss on his scarred cheek.
He didn't like touching the scar himself but somehow when Mai did, it was alright.
They all met for breakfast shortly after, Iroh looking at them pointedly every few minutes. The restaurant was abuzz with stories of the night before and townspeople came and went in little groups, flurrying in and out. Everyone felt a strange combination of elation and sorrow; elation that they finally stood up to the Fire Nation and sorrow that they had lost three of their own.
Most of the people had no idea who the masked strangers were. But the woman who ran the inn knew and she spread the word. Grateful parents thanked Mai and Zuko for their help; they offered money and goods as recompense. The young couple refused, taking a cue from Iroh.
"What if we offer you the animals that those monsters rode?" one man suggested. "Your traveling would be made much easier."
"I'm certain that you could find a use for them," Iroh interjected before either Zuko or Mai had a chance to respond.
"We don't want them," the man continued firmly. "And we won't give them back to those bastards when we choose to let them free; if we do."
"Well, then," Iroh said as he stroked his grey beard. "I suppose if you really don't want them, we'll take them off your hands."
"And," the innkeeper added. "You'll get completely resupplied for free. And I don't want your money for the rooms or the food."
She fumbled in her desk for a minute and then handed Iroh back all the money he had paid.
"It's not necessary," Iroh insisted.
"You must let us do something," the woman insisted even harder. "It's our way."
"Alright then," Iroh agreed, looking over at Jee who nodded his approval. "Thank you."
"Looks like walking is a thing of the past," Jee observed in a pleased tone.
"Yes," Iroh nodded. "Mai, Zuko, go pack now. We'll be leaving shortly. The town has a wound that needs healing. They don't need strangers around for that."
Less than an hour later they were riding out of town, continuing eastward toward the city of Omashu.
"So Iroh," Jee asked after they had put some distance between themselves and the town. "What do you think will happen to the Rough Rhinos?"
The old general thought for a moment and then shrugged.
"I believe that we haven't seen the last of them yet. I just hope they don't become even more vicious than they already are. And I hope they don't waste time on revenge."
Mai and Zuko, riding side by side behind the men, exchanged a look. They both shuddered.
*just like Batman xD
A/N: I find action scenes the most difficult to write of anything, simply because I can't relate. Hope I did okay. Thanks for reading. Keep the reviews coming, please.
Alabaster