Chapter 14: Friends and Allies
The smoke stacks of Omashu puffed ash and soot as the Earth engineers worked overtime to produce the engines of war for the Southern Earth Kingdom. It was late in the day, and the sun was already setting down, bathing the steel architecture of the city in a vibrant blood red light. While the Green armored guards of the city kept watch above on the draw bridges and the turrets was the city moat, a gigantic trench that circled the mountain city and protected it from outside invaders, failing only once in the last war against an ingenious assault by the Mechanist's creations.
Yet three figures braved the defenses of the moat, waiting until the sun was over the horizon before attempting the descent.
Noatak and Tarrlok led the way, conjuring a small platform of ice that slid down the mountainside quietly to the city's underbelly.
"So...mind telling me exactly what we're doing here? and what are you looking for?" Noatak asked the Kyoshi Warrior beside him. Niska didn't reply initially, her eyes were intensely focused on the base of the trench, trying to peer at something in the far off darkness.
Noatak couldn't help but smirk, she was still the same even after all those years he had been away from home, serious and authoritative, just like her father.
He never knew much of Niska's past, only that she had been among the refugees that came north with Councilman Sokka after the war had been lost. Though not his daughter by blood, as one of the last survivors of Kyoshi Island, he had adopted her into his family, training her in the arts of the sword and the Kyoshi ways. Niska never thought of Sokka as anything other than her father, having been too young to even remember what her parents even looked like when Sokka rescued her from the flames. She was so grateful, that she dedicated her life to carrying on the legacy that her people had left behind, and the one that Sokka had risked his own life to protect. Although not a bender, she was as skilled with a sword or spear as any, and throughout the Northern Water Tribes, she was simply known as the last Kyoshi Warrior.
"Finding a way in." Niska said seriously, still scanning ahead even as the ice platform glided to a stop at the base of the trench. "There!" she pointed ahead, to a nearby metal grate that looked like it had been welded back into place long ago.
"Wow!" Tarrlok exclaimed, "How did you know this was here?"
"Let's just say we're not the first one's to use this." Niska replied rather proudly, then she quickly jumped onto the concrete floor, gesturing at the brothers to follow. "I'll need your waterbending to break this grate apart, then we'll sneak in."
"Alright," Noatak jumped down, along with Tarrlok, "But first, tell us what we're doing sneaking into an Earth Kingdom city. Aren't we on the same side?"
"Not exactly." Niska replied gruffly. "You ever heard of High General Giam?"
Noatak and Tarrlok thought back briefly to the conversation they had with Captain Lee, and both brothers nodded. "Yes, he commands the remnants of the Earth Kingdom Army against the Fire Nation."
"That's only half the truth." Niska said bitterly. "His men probably glaze over the fact that the High General is also a warlord of the worst sort. He gives surrounding resistance groups a choice: join him, or be destroyed. Countless villages have already been burnt to the ground by his men. And he's already attacked several of our caravans, kidnapping our people to use as bargaining chips to join his side."
Both brothers looked at each other in disbelief, as though it was insane to think that an Earth Kingdom army could do such a thing to its own people.
"High General Giam may claim to be fighting for the Earth Kingdom, but he's only interested in his own power, nothing else, and he would destroy anyone in his way to get what he wants, even his own people. He's no better than the Phoenix Lord." Niska said.
It disturbed him that someone like Lee would take part in anything like this, but he doubted it. If Giam was as good at fooling the people of Omashu, it was a fair bet that he probably kept it under wraps from his soldiers as well. But he was not surprised by the fact that the Earth Kingdom General had been driven to such lengths in his vendetta against the Fire Nation, after all he had known firsthand from his own father the kinds of things revenge can cause a person to do.
"Okay, then what's the plan?" Noatak whispered.
"Break in, get the hostages, then escape." Niska smirked conspiratorially.
"Really?" Tarrlok interjected, "I guess breaking into a heavily fortified city must be easy for you."
"Of course." The Kyoshi warrior replied nonchalantly, "But it's especially easier now that I have two Wolf Tails with me as well."
"Do we know where they are being held?" Noatak asked seriously.
Niska nodded. "The guards lock all the high profile prisoners in the old King's chambers. It connects via an underground arena, that should be where our target is."
"Alright then, let's go." Noatak said as he led the way.
The trio followed the sewer system, with both the brothers bending the water and sewage out of the way while Niska directed them deeper into the underbelly of the city. It didn't take long before they emerged through a manhole cover, lifting it to reveal a cold stone corridor, lined with torches and banners of the Earth Kingdom. Noatak snuck a peek above the opening, and quickly ducked back down as a platoon of heavily armored Earth Guards passed overhead.
Once the sounds and vibrations of the marching troops passed, the three warriors quickly surfaced, carefully sliding the stone cover back in place before proceeding on deeper into the prison.
Eventually they stumbled onto a balcony overlooking the detention area.
Niska's information was mostly correct, there was an arena deep within the maze of corridors and pits, but it had been expanded into a holding area. Where there had once been an arena, the entire area had been paved down and expanded into another chamber, where the walls glittered a jade green. Long metal walls divided the area into cells, each large enough to house at least dozens of people, with bars to herd the prisoners in. In every corner, there was a heavily armed soldier with dark green helmets and shoulder plates.
Within the cells, Noatak and Tarrlok could see what must have been hundreds of people huddled together in ragged clothes, men, women, children of all ages and sizes, but with one common feature, the red clothing that was distinctly Fire Nation. The Earth Kingdom prisoners, in their green rags, were separated from the Fire nation prisoners, who seemed to have the worst of it, with the guards not so gently pushing them into the holding cells and shackling them against the walls.
"This...this is horrible." Tarrlok said softly as he watched the prisoners being herded amongst the holding area.
Noatak bit his lip as he observed the scene, torn between his disgust at seeing the prisoners being treated like common cattle and his own hatred of the Fire Nation. Tarrlok was too young to remember what had happened to their father...and their mother.
"Nothing we can do for them now." Niska said briefly, focusing instead on a very specific prison cell.
"I see our target, it seems they have her inside the maximum security cell." Niska pointed to one of the isolated chambers, sitting at what used to be an isolated cavern.
The prison cell was a large steel cage hanging suspended from the ceiling of the cavern, where sharp stalagmites covered the floor. What made this part of the chamber distinctive was the rush of an underground waterfall, which poured from the ceiling above, surrounding the suspended cell in a deadly veil of water that would have sent any foolish climber straight into the sharp rocky spikes below.
"They don't have as much guards on that cell." Noatak noted, seeing only a pair of earth guards standing at the walkway leading up to the waterfall.
"They don't need to." The Kyoshi warrior replied sternly. "The water does most of the guarding for them, which is why I need you both here. You can bend a waterfall right?"
"I'm not sure," Noatak replied, "But with the both of us, it shouldn't be an issue." He said confidently.
"Good," Niska nodded, "I'll go into position, keep the guards distracted for you. Once you get the prisoner, rendezvous back here."
Without another word, Niska fearlessly jumped off the ledge, and into the prison holding area below.
"Let's go." Noatak said briskly.
"Lead the way brother." Tarrlok gulped down his nervousness, eager to redeem himself from his failures at the South Pole. This would be the first time he had ever fought by his brother's side as part of a Wolf Tail mission. He would not fail!
As the duo landed, the brothers quickly slipped past another patrol of guards, making their way to the foot of the waterfall where the two Earth guards stood.
"How do we get past them?" Tarrlok whispered.
"At least, without sounding off the alarm." Noatak thought out loud, it wouldn't do to alert the entire garrison just yet. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice one of the guards approaching them, spotting the wolf tail hair cut that sprouted above the crates they were hiding behind.
"Halt!" The guard shouted, lifting up his spear and causing the brothers to tense up. "Who goes there?"
"Crap! What do we do Noata..." Tarrlok blurted out nervously, but suddenly found his brother's strong grip around his shoulders as they both emerged from the wooden crates.
The second guard, seeing the new interlopers, quickly joined his partner and the pair stared down at the water tribe brothers.
"This area is strictly off limits. You better have a good excuse for being here, or you'll be joining the prisoners." The guard said gruffly.
"Sorry! My brother and I, we are just visitors from outside the city, we just got lost finding our way around town." Noatak feigned an innocence that was worthy of his younger brother. "Maybe you can help us find a way out?"
The guard narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You think I'm an idiot? There's no way a civilian can just stumble his way in here."
"Then ask Captain Lee." Noatak replied just as confidently, biting his lips. Sorry Lee, I hope you can forgive me. "He saved us on the road, and showed us here."
"Lee huh?" the guard said suspiciously.
The other guard, obviously bored out of his mind guarding this dungeon, shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me, the Captain has been taking every refugee off the road recently. It's not like we have any water tribe prisoners either."
"Alright, I'll get the captain, you stay put until I confirm this. You've seen sensitive parts of our base, so the General may have to decide your fate." The guard grunted as he picked up his weapon and walked away, annoyed at the little detail.
As the first guard vanished, Noatak and Tarrlok were left alone with the second guard, and that gave Noatak an idea. He looked at Tarrlok and nodded at him conspiratorially.
"So..." Tarrlok began nonchalantly. "Not to be a bother, but can we wait closer to those torches over there?" He pointed to the torches lining the base of the waterfall. "It's kind of chilly in here, and my brother is starting to catch a cold."
The guardsman watched suspiciously as Noatak began rubbing his nose, smiling almost.
He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You're water tribesmen, aren't you used to the cold?"
"I dunno..." Noatak staggered closer towards the guard, holding a finger to his nose. "It must be the cave...you know, all wet and dank...because I think I'm gonna.. snee...sneee."
"What are you doing?" The guard back away in annoyance as Noatak edged closer.
"Snee-AHH cheW!"
The guard almost screamed in shock as a wave of water slammed into his face, instantly freezing his face into a mask of disgust and surprise. The guard was so preoccupied by Noatak's 'sneeze', he didn't notice the water that Noatak had bent from the flask at his side, around his body and through his sleeve. Tarrlok finished the guard off, conjuring a water whip from the nearby basin of the waterfall to envelop the man's body, encasing the rest of him in solid ice.
"That. Was awesome." Tarrlok laughed, something he hadn't done for a while.
Noatak smirked, remembering the tricks his brother used to play on him back in good old days, when he first learned he was a water bender. To think that it would come in handy now.
"Alright, let's go!" Noatak exclaimed, and nodding quickly, Tarrlok followed his brother up the path to the waterfall. With two swift arcing motions of their arms, they quickly froze a window in the raging falls, and jumped through it just as the ice cracked under the waterfall's immense pressure.
Inside, they saw the hostage they were to rescue, and to both the brothers, it was a surprise. They expected some high ranking general, or at least a group of resistance fighters.
Instead, the cell only contained a little girl, who looked like she was barely five years old.
The girl turned to see the two water tribe boys, and the initial shock on her face was replaced by an impatient displeasure, as if she had been waiting ages for them to show up. She was a thin little thing, with dark hair and jade green eyes, but to Noatak, she carried herself rather well for a kid locked away in a solitary cell like this.
"Are you here to take me home?" The little girl asked softly.
"Sorry...but who are you?"
"Mommy says I shouldn't tell my name to strangers." She said , "but everyone around here knows me anyway...if tell you, will you save me?"
"Okay...I guess?" Tarrlok said, rather confused.
"I'm Lin... Lin Bei Fong..." The little girl replied quietly, then suddenly pouted impatiently, crossing her arms. "Now can you lily livers get me out of here already!?"
Sentinel Island
Torches flickered in the darkness as both the Sentinels and Southern Raiders lined up professionally around the fighting square, all eyes on the two warriors who knelt with their backs to each other. This was a rare duel indeed, the famous Sato of the Black Blade was testing her skills against the Firebending water tribe prodigy from the South Pole. And although none of the surrounding soldiers broke disciplined, they were all each eager to see how this match would go, with several already placing bets on the side.
Mako himself was sweating bullets as he watched Asami stand up in her full black armored kimono, her visage hidden behind the faceplate mask Azula's elite guard. Korra herself, in her crimson light armor, stood just as confidently, picking up her jian as she turned to face her opponent.
Both opponents had asked for the blessings of Agni, now, the duel would begin.
"Having second thoughts?" Asami said with a cocky smirk, all too eager to get the psychological edge.
Korra grinned confidently, bringing the sword up to guard. "Not a chance."
"We'll see!" Asami smiled, then with great speed she closed the distance between her and Korra, sword extended.
The move took Korra by surprise - the blow was aimed to take her head off - and she parried the blow with her jian and twisted to the side. Asami's black blade narrowly missed, cutting along the rim of Korra's helmet with a few sickening sparks, and taking a few strands of hair with her.
"I thought this was a spar!" Korra blurted out in surprise.
"A spar with a sentinel is a dangerous thing." Asami said cooly. "But don't worry, I would have stopped it if I had known you weren't good enough to block it.
Was she bluffing? Or simply patronizing her? either way, it pissed Korra off.
Korra retaliated, rushing forward and sending a wheel of flame in Asami's direction, but the Sentinel was quick despite the heavy armor she wore. She dodged simply weaving her head back, without even bothering to bring up her guard or move her body. That just annoyed Korra even more, and she sent two more bursts of flame at the Sentinel, and this time, Asami sidestepped out of the way, while closing the distance between her and Korra.
The audacity of the move was not lost on Korra, and she grunted as she charged the jian up with her firebending, the metal of the blade glowing red as it connected with Asami's black sword. The Sentinel smirked, but quickly widened her eyes in surprise as the firebending of the sword wrapped around her own blade, causing her to back away from the parry.
Sensing the opening, Korra spun forward, delivering a flaming drop kick towards the Sentinel. Asami however, was ready for the attack, and she blocked the kick with her arms, using her own foot to kick Korra's other leg out from under her and causing the water tribe girl to fall hard on her back.
Mako, On Ji and Hide winced slightly as they heard the hard slap of Korra's body on the stone ground.
Asami didn't let up the attack, and she lifted her foot to stomp Korra's face into the ground, but she quickly rolled out of the way and got to her feet. Korra's foot then lashed out at Asami with a fire blast, connecting at her opponent, and Asami grunted as scorch marks burnt on her upper leg armor and her shoulder plate, but she had her opponent right where she wanted her.
Asami's hand quickly grasped Korra's ankle as her leg was extended upward from the kick, and with quick precision, she flipped Korra around, executing a series of precision light strikes along the length of Korra's left arm.
Korra grunted in pain as she backed away, swaying a bit on her feet as she gasped for air. She tried to lift her left arm up and firebend with it, but it seemed as though all the energy had been sucked from her muscles there, it dangled uselessly by her side.
"Chi Blocking." Asami explained nonchalantly. "Let's see how you do without your precious firebending."
Korra, true to form, went with a more aggressive approach. She rushed straight towards the Sentinel - to Asami's surprise - with a sword thrust, narrowly grazing the side of her armor as she darted to the side.
"Go Korra!" On Ji shouted despite herself, eager to cheer her friend on as she pushed the Sentinel to closer to the corner of the ring with another sweeping kick followed by a jump kick, each movement producing a bright cartwheel of flame.
Deciding she had enough, Asami parried Korra's sword thrust, and just as the water tribe girl was about to launch another attack, she grabbed Korra's sword arm, pulling her forward to throw her off balance, and landed another series of chi blocking punches to her leg. Korra grunted as she went down, her right leg failing her as her pressure points became blocked.
Seeing her opponent was down, Asami walked up to the prostrate Korra, sword held for the killing. "You've fought well Korra, much longer than anyone else. Now yield. Or I will put this to an end."
Korra gritted her teeth as she lay in the sand. Her arm and leg useless and dead. At this moment, the old scar wounds on her back were lighting up again, and a swath of pain ran down her body like no tomorrow.
No. Never again!
The weakness and pain was prying at the very core of her body and soul, begging for her to give up and relieve the torment, but she blinked back her tears. There was no turning back: losing here would mean the end of her journey towards securing Asami's help, finding the prisoners, and rescuing her family.
Life once again, was throwing an obstacle in her path, and this obstacle in particular was the armored warrior standing confidently before her. She would get past this, she had to!
"No..." Korra almost snarled the word, which took Asami by surprise, "you...won't!"
To the surprise of Asami, and everyone in the square, Korra's free sword arm swung feriously at the Sentinel, flames sparked and a cloud of dust quickly erupted from the parade ground as the Sentinel soon found herself flying back a good fifteen feet in the air, landing unceremoniously in an armored heap at the edge of the practice ring, narrowlying avoiding the platoon of Southern Raiders who stood at the edge of the square.
Pulling herself up, she saw as Korra - amazingly - managed to stumbled onto her feet. The poor girl was obviously wounded, and she was gasping heavily even as she held the sword weakly in her hand. Her back, Asami noted, was already bleeding, most likely the old whip wounds that she carried with her.
Satisfied, Asami smiled, and sheathed her sword.
"Well done Private Korra. You're the first one to have fought a Sentinel to a draw." Asami said grudgingly.
Even in pain, Korra still managed a smile. "I guess that means you're coming with us then huh?"
Asami chuckled. Normally even the most senior of Fire Army officers viewed the Sentinels with awe and fear, and rightfully so, but this water tribe girl had the audacity to address her as an equal. Even more unbelievable, she had the skill to back it up! Maybe Mako wasn't far off when he suggested Korra could become a potential recruit. In any case, life on Sentinel Island had never been interesting, perhaps this little excursion was what she needed as well.
"Yes, a Sentinel always keeps her word.' Asami said grudgingly, "I've never seen any kind of fire bending like that before. There must be more to you than I thought."
"I trained with the best." Korra gestured towards Mako.
"Heh, somehow I doubt it thanks to that guy, but consider me intrigued." Asami replied, "I will meet you at your ship tomorrow morning. It just so happens I do have information on your prisoners. We should have them captured in no time."
At last, Korra relaxed, a mixture of relief and joy on her face. She quickly, and respectfully, raised her Jian in a salute, and bowed her head. "Thanks Asami."
"Don't mention it. It's about time I worked off the rust anyways." she smiled.
Excited, Korra quickly turned around to deliver the good news to her friends in the Southern Raiders, while Asami took off her war mask and went back to her quarters.
There was something special about that girl alright, and she was still wondering how that last fight had ended. For some reason, Asami thought, she felt herself pushed back even before the flames from Korra's last attack had touched her, but surely that must have been her imagination? It must have been the flames, or at least the intensity of the flame on the air. It must have been some firebending trick.
Otherwise...How else was she thrown so far back?
Asami sighed, it was not becoming of a Sentinel to make excuses. For her next opponent, she would be better prepared.
Thanks everyone for the reviews/faves/reads! :) Next chapter we'll see some more of the Fire nation royalty XD
To those i can't respond to via PM
Cindz Cindz - HAHA I actually don't believe Mako is that bad at relationships, despite what the show tells us, he's just confused! XD Thanks for the review, glad you liked it!