The first of the final five chapters. I will say that these might be the most intense chapters yet. And I really don't hold back on the violence in this one. And we might have our first loss in this chapter, hehehe. Enjoy…

Chapter 37

Defense of Hydronia

"This can't be happening," Lina said.

I started forward; Wei grabbed my shoulder. "Hyriu, wait!"

"Wait for what? He's here! We have to defend Hydronia. There isn't time to strategize!" I cried.

"There is always time for a plan. Spread the word for all waterbenders to head to the wall. Lead them until I get there," he said calmly.

I realized the importance of his instruction. I nodded then jumped off the balcony. I created a wave of snow and rode the small avalanche to the bottom. I ran through the streets of panicked people. We still had a few minutes before the fleet would get there. I heard the boom of the warning drum. I gathered as many people as I could on my way to the wall.

My friends caught up to me. "What should we do?" Moji asked me.

"Spread word for waterbenders to go to the wall. L. E., find a vantage point and take out those Shadow eaters. Moji, follow L. E. Hana, go to your mother, you'll be needed in the Healing Huts. Koluk and Dhanu, come with me to the wall. Use archery to help take out the Shadow Eaters," I commanded.

"But I'm not a good shot," Koluk pleaded.

"You're better than you think. Fai and Lina, start evacuating those who can't fight. Send them to the Gambing Palace and to Heiwa Valley through the secret cave in the estate," they nodded. "Tekton, come with me." I looked around. "Where are Lamara, Ava, and Daminao?"

"The airbenders wouldn't let them come," Shan told me. "What should I do?"

I thought for a moment, "Go to the land-raft and get a message to the capital and tell them what is happening. No matter the outcome of the battle, we will need relief effort."

"I can fight!" he challenged. "I won't leave when everyone else is staying."

"No, you can't fight. There is no rock or earth and you don't use weapons or regular combat. I trust you to get a message to Chief Arnook, alright?"

He angrily let out a puff of air, "Alright." He ran for the land-raft dock.

I knew he was mad at me and he thought I just wanted to get rid of him, and I did. However, not because I wanted him out of the way, I wanted him safe. He had no means of protecting himself so sending him away would be the safest thing for him to do.

I made it to the wall. As I climbed it, I looked out over my home. People ran in fear while others marched for the wall. My visions hadn't been wrong yet, but I was going to do whatever I could to stop this one. Avon had come to my home. I wasn't going to let him get away with it. I reached the top of the wall. Many waterbenders were already there. They all awaited my instruction. The first ship neared.

"Grab the waterfall!" I commanded.

The water began to fly horizontally in the air instead of falling down to the river below. We continued to hold up the water until it reached the middle of the wall. Then we directed the water at the closest ship. The water smashed into it with a sound like thunder. The deck of the ship filled with water. The ship sank in the Bei River. We directed the river of water at the next ship. The swarm of Shadow Eaters neared.

"Second Waterbending Regiment, prepare to launch ice shards at incoming fliers. Fire! Fire at will!" I shouted.

Waterbenders all along the wall began firing shards of ice at Avon's minions. Koluk and Dhanu fired arrows into the swarm along with Moji and L. E. launching attacks of their own. By the time Wei got to the wall, we had sunk three more ships.

"Nice work, Hyriu," he complemented.

The ships began to launch fireballs. Most of them fell short of the wall but occasionally we would have to make a shield of ice to block the blast.

The wall was in mass chaos. Shards of ice flew through the air along with arrows and Moji's fire. The Shadow Eaters were firing back with their explosive spells. The sky grew dark and thunder boomed. I saw lightning strike down several Shadow Eaters. It happened again and again. L. E. seemed to be using some type of weather magic.

The ships were getting in range of the city. The waterfall technique was a good but slow way of sinking the ships. Moreover, we could only do it one ship at a time. The fireballs were getting more frequent. The wall was taking a pounding.

"Look out!" someone cried. Wei pushed me to the ground.

A fireball crashed into the wall right next to us. The people that had been standing there were gone. There was a large crater in their place. I looked on in horror. Several fireballs crashed into Hydronia. I saw two houses go up in flames and part of the school. Screams of women and children echoed in the air.

"That's it." I said and jumped off the wall toward the ships.

"Hyriu, what are you doing?" Wei's voice cried above me.

I dove into the icy river, my bending protecting me from the impact. I used my momentum to swim under a ship and to the surface, pulling the water with me. I rose up with a large wave, I shot it into the ship, and it capsized. I jumped onto the deck of another ship and froze all four trebuchets. I blanketed another in snow. I froze large jagged icebergs to tear gaping holes into the sides of the ships. I went from ship to ship doing whatever I could to stop them. As I was fighting a group of soldiers on one ship, a great red fireball struck it. Several of the men were vaporized on the spot. Many others were burned to death. The remaining soldiers and I got several severe burns. The left side of my body received most of the burns. We writhed on the deck of the ship in pain. I looked and spotted a tall man in black, red eyes gleaming. He prepared to unleash another blast of unnaturally red flames. I crawled to the edge of the deck and dove into the river as the ship was engulfed in the flames of darkness. I swirled water around myself and rose out of the water on a waterspout. I went up the side of the wall. Wei grabbed my arm and helped me back onto the wall. I let the waterfall back down.

"Hyriu, you're burned! This is why you don't-" he stopped and I followed his gaze. He was looking at Avon. "So that's him."

The wall rocked as it was hit by more fireballs. Koluk and Dhanu were firing arrows like crazy.

"Look out!" Wei cried and hit Koluk and me with a water blast knocking us out of the way.

A fireball blew up right where we had been. There was a large hole in the wall separating Koluk and I from Wei and Dhanu. The wall rocked again; I looked down. Three ships had pierced the wall with their front spikes. The spikes dropped creating large holes for soldiers to charge through into the courtyard.

Many more fireballs struck the wall. Large cracks opened in the ice. As I was looking around, I saw the land-raft dock in flames. Not to far from it was another column of flames as if the raft had just started to leave and was hit by a fireball. Sorrow and pain entered my mind: Shan. I hoped he was alive. It looked like a battle was being fought by the second fire.

The rocking of the wall brought me back to reality.

"Hyriu, we have to go!" Koluk yelled.

I realized the wall had begun to collapse and the part we were on was next to fall. All the other men had fled. Koluk and I ran as the wall fell away behind us. I was behind him and I slipped for a second. My part of the wall began to fall away. Koluk looked back and stopped. I ran as the gap between us widened. I jumped through the air and reached out for Koluk's hand. He just barely grabbed onto mine and pulled me up onto the wall. Just as we began to run, the part we were on dropped ten feet. We were thrown down from the force. I looked at the high ledge. There was no way Koluk and I would both be able to get up the gap before the wall fell.

"Go!" Koluk yelled in my direction.

We both knew if I left, Koluk would die from the fall. I jumped, but not for the ledge, for Koluk. I forced him to let go and formed a protective bubble of water around him. I threw him to the ground far below knowing the bubble would absorb the impact. I froze my hands into the ice so I wouldn't fly off. I fell with the ice. I was jerked around in the air as the chunk of ice tumbled. Just before it hit the ground, I melted my hands out of the ice and kicked off the ice, parallel to the ground. I wouldn't hit the ground dead on, merely at a slant. I also used airbending to cushion my impact. My shoulder hit first with explosive pain. I slowly got to my feet.

"You alright?" Koluk ran over.

"I think my shoulder is dislocated," I muttered.

"Got it," he grabbed my arm.

"Wait, what-" I began.

He put it back in place; I screamed in pain.

"Can't have an Anzen with a messed up arm," he managed with a slight smile.

"Yeah," I said glaring at him.

I looked up. A large section of the wall remained but it was swaying back and forth about to give way. It leaned forward over the river. Several fireballs hit it and it leaned backwards, casting a dark shadow over Koluk and me.

Then all at once, the wall let go of itself. The ice came crashing down. It would be impossible to out run. I lifted up my hands in an attempt to stop the falling ice. The ice stopped, but the force of it drove me to my knees nearly breaking them. I didn't even have the strength to cry out in pain. Several bodies hit the ground with a horrible crunching noise; they were the men who didn't make it off the wall in time. The ice dropped a few feet while small bits fell to the ground.

"Koluk…r-run!" I was barely able to say.

"No, I won't leave you. You didn't leave me," he said defiantly.

I saw Tekton come running over. He added his strength to mine. His effort helped but wasn't enough to move the rubble. Taruk joined us. Then Huan and Gen Li did as well. Together we moved the chunks of ice over the river and we dropped it. It crashed into the water and even onto one ship. I fell to the ground from the effort.

Taruk came over and held out his hand. I accepted it and stood. He glanced down and horror covered his face. I looked down; where my knees had been were two puddles of blood. I ripped off part of my shirt and tied it around each knee to add patting and stop the bleeding. I glanced at where the wall had once been. Only a small pillar of ice remained. Hundreds of soldiers poured into Hydronia. The defense had fallen.

###

I ran towards the land-raft dock. I was still mad that Hyriu would send me away, even if it did make sense. I charged into the boathouse next to the dock where four men were.

"Hey, what the-" one began.

"I have an urgent message to Chief Arnook," I announced out of breath.

"You're that earthbender boy," one said; I recognized him as Da-Xia's father.

"And what message be that?" another asked.

I realized they were playing cards. I ran to a window and threw it open revealing the wall and fleet of ships.

"Holy shit!" one guy exclaimed.

"Let's go!" I shouted annoyed that they didn't know what was happening.

"Right," Da-Xia's father agreed.

We all ran outside and readied the raft. We climbed on board and the four of them began to move it with water bending. Just as we left the dock, a fireball crashed into it in a fiery explosion. All four men cursed loudly.

We picked up speed when two of them cried out. I looked and saw a fireball headed right for us. I had no time to react. The raft was engulfed in flames and flipped through the air; I held on for dear life. It crashed into the ground with splintering wood. I screamed as a jolt of pain erupted from my leg. When the bits of wood stopped flying around, I realized I was trapped under the burning timber. I tried to wiggle out but screamed as my left leg protested any slight movement. I looked down. A large piece of jagged wood had been driven through the calf muscle. As soon as I saw it, I realized just how painful it was. I struggled to move but my right hand was under a large beam. I could feel flames licking the tips of my fingers, burning the flesh. I screamed in agony. My head was also throbbing; I felt a warm liquid pouring over my face.

Several figures landed close by- Shadow Eaters. As they got closer, I realized one of them was Avon's Lieutenant, Silver Mask.

"Well what do we have here?" he sneered.

A water blast knocked him to the ground. 'Hyriu!' I thought. He wouldn't abandon me.

A different voice called out, "A rescue!"

One of Hyriu's friends jumped down in front of me. I searched my mind for a name.

"Da-Xia?" I asked.

He turned, "Hey Shan, I saw the fire and you run up here. I thought I'd see if you and my dad were okay."

"Your dad?" I questioned.

That was when I noticed his eyes were rimmed red and tears streaked down his face.

"I'm sorry," I said; he nodded.

Da-Xia lifted up a shard of ice and shot it into one of the Shadow Eaters, killing him. He knocked the other over the cliff. Silver Mask got to his feet.

"Well isn't this nice, a little boy challenging me, the Right Hand of Darkness!"

He and Da-Xia fought. My vision grew dizzy from blood loss. Da-Xia wasn't doing too good. Silver Mask slammed him into the destroyed raft.

"You can not beat me. Either give up or be slaughtered like a pig just like your father!" he taunted.

Da-Xia glanced at me. "Never. I will never give up."

I couldn't see Silver Mask's face, but I knew he was smiling evilly.

With his wand, he lifted up a large splinter and launched it into Da-Xia's abdomen. He coughed up blood.

"No!" I cried but it was only a whisper lost in the wind.

Silver Mask laughed as he walked over to me. "You're next."

Fear welled up inside me. However, even my thoughts became fuzzy. I had lost too much blood; I was dying.

"I'm not finished yet," Da-Xia cried and stood as blood poured from his wound.

Silver Mask turned to face him. "Oh, I think you are."

Another piece of wood lifted into the air. I reached out with my left hand. I could tell I was about to lose consciousness. The wood flew straight into Da-Xia's chest and he collapsed. Silver Mask turned to me and raised his wand. My vision turned red. Then everything went dark.

What an ending. So do you think Da-Xia is the first loss, or does he have a bit of life left in him? And what about Shan? Will he be saved in time, or will we have to say goodbye to the earthbender. Only time will tell.

Chapter 38: Cascading Fear will go up tomorrow, Tuesday.