"What do we do?" Smellerbee asked, her hands raking through her hair, gripping it hard to have something to hold on to. "We can't let them do that."
Longshot shook his head but looked lost. What can we do?
Smellerbee looked out from behind the tree again. They were standing at the edge of the village, and she could see an odd arrangement of blasting barrels. There was a long line of them in the wide alleys between buildings, all close together, and every so often there was a cluster of three or four barrels together, especially beside the buildings.
Why set them up like that? Smellerbee wondered. Why not just put them beside the buildings? Why the line?
"Longshot, look at them," she said. She could feel an answer just outside her mind's reach. She kept staring as she felt Longshot move into place beside her, looking as well. "We can't possibly move them all without the soldiers seeing…"
They looked almost like toys, all lined up like this. They reminded Smellerbee of the Mah Jongg tiles she used to line up across the floor and push over, one into the next, in a long chain. And there it was.
"Longshot!" Smellerbee exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders and staring at him. "They're not going to be here! They're planning on letting the barrels do the work!" Longshot stared at her manic face, not understanding. She let out a sound of wild exasperation. "Look!" she pointed at the barrels. "It'll be a chain reaction. Why set them up when they'll just blow each other up?" She looked at Longshot and could see the wheels turning in his mind, but he wasn't getting there fast enough. "They're cowards. They'll set off a chain of explosions but stay clear. They're going to let the barrels do the work for them. That means we don't have to move them all."
Longshot's eyes lit up. We'll move enough to break the chain!
"Yes!" Smellerbee said, throwing her arms around Longshot's neck. But there wasn't much time to enjoy it, as they needed to get to work.
While they couldn't see any soldiers at the moment, they could hear them in the distance. And one had said something about patrol. The problem was, there wasn't enough time to do proper surveillance and planning.
"Look at this," Smellerbee said, sketching a rough map of the village. The village was smaller than it had been all those months ago when they'd blown up the dam. The buildings were smaller, more hastily built, and there were fewer of them. The walls that surrounded the village were largely destroyed, having taken the brunt of the water's destructive force. But enough of the walls were left that they could provide good hiding places to a pair of rebels bent on ruining the Fire Nation's plans.
Smellerbee made little Xes in the dirt to mark the barrels.
"The soldiers' camp is here," she said, drawing a circle beside the village. "So I'll bet there aren't any barrels near it. Plus, if they've made everyone stay at home, they can still wipe everyone out without getting these buildings," she said, indicating the large community buildings the soldiers often used in that part of the village. "We're here," she said, pointing to the opposite corner where they now sat. "Nearest to the homes."
She looked up at him. "How do we make sure they don't catch us? And that the people don't make things worse by trying to help?" Longshot looked down at the diagram. Just then, they heard approaching voices and both instinctively dove into a bush at the base of the tree, waiting.
"…should start in about thirty minutes. Apparently they already arrested a few people. Looks like they did have something planned," said one voice.
"Have they said what yet?" asked a second.
"Not yet… but something tells me if it comes down to choosing to keep quiet and keep everyone from being blown up, they'll decide to talk eventually," said the first.
"The Captain's not going to like that." The pair of soldiers were nearly level with Longshot and Smellerbee's hiding place now.
"No. Looks like we're going to be relocated to a new village soon," the first one said, and Smellerbee could practically hear the sneer curling his lip as he said, "One that's still standing after the eclipse."
"No one else is out," said the second voice. "You think the captain will change his mind?"
"The order was to do one last sweep and then return to the barracks. What do you think?"
Smellerbee let out a sharp breath as the guards turned around the crumbling corner wall and vanished from sight.
"Thirty minutes," she said. "That's not a long time."
Longshot nodded. Then let's get started.
:–:–:–:
The barrels were heavier than they looked. Smellerbee founding herself wishing they had Pipsqueak's strength to help them now, but theirs alone would have to do. She could feel sweat trickling down the side of her face as she heaved a fourth barrel over the lowest portion of wall possible, leaving it with some of its fellows beneath the very tree where she and Longshot had planned this jailbreak.
Some townspeople saw through cracks in windows and under doors that something was happening, but none came out. At first, Smellerbee thought it was fear of the curfew, but then she noticed locks on doors and bars on windows. This town had clearly been under a captain with a tight fist.
Moving the barrels was far from an exact science. Some they just pushed to the edges of the walls, hoping they'd do little more than break down the last vestiges of it if they exploded. Some they moved into open areas, far from any other barrel or anything else that could go up in smoke. But they worked quickly and as quietly as they could, ever on the lookout for soldiers. They moved from the back of the village towards the front – towards danger.
As they approached, Smellerbee saw the trail of barrels leading out and around the remnants of the wall to the soldier's encampment. The cowards had left a wide stretch of land between their tents and the town, one lone barrel standing outside the town's once-lovely gates, a rope that reeked of kerosene winding its way to the encampment.
"Should we move it?" Smellerbee asked Longshot, looking at the rope, lying like a snake in the green grass. Longshot shook his head. Too risky. They might see it. So they left the rope and the barrel it was tied to, and instead prioritized moving the barrels closest to it. Smellerbee knew that their thirty minutes was nearly up. It took all her self-control not to look up at the sun to track its progress through the sky.
Smellerbee reached out towards the barrel beside the one with the rope, but Longshot flung out a hand. His eyes scanned the barrel, the surrounding area, and then he looked over at the nearest building, nestled just inside the remnants of the city wall. On the other side of the wall, Smellerbee knew, the soldiers were waiting. Longshot pointed to the building and made an exploding motion with his hand.
"Why?" Smellerbee asked, but then she understood. The soldiers were expecting a big explosion. If there wasn't one, they'd be suspicious. There could be consequences. If they blew up that building, they'd let the soldiers think they'd won without hurting any civilian homes. They might even manage to take out some of the soldiers' encampment. "We have to hurry," Smellerbee said.
Within a minute, she and Longshot had shifted the line of barrels away from the town and towards the community building, snaking around the crumbling wall and back towards the soldiers' camp, blocked from view by their own tents and the remnants of the wall.
"This had better work," Smellerbee said as they rolled the last barrel into place. She scanned the surrounding area. There were no barrels connecting this area to the rest of town. If stray sparks set the others off, they should each explode alone, leaving most buildings and hopefully every person untouched. Smellerbee barely had a second to wipe sweat from her forehead when she felt Longshot stiffen beside her, then she felt herself pushed down, ducking beside the barrels as she heard a soldier shout, "You there! Stop what you're doing!"
Longshot stomped his foot once and his meaning was clear: Stay here. The soldiers hadn't seen Smellerbee, and he apparently wanted to keep it that way. Longshot bolted. Out the main gate, she watched him through the gap between the barrels. A soldier took off after him, shouting for his fellows to join him. Smellerbee's heart seemed to be pounding in her throat as she watched Longshot leave her range of vision, pursued by at least four figures clad in red. She was reminded of how much danger she, too, was in when she heard a voice that could only belong to the captain shouting, "Catch him! Bring him back and let him watch his village burn."
Smellerbee rolled out from behind the barrels, hugging close to the corner of the building and running at a crouch. She couldn't be sure where the voice came from or where he stood now, but she wanted to stay out of his sight. Once she was blocked by other buildings, she straightened up and did not stop running until she leapt over the remains of the back wall and heard the blast that meant the first barrel had been ignited. She took refuge at the base of a tree, looking back to see a column of thick black smoke rising into the sky. There seemed to be a moment of peace, then the chain reaction began.
Just like her childhood Mah Jongg tiles, she heard successive blasts and the sky began to darken. She could smell the acrid, burning smell filling the air, making her want to gag.
And then came the biggest explosion of them all. She could feel the tree rattle up her spine and the air was soon full of screaming birds fleeing the explosion, and it seemed to Smellerbee that the smoke would block the sun long after the moon had moved aside. She watched the furls of gray smoke curl across the blue sky still panting with exhaustion and adrenalin. Every now and then she heard smaller explosions, but whether they were stray barrels or just pockets of blasting jelly finding the fire, she didn't know. She could hear shouts and children crying from the village, and she prayed that they were just fearful, not injured.
Smellerbee thought of the time she and Longshot had helped Jet plan to flood the village, to destroy it and damning the citizens to death. You couldn't have done it, she thought, picturing Jet's face. Not if you stood here. Not if you could hear them. She was acutely grateful for the first time that Sokka had gotten everyone out. She understood Jet's breakdown in a way she never had before.
She looked out across the village. Ash was raining down. Smoke flooded the streets, spreading out like evil itself, pressing against doors and windows. They could stop the explosions, but not the smoke.
Smellerbee gasped. We've killed them.
She ran from her hiding place, pulling her shirt up over her nose and yanking her dagger from her belt. She couldn't let them die suffocated in their own homes.
She was at the door of the first home within moments, and she could hear the family's shouts as she hacked at the lock with her dagger. It was flimsy, cheaply made, and broke easier than she was expecting.
"Get them out of here," she said, indicating the children she found cowering inside. A mother and father stood in front of them, arms flung out protectively and staring at Smellerbee, terrified and confused. "And someone else come with me and help me get the others." She turned and ran out the door, making her way through the darkness that stung her eyes to the next house.
Within minutes, she had a team of townspeople with her, running from home to home to free their neighbors, shepherding each other's children out to safety. She saw flashes of recognition in some of their faces, knowing her as a girl they'd seen in the marketplace, but no one stopped to ask questions.
"Is that the last house?" Smellerbee asked a young man as she approached, watching him direct the family towards the back wall of the village.
"I think so," he panted. His face was smudged with soot and the skin beneath it was shiny and red as though it had been burned.
"Then go," Smellerbee said. It's what she'd been telling all the others as she ran, double checking every building. The blackened remains of the community building were still in flames, steely gray smoke filling the air and stinging her eyes, but the people, she knew, were safe now. Everyone's safe, she thought. Except Longshot. She had no idea what had happened to him, and now that the explosions had stopped and the people were safe, he was foremost in her mind.
She turned and ran from the village, praying she would find Longshot before the Fire Nation did.
She could see in the distance that most of the villagers had run down to the river. It was smaller and more powerful than it once had been, since the Fire Nation seemed to have rebuilt the damn they'd blown up months ago while leaving the people to rebuild their village themselves. Hopefully you won't have to do it again, Smellerbee thought as she veered away from the river path, towards the forest. She felt safest under the cover of the trees and felt certain, above all else and knew Longshot would feel the same. She was also certain that Longshot would be looking for her. Unless they caught him, she tried not to think. Unless they're torturing him for information right now. Unless he's already dead.
Smellerbee ran through the trees, passing by the spot where they'd tucked many of the blasting jelly barrels, but he wasn't there. She kept moving in the direction of the hideout. She kept her ears pricked for the sounds of approaching soldiers as best as she could with the thump of her feet on the ground and the rush of the blood in her veins echoing through her ears. She wanted to call for him, but she knew better.
It didn't take her long to reach the forest floor beneath the hideout, and she pulled one of the hidden ropes that carried her up to the canopy above. She landed lightly on the platform. Before she could so much as call his name, Longshot came flying out of nowhere and hugged Smellerbee to him, his breathing rapid and ragged. She could tell just from the smell coming off of him that his clothes had been burned at least, but he seemed to be more worried about her. He put his hands on her face and wiped at the blackness left by the ashes, asking without words if she was okay.
"I'm fine," she said hurriedly, wanting to calm the wildness in his eyes before she asked got his story. "I had to go back to get them out of their houses because of the smoke. But I think they all made it out okay." Longshot nodded and seemed to settle slightly, then pulled her into another hug and kissed her temple, holding him tight to her. Something felt off.
Smellerbee realized Longshot was hugging her with only one arm. The other was pressed over his heart and she could see the evidence of burning on his clothes across his chest.
"Did they catch up with you?" Smellerbee demanded, and then she looked wildly around, expecting soldiers to descend upon them from every direction, but Longshot put a hand on her face and nodded. Yes, but it's okay. "You got away?" Another nod. "They didn't follow you?" A shake of the head. Longshot seemed now a little unsteady on his feet, and Smellerbee realized waiting for her had been keeping him together.
"Come on," she said, pulling his free arm around her shoulder, forcing him to lean on her. "Let me look at that burn."
To her relief, the burn looked worse than it really was. Although it spread out across his chest and shoulder, as though a small fireball had hit him and broken over the skin, it seemed to be a superficial wound. Large, but not deep. It had certainly done a number on the outermost layer of skin, but it would require little more than cleaning and bandaging. Smellerbee could manage that much.
As she worked, she told him about the explosion and the subsequent smoke that had filled the village, and expressed her anxiety that they hadn't done enough. But Longshot squeezed her hand in reassurance, and took the edge off her fears. She wanted to go back and see what was happening in the aftermath, now the eclipse itself had passed. Would the villagers be punished? Would they turn on Longshot and Smellerbee, for surely they knew, having seen her, that Longshot was also part of the plan. The two strange children who appeared from the forest and disappeared again – what would the people think of them now?
But Longshot had fallen asleep with his head in her lap once his bandages were in place, and she couldn't tear herself away from him. So she sat there, stroking his hair and listening to him breathe, grateful for this moment of peace.