Here is the 22nd full chapter in Book 5, released on time as promised. This is the first of three chapters in the current arc and after the last chapter I am sure y'all know what it is going to contain. Initially this was one full chapter but as with the Battle of the Elemental Academy in Book 1 and the Second Siege of the North in Book 4 it was broken up into multiple chapter (3 in this case) to draw it out and have each chapter focus on a different aspect of the battle. As such, this led to this chapter becoming the shortest chapter in the entire series breaking the record set by chapter 16 of Book 1 (excluding prologues and epilogues of course as they aren't full chapters so are often shorter). The next two chapters are longer as they focus on more than this one which has just one focus so don't worry there. Anyway, that is all I have for here though so I will leave this pre chapter note off here and as there isn't anything to respond to that means that it time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the 22nd full installment of Avatar: The Tale of Harry. Book 5: Duty.

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing related to these two great works of fiction.

Chapter 22

It was late afternoon and Yangchen's Festival was coming to an end as the airbenders and Air Acolytes of the Western Air Temple finished their meals in groups on the floor of the various large open areas of the Temple that overlooked the canyon the Temple was in. Traditionally the Festival was celebrated in a sacred area dedicated to Yangchen out in the Earth Kingdom but with the war it couldn't be held there, so Luna had temporarily altered it to best suit those who still wanted to enjoy it.

The Festival itself consisted of all the airbenders and acolytes of the Temple arranging themselves in a procession with Luna at the front and heading to the large statute of Yangchen that was in the Western Air Temple, her home Temple. Once there they bowed four times to it before proceeding to the Great Hall which was the largest open area and where the Temple received a large meal of tofu and vegetables as was tradition.

Afterwards the masters would take the young ones out and into the canyon for some gliding or fly kites into the canyon at certain points where the wind was strongest. The day ended with a final meal in small groups around the Temple where the airbenders and acolytes could chat or meditate on things.

Luna had wanted it to take place atop the cliff of the Temple when it was first held here but for security reasons they couldn't do so. As such they were stuck with what they had to make do with. It was the most sacred Festival in their calendar, so they had to celebrate it. That was why they had the ceasefire during it so that they could do their best to honor the great life Yangchen lived and all the sacrifices she made in it while also acknowledging the mistakes she made with the Spirits that led to Kuruk's short life as her successor. Alas the peace was temporary and in the morning the war would resume.

As such, Luna had made sure that the Xidi Militia atop the cliff and the Kyoshi Warriors and volunteers in the Temple who didn't celebrate the Festival were still armed and on guard just in case. Ron didn't trust Ekrizdis and had advised this right before the first Festival of the war and Luna trusted her husband and chief strategist implicitly so had done so. In addition, while Quirke and Bexley took part in the procession, they did not partake in anything afterwards and were in the command center deep in the Temple preparing for the resumption of hostilities the moment the clock hit midnight.

It was all to be precautious but so far it hadn't been needed. The previous two Yangchen Festivals, along with the Festival to Aang and the day of remembrance for the day that Sozin wiped out the Air Nomads, or apparently tried and failed, that were the other major holidays of the Air Nation's calendar had been honored peacefully during the war.

That was why Harry was now relaxing on a blanket set up near the edge of the Great Hall having recently finished his meal and enjoying a last evening of peace before he returned to the frontlines of the war. With him was Ginny, Ron, Luna, Rose, Scorpius, Lorcan, and Sirius. It had been a quiet day of reflection and meditation and it was now coming to an end. In the morning it would be back to business as usual. At least that was why Harry had thought but at that very moment the very peace they were enjoying was destroyed by a massive explosion.

"What the fuck was that!" Ron exclaimed getting to his feet and drawing his hammer in a smooth, well-practiced motion, Harry only a moment later with Sirius, Rose, Lorcan, and Scorpius just afterwards. "And where did it come from?"

"An explosion." Harry said just as a series of them went off above them and he got off the blanket to use his seismic sense. "From above the cliff."

Before anyone else could say anything something fell passed them and into the canyon. It was a burning airship that had been taken out and was heading to the far wall where it would hit and explode in a fiery ball of death. Harry looked around the group and they all knew what was going on. Ekrizdis had violated the ceasefire and attacked them at their most vulnerable moment.

That was made more salient when a hole was blasted out of the Temple behind them and taking out a few Kyoshi Warriors who were there before a unit of Northern Mercenaries was disgorged from it. This was no doubt happening all over the Temple as if they had been tunneling here for a while. The only thing that stopped them from attacking the airbenders in the area was the remaining Kyoshi Warriors in the area who instantly defended them and engaged the attacker with their well-honed discipline and skill.

At the same time hummingbirds with Ekrizdis's markings dropped into the canyon as they engaged with their own hummingbirds that must have been mobilized the moment the first airship went down. Dotted all over were airbenders in jet black glider suits and masks that were targeting anyone and everyone in the Temple and landing where they could. The Black Airbenders, criminals and murderers who hated the Air Nation for expelling or denying them admittance had arrived and to them any airbender or acolyte were fair game in the war.

Harry closed his eyes and used his seismic sense as his friends and family closed in around him to protect him, focusing on the cliff above them. Instantly he saw that the Xidi Militia had been engaged on it by a large force. There were also several craters all over the plain showing that they had been bombed as well as a way to thin their numbers.

They had been taken by complete surprise and were paying for their complacency from the last few Festivals and holidays and reliance on the rules drawn up at the First Peace Summit. They had expected Ekrizdis to abide by the rules and he hadn't. He'd lulled them into this false sense of security and had launched a surprise attack with a large force that had breached the Western Air Temple, the first to ever do so in the war.

"Luna." Harry said opening his eyes and turning to his stunned friend and the person who was in charge. "What are your orders?"

"Defend the Temple at all costs." Luna said as she snapped to command mode, something Harry had seen more and more from her since she became the Archabbot. "All of us. They have breached it which means we are all fighting to defend the Temple. Ron, go and find the commanding officer of the Northern Mercenaries and deal with him. Take any volunteers you find with you to help you get there and take out any of these fuckers you encounter on the way. Capture him if possible but this is war, you are sanctioned to kill him if necessary."

"Yes Archabbot." Ron said with a nod. "Rose, Scorpius, come with me."

"On its dad." Rose said her machete already drawn and ready.

"Yes sir." Scorpius said as Ron ran off with them following, taking down a mercenary foolish enough to stand in his way of leaving the Great Hall.

"Ginny, go to the medical wing." Luna said. "Defend it and be ready for the wounded to come to you. Get any healers you can along the way and any earthbending volunteers to protect you. I know you can fight and do so to get there but we need your healing more than your spear and water right now."

"Will do." Ginny said running off, a few airbenders running to protect her having heard their Archabbot's words and getting involved as well.

"Lorcan, find and take out any Black Airbenders." Luna said to her son. "They are our responsibility above all else. Instruct any ANDF members you see to do the same, that is who they are to focus on."

"Right mom." Lorcan said running to the edge and leaping into the canyon, extending his glider suit as he did to travel to where he knew his fellow ANDF soldiers were celebrating Yangchen's Festival.

"Sirius, find a way to the cliff and aid the militia up there as your bending is best in the open plain." Luna said to Sirius. "But go through the Temple to get there, right now damage to this building isn't high on my list of concerns so long as it's not structural. Your unique bending is useful right now, do not hide it anymore."

"Wasn't going to." Sirius said. "It is time the world learned that there is still someone who can bend platinum and this time he serves the Avatar rather than opposes him."

Sirius then ran off and into the Temple. Harry watched his grandson go before turning to Luna and awaiting his own orders.

"Harry, I doubt Ekrizdis is here as he never enters the field of battle but try and find him." Luna said. "And deal with him if he is here but the coward is likely still in the Eastern Air Temple. Find Dennis and see if he needs aid. He's down here and might need your help to return to his troops."

"It will be done." Harry said. "And you?"

"I am going to the command center to make sure the message is sent out to the other World Leaders." Luna said seriously. "The accords have been broken and we must let the world know before Ekrizdis succeeds in destroying us here which is almost certainly his plan. They need to know so that they can declare war on him and ensure that we win. He's trying to take us out before we can let them know and ensure he has the upper hand to spin this to his advantage and win this war. Let's make sure his foolishness dooms him. We must hold the Western Air Temple. We do so and the war is ours."

"Then go." Harry said. "And save your Temple and nation my friend."

Luna nodded and ran off to the command center, a few Kyoshi Warriors dethatching themselves from their engagement with the NMC mercs they were facing to protect her as they were honor bound to do so. Harry saw that that was a hole in them and ran to aid the warriors, swords drawn and cutting down a mercenary before he could kill a warrior that was about to be overwhelmed.

For the next few minutes Harry aided what was left of the warriors guarding their location as they repelled the Northern Mercenaries that had attacked the Great Hall. Harry had known that there would be at least 30 warriors, mostly girls but not all as they had long let men join their order, guarding their current location with 1,000 total in the Temple, half their fighting force. They were spread out though and the Northern Mercenaries had about 6,000 fighting men and women after 2 years of fighting and Harry was certain that they would have sent at least half their force to ensure they had the numbers.

He felt he was right as at least 50 had streamed into the main area and engaged the Kyoshi Warriors and a few airbender who had stayed to fight. The engagement was bloody and brutal as they all were and Harry knew that he had taken out at least 15 himself as he was using precision metal shards as well as his swords while fighting, sending a precise one to the neck of any open mercenary as soon as he saw his chance. His years of relying on metalbending following the Principate War was showing now as he easily cut down the mercenaries attacking them.

It didn't take long once he joined the fight to turn the tides. With the Avatar present the mercenaries didn't stand a chance. In short order all 50 invaders were down and Harry paused to catch his breath, looking out to see a long tunnel heading into the mountain that was where they'd come from and stomping his foot to close it with earthbending to slow down anymore potential attackers.

"Report." Harry said turning to the Kyoshi Warrior with a rank fan on her head denoting her as a sergeant and thus likely the highest rank still standing. "What's the status?"

"Not good Avatar." She said and Harry said she had a hand over her left side were she'd taken a bad wound and was trying to hold the wound closed but the bloods was leaking through her gloved fingers. "At least 20 of us are down and gone. The rest of us are not in good shape. The volunteers and ANDF here when the attack happened are not much better. Total of 39 dead or wounded. If you hadn't have joined then we would have been routed by their numbers and skill."

"We held this place but there will be fighting all over the Temple." Harry said with a sigh. "Go and get that wound looked at sergeant and take the injured with you. That's an order. Right now, you may get a quick heal to stabilize it and be sent back out. I know it is not ideal but it's the best we can do as we need every able body we can muster to hold this Temple."

"Do not worry Avatar." The sergeant said with a pained smile. "We are used to fighting at a disadvantage, we aren't one the best units in the world for nothing. Come on ladies, let's get patched up and return to the battle. Leave the dead, we can't help them now, but we can avenge them."

The other Kyoshi Warriors still standing nodded and left with their sergeant, the volunteers going as well to help them and get their own wounds looked at. Harry ignored the mess in the Great Hall, he had seen enough blood and viscera in his life to be able to hold his dinner and focus on the task at hand. Closing his eyes, he sent out vibrations to see what was going on.

It was not good. Battles were raging up and down the Temple and from the edge of the drop off to the canyon to the depths of the mountains in the maze of rooms and corridors carved into the mountain. Thankfully, they had stationed people all over the Temple and along it so that they could counter the attackers despite them having the numbers advantage. At the same time the attackers had struck in multiple places to get as many in as possible in the opening wave causing pure mayhem. This wasn't good but Harry knew that they could hold.

Focusing, Harry looked to see if he could find Dennis. He knew the former Chosen vaguely and felt that he could pick out his shape. The fact that his primary weapon when not bending was a bow helped as few used them these days. It took a moment, but Harry found a figure to his left and about 300 yards away surrounded by a handful of bodies that had arrows in them. He was holding a bow and shooting at intervals, taking out an attacker with each shot. Add in that there was clearly what looked like a fire burning near him and Harry was certain that it was Dennis.

Opening his eyes, Harry ran in that direction, passing nothing but bodies and injured men and women as he did. It took a few moments, but he reached the area, one of the smaller open areas that must have been where Dennis was having his meal, but Harry got there just in time.

Dennis was near the large ledge that lead up from the wide corridor that curved around a downward tower thing and into the mountain and onto the platform that was the open area. He was in his usual attire of a simple white shirt and his brother's old Chosen pants. His bow was out, and he was shooting arrows at mercenaries as they came in while a few militia members who had likely been eating with him did their best to defend him but were falling. The fire Harry had seen was burning along the edge of the area to mark where the drop was.

It looked like there had been about 50 or so Northern Mercenary soldiers who had attacked this area, and most were down. Around them though were the bodies of militiamen, Kyoshi warriors, volunteers and airbenders who had fallen and were about to be overrun. Thankfully, Harry had gotten there just in time.

Dennis had just taken out a mercenary with an arrow to the eye when he reached back and found that it his quiver was empty. At the same time his last standing militia man fell to a bolt of lightning from a mercenary who then prepped a shot at Dennis's back. He never got the chance as Harry used his earthbending to leap up behind him and with a swing of his sword took the man's head from his shoulders with a single stroke.

Before Dennis could turn around, Harry had detached several shards of metal from the exterior armor he always wore even during a ceasefire, a fact that Harry was grateful for today, and sent them out and at the remaining 3 mercenaries who had been approaching Dennis. All three went down, two with spikes to their eyes and the third with one through the heart as she was clearly a waterbender with no armor. Dennis, panting and exhausted turned and finally saw Harry there standing at the edge of the step up to the area they were in.

"Avatar." Dennis said coming over. "I'm glad to see you, I don't know if I could have won against them."

"You probably could have with your firebending." Harry said. "But who knows. I was charged with finding you and taking you up top. Do you know what is going on up there?"

"Yes, I got a radio call from my second in command, he's leading the counter there as I was down here to partake in the Festival as the militia's representative with a few men to guard me." Dennis said and Harry heard the sadness in his voice as all his protectors lay dead around him as Dennis was the only one still alive, but he was a leader and pushed through it. "They have been attacked by a force of about 3,000 that aren't mercenaries or trained soldiers. They seem to be a motley crew of various people who had various reason to join. I had 500 militiamen down here to bolster the defense just in case, Ron's suggestion, and 1,500 up there. They may be outnumbered 2 to one, but my men are much better."

"I don't doubt that but there were bombs dropped." Harry said. "What about that? Did they do any bad damage to you lot?"

"One hit us but one of our own took out a bunch of the attackers as well." Dennis said. "One of our airships is out but the other is fine and reporting that once the enemy's airships dropped their payloads and troops they turned and fled. Bexley is coordinating the whole from the command center, so I don't know much more. We were overwhelmed while I was getting a report and had to stand and fight here."

"Yes it doesn't look good." Harry said looking around and realizing that not all of the dozens of bodies were dead, but they were all out of the fight and couldn't be helped at the moment. "Let's get you to the top so you can coordinate with your troops there."

"Sounds good." Dennis said turning. "Straight up?"

"That's the…" Harry began before Dennis suddenly turned and shoved him backwards.

"Down Avatar." Dennis said and Harry fell back but not before he saw what Dennis had seen and his eyes went wide.

A group of about 10 mercenaries had rounded a corner looking for targets and seen them. All had bows or crossbows, almost certainly a ranged support unit, and had fired them the moment they had seen Harry and Dennis. Dennis must have had a second's advantage and shoved Harry over the ledge they were on so that he fell back, and two bolts and an arrow blew over him as he hit the ground, his earthbending softening the landing.

Dennis hadn't been so lucky. Harry heard the distinctive sound of arrows hitting flesh and he knew that Dennis wasn't wearing armor as he was a firebender and needed mobility to bend effectively with his style of firebending. A moment later Harry saw Dennis fall back over the ledge and hit the ground next to him. It wasn't a pretty sight.

The old firebender and last known Chosen still alive had 5 arrows in him and a line along his neck from a 6th. One was in his shoulder, 2 more in his chest but not his heart, one in his gut and the last in his thigh. His shirt was already red with blood and it was pooling around him. However, he was somehow still alive and turned his head to Harry giving him a bloody grin.

"Looks like I found that redemption we spoke about in the Ozark forest all those years ago Harry." Dennis said as blood bubbled out of his mouth and Harry realized this was the first time Dennis was acknowledging that moment. "Saving you so that you can hold this Temple and win this war is that act. Now win Avatar, the world needs you too."

With that Dennis let out a rattling breath and his eyes dimmed as Harry looked at him as the last known Chosen died before him. Harry knew that he was dead and that he'd finally found the peace he'd been seeking for over half a century. Harry was going to make sure that Dennis's sacrifice wasn't in vein.

Leaping up with his bending, Harry placed his hand on the ledge and vaulted over it, sending out a maelstrom of fire from his feet in an arc at the 10 mercenaries as he did. He heard an inhuman scream and knew he'd hit at least one of them. He wouldn't give the others a chance to counter.

Using his right hand to send out a jet of air and flip him upright, Harry detached a swarm of metal spike from his armor and charged at the remaining mercenaries. There were 7 left as two had been consumed by the fire and died quickly while a third was running around on fire. The others had been forced to back up and Harry sent out the metal spikes he'd detached. They all found their marks at the 7 mercenaries fell with spikes in their heads, eyes, and necks, most dead before they hit their ground, the rest soon after. Harry sent one more out to put the burning man out of his misery and end all the mercenaries here.

Dennis was dead, the militia had things in hand and Harry knew that Sirius would be up there soon to bolster their forces. That meant that he had get moving. He was their best weapon right now, so he was going to take out as many as possible as he tried to see if Ekrizdis and then go make sure that Luna was ok if he couldn't find him. She was likely the main target, and they couldn't lose her in this battle.

Heading towards the sounds of battle, Harry ran into the Temple to help out and hoped that his friends were doing as well as he was. The Battle of the West as it would be known as had begun.

Well, there is the start of the battle teased in the last chapter as we see what the Avatar is doing in it. Up next, the missions of some of the other defenders sent out by Luna before the third and final chapter in this small arc. However, that is all I have for this short chapter and as such I will leave it here. As always any questions in PMs or reviews will be answered before the start of the next chapter (as well as replied to if possible). Please follow, favorite and review, all are greatly appreciated. Until next week.

Stringdog