ok, hope you liked the last one, this one is longer, and has better stuff than the previous one. Hey, even a time till seige counter,can't get much better can it?

Two weeks before the siege

"Men, I would like you to meet the newest firebender to our army, Doran. He has been made my new second in command, adviser, and made a general," said Zula, stepping back from the podium to allow the warrior to step up, and make a speech.

"I will not be easy with you. Any disobedience will be severely punished. Many of you will ask why I have been bestowed with these honors, but do not. Just except the fact that I out rank you, and that you are to do what I say when I say to do it. I only answer to Lady Zula. I do not listen to the Firelord. That is all I have to say, now go about your business as usual." He stepped back, and went to his room.

"Bumi's been really pushing Aang hard to learn earthbending,"said Ktara looking out the window towards the otherside of the city where dust was rising.

"Bumi is old, and there is the siege coming up, so he doesn't know how long he has to really train Aang," said Sokuro, sharpening the blade of his sword.

"Still, what good is he if he is to tired to do anything during the siege?" asked Sokka.

"He's not going to fight. None of y'all will."

"What?" they asked in shocked unison.

"This will be too dangerous for the untrained avatar to be close to, and he needs friends to help him with the rest of his training," he replied, sheathing his sword and rising. "You three will leave on the eve of the battle, and get as far away from here until I send for you."

"Why will you stay and fight, your Aang's friend too?" asked Katara, walking up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged it off, and walked to the door. " I am not of this world, and if I should die here, the fate of this world would not be changed as much as if the avatar was to die or his two closest friends. My life is sacrifice, and this has been my destiny from my birth."

He walked out the door and down the hall, leaving Katara to cry in her brother's arms, heartbroken.

One week before the siege

Aang lifted some boulders up onto the parapet, helping the soldiers prepare for the inevitable. Katara and Sokka carried food and supplies into the city walls, as the very young and very old were escorted out of the city by armed guards.

Sokuro was busy also, training those who could not earth bend, and knew naught of the way to handle a sword, how to fight with an array of weapons. Some specialized in long spears that would be used to stab between the small holes in the wall, others had broad or long swords and had to train in close combat. The last group was trained as a halberd guard for the main building, incase the walls failed, and they had to retreat to the palace.

"No, no, no!" yelled Sokuro at two teenagers who were dueling with broad and long swords. "If either of y'all had the capability of a seasoned warrior, the other would have lost both his arms by now. When you parry a stab, parry away from your chest, the sword keeps sliding even though your blade is there to slow it down. Now, again!" They started the duel over again, panting and sweating.

"Sokuro?" asked a voice from behind him.

He sighed, thinking it was another elderly woman wanting him to carry her bags out to the waiting cart. He turned around, and immediately apologized to Katara, " I'm sorry Katara, I thought you were someone else. What can I do for you?"

"Could I pull you away from here for a minute?" she asked, her eyes pleading for his attention.

"Sure, Ayeesha!"

"Yes sir!" saluted a sixteen-year-old girl with a halberd that rose a couple of feet above her head.

"You're the best trainee I have, I want you to monitor the group while I'm gone."

"Yes sir!" she saluted again.

He allowed Katara to lead him back to her room, and she sat on the bed, inviting him to join her.

He hesitated, and then sat down next to her. " What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Do you really intend to send me away from here?"

"Yes, I do."

"Why, I can help?" her eyes brimming with tears. I don't want to leave you here to die alone.

He looked her in the eyes, trying to suppress his feelings. "Because, I don't want you to get hurt. This place will fall, and it will fall because of a necromancer. Our allies will fall, and then rise again as our enemies. That is the soul in Doran's gem," he said, looking at her, and placing his hand on her cheek and brushing away a tear from her eye.

She shrugged away from him and asked, " then what soul does yours have in it?"

He looked at the gem, and rubbed it lightly. It flickered for a moment, and then returned to its normal pale sapphire. "A healer, and a trickster to an extent, a magician, but all one in the same. He was the soldeir who fought in the vault, remember. The necromancer is a demon, the opposite of mine. My spirited made you fall in love with me."

Katara looked at him in shock. He made me this way? So affectionate towards him, so many hours I've spent with him, feeling this way. She looked away from him, and said," please leave."

He got up, and walked to the door. He stopped in the edge of the arch and placed his hand on the side of the doorway. "I didn't ask her to do this to you," he said, looking down solemnly at the back of his hand.

"Please leave," she said again, not even looking at him.

"I'm sorry." He walked out of the room, and down the hallway.

"I am too." She got up and shut the door.

Doran wiped the blood of the dead soldier off on his dead body, and then said, "Those who cannot land even a single blow on their opponent, will die to my blade. Those who challenge my authority will meet the same fate. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," they said in unison, snapping to attention, but one of the men up front stumbled after words, and immediately was impaled on the point of Doran's sword. Blood spluttered everywhere, and seeped down the blade. The pommel stone burned dark red, emitting a black light, even though the day should have nullified such a small amount of shadow.

The soldiers knew better than to move or look, and stood at attention. The force had halved its original size, but no one told Zula what the cause of it was. Undoubtedly she already knew, but even if she didn't, it would be condemning the person or people to death.

Doran took his blade out of the poor man, and wiped it on the lifeless form, saying, "Put this one with the rest, and then finish your sparing matches." With out waiting for a reply, he turned on his heel, and walked away.

A girl, not much older than him, rushed to his side. She was very pretty, even though she was dressed as a well-respected slave. "Your wound troubles you?" She had been the only person Doran would let get close to him after he had gotten better, and healed partially. She liked him a lot, to say the least.

"Is it that obvious, Elaine?" he asked in a kind voice, one you would not have expected from the barbaric man who had just slain two men.

"Only to me, because I know what it is like to feel that kind of residual pain." she held the side of her long sleeved robe, which smoothed inward as she touched it, revealing that she was missing a chunk of her side. "Good thing we have two kidneys!" she said with a cheerful smile.

Doran managed to return the smile. Ohhh, the big scary man is starting to soften up.

Who says this is real, I'm just using her, like a pawn in a chess game. As soon as she loses her usefulness, she won't need to complain about her wound anymore.

Ha, you forget I can see into your mind.

And you forget that I don't like you doing that.

Sorry master, I can't help it. The link we share never lets me not hear your thoughts and feelings.

Bah! Just ignore it.

Yes liege.

"Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" she asked, looking at him, her silver-green eyes, reflecting the sunlight.

"Yes, could you get me some food, and bring it down to my quarters, and then tell Zula that another man got impaled by I misused spear please?" he asked, but made it sound more like an order than a question.

"Yes, I will do that immediately." She bowed respectfully, then turned and made for the kitchens. As she made for the stairs, she accidentally bumped into a firebender, who was coming up from the galley. He stumbled slightly, and she stopped to see if he was all right. The firebender grabbed her throat, and started to scream in her face.

A few seconds after he had opened his mouth, a small dagger protruded from his mouth, causing the fire bender next to him to wince at the suddenness of the happening. Elaine fell to the ground, and gasped for air.

Soft

Yay, Doran my have someone to care about, the secret lifes of an evil one, never saw that coming, did ya? did ya? ready, reveiw.