Shattered
Chapter Twenty
Anko went over her mental check list. She and her teenaged "troops" had already booby trapped the upper field. She had rolled back areas of sod, earthbent pits underneath and, after the teens layered the top of the pits with thin supporting branches, rolled the sod back over the tops. No one could tell anything had been disturbed, not even the soon to be destroyed seedlings that were growing up there. They had also cleared her system of aqueducts that she usually used to water her lower fields during the dry months. Anko had adjusted and lengthened the route so that now water from the river flowed steadily past the base of the hill where she and Katara currently stood.
Anko stood on top of the hill. She slid her bare feet into the proper stance, and then brought her arms in a sweeping motion down, then up and out. She took a stomping step forward. Obediently the earth leaped skyward, creating another pit on top of the hill. "All right Katara, your turn." The waterbender nodded. Screwing her face up in concentration, she made a graceful motion with her hands and arms. The water from the aqueduct started to flow up the hill, filling Anko's reservoir. "Good. Fill it up to the top," she instructed.
This hill was the dividing point. The wagon trail left the woods, went up this incline and then went down into the shallow valley of her farmland. Anko had already created trap pits to the left and to the right of the trail. Now she took the earth from the reservoir she had created and used it to make a wall to the far side of one of the pits. The earthbender peeled the top of the soil from the woods facing side of the hill and did the same to the other pit. Now that the earth-holding weeds and hard packed dirt was gone, the hillside was a soft mound of loose soil. Anko grinned; and with the pits and makeshift walls to either side of the trail, this was the only way the firebenders could come.
Finished filling the reservoir, Katara joined her on top of the hill. "Now then, when the time comes you'll soak this bare side of the hill with water. Mud is difficult to maneuver in and you can use it as a weapon too."
"How?" Katara asked. "Mud is just wet earth. Maybe you can bend it, but I can't."
Anko raised an eyebrow at the girl. "You're too young to be that skeptical. The mud is critical to my plan. Bend it and the entire hillside becomes your weapon."
"But…" Katara started.
"But nothing. Look girl; don't think of it as wet earth, think of it as really dirty water. As long as the hill is as saturated as it can be, you should be able to bend it." Anko gestured towards the reservoir. "And you have this as a backup."
Katara looked at the ground. Experimentally she took a water ball and soaked it into the dirt. "Really dirty water," she repeated as she tried to move the mud. It took a few tries, but she finally made a muddy water whip. "I did it!" She grinned up at Anko, who nodded approvingly.
"Good job. See, you're not really moving the earth, you're moving the water and the earth goes along for the ride." Anko smiled at the girl. "I'm going to finish up here. Why don't you see how the boys are doing?" Still grinning, Katara trotted back down the hill and towards the barn.
Sokka grabbed a heavy bag and loaded it into the back of the wagon. Zuko followed suit. They worked silently. Sokka wasn't used to so much quiet and it was making him uncomfortable. He was grateful when Katara entered the barn.
"Hey, guess what? I can bend mud!" she exclaimed.
"Um, good for you, I guess." Sokka dropped his bag into the back of the wagon a little heavily, sending a cloud of white dust into the air. Coughing, he backed away. Katara giggled and even Zuko grinned; Sokka's face was now chalky white. "Ha, ha, very funny," he muttered as he wiped his face off. "Man, what is this stuff anyways?"
"Lime," a slightly gravelly voice answered as Anko leaned into the barn.
"Lime? Like the fruit?" Before the farmer could answer Sokka stuck his finger into the bag and then into his mouth. "Nooo… Lime as in powdered limestone." Sokka grimaced as he spat out the powder.
"Powdered limestone? So you can bend it?" Zuko asked as Sokka continued to gag.
"That's right. It's harmless enough, but dust is a natural fire inhibitor and if enough of it is put into the air it makes a pretty effective smoke screen too."
"Great." Sokka made another face. "We're going to defeat Zhao and an army of firebenders using mud and dust."
Anko scoffed, "Defeat? Who said anything about defeating them?" Sokka and Katara stared at her incredulously. Zuko frowned slightly. "I know you have a plan, Anko. Why don't you share it with the rest of us?"
The earthbender gave the Prince a lopsided smile. "Very well. Defeating Zhao's initial attack force would serve no purpose. He'd just return with more men and overwhelm us with numbers. Do you three remember the map I made?" They all nodded. "I drew two lines; one inner, one outer. We'll start our defense on the outer arc, but I don't intend to actually stop them there. Instead we'll whittle down their numbers, eliminating as many from action as we can before falling back to the inner circle."
Seeing Zuko's slightly worried look, Anko reassured him. "I don't mean to kill them, boy, just remove them from active duty. Trust me; I've no great desire to taint my land with blood." The earthbender continued on with her plan. "Zuko and I will take the upper field. Katara and Sokka will take the wagon trail hill. These positions will eventually be overrun. Who ever gets overwhelmed first will signal the other group and we'll all fall back here. Admiral Zhao will feel he has us at that point."
"Yeah, because he will have us," Sokka exclaimed. "I don't see how we can hold out here; they'll just surround us."
"You still haven't explained how you intend to get Zhao to split his troops instead of just coming at us directly from the wagon trail." Zuko added.
Anko held up her hand with a sigh. "Let me worry about splitting Zhao's forces and as for the other; don't criticize my inner defenses before I've put them into place." The boys fell silent. "If I may continue… Like I said, I've no intention of defeating Zhao's men. My intention is to take out Zhao."
"Wait!" Katara interrupted, "You can't kill Zhao! We need to find out where he took Aang."
"Didn't your parents teach any of you manners? Don't interrupt your elders. I already said that I'm not killing anyone. If I kill Admiral Zhao, someone else will step up and take command in his place. But if I take him hostage…"
"It will throw his troops into command limbo!"
Anko shot Zuko a look. "That's right. People like Zhao tend to discourage independent thinking from their subordinates. They prefer not to have any competition for glory, so I'm guessing no one will step forward and take charge as long as the Admiral is alive. We'll buy ourselves some time negotiating his safe return while Appa recovers more completely. Then the Watertribers can fly away, thus removing the Fire Nation's motivation for invading my farm." Anko shrugged. "That's it; any questions?"
Sokka nodded, "Yeah. Zhao is such a prick; what if his men don't want him back?"
"With him alive, they'll have to act as if they do or risk his wrath later."
"Zhao might not leave if the Watertribers do," Zuko pointed out. "He'll probably want to take revenge on you first."
"I have considered that. I think he'll leave. First, I'll make their withdraw as part of the deal for releasing him. Secondly, he'll get far more glory capturing those two then he will by overrunning my farm. And finally, I'll make it perfectly clear that it'll cost him way more than it's worth to take this place down." As Anko spoke her feral grin returned, sending chills down the spines of the three teens that saw it. The woman straightened. "I'm going to start on the inner defenses. Can you three get Max hitched up and take the lime to the upper field?" They wordlessly nodded. "Good. Later we'll have to take him and Appa somewhere else. The barn won't be safe; it's too flammable." Anko strolled off, whistling casually as she walked. The three silently watched her leave.
"OooKaay," Sokka said. "Is it just me, or is she enjoying herself way, way too much." Zuko remained silent. He had long had his suspicions about Anko. Her plan, which appeared to be sound, and her blasé attitude, seemed to confirm his opinion about the woman. He grabbed another bag of lime, determined to ask her about it later.
"Never mind that, Sokka," Katara said excitedly. "If she takes Zhao hostage, we'll be able to find out where they're keeping Aang! It's perfect!" Sokka shot Zuko a distrustful look, but the firebender just shrugged. He too would benefit if the Watertribers actually succeeded in freeing the Avatar, but that was a big "if". First they had to get out of the situation they were in.
A loud noise came from outside, the reverberation could be felt in the earth. The three moved to the door and looked out. In the paddock, both the mule and the bison stood staring towards the path. Then Max, who had seen this kind of thing before, went back to grazing. A huge boulder sat directly to the side of the path that went into town. Another tremor shook the earth as a second boulder fell in a controlled manner out of the sky and joined the first. "Oi" Sokka muttered as a third, Appa-sized boulder fell in line with the first two.
"Where is she bending from?" Katara asked. Do you think… do you think she could be a Master?"
"Yeah right, Katara. A Master earthbender is out here in the middle of nowhere, farming." Sokka scoffed.
"Come on," Zuko ordered as he forced himself away from the spectacle. "We have our own work to do."
It was nearly dark by the time Anko completed her wall. Two layers high, it surrounded her barn and house. She had packed the spaces between the boulders with earth and had used her bending to sheer off the outside of the wall, making it harder to climb. It wasn't Ba Sing Sei, she had joked, but it would do. There were two openings in the wall; one facing midway between their two outer defensive points, and one heading out towards the river. Her three wards watched with interest as she created arches and keystones to hold the holes open. Surprisingly, it was Sokka who grasped the concept of the keystone first.
"I see," he had exclaimed excitedly, "The keystone holds it up. If we smash the keystone, the entire arch collapses under the weight and the opening closes." Anko had confirmed his guess. "Once you three get in, smash the keystone and close the door. Don't worry about me, I can make my own way in," she had said with a grin.
Now it was dark and she was standing on her barn under the light of a hurricane lamp, staring at some stacks of boxes. What she wanted was under one of them, but which one? Deciding it was the left stack, she moved towards it, not bothering to turn as footsteps approached from behind. "Hello," she greeted the Fire Nation Prince, "Where are the other two?"
Katara is cooking dinner in your kitchen and Sokka is taking care of Appa and Max." Zuko answered quietly. He leaned against one of the hand hewn support beams and watched as Anko moved a box. "You're not really a farmer, are you?" This time there was no accusation or suspicion in his voice. He was merely making a statement.
Anko snorted. Her sardonic grin returned as she grabbed another box. "Prince Zuko, I was born a farmer." She moved the box off to one side. "I was raised a farmer." She took the final box and shoved it out of her way, revealing a trapdoor beneath it. "And with any luck, I will probably die a farmer." Anko took hold of the inset metal ring and pulled upward, opening the cedar lined chamber. She reached in and grabbed the outfit inside. "But it is also true that, for a while anyways, I followed in my father's footsteps." She rose, revealing the dark green Earth Kingdom uniform that was in her hand.
"Ha! I knew it." Zuko crowed triumphantly. "It's no great secret," Anko told him dryly. "The whole town knows it, and that means Admiral Zhao will know it too. He will also probably be aware that you're up here as well."
Zuko's face darkened. In his mind's eye he could picture the Admiral, his sneering face. He could feel his teeth start to grind together and had to force his jaw to relax. "That's fine," he told Anko bluntly, "although he may bring more troops because of it. He won't pass up an opportunity to humiliate me."
"Hm" Anko lowered the trap door back down. "I never thought I'd have to look at this piece of shit again," she muttered, almost inaudibly. Zuko raised his good eyebrow, but didn't bother inquiring. Something else bothered him more. "You do remember what I said, about Zhao being a Master bender?"
Anko looked up from replacing her boxes. "I don't intend to duel him, boy, just take him captive. If he's half as arrogant as you three keep telling me, he'll never see it coming." Anko gathered up her Earth Kingdom clothes and took down the lantern. "Come on; let's see if Katara can cook."
They crossed the distance from the barn to the house silently, each occupied by their own thoughts. They would have to sleep in shifts tonight, Anko knew, just in case Zhao arrived early. She hoped not, she still had some prep work to do to the wagon trail leading from town. Two days, maybe three. Tomorrow would be the second day; with any luck the Fire Nation troops wouldn't come until the third. Of course, that would mean waiting, which was often the hardest part of any battle. Anko suppressed a sigh as she fingered the cloth in her hands.
I was so naïve when I left home. I was going to make a difference? Heh, what a fool. Still, if I can do some good here and now; if I can help protect these three so that they have a chance to grow, then at least this uniform will finally be able to be retired with some honor. Anko snorted softly at herself, drawing the attention of her younger companion. In the moonlight, Zuko could see that her crooked grin had returned. Sokka had been right. The earthbender was seemingly enjoying herself way, way too much. Of course, he too would enjoy having the opportunity to kick Zhao's ass. All he had to do now was wait.