Shattered
Chapter Twenty-One
Admiral Zhao didn't bother to hide his disdain as he looked over the harbor village of Yopoko. It was a small place, filled with small, insignificant people. His scribe would have to do some major embellishing in order to make his victory here seem worthy enough for the Firelord. He glanced to the side as two more of his landing ships docked. Annoyingly, the harbor of this pathetic island was too shallow to accommodate his ship, forcing him to waste time ferrying his men over. Well, he'd just have to take his irritation out on the Watertribe teens. He had brought twenty men, more than enough to take those peasants prisoner.
"Um, excuse me, Admiral?" a middle aged man approached. "I'm Shikimaru, headman of Yopoko."
"Where are the Water Tribe teens?" Zhao interrupted him, while looking down his nose at the man. What gave this nobody the nerve to talk to him directly? To his satisfaction, the headman seemed sufficiently cowed.
"W…well, you see sir, they're holed up on a farm about seven miles away from town."
Zhao scowled; what a waste of his time. "And the bison?"
"It was on death's door when they were here; they went to see a healer."
Well that was at least some good news. As long as they couldn't fly, it would be an easy capture.
"There's, um, something else you should know." Shikimaru said hesitantly. "The woman whose farm they're staying on; she's a trouble maker and she refuses to hand them over. She's also an earthbender and served as an Earth Kingdom soldier." Admiral Zhao sneered. Just one dirt-pusher? Ha! "And one of your own people is up there too."
That got his attention. "What do you mean?" he demanded.
"A teenaged soldier, he came here about a month ago. Of course we offered him food and shelter, the best the village had to offer, but Anko took him away to her farm shortly after he arrived."
Zhao's eyes narrowed as he thought about it. The timing was about right. "Did the teen have a burn scar?" At the headman's confirmation, Zhao's smirk returned. Prince Zuko, how perfect. He turned to a subordinate. "Signal the ship and bring over another thirty men. I want three Yu-yan archers too."
"Um, about my gold?"
"The deal was for the Water Tribe siblings delivered. I may consider a small reward, but only if you and your people cooperate fully."
"Oh, o…of course. I'll get a map. I can show you the best way to Anko's farm…" The man scurried off. Zhao snorted; like he'd ever give a coin of gold to these nobodies. Why should he? The island itself was neutral territory, but its people were clearly aligned with the lesser elements. If they were lucky, he'd leave without burning their town down. His mind turned to Prince Zuko and the opportunities his presence presented. Even in his current banished state, the Prince's continued existence could be problematical. So if something were to "accidentally" happen to the boy during combat, it would be no great tragedy. Zhao could blame the earthbender and offer her head to the Firelord as a gift.
Even better, he could simply tell the Firelord that Zuko had been captured by the Earth Kingdom soldier and that he, Admiral Zhao, had taken great personal pains to liberate the boy. Zuko would be humiliated and his status in the eyes of the Firelord would drop even further. That was a much better plan. Zhao's grin grew; he would be a hero and would reap the rewards he so rightfully deserved. He would have to give this Anko person a quick death as a token of his appreciation. After all, if the dirt pusher had simply surrendered the Avatar's allies he wouldn't have had any chance for additional honor. Yes, today was definitely going to be glorious.
Admiral Zhao and his men made their way through the forest. The wagon trail they followed was ill-used and rough. He belatedly wished that he had brought some rhinos along, but it wasn't enough to sour his good mood. Fifty troops was perhaps a bit of overkill, but he wanted to crush any resistance swiftly and if it served to remind Prince Zuko of his insignificant status; well, that was a bonus. If anyone dared to question him, he would say it was his concern for the Prince's safety that drove him to take such measures. Suddenly he felt a vibration beneath his feet. He held up a hand to stop his troops as the tremor grew in intensity. Earthen spikes erupted across the trail in front of his lead men, their points facing his troops like pikes. "That's far enough," a female voice called out.
Anko stood hidden behind the trunk of a tall tree, a thrill of excitement running through her in spite of herself. This was it. She had contingency plans just in case she failed to convince Zhao to divide his men, but it would work out much better if this plan worked. She cautiously peeked out from behind the tree.
"I am Admiral Zhao. You are guilty of harboring enemies of the Fire Nation. Surrender now and your death will be a swift one."
Well at least the man wasn't going to mince words. "What kind of weakling needs to hide behind all those troops? Perhaps you should surrender." Anko dodged as a fire blast impacted with the tree trunk. She took a step to her left and dropped down into the tunnel she had made yesterday. With a gesture, she sealed the opening up and swiftly made her way through the pitch dark; the fingertips of one hand tracing against the tunnel's walls. She could feel the vibrations in the earth as three of Zhao's men went to surround her previous hiding spot. Tch, only three? I'll have to try harder.
Admiral Zhao waited impatiently as his men investigated the earthbender's hiding spot. "She's gone, sir." The man shrank from the Admiral's glare. "What do you mean, gone?"
"Oh, I'm over here now," the woman's voice came from the right side of the trail this time. "You Navy boys sure are slow. Maybe if you didn't spend so much time swabbing the poop decks…" This time about half of Zhao's men opened fire on the woman's position, but once again she was gone. Admiral Zhao signaled his Yu-yan archers. It was time to stop playing around.
"If you want to fight, why don't you come out and do so?" he taunted. "Though, I suppose that's too much to ask from a dirt crawling worm like you."
"Here I am." A flash of Earth Kingdom green from behind was all the target the Yu-yan needed. Anko winced as six arrows turned her dirt filled clothes into a pin cushion. She allowed her decoy to crumble to the ground. The arrows had come from three different directions. That's all she needed to know. Once again she returned underground. The Admiral required one more good push, something to convince him that she was worthy of employing a little strategy. Anko walked down the tunnel that ran directly underneath the wagon trail until she was in front of his men. With a grim smile she drove her fist into the ceiling of her tunnel.
Zhao felt the tremor beneath his feet and leapt to the side just as the hard packed ground transformed into sand. Most of his men followed suit, but some got stuck in the soft sand, slowly being sucked downward. "Admiral!" a man ran up holding something dark green in his hands. He grabbed the proffered Earth Kingdom clothes with a snarl. The bitch was playing with him. "Move!" He pushed the subordinate aside. "She's hiding underground! Fire downward!" The firebenders obeyed; stepping forward, spinning and punching flaming fists straight downward. Fire arched and flared along the ground. Some of his own men, the ones trapped in the slowly sinking sandy trail, got a little scorched, but it was worth it. Zhao grinned with satisfaction as the already weakened tunnel collapsed under the flaming assault. He looked around warily. If the earth-worm had survived, she'd have to pop up sooner or later. The only sounds and movement came from his own men, freeing their trapped comrades.
"You know, this really is sad. I expected more from an Admiral." Zhao whirled towards the voice, falling naturally into his fighting stance. There was the farmer, standing on a short earthen column just beyond the stony spikes she had erected across the path. She was tall and lean, her clothes were plain peasant's clothes and she stood there casually, in plain view, arms crossed in front of her chest as she looked down on him. She smirked, the arrogant gesture infuriating Zhao. "If this is the best you have to offer, then you are wasting my time. Go back to your ship; I have more important things to do than to play with a half-rate Admiral want-to-be."
"Fire!" Zhao shouted. The entirety of his men and his archers shot at the woman. She spun, the earth of the column breaking into chunks and whirling around her, shielding her from the assault. She dropped behind the spikes. Zhao's men kept up the onslaught, the earthen constructs soon crumbling to the ground. The scent of burnt soil hung heavily in the air. The Admiral held up his hand, ending the barrage. He sent several men to investigate. One returned, "Sir, it looks like she escaped, Sir."
"We should pursue, Admiral," Captain Lee suggested. "She can't have gotten far."
Zhao looked down his nose at the man. "When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. No, Captain, think about it. Why do you think she attacked us this way? Obviously it was to provoke us into blindly chasing after her. This whole trail is probably riddled with traps." Zhao narrowed his eyes. "Well it won't work. Didn't that fool in the village say something about there being two ways to get to her farm?"
"Yes sir, there is an abandoned path, but we passed it about half a mile back." The man produced a map. "It looks like it comes out over here, away from where the wagon trail emerges."
"Excellent, we'll surround her." Zhao felt his composure returning. The bitch would never see this coming. "Captain Lee, take twenty men and continue along this wagon trail. Proceed cautiously. I will take the rest of the men and the Yu-yan. We'll take this alternative route. Once you're in position, remain hidden and await my signal. You'll attack from the front while we'll circle around from behind. Remember, we want the Watertribers alive. If Prince Zuko is up there, take him alive as well; kill anyone else who gets in your way."
"Sir!" Captain Lee bowed and moved off. Admiral Zhao could feel his lips curl up in a sneer. This pathetic, barbarian bender would rue the day she tried to match wits with him!
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Katara nervously paced the top of the hill as her brother sat nearby on the ground honing his boomerang. Never mind the fact that it was already sharp enough to split hairs. The whet stone scratched along the blade, rubbing Katara's already raw nerves with every stroke. She paced back the other way, checking their defenses for the umpteenth time. The hill was saturated to perfection, the small reservoir was full to the brim; yep, everything was just as ready now as it had been a minute ago. With a sigh, she started pacing back in the other direction.
"Katara! Would you please stop pacing around? You're driving me crazy!"
"I'll stop pacing if you stop sharpening your boomerang."
"Fine."
"Fine."
Katara sat down on the ground while Sokka put his whet stone away. They fidgeted in silence for a moment. "Man!" Sokka exploded. "What could be taking her so long?" As if to answer his question, a hand suddenly pushed up from beneath the ground. "Aaah!" Both siblings jumped up and back. Another hand and a head, Anko partially emerged from the earth like some sort of misshapen gofer.
"They're coming," she said without preamble, "about twenty of them. Stay hidden until they attack; I don't want them to know we've split up. Take down as many as you can, but remember: it's game over if they capture you two, so make sure to signal and fall back before they even come close to having the opportunity, okay?" Seeing their nods, she disappeared back beneath the soil.
"Forget crazy, that was just plain creepy." Katara couldn't help but agree with her brother. They got into position. "I bet Zuko has to fall back before we do."
Katara rolled her eyes. "Why do boys always have to be so competitive? Forget Zuko, think about Aang! If Anko's plan works, we'll finally have a way to find him. We can't mess this up."
Sokka held up his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, Katara, okay. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just saying, that's all." Sokka's expression turned serious. "Don't worry Katara, we won't fail."
Zuko sat cross-legged on the warm soil. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and measured. He had no candle to focus on so instead he focused on the sun. He basked in it, absorbing its warmth into his skin, feeling its power. He kept his mind blank, focusing entirely on his senses. Random thoughts intruded, but didn't break his meditative state. Anko should have been back by now. That particular thought buzzed around his head like a fly. His brows furrowed down in annoyance, but he didn't bother opening his eyes. Anko would come when she came. Worrying about it wouldn't do him any good. Deep breath in…Deep breath out…
The defenses of this area were already prepared. Anko had created a low spot in the field. Although he would be visible if he stood, as he was, he knew he couldn't be seen from the tree-line, which was where Zhao's men would be coming from. Aligned in a semi-circle, the bags of lime also stood slit open and ready. Even Anko's hoe was sharpened and ready, although Zuko couldn't understand why she insisted that it be there. The only thing missing from the battlefield was the opposition. And Anko.
Zuko's eyes snapped open as the earth erupted upward. Anko came spiraling out from her underground passage to land on solid ground. She too crouched in the hollow, slamming a fist into the palm of her hand to rid her body of the accumulated dirt that clung to it. "We've got about thirty soldiers, three Yu-yan archers and one Admiral coming our way."
Zuko's eyebrow quirked up. "Thirty? That's overkill, even for Zhao. Didn't he divide his forces?"
"Sure he did, he's got twenty headed for the Watertribers. But it's not them I'm worried about." Anko raked her fingers through her hair as she considered their options. She hadn't planned on the Admiral bring this many men. Their inner defenses would never hold unless the Fire Nation troop numbers were seriously pared down, a tall order for just three benders and a warrior. "This calls for a change in strategy." She looked speculatively at Zuko. "I'm going to have to bend a golem."
Zuko looked at her blankly. "What's a golem? I've never heard of that before."
"I'm not surprised. It's kind of an upper level bend and it has some serious disadvantages, so even the people who can bend one, rarely do. A golem is a man shaped construct. I can move it around like a puppet, but it takes all of my concentration to do so. In the meantime, my body is completely defenseless. That's why it's a rarely used skill. It's more flashy than useful, but in a situation like this, it could be invaluable. Zhao and his men are Navy; I'm hoping they won't have a clue as to what to do against it." She looked at Zuko, her expression grave. "Zhao has three Yu-yan with him, that's the real danger. While I'm bending the golem, I won't be able to protect myself. I'll need you to do it for me."
Zuko wasn't sure he grasped the whole golem thing, but he nodded at her. "I won't let them touch you."
She smiled confidently, "Good." Anko looked out across the field, her hand planted against the ground so that she could feel any vibrations of approaching troops. Despite her self assured outward appearance, inside she had her doubts. Bending a golem was a Master's skill, and so risky for the bender that it was generally only used when one was safely hidden behind fortress walls. It had been years since she had done one, and she had only done it successfully a couple of times. She clenched her toes in the warm soil. Still, this was her land, the land of her ancestors. She was connected here to the earth more deeply than anywhere else. She had toiled here; watered the ground with her sweat, her blood and even her tears. If there was anyplace on the planet that she could create a golem, it was here.
She blinked as the vibrations of Zhao's approaching troops touched her. "And so it begins."