Avatar: The Last Airbender Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Avatar: The Last Airbender Owned By: Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom
All original content and characters © Acastus



Chapter XV – The Killing Fields

The sun had sunk low in the west as two riders approached the deserted battlefield. A light, hot breeze ruffled the riders' hair and brought to their noses the faintest scent of scorched earth. Both men wore cloaks of grey and rode ostrich horses with simple saddle and bridle. An observer might easily have thought them merely a pair of weary travelers wandering a lonely, broken land, but they were not.

The taller of the two riders looked up momentarily to mark the solitary wall of a building, blackened by fire, that jutted up to the sky a mile or two away. "We're close", he thought silently. Similar signs of ferocious combat had marked their travel now for many miles.

After a few minutes they mounted a low hill. At its crest they were finally able to look down onto the killing fields of Cam'ron. The tall man scanned the scene and drew a sharp intake of breath at what he saw. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of what could only be grave markers littered the wide, flat expanse before them. Scattered amongst these markers lay the twisted remains of a dozen or so of Chieng's mighty war machines. The failing sunlight struck the ominous metal carcasses at an angle, casting weird shadows across the wasted landscape.

The wind whispered a moment longer before the shorter man spoke in an uneasy voice, "Feels haunted, General."

Nifong exhaled slowly and replied, "It is. We should leave before nightfall."

They lingered a moment longer before the taller man nudged his mount forward, his aide following behind. Soon they began to pass grave markers on either side. These were short, iron spikes that stuck in the ground at oddly spaced intervals. On many of them hung dented or smashed Fire Nation helmets.

After some time they came upon three ruined tanks in relatively close proximity. Nifong stopped and dismounted. One of the tanks had been flipped over, its belly cracked wide open by the impact of a large boulder. Another had apparently fallen into a nearby dry creek and exploded, leaving nothing but its treads and flooring intact. Somewhat farther away another looked simply asleep, missing nothing but its treads. Nifong wandered closer and saw that its front wheels had sunk into a pair of deep holes cut out of the living earth.

"Do you see it, Captain?" inquired the general as the younger man dismounted and joined him at the cluster of metal tombs.

"See what, sir?" the younger man replied as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Nifong did not reply immediately, instead focusing his gaze on the other wrecks around them one after another. His aide, much accustomed to his superior's frequent reticence, reached out and touched the tank closest to him. Running his hand along its side he felt the smooth, metal surface, cool even in the heat of high summer.

Suddenly, the older man turned and announced, "Come, we must return. I've seen what I needed to see here."

"What did you see that wasn't in the reports, sir?"

"How we will win, Captain," he replied softly, "How we will win."

"Really, sir?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad then, lord," the younger man replied with a small nod of his head in satisfaction, "I was afraid…"

"Of what?" Nifong prompted after a few moments delay.

"…that our men had died for nothing," the aide finished uncertainly.

"That still depends on what we do," the taller man replied, "and what our enemy does."

"What's going to happen, General?"

Nifong paused to consider before answering in a brisk tone, "We will prepare for Xian the opportunity he has been praying for."

"A trap? Won't he be expecting something like that?"

"Yes, but, against his nature, he will take the risk. The shadow of his uncle looms long over him, and longer still the shadow of his father now long since passed."

"How do you know this, sir? Madame Wu?"

The general locked eyes briefly with his subordinate, nodded, and then looking away once again remarked, "Yes. I have my opponent at a disadvantage," suddenly Nifong laughed bitterly, "Not so honorable, is it, my friend? I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"You've never disappointed anyone, my lord," replied the aide without hesitation.

"You're too loyal, Captain," Nifong replied with a mixture of bitterness and affection, "I've done deeds that would brand me a criminal in a different time and place. I don't see how my rank or my nation's blessing makes those deeds any less blameworthy. I wonder how the Spirit of the Earth can stand by someone who is capable of raping the mind of his enemy and sending him to his death without a trace of mercy or compassion."

The younger man looked down, uncertain whether to reply. His brow creased before he looked up, his decision made.

"May I speak, sir?"

Nifong, who had looked back at the nearest tank, turned to look again on his companion, for though his aide had been with him many years now, such a request was rare.

"Of course," he said in surprise.

"You're so hard on yourself, General, and I just don't understand," he began, genuinely confused, "I know you feel responsible for every one who dies, even amongst the enemy, but you didn't ask for this war, none of us did. You speak of fairness and justice in war when there is none. Why do you insist on beating yourself bloody over doing only what you must? What purpose does it serve?"

The aging general sighed and answered, "It helps to remind me that power comes at the cost of total responsibility, Captain. The soldiers' job is to do what I tell them to do or to die trying. My job is to win without making my men sacrifice their lives, but now it seems that even when I succeed in this as a military leader, I fail as a human being. My only choice is whether to litter the field with corpses clothed in red or green. Either way, I leave behind a legacy of ruined lives and cemeteries."

"That choice makes a great difference to us, general. Why should you lament an unfair fight when a fair fight means that many of us, your own people, would lie dead instead of the enemy? Isn't your function to ensure that the odds are in our favor before we ever lift a stone?"

The question hung in the air as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Twilight was upon them.

Finally Nifong replied, slowly nodding his head in glum affirmation, "You speak the truth, Captain, and that is why I will never hesitate in my duty or waver in pursuit of victory for our people. I pray only that the Spirits forgive me for what I've done, and for the sake of the innocents we protect, help to deliver us from the tyranny of Azulon."

Wind whistled through the helmets hung on the grave markers as they mounted their ostrich horses and prepared to depart.

"We must get word to the Council of Five as soon as may be, for I know now what we must do, and where. We will need our allies from the north and the Earth King's most powerful earthbenders to crush this invasion, but crush it we will."

"I'll not be sorry to leave this place, my lord," remarked the aide uneasily as he surveyed the rapidly darkening graveyard.

"Neither will I," the general replied before pushing his ostrich horse into a gallop.

Soon they were gone, leaving the wind and the shadows the only companions of the fallen.