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 XLIX – Most Hallowed Ground

The soldier was dying. Her face was horribly burned and she stunk of scorched flesh. Her chest armor had melted in places and sunk into her body. Nearby two of her companions had died before they had reached the column.

Desperate for news, Deng had decided to join the vanguard. On the way they had seen three riderless ostrich horses grazing less than a mile from the road and had gone to investigate. There they had found the two bodies, and albeit temporarily, the lone survivor who clung so tenuously to life at their feet.

Nifong knelt on the soft earth of the steppe that would soon be her grave. A breeze had sprung up and the grasses around them now waved gently. Around him were gathered his adjutant and several other members of his staff. Behind them the main body of the Army of the Granite Mountains flowed west along the Silk Road towards Mequon.

He held her hands in his. It was all he could do. His round helmet lay on the grass beside her. Nifong had removed it so that she could see her leader, but he feared the gesture was in vain.

"Sir," she began again, for she had tried several times to speak through the agony, but failed, "they didn't… they didn't even give us a chance… to… to… they burned us… burned us alive…"

She looked up, but did not see him. Her pupils were unfocused, one dilated much wider than the other. She had the wide cheek bones and heavy set body of the hill tribes from the far north. So many like her had left their homes to fight thousands of miles from where they were born, never to return.

"From the sky… fire… from the sky..."

"Could you see them, soldier?" the young captain asked softly from her other side.

"Yes, from the east they came… tanks, sir, many tanks… and those… those things…"

The woman's breathing had turned staccato and ragged.

NIfong's heart dropped in his chest. He could guess what she meant.

"Dreadnoughts?" he asked.

"Yes, we saw… them… their shadows… on the horizon… when the sun came up…"

"Colonel Liu, is he…?" the adjutant prompted.

"Don't know… no one knows… we couldn't run… it was a trap… a trap…please…General, so… sorry…"

"Rest easy now, daughter," Nifong soothed, stroking her filthy hair, "there is no shame."

Then she was gone. One moment she was speaking, the next her jaw went slack, but her eyes had been lifeless from the moment they saw her and they betrayed no difference between life and death. The bodies of her companions lay still and silent around her.

Deng stood, his aide following. He widened his stance in preparation to bury the dead when three new riders appeared. They saluted and dismounted. One was a scout, another a messenger from Wu-Ti's staff and the last was Colonel Fong.

"Sir," began the messenger, his eyes wide with fear, "We've received some intelligence and Master Wu-Ti bade me bring it you immediately."

Nifong felt the cold chill of fear tighten his chest. Wu-Ti delivered good news in person. Bad news was delivered by others. The situation was getting worse. He could feel it. Ever since the rains had begun in Ningbo the darkness had whistled through the hallways of his soul.

The scouts sent south and east had either returned with nothing to report or had not returned at all. The messengers sent west had not returned. The dead soldiers before them were the first word they had received from Liu or Jenju in more than a day. Perhaps most ominously of all, early reports of a Fire Nation withdrawal towards the Gulf of Gela had apparently proven false. A message had arrived the day before from the Council of Five that the Nasu had been almost completely liberated with no sign of Prince Iroh.

Doubt gnawed at the aging generals' mind as they marched resolutely west, hoping to come upon Liu's Second Corps. They had seen evidence of his passing and occupied Vyazma as he had without incident. Now, here on the Silk Road west of the town, they had come upon the first of the survivors of the Field of Coins.

Still, the bad news could wait.

"We honor the fallen first," he admonished gently.

The soldiers, who had paid no heed to the corpses littering the ground, noticed them for the first time. Colonel Fong, his expression shocked, allowed a gasp to escape his lips at the sight of the hideously burned bodies. Sickened and ashamed, they lowered their heads in respect. Nifong's staff joined them.

He offered a silent prayer and gently lowered each body into the embrace of their mother earth. They left no grave markers as they had at Cam'ron and other battles, for there was no wood. The memory of their lives in the minds of their loved ones would be the only proof that they had ever existed. Soon even that would be gone, for the lives of men are short.

The green clad general stood and turned to the newcomers. He motioned for them to report.

Fong stepped forward, his countenance stricken.

"General, I…"

NIfong cut him off abruptly with a sweep of his powerfully muscled hand.

"Not you, Colonel, you're last."

Ashamed, Fong closed his eyes and stepped back.

"Sir," the messenger began again, "the vanguard reports stragglers just like these from Second Corps… most of them badly wounded. They all say the enemy hit them with some kind of new weapon!"

Nifong and his adjutant shared a glance.

"Describe it," Iroh's opponent commanded.

The messenger gave a quick description of the rocket sleds. The words, empty, vacuous symbols, paled in comparison to the charred faces of the soldiers they had just buried. None of them were innocent of the tragedies of war, but devastation reeked on the corpses they had just buried drove home to them just what the Fire Nation could and did do.

"Dear gods in heaven," the adjutant breathed, "Have these people no pity? No mercy? Will they murder the whole world?"

"No, Captain, they have no mercy," Nifong answered quietly, "but whether they murder the world or not is up to us."

"But who are they and where did they come from? Was it the garrison?"

"I don't think so, Captain," the scout injected with a shake of his head, "I was with First Corps this morning. The lobster backs holding the city are Fire Nation regulars judging by their uniforms, though I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with whatever happened to Second Corps."

"Okay, what about Liu?" the aide asked in confusion and dawning horror, "Where is Second Corps now?"

"I don't know, sir," the scout replied, clearly in distress, "I expected to run into them not you… but… on the way here I saw another large enemy column, mostly infantry it looked like, moving north on the Hue-Dalian road. I was hoping to run into Colonel Liu's outfit around there… instead I just saw the damn fire spitters."

"How large? As big as the force holding Mequon?" the Captain asked in a small voice.

"I don't know," he admitted with a shake of his head, "but big, and I crossed some huge tracks heading northwest… the ground was all torn up… and after what I just heard I think it might have been from whatever they used to hit Second Corps."

The scout, confused, turned to face Nifong.

"Sir, I don't understand, the tracks looked just like the tracks from those massive metal things we destroyed at Myojin! How could they be here? We wiped them out, didn't we!?"

The green clad general did not respond. The scouts questions rang in his ears like thunder.

"Not all of them," Nifong's aide replied instead, "a few got away, but we chased them deep into the Ping Tou Mountains. It can't be them. Look, forget about that, right now we have to make contact with Second Corps and find out what happened!"

"No need," Nifong responded, for the evidence was clear, "Second Corps has been destroyed."

The others looked at their commander, stupefied, their mouths hanging open.

"What else?" Nifong prompted after a pause to allow the news to sink in, his expression distant.

The scout shut his mouth with an audible click and produced a message from underneath his vambrace. He handed it to Nifong who took the scroll without opening it.

"Sir," the scout began more formally than before, as if suddenly remembering his audience, "Colonel Jenju also bid me inform you that First Corps has met and defeated the Fire Nation force defending the outer wall of Mequon. She has placed the city under siege."

"How strongly is the city held?"

"About three or four divisions."

"Have we identified them?"

"No sir, they displayed no battle flags."

Nifong grimaced.

"Prince Iroh?" his aide prompted.

The question hung between them. The aging general turned back to the scout.

"What was the situation when you left?"

"The artillery had reduced the outer wall, but a Fire Nation counter attack burned them down and destroyed them. The counter attack was repelled and the Colonel now asks for further orders."

Nifong scanned the horizon to the west and south, his expression hollow.

"And what would you have said if you had come upon Colonel Liu, as you expected?"

"I was instructed to ask him to move with all due haste to support Colonel Jenju's left flank. She hopes to roll up the Fire Nation's exposed right. They don't have enough men to extend their line to the river."

Suddenly, as if the sun had suddenly risen in the middle of night, he saw the situation clearly. He turned sharply and focused his full attention on the scout.

"Has the enemy moving north on the Hue Road cut us off from Jenju?" he asked, unable to hide the intensity in his voice, "Can you get a message back to her?"

"I think I can get back to her, General, but I'm pretty sure the lobster backs I saw on the road will get to her before you do."

Nifong looked at his aide, then at Fong, before addressing the rider once again. His speech, normally soft, measured and firm, came forth in a rapid stream.

"Go now! Tell Jenju she's about to be enveloped – if she hasn't figured it out already! She must abandon the siege and head northeast. She can use the Silk Road if its clear, but above all she has to avoid getting trapped between the two Fire Nation armies."

The scout confirmed the orders with a dip of his head.

"What if they come in contact with the fire spitters coming up the Hue Road?" the young Captain asked breathlessly.

Nifong closed his eyes and took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. There was an opportunity here to salvage victory from disaster… was he bold enough to take it? He knew the answer.

"Get out the maps."

Moments later Nifong pored over a large document spread out on the grass. It was a highly detailed geologic survey chart from the library at Ba Sing Se University. The contours of the ground were clearly and expertly shown along with different colors that indicated the types and ages of the rocks exposed on the surface. The roads and towns were indicated in pencil and had clearly been added after the chart's manufacture.

The area east of Mequon was distinguished by little, save the Silk and Hue Roads and the first of a series of low ridges which became progressively higher as one moved north. These latter heralded the border region between the steppes and the escarpment that marked the edge of the Dune Sea many leagues distant. Nestled amongst these progressively larger folds of earth the trading city of Dalian sat upon the same tributary of the Yangtze which flowed around the western wall of Mequon and was the termination point of the Hue Road.

Using a piece of charcoal, Nifong quickly began to make marks on the map.

"Here we are… and this is where Second Corps should have been, but where we now see enemy forces… and Jenju and her opponents are… here. Does that look about right?

The scout and the messenger agreed.

"All right, then it's clear. Jenju must pull out of her siege and march northeast, avoiding these ridges if possible. I bet that's where the Fire Nation dreadnoughts went. Then, she is either to avoid combat entirely and try to rejoin us, or, if we time it correctly and her scouts sight us closing in on the right flank of enemy column moving north on the Hue Road, swing southeast and hit the enemy on their left."

"Won't the fire spitters holding Mequon follow First Corps, sir?" the scout prompted.

"Instruct her to raise every earthen and stone obstruction she can as she moves. Earthbend deep trenches as well in zig zag patterns. That will slow them down."

"We're going to keep moving then, General?" the aide broke in, "To try and trap the enemy between us and Colonel Jenju?"

"Yes, Captain," Nifong confirmed, "They've already hurt us badly, but we have a chance to turn the tables on them. They're overextended, and if it is Prince Iroh, they must be exhausted."

"From what, sir?"

"From crossing the Dune Sea."

The assemblage once again regarded their commander in shock. He might as well have suggested that they were under attack by aliens.

"That's impossible," Wu-Ti's messenger finally said, completely forgetting the proper address.

"No, it's not," Nifong contradicted, "you yourself just delivered word that the Fire Nation has unleashed another dreadful weapon upon us, the evidence of which we just buried moments ago, and our scouts have seen the unmistakable sign of dreadnoughts. Further, we received word yesterday that Prince Iroh is nowhere to be found on the Nasu. So ask yourself, where did these "new" Fire Nation armies come from? Where did these dreadnoughts come from?"

No one answered. In the silence Nifong wondered, and not for the first time, whether he had chosen the wrong man to target with Madame Wu so long ago. The thought of her stabbed him and he thrust aside the mental image of the beautiful fortuneteller. He knew her first name, but he dared not even think it. He doubted he would ever see her again.

"Second Corps has been destroyed," he repeated softly, "and now Prince Iroh intends to trap Jenju in a ring of fire."

Unable to contain himself, Fong stepped forward.

"We must attack then now, General! Send me back with…"

Nifong turned to face his subordinate, his expression cold. Fong stopped in mid-sentence, hope dying on his face.

"Colonel, you disobeyed my orders and the orders of your Corps Commander."

Fong looked at the ground in shame.

"Why?"

The young cavalry commander closed his eyes.

"Sir, I... I hoped to capture Mequon by surprise… and end the war once and for all."

"Colonel," Nifong replied without a trace of emotion, "I asked you to help me whip these people… instead… you've helped them to destroy us."

It was as stern a rebuke as he ever gave.

Fong knelt down on one knee, "General, let me redeem myself in combat, it's what I'm best at, please…"

"No, Colonel, you have been relieved. You are to stay and bury every soldier who has fallen because of what you've done here. You will tend this most hallowed ground for as long as you are able. That is your punishment."

Crestfallen, Fong bit his lip, but offered no protest, for he knew the punishment was fitting. The disgraced officer looked up and dared a final question.

"Will you attack then, sir?"

"Yes, Colonel… that is mine," he replied softly, more to himself than to Fong.

Fong bent over and touched his forhead to the earth in a gesture of submission. The others looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and revulsion.

The adjutant turned away, remembering in shame how he had once shared the cavalry commander's enthusiasm.

"We must attack now," Nifong continued, his voice in deadly earnest, "and with everything we've got. The enemy has divided in two, relying on surprise and their new weaponry to make up for the dilution of their strength. We have divided in three because of my indulgence and your recklessness. Liu and his men have paid the price for our mistakes, may the Earth Spirit rest their souls… but if we're lucky, we'll crush the enemy's eastern force between us and Jenju. If not, we must at least allow time for her to escape."

"Sir," the young captain offered, clearly shaken at the miserable turn of events, "Shouldn't we send for reinforcements, if not from the Council at least from Ningbo and Amiganza?"

Nifong considered this briefly before nodding and turning to address Wu-Ti's messenger.

"Yes, return immediately to Wu-Ti. Instruct him to send a Letter of Summons to the governor of Ningbo. Don't bother with the others. Amiganza is too far and the Council would send no help even if they could."

The messenger saluted, but lingered a moment longer, an expression of expectation on his face.

"All right," Nifong reconsidered with chagrin, "Have him send a message to General Xu as well. Inform him of the situation and request his assistance. I doubt he will come, and if he does this battle will already have long since been decided."

The messenger saluted once again and left. Nifong turned back to the prostrate Colonel.

"Get up, Colonel," he commanded, "You will bury no dead on your knees."

Fong rose, his expression stricken, and left to serve his punishment.

As they watched him retreat, they saw another rider break away from the main column advancing along the Silk Road and approach them. Breathless, yet another messenger swung down from her saddle, saluted and addressed Nifong, her eyes wide with fear.

"Sir! We're under attack! Fire Nation armor on our left flank!"

The effect on the gathering was electric. Every breath came up short and every eye widened in the few moments it took for the news to sink in. The sudden appearance of Fire Nation tanks could have only one meaning.

Nifong clasped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes.

So this is their play.

"Strength and disposition?" the young captain asked, forcing himself to snap out of his stupor.

"Hundreds, Captain! They've cut the Silk Road and are driving a wedge between Third Cavalry and Sixth Infantry! It's bad, sir – we got no warning from any of the southbound scouts!"

"Any markings?"

Deng knew the answer without knowing how.

"Yes, sir! I… I…," the messenger stuttered, clearly struggling to force the fantastic truth from her lips, "They're marked Fifth Brigade!"

"Impossible!" the young captain exclaimed, "They were destroyed at Lake Myojin! I saw it!"

Nifong leaned back and exhaled.

"No, Captain, not impossible. Prince Iroh and his friends are here. I underestimated him."

Finally, he thought with a strange mixture of chagrin and satisfaction, a Fire Nation general worthy of the name

Nifong picked up his helmet and remembered for the last time the beautiful fortuneteller he had left behind. Pushing thoughts of the woman he loved from his mind he turned to his adjutant as he strapped on his gear.

"The armor is a delaying tactic only," he continued, "We must disable them and move on as fast as possible. Distribute orders to all commands. Instruct them to aim for their treads and leave them in the dust! This is the battle, Captain, here and now."

Still, he thought, even if I lose Jenju as well, they will be exhausted and we will still have greater numbers… this is the test, please, Spirit of the Earth, give us the strength to prevail…

They mounted their steeds and raced west to face Prince Iroh and his resurgent Army of the Great Divide.