"I think we found it," Korra whispered as they were at the top of a ravine, crouched on the ground as to stay as low as possible. Below them, there were people milling about, mules with assorted cargo being unloaded in a wide flat space beyond the end of it, and campfires burning at the mouths of two caves towards the inside of the ravine that led up to it.

Jinora had not returned that morning, so after waiting for almost two hours after breakfast they decided that they needed to move on. Korra understood why Jinora had gone away - executing people was a complete antithesis to the Air Nomad lifestyle and teachings. Korra could respect that, but she also knew that sometimes you had to get rid of the troublemaker for the good of the tribe.

Still, the fact that she had killed twenty two people in cold blood lingered in the back of her mind as they were taking in the camp.

"We could probably wreck the place," Bolin said as he pointed towards the caves. "Cave in the entrances to keep them from flooding out, beat up everyone who tries to stop us, the rest will run."

"We don't want them to though," Mako retorted as Korra pulled out her spyglass and looked closer, taking a rough count.

"He's right," she said as she was still counting. "There's too many here to take on if some of us stay back to keep them in, and throwing up a barrier won't work either since they'll just climb over it. We need to tell Count Matheas what we found. There's one entrance below us, can you guys see any others?"

"Not that I can see," Asami said. "The caves maybe, but if those lead out of the mountains there's nothing we can do to completely plug it up, especially if they have any earthbenders. But that little valley? It's a perfect bowl, they won't have a way out that way."

Korra nodded and gestured for them to move back, taking note of where the sentries seemed to be before moving back herself. Once they were out of view and on the slope that had led up to that vantage point, they made their way back through the rough mountainside to where Naga and Minty had been left.

"So what do we tell him?" Asami asked as they climbed up and Pabu hopped off of Naga's head to get back on Bolin's shoulders.

"We tell him what we found and that we need some troops to secure the entrance and make sure no one slips out," Mako said as he untied Minty. "Shouldn't need too many to actually block if off if they have some decent riot shields. Then we can sweep the caves and make sure there's no exit there."

"And tear them up," Asami finished, putting a hand on her sword's sheath. "Or just scare them into doing a breakout right into a prepared line."

Korra shrugged as she reached for the map and handed it to Asami. "Mark down where we are, we can show it to the count."

As Asami did that, Korra looked to the sky, wondering where Jinora was. She didn't get hurt, did she? Korra wondered.

"So, anyone worried about Jinora?" Bolin asked.

"A little," Mako admitted. "But she takes that Air Nomad stuff seriously. I think she just needs time to come to grips with it."

"You know I'm not entirely gripped either…" the earthbender muttered.

"We shouldn't have had to do that," Korra sighed, gritting her teeth. "But we didn't have a choice, not if we didn't want to take responsibility for them doing something worse later. Though really giving these guys to the prisons isn't much better. We're still sending them to die, we just aren't the ones actually taking their lives."

"Maybe," Asami said, "but at least then there's the appearance of justice, you know? It probably isn't much of a trial, but it's not a vigilante execution either."

"It's not like we were doing it to innocent people," Mako added as he looked at his brother. "We basically caught them red handed. And well, since we're working for a Rhodok official in this we pretty much were given the authority. He told us that we were free to do what we wanted."

"I know, but…"

"Bolin, all you did was expand the grave. Don't worry about it," Korra ordered as she softened her voice. "It was my choice, and I'll deal with the consequences."

The earthbender simply nodded as they made their way east.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When they arrived in Velcua, they learned that Shariz had just fallen to the Rhodoks and the Rhodok lords were returning to tend to their lands. Matheas had agreed that they needed some troops, but his own forces were going to secure their new conquest. Instead, he sent word to Jelkala to the south and told them to be there the next morning.

After eating breakfast in Jelkala's tavern, a herald arrived and informed them that the Rhodok king, Graveth, had agreed with Matheas' assessment and had a unit ready for them to lead. The four went to meet them with their equipment on, both to be ready quickly and because they were going to be in a training yard to meet them. The building was empty for the most part save for a few guards at the doors, but the yard itself had a drill going on.

Twenty men with six meter long spears were in a tight formation three rows deep and about six men wide, steadily moving forward and thrusting their polearms the whole way as a sergeant was shouting at them. Six men with crossbows were nearby, firing at practice targets from behind large shields deployed in front of them and reloading their weapons behind them.

"Tight bunch," Korra remarked.

"Probably regulars," Asami offered as she was looking at the crossbowmen. "Nice trick with the shields."

"Yeah, but it's not going to stop boulders," Korra retorted as they approached the sergeant leading the group.

The sergeant wore mail armor with a green tunic over it, and a massive crossbow was hanging on his back. He turned, giving Korra brief look at his face. He was a plain looking man, definitely twice her age at least, and seemed to have a faint perpetual frown.

"Men, halt!" the sergeant called. After a few seconds, the soldiers had stopped their drill. "Pikes, left face! Crossbows, about face!" They all turned, now facing them. "Present arms!"

Korra blinked as they all held their weapons upright and the sergeant took a step forward and bowed, the other soldiers following suit.

"Milady," the sergeant said to her as he looked down. "Sergeant Bunduk, in retinue service to King Graveth. We've been assigned to help you with the bandit problem."

I'm getting really sick of this, Korra thought with a sigh. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up. "You don't need to bow to me, Sergeant. And you don't need to call me 'Lady' either."

Bunduk blinked, looking at her before smiling and nodding. "Aye, Korra."

"You've been told about the camp?" Mako asked.

"Aye, though I'm afraid my briefing only introduced me to L- ah, Korra here."

"My name's Mako," the firebender said.

"Asami," she supplied as she offered a hand to the Rhodok sergeant, and he shook.

"Bolin," the earthbender said as he glanced around. "Hey, you have any of those earthshapers in your group? Might be able to show them a thing or two."

Bunduk raised an eyebrow. "No, no benders in our ranks."

Korra nodded. "So what exactly were you told?"

"I was briefed that our task is to clear out a bandit lair. Our job will be to pin them in while you clear it out. His Majesty also mentioned your blue blood."

"Of course he did," Korra growled. "I'm getting a little sick of having to explain that I don't care about it..."

The Rhodok sergeant tilted his head as his men started to mutter amongst themselves. "Well… er, this isn't what I expected at all to be honest, ma'am. Have you commanded troops before?"

"Military command?" She shook her head. "No, the closest I've done to that is working with a task force on something similar to this. I'm planning on letting you lead your men anyways, you actually know how they fight."

Sighing in relief, Bunduk nodded. "Thank you, that's a big relief. But I can tell you what you need to know since this is your mission."

"So the king's just giving us these guys?" Bolin asked as he looked over the young troops. "He's not worried?"

"Why should he? Twenty pikes and six crossbows aren't going to take a castle and those bandits are a real thorn in our war effort," the sergeant explained as he shrugged. "But picking the minds of blue bloods isn't something I like doing. We've got our orders, to support you in clearing out the bandit lair, and we'll do just that."

"We won't ask you to do any more," Asami explained as she looked them over. "Though we were hoping for some more shields…"

The pikemen started to groan and Korra heard one of them loudly complain "Why can't she carry it?!"

Bunduk turned sharply. "Men, if we need the shields we'll use the shields! You've marched with them before!" The pikemen snapped to attention at the short lecture and then Bunduk turned back.

"Something wrong?" Korra asked.

"Well... " Bunduk turned. "Carlini, give her your pavise. Derek, hand her your pike."

A crossbowman and a pikeman left the formations and walked towards her, the crossbowman giving her his large rectangular shield which Korra held in her left hand, and the other handed her the long pike. Once she had both in hand she tried to lower the pike and found that her balance was off, stepping to the side from the momentum as the pike head came down with nothing on the other end as a counterweight. Nodding as she stopped, Korra returned the gear to their owners.

"Okay… are you guys sure you don't need the extra protection? Some of the bandits have bows."

"If you want shields we'll bring shields," Bunduk repeated. "It's just… well, it's hard to use them both at the same time. Impossible, really, and it's a pain to carry too."

Korra nodded. "How many shields do you need, maybe we can lug them over for you?"

The pikemen started whispering amongst themselves again as Bunduk rubbed his chin. "How wide a pike line do you need?"

"Depends on where you set up, the ravine is narrow at a couple points."

"Alright. Thank you, but I think we'll be able to make due with just the crossbow pavises. They carry them anyways and they can set them up in the front if we need them." He turned towards the soldiers. "Pikes, right face!" The pikes turned back. "Pikes, brace!"

The front row crouched, pointing their pikes forward and sticking the wooden back end against their feet. The men behind them lowered them until they were almost holding them horizontally over the heads of their fellows or navigated them between the men in front.

"This'll be what we'll use to hold," he explained. "Simple pike block; small but it still shoves at least three pikes in the face of anyone who comes close. If we had more men I'd have at least another row in the charge position and the rest in port, but it'll hold."

"Anything we should know when we go over the plan?" Korra asked.

"Just keep their backs clear - they can't turn easily and that's when they're doing it as a group. Six meter pikes and all, though the crossbows should be enough for what we're doing." He gestured to them. "Crossbows, get into shot positions!"

The crossbowmen moved over and took up a position behind the pikemen.

"Pikes, crouch! Crossbows, aim!" The back two ranks lowered themselves and put their pikes in an upward face like the first row while the crossbowmen aimed over.

"Fire!" The six crossbowmen discharged their bolts downrange. As soon as the volley ended, the back two rows of pikes rose back up.

"Why not stay down?" Bolin asked.

"The back row can't quite attack while on their knees, so if someone's coming in their best bet is to stand. Especially if it's Swadian foot being sent to die so their puffed up knights can ride around and steal all the credit. That, and the crossbowmen are exposed while reloading," he added as they were hooking their crossbows to a claw mounted on their belts to pull the strings back.

Korra nodded. "What about you?"

Bunduk smiled and pulled his crossbow over his shoulder. Unlike the ones the other Rhodoks were using, the bow part of his was made of steel. "Ol' Betsy is one of the finest siege crossbows ever built, and in the hands of a skilled Sharpshooter it can take a noble right off his horse and get through his mail or plate or whatever fancy armor he wears. We'll be able to take care of ourselves," he added as he tapped a pick hooked to his belt, "so you just worry about wrecking the bandits."

"Grab whatever you need, Sergeant, we need to pick up some extra gear but after that we'll head out when you're ready."

XXXXX

In the early hours of the next morning, the bandits were asleep and resting easy, believing that if the adventurers tried to approach with the soldiers their lookouts would spot them. Even with the morning fog, pikemen would surely make enough noise that they'd be able to do something about it.

Big mistake, Bolin thought as the four crept down from the sentry posts. They had snuck up on the outlaw sentries and trapped them, pinning them to the ground with earthbending and muffling them long enough to restrain them and then added a makeshift earthen gag to keep them quiet as they moved forward. Bunduk's men had seen the signal (a fireball) and were coming up behind them, closing in on the pass.

Which meant that now it was time to stir up the buzzard wasps. Bolin had to wonder: was this how it felt for Mako when he was on a bust for Lin and the rest of Republic City's police department? The tight feeling in his stomach as he worried about being spotted, fear of a hidden bender waiting to pick them off? He had been on the other end of a bust like this when the Equalists hit the Triad headquarters, but he had never been the one doing the busting.

They climbed down the ravine quickly, using earthbending and the natural grips on the side of it to make their way down. As Asami landed, her mail rustled and one of the bandits snoozing by a burnt out campfire at the first cave woke with a start.

"Freelancers!" he shouted, "We're under attack! There's freelancers in the-" a fireball cut him off and Mako followed through with several more into the cave, illuminating others in the cave and they were now shouting too. The camp quickly became a confused cacophony, just the sort of mess that allowed a small team to win against bigger odds.

Bolin grinned as he dropped his foot down, kicking up a chunk of rock and he shot it towards one of the bandits coming at them with a large fur covered shield. The boulder hit the top of the shield and it went through, hitting the bandit in the head and broke the shield. Others were closing in, but the benders kept most of them back and the few that got close were easy enough for any of them to take out.

"Watch out!" Bolin shouted as he threw up a stone wall, stopping a volley of rocks, arrows, and thrown spears.

"Thanks," Korra said as she looked up and then shot fireballs at the attackers. As she did Bolin turned towards a pair of bandits with large hammers held overhead and coming for them. Glancing at the uneven ground below them, he smirked and shot his left arm forward, bringing up a piece of the ground below him and knocking him back. He followed up with his right and stepped forward, bringing up another into the second. As the two bandits stumbled, he kicked forward and the two bits of ground shot into them and knocked them clean out.

"Bolin!"

The earthbender turned in time to see a bandit taking a swing with a mace and it caught him in the chest. Grunting and losing his breath from the hit, he staggered back as Asami threw a bola and entangled him, the mace dropping to the ground and the bandit falling on it.

"Thanks!" he answered as he caught his breath and pushed himself up.

"Pikes to charge!"

He glanced back and saw that Bunduk and his pikemen had made it and their pikes were lowered, pointed forward as they advanced into the gap.

"Oh fuck fuck fuck!" one of the bandits shouted as he saw the pikes. "Fall back! Fall back! They've cut off the escape!"

Bolin glanced to Korra, who was grinning as she slammed another bandit into the ground. "Good timing Bunduk! We'll clear out the rest of the camp!"

"Good luck!" the Rhodok Sharpshooter said as he fired his crossbow at one of the bandits that had climbed onto the top of a nearby cave mouth, hitting the man in the stomach and he fell into the valley as the bandits were trying to regroup deeper in the valley. But they were still confused and some of them were still trying to get out of the caves, put on armor, or had even ran out without a weapon and were desperately groping for one.

The four moved forward and split into two teams - Korra and Asami heading into the first cave while Mako and Bolin cleared out the second. As they charged inside several men without shirts and with assorted clubs were charging them. Grinning, Bolin raised his arms as he could feel the earth above them and pulled down, dropping a rain of pebbles down as he broke the outer layer of the cave roof. The looters shouted as they were hit in the head, and soon found themselves knocked out as the two brothers took advantage of the distraction to close in.

Mako shot another fireball deeper into the cave, illuminating more of it as a bandit with a large hammer was trying to creep towards them. "Careful!" Mako warned as he attacked again as the bandit realized he was found and charged.

"I know!" the earthbender retorted as he turned as a bandit leapt out from behind a rock with a large falchion. Bolin moved his foot forward and a rock jutted out with enough force to knock the man back and the falchion clattered against the ground.

There were not many more bandits hiding inside and as soon as they were all unconscious or dead the two brothers hurried out.

"Ugh," Bolin groaned, wincing as he saw the bandits who had been sleeping in the open desperately charging the pikemen, crawling over their own dead and dying as the bodies were starting to pile up in front of the pikemen. The Rhodok soldiers were holding firm, killing anyone who was closing in and had put themselves in front of the footholds the freelancers had used to get down. A few bandits tried to climb up the rock walls instead, but found crossbow bolts hitting them. Sometimes fatally like one that Bunduk shot in the head, other times non-fatally, but a metal bolt to any part of the body still caused a reaction. And when trying to climb a cliff face without proper rock climbing gear, any reaction would be problematic.

A hand grabbed Bolin and shoved him down. "Hey what are... " a fireball shot over their heads as Mako looked up and fired back, hitting a bandit and knocking him into a post where a mule with an arrow sticking out of its hind quarters was trying to break free. As the firebending bandit slid into it, the post broke free and the mule went berserk into the valley.

"Well this is a mess," Mako muttered as the two brothers moved into the ravine to hit the bandits out of range of the crossbows trying to climb out of the almost vertical cliff faces.

"Yeah, it is… earthbender!" he warned as he saw one bandit making footholds for himself. Bolin glanced at a nearby rock, raised it with earthbending, then launched it towards the escaping bandit. The boulder broke into smaller pieces (some of which fell on other bandits trying to make an escape) and dust obscured the poor man who had been hit. He fell with a sickening crunch later.

That's a horrible way to go, Bolin thought as he realized he had probably just killed the brigand. Whatever look at the morality of the decision was cut off when spear flew over his head and he threw up an earthen barrier, catching another one as one of the bandits was starting to throw javelins at them.

"Where's Korra and Asami?" Mako asked as he returned fire at the outlaws who had grabbed javelins.

XXXXX

"One's getting away in the back!" Asami warned as she threw off the latest bandit who had tried to kill her, a man with a shirt, underwear, and a butcher's knife but little else save for a new and gaping chest wound. Giving the sword a flick to get rid of some of the blood, Asami ran towards the back as a bandit ducked behind a boulder he had shoved to the side.

"Asami, wait!" Korra called as Asami ran past the boulder, sword at the ready to stab anyone who jumped out. No one was there, but she saw a hole that had been hidden and crouched to better fit, keeping the sword at the ready as she followed the bandit.

The passage led to a basin where there was a small waterfall at the end of a stream that looked like it fed into an underground reservoir of some sorts. The bandit had managed to run down along a path roughly carved into the side of the lair. Asami took a moment to glance down and guessed it was at least a three story drop down.

Grabbing a bola from her belt, she started to spin it up as she moved down the path and launched it. The man saw it and turned, sweeping his arms in front of him. A gust of wind blew the bola off course, then with a groan the bandit send another and larger burst that hit Asami before she could react.

Grunting, she hit her head against the rock wall and stumbled, losing her footing.

"Asami!" Korra shouted as the ex-CEO fell. Asami threw her free hand up, trying to reach as Korra tried to grab her, but they just missed as Asami's hand closed. As she realized they had missed, Asami threw the sword to the side and Korra leapt off the cliff, diving after her and grabbing her by the waist.

"What're you doing?!" Asami shouted in horror as Korra's free hand spun, slowing their descent until they reached the bottom almost completely stopped. They landed, entangled with each other in the water below but unharmed as they pushed themselves back up.

"Korra, how…?" she asked, staring as Korra shrugged.

"Not sure," she admitted as she offered a hand and pulled her up. "Now let's get him!"

Asami nodded and the two ran along the passage, catching the bandit as he was trying to climb up a dead end. He was almost at the top of the wall, at least five meters high.

"No you don't!" Korra shouted, hitting him with a gust of air that slammed him into the wall and cost him his footing, then followed it up with a whirling gust that caught the bandit and slowed his fall as he spun. Asami ran up and tackled him, pinning him against the ground.

Dazed, the bandit's head was simply spinning and Asami nodded to herself, removing her weight and flipping him over to hold his hands together as Korra walked up and used some water from her waterskin for makeshift cuffs.

"Go grab your gear, then let's seal the passage," Korra said as she took him.

Once she had recovered the used bola and her sword, the two made their way back with their captive in tow, Asami taking custody as Korra sealed the passage behind them with earthbending.

As they came out of the cave they found that a bunch of bandits were holding their hands in the air with palms visible while Bunduk's pikemen had their polearms pointed towards them, the crossbowmen keeping watch as Mako and Bolin were dragging others from their cave who were likewise dejected.

"Here's an airbending one," Korra said as she and Asami brought their captive up up and tossed him in with the rest. "He's not too strong, but he still had enough to knock Asami into a wall. How many of your men were injured, Sergeant?"

"Nothing more than a few bruises or minor cuts, they're cleaning them now," Bunduk explained as he was pointing Ol Betsy - primed but unloaded - towards the ground. He gestured with his head towards two pikemen who had lifted up their mail and the gambesons beneath, wiping their wounds with rags soaked in a water bucket.

"Alright, but if they get infected tell me immediately so I can take care of it."

"A warrior and a surgeon, huh?" Bunduk commented before shrugging and pointing to the bandits. "So what do we do with them? The prisoners are yours; should we take them to Yalen?"

Korra shook her head. "Yalen's jails are probably full of looters since as far as I know that Count Gutlans is still abroad. Why don't we march them to Veluca or Jelkala, whichever you think would be safer."

"You sure?" he asked, tilting his head.

"What, is there a problem?" Asami asked as she folded her arms. Don't tell me he wants to kill them, she hoped.

"No, I'm just a little surprised. There's a ransom broker in Yalen right now and a lot of adventurers sell to them, or just kill people and leave them to rot."

"We're not like most adventurers then," Korra said firmly as she looked at the group. "We picked up some extra rope in Jelkala, and with your men we should easily be able to keep them under control. Besides, from what I understand it's supposed to be your lords handing out the sentences. Might as well give them a chance to plead before justice gets handed out."

The Rhodok Sharpshooter snorted. "Kings only open their courts to the nobility to let them argue for clemency. They never let us commoners do it. Chances are their chance to plead will be His Majesty sentencing them and moving along."

"No trials?" Asami asked with a frown as she remembered how quickly Nealcha had set up his execution.

"Oh there's trials, but for bandits? Most of the time they don't even bother with the pretense and either sell them as slaves or just string them up as a warning." Bunduk shook his head. "They still do it for minor stuff, but outright banditry usually just sees nooses."

"I'd rather bother with the pretense even if that's all it is," Korra responded. "Mako, Bolin, help Bunduk's men keep the bandits here. We'll go get Naga and the horses."

"No problem," Mako answered as he was dragging another knocked out bandit to the pile.

As they walked back towards where they had tied up the baggage horses, Bunduk looked up, loaded, and aimed his crossbow at the ridge. "We've got something above!"

Asami looked up. "Hold your fire!" she ordered as she grabbed his crossbow by the shaft and pointed it to the ground.

After Bunduk lowered his crossbow, a head poked out from behind the ridge before coming out. The girl it belonged to dropped down, landing gracefully with the wind blowing away from her landing.

Korra grinned widely after a moment and Asami felt the tension leaving her body too as she recognized who had come out.

"Jinora!" Korra shouted as she ran over, hugging the young girl as Furry-Foot slowly floated down.

"What in Calradia is…"

"Dragonfly Bunny Spirit," Asami supplied to the dumbfounded Rhodok, shaking her head as she smiled.

Not that Korra seemed to be paying attention to the Rhodok's reaction as she released Jinora and held her in front. "Hey, Jinora, my airbending's back…"

"I know," she explained as she looked away. "I've been following you since you left Jelkala."

"Why didn't you come down?" Asami asked as she walked over. Bunduk remained behind them, looking towards the other rocks on the top of the ravine.

"I wasn't sure," Jinora admitted as she kept her gaze averted. "I know, silly of me, but I didn't know if you guys had really just made what you thought was the best choice or if you really let this violence get to you."

"And now?" Korra asked.

The air bender looked back at her. "The Air Nomads understand the value of life, but that didn't stop the ones who were Avatars from doing what they had to do for the world. Avatar Yangchen was an Air Nomad, but she made choices a lot like yours that kept the peace and made it so Avatar Kuruk didn't have many duties."

"So, you still want to stick with us, or do you think it'd be better to head to one of those oases?" Korra asked as Asami glanced at Bunduk who was now tilting his head towards them as if they were speaking nonsense.

"I'll stay with you. You might have to do things I don't agree with, but I'm your guide on spiritual matters. I won't take any part in it and I won't let it go without arguing, but…"

"... you'll call me out if I jump too far," Korra finished as she nodded. "Thanks Jinora, it means a lot."

"Avatar? Air Nomads? Spirits?" Bunduk finally asked as he walked over.

"It's a long story," Korra explained. "And you might want to sit down for it."

He shrugged. "I'll just put it under 'strange foreign ways' and leave it at that. But even by that standard this is strange..."

Asami chuckled. "Yeah, a lot of things do if you don't have the context."

XXXXX

It took them two days to get to Jelkala again - the rest of the day after taking out the camp was mostly spent cleaning up the corpses and burying them, gathering up the loot to load it onto the mules and horses the bandits had in their camp, tying the surviving bandits to said animals, and marching out. They made camp in the wilderness that night, Korra and Bolin making some simple earthen ramparts for them and they all traded off watch duty so they all got some sleep.

The next morning they broke it down and reached Jelkala, transferring both the prisoners and the recovered goods. Despite that, much of it couldn't have their owners identified so they sold most of it (there wasn't much that the individual troops wanted besides to sell), split the money, and made ready to leave the city.

The reason for leaving that when they went to talk to King Graveth, they found out that he had left the city again in order to shore up Shariz and to establish his own control there as he was claiming the Sarranid capital for himself, and due to this would not be returning for at least a week. So they made ready to travel eastwards, back to Shariz. Bunduk and his men joined them as they needed to rejoin Graveth's retinue now that their orders were complete.

"At least we won't be hitting the desert this time," Korra said as they were approaching the village of Jamiche late in the afternoon. "We've only got four sets of Sarranid fatigues."

"Probably best that you don't wear those, but I'm sure the boys appreciate staying out of that sandbox," Bunduk answered, the nearby soldiers voicing their agreement. The Rhodok troops were trading off who was riding on the outlaws' former mounts, ones with no identifying brands or anything like some of them had. They only had a dozen of them, so they rotated who rode and who led it on.

"By the way," he added, "that was mighty generous of you back in Jelkala."

"What do you mean?" Korra asked as she frowned.

"Most of the time if every soldier gets one share, the commander gets ten. You split it all equally between us."

Korra shrugged. "Never really been a freelancer before, besides we've got more than enough."

"For an army?" the Rhodok shook his head. "Probably not. A lot of adventurers try to build an company and usually without as much money as you have. You'd probably do pretty well if you were smart with your outfitting."

"What do you mean?" Asami asked as she frowned.

"Adventurers without any spending money are out of luck, but if they've got oh, a thousand denars they can usually get enough spears or hunting bows to outfit a dozen people. Usually they'll hire the extra layabouts that aren't able to find work, can't get land, or were passed over to be recruited for a retinue. They're desperate for work, adventure, or want to get away from their mother's lectures so they join cheaply. And if the adventurers hit the right villages they'll pick up those who already have a spear or a bow for hunting, making it even cheaper."

Korra nodded. "And those who really have the money to burn try to outfit them properly?"

"As do the nobles who like war or are building their retinues." Bunduk shrugged. "Still, you've gathered quite a bit of money. If I can ask, what're you lot looking for in Calradia once you've talked to the Count? You probably have enough to start building a decent army if you kept your purchases to basic gear and looted the rest."

"I don't think we need an army," Korra retorted. "Though considering the last few days…"

"What?" Asami asked pointedly as she trailed off.

"Nothing," Korra hastily added to deflect the question. "Just thinking…"

They were interrupted when a rider driving his pony as fast as it could run was coming up the road. The rider was a ragged man wearing beaten leather and a hood, and as he saw them he rode to them and stopped in front of the group.

"My lady, please!" he begged as they came to a halt, "There's Sarranid troops coming towards our village! It's Emir Ayyam!"

"Ayyam?!" Bunduk asked, guiding his horse up next to them. "Not good."

"You know him?" Korra asked as Jinora came back down from where she had been flying with her glider, though she remained silent.

"Heard of him. He was beaten trying to stop us from retaking Jamiche Castle and both his levies and retinues were mauled," the Sharpshooter explained. "He must've grabbed a bunch of young men from the villages to replace that army."

"Is he one of the ones that try to burn down villages?" Asami asked as she was reaching over for the sword. Mako and Bolin were looking at each other as they moved closer on Minty.

"Very," the Rhodok sergeant answered. "Or at the very least he likes burning down Rhodok villages - he really hates us as a people and he happily reaped Saren when it surrendered, burning it to the ground and taking those he could prisoner. And considering how recently he was ransomed, he's probably looking to burn down Jamiche to recoup his losses."

"Let's go," Korra said. "We can stop that."

Bunduk smiled as they moved on while the rider continued to the castle.

The grass quickly changed from the green pastures of the Rhodok slopes to shorter and more yellow grass befitting a region near a desert. The village center was located within a set of hills, with most of the structures built to provide cover to the southeast while it was most open in the north, a freshly plowed field on each side of the road. To the east Korra could see rocky hills with a few passes, and hear the sound of marching troops beyond them.

In the village center men were gathering, many armed with spears or crossbows but also women and children who were huddling together and packing wagons.

"They're getting ready to leave," Korra observed as they were riding in.

"That's going to make things problematic," Bunduk explained. "There's not enough men to defend the village and escort them out, or even do one of those."

"So intercept the raid?" Mako asked.

"Let's talk to the elder first," Bunduk said, then turned to his troops. "Meet us in the village, we'll go on ahead."

Picking up the pace and leaving the Rhodok troops behind, the crowd parted and some shrieked in fear as Korra guided Naga through the crowd. Mules and ponies hitched to carts tried to pull but had to be reined in by their owners as they loudly tried to move away from the polar bear dog.

"What in the heavens is that abomination?!" the village elder demanded as he marched down his house's stairs to greet them. "And who are you?"

"My name's Korra," she supplied as they stopped at the center. "The Rhodok is Sergeant Bunduk from King Graveth's retinue. We heard about the Sarranids and we're here to help."

"You brought a monster to help us?" the elder asked, staring at Bunduk.

"Relax," the Sharpshooter retorted as he dismounted and started to string up his crossbow. "She's honest, a noble who doesn't feel the need to lord it over us. They're also some of the best benders Calradia has seen."

"Bah," the elder snorted. "I'd sooner trust free Rhodok pikes than some witches, but I'm in no position to turn away help."

"Can you stop this evacuation at least? There isn't enough men to cover both," Korra said as she climbed off of Naga, Asami right behind her. The polar bear dog settled down on the ground as she did.

"I'm not going to stop people from getting out of here," the elder snorted as he moved on to tend to the evacuating civilians.

Korra turned towards a few of the militia who were looking at her, heads tilted but all of them with wide eyes and some were shaking. They need leadership, she realized as her mind flashed back to Jayek; the young boys who weren't even considered ready for joining their local levy but were still expected to hold their village against attackers. And they didn't have any older men amongst them to give them at least some leadership.

"Orders, milady?" one of them asked, a young man with a growing beard clutching his spear and board shield tightly. She blinked, glancing at Bunduk. The Rhodok nodded.

Taking a breath to steady herself, Korra looked at the militia. "Alright I need to see what we have. Spearmen to my left, crossbows to the right!"

They separated themselves and taking a quick headcount she noticed that they had just under thirty spearmen - though some had scythes or weird bill hooks rather than spears - and almost twenty crossbowmen. Most of them had shields but they were all older and some looked broken, and she saw cracks in some of their weapons or they were bent at an odd angle.

"Bunduk," she asked, "we need to marry Rhodok formations with bending. What would you do?"

"With just Rhodok troops? Stuff the buildings with crossbowmen and block off the entrances with the militia as a start, and try to draw them into pike range. But this really isn't a good place to defend," the Rhodok explained as he finished stringing Ol' Betsy. "The other alternative is to attack, but the Sarranids are very good skirmishers and would be able to wear us down even if we had a schiltron."

"Schiltron?" Asami asked.

"Circular formations, pikes out on every side. But the militia probably won't be able to move like that and it's dense enough that there's no room for the crossbows."

"What about that Grunwalder Square?" Bolin asked. "I've heard it mentioned a few times."

"Not enough men to make it effective and we'll just get swarmed by the levy spears. So, what about bending?"

"We could earthbend some fortifications quickly, but if they cover your pikemen they won't be able to march forward unless we drop them later. Mako could probably use his lightning, though. You said the levies were fresh, right?"

"They probably are; not sure how Ayyam would be able to muster a large army quick enough if he didn't. Mercs are too expensive."

Mako smiled faintly. "Then they'll be in for a rude surprise."

"A rout? That might be our best chance," Bunduk said as he nodded. "But we also have to contend with the skirmishers."

"Jinora and I can handle them," Korra said as she looked to the airbender. "So, how many men do we need to cover each side?"

Bunduk paused. "Depends on if Ayyam decides to try and deal with us in a fight or outrun us. He'll respond to our deployment, but he needs to get past us somehow and he knows that Rhodok troops can redeploy."

"Yeah, but how long do you need?" Asami asked. "You said yourself that they need time."

"Not as much time as most assume," he answered as he looked both ways, then pointed to the east. "See that hill? I think we can focus the battle there. He tries to come in from the north, he'll get pinned in between the two buildings and give us time to shift. The west is too uneven for us, but if he came that way we'd have even more time to redeploy since he's coming from the east."

Korra nodded as she heard a horn. "Okay, put half the militia crossbows in the buildings with Mako and Asami. Take the rest of the crossbows with Jinora and set up on that hill to the east. Put the pikemen in between the groups in whatever formation you think works best and have the militia fill in the gaps. Bolin, earthbend a barricade on any northern doors and this alley," she pointed to the one that led between the buildings. "We'll draw them east if we can. Any questions?"

"Can't we talk to this 'Emir' first?" Jinora asked, looking between them. "Maybe he won't attack if he sees that the place is defended."

"Parlay is custom before battle," Bunduk offered "At least, it is when we're dealing with nobility…"

"If he even recognizes me as noble," Korra warned. "I don't know all the ins and outs, but they'll probably wonder where my banner is."

"I thought the moon pattern on your chest…"

"It's not…" she stopped herself with a sigh. "Alright, I'll try to parlay first, but if he's here to raid he might not back off."

Jinora sighed. "I know. But at least try."

"I will," she said. They nodded to each other and set to work, Bolin earthbending his barricades, Asami drawing her crossbow and splitting half of the militia crossbows (mostly the ones without shields) into each house, Bunduk taking the rest of them to the east, and Korra rode out to meet the Sarranid force.

As she rode out she saw the banner carried by one of the soldiers - a blue banner with a ship and a sword behind it. Korra had to fight down her pity - the whole force was wearing clothes not too different from the desert fatigues they had bought before and many of their shields looked to be hastily put together or old. The spearmen in particular looked vulnerable and exposed compared to Bunduk's trained force or Shariz's guards, and the other troops were not much better whether they were archers, javelineers, or horsemen.

But that same pity vanished into fear as she saw just how many there were. At least a hundred men, their spearmen - just over half of the army - was enough to outnumber the milita. The rest of it was rounded out with a little over fifteen archers and about twenty five men carrying satchels of javelins, as well as a dozen horsemen. Three of them caught Korra's eye with their horses encased under scale armor and wearing full suits of mail, compared to the others where only a few of the horsemen even seemed to have a loose mail shirt.

That's Ayyam, she decided as the Sarranid horns sounded again and the formation stopped, organizing itself into lines with the archers out front, javelineers in front of them in a very loose formation to screen, the spearmen forming up behind, and all the horsemen to her left. One of the horsemen rode up towards her, though the horse tried to move away a few times and he had to rein it in.

As he finally got his horse to reach her halfway between the armies, she looked at Emir Ayyam as he removed his helmet. His hair was a similar dark brown to her own and immaculately combed, but his beard had grown, eerily reminding her of Nealcha as she guessed he hadn't shaved today.

"Who dares obstruct our righteous cause?" the Sarranid nobleman demanded.

"Korra," she supplied. "Avatar Korra. And I'd suggest that you take your army and get out of here without touching a single villager."

He nodded slowly. "I am Emir Ayyam, vassal of Sultan Hakim and lord of Tamnuh. False titles do not scare me. So, what brings a girl like you to the Rhodok battlefield - have they run out of brave men that they must send foreign women to do their dirty work?"

"Nah, I'm just helping them with a bandit problem. But I'm happy to stop warlords trying to butcher innocent people."

"In most cases I would agree, but the Rhodoks have been a stain on Calradia for too long."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I know that kind of rhetoric. Let me warn you, that ended badly for the last person who tried it where I came from."

"Very well then. I'll spare you the beating your husband would give you for nicking his armor and warbeast, and give you the honorable death in battle you must be looking for to risk that."

"I'm not married," she snorted, turning away.

Heading back to the hill, Korra saw the formation that Bunduk's men were in. The crossbows were on the hill with Jinora, their shields deployed in a line and the crossbowmen were hiding behind them. The dip between the hill and town had the pikemen in a double row with the militia to their sides and behind them, waiting. She saw Bolin in the center of the village, giving her a wave as she reached the crest of the hill and saw Asami looking out one of the windows on that side.

"All set," Bunduk said. "The spears will be ready to respond, but I'm worried. The pikes are exposed to the skirmishers since we didn't bring extra shields."

"Bolin and I can fix that; we'll put up some ramparts to hide behind," she answered as she dismounted Naga. She held the polar bear dog's face. "Stay here with Jinora," she ordered.

Barking, Korra left the polar bear dog and ran to get Bolin as the Sarranid horns sounded again. The attack had begun.

The horsemen without heavy armor rode forward first, riding towards Bunduk's men while the archers and javelineers split as they advanced. Some went towards the buildings while the rest others approached the pikes and spear militia. As they entered range they began to attack, the horsemen trying to loop around Bunduk's crossbows while the infantry ran closer, throwing javelins or firing bows as they went. Crossbow bolts flew back in retaliation, arrows and javelins sticking into the large shields of the crossbowmen while Korra and Bolin forced up ramparts to cover the pikemen. Korra and Jinora both shot gales towards the projectiles and threw some off target, but others either weren't caught or still fell towards them.

Despite the interference some arrows and javelins found their marks, one pikeman near Korra taking a javelin to the knee and collapsing to the ground as it went straight through while some of the militia were hit in the feet or face. Korra pulled the pikeman under another earthen barricade and Bolin was doing the same for other wounded, but they didn't have time to treat them as the Sarranid light cavalry was still coming in.

Korra hurried up the hill as the horsemen were coming behind the crossbowmen, some with javelins while others were drawing spears. Jinora and Naga reacted, the airbender creating low gusts that tripped horses coming up the hill while Naga roared and went for one of the ones with a lance. The spear hit Naga's left shoulder, but the polar bear dog pushed through and mauled the rider with her free paw, batting him off of his horse with a snarl. A second one tried to hit Naga in the flank but a fireball from Korra set the horse's hair on fire and it panicked… right past Bunduk who shot it in the head with his crossbow, the bolt going through and the horse collapsing. As the rider tried to dust himself off one of the militia crossbowmen shoved a sharpened stake into his head.

As the horsemen withdrew from the contact and the two benders turned towards helping the men on the line, she saw the effect of the return fire. Several Sarranid archers and javelineers were on the ground, bleeding out as the bolts of Bunduk's crossbowmen tore through them. The shields were enough to stop the ones from the militia, but barely and some were unlucky enough to take a bolt to the head. Mako was also firebending from the roof of the northeastern building, staying avoid the projectiles thrown back at him. Without cover, the Sarranid skirmishers were starting to fall back.

Moments later as their fall back became obvious, the Sarranid horns sounded again and their spearmen advanced. As Korra shored up another barrier, she saw Bunduk's crossbowmen rip through a few more of the skirmishers who were falling back towards the east.

"We're falling behind the line!" Bunduk called as the Sarranid advance picked up speed, "Crossbows fall back!"

They don't have time to reload, she realized as she looked towards what had caused Bunduk's men to pull back: Emir Ayyam was leading his cavalry right up towards them with bigger lances lowered and a group of the spearmen were running up behind them. The crossbowmen had no chance if they stayed even if they drew their melee weapons.

"Jinora, Naga, cover the left!" she ordered as they all moved in behind the line. The Sarranid Emir and his bodyguards did not get there in time to catch Bunduk's men, though one of the militia crossbowmen had been slow in falling back and took a lance to the side, spearing him straight through as the lance shattered. As the three heavy Sarranids turned, Korra looked to her right and saw the spearmen were coming in… and on the roof Mako was charging his lightning.

Briefly blinding the whole battlefield, Mako's lightning shot out into the Sarranid spearmen and exploded, scattering the center of their formation as they were closing in on the pikemen holding behind the barricades with pikes leveled.

"What was that?!"

"But there's no clouds!"

"From the roof!"

"He can shoot lightning?!"

"Hold the line damn it, pin those pikes!"

"Witchcraft!"

"Bolin, bring it down!" she ordered as Jinora created a whirlwind towards the Emir, pushing the horses to continue down the hill rather than turning to follow as they recovered from their charge and tried to keep their horses from moving away from Naga..

"Get ready!" Bolin shouted as he and Korra stepped up to the barricade, fists in the air before they pulled it down, Korra finding herself face down on the ground as the makeshift ramparts were flattened.

"PUSH!" Bunduk shouted.

"What the fu-" one of the Sarranid spearmen shouted before being cut off, a pike going through his desert clothing like wet tissue paper and through his torso, cutting off the curse as the pikemen and most of the spearmen moved forward.

Turning away from the bloody work, she saw the three Sarranid heavy cavalry and their spearmen in support were charging in. The cavalry came in first, going right for Korra. She dropped into an earthbending stance throwing up a slab of rock aimed towards the horses. The horses collided head first, the riders falling off either from the impact or Jinora jumping up and blowing them back with a gale that almost took Korra's helmet off. Naga immediately pounded one of the mailed riders as he fell next to Korra, mauling him as he screamed and hand unable to reach his sword.

Ayyam pushed himself off of the ground, grabbing a large double mace from his wounded horse's saddle. He charged forward, but Korra dropped to the side as he swung, then hit him in the back with firebending and blew him head first into the rock. The mace clattered away, but Ayyam pushed himself up again and drew a sword. Korra charged in this time, using a fireball to force him to duck, then as he was coming up she kneed him in the stomach. Ayyam grunted from the blow and swung back wildly.

The slash caught Korra's chest, but her armor blocked the worst of the blow and it only winded her. Ayyam followed up as she had fallen onto her back, drawing a dagger from his belt for his off-hand and tried to stab her in the face with it. She rolled to the side, the dagger landing in the ground and sticking before she kicked towards him and blew him to the side with a blast of fire. The Sarranid groaned as he hit the ground and Korra ran up, brought a chunk of rock out from under her, and dropped it onto his back with a loud crack. As he hit the ground and stopped moving, she took a moment to glance around.

The other heavy cavalryman who had disentangled himself found quickly that while Jinora preferred peace, she was not defenseless. She spun him into a miniature tornado with airbending and flung him to the side, sending him bouncing across the north as he landed with a groan. But as the pikemen were routing the Sarranid troops sent into the front, the ones that had followed the Emir had charged in.

Korra turned as a half dozen of them charged her, the back end of the group that was entangled with the Rhodok militia and retinue crossbows in close quarters. Dropping down and using her hand as a pivot, she spun around, generating a whirlwind as she did so and knocked the spearmen back. A moment later she started to back it up with fireballs, blasting them away and into the other spearmen fighting around them or launching them into the air with earthbending. Shields shattered, spears snapped, and men screamed.

"RETREAT!" one of the Sarranids shouted and the horn echoed again. She saw Ayyam's blue banner in the distance, its carrier running as he was chased by angry spearmen and eventually the man dropped the banner to lose the weight.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Korra watched as the untested Sarranid troops routed, then leaving the battle to Bunduk's leadership she started to tend to the wounded. As she worked to try and stabilize one of the militia who had been overwhelmed by the spearmen charging the flank, she had to wonder.

She and her friends had done a good chunk of the damage, but would they have been able to make it count if they didn't have the support of the Rhodok troops who could capitalize on the opportunity and put on the pressure? Were they enough to do something good for Calradia, or did they need more help to have a genuine effect?

She found herself wrestling with the same questions as she continued to tend to the wounded and night fell over the village.

XXXXX

End Chapter

- With the recent videos released for Bannerlord, I think this is a good time to explain how I'm going to weave it in: since I started this before we had much information on Bannerlord I'm generally going to discard Bannerlord's content and go with my own mostly because we don't know enough for me to reasonably account for it and I already had a plan in mind given the lack of content. That said I'll try to use some of it where I can, such as using Bannerlord's era (200 years prior to Warband) as the estimate for when the Calradic Empire's fall started.

- Bandit Lairs in-game says that if you don't succeed in your initial attack, the bandits will disperse. But you only bring a few people along because that's all you can squeeze into the path into the lair. So I decided to go with the idea that the few who go in are the ones who set up the hold, then once the troops come in and secure the exits it's simply a matter of clean up, which was shown with the Krew going into the caves and clearing out those who remained and Bunduk's men dealing with those trying to break out. If you fail in your attack, the game says that the bandits disperse before the rest of your men get into position.

- As to the Sarranid attack - in my original plan I wanted it to just be one of the little thirty man raids that some lords do to your villages since they hate you despite the geographic difficulties of their attempt. However, I decided to scale it up to be something that Korra did need genuine backup for, morale shocks or no from heavy duty bending.

- This chapter is also the end to what I call the first phase of the story - getting used to Calradia and learning about it. One reason why I didn't have Korra do the 'recruit five men' quest that's the usual in-game start is because it didn't make sense for Korra to just grab five random guys as backup, especially since she starts out far stronger than the normal player character and Korra doesn't have much motivation to build an army right off the bat. Now? Well, she knows more about Calradia and is starting to figure out what she wants to do..