The Highest Bidder
Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Brilliant Feat
For those who know what happened the night that the Avatar was freed from Zhao's fortress, you know what's coming up. For those who don't, well, you'll know now. If you haven't figured out the comparison to the Blue Spirit's talent with broadswords and Zuko's skill with them as well, then I guess I'll just tell you:
Yes, Prince Zuko was the Blue Spirit. And right now, Admiral Zhao is probably rolling around in his watery grave.
When I found Prince Zuko looking at the display broadswords, I thought he was lost in thought. I wasn't too far from this assumption.
"Are you all right?" I asked gently, closing the door behind me.
"No."
"Yeah, that was a stupid question." I said, scratching the back of my head.
"If Zhao has the Avatar, that means he's locked up in the prison tower."
"Walking into the fortress, guarded by Fire Nation soldiers, who work for Zhao, seems a bit risky, don't you think?" I said from behind him, folding my arms. "You're pretty much in deep. Do you think it's wise to be poking your nose where it doesn't belong?"
"I have to free the Avatar. It's the only way I'll win…" Zuko muttered. He turned to look at me defiantly. "Don't try to stop me."
I smiled. He looked a bit puzzled.
"I'm not going to stop you," I said. "But when you do things like this that are a bit—rash—you sort of get yourself into a lot of trouble."
He took a mask from the mantle and showed it to me.
"The moment you show your face—any face—in the fortress, you're dead," I said cautiously, taking the mask from him. "Though," I added, "this would forestall me at any rate. It's kind of frightening."
"Yeah, but in order to get close to the fortress, I need a reason to get in."
I nodded. He looked at me meaningfully.
"I need a favor from you."
"A favor?" I said skeptically. "What kind of favor?"
"I want you to thank Zhao for his gift…which you obviously have put to use as to keeping your pants up," he said awkwardly, pointing to my new belt.
I stared at him incredulously.
"You want me to talk to Admiral Zhao?"
"Just this once," said Zuko. He approached me with the mask in his hands. "Distract his attention from me when I free the Avatar. After the two of us are clear from the fortress, you can come back with me."
"What if you don't come out at all, Zuko? What will I do then?" I asked sadly.
"Leave me behind," said Zuko seriously.
"This is absolutely mad," I muttered, shaking my head.
I paused to consider.
"But," I said loudly, "I do like it when you're the bad guy."
He kissed me briefly, which took me off guard.
"Thank you."
He collected his broadswords from the mantle.
"What?" I said with widened eyes. "You're doing this now?"
"Yes." Zuko said.
He pulled on a black suit and collected his swords on holsters that were strapped around his back. He pulled on black gloves and collected his mask in his hands.
"Don't I have time to pretty up?" I asked.
He gave me a look.
I smiled widely.
"I'm just teasing. Come on."
We snuck out the back hatch of the ship to avoid being seen by Iroh and his band of musicians. As we left the crew behind, I walked in the middle of the road by myself. I could hear Zuko in the forage that flanked either side of me. From the glimpses through the bushes, I saw his blue mask. I had to remind myself several times that it was still Zuko and not some stranger. He was quiet, which gave me reason that he was either no longer with me or he was just standing in the shadows to watch me. I walked only a few more minutes in the silence before I sensed an oncoming carriage. I stepped to the side.
The carriage was Fire Nation. Once they saw me, they halted their Komodo Rhino that led the cargo. The stage coach turned to me with a gentle smile. From behind me, I felt Zuko's hand brush my back. A flash of blue swept from under my feet, and I saw Zuko latch to the underside of the carriage. The stage coach glanced around.
"Commander, are you journeying on your own?" he asked, identifying my uniform.
"Of course," I said easily. "It's a beautiful night, and your admiral sent me a package. I actually am on my way to thank him for it."
By the way he spoke to me; I guessed that he was either a recruit who was assigned to the fortress or somebody who was a rank above him. He treated me like a high-ranked officer, but his tone was more associated to how an officer would speak to a well-respected citizen.
"Well," said the soldier, "I am transporting cargo from the Earth Kingdom to Admiral Zhao's galley. I would be honored to give you a lift. It's much too dangerous to be a high-ranked officer walking around by yourself."
"I'm certain that I could hold my own against a few thieves," I said nonchalantly.
"Of course, of course, but I would be a terrible private not to offer my services."
"Well," I sighed with a smile, "why not. Let me just check under your carriage to make sure that there aren't any thieves hiding under there. It actually happens a lot."
I bent down on one knee. Zuko's mask startled me. The stage coach looked down at me in alarm,
"Commander, do you see someone? Shall I get rid of him for you?"
"No," I said quickly. "I thought I saw…a wolf spider."
I turned to look at Zuko.
"He's giving me a ride to the fortress," I whispered delicately. "Once we're close, you can sneak in. I'll drive their attention away from you when they check the carriage."
"Get in before he suspects," Zuko's voice hissed.
I nodded and mounted the seat beside the stage coach.
He looked at me momentarily.
"If you take a picture," I said with a slight smile, "it'll last longer."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just that…you look like you're too young to be a Commander."
"I get that a lot," I said. "You're a private?"
"Yeah…I mean, yes."
"Ease up," I said lazily, leaning back against the carriage. "I'm not one of those kinds of commanders."
His eyes lingered longer.
"Hey, I know you," he said, suddenly excited. "You're Mura—Commander Mura. Prince Zuko's right hand…"
"Yep," I said simply.
"Well, I've heard some of the stuff that you can do. Admiral Zhao says that you could be very useful during war."
"I bet he does…" I muttered, unable to hide my disdain. "I bet he does."
The private actually had quite a few things that I had done. In fact, he seemed to be as updated as this story. Admiral Zhao apparently can't keep everything to himself. By the time we arrived at the magnificent, and quite impregnable, fortress, I had heard everything about myself. Admiral Zhao didn't just think that I was some pretty bimbo after all. According to the private, he seemed to call me a witch and a goddess at the same time. The only thing that made me one of his semi-enemies was actually my devotion to Prince Zuko. That's sort of the reason why the Fire Nation didn't like me either.
The guards came around the carriage. They inspected the inside, where the cargo was being held. They walked around it a few times. As one started to check the underside, I said quite loudly, with a forced irascible tone,
"Are you nearly finished yet?"
The guard had bent down to look under the wagon, but he stopped to look up at me, straightening.
"Ma'am?"
"You have walked around this wagon six times. I should know; I counted."
"Commander, we're following procedure."
I jumped off the seat and looked at the soldier in the eye.
"I'm a telekinetic, guard. I can sense when somebody is around me. Don't you think that I would have known that someone was stowing away on the carriage when this nice, young fellow offered me a ride?"
"Ma'am, we're only doing what we were ordered to do…"
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"No…No…"
"Then get away from the wagon," I said, "and let us pass."
The guards gave each other uneasy looks.
As they stood back, the guard that I had been bullying ordered that the stage coach had permission to enter through the three gates.
"Don't ever make me repeat myself, Captain. Do you understand?"
He didn't answer.
I got in his face,
"I said, 'Do you understand?'"
"Yes, Ma'am, Commander Mura…"
"Good."
I boarded the coach again. I managed to suppress my laughter as we rode in smoothly. I glanced behind me to see that the Blue Spirit had made his way up a tower during my improvisation. I turned to the private with a wide smile.
"When you get promoted, you'll be able to talk to those guards like I did."
"Why would I do that?" asked the private curiously.
"Because you can," I said simply.
As he let the Komodo Rhino through the last gate, a captain was there to greet us. He looked at me with an obvious, unexpected look on his face.
"I'm here to see Admiral Zhao," I reported.
"Oh, I didn't know that he was expecting visitors."
"He isn't," I said wistfully. "But since he's captured the Avatar, I don't think it'll be a big problem, will it?"
"Oh, no. Of course not. I'll tell him at once. Shall I give you an escort?"
"It's a huge fortress, Captain. I don't think an escort is really necessary."
"As you wish."
I traveled through the fortress, corridor after corridor. As I turned, I stepped directly into someone's way, and bumped right into him.
"Oh!" I said, startled. "My bad…"
"Oh," drawled the deep, familiar voice, "it's actually not too bad."
I looked up to see Zhao.
"Oh!" I said, more surprised.
"Commander Mura, I didn't expect to see you here…at all," his tone dropped suspiciously as he looked around for any more companions. "Is your boyfriend here with you? After all, if we find Prince Zuko on Fire Nation territory, it's a bit illegal for him to enjoy his stay."
"He's not here," I said strongly.
"Really? If he's not here, why are you?"
"Well, that's why I came here."
Turn on the charm, Mura.
I slunk to his side and grabbed his arm. His expressions went from factual to being stunned at my sudden likable disposition. I didn't expect him to trust my infatuated display; however, men were men. He looked at me with some type of misplaced trust.
"Why did you come here, exactly?" he asked.
"I received your gift." I said sweetly.
"Oh?"
"Mhm."
The belt around my waist snaked down my legs and hovered in the air in front of Zhao, whose eyes left my face to look upon my bear balls with a small smile. He was impressed evidently as the meteorite bear balls twisted in the air on my command. They took the shapes of various weapons: sword, axe, mace, chain, nun chunk, and spear. I detached myself from Zhao's arm and held out my hand for the goo to lie in my palm. The goo separated and formed seven solid, black metal balls.
"Well," he said with a wider smile, "that's excellent work. And Prince Zuko didn't object to your coming here?" He gestured for us to walk, so I followed him in the corridor. "You two seemed as thick as thieves the last time I saw you."
"He's a bit of an angry jerk sometimes," I said casually. "I was going to write a thank you note to you and send Red on his way, but he came back. He was tired. So I thought I'd just stop by and thank you in person."
"Hmm. Seems to me like you left without telling your crew where you were going."
"Do you think Zuko would have liked me to tell him that I liked your gift? You need to think a little harder, Admiral."
He gave me a weird smirk.
"You're not at all like I thought you were." Zhao said, hands on hips. We stopped walking.
"Oh, yeah? And what exactly am I like?"
"You've got a smart mouth," he said, nipping the underside of my chin with a finger. "And you've got a temper. But you're really not as stupid as you appear to me."
"Stupid?"
"Well, maybe not stupid. More…aggressive." Zhao said with a lightly flick of his wrist. "During my duel with Zuko, you seemed to be apt to attack me."
"Well, I don't much like being Firebended at," I retorted promptly.
"I can understand that. You don't like to be manhandled either," he noted, indicating the scars on my forehead. "So…how is Prince Zuko taking the news? About his failure to capture the Avatar? Must be absolute heart-breaking."
His lack of sincerity was slowly biting into my nerves that were resided for patience. However, I distilled restraint, and said with a mocking tone of disapproval,
"Well, you think he would simply know that he wouldn't have caught the Avatar. I mean, the boy had evaded the Fire Nation for 100 years. Nobody could catch him."
Zhao set a hand on the nape of my neck and said with cruel purpose,
"I did."
I smiled forcibly,
"Yes, you did."
"Would you like to see it for yourself?"
"Oh, boy." I said, straining myself to sound excited.
"Come with me, my dear. I'll show you my greatest asset."
He guided me on another walk with a hand on the small of my back. He led me through a wide corridor, and we approached a door that was guarded by three soldiers. He gestured for them to move aside; as he opened the door to let me pass, I was troubled by what I saw.
The young boy that I had seen several times flying freely on a bison was chained by the arms and legs between two pillars. His face was downcast. The room was dark, save for the fire that burned on the stone pillars, shedding some light from their crests. The Avatar struggled in his bonds. Zhao walked in and closed the door behind him. Aang looked up at his with anger on his face. As Zhao spoke, I could tell that this was actually the first time that he was gazing upon the Avatar after imprisoning him.
"So," he said, walking up to Aang with his hands behind his back, "this is the great Avatar? Master of all the elements. I don't know how you've managed to elude the Fire Nation for a hundred years, but your little game of hide and seek is over."
Aang's voice was defiant and combative when he spoke,
"I've never hidden from you! Untie me and I'll fight you right now!"
"Uuh, no." Zhao antagonized him. "Tell me, how does it feel to be the only Airbender left? Do you miss your people?"
Aang's look of defiance melted and he dropped his head.
"Oh, don't worry," Zhao taunted, "you won't be killed like they were."
Aang looked up again in anger.
"See," continued Zhao nonchalantly, "if you die, you'll just be reborn and the Fire Nation will have to begin its search for the Avatar all over again. So, I'll keep you alive—but just barely."
As Zhao turned to leave, smirking, Aang blew a gale force wind, and knocked Zhao into a wall beside me where he collapsed in a heap. I suppressed a wild burst of laughter, merely choking slightly. Zhao looked up at me with disapproval, and shook his head to clear his vision. Aang looked at me with some shocked surprise as I still battled my urge to laugh. Zhao growled irritably,
"Blow all the wind you want! Your situation is futile. There is no escaping this fortress, and no one is coming to rescue you."
As Zhao exited, he slammed door behind him, leaving me inside with the Avatar.
"So," I said, trying to appear casual, "how are you?"
He looked angry.
"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to capture me so badly? Katara said that you were on my side!"
"She's actually not too wrong," I said with difficulty.
"Don't you work with Zuko? Where is he? Off plotting my death?"
"He doesn't want you dead," I said seriously. "Nobody wants you dead."
"So you're just here to keep me company, or what?" said Aang, annoyed. It was if he was irritably, but at the same time, he was trying to understand me.
I assumed that this was the way of the monks.
"I'm not the one you have to worry about," I muttered. "I actually don't like the Fire Nation myself…"
"Do you know how hard that is to believe with you standing there and me still in chains?" said Aang with a sudden bored expression on his face. "Why aren't you doing something? Are you going to blast me with some telepathy…? Use me as a puppet…? Tell me my fortune…?"
I stared at him.
"Why would I do those things to you?"
"Well, you're Fire Nation. Your people typically do some bad stuff."
Before I could respond, the door opened and Zhao looked at me huffily.
"I was talking the entire time, and it seemed that you weren't behind me!"
I stared at him in surprise.
"Isn't that sort of your fault?" I asked gingerly.
"Just come with me," he said irritably.
Aang frowned at Zhao as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room.
I furtively waved goodbye to him.
Zhao hauled me to the balcony where it led to oversight of the entire courtyard. An army of Fire Nation troops roared their cheers about Zhao's imprisonment of the Avatar. It turned out that Zhao simply wanted me there to hear his speech.
"We are the sons and daughter of fire! The superior element! Until today, only one thing stood in our path to victory. The Avatar! I am here to tell you that he is now my prisoner!"
The soldiers cheered three times in a victory 'Hurrah'.
"This year," continued Zhao, "the Sozin's Comet returns to grant us its power!"
The soldiers cheered again.
"This is the year the Fire Nation breaks through the walls of Ba Sing Se and burns the city to the ground!"
The soldiers applauded. I turned to Zhao.
"You know, the last time the Fire Nation tried to break through the walls of the Earth Kingdom, it failed."
"That's because it was led by General Iroh." Zhao said casually, speaking in his normal volume. "Seriously, Mura, why do you spend so much time rolling in the dirt with those pigs?"
I looked at him without restraining disapproval.
"You know, you really don't speak so well about your former comrades."
He gave me a sickening smile.
"I know you are quite fond of the relatives of the royal family. You grew up with them; you know them. But this is a new order now, Commander. Even if you are a great soldier, you are a fugitive."
"I'm a fugitive with a decorative jacket," I retorted.
Zhao chuckled as if I told a hilarious joke.
"Come. I want you to be one of the soldiers who give the Fire Lord a glowing testimony about my capture of the Avatar. It'll be an honor, I'm sure. Since you're working with me—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."
I turned out of his hold on me and smiled nervously.
"I didn't say anything about joining you for your mission."
"I was under the impression that it was your ulterior motive for coming tonight."
"No," I said, incredulous. "I never considered becoming a part of your crew. I came to thank you for your gift, and I did. So I'm leaving."
"Well, why don't you give me a testimony," said Zhao in attempted, patient voice, "then I'll send an escort to give you a ride to your ship. I'm sure that Prince Zuko is missing you."
"That's all you want, right?" I said carefully. "Just a testimony?"
"Well, of course."
I stared at him.
"You're trying to tell if I'm lying," said Zhao, and he was right. "I'm not lying to you, Commander Mura. That would be stupid. Come on. Just let my scribe write down your words about how you saw the Avatar, and then I'll let you go. Is that a fair deal?"
I considered his offer.
I sighed.
"Fine." I grumbled.
"Thatta girl," he said.
"But," I said abruptly, "I want to see him one last time."
"Why?" he asked curiously.
"Well, wouldn't you like your soldiers to see the Avatar in person? I mean, are they supposed to just take your word that you have him?"
"But you've seen him." Zhao said quietly.
"Admiral, do you want my testimony or do you not?" I said with forced impatience.
He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, what harm would it do now? I mean, it's not like he can escape."
Zhao held out his arm for me to take, and we walked down the corridor to the prison chamber.
And, ladies and gentlemen, I happy to narrate that when we arrived down a hallway a corner away from the chamber, we saw two Fire Nation soldiers strapped up to the ceiling with chains. In front of the prisoner chamber, the third soldier who had guarded it was knocked unconscious. The fourth had a bucket of water splashed onto his head.
And inside the chamber, there were only the broken chains and hacked shackles.
The Avatar was gone.
Zhao's face twitched horrendously, and he rounded on me.
"Do you have something to do with this, Witch?"
I smirked,
"No, how could I? I was with you the whole time."
Zhao yelled furiously and pulled my arm. He hauled me down the corridor to where we were before. We arrived on the ornate balcony. The soldiers were alerted about the Avatar's escape. And a soldier from below cried out with a pointing finger,
"There, on the wall!"
I saw the Blue Spirit (AKA Zuko) and Aang climbing on a rope against a wall of the fortress. The soldier that had spotted them ran forward and cut the rope. The two came falling down the wall, and I heard Aang screaming on the way down. Aang Airbended a padding of wind to soften their landing. The dust cleared, and the Blue Spirit unsheathed his swords. They ran for it.
"Close the gates!" cried Zhao from beside. "Close the gates immediately! The Avatar has escaped!"
As the third gate started to close in front of them, the path was blocked by the band of Zhao's soldiers. Aang blasted them out of the way with a gust of wind. He was headed straight through the part, but he turned to see that the Blue Spirit was caught in a band of melee; he stopped to help. Aang helped his liberator, the gates closed shut. The Avatar battled a soldier and grabbed his spear. He broke off the arrow and made it into a staff. With a cry of strength, Aang took the broken spear and catapulted the Blue spirit to the top of the third wall. As soldiers started to surround him, Aang flew up onto the ledge and plucked his new friend off the wall. He used his new weapon as a rotating blade to stay up in the air. Zuko hung in the air, kicking his feet and swinging his swords to know the spears that were sent at them by the guards. They barely made it to next wall and crashed unceremoniously onto it. Two waves of soldiers came at them, but Aang knocked off the soldiers over the side of the wall. A soldier attacked Aang from behind; but Zuko simply took hold of him and pushed off the side.
Then the soldiers were brought up scaling ladders; they would hit the wall of the fortress and use the gravity push to walk up with fast feet. As the soldiers made up to the top of the wall, Aang depopulated two scaling ladders nearest to him with long blows of wind; Zuko knocked the final soldier off his. Aang gathered the two scaling ladders onto the one that his liberator had emptied. He handed one ladder to the masked man.
"Here, take this!"
Zuko looked at it for a moment.
"Jump on my back!"
Zuko complied and jumped off the wall to wrap his legs around Aang's waist. Aang used the ladders like massive stilts, shedding one each time a step was taken.
It was actually was pretty amazing.
The Blue Spirit handed Aang the last ladder; however, a Fire Nation soldier sent a gout of flame from the bottom. Aang and Zuko jumped from the last stilt, and the managed only to grab the edge of the wall. They fell into a heap of dust and dirt.
Zhao grew heavily irritated at the situation, and he pulled me along without explaining why. We came in front of Zuko on level ground. The Firebenders in front of Zuko unleashed all fire power; but Aang pulled Zuko out of danger and Airbended the flames away.
"Hold your fire!" Zhao ordered. "The Avatar must be taken alive."
Zuko instantly came up from behind Aang and crossed his swords in front of the Avatar's throat, taking him hostage.
For a moment, Zhao and the Blue Spirit merely stared at each other.
Zhao looked at me momentarily.
"Mura, my dear, why don't you go with them?" he said quietly.
"I'm sorry?" I said, honestly taken aback.
"Yes," he drawled, inspecting my reaction.
"That man just took the Avatar prisoner," I said, emphasizing incredulity. "Are you mad?"
"Well, perhaps it is a little rash to make you go with them." Zhao considered.
"Why don't you…levitate the masked man away from the Avatar?"
"Sir?"
"Well, if you don't know this man, why should you have any trouble using powers on him? I mean," said Zhao carefully, "That's why you couldn't do what the Fire Lord asked you to do. Isn't it?"
"Of course," I said.
"So, use your powers to make the masked man step away from the Avatar."
"I can't do that."
"So you do know this man?" said Zhao, turning to me with sudden accusation.
"No," I said with forced aggression.
"So why can't you do what I'm telling you to do?"
"Well," I said, "for one, you're not exactly the person I work for. I work for Prince Zuko." I indicated Zhao with my hand. "You don't look anything like him."
Zhao seemed to buy my lie (though honestly, it was kind of true), for he said through gritted teeth:
"Open the gate."
An officer questioned his orders,
"Sir?"
"Let them out, now."
As the Blue Spirit backed out through the open gates with his captive, Zhao beckoned me to follow him up to the main gate. Zhao looked upon them from the top with me at his side. A soldier stood beside me—one of Zhao's trained archers. Zuko and Aang were clear across the other side of the long road.
I glanced at Zhao apprehensively.
"I don't condone murder, Zhao." I said; my voice was slighted between clear annoyance and veiled fear.
"The Yu Yan archers don't kill. They could pin a fly to a tree without killing it." He glanced to the archer. "I let them go for a reason. A situation like this requires…precision." He glanced at me with a small smirk in the corner of his mouth. "No pun intended."
"Ha, ha, ha," I said tonelessly.
Zhao spoke to the archer,
"Do you have a clear shot?"
The archer didn't respond, but he lowered his head in preparation for his shot.
"Knock out the chief," said Zhao. "I'll deliver him to the Fire Lord along with the Avatar."
"You have a lot of confidence, don't you?" I said. I didn't bother hiding my dislike.
The archer released his arrow, and it met the Blue Spirit's mask with accurate aim. My stomach rolled unpleasantly as I watched Zuko collapse backwards into the ground. Aang was stunned in horror; however, he recovered, and he Airbended a huge cloud of dust around him and the Blue Spirit.
"Quick!" Zhao cried out, "Recover the Avatar!"
As the soldiers scurried through the road, and the dust started to part, there was no sign of the Avatar or Zuko. Zhao breathed heavily and pleats of anger. I smiled and sighed as if I had eaten a large feast.
"Well, Admiral," I said, patting him on the shoulder. "This has been fun. But I'm afraid that I've stayed much too long. Give my best to the Fire Lord, won't you, dear?"
Zhao didn't bother to stop me as I casually made my way out the gate.
I walked back to the ship. Conveniently, I saw Zuko walking up the ship's plank.
"Zuko," I breathed in relief, "You're all right!"
He was sullen, but he was glad to see me.
"You did what you set out to do," I said in a hushed whisper. "You were brilliant, dear."
"Well," he said with a low shrug, "I suppose that means something."
He and I strode up to the main deck.
Iroh looked at us both with some curiosity. He held a Tsungi horn in his lap.
"Hey, where have you been? You missed music night! Lieutenant Jee sang a stirring love song."
Zuko walked away.
"I'm going to bed," he said. "No disturbances."
Iroh turned to me.
"Where did you go?"
"I went to see Zhao." I said with a smile.
"And?"
"And it turns out that he doesn't have the Avatar after all. The trip has made me tired. And I need to take a shower."
Iroh looked just as confused as he did with Zuko. However, he didn't question any further.