Responses to Reviews:

Zigzagdoublezee: Yes, I intended them to essentially be more primitive versions of those weapons mostly used for siege combat, like a medieval Bombard cannon.

RonaldM40196867: The most dangerous aspect of the Fire Nation military appears to be their Research and Development department; they're by far the most innovative military we see depicted in ATLA and their new weapons make a real difference.

As Always, Please Review!

As the dust settled, Fire Nation soldiers began to scramble out of their trench and form their ranks, several rows deep and as wide as the wall itself. At regular intervals along their line, ladders were clearly visible.

But as Yue looked closer, she saw that something looked off. The figures in green were stood at one side of the formation, and as she watched they were led in front of it as a guard took hold of one of their wrists and pulled. As the man was dragged along, the truth of what he was hit Yue.

Every prisoner, for that was what they must have been, had their left wrist tied to the right wrist of the person standing next to them. This forced them to assemble into a long line in front of the soldiers. Some of them were crying, some of them were shouting something incoherent, some of them were just standing there silently with their heads bowed. Men as well as women of all ages, all dressed in the green of the Earth Kingdom, were positioned in such a way as to block any attacks by the fortress on the advancing ranks with their own bodies.

The realisation that Kaito was using captured refugees as human shields was nearly enough to cause Yue to lose control; for her hair and eyes to begin glowing as they had at the river and for terrible power to be unleashed upon everyone nearby. This time, however, she was able with immense difficulty to control her emotions and overcome the awful rage. Maybe it would have stopped the assault, but the application of such raw, indiscriminate power could also hurt the human shields or bring down more of the wall. She clutched the battlements in front of her, breathing heavily. The others realized it too; Katara was red in the face with fury and had tears in her eyes, and Rinzen looked angrier than Yue had ever seen him.

"We need to go," Sokka said.

"We need to help them!" Katara insisted.

"We do! But you need water, and there's none up here!"

A distant drumbeat signalled the start of the Fire Nation advance, the men in the front of their formation driving their prisoners in front of them with their spears.

"I have my pouch!" Katara gestured to it.

"That's not enough!" Sokka swept his hand out towards the advancing army. "Not for two of you and not to save all of them!"

"On it!" And Rinzen was suddenly sprinting away.

"Where are you going?" Yue called after him.

"To fetch water!" Rinzen shouted over his shoulder, before jumping clean off the wall and plunging out of sight.

By now the Firebenders were closing the distance, enough to put themselves within range of men on the walls with bows. Arrows began to rain down on them, first a few and then more and more, all targeted towards the back of the formation as the archers took great care to fire over the heads of the human shields. A few soldiers fell as arrows found chinks in their armour, but mostly their helmets did their job and they kept marching.

As they got closer, the drumbeats grew louder, as well as a rhythmic chant from the firebenders to make it easier for them to keep in lockstep. Yue could also hear some of their unfortunate prisoners shouting and begging. Whether they were appealing to the Fire Nation to let them go or the defenders on the wall to not shoot at them, she could not tell. Finally, they stopped a short distance from the wall, and teams with ladders rushed forwards as their compatriots began shooting flames up towards the top of the walls, trying to force the defenders to keep their heads down.

Yue ducked as a blast of heat passed over her head. The others looked at her as they also threw themselves to the floor.

"What do we do?" Katara hissed. Something thudded against the wall next to them.

"There's only one thing we can do," Jet replied. "Fight."

He stood up and hooked one of his swords around the end of the ladder and pulled it sideways, sending it toppling to the ground with panicked yells from the firebenders halfway up it. But no sooner had he done it than he was forced to throw himself to the floor again as flames shot over his head and the ladder was picked up and placed back against the wall. This time, the flames were sustained, and a few times Jet tried to stand back up only to have to duck down.

Suddenly, the fire stopped, and a shadow fell over them as Yue looked up to find a Firebender standing on the battlements looking down at them. He looked as startled as they felt, but Katara reacted first, opening her pouch and sending the contents slamming into his chest. As soon as he had appeared the man was gone, plunging off the wall in front of them, only to be immediately replaced by another. This man wasn't a Firebender and he swung down at them with a sword, which Jet parried with his hooked blade. The man tried to jump down so he wasn't at risk of falling, only for his chin to land on Sokka's club and he crumpled.

Yue scrambled to her feet, trying to think of what to do as the sounds of more men climbing the ladder reached her. All along the wall the sounds of shouting, screaming and clanging metal could be heard as the Fire Nation threw itself at the wall and the Earth Kingdom tried desperately to repel them.

More heads popped up over the wall; one took a club to the head, another got water-whipped and a third jumped backwards into thin air out of instinct to avoid a hook-sword, screaming as he fell. But more followed. A fifth helmeted head appeared, and swiftly ducked as the man dodged Sokka's swing. Then it appeared again, and seemed fixated on Yue. An arm appeared and made a gesture with two fingers straight at her, and Yue had to jump out of the way as a fire-dart singed the wall behind where her head had been. Then he was knocked away by Katara.

"Hey!" A shout came from above them and Rinzen swooped down on Gembul, dodging fireblasts. "I got water!"

He began tossing down waterskins, which rained down with dull splat noises around them. Yue snatched as many of them up as she could and began tucking them into the blue sash around her waist. A few, she threw to Katara, who began sliding them into her own belt. She had managed to fit six of them in by the time the next Firebender appeared. On instinct she thrust her hands towards him and the caps burst off all six, sending a much larger stream of water than normal which sent him flying.

And as quickly as that, the attack was over. Suddenly no more firebenders appeared, the ladder was removed and Yue could see men in red rushing back towards their camp, still in good order, dragging their captives behind them.

Yue collapsed against the wall again, the adrenaline leaving her system. She was suddenly exhausted. She had survived her first real battle, but only just. Clearly the rest of the fort had also managed that, but the wall was already damaged and Kaito had a lot more men. He also seemed like he was willing to be as ruthless as it took to win. They weren't out of the woods yet.

But as Yue watched medical teams scrambling to pick up wounded soldiers and rush them to the medical bay, she suspected the eventual outcome could only go one way.