Chapter 44: Chapter 44
Previous invasions had broken down the outer gates gates before, but it was on this courtyard that they'd all been held at bay from the actual city until the moon rose.
With the outer gates now cleared the boarding vessels began to dock, and a swarm of red and black armour soldiers began to spill out of the broken gates and spread along the abandoned wall, claiming what might well be their one and only staging point as they assembled into battle formations.
The Water Tribe had all the time they needed to settle into their new positions before the Fire Nation advanced.
The armoured tanks being rolled out to the vanguard was no surprise: using heavy machinery to spearhead their attacks was a common tactic in the Fire Nation playbook. What was somewhat more unusual was the speed of their advance.
Long lines of metal carriages were hooked onto the back of the tanks, slowing them down to a sluggish plod. Along their sides, thin lines of Fire Nation troops spread out with rows of pavise shields formed a shield wall that marched steadily forward.
The slow, defensive movements better resembled the strategies employed by the Earth Kingdom, and it would have been a lie to say that it was effective.
The moment they'd stepped into the perfect range, a barrage of ice and arrows hailed down upon them with such intensity that it was impossible for the inexperienced firebenders to push forwards so much as a step.
The slow-moving tanks were sitting ducks for gigantic snowballs that simply buried them and their crew with a single hit, and without them to lead the charge the Fire Nation army were sitting ducks in an unrelenting blizzard of icicle fire.
Watching from atop the inner walls of Agna Qel'a, Chief Arnook frowned.
"I don't understand." He muttered to Master Pakku. "I've never seen the Fire Nation employ such a strategy before. And so clumsily at that. Do they think that they can weather our attacks until we're exhausted? It's not like we're going to run out of water around here."
"It is unusual." Pakku agreed. "They are clearly not used to such tactics, and I can think of no logical reason why they'd believe such a strategy would enable them to defeat us. Their casualties are piling up, while we have barely lost a single warrior."
Arnook frowned. "What do you make of The Avatar's report? That Admiral Tanya leads their forces? Her reputation claims she has ruthless cunning, but I see no sign of it here."
"Indeed, but then again she's only led smaller forces in the past. Perhaps she didn't realise the difference in logistics needed to command a larger army? It would explain their sloppy co-ordination."
Sloppy indeed. While the walls of pavise shields prevented their troops from being outright decimated, they were barely wide enough to provide cover for more than a single soldier.
Whenever the troops behind them tried to move along their battle lines in any sizable number they were forced to break out of cover, and immediately took an icicle to the face for their trouble.
They were only a few minutes into the attack, and already piles of corpses were beginning to pile up with alarming speed among the Fire Nation ranks.
Chief Arnook's frown thickened. "Is it really incompetence? The Fire Nation has never hesitated to use dishonourable tactics before. Could they be feigning weakness in order to lure us into a trap?"
Master Pakku stroked his beard. "Perhaps… but what trap could be worth sacrificing so many soldiers for? If they keep going at this rate they'll all be dead before moonrise."
That was true. Though the Devil of the South Sea was infamous for her disregard for human life, surely even she couldn't be so heartless as to sacrifice the entirety of her own army for victory?
Then why did his instincts scream that something wasn't right about this?
...
Far away from the noise of the frontlines, a colony of turtle seals lazed around their cave. It was still too early in the morning for all but the young pups to be up and about, and so the ice cavern was quiet, save for the snorting of heavy breathing and a couple of playful yaps.
Suddenly a frenzy of noise burst from one of the ice holes, gasping for air and splashing around so loudly that the nearby seals jumped awake and fled. The figure that had burst from the freezing cold water ignored their alarmed barking as he pulled himself out, shivering violently, and huddled into a ball.
Rhythmic pulses of orange light flashed about the cave as the figure exhaled snorts of fire to warm himself up over and over again, until the violent shivering began to fade to a manageable level.
Uncle, Zuko decided, really did give him the best advice sometimes. He didn't know how his uncle had known that a simple fire-breathing technique would be so useful in such a cold climate, but he was suddenly glad he'd spent so much time under his uncle's tuition practising his breathing.
Once the shivvers had stopped entirely, Zuko pushed himself up to his feet and staggered over to the mouth of the cave. The sun had risen, and Zuko greedily lapped up the warmth of its rays after his punishing experience. When Tanya had tasked him with sneaking into Agna Qel'a he didn't think she'd had such a risky method in mind, but it had worked out in the end.
He was far behind enemy lines, and the Water Tribe's full attention was turned away from him as they focused on the invading armada. He couldn't ask for better conditions for sneaking around.
From what he could see he was somewhere towards the back of the city. Recalling the map of the city Tanya had drilled into his head, that meant he couldn't be more than an hour or so away from the destination.
Tanya had been very clear about how important the timing was for her strategy. Tonight would be a full moon, the zenith of the waterbender's powers, and he had to complete his mission at just the right moment.
...
"It's so warm here! How is that possible?"
Aang was curious about that himself. It was warm here: a pleasant bubble of tropical heat amidst the cold tundra that seemed to defy the laws of nature. Yet there was more to it than that. Something about this place felt strong and calming, like going to sleep curled up against Appa. It almost felt like this place was alive.
Yue smiled proudly. "It's the centre of all spiritual energy in our land." She replied, leading them over to a perfectly round pond.
After being chased away by Tanya, a disheartened Aang had returned to inform Chief Arnook who the leader of the Fire Nation forces really was, and how badly they were outnumbered.
The chief had reassured him that, even against such numbers, Agna Qel'a would repel the invasion, but there was a tightness around his eyes that couldn't be disguised. Unsaid was that many, many soldiers on both sides would die before that happened. Lives that could have been spared if a peaceful resolution had been found.
When Yue had suggested consulting the spirits for help, Aang had nearly kicked himself for not thinking of it himself! Of course! If anyone could help the Northern Water Tribe it was the spirits! They could do anything! And even better, Yue thought that this pool they stood before now could be the gateway he needed to cross over into the spirit world.
Following his instincts, Aang walked over to the edge of the pool and sat cross-legged in front of it, assuming the meditative pose Gyatso had taught him.
His eyes settled upon two fish within the pond; one black, one white, swimming in circles around each other. As he watched them, Aang felt something starting to pull at him from within. The steady spiralling of the fish was hypnotic, pulling him further and further towards the water…
Blue light began to glow from Aang's eyes and tattoos as his body went still, and the spirit of the Avatar crossed between worlds.
...
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