Zek

It wasn't long before the door to the governor's door opened to reveal the newly formed trio of Yilie, Boss, and…Gordez? What the hell was he doing here? We didn't see him enter. I opened my mouth to speak in a quest to ask for some form of clarity but was cut off by Boss's answer to the first question we all had, being, "The governor invited him here before us." And promptly proceeded to answer the second question we all had, the one that clearly would come to have a far more lasting impact on our survival on this island. "And yes," he began. "We're going to fight."

The war room was a stone chamber deep within the halls of the castle, more likely than not carved out of the mountain itself rather than built from the ground up. In front of us, a map was placed on a large table, providing a bird's eye view of the island, ranging from the town on the southern end of the island, and the cliffside fortress in the north where we all found ourselves now. The governor, Yilie, wasted no time with pleasantries, but grabbed the bag of wood-carved pieces that his squire held out to him, reaching inside, and fumbling until he found the piece resembling that which he was looking for.

With a loud thunk originating from his haste to get straight to the presentation he had in store, he placed down a wooden piece resembling an Earth Kingdom warship, followed by another, then another, and another. "We are surrounded," he began, placing the warships all around the island at the edges of the map. "There will be no way off for us as we will be trapped here, forced to defend it however we can. There are two possibilities for how the Earth Kingdom plans to take our fortress: by land or by sea. If by sea," he said, moving the warships to the northern side of the island, "they will likely attempt to bring down this fortress first, suing artillery to soften our defenses before moving in to allow their earthbenders to quite literally bury us alive in our own castle. If they do so, on any normal occasion, they would have a hard time doing so as our naval batteries are too strong for their iron-clad warships, however, it just so happens that our defenses are quite lacking. We are only in possession of a few catapults and one artillery battery. Assuming they know this, they won't have to caution themselves when taking the fortress, but could simply rush in. If they're unaware of this however, they may attempt to keep their distance, which would be good for us. The more time they spend away from our shores, the more time we can spend blasting them out of the ocean. However, once they wisen up and realize just how defenseless we are, there'll be no stopping them from rushing in for the kill. The other way is that they will attempt to take this island from the land," he continued, moving the pieces to the southern end of the island. "In this case, they'll storm the beaches by the town. If they do so, I will order my men to embed in the town to soften up as many men as they can. Civilians will die, so it's in your best interest to stop them from landing. If we see them coming ahead of time, I can order my artillery to set up by the beach, but if they have as many ships as I believe, it won't stop them. Innocents will die."

"Then we'll just have to stop them from landing" Boss said, "But all of this is assuming they chose one side or another. What's to stop them from splitting up into two task forces?" he asked, moving half of the ships to the island's northern shore. "This way, they'd divide our attention."

"And their own forces. With any luck, and with my efforts, no information about the state of our defenses has made its way off this island. I've done some unpleasant things to do so, such as with those mercenaries, but it had to be done. I want to believe that the Earth Kingdom will overestimate our capability to fight and allocate all resources to a given front. While, of course, that would make our job that much more overwhelming, I'd much rather take on a massive army to my face instead of having to worry about a smaller army behind my back."

I was looking at the map now. Even as wooden pieces, it already seemed as though those warships were only inches away from demolishing this entire island, and us with it. I pitied Ka'lira more than anyone. She'd been with us for what? Just a few weeks, and she was already finding herself in the middle of a war she hadn't signed up for. And that was just the half of it. Nothing made sense anymore. Why was it, that now, after having defected from the Fire Nation army, we were doing more fighting, working closer to Fire Nation high command, than we'd ever done as enlisted men? I shot back to reality, and a just as cold reality it was. More pieces had been placed on the table now, representing ground forces, both ours and theirs, alongside pieces representing artillery batteries and even a tank, I guess we told them about Shanzi. "If, however, their forces are divided," Yilie conditioned, "I'm sorry, but I'd have to give up the town. I cannot let this fortress fall."

"Then let's pray they give us a straight fight."

"Agreed," Yilie concluded, rising from his table, "I'll begin organizing my men, loading the artillery, and-"

At that moment, a soldier ran into the room, a slip of paper in hand, rushing past the guards at the table straight to the island's governor who stared the man down for interrupting him before taking the slip and unfolding it to reveal the message within as the soldier said, "A messenger hawk came in, sir. Earth Kingdom."

Governor Yilie read through the paper, looked at the table, read it again, and let the paper drop. He brought his arms atop the map, wiping off every piece from the table, catching one last Earth Kingdom warship before it fell to the ground. He placed it down at the northern end of the island with such certainty that one might think the paper read the future. Perhaps, in a way, it did, and Yilie was done keeping us in the dark. He had already memorized the contents of the message, and so he read from his memory, "Governor Yilie of the island of Jianghe. Your island has been besieged by Earth Kingdom forces under Captain Fong. Surrender your island to our custody, alongside you, your family, and your forces, and your citizens will be granted amnesty by the Earth King. Refuse, and your island will face the full force of the Earth Kingdom." He was done reciting now, and so, he turned to us, saying, "The message is from Captain Fong. Captain Fong. I know this man and I know his rank. He only has one ship under his command, 'The Iron Ram'. I know the man too. A glory-hound. There's no glory in wasting time with civilians before the real fight. He's going to take us head on, try to overpower the fortress itself."

"A stupid plan"

"But his plan all the same. It's a powerful warship, his. Won't go down without a fight. Heavily armed and armored. Forget what I said about caution, he'll try to get as close as possible more likely than not, take this fortress on hand-to-hand. He's a good bender. It'll be a tough fight."

"If we don't take down his ship first. That should be our first priority. We can take The Patriot out to try to slow them down or even bring them down. We've survived an encounter with the Earth Kingdom navy before. We can prob-"

"No. Gordez interrupted. "Probably not. We barely survived then and even now we have no weaponry. And I wouldn't try another hattrick like trying to board them. If what Yilie said about Fong is true, these are seasoned men. Not some green sailors looking for an easy kill."

"Besides," Yilie interjected. "Fong's ship is a newer model, not like the destroyer you probably came in contact with. This is a battleship. It'll make short work of you."

"Well there has to be something we can do with The Patriot instead of leaving her on the shore for bait," Boss spoke up.

"Actually. I was thinking bait was exactly what we could use her for. I may be short on artillery, but I have no lack of ammunition. We load your ship up, pilot her to the sea once we see Fong's ship, light her fuse, let them board her, and-"

"No." Gordez said, stopping Fong before he could go any further. "Absolutely not."

"It's just one ship. I can easily provide you win anot-"

"I said 'no.'"

"Gordez," Boss said. "If it gives us an edge, then-"

"Boss. Please."

The room was silent for a moment. All in the room were waiting to see if Boss would pull rank, but instead, he stood down. Not out of a lack of will to discipline those under him, but due to a legitimate understanding. He turned then to Yilie, saying "I'm sorry, but he gets easily attached to his machines."

"He knows his machines then?"

"Yes. Helped man the guns when besieging Ba Sing Se."

"So you really are vets then, huh. Then I guess I'll keep him here by the artillery. Spirits know my men could use some actual professionals here who know their artillery. Fine then. I won't use your ship as a suicide bomb, but I still recommend that we keep it here by the castle. It might encourage Fong to stay back for a while, giving us more time to bombard him. I'll have two of my men, skilled engineers, moor your ship in."

"I'll do it myself," said Gordez.

"If you're as good as your boss says, I'll be needing you preparing for the siege rather than piloting some small boat around. And that's not a suggestion this time. That's an order. You have any armaments on your ship?"

Boss spoke up this time, ignoring Gordez's blatant annoyance. "None."

"Unfortunate. But we could still use your tank. We unfortunately have none here, but if Fong gets ashore and we need to fight outside of the castle, it'll come in handy."

"Think the fighting will come to that? And if it does, will it be worth it at that point?"

Yilie then turned to Boss, looking him in the eye as he muttered those last terrifying words before sending us off to prepare for the fight ahead. "I am prepared to fight to the last man, water to my neck on the southern beach, surrounded by nothing but the enemy, floating on top of your dead bodies if I have to just so I can go deeper into the water while still putting up a fight. I have a wife and a daughter, and I am prepared for them to die, but I will let them give their lives before I let this island fall."

The stares that covered him bid him no trouble. He knew what he was. He wasn't proud of it, but he was done shifting priorities. This island was what he chose to dedicate his life to. And just as much as he was willing to give the lives of everyone in this room for it, I knew he would do the same if it was his life. I'm not sure if that earned him my respect. Perhaps all it did was spare him my hatred. He was a zealous man with radical priorities, but at least he was consistent.

He turned to the young man who had brought in the letter, saying "Reply to Captain Fong. Tell him that we refuse his terms and would rather fight to the death rather than face the Earth Kingdom's excuse for 'justice'. Tell him, however, that if he attempts to invade, he will face the fighting will of the Fire Nation, and each and every one of his men will regret the day they chose to follow Captain Fong into battle." I swallowed. It was a good message, but it was an invitation for the hellfire we were sure to face in these upcoming hours.