Chapter 28

If dodging airbending was a problem, then she'd just force her way through! With an axe kick wreathed in flames she split the oncoming gust in two, then spun around and unleashed her own wave of fire across the ground in retaliation.

Aang and blue-mask jumped to avoid it, yet while their feet were off the ground Tanya quickly double-jabbed, sending two quick bolts of fire to strike them each in the chest.

...

Aang took the hit badly and fell onto his back, but blue-mask seemed to brush it off easily enough and charged her with his blades at the ready. Now it was Tanya's turn to duck, weave and dodge as she snaked her way through the onslaught of steel.

Yet as skilled as blue-mask was, Tanya was skilled, livid and could breathe fire, and slowly but surely her dodges became laced with more and more counterattacks, until before long she was the one pressing the attack and blue-mask was giving ground.

Suddenly blue-mask swayed to the side, revealing the powerful blast of air that Aang had been gathering behind his back and had just unleashed in Tanya's direction.

But Tanya had seen this trick before, and no tactician worth their salt took a hit like she had before without developing a counter for it as soon as possible.

Tanya's foot shot out like a snake, hooking blue-mask's ankle as he tried to get out of the way. Mid-sway, the masked man was off-balance, and with her own footing secure Tanya was able to drag him back into the air blast's path, using him as a shield.

Realising that he was about to hit his only ally, Aang threw his hands up and forcibly redirected the powerful gale upwards at the last second, lifting blue-mask up into the air rather than pushing him into the awaiting sea of spears surrounding them.

Ever-prepared to take advantage of an enemy's weakness, Tanya spotted her golden opportunity. Blue-mask was out of the fight for a few seconds, and The Avatar had lost his footing from his own rushed redirection.

She darted forward, extending one arm with a single finger pointing toward The Avatar like an arrow tip. From that finger burst a tiny flame no bigger than the tip of a pencil, but containing fire condensed so tightly that the heat of it could melt through a few inches of solid metal.

She would pierce a hole through the airbender's stomach: not big enough to kill him, but enough to cause such crippling pain that he wouldn't be standing up for weeks.

With her speed enhanced by jets of flame from her feet, Tanya was in front of The Avatar in the blink of an eye. Aang's footwork left him no opportunity to dodge, and he could only watch in horror as the superheated finger closed in on him.

Tanya grinned wickedly. Checkmate.

"Nobody would have to suffer any more if we all agreed to put our weapons down and just talk to each other."

Tanya froze, finger a mere centimetre from The Avatar's flesh. Aang stared back at her, frozen by fear and the tense silence. In all honesty Tanya wasn't entirely sure herself why she had hesitated.

She had never hesitated to inflict much worse injuries than this in any life she'd lived. So why then did her instincts tell her that she didn't need to do this?

It's unnecessary violence. The Avatar is completely surrounded and knows that he's been beaten. Anything more than this would just be cruelty for cruelty's sake.

Tanya knew she could be cruel in an efficient, ruthless way. She was the sort of person who'd deliberately stationed soldiers she disapproved of to defend locations she knew were about to be attacked by forces they could hope to defend against.

But that cruelty had always been in the name of fighting for her country, not in the service of her own personal pleasure.

"Yield." She hissed icily, glaring at Aang. The nomad nodded silently in acceptance, and Tanya slowly drew her finger away and extinguished the flame upon it.

"Take him back to his cell. Double the guard around him." She ordered the surrounding soldiers, and when the sound of someone hitting the ground hard next to her revealed that blue-mask had returned to earth she nodded her head in his direction. "And take this one to a cell too."

Aang slumped his head in defeat as the surrounding soldiers cautiously advanced, and Tanya turned her back, ignoring the faint trace of guilt she felt settle in her stomach.

She was just in time to see Zhao push his way through the crowd, ready to retake control of the situation. He looked pleased, smug even, as he regarded the downbeat nomad.

"Excellent work Tanya." He all but purred, reaching out to pat her shoulder in a fatherly fashion as she came to stand beside him. "I knew my faith in you would be rewarded."

"Is he dead?" Colonel Shinu, who had just succeeded in pushing his own way through the crowd, asked.

"No." Tanya replied, turning to face Zhao. "Captured alive, just like you wanted."

Suddenly the ringing of steel and cries of surprise caught their attention, and in unison both the admiral and commander whipped their heads back around to spot the cause. Blue-mask had been able to shrug off the soldiers that came to arrest him and darted towards The Avatar.

But not to protect him.

The sharp blades of the twin swords now rested against The Avatar's neck, an unspoken promise of blood about to be spilled. Some of the soldiers made to attack, but with a gesture Zhao commanded them to stop.

"He knows we want The Avatar alive." Tanya thought. "He's using him as a hostage."

But was he bluffing, or serious? Without a face and eyes to look at, Tanya found herself unsure.

At first glance it seemed ridiculous that a man who'd nearly succeeded in breaking The Avatar out of a heavily guarded stronghold would then execute the one he'd worked so hard to liberate. Then again, his skill at stealth and swordsmanship suggested some level of intelligence service training.

A captured Avatar would not be able to aid the war effort again until he died of old age, which considering Aang's youth might be another hundred years.

Kill him however, and he would be reborn in the water tribes; able to be raised and trained to fight again in about ten years. Sure he'd likely never find an airbending teacher, but better an Avatar with three elements than one with none.

For a moment the tense silence lingered, both sides watching and waiting for the other to make a mistake. Eventually it was Zhao who spoke first. "Open the gate." He growled through gritted teeth.

"Admiral, what are you doing?" Shinu asked.

"Let them out, now!" Zhao demanded, his tone making it clear that heads would roll if he had to say it again. Slowly, reluctantly, the soldiers manning the gates got to work, and inch by inch the heavy door of the stronghold creaked open.

The moment it was wide enough blue-mask began walking backwards through them, taking his hostage with him.

"How could you let them go?" Shinu hissed. Tanya shot the colonel a dirty look, about to sarcastically ask what he'd do differently in such a situation, but was beaten to it by Zhao, whose expression was strangely calm.

"A situation like this requires … precision."

Without explaining himself he turned and began to walk to the stairs leading to the top of the wall. Confused, Tanya and Shinu glared briefly at each other before following.

...

"Do you have a clear shot?"

The Yuyan Archer did not reply verbally to Zhao's question, but the way he tensed his arms seemed to be a silent gesture of confirmation. Blue-mask was still within arrow range, and had yet to release his threatening hold on Aang, assuming that from such a distance any attack would present too much risk of hitting The Avatar.

Clearly he'd never seen the skill of the Yuyan Archers himself. But Tanya had. She stood tense at the edge of the walls, ready to take to the air at a moment's notice.

"Knock out the thief. I'll deliver him to the Fire Lord along with the Avatar." Zhao commanded. A second later the arrow flew, soaring through the sky with the swiftness of a bird. A wooden crack resounded through the air as the projectile struck true, and as blue-mask fell backwards, fire roared from Tanya's feet as she rocketed towards them like a bloodhound.

Yet she wasn't the only one who could bend. As blue-mask hit the ground Aang waved his hands, and a gust of wind kicked up a wide cloud of dust that concealed the surrounding area. It only took a few seconds for Tanya to arrive, and when she did a wide blast of fire dispelled the cloud of dust.

But no sign of The Avatar, or his accomplice, remained.

The other soldiers arrived shortly after and fanned out, hunting for any sign to suggest which way they'd fled. But airbenders knew better than anyone how to escape, and something in her gut told her that they wouldn't find hide nor hair of blue-mask either.

Tanya turned back to the stronghold just in time to see Zhao glare at her in disapproval and turn away.

She'd failed to capture The Avatar. Again.

...

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