Chapter 14

"Hyung, everything's in order?"

The regiment's quartermaster standing just behind the platform gave a thumbs up and an unsettlingly cheery smile. "Everything's hammered down and ready, colonel."

Colonel Xing gave a curt nod, though Corporal Han of Furata Village (Furata Han II, since he was the second Han from the village; he would've been the first if he hadn't lost that damned race) could tell he was smiling underneath his helmet. "Good. They're moving onto being a bit more serious with us. Skies are clear, so have someone bring the princess over, please."

"Will do, colonel."

As the quartermaster volunteered a nearby helper, Han returned his attention to the next phase of the battle. Even from his position from behind the platform, he could see more crates of naphtha clay jars being brought up for the staff slingers, while the firebenders adopted a ready stance. Han saw lieutenants and captains running up and down the spearline, instructing soldiers to move the bodies around them so that they weren't piled on top of each other..

"They can't afford to throw any more rocks because it messes with the immediate terrain," Colonel Xing commented, as if someone was asking. He sounded far less uptight than back in the capital. "Each boulder is a hole carved in the ground around them. They can't afford having any of those in the way of their advance."

Sure enough, as the enemy drew closer, the corporal saw that their previous position was pockmarked with pits.

"If they try to patch it up, with so many people marching over it, there's a chance someone might fall in. Again, something they can't afford."

"You sound like you have things figured out," another young voice, one that scared Han even more, arrived on the scene. The soldiers on and around the platform bowed, save for Colonel Xing and Lieutenant Koshi. The latter gave a respectful nod, while the colonel inclined his head a little in acknowledgement.

"Princess Azula. We are grateful for your presence."

Han backed away to make way for Princess Azula, noting how she paused to sniff the air. "What is that smell?" she asked with a scowl, almost drowned out by the footsteps of the colonel's and her own bodyguards forming up to form a protective cage.

The colonel's reply was surprisingly cheery. "Powdered komodo rhino and dragon moose dung, mixed with animal fat, tar and a few other ingredients. Besides burning stubbornly, it has the added benefit of being a choking hazard."

"I can imagine," the princess simply said before she laid her eyes on the recent battlefield. Han thought it improper for a girl her age to witness such brutality, but Princess Azula didn't offer much reaction, other than a clipped nod of her head. "It's…dirtier than I imagined."

"We are not dueling benders, your highness," Colonel Xing casually stated, and Han was not alone in sharply drawing in his breath. His sergeant in front of him shuffled back a step. "This is what any battlefield would look like. Except that we've been lucky so far to not have any of ours join the bodies on the ground yet."

"What ar- Are those bodies…missing parts?"

The colonel gave a nonplussed shrug. "To inflict morale damage."

"I…see."

Some whistles drew everyone's attention, and Colonel Xing seemed satisfied. Han saw the second wave coming closer to naphtha range. The non-bender infantry had shields warily up, while earthbenders in the front line seemed ready to summon a wall of earth at a moment's notice. "The enemy's moving into range," he said in the same lecturing tone as before, probably for the princess' benefit this time. "Usually, they should still hold the advantage if our numbers were even. Their earth walls are resilient against our firebenders."

A nod was all that was given, and Lieutenant Colonel Mozi relayed the order. "Pinning!"

Almost as one, the spearline loosened, just enough for some firebenders to fill in the gaps, while another rank of firebenders stood behind the lines. The Earth Kingdom troops reacted to the shift by loosing some arrows and rocks, but as before, nothing got close enough to cause any real harm.

When the enemies got within slinging range, the captains hurled fat bolts of flame towards the enemy. The rest of the firebenders followed suit, unleashing a fiery volley in turns to create a relentless stream of fire. The earthbenders reacted in time, and their walls came up as Han - and no doubt the colonel - expected them to. He heard the shouts of worry as dirt exploded from the intense flames. Almost immediately the damaged barriers were repaired as more earthbenders took up the defense.

Some flames arced over the wall and the head of the frontmost ranks, causing the earthen barricade to rise a bit higher. Han also noted how it also caused the Earth Kingdom spear tips and banners peeking over the barrier to clump up closer, towards the safety of the walls which now grew thicker.

As the withering barrage continued, the regiment's spearmen began to advance a few steps, pausing to allow the firebenders and naphtha slingers to slowly catch up. Naphtha was eventually hurled, most making it over the Earth Kingdom walls where they caused sections of earthbended dirt to crumble under the punishing offensive, and taking out dozens of soldiers hiding behind them.

This time though, most of the noxious smoke was quickly snuffed out, Han could imagine an earthbender burying the burning stuff with a stomp of his foot. A second volley was loosed, more ineffective than the first, and then the slingers switched back to spears to join the battleline.

Soon, the Earth Kingdom advance stopped completely. It seemed like they were content to let the firebenders exhaust themselves against their walls. Han could see it making perfect sense; given that the regiment was outnumbered to start with, the Earth Kingdom had little to lose in waiting the attack out by reinforcing their barricade.

Unfortunately, Han also knew his unit's purpose.

"And we've secured us a stalemate," Colonel Xing said rather eagerly.

The princess didn't look or sound too impressed. "Isn't this the part where you fall back and reveal flanking elements?"

"Not enough time," the colonel replied with a shake of his head. "Also, I wanted to try some things on a larger scale," he added by patting the metal tube beside him. Up close, Han could see that the walls of the tube were rather thick for its size.

"What things?"

"In a moment, your highness." Somehow the polite and respectful words sounded anything but in Han's ears. "If you'll note, the enemy army, though larger than ours, is happy to stay on the defensive instead of trying to encircle us."

Princess Azula folded her arms. "It's a valid tactic. Having more earthbenders in a region means they'll spend less effort keeping their walls intact and far enough from the spearmen to get close and attempt a breach. Better than thinning themselves out trying to encircle us and risk a sudden breakthrough by our forces, or push the walls forwards and play into any hidden traps you might have."

"True. But with their walls now so thick, it also means that they can't really see us."

"So you need the enemy to be stationary and blind?"

Colonel Xing nodded, glancing out at the relentless stream of fire blasting against the earthen line.

"One thing to note about earthbenders, your highness: They make good walls in a pinch, but those walls often don't come with ceilings."

Then the colonel laconically turned his attention to Han and his equally silent and out of place sergeant.

"Hans…"

A shiver of anticipation ran up the corporal's spine.

"Get the flammenwerfers."

"Yes sir!" Both Hans shouted before they rushed down the platform to join their unit standing by refitted carts. Sergeant Han snapped off orders, and the 11th Regiment's Han Unit finally took to the field.

Fifteen armored carts were pushed at a fast and steady pace into battle by two heavily armored Hans each, at least one of which was a firebender. On top of the cart, metal plates shielded the large metal box that kept the fuel, and the four pipes sticking out from it. Only the horizontal cylinder attached to the pipes, with its long perpendicular handle on one end and a leather-covered intestine hose on the other, stuck out from the shielding.

A third Han sat at the head of the cart, just as heavily armored as his comrades. The third Han was always a non-bender. In his hands was a device with a thinner pipe that was attached to the hose.

As team leader, Corporal Furata Han II was not riding on the cart; he'd have to worry about receiving and carrying out orders to be distracted by that position. A shame, really, but he understood the necessity of it.

The flammenwerfers rolled towards the front lines unimpeded, slowed down a little by the corpses in the way. Spearmen and firebenders made way for them, but all the drilling in the training yard had ensured that the shifting formation did not weaken the barrage.

On Sergeant Araka Han's orders, the carts stopped. The Han 'pushers' clambered up the back of the cart, both pairs of hands reaching for the handle while the Han 'riders' stood up and aimed their thin pipes in the air above the Earth Kingdom's walls.

Corporal Han and his fellow pushers began to pull and then push at the handle, working the double-piston mechanism at a steady rate that quickly fed fuel through the hose. Thick, black streams shot out the thin pipes, and a flick of firebending ignited the flammable liquid as it flew over the earthen barrier and rained down on the enemy soldiers.

Packed so tightly together, the initial streams of fire sent scores of Earth Kingdom soldiers screaming. The choir was horrific, almost causing Han to stumble in his movements.

The relentless firebenders' barrage quickly crumbled parts of the wall as the earthbenders maintaining it caught fire from the flailing of their ignited comrades. Those Hans close enough directed their streams of fire into those gaps, further increasing the torturous cacophony.

As panic and confusion spread through the Earth Kingdom lines, the sergeant bellowed another order. Han left the pumping to his colleague while he got back down to the ground and slowly pushed the cart forwards. The riders continued spraying liquid fire, while spearmen and firebenders followed just behind them.

Furata Han could see that the balance was tipping sharply in his regiment's favor, but the song of victory was nowhere close to heartening as he had imagined.

*****​

Azula had to consciously force herself to keep her jaws shut as she stared at the carnage, ignoring the sound of one of her guards being sick. She whirled to face Xing. "Wha…when did you come up with this? Why haven't I seen this?"

Xing shrugged as he answered. "I trained the unit when your highness and the prince were not around. We used mockups and buckets of water back then though." At the princess' glare, he added, "I wanted to keep it under wraps until the time was right."

"Like now?" she asked archly.

Infuriatingly, the boy just casually nodded. "I rather have this be credited under your name, princess, rather than have our many hidden observers present the idea as their own to the War Ministry."

That…that made some sense. She gave a heavy sigh and looked to the battlefield, where the carts, the…flammen-thingies had stopped spewing flames and the infantry were now assaulting the broken center. Kai's and Ren's battalions slowly seeped into the breach, while the others kept their torrent of fire to keep the Earth Kingdom line from fully consolidating.

"Since the flames are raining from behind them, and being so packed as they are, it'd be tricky for the earthbenders to raise effective walls to contain the spread of fire without fracturing their formation."

Azula expected some sort of smugness from Xing, but he only sounded…sad? Regretful?

And true enough, the princess saw more walls being raised, but these cut off the several ranks of Earth Kingdom soldiers from the rest of the army. The soldiers of the 11th advanced on these trapped men, and for some reason a small voice in Azula's head said she was glad that she wasn't close enough to make out the details.

The flame carts were redeployed to other areas, creating new breaches in the confused lines for other battalions to exploit. Very soon, a second, much taller bulwark of earth rose up, cutting off almost a third of the Earth Kingdom's army and leaving them to the mercies of the 11th Regiment.

Xing's voice was cold and distant as he elaborated on what was transpiring. "So long as the troops keep the enemy stuck to the walls, the rest of the Earth Kingdom will not be able to shoot boulders from it, even if the commanders are callous enough to not bother with things like friendly fire. Robs too much of the killing force, and anything significant enough to pierce or crush more than one soldier would significantly compromise the durability of their wall. And since they can't see, it'd be a risk to blindly send earth spikes shooting up the ground."

Watching in silence, the princess took in what details she could. Spears pinned screaming men against the earth wall. Flames burst out as firebenders engaged the enemy with elbows and knees and short blades. Earthbenders were skewered with spears or dragged down by daggers.

Among the agonized screaming and the stench of fire and shit and death, Azula tried to muster an honest, triumphant grin.

She tried very hard.

The small voice in her head was louder now, almost pathetic in its utter gratitude that the carnage was far enough away.

"What now?" she ended up asking instead, glancing at Xing who was silently watching her.

The colonel walked towards the metal tube and patted it firmly. "Now, we break more walls." He turned to the back of the platform and called for the quartermaster. "Hyung, one crate, please."

"Full?"

"Yeah, just in case."

A crew of four men struggled as they carried up said crate and dropped it with a thud that slightly reverberated through the wooden floor. Without its cover, Azula could see it contained iron balls, each only a little smaller than her head. As one of the camp followers carried a ball over to the end of the tube facing away from the enemy, the others moved to the 'front' end, dragging along short wooden beams with them.

After the iron ball was inserted snugly into it, Xing removed his helmet and sat at the back end of the tube with his legs splayed out rather awkwardly. "I'm really glad we got Yama and the earthbenders to reinforce this platform…" he muttered with dry humor as he looked at the wooden floor around him.

Quartermaster Hyung cackled softly. "I still say we could've made do with sturdy construction."

Xing didn't answer, instead looking down the tube and then giving out orders to the men with the wooden beams. "Raise it by four."

Two men grunted as they grabbed the end of the tube and lifted it up, while the third quickly shoved four beams under its flattened out part, one over the other. Xing squinted for a moment before asking them to add two more beams. He finally gave a satisfied nod, and the men scampered off.

"Just to be safe, everyone please stand behind me. Oh, cover your ears and keep your mouths at least a little open." After relaying that, Xing took some wads of cloth and stuffed them in his ears.

Azula joined bodyguards, the grinning quartermaster and camp followers at the back of the platform, pointedly ignoring how ridiculous she must look following his instructions. She carefully observed Xing as he pressed the base of his palms together and then placed his hands at the mouth of the tube, letting the iron ball rest in his outstretched hand. The colonel then seemed to focus himself for a second, and Azula could feel the air around her growing noticeably chilly.

"Haubitzen!" Xing yelled, and a deafening roar of white flame erupted from his hands and out the tube. The tube itself jumped a few inches as the whole platform rattled, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt. The air turned solid and punched the breath out of Azula's lungs. She stumbled backwards, but Lieutenant Koshi caught her.

Before the surprise could settle, an explosion sounded off in the Earth Kingdom's line, and snapping her head to the source, Azula saw a small breach, along with a trail of mangled bodies and broken banners in its wake.

Her royal bodyguards were clearly shocked, but the veterans of the 11th stood unfazed. Hyung was cackling a bit too eagerly though. "You're right, colonel sir. This is much better than using logs."

Xing didn't comment, simply shuffling aside and gesturing for someone to grab another iron ball from the crate and fitting it into the smoking tube. He got back into position, shifting the base of the tube a little.

"Firing!" was all the warning Azula got, and she got up her hands to hear ears in time as another deafening explosion sent the iron ball flying impossibly fast into the Earth Kingdom's barrier, blasting another hole in it.

A couple of flammen-carts took advantage of the collapsed section and poured fire into it, while the firebenders were already blasting their way into the first breach.

Azula stared wide-eyed at the colonel as he launched more iron balls into the enemy. Each time, he shifted the tube just a little, or got the men in heavy gloves to add or remove wooden beams on the other end.

Xing's display of power here was far beyond what he'd demonstrated when he sparred with her. More amazingly, she also noted how the destructive rounds were so confidently sent without any fear about hitting his own troops.

The princess watched raptly as the metal tube was fired seven times in total. In the end, it was starting to glow a dull red. Xing stood up, stretching his limbs a little. He glanced out at the crumbling Earth Kingdom lines, and then offered Azula a wry grin. "That's phase two done."