Avatar: after the war ends 14

Chapter 14: Battle in the Western Castle: part one

My cell door opened and a guard came in. He opened the door to my cage and ordered me out. I pretended that my left foot was injured and limped out. I decided to feign an injury so that the guards would expect me to be slow and walk behind them. From behind they wouldn’t see me charging my lighting.

Outside my cell there was an officer with a scar above his left eye and another guard. The officer moved close to me and said
“Follow us, if you try to escape you’ll be harshly punished.”

As if I’d be scared by that. The officer then turned round and started walking towards the door at the end of the cell block, the guard following him. I limped after them with the guard who open my cell following us (since he had the keys to the cells he was probably the jailor). I decided to walk slower than normal, so that the jailor could overtake me, then I’d charge my lighting and fry the jailor and the guard. I’ll leave the officer alive, since he’ll be able to provide me with information about this castle. The jailor was just about to pass me when the officer turned round. He looked at me and marched towards me, an angry look on his face. He then lifted his right hand and slapped me on my left cheek, while shouting.
“What are you doing, walk properly.”

No one had ever hit me before. I would be not be treated this way! That officer will die for his insolence. I glared at him while the jailor opened the door to this cell block. Once we’d left the cells the jailor went left to his room, and the officer and guard turned right and continued walking towards the stairs that lead to the guard’s barrack. Now that there was only two of them and their backs were to me I began separating my chi. I walked close to them, so that I wouldn’t miss them (there wouldn’t be a second chance). Then suddenly the officer turned round. I instantly recombined my chi and channelled the energy down my arms. I shot one lighting bolt into the guard’s back and the other into the officer’s arms (he tried to protect himself by folding his arms over his chest, as if that would save him). Both screamed, then fell down dead.

I then heard someone running behind me, and some screaming and shouting. Most likely the jailor had heard the screams and was coming to investigate, and the screaming and shouting was from the other girls. If the jailor attacked me in my weakened state there’s a good chance I’d be beaten, I needed to distract him long enough to create another lighting bolt. Given that he didn’t know what had happened I decided to confuse him. I turned round and started running towards him screaming:
“He attacked us, he’s back there.”
“What are talking about, who’s there,” the jailor replied, clearly confused.

I ran to the jailor’s left hand side then started waving my left arm in the direction of where I just ran from. The jailor looked down where I was pointing, trying to see what was there. While he was distracted I moved behind him and began separating my chi.
“What happened?” the jailor asked without turning round.
“He attacked them with that,” I replied, while recombining my chi.
“With what?” said the jailor as he turned round to face me.
“This,” I replied, shooting a bolt of lighting into him.

The jailor screamed and fell down dead. Once he hit the ground I ran towards the stairs because if any of the guards above had heard the screams they’d hurry down here to investigate. By the time I reached the stairs I was breathing heavily and had to lean against the wall to support myself (in my weakened state I had almost no stamina). I leaned against the wall by the stairs and waited, listening for the sounds of footsteps. While waiting I began separating my chi, so that I’d instantly be able to shoot another lighting bolt into anyone who came down. However the only noise I heard was the screams of the girls down the hall and my own heavy breathing; no one else was coming down here. For the moment I was safe.

Now that I didn’t need to worry about being attacked I headed back to the corpses. I turned around and walked towards the officer, keeping my right hand on the wall for support. When I reached him I fired the lighting bolt I’d prepared into his left cheek, as an additional punishment. I then sat down on the floor and began searched his pockets for anything useful. I found four key and a coin pouch containing three silver coins and twelve copper coins. Neither the guard nor jailor was carrying anything. Though I had three sets of Fire Nation armour I was too short and thin to wear them, so it would be obvious I was pretending to be a guard. However this armour was too good to just ignore, especially when I it was highly likely I would be spending the rest of the day fighting. Though it would be a little more weight to carry I decided to take one of the cuirasses and a pair of vambraces for protection (I didn’t take the boots because they were too big for me). I took the cuirass from the officer because it was slightly smaller than the guards’ (the cuirass the officers wore was made to fit their body, while the guards wore generic cuirasses). I also took the officer’s hair tie (he wouldn’t be needing it).

Now that I had I finished looting the corpses I could begin the next part of my plan; capturing the Colonel. Though I could just walk out of here, find the kitchen, and force a servant to show me where the Colonel was there was a high risk of being recaptured. If I wanted to move about freely I would need a distraction; fortunately I had several people who could distract the guards. Now that I’d recovered my strength I stood up and headed back towards the cells, briefly going into the jailor’s room to get the keys to the cells (I’d check it for anything useful later). I opened the door to the cells and stepped in. All the girls were trying to talk at once, asking what was happening and shouting their guesses. I would need to get their attention.

“Be quiet, be quiet now,” I shouted.
The girls stopped shouting and started listening to me. Now to give them an ultimatum.
“I have managed to overpower the guards and I now have the keys to the cells. You have a choice; join me and escape, or remain here and rot.”

Since this was greeted with shouts of ‘let us out’ and begging it was obvious they’d help me. However opening all the cells was beneath me, I would have someone else do it.
“I’m going to keep watch, so I’ll need someone to let everyone out. Who wants to volunteer to do this?”
“I’ll do it,” a girl instantly replied.

I went over to her and after trying several keys I was able to open her cell and cage doors. We then went out of the cell and I gave her the keys. She then began opening all the cells, while I went to the jailor’s room to search for anything useful. When I got to the jailor’s room I saw that it just contained some chairs and a desk covered with papers. I sat on the chair behind the desk and began searching through the desk and papers. I managed to find a map of the castle and was studying it when a man in Fire Nation clothes came into the room holding the ring of keys.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“I’m one of the prisoners, I came to tell you that we’re all out of our cells,” he replied.
“I’ll be out in a moment.”

I picked up the map and went out of the jailor’s room. Outside there was the man in Fire Nation clothes, a boy about my age, and 15 girls of my age with black hair and gold coloured eyes (most barely resembled me). They all looked at me, expecting me to save them from this place. They also seemed afraid, probably because of the three dead bodies behind them. This mixture of fear and awe would make it easy to manipulate them. But first I needed to know if they had any useful abilities.
“If we want to escape we may need to fight the guards; who among you knows how to bend or fight?” I asked.
“I’m a Firebender,” the man said.

No one else was a bender or knew how to fight. I wasn’t surprised, if they knew how to fight or bend they wouldn’t have been captured. Not that this mattered, they just had to distracted the guards long enough for me to reach the Colonel. I’d then hold him hostage until I was given as much food, water, and money as a Komodo Rhinos could carry (along with a Komodo Rhino to escape on). However no one needed to know this.
“If we want to escape we have to capture their leader and force him to release us. However he’s heavily guarded, so I’ll need you to cause a distraction so I can defeat him.” I explained.

Predictably this upset several of the girls, who thought it would be too dangerous. I quickly silenced them by reminding them that the only alternative was to go back into their cells. I then reassured them but saying that the guards wouldn’t hurt them, as they wanted them alive. Next I showed them the map and explained my plan in more detail, constantly reminding them that they weren’t in any real danger (they needed to believe this or they wouldn’t help me). Part way through my explanation Kegatsu (the man who could Firebend) offered to put on some Fire Nation armour and pretend to be a guard. Though I didn’t want him to pretend to be a guard, as this would allow him to easily escape or betray me, the rest of the girls and the boy wanted him to pretend to be a guard so that he could convince the other guards not to hurt them. Since they were more willing to obey my orders if there was a fake guard with them I let him wear the guard’s armour. He then carried one of the dead guards back into the cells and got changed. While he was changing I finished explaining my plan and convinced everyone to cause a distraction for me.

When Kegatsu emerged everyone walked towards the stairs. As he walked past me I smelled burned flesh and realised why he wanted to take the whole guard to the cells, rather than the armour. If he exchanged clothes with the guard, then burned the guard’s face everyone would think it was he and not the guard who was dead. I also noticed that he seemed to move easily in the armour he was wearing. If was used to this armour he was probably a guard or soldier that had committed some crime and was being punished for it.

As we got near to the corpses several of the girls were very nervous about walking past them (did they think they were suddenly going to come back to life and attack them). After I confidently walked past the corpses they soon followed. When we reached the stairs I told the girls that ‘’ and I would go out first to check that there weren’t any guards nearby. Fortunately there weren’t any guards in their barracks at the top of the stairs. I told Kegatsu to check the end of the corridor for guards. He obeyed and went over there to check, I followed him. While he was checking I walked over to him, created a small fireball at the tips of my fingers, put it next to his throat, and told him that if he betrayed me he’d meet the same fate as the other guards. He said he wouldn’t betray me (the fear in his voice was obvious). Now that I had total control over this group I called the rest of the girls up here.

After they arrived we split up. They headed out of the barracks, down the corridor, and went outside to cause a distraction in the courtyard; while I would waited here. I would remain here until the guards went outside to stop them, then I would head to the kitchens to find a servant who could tell me where the Colonel was and provide me with the keys needed to get to him. What happened this day would determine whether I would escape, or be captured and executed.