Chapter 46.1- And so the Dragons Danced

“And you are sure these things are loud enough?” I asked the man in front of me.

“I could always have them give it a good blow for you to check, General” the man replied glibly. Earth Kingdomers and sarcasm. I gave the very large trumpet a look. Considering this thing was allegedly loud enough to reach the second gate from here, I would go deaf if it was played next to me.

“I’ll take your word for it” I said with a shake of my head as I was led by Long Feng over to the next instrument in the array. Now that it was clear that combat with Zuko’s forces was inevitable, I was setting up a sort of early warning system. Grandfather said he hadn’t seen the avatar fight but that he was certain Aang had mastery over the elements. Part of me had hoped that he would be stuck on Earth because I had both killed Bumi and adopted Toph. There couldn’t be that many powerful earthbending masters still out there, could there? I’d killed so many already. That hope had failed, and meant I could have the bridge between the spirit and physical world knocking on my doorstep at any moment.

So, I made a plan. A constant rotation of scouts with telescopes looking over the horizon. If they even spotted a glimpse of the sky bison then they were to alert the trumpet men who would blow the trumpets.

Blowing this trumpet made the folks on the next wall blow theirs and so on. The sound would echo across the city and I would be forewarned enough to move in to the next step of my plan. Escape. Not for me, of course. But for Azula, the generals, the likes. I would never run from a fight, but that didn’t mean I didn’t recognise the possibility that I could lose. To be honest, part of me couldn’t wait. There was no fear in me. Only the anticipation that came from the expectation of a good fight.

Done with inspecting the final wall. I turned to Long Feng and we began to make our way down the wall and then to the carriage that would take us to the palace.

“Are the tunnels done?” I asked.

“Yes, Natsu. From multiple points in the tunnels, you can access multiple points in both the city and the palace. The broader evacuation plan is yet to be finalized, however” Long Feng said.

“Yes, yes. But only because we haven’t decided on a fallback point. I know you’re a fan of falling back within the city and maintaining control over it, but we can not fail to recognise the possibility that the city would betray us to the Avatar in a heart beat.” I pointed out.

“The citizens would never dare”

“They would” I said, taking a peek through the carriage’s windows. No one was stupid enough to toss rocks at me again after Toji had taken a few hands the last time, but the glares were no less fierce.

“You think these are broken people? They are far from that. Bent, maybe. But so far from broken. No, if we deliver ourselves into their hands, then they will not hesitate to give us up”