Chapter 19

It wasn't long after the taking of the Fort and the first repulsing of the Gimi immortals before a second attack from the direction of Gimi Port was mustered. Perhaps an hour and a half after, if Bikki had to guess. This time, instead of a simple raid by Ostrich Horse Cavalry, however, the enemy was going all out. Certainly, the remaining Ostrich Horse Riders in their Steel Lamellar Armor armed with their Ji spears were there, of course, but they were acting as a screening force for a much larger mixed force of Archers in mail vests with compound bows and Heavy Infantry in Earth Kingdom-style Brigandines.

Leading the Charge was a Twenty-something Man with an oiled goatee in an elaborate suit of Earth-Kingdom Style Mountain Scale Armor that was enameled and decked out in jewels. He had a Guandao that with jade stones inset into the blade. That had to be Song Wei, the Commander of the Gimi Immortals, gear so bedecked in jewels you'd think he was at a Court function rather than on a real battlefield.

Bikki would have ordinarily laughed off such ornamentation, but he knew for a fact that the local Earthbending Style was one that manipulated weapons through the use of jade and other gemstones via Earthbending. In fact, for all the heft of Song Wei's Armor, he was keeping pace with the front of the advance without so much as breaking a sweat. Clearly, he'd adapted the principles of the local Earthbending Style for speed and power assistance using jeweled armor.

As the dust cloud kicked up by so many enemies marching over drew nearer, Bikki looked over at Deniigi. The Waterbender was currently bending water from the nearby sea onto the plain between the city and their position outside the fortress, turning the ground there into a muddy quagmire. It would serve as a potent force multiplier for them, though only if Deniigi could retain control of the mud. It was just as possible that Song Wei might seize control of the mud himself with Earthbending. It would effectively be a tug of war between them should Song Wei seek to contest her control of the quagmire.

On the walls of the Hayansaeg Fortress, Lieutenants Dal-Sam and Emiko had their archers positioned, while Captain Suk-Jong, Lieutenant Amaruq, and Bikki himself led the main infantry force. Bikki had sent the contingents under Lieutenants O-Meul and Sun Hee along with the Wolfporpoise and Tiger Seal away to assault the Harbor of Gimi Port. The thinking behind that was that while Bikki and the main force kept the Gimi Immortals busy here, O-Meul, Sun Hee, and their forces could force a landing in the Harbor and thereby split the enemy's attention to be defeated in detail.

Honestly, Bikki would have liked to have had Wong Fei-Yan with them on this, but the Earthbender was being stubborn. He'd stood down, but he was refusing to join his forces with Bikki's until Bikki proved that his capture of the Hayansaeg Fortress wasn't just a fluke. In this case, that meant beating the Gimi Immortals and taking Gimi Port. As the Gimi Immortals drew nearer, orders from the walls were shouted by Lieutenants Emiko and Dal-Sam.

"Loose!" Lieutenants Dal-Sam and Emiko cried as one.

Suddenly, over a hundred black-fletched arrows were loosed as the Archery Contingents of Both Companies fired. For a fleeting moment, the battlefield was thrown into shade as the arrows crossed from the walls of Hayansaeg Fortress to their targets, the advancing mass of the Gimi Immortals. Then they descended from the sky like a plague of locust-wasps. Steel Arrowheads punched into brigandine armor, split mail links, or found gaps in lamellar coverage. Dozens of Gimi Immortals were killed or wounded in the first volley.

"Loose!" Ordered the Two Lieutenants once again.

Once more, arrows flew from the walls to blot out the sun before lancing down on the packed mass of Gimi Immortals from above, scything down yet more enemies. Unfortunately, the Gimi Immortals had crossed enough ground now to begin firing back. Not just from their archers either, as Song Wei stomped the ground and a boulder jumped up out of the very earth that he then punched at the Archers on the walls of the Hayansaeg Fortress.

"Scatter!" Commanded Lieutenant Dal-Sam.

The Tamna Island Warriors Archery Contingent hastened to obey, ducking behind cover and breaking up their ranks. Deniigi's Archers were less quick on the uptake and they paid for it. As Song Wei fired off more boulders and the Gimi Immortals Arrows came in, the Tamna Island Warriors took light casualties, only a half-dozen went down, thanks to getting into cover and scattering. The same couldn't be said for Deniigi's Archers. A dozen went down to boulders while another group was scythed down by arrows. Lieutenant Emiko herself took a chunk of a boulder to her scale chestpiece and was knocked off the wall, breaking her leg in the fall to the courtyard below.

The damage had been done, however, and their Archery Contingents were effectively suppressed, limited to firing at will from behind cover and other, similar potshots. Thankfully, Deniigi took up the slack, pulling water out of the moisture in the air and forming icicles that she flung at the Gimi Immortals with sweeping, flowing, motions. More Gimi Immortals were scythed down before Bikki also added to the ranged fire by punching fireballs at the enemy, downing even more. All told another Dozen and a half Gimi Immortals went down to razored ice and balls of fire before Song Wei brought up a wall of rock with his Earthbending that he pushed before his forces to block any further projectiles.

That lasted until the Gimi Immortals hit the Quagmire that Deniigi had prepared in advance. A gap opened up in the Rock Wall and the Gimi Immortals poured out of it, even as Song Wei fired chunks of rock from the parted wall into the front formations of Bikki's forces, downing a dozen troops from both the Tamna Island Warriors and the Wolf Armored Warriors of Deniigi's Assault Platoon.

"Form ranks and brace!" Ordered Bikki.

The Forces hastened to obey and thankfully, managed to do so just in time for the first ranks of the Gimi Immortals to extract themselves from the quagmire and charge into them. All around was chaos as Tamna Island Spearmen impaled screaming Ostrich Horses while Swordsmen pulled their riders out of the saddles. Wolf Armored Warriors took blows from Bringandine-Armored Heavy Infantry on their shields and returned them using Whalebone Scimitars or Water Tribe War Clubs.

Bikki himself faced off against a pair of Gimi Immortals Heavy Infantry lumbering out of the Quagmire and swinging their Infantry Ji for him. He ducked the crescent blade of one of them, before drawing his Emushi Blade and pulsing Chi through it to superheat it as he parried the other with a draw cut that chopped the head off the haft. His countercut cleaved through the legs of the suddenly disarmed Second Heavy Infantryman while he kicked out a jet of flame at the other that forced him back into the quagmire to put the fire out.

All around Bikki, the press of weapons and bodies was brutal and chaotic, reminiscent of stories of the front lines in the Earth Kingdom. He cut out with two swift cuts of his superheated blade cutting down two more Heavy Infantrymen in sprays of hissing blood before launching into a roundhouse kick that trailed an arc of flame which burned into two more, catching them alight. A fifth Heavy Infantryman hefted his Ji and charged, only for Bikki to duck the sweeping crescent blade and kick out, staggering the man and opening him up for a cut from his Superheated Emushi Blade. As he punched a fireball into a Sixth Heavy Infantryman with his off-hand, catching him aflame, Bikki suddenly noticed a whistling sound.

He dove to the side just in time to avoid a flying boulder that had been kicked at him from across the sodden quagmire by Song Wei. A Ji-Wielding Heavy Infantryman tried to skewer him on the spike of his Ji, only to be cut down by Suk-Jong, charging into him from the side. A trio of stone spikes were punched at Suk-Jong from across the Quagmire by Song Wei, only for Suk-Jong to sweep his blade out and cut all three out of the air with a parry before cutting down another pair of Heavy Infantrymen with an arcing, figure-eight motion of his blade.

Turning to Bikki, Suk-Jong said, "I'll hold the line here, handle the Earthbender!"

Bikki pushed himself up off the ground and said, "I don't think that'll be a problem."

Indeed, Song Wei had begun planting boulders into the Quagmire to mark out a sort of earthbent causeway through the mire. Boulder by boulder, he was building a bridge, crossing the sodden ground with leaps from stone to stone as he went. He made it to Bikki's side of the Quagmire just in time for Bikki to punch a Jet of Flame at him. In response, Song Wei lifted a block of stone out of the earth with a rising palm thrust to block. Bikki lashed out with a front kick, pulsing chi through his foot to add to the Jet of Flame and heating Song Wei's shelter to a cherry red color.

Song Wei leaped up and over his cover, launching himself up on a pillar of earth and cutting down at Bikki with his Guandao, enhancing the weight of the strike with earthbending via the jade in his armor and weapon. Bikki was forced to dodge, igniting a flamecharge to jank to the side or be split in twain. He managed it by inches and cut out with his superheated Emushi blade only for the Earthbending Melee Style to allow Song Wei to parry his cut, even with his Guandao overextended.

Superheated Emushi Blade met Earthbending-enhanced Steel and the clash of weapons threw up sparks. Bikki pressed his attack, cutting out with his Superheated Emushi blade three times in rapid succession, each time being parried and each time throwing up sparks before he channeled Chi to his throat once again and spewed forth another Fireball of the kind he'd seen General Iroh perform. Song Wei was forced back by the sudden fireball and Bikki poured on the heat, flinging arcs of flame at his retreating foe with a series of whirling roundhouse kicks.

Song Wei lashed out with his Guandao, parting arcs of flame with the blade as he did so, but that moment of defense allowed Bikki to leap up into the air, Igniting a Flame Charge mid-leap to rocket toward Song Wei as he did, breathing out more fire that Song Wei put up a pillar of stone to block with a stomp of his foot. However, Bikki was coming in fast and his superheated Emushi blade cleaved the pillar of stone in half as he landed. In came Song Wei's Guandao, taking advantage of Bikki's poor position to cut out for his arm. Fortunately, Bikki figured that was coming and ignited another flamecharge to juke to the side. The blow that would have cut his arm off instead only grazed his bicep, opening up a red gash on his arm.

Now, however, it was Song Wei who was out of position and Biki launched a flaming dagger at him in a spear hand thrust, fingers limned in flame. All Song Wei could do was plant the haft of his Guandao in the ground to block the strike. The flame dagger burned through the haft of the guandao, breaking the weapon and sending Song Wei stumbling back. Immediately, Bikki pressed his attack, launching arcs of flame, jets of flame, and fireballs in a combination of whirling punches and kicks. it was all Song Wei could do to dodge and he was forced back across the stone bridge he'd raised through Deniigi's quagmire.

By now, however, the sounds of black powder cannons echoed from the Harbor of Gimi port as the assault on the Harbor began. Song Wei looked between Bikki, then at Gimi Port, before making a decision. He ordered a retreat back to the Port. The Gimi Immortals withdrew in haste, leaving behind seventy-eight of their hundred-fifty troops dead or wounded on the battlefield. Over half the Gimi Immortals had been felled in the battle.

Casualties for Bikki's forces were a lot lighter, between the Quagmire providing a decent obstacle, Bikki tying up Song Wei, Deniigi lending bending support to the front lines, and their larger numbers in general, the Liason Troops had only around forty-three dead or wounded, roughly seven percent of their total numbers.

"You're wounded." Stated Deniigi as she made her way over to Bikki.

"It's just a little cut. It won't stop me from advancing on Gimi Port to help the Harbor Assault Force out." Frowned Bikki.

"No." Intoned Deniigi.

"No?" Questioned Bikki.

"No. Suk-Jong can lead the First Company and Amaruq the Second. I'm not going to take a chance that you ignore a wound and it starts to fester. You're my meal ticket, here, Little Major." Repeated Deniigi.

Bikki wanted to argue, they should be leading their forces to follow up on their victory. However, he wasn't about to argue with the Water Tribeswoman, as he was suddenly aware of just how much larger she was than him. Instead, he shut up while she used Waterbending to clean and heal his cut arm. Accordingly, by the time they made it to Gimi Port, much of the City had already been taken. It was just Song Wei, his father, Captain-Governor Song, and Fifty remaining Gimi Immortals holed up in the Captain-Governor's Mansion that was still resisting.

Bikki would lead the assault on the Mansion personally. Once the Mansion fell, Gimi Port would be theirs. Steeling himself, Bikki gathered a party of himself, Deniigi, Ataruq, Suk-Jong, and fifty mixed Wolf Armored Warriors and Tamna Island Swordsmen.

Then, they headed inside the Mansion Grounds, beginning their assault. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the main battle for Gimi Port. Bikki gets the better of Song Wei and forces him to retreat, though Song Wei manages to wound Bikki lightly on the arm. Suk-Jong also proves himself a bonafide Bro of a subordinate by saving Bikki during the battle, while Deniigi is showing signs of possible fondness for Bikki already in forcing him to sit down, shut up, and let her heal him, though she disguises it with the usual excuses.

Now all that's left before the end of the siege of Gimi Port is to assault and seize the Captain-Governor's Mansion and that will be that. Of course, with two Eathbenders and fifty Gimi Immortals in the fortified mansion, that's gonna be a fight to do. Once it's done, though, the Port will be taken.

Then Bikki can link back up with Iroh and Zuko as they assault the Commodore's Citadel in the Capital. Not that the Dragon of the West needs the help, mind you, but it's the thought that counts. Also, once Gimi Port has been taken, expect Wong Fei-Yan to swear similar oaths as Deniigi did, as Bikki will have proven himself capable and that his taking of Hayansaeg Fortress wasn't just a fluke.

At any rate, the assault on the Captain-Governor's Mansion is coming up next.

Stay tuned. . .