After a quick talk/reunion with Aang and Sokka, Kaiden discussed his plan with them and the next morning, they got into their positions. Aang went to the ventilation shafts while Kaiden, Katara, and Sokka waited in the courtyard.
"It's almost dawn," Katara said impatiently, "We're running out of time! Are you sure this is gonna work?"
"It should," Kaiden answered, "These vents reminded me of our little trick back at the village. We're gonna do the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo, and the whole system is ventilated. Aang closed off all the vents except one. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go: right back here."
"There's the intruder!"
Immediately, the three were surrounded by guards, all of them with spears pointed at them.
"Stay back!" Sokka warned, drawing his trusty boomerang, "I'm warning you!"
"Katara stop!" Tyro yelled, "You can't win this fight!"
"Tyro!" Kaiden exclaimed.
"Listen to him well, children," the Warden said, just now arriving, "You're all one mistake away from dying where you stand."
But just as the guards began closing in, the vent started to rumble.
"Get down!" Kaiden pulled Katara and Sokka to the ground just as the shaft exploded.
A geyser of coal spewed out of the shaft, covering the surrounding area. Aang then flew out of the vent, coughing, the top half of his body covered in ash.
Katara climbed to the top of the coal mountain, "Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!
Haru began to move forward, but Tyro stopped him. Various prisoners began to shrink backward.
"Foolish girl!" The Warden laughed, "You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. There spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh? But you still believe in them?"
Katara lowered the coal, shock on her face.
"How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You've failed."
Kaiden growled at the guy. He looked at Tyro and Haru with pleading eyes. Tyro merely looked down in shame. Haru, however...
As the Warden walked away, a lump of coal hit the back of his head. He turned around in anger to see Haru with three rocks rotating in his hand.
The Warden launched a blast of fire at the boy. As the gout of flame was about to engulf Haru, who braced for death, it was blocked by a wall of coal. It was Tyro, in an earthbending stance, who has clearly stepped forward to protect his son.
The Warden and his guards got in a firing line, "Show no mercy!"
They unleashed a torrent of flame, but Tyro and a few more prisoners blocked it, the coal absorbing the fire.
Tyro grunted as he created a wave of coal, "For the Earth Kingdom, attack!!"
The coal wave rushed forward and bombarded some of the soldiers. And all hell broke loose. Various prisoners fought off guards, as well as Team Avatar doing their thing. Tyro and Haru then gathered many lumps of coal together in midair and condensed them into one giant ball. They then threw the rock straight into the wall, breaking a hole through it.
"Get to the ship!" Tyro ordered, "We'll hold them off!"
"Not so fast!"
Everyone turned to see the Warden, holding Kaiden under one arm and his other arm holding a line of fire that threatened to poke Kaiden's neck. The only thing that made Katara not completely freak was that Kaiden didn't look scared at all. He just had a blank face.
YOU ARE READING
Avatar: The First Metalbender Book 1: Water
Fanfiction|Book I| Kaiden is from the Southern Water Tribe, but that's all he'll tell you about his background unless you were a close friend, like Katara or Sokka. But even he has a secret he won't tell them. Truth is, he's a natural metalbender, able to ben...
