Azula's Bodyguard

Chapter 2: The Siege of Ba Sing Se begins

(Shino's Pov)

94 AG, Ba Sing Se, day 1 of the siege

After a short sleep I and the rest of my company were woken by our officer.

Officer Hori: "It's time, Ba Sing Se is waiting for us. Move out!"

We jumped out of our beds and quickly put on our armor. I put on my helmet and grab my sword.

Kaoru: "You're bringing your sword? Isn't your fire magic enough?"

He was always jealous of my firebending since he was a non bender.

"I'm afraid I can't always rely on my magic tricks."

Kaoru: "Well magic tricks or not I slept like shit the nerves are killing me."

"Soon it won't be the nerves that will kill you but people throwing giant boulders at you."

Kaoru: "Thanks, that's really comforting."

I smiled at him, he pushed me aside with a grin on his face and walked out of the tent. I and the rest of the company followed him.

(1 hour later)

After a few kilometres of walking me and hundreds of other Fire Nation soldiers arrived at the meeting point. I walked over to a small vantage point and from there I can see the massive city of Ba Sing Se. A few hundred meter in front of the outer wall I see a few dozend of our Tundra tanks. They are lined up in a arrow formation. If to point which direction we had to march towards. I had never actually seen Tundra tanks myself they are still mostly prototypes and this would be the first time they would see action. Behind the tanks are thousands of Fire Nation soldiers standing in a line formation waiting for the signal to attack.

Hori: "Alright everyone enough sight seeing we need to go, they are waiting for us."

We quickly walk down the hill and join the other soldiers on the ground. My company is in one of the first rows so we will be getting the first hits. I can see Earth Kingdom soldiers running inside their trenches preparing themselves for our attack. When everyone was finally in position things went very quiet. Like a silence before the storm. The only thing I hear are soldiers next to me taking deep breaths. They are obviously nervous and scared, so am I. A few days ago I wrote a letter to my mother saying that this could possibly be my last day. In the few years I have been in the army this is the closest I have ever been to death.

I am broken from my thoughts when I hear the sound of multiple horns. It sounds similar to the sound of a tsungi horn. Our trebuchets started to fire at the wall. I see flaming boulders fly over us and hit the outer wall. And small pieces of wall break off.

Kaoru: "Just a few hundred more of those and we will be in Ba Sing Se in no time."

"Let's hope they are patient."

I see Kaoru looking at me but before he has a chance to respond we hear whistles all over the line. It's the signal to start marching. The tanks start to drive at a slow speed and we move up behind them at walking speed. The siege has officially begon. After walking for a few hundred meters the Earth soldiers start to fire at us. Huge rocks from all different sizes are thrown our way. The tanks try to shoot as many of the rocks as possible before they hit us but there are too many.

Hori: "Stay together don't let them break the formation!, benders move up I need you all to shoot at those rocks!"

Me and multiple soldiers move up to the first row and immediately start shooting at the rocks.

Fire soldier: "Look out!" A soldier shouts next to me.

I look up at the sky and see a huge rock heading our way. We can never destroy it since it's way too big. So in a split second me and a few other soldiers jump aside. Unfortunately not everyone reacts fast enough and when the boulder hits the ground I see atleast three soldiers getting hit by it killing them instantly. I see the tanks in front of us increasing their speed. The officers whistle again.