Azula's Bodyguard

Chapter 5: Fear and Desperation

(Shino's pov)

94 AG, Ba Sing Se, day 255 of the siege

I wake up at the remains of what looks to be a fountain. While I look up at the sky I only see smoke and ash. I push a dead body away that partly lays on top of me and look around while keeping myself low. Everywhere I look I see bodies both from our side and from the enemy. It takes me a while to take it all in. I have seen some pretty horrible things in my life but nothing compared to this. Before I have a chance to get up a patrol of Earth Kingdom soldiers passes.

Soldier: "We got a life one here!"

He walks over to one of the bodies that is partly moving and stabs him with his spear. After that he stabs a few more bodies to make sure they are dead. I try to lay as still as possible to make it look like I am dead.

Soldier 2: "Leave it, those who aren't dead will bleed out eventually."

The patrol of soldiers moves away from the fountain. When they are far enough I get up but stay crouched. I move trough the bodies and try to avoid stepping on anyone.

"Did anyone even survive apart from me?"

I keep searching for survivors until I see one of them moving, it's Manzo!

"Manzo!"

Manzo: "Ssst you need to keep your voice down."

He gets up a walks towards me.

"Sorry, I am just glad to see you."

Manzo: "It's good to see you too brother."

He putts a hand on my shoulder.

"Did anyone else make it?"

Manzo: " I don't know but by the looks of it, it doesn't seems likely."

"I don't know how long I can put up with this, it's doing something with me that I can't quite explain. Where are seeing things no person should ever see."

Manzo: "Hey you need to stay strong! We will get out of this alive I promise you that."

I sigh not sure if I should believe him but it's better to have some hope than no hope at all.

"Then what do you suggest we do now?"

Manzo: "We need to move west back to our own lines. If we stay here any longer we will be killed for sure."

"Let's get a move on then."

We get out of the fountain and move into the street. We start to head west to the inner wall.

Manzo: "The situation is worse then I thought, this offensive failed horribly. I don't think our army has the resources nor men to launch another offensive of this scale."

"Does that mean we lost the siege?"

Manzo: "No I'm sure the siege is not over yet, but we did loose a good number of men."

"I don't see the point of continuing this any longer, we lost that's for sure. Extending this will only cause more people to die."

Manzo: "I'm afraid that our opinion does not matter, we don't have a choice but to follow orders."

Before I have a chance to respond Manzo stops me and looks around.

Manzo: "Patrol is coming, quick get in the alley."

Me and Manzo quickly move out of sight in the alley and wait for the patrol to pass. Around 20 soldiers pass us including a few officers on ostrich horses.