The Tiny Emperor's Great Wall (Revised)

Chapter Seventeen

General Ba wanted to curl up and sleep the rest of the winter off. She stood beside the hole as another boulder was passed through. Dirty, grimy troops followed it. For what must have been nearly two months now, the small group of troops had been working nonstop. They hadn't bathed, shaved, or brushed their hair during this time. One shaggy human had a beard going down to his sternum. A humanoid bird's feathers were clogged with dirt. Even Ba's scales had lost their rich red color due to brown dust.

When one of the engineers came out of the hole, Ba went to him at once. A sharp frown crossed her face as she stopped in front of him. The engineer started coughing. Dust flew off him with each soul-shaking hack.

"We should be nearing the valley by now," stated Ba. "What is the status of the tunnel?"

"It's getting there," said the engineer. "Based on some guesswork, we'll break through within the next few days." A sharp hiss escaped Ba. "General, we have already pushed our troops to their breaking point." He gestured to a pair of men lying on the ground. Exhausted faces matched their sprawled bodies. "They can't take much more of this. We are mortals, after all."

"And mortals are all we've got!" declared Ba. She jabbed a finger at the sky. "Unless you can summon the divine, keep pushing until we drop."

"General," growled the engineer. Slapping dust off his arm, he shook his head. "I know what we must do, but it's not worth it if everyone keels over from overworking."

And Ba knew that all too well. Once, she had gone into their tents to get what she believed to be slackers out of bed. She instead found corpses resting, one of them a young earthbender who had given everything for his country. When the medics looked at their bodies, they could find no wounds or marks to explain the deaths.

Death from too much work was the cause. Overstrained muscles just gave out on them. Ba felt a bit of guilt over their deaths, but at the same time knew it was for a good cause. Now they just needed that damn tunnel to be completed.

Snatching a ring from the fellow engineer, Ba slipped it onto her finger. The golden ring glowed a bit as she started to collect mana to it. She hadn't used magic in years, but she might as well try it now.

"What are you doing?" demanded the engineer.

"I'm going to go dig up that tunnel!" growled Ba.

"With what?" His teeth bared in a vicious smile. "Can you even use earth magic?"

Ba aimed her hand at a piece of stone. Her eyes squinted as she focused on it. She felt mana collecting in her arms. It felt a bit like water flowing to the tips of her fingers. Yet the magic clogged in her hands.

Ba's teeth ground together as her hands quaked. Narrowed eyes tried to focus all the mana onto the stone. A sharp pop came from her finger and pain stabbed her in the joints.

Yelping, the general grabbed hold of her hand. The magic faded away. Annoyed sighs slipped from the engineer as he walked over.

"You should know better than to force it," stated the engineer.

Pain in the middle and ring fingers made it hard for Ba to listen. The fingers had popped out of place at the middle joint and hung limply. But Ba didn't care. She rushed over to a man and took away his pickaxe.

"Ba!" shouted the engineer. Following behind her, he shook his head as they went down. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to get some work done. If no one else can work, then I will."

"And do what?" demanded the engineer. Silence from Ba caused him to shake his head. "Can I at least have my ring back?"

"After we get to the bottom of this hole," said Ba.