[AtLA Fic] Avalanche
Title: Avalanche
Characters: Arnook, Ozai, assorted unnamed Earth soldiers
Rating: R
Word Count: 300+
Summary: The Earth King is cut off from Ba Sing Se, and the Air Nomads are getting tired of waiting for him to exhaust himself.
Author's Notes: This was written for atlaland's Nation Switch challenge.
Avalanche
***
Arrows hiss through the air, and Arnook raises his shield again. A fine tremble runs through his body, but the other earthbenders move with him and arrows shatter against their overlapping stone shields. Overhead, he hears sky-bison whip the winds with their tails, and the twang of bowstrings releasing.
They won't be able to keep this up much longer. They have held these shields for almost a day without rest, cut off from the walls of the city by the Air Nomads' tornadoes. His soldiers haven't his strength, and though working together eases the 'bending they do, he is still approaching exhaustion.
Their only hope is for the Air Nomads to break before they do.
It turns out that's no hope at all.
A sky-bison roars, and there is a crash like an avalanche. One corner of the shield buckles, breaks, shatters. Rock shards fly everywhere - Arnook sees one go into a soldier's face, hears screams as limbs are broken. One of his royal guards yanks him to the ground and covers him with his body, and he hears the rush of wind.
He's staring into the guard's eyes as blade-sharp winds slice off the back of the man's head.
Arnook's fingers dig into the ground, and he thrusts with his earthbending, throwing up dust into the air. Soon it is too thick to see through, and Arnook crawls out from under the body of his guard. He taps his heel against the ground, listening to the echoes in the earth. So many people lie utterly still, but there are more still breathing than he had dared to hope. There is the heavy weight of a sky-bison in armor, there are the Air Nomads' wall of tornadoes still whirling against the earth.
-There is the feather-soft step of Air Nomad feet.
He slams stone forward. The dust shifts as a wind-blade flickers, and the stone falls in three pieces.
A cool breeze blows, and the dust slowly settles. There, across an expanse of bodies, stands a single Air Nomad. His head is shaven to show his tattoos of mastery, though he wears a dark beard in the style the Fire Nation calls a dragon's tongue. Eyes like silver coins regard Arnook. His smile is cruel.
"Earth King Arnook," the Air Nomad says, the wind carrying his voice. "I've come to take your head."
-End-
Characters: Arnook, Ozai, assorted unnamed Earth soldiers
Rating: R
Word Count: 300+
Summary: The Earth King is cut off from Ba Sing Se, and the Air Nomads are getting tired of waiting for him to exhaust himself.
Author's Notes: This was written for atlaland's Nation Switch challenge.
Avalanche
***
Arrows hiss through the air, and Arnook raises his shield again. A fine tremble runs through his body, but the other earthbenders move with him and arrows shatter against their overlapping stone shields. Overhead, he hears sky-bison whip the winds with their tails, and the twang of bowstrings releasing.
They won't be able to keep this up much longer. They have held these shields for almost a day without rest, cut off from the walls of the city by the Air Nomads' tornadoes. His soldiers haven't his strength, and though working together eases the 'bending they do, he is still approaching exhaustion.
Their only hope is for the Air Nomads to break before they do.
It turns out that's no hope at all.
A sky-bison roars, and there is a crash like an avalanche. One corner of the shield buckles, breaks, shatters. Rock shards fly everywhere - Arnook sees one go into a soldier's face, hears screams as limbs are broken. One of his royal guards yanks him to the ground and covers him with his body, and he hears the rush of wind.
He's staring into the guard's eyes as blade-sharp winds slice off the back of the man's head.
Arnook's fingers dig into the ground, and he thrusts with his earthbending, throwing up dust into the air. Soon it is too thick to see through, and Arnook crawls out from under the body of his guard. He taps his heel against the ground, listening to the echoes in the earth. So many people lie utterly still, but there are more still breathing than he had dared to hope. There is the heavy weight of a sky-bison in armor, there are the Air Nomads' wall of tornadoes still whirling against the earth.
-There is the feather-soft step of Air Nomad feet.
He slams stone forward. The dust shifts as a wind-blade flickers, and the stone falls in three pieces.
A cool breeze blows, and the dust slowly settles. There, across an expanse of bodies, stands a single Air Nomad. His head is shaven to show his tattoos of mastery, though he wears a dark beard in the style the Fire Nation calls a dragon's tongue. Eyes like silver coins regard Arnook. His smile is cruel.
"Earth King Arnook," the Air Nomad says, the wind carrying his voice. "I've come to take your head."
-End-