The journey back north would have been fast, if not for the little detour Xing decided to take. “Since we’re passing by, we might as well, right?” He meant investigating the suspicious location provided by King Bumi years ago. It was by the edge of the mountain range south of Omashu.
Koshi simply acquiesced with a weary sigh, knowing that any attempts to stall or stop the colonel might see him sneak off by himself again, maybe even successfully. At least now he had considerable backup.
Their march inland was uneventful, mostly thanks to this part of the Earth Kingdom being lightly populated. As a precaution the little troop kept off roads for the most part, and spent two days moving through rolling plains and shallow hills before coming across a rather foreboding forest. The densely packed trees were tall, withered grey and bereft of any foliage, while the ground was devoid of even a blade of grass.
It was a dead forest, but it was also obvious that flames were not the cause of its sorry state. As they marched closer, Koshi noted that the trees were sturdy despite their brown-gray dead hue, and their barks were relatively pristine. A check with a few of the Hans, whose families were foresters, confirmed his suspicion that this was not the work of any disease either.
“Must be the land,” Mancha Han remarked with some confidence. “See how the ground is neither dry nor smelly, but how nothing but the trees are growing? Could be something…bad happened.”
“The Avatar?” Xing suggested, and the Han shook his head. “This would’ve been a tourist site if the Avatar was involved here. Maybe the spirits?”
At that notion, the whole group tensed up, Xing included. “I don’t see why Bumi would send me here just to deal with sprits?”
Koshi shared exasperated looks with his fellows. Their colonel had not considered the fact that the Mad King was still an enemy, and…well, raving mad to start with.
Still, they marched into the forest, finding and quickly following the faintest remains of a path through the surprisingly solid trees. With the sun setting, the troop was forced to camp for the night, relying fully on their rations as everyone assumed that the woods were too desolate to bother sending foraging parties, let alone consider risking them.
Koshi was awoken by the sound of creaking wood and the alarm of the sentries, and he quickly rushed out to find Xing at the edge of the camp, right hand smoking as he ordered the rousing Hans into formation.
“Night raid! Fall in!”
The lieutenant heard another round of creaking from the deep darkness beyond the camp. The way the sounds echoed gave him an image of something fast and powerful. Then he saw the treeline shudder, with the moonlight betraying several withered tips falling over. The image in his head grew several times in magnitude as a result.
“11th Royal Regiment, brace!”
Combat instinct drove Koshi to fall in line with the others behind Xing with his sword ready. There was no attempt at subterfuge from the hidden enemy, it was coming straight at them from one particular direction. Xing was in a stance, ready to breathe fire at the first visual sign of the intruder.
The whole troop was not prepared for their foe’s arrival. Koshi had expected a feral beast, or at most a rampaging spirit.
He’d not expected a torrent of purple flames to surge out from the depths of the forest. Xing clearly didn’t either, but he reacted quickly by releasing his own fire. The dim purple torrent met the blinding white beam, and the explosion that resulted flung everyone off their feet. Koshi had to consciously remember his duty and reach out with his arms to grab onto the boy who was sent almost flying above their heads.
The soldiers quickly scrambled to their feet, with the bodyguards shielding a trembling Xing to allow him precious seconds to recover. This time, the Han unit broke up into a dispersed formation, their spears held in a throwing grip while the free hands of the firebenders were ready to fling bolts at the smoking portal before them.
The enemy stomped closer, and it felt like the ground trembled to a deep drumbeat. Crashing trees accentuated the growing tremors, but to their credit the Hans did not show any signs of faltering. A dark shape appeared behind the thick smoke, full of bristles or horns and moving with serpentine sleekness.
Something told Koshi he knew what he was about to face, but to acknowledge it might break the bodyguard’s resolve so he opted instead to grit his teeth and wait to strike out.
A harsh, smoky snarl sent smoke rolling towards them, thinning the smog just enough to confirm the details. Koshi stared at a reptilian head glimmering under the moonlight, full of fangs and crowned with horns. A pair of eyes, glowing with furious malevolence, sat above its snout, sweeping through the soldiers with a primal disgust.
“Dragon,” somebody whispered shakily.
Koshi heard himself gulp, and his body felt heavy and numb. Weren’t the dragons extinct? Why was one here?
He managed to draw his blade and force his legs to move as the dragon rose up, like a serpent about to strike, but Xing pushed his way through to spit out another blast of fire. This time, it was the creature’s turn to be caught off guard, and it flinched away.
The sight of the colonel making such a feared creature recoil snapped Koshi out of his terror. He should’ve known that Xing would be beyond such things as a mere dragon. The lieutenant and the others shamelessly took comfort in their colonel’s display of power, and as the dragon turned to withdraw and Xing followed after it, the soldiers joined their commander with a roar in their throats to finally banish any fear that lingered in their hearts.
The hunt was on.
Moving under dim light conditions did little to hamper their movements. The soldiers of the 11th, so used to night raids and forest ambushes, kept up with the dragon’s attempt at shaking them off. Their quarry was easy enough to track down, its shimmering scales betraying its large, serpentine bulk as it snaked through the trees. It also left scraped bark and gouged earth in its wake, making the tracking as easy as hunting down Earth Kingdom conscripts.
Xing led the way despite the clear stiffness in his limbs and the beginnings of his body’s overexertion.
Several blasts of purple fire shot towards them, but this time the soldiers of the 11th confidently scampered out of the way with the confidence of hunters cornering prey. They chased it to the mountains, and eventually the dragon ceased its retreat and turned towards them to make a final stand.
Perhaps it decided that its advantage out of the treeline and in the open was far more favorable. Out here, the dragon had the advantage of its mobility to swoop in and run circles around them, but it would also make for an easier target. It must trust in its speed then, to accept such a risk.
And without the darkness to shroud it, Koshi got a clearer view of the monster. It wasn’t glimmering as he had once thought, the moonlight was not reflecting off its scales but rather it was glowing with a translucence like sunlight through clear obsidian. Its whole body was pitted with deformed and missing scales, as well as scars. One of its horns was snapped off, and several whiskers were clearly asymmetrical in length.
The dragon coiled into itself, and then let out a roar that was followed by another horizontal column of purple fire. A few Hans were unlucky enough to be grazed as they tried to dive clear, but their comrades were quickly on them, firebending the fire away from the screaming men and then quickly dragging them to safety.
Koshi had no time to help them, as the dragon lashed out with its open maw to chomp down on him and a few troopers. They all evaded just in time, though their retaliatory firebolts and spear thrusts didn’t even faze it. It took Xing’s charge with a fiery fist to break the creature’s follow up attack, and Koshi had to surge out with blasts of flame below his feet to intercept the whiplike strike of its tail from connecting with Xing.
The lieutenant felt himself flying from the blow, and his whole body exploded with pain when he finally crash landed into something. Vision blurring and feeling lightheaded, Koshi stumbled to his feet, but fell over almost immediately. Yan was suddenly beside him, helping him out of his armor.
“Nothing’s broken too badly, it seems,” the other bodyguard remarked hastily as he went through a quick appraisal. With his limbs feeling like steamed eggs, Koshi could only watch helplessly as Xing faced the glowing dragon practically by himself. Bofang and Shan-Tsu tried to lend their aid, but had to withdraw after barely avoiding being torn in half by massive claws.
Trying another tactic, Kwan led a group of Hans to indirectly protect Xing instead of trying to join in the fray. They broke spears and swords to stop the dragon’s claws from lashing out any further. Concentrated fire bolts distracted it and fouled its attack. Four Hans bravely latched onto its tail in an attempt to weigh it down, though they were promptly flung away.
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In the midst of this, Xing remained in front of the dragon’s head, and was clearly weaving around to keep the troops clear from any further gouts of fire. His white flames were clearly getting the dragon’s attention. The colonel managed to keep up with the attacks, dodging away from most of the snapping fangs and slashing claws, and only wielding his flames to beat the creature’s own.
The deadly dance lasted for a couple dozen seconds, before finally Xing managed to roll under a lunging bite to position himself underneath the dragon. He quickly shot up with an uppercut right into its throat, and the burst of blinding fire that followed sent the dragon jerking back with a horrid cry. Finally hurt, the creature thrashed about briefly, before quickly darting up the mountain with the haste of a fleeing prey.
Despite his numb limbs, Koshi managed to drag himself up and with Yan’s help limped over to a heavily panting Xing, who was looking around. “Casualties?” he asked between hungry gasps.
“No dead, thankfully,” Yan replied. “Though there’s at least nine who’ll need stretchers back to the ship. Shan-Tsu and Chun are down with at least a fracture or two somewhere, but nothing that won’t keep until we return to Kilin.”
At his colleague’s look, Koshi shrugged himself free to stand on his own two feet. “I’ll be fine,” he lied, making an effort to limber up his limbs without wincing. “Just a bit winded, that’s all.”
Xing frowned with disapproval, but turned to Yan and an approaching Bofang instead. “If Koshi starts slowing down, one of you drag him back down here with the others before he exhausts himself to death.”
Some of the Hans were then tasked to watch over the wounded, and then they began moving up the mountains to continue the chase. The brief respite in between gave Koshi the time he needed to at least stand straight and better feel his extremities, so he walked alongside the other bodyguards. Despite the casualties, morale among them and the Han unit was high. They’d chased off a dragon, after all.
Well, Xing did, but still…
Following the trail of gouges and shattered rocks was easy enough, and they found their prey once they reached a wide ledge. The dragon was coiling up again, this time by the mouth of a cave. Its glow was dimmer, and seemed to pulse to a heartbeat’s rhythm. The soldiers were ready to bring their weapons to bear when their colonel stopped them with a wave of his hand.
“Hold…” Koshi wasn’t the only one to look at Xing with some degree of confusion as he slowly walked towards the dragon. Then the lieutenant followed his commander’s gaze, and a soft gasp escaped him.
Behind the snarling dragon was a sinuous trail of bones. Koshi saw leg bones and claws jutting out, and a portion of a large skull, shattered in various parts, half-buried in the ground. The remains of another dragon. Was it this one’s mate?
Then he spied a pile of rocks in the middle of the bones. No, not rocks; they were too round, the pieces too thin… Eggs. This was a nest, or what was once left of it. Most of the eggs had been shattered, either by nature or man.
“Please,” Xing said softly as he continued to approach the dragon, “I apologize for the trespass of me and my men, as well as the harm I’ve done to you.”
The beast rose up, ready to strike again, but only continued snarling at Xing instead of lashing out. Its glow briefly became brighter, as if threatening the colonel from getting any closer.
“We did not know…” Xing stopped, and then slowly bowed deeply. “We did not know. If there is any way I can make amends…”
The dragon let out a short, restrained roar, almost like a bark, its eyes narrowing at the boy. Koshi was about to lunge out when he saw its body ripple, but the dragon uncoiled itself and finally slumped down. To the soldiers’ eyes, it looked…relieved. Its more relaxed, tired gaze remained locked onto the colonel though, and it let out an airy cough as its body slithered out to form a loose circle.
Only then did Koshi noticed its body heaving at an increased speed, and the realization hit him: The dragon was taking its last breaths.
Xing began to approach the dragon once more, and this time there was a sense of resignation from it as he reached out with a hand towards its snout. Like a man on a chopping block. The dying beast gave a snort as Xing’s hand carefully rested on its face, and slowly began to pat it.
“It’s alright. No one will desecrate this site. It will be hidden, and when the time is right, it will be cared for. I swear it.”
There was another rattling cough, and Koshi noticed Xing suddenly freezing, as if realizing something. “Unless…”
“Colonel? Xing!”
Too far and too late, Koshi watched as his charge suddenly stabbed a hand into one of the many scars of the dragon, causing it to roar with a start. Before it could open its maws and swallow him though, it paused, wide-eyed with surprise. Koshi and the troops still ran though, especially when Xing gave a sharp gasp.
The lieutenant tried to grab onto the boy, but he and the other bodyguards reeled back and hissed at the cold that stabbed into their hands. Xing’s breathing quickened into burdened panting, and he began to slump as the dragon’s glow increased and it seemed to gain new vigor. There was a temptation to hack into the dragon to free the colonel, but something in the back of the soldiers’ minds told them that it would be a disastrous idea.
Koshi could only watch helplessly as Xing’s breath frosted as he clearly struggled to remain on his feet. And then, eternal seconds later, he finally yanked his hand out with a loud gasp and collapsed.
Or he would have collapsed, if not for the dragon moving in and catching him with its snout. It looked literally more radiant now, the dark glow replaced with a more lustrous, vibrant green. The scars and missing scales were gone, and its horns and whiskers were fully restored. Gone was the malice and weariness from its eyes, now replaced with a gentle gratitude instead.
The dragon let out a comforting snort and slowly lowered Xing to a sitting position. Still stunned, Koshi and the others dumbly noticed how it seemed to smile at their commander, and then bowed its head to press its massive forehead against his. Then the dragon pulled back and swam away, pausing only to glance over its shoulder in the universal gesture of asking to be followed.
Legs driving him without thinking, Koshi was picking Xing up and half-carrying the bone-bitingly cold colonel to follow after the dragon. They didn’t have to go far, as it stopped several yards away, staring at a pile of boulders. The glowing beast carefully lifted a claw to rake away some of the rocks, revealing a crushed set of bones underneath. Then it looked back at them, its gaze seeking their comprehension.
“This was where you fell.” Koshi surprised himself by speaking. The dragon nodded slowly, and then gave Xing a warm smile before bowing its head again. Then its glow flared out, bathing the area with a green light for two radiant seconds, and when it faded, the creature’s corporeal form began to fade.
The colonel, his bodyguards, and the Han unit watched in mute silence as the dragon’s spirit form evaporated before their eyes, leaving nothing but the echo of a content rumbling behind. Only after an indeterminate number of seconds had passed did Xing snap everyone out of it.
“C-Come,” he said, still trembling from unnatural cold. “Before we head d-down, we need to clear that pile of rocks and move the bones inside. C-Carefully.”
The Han unit quickly did as ordered, and they organized themselves into groups to roll away the boulders and collect the dragon’s earthly remains. Xing left them to it and headed into the cave. The bodyguards followed along, and they did their best not to stare at the massive bones before them. Their charge though cared not for the skeletal remains, but made straight for the cluster of different remains in the middle of it.
Xing knelt by the ruined nest and carefully sifted through egg fragments. Koshi jolted when he heard his sharp exhale, and hurried over to his side. To his astonishment, the lieutenant found a grinning Xing, with two eggs - two intact eggs before him.
“We’ll hide this cave first thing tomorrow. I made a promise, after all.”
“And these?” Koshi gestured with a nod to the eggs. Surely after all this time they’d be nothing but hollow rocks by now?
The boy grinned. “It made me make another promise.” He pressed a hand on each egg, and visibly trembled with effort for a fraction of a second, before leaning back with an appraising gaze.
Koshi was not the only soldier gasping in surprise when the eggs rattled in place.
“Looks like the 11th Royal Regiment might have to change its emblem to match its new mascots…”