I did not like that for Zhao, I was merely an object, a status symbol. It seemed he only made me his bodyguard because I had already served as one, and not just for anyone, but for a Prince of the Fire Nation. I was, after all, mistaken in assuming that Iroh's recommendation was the only thing that attracted him. It also played a role, but in conversations with other captains who sailed to his base for provision refills or ship repairs, Zhao never once failed to mention whose back I used to cover. By acquiring me, he seemed to start regarding himself as someone equal to a Prince. Fortunately, this circus lasted only two days.
Zhao indeed found a trace of his former teacher. He only needed to clarify a few details before paying a visit to the rogue General Jeong Jeong. However, the place the trail led to…
I would not have visited without absolute necessity. According to the information Zhao gathered, Jeong Jeong was hiding in the Foggy Swamp, located in the southwest of the Earth Kingdom. I don't like swamps. I had died quite painfully in them several times. And this one was special. The locals believed the Foggy Swamp was a mystical place that would easily take the life of anyone who carelessly ventured into its territory. Therefore, ordinary Earth Kingdom people and even benders avoided it.
As for Zhao… I could say that intelligence was present in his gaze, but he became so consumed with the desire to catch Jeong Jeong that he completely lost his head. We entered the Foggy Swamp territory without any reconnaissance or local guides.
Zhao knew his former Firebending teacher was somewhere in here and personally intended to examine every section of the marsh, eager to capture him. A small flash of clear thinking allowed him to bring a few boats. We would soon need them.
A few hundred meters after entering the swamp, the water reached knee level and showed no sign of receding. In some places, there were sudden dips in the ground that Zhao's soldiers accidentally stepped into, finding themselves neck-deep in water.
Furthermore, the Foggy Swamp caused other troubles. Among them, insects crawling through the slits in the mask and the climate stood out. At noon, it became unbearably humid inside the armor. Breathing was difficult. Swamps are usually poor in trees, but in this one, you constantly stumbled over some root. The holes in the ground gradually increased, but the water level was still insufficient for us to use the boats. The fighters had to carry them all this time.
My intuition had been signaling trouble for a long time, something wrong with the surroundings. At first, I attributed it to the environment. I still disliked swamps, but then my gaze fixed on a fighter walking ahead of Zhao and me. A thought screamed in my mind: "That's what I don't like!"
The gait of the person in the Firebender armor was wrong. On the rare dry patches of the swamp, I noticed that this fighter primarily stepped on the front part of their foot. Also, their steps were shorter than those of a soldier with almost the same height. It was obvious that the person wearing the Firebender armor was trying to control their stride but occasionally forgot and began to slightly sway their hips. All this suggested that there was a woman under the armor, not a man. And women in the Fire Nation serve either in its original territories or in specialized units, like the Yu Yan archers.
I looked closely at the spy's armor and cursed inwardly. It could be noticed not only by the gait. The armor was different. Not drastically, but if one paid attention to details, it was noticeable. Zhao demanded that his fighters be ready for a parade at any moment. For this reason, all soldiers spent part of their time polishing their armor. Those whose uniform damage was very obvious received a new set. I myself was currently marching beside Zhao in a new uniform. The armor couldn't have been so badly damaged in less than an hour. The spy's armor did not look completely new; although it was clear that it had been cared for, it was not with the meticulousness customary among Zhao's fighters.
I cautiously looked around. Soon, I cursed mentally again. If I allowed myself to be killed by such "good" spies, it would be a great dishonor for me.
I approached Zhao and quietly whispered to him:
"The gait and uniform of the fighter five meters from us at twelve o'clock, the uniform on the fighter at three o'clock…"
Zhao was not a fool. Again, besides boundless ambition, intelligence was visible in his gaze. He immediately understood what was wrong with the people I named. Zhao called his other bodyguard and gave him a couple of instructions. The bodyguard made a few gestures. They seemed to mean nothing, but not among Captain Zhao's soldiers. The Captain himself whispered for me to deal with the enemy walking directly in front of us in five minutes. This would give the other fighters time to discreetly close in on their targets, and my actions would be the signal for them to begin their attack. The main thing was not to spook the enemy, who had begun to suspect something but had taken no measures yet.
I gradually began to surge slightly ahead, closing in on the spy. Slowly, to make it look natural and not arouse suspicion. But he still tensed up almost imperceptibly when he heard me approaching. To lessen the enemy's nervousness, I deliberately stumbled over a root. The opponent clearly turned to attack me, but seeing that I was simply falling into the water, he managed to catch me at the very last moment.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Thanks, pal!" I thanked him with a friendly smile, embracing the enemy over the shoulders. "What's your name? I need to know at least the name of my benefactor…"
"My name is…" a quiet voice, muffled by the helmet mask, barely managed to sound out before I threw the spy over my hip. Then I piled on top of him, not letting him rise from the water.
At the same time, to the surprise of most of the fighters, a scuffle began near Zhao. Some of his soldiers were beating others. The people in the worn Firebender uniforms turned out not to be Firebenders at all. They had absolutely no mastery of any element, and were quickly defeated. Their helmets were immediately ripped off. Underneath were faces with a bandit look. And it was also obvious from them that they were not representatives of the Fire Nation at all. Too tanned. And their eye color was not only brown but grey or green. Characteristic features of ordinary Earth Kingdom inhabitants, but by no means representatives of the Fire Nation.
About fifteen seconds passed, and I extracted the spy from the water, who had been unsuccessfully trying to break free from my grasp. He immediately started coughing and trying to catch his breath. But he couldn't. The coughing started again. The helmet was torn off the spy. As I had initially suspected, there was a woman under the armor who, unlike the rest of the riff-raff, looked more like a representative of the Fire Nation. Perhaps even the daughter of some impoverished aristocrat. Her facial features were too refined.
Zhao approached us and demanded:
"Who are you, and why were you impersonating my soldiers?"
The girl looked at Zhao with contempt and spat at him, managing to get both the Captain and me. After this, she plunged back into the water for ten seconds. Zhao repeated his question but received no answer. She had to repeat the water treatment.
"Mercenary. June, cough… We are all mercenaries," the spy spoke when I was about to dunk her again. "Jeong Jeong hired us. He gave us a lot of money to throw your squad off his trail or, if the opportunity arose, eliminate the Captain. The former General himself didn't want to get dirty," the mercenary snorted disdainfully. "He claimed he won't dirty his hands with blood anymore… Funny. As if by hiring us, he becomes uninvolved in the matter, pffft, cough…"
"Where is General Jeong Jeong now?" Zhao continued the interrogation.
"Definitely not in this spirit-cursed swamp," the girl said with contempt. "He simply walked into a tavern that is often frequented by various riff-raff, including mercenaries, piled money on the table, and said we would get twice as much after the plan was executed. We took the bait. There was a lot of money. And even more was promised."
"Where did Jeong Jeong get that kind of money?" I asked, glancing momentarily at Zhao.
"Before his betrayal was revealed, former General Jeong Jeong managed to empty several ships that were transporting taxes from the colonies. He gave most of it away to the people living in the colonies. He most likely kept a portion for himself. So, he and his loyal men didn't desert with empty pockets. They have money for the time being."
After the Captain's words, I felt the spark of greed flare up in his fighters who had come to listen to the girl's interrogation. The situation could have turned against the Captain, but Zhao skillfully took advantage of it.
"If you bring me Jeong Jeong's head, I might just forget to mention in my report to the Fire Lord that the former General still had money on him at the time of our capture." Zhao's soldiers buzzed with satisfaction. Zhao himself continued the interrogation. "So, where is your meeting supposed to take place, during which Jeong will hand over the promised reward?"
"What will happen when you get all your answers?" the mercenary asked.
"Long," by Zhao's tone alone, I understood what I was expected to do. The mercenary was dunked under the water for ten seconds.
"Ha… Ha…" trying to inhale as much air as possible at once, the girl still rushed to answer. But it was not what Zhao, or for instance, I, expected. "I understand, ha… You're the only one asking questions here, ha…"
She took a full breath and suddenly whistled. Not understanding the enemy's strange behavior, I decided to dunk her again. At that very moment, several things happened at once: a huge monster with a mole's nose and a large saddle on its back burst from the depths of the forest, knocking over nearby soldiers with its paws. Something emerged from under the water that was either another monster or a spirit made of grass and the sound of cracking branches was heard off to the side, immediately followed by a ring of fire that completely surrounded Zhao's fighters and the two monsters. I assume General Jeong Jeong found us himself… And he wasn't alone.
————
Read ahead of schedule here → patreon(.)com/Bluuuxx [remove the parentheses]