Chapter 95: The Sharp Tooth
The march ended not with a fanfare, but with a collective, shuddering exhalation.
The column of men, hardened by ash and loss, stumbled to a halt as the frozen plains gave way to the jagged, wind-scoured coastline of Sharp Tooth Bay. Before them lay the Fire Nation stronghold, a brutalist scar of iron and black stone carved into the cliff face. Smoke poured from its foundries, staining the perpetual twilight of the northern sky, and the acrid tang of coal and industry was a welcome replacement for the scent of blood and ozone they had carried from Firebase Kaze.
The bay itself was a churning, slate-grey expanse, filled with the dark, angular silhouettes of warships. The promised armada. The Second and Fifth Naval Divisions, merging and gathering. To the weary survivors, it looked less like a fleet and more like a city of floating fortresses, their phoenix-prow banners snapping in the bitter wind, a promise of overwhelming force, or a tomb of ice and steel.
Prince Zuko was the first to move, stepping down from the heavy wagon without a backward glance. His golden eyes swept over the fortress, the docks, the fleet, cataloging, assessing. The cold pragmatism that had settled over him in the ashes of Kaze had not thawed; it had crystallized.
"Sergeant Rin."
The sergeant was at his side in an instant, his own weariness buried beneath a mask of professional duty. "Your Highness."
"Get the men settled. I want the wounded prioritized and transferred to the infirmary. The able-bodied are to be fed, re-equipped, and assigned to barracks. I will not have an hour wasted." Zuko's voice was low, but it carried the force of a hammer on an anvil. "Then, you will report to the command center. We have plans to finalize."
Rin saluted sharply. "Understood."
Zuko's gaze then found Ensign Lee, who was already fussing with a data-scroll, his mind doubtless racing through logistics and supply manifests. "Lee. With me. I want a full status report from the garrison commander within the hour. And find out which ship they've designated as my flagship."
Without waiting for a reply, Zuko began striding toward the fortress gates, his boots crunching on the gravel-strewn path. The soldiers at the gate snapped to attention, their eyes wide with a mixture of awe and fear. The rumors had flown ahead of them, carried by messenger hawks and the desperate whispers of men: the Prince's terrifying power, the Princess's madness, the headless body of Commander Ryo.
Lee scurried to keep pace, his voice a rapid, analytical stream. "Preliminary observation indicates the stronghold is operating at peak wartime capacity, Your Highness. The reinforcement and resupply orders from the Fire Lord appear to have been executed with commendable efficiency. I will, of course, verify the…"
"Just get me the numbers, Lee," Zuko cut him off, not breaking his stride. "Ships, troops, artillery, supplies. I need the ledger."
As they passed into the shadow of the fortress walls, Zuko allowed himself one last, fleeting look back at the column. He saw Azula, standing apart from the milling soldiers, her posture rigid, her face a perfect mask of contemptuous boredom. But her eyes, sharp as daggers, were fixed on him. He held her gaze for a single, charged second, a silent acknowledgment of the temporary, hateful truce that stretched between them.
Then he turned away, disappearing into the dark maw of the fortress.
The game was entering its final, most dangerous phase. The board was set. Now, it was time to move the pieces.
The interior of Fort Sharp Tooth was a stark contrast to the frozen wasteland outside. It was a world of roaring forges, the clang of hammers on steel, and the sharp, disciplined shouts of drill instructors. The air was thick with heat and the smell of sweat, oil, and roasting meat. Soldiers and workers moved with a purpose that bordered on frantic, a hive mobilized for war.
Zuko ignored it all, his focus a laser. Lee, half-jogging to keep up, managed to procure a map of the complex from a startled quartermaster, and within minutes they were striding down a central corridor hewn directly from the black rock, heading towards the heart of the command structure.
They arrived at a set of heavy iron doors, flanked by two Imperial Firebenders whose armor was pristine, untouched by the journey's grime. They crossed their spears, barring the way.
"Halt. State your business," one of them intoned, his voice echoing hollowly within his helmet.
Lee stepped forward, adjusting his spectacles. "You are addressing Crown Prince Zuko, Supreme Commander of the Northern Invasion Force. Stand aside."
There was a moment of hesitation. These men reported to a different chain of command, one that had just been violently upended. Their eyes, visible through the slits in their masks, flickered from Lee's determined face to Zuko's impassive, scarred one.
Zuko didn't speak. He simply looked at the guard who had spoken. His golden eyes were flat, devoid of anger or impatience, but holding a weight of absolute authority that was more terrifying than any shout. It was the look of a man who had recently burned a fortress to the ground and executed his own sister's would-be usurper without a second thought.
The guard's resolve crumbled. He snapped his spear back to his side. "My apologies, Your Highness." The other guard followed suit, and the doors were pulled open from within.
The command center was a vast, circular chamber dug deep into the cliff. The far wall was a single, massive pane of thick, greenish glass, looking out over the churning bay and the armada. In the center of the room, a gigantic, three-dimensional map of the Northern Water Tribe and its surrounding seas was laid out on a stone table, glowing with faint, rune-like fire. Around it stood a group of officers.
The conversation died instantly as Zuko entered. All heads turned. He recognized the types immediately. The grizzled, veteran captains with forearms like knotted wood. The ambitious, younger commanders with sharp eyes and perfect uniforms. And at the head of the table, two men who commanded the room by presence alone.
The first was a mountain of a man, his Admiral's uniform stretched tight across a broad chest and powerful shoulders. His face was a roadmap of old battles, with a nose that had been broken more than once and a jaw that looked like it could chew iron nails. This was Vice Admiral Takeda, a legend of the Fire Navy, known for his brutal efficiency and his loyalty not to politicians, but to victory.
Beside him stood a man who was his physical opposite. Tall, lean, almost gaunt, with a sharp, intelligent face and long, slender fingers that rested on the map table. His uniform was that of a Rear Admiral, immaculately tailored. His eyes, a pale, calculating amber, took in Zuko with the speed of a predator assessing a new element in its environment. This was Rear Admiral Sho, a master of logistics and siege warfare, the architect of the supply lines that fed the Fire Nation's endless war.
For a long moment, the silence held. Protocol demanded they bow first. They did not move.
Zuko let the silence stretch, let the weight of his entrance and his title press down on them. He walked forward, his boots silent on the stone floor, not stopping until he was at the opposite end of the map table, directly facing the two Admirals.
"Vice Admiral Takeda," Zuko said, his voice cutting through the quiet. "Rear Admiral Sho. The Fire Lord's orders, I trust, have been received?"
It was a statement, not a question. He was not asking if they were in charge; he was establishing that he was.
Vice Admiral Takeda was the first to break. He gave a short, sharp bow from the neck, a gesture of respect to the title, not necessarily the man. "Prince Zuko. We were… informed of your arrival. We did not expect you so soon, or with so… few." His eyes flickered over Zuko's shoulder, as if expecting to see a full honor guard, not just a single, dust-streaked ensign.
"The Avatar does not concern himself with our expectations," Zuko replied coolly, his hands clasped behind his back. "He forced a change in timetable. We adapt. Report."
Rear Admiral Sho's lips thinned almost imperceptibly. He gave a more graceful, but equally shallow, bow. "Your Highness. The Second and Fifth Divisions are at seventy-seven percent combat readiness. One hundred and eighteen warships are seaworthy and armed. Ten thousand, four hundred and twelve personnel are fit for duty. Our supply lines are secure, and stockpiles are sufficient for a sixty-day engagement."
Zuko's eyes didn't leave Sho's. "Make it forty-five. We won't need sixty."
A ripple of unease went through the other officers. A young, bold Captain with a clean-shaven chin and a fiery glint in his eye spoke up. "With all due respect, Your Highness, the Northern Water Tribe's defenses are formidable. Their walls have never been breached. A protracted siege…"
"…is what they expect," Zuko interrupted, his gaze finally shifting to the Captain. "I did not come here to lay a protracted siege, Captain…?"
"Captain Ryoto, my Prince," the man said, stiffening.
"Captain Ryoto," Zuko repeated, committing the name and face to memory. A firebrand. Useful, if directed. "We are not here to lay siege to a city. We are here to break a spirit. And spirits are not broken with patience. They are broken with overwhelming, unexpected force."
He turned his attention back to the map, his eyes tracing the massive glacial walls of the Northern capital. "Their walls are high. Their waterbenders are powerful in their element. Good. Let them feel secure behind their ice. Let them pour all their energy into defending their front door."
He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the assembled officers, finally landing on Takeda and Sho. "While they are looking at the front door, we will be coming through the back."
Vice Admiral Takeda leaned forward, his massive hands gripping the edge of the table. "There is no 'back door,' Prince Zuko. The city is built in a caldera. The only entrance is the main channel, which they can seal with ice at a moment's notice.
Any landing on the outer walls would be suicide under their bending barrage."
"There are more ways into a city than through its walls, Admiral," Zuko said, a hint of something dangerous in his tone. "You have provided the hammer." He gestured to the fleet in the bay. "I will provide the dagger."
He began to pace slowly around the table, forcing every officer to turn and follow his movement. "Here is what will happen. The fleet will form a blockade. A tight, aggressive one. I want constant, probing attacks on the main channel. Skirmishes. Harassment. Make them believe our entire strategy is a frontal assault. Drain their energy, keep their benders occupied at the wall."
He stopped and pointed a finger at Rear Admiral Sho. "Sho. You will identify their primary freshwater source, likely sub-glacial rivers feeding into the city. I want a plan to contaminate or divert it. Not enough to cause a crisis immediately, but enough to sow doubt, to make them thirsty in a week's time."
Sho's eyes widened slightly, a flicker of professional admiration mixed with distaste. "A… ruthless strategy, Your Highness. It can be done."
"Takeda," Zuko continued, turning to the Vice Admiral. "You will select your best marines. Not the brutes. The smart ones. The ones who can climb, and swim, and move quietly in the cold. I want five hundred of them, formed into a new special operations division. They will report directly to my sergeant, Rin. You will provide them with whatever they need."
Takeda's brow furrowed. "To what end?"
"That," Zuko said, his voice dropping, "is my concern. Your concern is following orders."
The air in the room grew colder. This was no mere prince coming to claim a title. This was a commander issuing decrees, challenging their expertise, and demanding absolute obedience.
It was Captain Ryoto who broke again, his ambition overriding his caution. "Your Highness, forgive me, but this is… unorthodox. To split our forces, to engage in such… shadow games, when we have the power to simply pound their walls to dust over time… it seems a needless risk."
Zuko slowly turned to face the young Captain. He didn't get angry. He didn't raise his voice. He simply looked at him, and for the first time, a sliver of the immense, chilling pressure he had unleashed against Azula seeped into the room.
"Unorthodox?" Zuko repeated, the word soft, yet it silenced the faint hum of the war map. "Captain Ryoto, you speak of pounding walls. A valid tactic. But it is the tactic of a sledgehammer. It is slow. It is predictable. And it allows a thinking enemy to adapt."
He took a single step towards the young officer, his golden eyes pinning him in place.
"You question my methods because you have not yet seen their result. You have heard rumors of Nan-Hai. You've heard the soldiers' chants. But you have not seen the fire that forged that legend."
Zuko's gaze swept across Takeda and Sho, including them in his address. "General Fong was a sledgehammer. He believed in immovable walls and overwhelming force. He believed the Earth Kingdom could not be broken." A cold, sharp smile touched Zuko's lips. "He was wrong."
He focused back on Ryoto. "You want to know how we break the unbreakable? How we shatter a spirit of ice that has endured for a century? I will show you. Not with a protracted siege. Not with a simple naval bombardment."
He leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial, yet deadly, whisper.
"The first blow against the Northern Water Tribe will not be a volley of fireballs. It will be *my* blow. The same one that broke the Earth Kingdom's finest general and his entire defensive line in a single, sunrise strike."
He saw the recognition dawn in their eyes. The story had spread, amplified by the triumphant chants of the soldiers who had witnessed it. The "Crimson Lotus." The miniature sun that had fallen from the sky.
"While their walls are manned and their benders are watching the sea for our fleet," Zuko continued, his voice rising back to a commanding tone, "I will stand before their great gate. And I will give them a sun to remember. I will show them that the fire that consumed General Fong's arrogance can just as easily turn their frozen fortress into a boiling crater."
He pointed a finger at the stunned Captain Ryoto.
"And you, Captain, will have the honor of leading the first conventional assault *immediately after*. While they are blind, deaf, and reeling from a power they cannot comprehend, you will drive your ship straight into the chaos and secure a beachhead. *That* is how we use overwhelming force. Not with patience, but with precision. Not by pounding the wall, but by vaporizing its guardians."
He let the image hang in the room, the cataclysmic blast, the panic, the swift, brutal follow-up.
"Is that 'unorthodox' enough for you, Captain? Or does the prospect of walking into a victory I hand you still seem a 'needless risk'?"
Captain Ryoto's face had transformed. The skepticism was gone, replaced by a pale, fervent awe. He looked less like an officer and more like an acolyte who had just been shown a divine vision. He snapped to attention, his back ramrod straight.
"No, Your Highness! It is a brilliant strategy! I would be honored to lead the vanguard!"
Zuko gave a single, curt nod. "Good." His gaze swept the room one final time, challenging any other objections. "The strategy session is over. You have your orders. Vice Admiral Takeda, Rear Admiral Sho, you will have detailed deployment plans sent to my Ensign to deliver to me by dawn. Dismissed."
For a heartbeat, no one moved. They were Admirals and Captains, used to debate, to council. But Zuko had not debated. He had unveiled a fragment of his power and offered them a place in the legend he was writing. It was a far more compelling argument than any tactical dissertation.
Then, Vice Admiral Takeda let out a slow, grumbling breath. He straightened up and gave a full, formal bow. "By your command, Your Highness."
It was all the signal the others needed. Bows were made, and the officers filed out of the room, their whispers already beginning the moment they passed through the iron doors. The tone had changed from resistant disbelief to electrified anticipation.
Soon, only Zuko and Lee remained in the vast command center, the glowing map between them. The only sound was the distant, muffled industry of the fortress and the ever-present groan of the ice outside.
Lee finally dared to speak, his voice hushed. "A masterful manipulation of morale, Your Highness. You transformed a critic into your most zealous subordinate."
Zuko didn't answer. He was staring out the massive window, at the armada that was now his to command. He saw the ships, the soldiers, the power. But in his mind's eye, he saw something else entirely: a hidden oasis, a girl with moon-pale hair, and a path leading away from all of this, into a different kind of war altogether.
He had taken command. The first move was made. Now, he had to wait for Azula to make hers.
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