Without any semblance of command on either side, the fight was only becoming steadily more chaotic. With all of my comrades in arms out from confinement, that left only one thing to do. I needed to find Zhao. And Zhao… I had no idea where he was.

Following my nose brought me to a collapsed wall. With my claws fully extended, I started digging. Was Zhao under all of that rubble? I doubted it. Zhao was a slippery bastard. He wouldn’t just up and die so easily. With the fighting going on far behind me, I shifted a particularly large piece of rubble over and saw it – a wooden door in the floor.

An underground passage leading out of the fort, most likely one of many that could be used as an escape route in the event a mass evacuation ever became necessary. Alternatively, it could be used as a means for a surprise assault. Lift the gates? No, none of that would be needed. Instead, the soldiers could go behind enemy lines and attack from there by going underground.

There was something insane, but impressive about it all. To make underground tunnels in a swamp without having earthbenders on hand to make sure that the whole thing was safe… it was a marvel. There was also no way in hell I was going through that thing to find Zhao. If he was nuts enough to go through that while earthbenders and waterbenders were fighting his soldiers in a swamp…

…ah, hell, who was I kidding? I reached down to rip off the wooden door and threw it behind me before jumping down. The tunnel was dark. There were no torches, there was no light. But I could hear well enough, and despite the odor of mud and rotting plant and animal life, I could still smell Zhao. He went down this tunnel, now I needed to follow him.