Spark [Prince Zuko - Book One]

❃Chapter Seventeen❃

Asake was dreaming again. She could tell by the way a small phoenix spirit floated beside her, watching her every move. Somehow, she was back at her house, sitting below the cherry blossom tree. A pink petal slowly floated down into her lap, and she trapped it between two fingers. Her hands grew warm, startlingly so, and she watched helplessly as the pink petal burst into flames.

A gasp escaped her lips when she saw something forming in the ashes. She peered closely at the gray rubble settling on the dark green grass, her hair falling around her shoulders in waves. Her bangs fell into her eyes, covering the view of the ash in the grass. When she finally got her hair out of the way, the scene changed.

A large fortress stood in front of Asake, the red stone walls dominating everything in its way. A stone fence wrapped around the expansive area, making sure no one could get in. Or making sure people didn't get out. Ice gripped her heart as she stared up at the building, her eyes sweeping across turrets, gates, and archers – wait, archers?

In the moonlight, she saw rows and rows of archers standing on top of the building, around the building, inside the building, all pointing their bows at her. Asake's heart stopped in her chest as the people with painted faces stared at her, their eyes full of hate and anger. And then they let go of the string, allowing the arrows to arc through the air, completing their mission by burying the metal tips into her skin.

Asake woke up in a cold sweat, panting. She ran her hands across her body, making sure she didn't have any holes in her body from the dream arrows. The dank room around her smelled like the salty waves that rocked the ship back and forth, but this time, her seasickness didn't come. Instead, she already felt sick from her dream and the possibility of what was coming.

—

Asake didn't know how long she was in the bowels of the ship. The only light came from the lonely torch that sat above her cell. She couldn't even use the sun to figure out what time of day it was because there were absolutely no windows around them. The only reason she knew she had been there for days on end was when the guards brought her breakfast. That was the only meal they brought to the prisoners, so she made sure to eat every bit of it to stay strong. She was surprised that Zhao would give her quality food, but there was another part of her that figured he wouldn't give her bad food. Unless the food was tainted . . . She would already have been dead if that were the case.

Lifting her head off of the frigid wall, she glanced around her. The torch light was slowly fading away as it burned continuously. She knew it would go out soon enough, leaving her all alone in complete and utter darkness. The other day, the Fire Sages had been taken out of their cells and up the stairs to the top deck. Even though most were quiet and angry, she still missed Shyu. He kept her sane. She assumed they were getting transported to a different ship; she was lucky enough to be Zhao's only prisoner now.

With no one to talk to now, she resorted to talking to herself just to hear another voice. None of the guards ever spoke to her, and Zhao hadn't stepped foot down in the bottom of the ship since the last time she saw him. She thought that he would try to get answers from her or something like that, but she was wrong. She doubted he would come back down here because it was damp and nasty, and someone like Zhao shouldn't be spending their precious time down here.

"Maybe I should practice my firebending," she whispered to herself. Her lonely voice bounced off the metal walls, echoing around her. Even the flame above the torch shivered in the breeze from her voice echoing around it. "It's been – what? An hour since I last practiced?"

She shrugged and blew out a breath. She flexed her fingers and allowed a small flame to spark to life. The red of the fire shone down upon her like a red sky. She grinned slowly. Firebending was the other thing that kept her sane. It had a life of its own. She had no clue how amazing firebending was when she was younger. She always thought it was awful and destructive, but this feeling of warmth that spread through her was enough to tell her that it was what she was meant to be doing. It also let her know that she was still alive, that she could still feel something, anything. It gave her hope.