The Dragon Princess and the Wolf Warrior

Chapter 12 [~|~] Prison Break

A few hours passed before Sokka, Aang, and Azara hopped onto Appa to return to the Fire Nation prison. Reaching the lower decks of the prison, Aang hopped off and ran to find Katara.

Sokka and Azara waited tensely in silence as Katara and Aang hurried over. Leaning over Appa's side, Azara turned to Katara. "We have to go! Where's Haru?" Azara whispered as Katara shook her head.

"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked in concern.

"I'm not leaving. I'm not giving up on these people," Katara stated with a firm tone.

"What do you mean you're not leaving?"

"We can't abandon these people!" Katara replied as the searchlights drew closer. "There has to be a way to help them."

"Maybe she's right. What do you guys think?" Aang questioned, turning to Sokka and Azara.

"I think you guys are crazy, but I'm in," Azara nodded, a small smile on her face.

"I say you're all crazy! Last chance, we need to leave now!" Sokka demanded as he ducked a searchlight.

"No!"

"I hate when you get like this. Come on, we better hide," Sokka conceded, before they hurried out of the searchlight's path, Aang whispering to Appa and Momo to hide. Finding a safe place around some crates, the group gathered to come up with a plan of action. "We don't have time. What are we going to do?"

"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane! The warden would run away, and we'd steal his keys!" Aang exclaimed as the rest of the group exchanged unimpressed looks.

"Wouldn't the warden just take his keys with him?" Azara pointed out gently.

"I'm just tossing out ideas," Aang sighed, leaning back as the rest of the group contemplated some ideas quietly.

"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. If there was just a way to help them help themselves," Katara sighed, as Azara looked up at the smokestack, ideas starting to swirl in her head.

"For that they'd need some kind of earth, or some rock. Something they can bend," Sokka replied as Azara leaned over.

"There is some earth here," Azara stated, glancing back up at the smokestack. "Haru's mother said that the Fire Nation uses their town for coal, right? Just about every Fire Nation ship and building is heated using coal, including here." Azara pointed up at the smokestack. "If we can just get the coal from the smokestack to the earthbenders, they can use it to break out of here."

"We'll have to be quick. It's almost morning," Sokka nodded as they hurried off to set the plan in motion. Azara watched Aang climb into the ventilation system before running towards the open vent Sokka and Katara were waiting beside.

"It's almost dawn. We're running out of time! You sure this is going to work?" Katara commented, glancing over at her brother.

"It should. These vents reminded me of our little trick back at the village. We're going to do the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo. And the whole system is ventilated. Aang closed off all the vents except for one. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go, right back here," Sokka explained as they were suddenly surrounded by guards.

"There's the intruder!"

"Stay back! I'm warning you!" Sokka yelled, pulling out his boomerang as they stood back to back. Azara raised her hands, prepared to firebend.