Spark [Prince Zuko - Book One]

❃Chapter Sixteen❃

Asake gripped the bars of her prison, waiting to confront Zhao. She knew he was down here in the cellar of the ship; she could hear him knocking into things in the complete darkness. The sconces were lit, but, as the hours went on, they slowly burned away, leaving her in complete darkness. She didn't mind, though. She would much rather live in darkness than the light. For some reason, darkness made her feel much more at peace than light did. She knew that the darkness would hide her demons away from her for a few hours.

She guessed that there was another prisoner being brought down here because she could hear the sounds of multiple footfalls bouncing off of the metal walls. Asake wondered who else were going to be imprisoned. Maybe it was a prisoner who had already been on this ship longer than she had. Or maybe it was someone new, like she was. She wasn't sure. She wanted to know so she could prepare herself.

A bright light flared up in the darkness, and Asake winced in pain. Her eyes were definitely not used to the light right now. She had to blink multiple times before she could finally see again. When she did, she figured out who was joining her in the prison hold. The five Fire Sages that were at the island walked down the miniscule hallway, Zhao following them. He had a small grin on his face when he saw her leaning against the bars in the cell. Before he came to Asake, he put the five old men into a singular cell together.

"I made a special journey down here just for you, Asake," he said from over his shoulder. A certain glimmer had entered his eyes as he slammed the cell door shut in front of the Fire Sages.

"You shouldn't have," Asake said angrily. She uncurled her fingers from around the bars, wincing again. Her fingers had grown weary and numb from gripping the bars for however long she had been in there. "Why did you take me?"

He made a tsking noise with his mouth and turned around with a frown on his older face. The shadows from the fire on one of the torches he had placed in the sconce closest to her danced across his face, leaving most of it in darkness. The only thing she could see was his terrifying eyes. "Now is not the time to be asking silly questions. You will know in due time."

"I want to know now."

Anger broke through his frown. She could see fire racing through his eyes. He stepped closer to the cell door in front of her; she could feel his hot breath hit her face. "We work on my time, not yours. You will learn to listen to me, girl."

"And what if I don't?"

"You don't want to know." Zhao grinned maliciously at Asake, and fear shot through her very core. What was he going to do to her? And why her? Why not Prince Zuko, or even Iroh? Where was the Avatar, as well? Asake bit her lip so her questions wouldn't spill out. She didn't want Zhao to get even angrier. Zhao stalked forward and grasped the prison bars, his face blank. She could tell that he was angry, though, because his fingers were slowly turning white. "You, my dear, will do whatever I say if you want to live. When we get to the real prison, I will be interrogating you and you will give me the honest answers."

Asake didn't back down. She put on her fiercest face and glared up at Zhao. She wasn't about to show him that she was terrified of the situation she was in. If she did that, he would take immense pleasure in it, and she was not about to give that to him. "Why would you want to kill me if I'm more valuable alive?"

"That's a great point." Zhao cocked his head, taking her in. Her skin crawled at the sight of him, but she kept the glare on her face. "You are pretty valuable, huh? Prince Zuko might pay a lot for you."

"I'm not sure about that," Asake said, barking a laugh. She shook her head. "We had a fight."

"Don't all couples fight?"