ATLA Shorts

How to Dig for Diamonds - Chapter 5

            But she was already moving past him. She reached Quan in a heartbeat, her fingers like claws in his shirt. “If you tell anyone what we’re doing, if you call to the guards or do anything that causes this to fail, I will know. And I will find you, and I will rip you apart.”

            As if to prove her point, lightning crackled on her fingertips, and she zapped Quan, sending him to the ground with a yelp. She glared down at him, and he nodded. “I won’t, I won’t! Just leave me alone.”

            With one last warning look, Azula returned to her place beside Sokka. He felt like he should get onto her for it, but he knew it had needed to be done.

            “Was the lightning really necessary?”

            She smirked at him. “No. It was just fun.”

**__**

            The guards came for them as usual, after three hours. They banged on the cell bars and dragged the tired slaves from their pens. But this time, in this shift, the prisoners were more alert than usual. And as they were led through the tunnels toward their next dig site, the prisoners’ eyes roved around as they hadn’t before.

            Then, an intersection. A cleft that led to another cavern--one they’d already dug out and which was empty now.

            With sudden, explosive motion, Sokka rammed his shoulder into the guard nearest him--the one between him and the mouth of the cavern. The other prisoners rushed the other seven guards, doing more herding that fighting. No, they left the fighting to Sokka and Azula.

            The two of them moved around the guards like wraiths; Azula used her own body heat to propel the guards into the cavern--stoking her inner fire until she practically crackled with the heat that poured off her body.

            Sokka grabbed a club from one of the guards and wielded it as if it was his sword, with a quickness and alertness that took the guards by surprise.

            Within moments, they’d forced their captors into the cavern, and Shin Zei and Tomaki were guarding the entrance.

            Sokka and Azula made short work of the guards, knocking out all but one--the one who wore the red sash. The red sash meant a leader, and he was the one they wanted.

            Sokka used the man’s own sash to tie his arms, while Azula leaned in his face, her expression frightening to behold.

            “You’re going to take us to the entrance, and if you try anything funny, I’m going to roast you like a turkey duck. Understand?”

            To emphasize her seriousness, she lit twin flames in either hand; the blue fire sent strange shadows dancing along the walls and Azula’s face, making her seem like some sort of demon. Sokka grinned at the sight--he’d never realized how amazingly powerful Azula was.

            Even after seven long years trapped down here, her bending was as strong as ever, and she’d lost none of her cunning. She’d just needed some incentive to bring it out again.

            It was almost scary.

            The guard nodded quickly, his eyes wide with terror, and Azula extinguished her flames. “Good.”

            She grabbed the man by his collar, holding him up. “Which way from here?”

            The man stuttered for a moment, and Sokka could see Azula getting impatient. He stepped forward and held the club at the man’s throat, made his eyes hard and unyielding like he’d seen Zuko do.