Chapter Eighteen

The Dream

Katara's eyes opened. It was still dark. She could hear the wave of the ocean washing softly onto the shoreline. She rolled over onto her back and stared up into the night sky. As she looked up into the sky there was a brief streak of light. A shooting star. As she watched it shoot across the sky her thoughts drifted to Khundes. She refused to believe that he was dead. There was just no way. Khundes had told her that Azula loved him. Even if she didn't love him anymore, Azula would surely not kill Khundes. Torture him endlessly maybe, but never kill him. Azula was probably holding Khundes in the Prison Tower near the Fire Nation capitol.

As she lay there, Katara began to doze off. As quickly as her eyes closed, they flew open again. She was now standing in a dim, torch-lit corridor. She looked up and down the corridor but she could only see so far because the corridor curved.

There was a scream and Katara jumped. She felt her blood freeze in her veins. Then, as if controlled by some unknown force, she began walking in the direction from which the scream originated.

As she walked, Katara noticed large steel doors every few feet. A prison. The scream came again. It was closer this time. As she finished rounding the curve the corridor began to straighten out and at the end of the corridor was a steel door. It was different from the other doors she had passed moments ago. This one had a very large lock on the front, no tiny window, and this one was guarded by two guards.

As Katara drew closer to the door, she was sure the guards would attack her at any moment, but they did not. It was like they didn't even notice that she was there. Once again came the scream. It was coming from behind this door. She reached out to touch the door and the large lock fell to the ground with a resonating clang.

Grasping the door handle, Katara pushed the door open. The room smelled of a mixture of death and sewage. There were no windows and no torches for light. In the center of the room she saw a man chained up. His hair was matted and tangled, his wrists and ankles bleeding slightly from the shackles around them, and the only piece of clothing he wore was a very tattered pair of pants.

Katara walked around him. When she saw his back her eyes brimmed with tears. There were large gashes and cuts all across his back. She made a move to draw some water out of her water pouch to attempt to sooth the obvious pain he was in, but the water pouch was not there.

Suddenly the man screamed again. Katara jumped. She walked back in front of him again. "What can I do?" she asked desperately, tears now streaming down her face. The man said nothing.

Katara stepped forward and placed a hand on his grimy cheek. "Please... Tell me what I can do!" she yelled with more desperation.

The man slowly raised his head. Katara's heart sank. Looking at her, through worn and tired eyes, was Khundes. "Help me..." he said.

"NO!!" Katara was now back at the beach camp, the waves of the ocean still washing softly onto the shoreline, and a sea breeze blowing gently through her hair. She looked around and saw everyone was still asleep. Then what she had dreamed hit her. She couldn't believe how vivid it was. Katara's eyes began filling with tears. For all she knew Khundes was really being tortured.

Katara layed down, a tear still sliding down the side of her face. She looked into the star strewn sky. She had come to a decision. Tomorrow night she would go rescue Khundes.