When I awoke again, the only thing I could feel was pain. There was pain in my legs from walking for so long and from riding on that blasted camel. There was pain in my head from constantly being in the heat and from having collided with several solid objects. There was pain in my soul from the exertion of magic I had used in the past few days. But the worst pain of all was that from my abdomen, from where Anokhan's fire-energy ball had struck me.

I groaned and tried to move, but realized I couldn't. Looking around groggily, I found that my arms were held up by some heavy, rusty iron chains. My head had been hanging in an awkward position, my chin resting on my chest. My neck felt stiff and sore. I tried to pull on the chains, but they wouldn't budge. I felt so drained of energy that I couldn't even use magic to get out even if I tried. Sighing in defeat, I let my head drop back down onto my chest.

At that moment, I felt a great sadness fall over me. I felt as if I had failed. I had failed my ancestors, Mikael, my mother, and worst of all, I had failed Trey. How would I get out of this Fire Nation alive? Anokhan, Ahamet and the others seemed pretty intent on killing me for what my ancestors had done to their people in the past. But it wasn't my fault, was it? I hadn't even known about magic until three years ago. I didn't even know about the ancient wars between the nations until recently. So why was I being punished for what my ancestors did?

A few tears leaked out from the corners of my eyes as I realized that during my whole life I had been punished because of what my ancestors had done. Because the first water master had been selfish and power-hungry, my people--my kind--had suffered; I was still suffering. And it wasn't fair.

I felt a kick at my legs and looked up.

"Gerr?" I croaked, seeing my accomplice chained on the far wall adjacent to me and looking dreadfully pale.

"Are you crying?" he asked. I sniffled and wished that I could brush the tears away. There was no lying to him when the evidence was trailing down my dirty cheeks.

"I want to give up," I said, feeling ashamed as I spoke the words.

"Caley, we're going to get out of this," Gerrard assured me. I jiggled the chains that held my arms above my head.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," I said.

"Think about who you're doing all of this for," he said.

"I am and that's exactly why I'm crying," I replied. "Because it was all a hopeless dream."

"Look, we did not come all this way just to give up. We're going to finish what we started. You're going to find the counter and we're going to save you from your curse," Gerrard said. His voice was hoarse and angry. I could tell he was upset with the sudden change in my mood. I hated it when Gerrard was upset with me.

"They're going to kill us," I said.

"We're strong enough to fight them," he replied. I shook my head and then I realized something.

My necklace was gone.

It wasn't resting on my sternum like it always was. They had probably taken it. It was no wonder that I felt so incredibly weak and vulnerable. The water stone--the one thing that provided me with comfort when I wasn't with Trey--was gone.

I felt my eyes well up with tears again.

"Aww, what the hell is wrong with you, Caley?" Gerrard hissed at me.

"It's gone! My necklace! It's gone!" I choked out, feeling the tears stream down my cheeks.

"It was just a necklace! Calm down!" he exclaimed. I shook my head.

"It wasn't! It wasn't just a necklace! Trey gave it to me. And it supplied me with power. It was a water stone and now it's gone!" I cried. "We're definitely going to die. I can't fight without it; I'm not strong enough," I said.

"You are strong enough; I helped you train. Gianna helped you train. Stop thinking like that; it's pissing me off," Gerrard scolded.

Before I could respond, I was cut off by a new voice.

"But she is right in thinking that way," the voice said.

We looked up to see Anokhan and his crew walk into the jail cell that Gerrard and I were chained in.

"You two are powerless. We drained both of you of your core energy supplies. You have only the strength to live right now, until such time the Sultan decides what to do with you," Anokhan explained.

"Sultan?" I squeaked.

"Unchain them," Anokhan ordered his men. Two of them proceeded forward and very roughly unchained Gerrard and I. Immediately after the chains on the walls were off our wrists, the two men put iron shackles around them, cuffing us once more. They pulled us up to our feet. I slumped over immediately onto the man that pulled me to a standing position. I was so exhausted and dizzy that I couldn't even stand. The man pushed me off of him and I bumped into the wall, painfully bruising my arm. I felt a flash of anger well up inside of me and I threw my heavy, cuffed hands at his face, smacking him squarely in the jaw. Three other men and Anokhan surrounded me in an instant as the guy that I hit in the face stood glaring at me, rubbing his jaw.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you how to treat a girl?" I sneered at him, breathing heavily from my momentary exertion.

I felt Anokhan yank at my hair, pulling my face up so I could look him in the eye.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to mess with strangers?" he asked back. I felt a burst sadness inside of me for the loss of my mother, which quickly turned into loathe for the man that was holding me up right now. Because I was shackled and he was out of hitting range, I did the next best thing to offend him.

I spit in his face.

Gerrard let out a bark of laughter behind me and Anokhan cursed at me in Arabic, throwing me to the ground. I chuckled to myself.

"I guess she didn't," I hissed at him. He picked me up by the front of my shirt and I felt slightly perplexed at his incredible physical strength.

"Listen here, you stupid girl, I could have killed you in an instant. It is only because the Sultan wants to speak to you that you are still alive. But I make no promise that I will make this easy for you. Even if he does decide to let you live, I will make sure your imprisonment will be as painful as possible," Anokhan threatened.

"And I'll make sure I make my imprisonment as difficult for you as possible," I replied snarkily. Anokhan's amber eyes flashed in anger and annoyance, which was exactly the response I was trying to get out of him.

"Get her out of here. The sooner she sees the Sultan, the sooner I can kill her," Anokhan spat.

His guards grabbed me by my elbows and started dragging me out of the prison chambers. The guards that held Gerrard followed close behind. They led us up a long, winding and narrow staircase that made me feel claustrophobic. Every so often, I would get a glimpse from the barred windows of the outside of the tower that we were in. From what I could tell, the Fire Nation was a mostly desert kingdom with few patches of greenery and trees. Whatever building we were in was clearly the largest one in sight. The common people most likely lived in the small hut-like houses that were scattered around this large building. 

After what seemed like ages, we finally reached the top of the staircase. Anokhan unlocked the bolted door with magic and then proceeded forward into a dimly lit stone corridor. At the end of the corridor was another door which Anokhan also unlocked. When he did, I was hit by a blinding white hot light. 

I closed my eyes immediately, caught off-guard by the sudden brightness. Whatever door Anokhan had just opened led to the outdoors. I blinked in the bright sunlight. It seemed that night had passed and that it was now early in the afternoon. I could smell the heat-filled air leak into the dingy corridor that we were standing in. Noises from the city surrounded me: people chatting, people yelling and selling their goods, dogs barking, carts moving.

With a push from the guards that were restraining me, I stepped fully into the light. I wished my hands were free so that I could shield my eyes. I squinted as I walked forward, trying to make sense of my surroundings. 

The building that we had been in was a tall tower made of stone bricks. It was connected by a stone bridge that we were walking on to what looked to be the main part of the palace. The palace itself looked to be very Arabian. There were tall minaret structures on the four corners with flags on top billowing in the light wind. The castle roofs themselves were domed in shape, coming to a point at the top. There were three domes in total. One in the very center which was the largest and two on either side of it. I guessed that the tower that we had come from was the prison holding area. Now we were walking toward one of the smaller domed buildings. 

Once we crossed over the white stone bridge, we entered through another door into the small domed section of the castle. The difference between the interior of this building and the interior of the building we had just come from was tenfold.

Inside this building were tall arches that gave a spectacular view of the city below. The arches and walls were painted white and had blue porcelain mosaic tiles along the edges. The white marble floors gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, sending our shadows along the walls next to us. From the ceilings hung white stone chandeliers that were currently unlit. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about it was the view from the open arches. 

Now that I was out of the sunlight, I could see the city properly. Stretching from in front of the palace was a long pathway lined with green palm trees. All around the palace was a high wall, but not high enough to block the view from our level. For as far as the eye could see beyond the palace was desert. I wondered how the city sustained itself. There was no crop to grow in this heat and no city around for hundreds of miles. How was this nation still standing?

We walked down the open corridor and then entered into another hallway. We then went up another couple flights of stairs which led to a set of decorated double doors. Behind these doors was our destination. 

The room that we entered into reminded me vaguely of Queen Maya's throne room. The room was large and magnificently decorated. The trims along the tops of the walls were gold with intricate carved designs. The floors were a crisp white marble with blue mosaic designs scattered in random places. At the very end of the room, towards the center, was a large gold throne with blue velvet cushions and elegant trimming. On this throne sat who I assumed to be the Sultan. 

The Sultan was a rather young looking man, not more than a few years older than Gerrard it seemed like. He seemed to be built and although he was sitting, he was probably taller than me. His eyes were bright and amber, just like the other members of the Fire Nation. He wore a loosely tied turban. His beard was sharp, short, lined up, and made him look both attractive and menacing. His lips curled into an evil smirk when he saw us. Motioning with his hand to come over, he beckoned us.

With a push from the guards restraining us, we began walking towards the throne to be sentenced. This was the moment that would decide whether Gerrard and I would get to live. This was the moment that would decided whether or not I would be able to carry out my task of breaking the curse on my elemental line.

"Your Highness, these are the intruders I spoke of," Anokhan said, bowing down in front of the Sultan. 

The Sultan leaned forward slightly to examine us. I felt the corners of my mind prickle and even in my severely weakened state, I was able to keep the Sultan out of my mind. He performed a power check on us, just as Queen Maya did. Satisfied that we were extremely weak, the Sultan stood up and stepped forward in front of us. He approached Gerrard first.

Gerrard stood his ground and squared his jaw as the Sultan looked at him. I could see the anger in Gerrard's eyes and I knew that if they hadn't drained us of all of our energy, the Sultan would be lying dead on the ground by now. 

After confirming for himself that Gerrard was a partial water master, the Sultan came towards me. He lifted my chin with his index finger so that I could look him straight in the eye. When he saw the purity of the blue in my eyes, I saw his own face twist in disgust and anger. With a glare sent my way, he turned and sat back down on his throne. 

"So it seems that you both are descendents of the Aguamenti," the Sultan spoke. His voice was smooth and charming, like velvet. "While you," he said, nodding at Gerrard, "are only a partial master, it seems that she is a full master," he said, pointing at me. "I'm sure that you know how us Fire Masters feel about you Aguamenti," he said menacingly. "Call in the other two!" he ordered all of a sudden.

We heard the door open and in came Anoki and Ahamet. I felt my eyes widen when I saw Anoki, surprised that he was still here. Ahamet, on the other hand, I was not surprised to see. He strode forward proudly, knowing full well that he would be rewarded for bringing the Sultan two enemies to kill.

"It seems your story proved to be true, Ahamet. Your banishment has hereby been lifted. You are free to go now," the Sultan said. The guards unshackled Ahamet from his cuffs. He massaged his wrists, sneered at Gerrard and me, and then walked out of the throne room.

"And you, Shapeshifter. I've no use for you. You may go as well," the Sultan said. The guards unshackled Anoki, as well. I furrowed my brow. Anoki couldn't be bound by any magical means. He could have escaped by now. Clearly, he was up to something. Anoki's bright eyes met mine and I saw a shadow of a smile on his lips. Then, with a swish of his cloak, he walked out of the room, too. Now, the Sultan turned back towards Gerrard and me.

"So why is it that you two are here, in enemy territory, risking your lives?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. 

"We're looking for someone," Gerrard said.

"Oh, really? And who might you be looking for in Aghbad?" he asked. I assumed Aghbad was the name of the Fire Nation we were in.

"A man," Gerrard said.

"That narrows it down," the Sultan said, a flicker of annoyance in his features. One of the guards struck Gerrard in the back for his incomplete answer.

"We're looking for someone named Mikael Gemeni," I said, not wanting Gerrard to get hurt any more than he already was. The Sultan's eyebrows shot straight up. He sat up straight, his attention caught. It seemed that the whole world knew who the Gemeni Twins were.

"How do you know of Mikael Gemeni?" the Sultan asked. 

"He's a friend of mine," I said coolly.

The guard elbowed me in my back and I scowled. 

"How do you know him?" the Sultan asked again.

"I met him once. And now I need his help with something. So I'm looking for him," I said.

"And what makes you think he's here?" the Sultan asked.

"He left us a map of different nations. We're going to different ones to see if we can find him," I replied. 

"What do you need his help for?" he asked.

"I can't say," I replied. The guard kicked me in the back of my knees and I fell to the ground. He yanked my head back by my hair and I yelped in pain. I heard a commotion to the side and knew that Gerrard was trying to break free to help me. 

"Would you like to answer again or shall we employ some harsher methods to make you talk?" the Sultan questioned.

"He left me with a mission and I need him to help me with it. I don't know the nature of it myself, so I can't say for sure. I'm not lying, you asshole," I spat out. 

"Caley," I heard Gerrard hiss. 

"What did you say to me?" the Sultan asked, standing up and glaring at me.

"I called you an asshole, asshole," I repeated.

"How dare you speak to me like that! Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?!" he shouted.

"Honestly, at this point, I don't really care. This whole ordeal is pissing me off. We came here to find the greatest wizard of our time and instead we're being held captive for no reason for something that our ancestors did to you," I began. "I mean, really? Holding a grudge for that long isn't healthy. And how is helping you with anything? You kill us off, we kill you off. It's a never-ending cycle, right? It's a perpetual state of never-ending violence. What good will it do to you to kill us? What satisfaction will it give you? That you won? Well, newsflash, asshole, the water masters are already an extinct race. You've already won. So you can just let us go, because killing us won't help anything," I said.

"Yes, but after killing both of you, your entire race will be eliminated. Then we won't have to worry about anything," the Sultan said.

"Except we're not the last two. There are still two more and if you kill either of us, you'll have them to answer to," I replied.

"Also, if you kill her, you'll be killing one of your own," Gerrard piped up.

"What?" the Sultan asked, looking at Gerrard now.

"Her mother was a fire master," Gerrard said. The Sultan looked at me again.

"Her eyes--" he started.

"Are all blue, which means she's a water master. But her genes give her the power to be master of both fire and water. Her mother was a pureblood fire master. She married a pureblood water master. Caley is the product of that marriage. She has the blood of a fire master inside of her, too," Gerrard explained. 

The Sultan scrutinized Gerrard to see if he was lying. Then he ordered one of his guards to test it. The guard extracted a needle and stabbed me in the arm with it. He extracted a sample of my blood, which he handed to another guard, who took it out of the room.

"In a few hours, we will see whether or not you are lying. If you are lying, then you better savor your last moments," the Sultan said. 

"And what if we aren't?" I asked. 

"We'll see," the Sultan said. "But for now, I want you out of my sight. I can't look at those blue eyes any longer," he added. I rolled my eyes. With a nod, the Sultan told his guards to take us back to the prisons. We marched back grudgingly.

"I thought it would work," Gerrard whispered to me.

"I knew he'd want proof," I replied. 

"It was worth a shot, though," he said. 

The guards pushed us back into the prison and then locked the doors. Another larger guard came to relieve the guards of their posts. They thanked him and handed him the keys to our prison cell and then left. The large guard stepped in front of the prison bars, crossing his hands in front of him, making his muscles bulge out. There was no way Gerrard and I would be able to take him in a fight even if we did figure out how to get out of the prison.

Once the other guards had turned the corner and left, the large guard spoke up. And when it spoke, it's voice surprised me.

"Are you two all right?" the guard asked, his voice hushed.

"Ummmm...yes..." Gerrard said, glancing at me uncertainly.

"Oh, good!" the guard exclaimed, his voice suddenly high pitched and cheerful. It sounded very familiar to a voice we already knew...

"Anoki!" Gerrard and I hissed at the same time.

The large guard--or rather, Anoki in disguise--turned around, a gleeful smile on his face.

"Anoki, you sly dog! How did you manage to fool them?!" I exclaimed as he extracted the key and began to unlock us.

"You doubt my abilities, Caley Lucia?" Anoki asked. 

"I have never been happier to see you," Gerrard said. Anoki swung open the gate and I lunged forward to hug him. 

"Help us get these shackles off," I said, brandishing the heavy metal cuffs. 

"What made you come back to get us?" Gerrard asked as Anoki unshackled us.

"Well, you made a promise to tell me where you were going. I intend on holding you to that," Anoki said, not looking us in the eye. I raised an eyebrow.

"Is that the only reason?" I asked. 

"It may have also been that I might have grown a certain attraction to you two," he said, trying to come off as nonchalant. I laughed and thumped him in the arm. 

"Let's keep him!" I said to Gerrard.

"Two days ago you wanted to shove him in a ditch," Gerrard said, massaging his freed wrists.

"That was before he saved our asses," I said. Gerrard rolled his eyes at me.

"All right, how are we getting out of here?" he asked Anoki once we were both free.

"Leave that to me," Anoki said with a wink. He straightened up and then, switching back to the voice that fit his current form, he said, "Follow me." Gerrard and I looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed him.

We followed him out the same way we were brought in. For the most part, Anoki got away with having us out of the prison. He simply told anyone that asked that the Sultan wanted to move us to different quarters for the time being. We were pulling off the act successfully and it seemed that we were going to get away with it. By nightfall, we would be out of Aghbad and on our way to wherever our next destination was to be.

As if fate were reading my mind and thought that our escape was too easy, our lucky ran out very quickly.

We had made our way to the lower part of the palace. The coast was clear, so Anoki shifted back into his natural form and we were about to exit to the outside. But then, just as we reached for the solid gold door handles, we heard a voice stop us.

"And where do you think you are going?" the inmistakable voice of Anokhan said. All three of collectively winced. Now we were really going to get it. We all turned around gingerly, ready to face our punishment for trying to escape. 

"Out," Gerrard replied, trying to be smooth.

"Oh, really?" Anokhan asked.

"Can't we just pretend that this never happened?" I asked as Anokhan gestured for several guards to grab us. He let out a fake laugh as we were cuffed once again.

"That would be no fun, though" he replied. "Oh, I am going to have fun punishing you for trying to esc--" he started saying. He was interrupted, however, by a palace messenger. 

"The Sultan has the results of the elemental gene test. He wants to see them again," the messenger said, nodding at Gerrard and me.

I let out a sigh of relief. We were saved by the messenger.

_________________________________________________________

A/N: Hiiiiii everyone! Did you miss me? I missed all of you darling little fanlings. Thanks for being so patient. The past few months for me have been absolute hell. But I have taken my test. I won't find out the results until the end of July, but at least I'm not studying anymore. Pray that I do well on the test and get the score I need! I'm applying to schools now and working on my application. But now...I can update!!!

I had about a quarter of this chapter written before. I just didn't get around to finishing it because I was busy celebrating being done with my exam. But what did you think? Will the Sultan let them live?

I promise updates will happen more often now. I'm going on a mini vacation in the next week, though, so I won't be able to update. But when I get back, I'll have all the time in the world!

This is unrelated, but has anyone read the Game of Thrones books or the Divergent books? Are they any good? I want to start reading them.

Until next time...comment and vote!!!

XOXO