[The Darkest Point - Harth's Farm - apharsites]
It was good to be the King. Or as close to as this place got. It meant this dark, sunless place was his alone.
Today he had light, but only from the brazier that he had lit; from it, he could see the once-princ, now-cripple breathing shallowly.
"It won't be long now. You can't survive much more. I think I've rendered you useless to the magog, too -- you'd never survive breeding. Maybe your big, chubby uncle, though."
Sparks leapt from the brazier in sudden frenzy.
"Are we that on, then? You ready to die? Remember. If you hurt me, I hurt her."
There was no response; Zuko would not speak to him. Not even as he broke away his Magog-made prison and hooked his bound wristup and then raised him from the floor like a rack of beef.
There was a knife in one hand, and a red hot poker in the other, and the girl's sniffles were all that could be heard in the hollow darkness.
Harth went to work.
Today he had light, but only from the brazier that he had lit; from it, he could see the once-princ, now-cripple breathing shallowly.
"It won't be long now. You can't survive much more. I think I've rendered you useless to the magog, too -- you'd never survive breeding. Maybe your big, chubby uncle, though."
Sparks leapt from the brazier in sudden frenzy.
"Are we that on, then? You ready to die? Remember. If you hurt me, I hurt her."
There was no response; Zuko would not speak to him. Not even as he broke away his Magog-made prison and hooked his bound wristup and then raised him from the floor like a rack of beef.
There was a knife in one hand, and a red hot poker in the other, and the girl's sniffles were all that could be heard in the hollow darkness.
Harth went to work.