| foreign places
TRIKRU
Octavia Blake opened her eyes slowly, blinded by the bright sunlight getting to her through tree crowns. It took her a moment to put her thoughts in order and realize that she had no idea where she was and why she was there.
She looked around to see that she was lying in some kind of carriage, buried in the warm furs. She noticed a big amount of some plants tossed on one of her sides, food and all kinds of soft goods on the other. She raised her head and realized that the carriage wasn't moving, one horse on the front was standing still, being fed by a man.
A man.
First thing she saw was his bold head with a black tattoo on top of it that was coming down his neck and disappearing under his coat. He lifted his head then and she got to see his face. It was sharp and masculine, his skin - unlike her and anyone she's ever seen in Ice Nation - was golden brown, as if it was imitating the color of barks of trees that surrounded him. His chestnut eyes were deep and wild, yet warm the second he looked at her.
"You're up."
His voice was deep, and hoarse, and tender. It took Octavia a few seconds to remember that he definitely wasn't her friend, that he practically kidnapped her, took her away from her brother.
Oh god, Bellamy.
"I had to give you some herbs to calm you down" he said, since she remained silent. "Sorry for that."
There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask him. Who was he? Where did he take her and why did he do it? How far was she from home? What happened to her brother? The questions just kept coming to her head, but instead of asking them out loud, she didn't say anything, getting up quickly and feeling her head rushing.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her calmly. He didn't seem to be concerned that she left without saying a word, like he didn't believe she could get far.
"To find my brother" she answered sharply. She heard his heavy footsteps behind her, meaning he wasn't willing to let her go just like that.
"Wait," he said as he grabbed her wrist to stop her. "You can't just go."
"I'm sorry, but who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" she wrenched her wrist from his grasp and kept walking, not even knowing where she was heading. "You're not..." she trailed off, turning around to face him and straightened herself to look as tall and strong as possible. It didn't do much though, since he was a lot taller than her. "I'm not afraid of you."
"Good, because I'm trying to help you"
"Help me?" she echoed. Who he was and why the hell he wanted to help her was a mystery to her. But what she did know was that he wasn’t helping at all. "Look, I don't know what you want from me, but if you really want to help, just get out of my way."
He stepped in front of her to block her way. "Wait, just let me explain-"
"I said get out of my way."
"Alright," this time he listened to her and stepped out of the way, but he kept up with her as she walked forward, refusing to look at him. "So Polis, huh? You know, you're going in the opposite direction."
Octavia turned around wordlessly and so did he. They walked in silence for a while, before he spoke again, "You don't even know where you are."
"You mind telling me?" she snorted. "You brought me here in the first place."
"Trikru."
Trikru. She'd always wanted to see it. It was the only place in Arkadia with no lords or kings, but with a commander chosen in a conclave. They didn't have to be highborns to become the leaders, just fighters. Octavia always found that fascinating and much more sensible.
But in that moment, it was the last place she wanted to be in. It was far from home, far from Bellamy, and she had no one there who she knew, no one she could rely on. Except that man she didn't trust at all. "I don't need you to follow me" she said because that guy clearly didn't intend to leave her alone.
He chuckled. "You've got a real gratitude problem, you know that?"
She stopped walking and turned her head, finally looked at him. Did he really expect her to be grateful? "Gratitude? Why would I be grateful to you?"
He crossed his arms, looking down at her and suddenly she was sensible of how towering he was. "I saved your life."
She almost laughed. "You didn't. My brother did."
"And you were going to give yourself in and waste that."
"That's enough!" she barked, pushing him slightly. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, considering he was much bigger and probably stronger than her, but Octavia was impulsive. And that man just didn't seem to understand that she didn't need his help. "You don't know that, you don't know me. You don't know what happened there and you-"
"I know what happened there" he interrupted her before she could even finish the sentence. All of sudden, his soft expression turned into an angry one. She had no idea where that change came from, but it had to be something she did or said that made him like that. Either way, it made her position even worse. "They took him and he's gone. There's no saving for him. I know how this goes."
She didn't ask him how he knew that, nor did she care. She walked past him, simmering. How could he look her in the face and lie like that? Because he couldn't be right.
He couldn't.
"Alright, you can go" he called, but this time he didn't follow her. "But your brother is probably dead by now and if you go back there, you'll be dead too."
Only after hearing his words did the reality hit her. Tears filled her eyes as she slowly stopped walking. She felt like she would crumble any moment, recalling the events of the previous night. Her brother, the most important person in her life, was gone and she was powerless to prevent it from happening.
The guy behind her must have realized that his words were a little rough, because she could hear his footsteps behind her. She turned to him to see that his expression softened. "Hey, I'm sorry" he said quietly. In that moment she thought that maybe, maybe he was a good guy and he really wanted to help her. "Look, you can stay here, in Trikru, I could help you. I'm sure your brother would want that."
She nodded slightly. What did she have to lose, anyway? For all she knew, that guy was her best chance to stay alive. "What's your name?" she asked, realizing that she didn't even know that about him.
"Lincoln" he answered. She was pretty sure she'd heard that name before. Perhaps she read it in a book.
"Lincoln. I'm Octavia."
***
PODAKRU
Clarke Griffin arrived to Podakru accompanied by Marcus Kane and a dozen of lord Collins' soldiers ten days after the Unity Day.
Perhaps not everyone of the Lake People knew about her alliance with their leader, because not everyone welcomed her with open arms. Maybe she didn't get thrown at with trash, but she did hear people talking about her with pure disapproval on their faces, some of them even booing at her. No one smiled at her as she entered the capital city, people weren't celebrating the way she thought they would. Welcoming a royal family in their clan should be a hell of a celebration. And she was their queen, the only rightful one.
"What's wrong?" she asked Kane as they rode through the crowd full of people. Almost all of them looked like they wished they could throw her off her horse, or at least throw something at her.
"Podakru don't love the Griffins" Kane responded. "Your family ended their bloody traditions when they conquered these lands and imposed the leadership of the Collinses. People were mad."
"Well, that's good to know" she huffed, looking around the crowd. "Am I dealing with fanatics?"
"Traditionalists" he corrected her. "Don't worry about it. They'll eventually come around."
"Traditionalists?" she echoed. She didn't necessarily like to deal with people that were blinded by their religion or traditions, it was often impossible to change their mindset. "Tell me about them."
Kane thought his answer over for a few seconds. "They worship water and fire. Water brings life, fire brings death. They believe life is a gift and death gives it a reason" he explained as he turned his head to her. "They used to fight for life and death as a form of sacrifice and your family ended that. They think you're here against the gods' will."
She looked around, eyeing the people that surrounded her. If what Kane said was true, then it would be hard for her to make them love her, or at least show some respect. But Clarke Griffin wasn't the one to give up easily. "Their beliefs won't stop me."
Kane smiled at her gently. "I know you're confident, but you won't take their faith away from them. That's exactly why they hate your family."
"I won't take their gods away" she said as she turned her head to look forward at the castle spreading in front of her. If she was able to convince Dante, his people wouldn’t be a problem. "I'll become one."
Kane's mouth curved into an even wider smile at her words. He looked proud, almost like a proud father.
They finally got to the castle where Lord Collins would greet her and where she would see her fiancé for the first time. She wasn't really nervous about that meeting. Marrying Finn Collins was just another thing she had to do to sit on the throne. And she was ready to do everything to achieve that.
When she got off her horse, some people - who she assumed were servants - welcomed her with a little more enthusiasm than all the other people of Podakru. In silence they led her on the way to the building, where they passed a lot of guards, servants and maidens, most of them didn't look pleased. "That's the Griffin princess" she heard someone say. "She shouldn't be here" someone else whispered, but all of these comments and unpleasant glances, they didn't make her lose any confidence. Those people clearly had no love for her. She had to earn it then. She would.
She walked through the large door, entering the big hall. There wasn't an actual throne in there, because Lord Collins was no king to sit on one. But there was a row of chairs where the Collinses sat while seeing their visitors and a long, wooden table in front of them. Clarke already noticed that they obviously loved extravagant ornaments, because all she could see inside the castle were gemstones, gold and pricey wood. It was almost... Crushing.
She saw Dante sitting on the chair in the middle. Another man was sitting on his right side, this one much younger than the lord. Clarke saw some similarities in their faces though, so she assumed it was his son. Her soon-to-be husband.
That man didn't look friendly or kind. His white skin and stark appearance reminded her of the people she'd seen in Ice Nation, but he wasn't beautiful like almost everyone in Azgeda was, he looked rather repellently.
"Clarke Griffin" Dante called without bothering to stand up. He should have stood up. He should have referred to her your grace, she was a queen, after all. It seemed that not only his people didn't treat her with enough respect, but neither did the lord himself.
Kane was the first one to greet him. He approached him and shook his hand with a smile on his face. Then he shook the younger Collins' hand too, being less friendly with this one. "My lord" Clarke said, forcing a smile. She didn't make any move towards them.
"It's a pleasure to have you here" Dante assured, but she didn't really believe him. "Let me introduce. This is my first born son," he pointed at the man sitting beside him. "Cage."
"Oh," So that wasn't the man she was about to marry. She was glad. "I was supposed to meet my fiancé" she pointed out.
"Right" he said. "Finn will come here soon."
It took all her willpower not to say anything. She'd come a long way to get there and so far he didn't even offer her a seat. And now she still had to wait for his son to come. She knew that Dante was just paying her back for the way she made him wait for her on the Unity Day, but it didn't make her any less impatient.
"Clarke Griffin" Dante's son - Cage - filled the silence as he got up from his chair and approached her. He took one of her hands in his own and brought it to his lips, greeting her. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"It's your grace for you" she replied, taking her hand away from him. "When you greet your queen, you should kneel," she stopped for a second before adding, "My lord."
"You're not even a queen, not yet" he didn't break the eye contact with her when he smirked viciously. "Your only army is my army. You're only here because you're marrying my brother. You have nothing and you expect me to kneel?"
He was much taller than her, much bigger, but he didn't intimidate her. No, she could deal with men like him, men who openly disrespected her.
"I don't expect you to kneel" she said, putting a little smile on her face as well. "I demand it."
"Clarke" Kane interjected, sensing the tension. He was always the one to hold her back when her temper took over her. He always smoothed things over when they were about to snap.
She was going to say something in response, done with the way she was treated. The moment she opened her mouth, someone entered the room. She turned her head to see a guy in rich clothes. He was similar to Cage, but looked much younger and much more boyish. His face was softer, eyes warmer.
Finn Collins.
"Finn," Dante addressed his younger son. "We have a visitor."
Finn didn't seem to notice her at first. He looked at her with a little confusion, probably not aware of who she was. Since Dante wasn't willing to introduce her, she decided to do it herself.
"I am Clarke Griffin of the old Fayagedakru, the daughter of Jake Griffin" she made her introduction very official, considering it was her fiancé standing in front of her. But then again, their marriage was an alliance, nothing more. It was supposed to be official. Clarke took a deep breath and made sure her words sounded firmly when she added, "The rightful queen of Arkadia."
"Oh" Finn sighed, but seconds later he cleared his throat, as if he wanted to sound more confident, more royal. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Right, Clarke thought. His words felt rehearsed, they probably were, because he said the exact same thing as his brother.
She had a feeling this was going to be tougher than she expected.
***
The day after Clarke's arrival, they had a feast together. Her, Kane and the Collinses. Turned out that Cage already had a wife, which was the only reason why Clarke wasn't about to marry him instead of Finn, since he was the first born son.
"So," Finn was sitting next to her, desperately trying to make a conversation. They sat in silence almost the entire time and while she didn't care about it at all, he seemed to be uncomfortable with it. "How do you like it here?"
"Fine" she said, not sure what he meant by here. Was he talking about the castle? Or Podakru in general? Either way, she didn't like it there, but she wasn't about to tell him that.
Finn's attention went back to his plate, for he didn't have anything else to say.
"Tell me, Clarke," Cage turned his attention to her, obviously refusing to address her the way he should. "since my father trusted you so blindly. What are your plans?"
"My plans?" she echoed. She took a few seconds to craft her words, well aware that this was another opportunity for Dante and Cage to defy her. She wasn't going to give them this satisfaction. "You know I'm marrying your brother. Then I'll seek for support from Shallow Valley and Trikru. It shouldn't be a problem, they're known for supporting my family."
"What about Azgeda?" Finn interjected. "I heard they've got the greatest army of all clans."
"They don't get invested in foreign wars" Kane said. His expression changed slightly and Clarke assumed it was for the mention of Ice Nation. Kane told her once that he'd been there for a longer time and he hated that place. "As long as the war doesn't concern them, they don't pick sides."
"Azgeda are savages" Cage added. "Podakru wouldn't be fighting alongside them anyway."
The conversation ended there and they came back to eating when servants brought them another meal. The feast was so lavish Clarke wasn't even sure if the royal family itself got to eat like that. The Collinses clearly loved the splendor.
Cage took the last bit of his food before returning to the topic. "So, coming back to your plans. I think we'd all like to know them, since we're risking everything with this alliance."
Obviously, he was just trying to find something to mock her. Clarke cleared her throat. "Russell Lightbourne is dying" she stated, ignoring his comment. "It's the best to attack Polis right after his death. Use the chaos."
"This isn't a plan" Cage said. "It's an idea. Weak one."
"Well, what do you want to know?" she asked, trying very hard not to sound annoyed. Kane cleared his throat as a sign for her not to let her temper take over her.
"Your other allies, for starters. Commander Lexa is busy with her conflict with Azgeda, and whether Shallow Valley will follow you or not, it's a lottery. You can't just depend on two clans you're taking for granted."
"I'm not a fool." She wasn't annoyed anymore. She was angry.
"I never said you were."
"Come on, Cage" Finn said, trying to break the tension. Clarke already managed to notice that he was quite easy-going and casual, a little too casual to be a future king. She'd have to discipline him. "He meant to ask you about your further plans" he turned to her. "If anything goes wrong."
"I know what he meant" she cut, feeling her blood boil. This wasn't how she imagined this would go. "You want to know my plans, Cage?" she looked at the older brother who was staring at her with a little smirk on his face, his arm wrapped around his wife's back. The woman said only a few words during the evening. Clarke assumed this was how she was raised to be. A good, beautiful wife on her husband's side. An addition to a man.
Clarke would never let any man degrade her like that.
"That's what I asked" Cage raised his brow.
"I will sit on the throne" she said firmly. "And I will rule."
"Once again, this is not a plan."
"You see," Clarke took a sip of her wine between her words, "plans change. All the time. My father had a plan to get back the throne twenty five years ago and as you can see, it didn't work. You can't quite plan how to overthrow the ruler. You gain allies, watch how things go and when the right time comes, you attack."
"You're confident about it" Dante spoke for the first time since they started that pointless conversation. Unlike Cage, he didn't seem to be completely about what she said, he looked quite impressed, even.
"A little too confident, considering that I don't see a crown on your head" those words from Cage were the last straw. She could accept a lot, but enough was enough.
"Alright" she stood up, feeling her head spinning a little. She'd drunk a few glasses of wine already and that might have caused her to overreact. "You want to know what i'm going to do? I'm going to take back what's mine, no matter how much it costs. I'll spill the blood if it's needed. I'll burn down castles and destroy cities if I have to. But I will take back what's mine."
She leaned over to Cage who was now watching her carefully, she couldn't tell whether he was fascinated or shocked.
"I'm the last of the Griffins" she continued, her voice strong. "I'm the queen. Your queen. And I will take out all of my enemies, one by one, that's what queens do. You should treat me with respect, or otherwise I might think you're my enemy too."
After saying those words, she left the room. She could hear Dante calling, "You didn't lie when you said she was fierce." He was most likely talking to Kane.
She walked to the balcony, feeling a need of fresh air. It didn't take much time for Marcus to appear next to her. "You shouldn't have said that" he said calmly.
"What was I supposed to do?" she replied sharply, turning away from him. "He kept insulting me and you didn't say anything to stop him."
"Cage is tough, but he's your ally and the future lord of the Lake Clan" Kane noted. "You have to keep him decent relations with him."
"They don't respect me."
"Cage doesn't. But Dante seemed to enjoy your little speech. And from what I've seen, your fiancé treats you just fine."
"What are you trying to say, Kane?" she felt like she was about to snap again. Out of all people, she expected at least him to understand her, to be on her side. "That I should just stay quiet and let him offend me? That's not who I am and you know that."
"No" he made a few steps towards her. "I'm saying that respect must be earned, Clarke. Even if you're a queen. I've known Dante for years and I know that he takes his time with people. Prove him you deserve respect and you'll get it."
"No, Kane" she said, surprised by how calm her voice was. "I don't need to prove myself to a man." She turned her head towards him. "And you will refer to me as your queen. Not Clarke. Your grace."
She walked away leaving him in quite a shock.
***
SHALLOW VALLEY
They'd been walking for almost a day. Most specifically, Bellamy was walking with his hands tied, while the three men in front of him were riding on their horses. He was sure they weren't in a rush and could go slower, but they didn't. Instead, they took a fast pace so there were moments he had to run, otherwise he would fall and they would just drag him, because there was no way they would stop for him to stand up. Fair enough. After all, he killed those guards. He probably deserved it.
But the thing is, he didn't really regret it. It was wrong, he knew that. And he felt bad with himself, well aware that their blood was still on his hands. But what he did prevented them from finding Octavia, so he didn't regret it.
Bellamy started to realize how horrible his situation was. He had no idea where his sister was. Who was it that brought her from the square? That guy didn't have an armor or anything indicating that he was one of the Lightbournes's men. Bellamy could only hope that Octavia was safe, but he didn't really believe that.
He didn't know where he was either. He overheard the guards talking about crossing the border with Shallow Valley a few hours ago. He wouldn't recognize that himself, he never left Azgeda, so he had no idea how the other clans looked like.
It was beginning to get dark. The air got cooler as the hours went by, but it's not like he couldn't handle it. He was used to much bigger cold in Ice Nation, a little freeze of much warmer Shallow Valley wouldn't cause him any harm.
The horses were getting slower, being tired of the torturous walk. Bellamy was pretty sure they were coming to a stop. Good. He was thirsty and hungry as hell. Not that those men would care enough to feed him.
"Where are we gonna stay for the night?" one of them asked.
"There's a tavern nearby" the other suggested. "We could go there and get some whores. I think we deserved it."
"Oh yeah" the first one said with blissfulness in his voice. "All I need now is a slut with big tits. Something my wife doesn't have."
Bellamy listened to their conversation with pure disgust. So these are the great soldiers of the royal army.
"No whores today" the third guard, the one in the front called. He was obviously the oldest, the most important of them all, from what Bellamy saw, he was the one to make all of decisions. "We gotta keep an eye on the savage boy."
"Oh, come on. Let me just take one for a quick fuck. It won't take long."
What a loser, Bellamy thought, stopping himself from saying it out loud. Not that he was in the position to say anything. After all, he was the one being dragged around like a bag of trash.
"No," the front guard didn't seem to be changing his mind, even after the oh so promising offer to visit the local tavern. "King's orders" he replied sharply, causing his comates to grunt. They were clearly unhappy, but they didn't dare to question his decision.
They kept going and about twenty minutes later they stopped, the men getting off their horses. Then they tethered the animals to something - probably a tree, but Bellamy couldn't see properly in the darkness. He didn't know where they were or why they stopped there. There was nothing to be seen around.
"Hey, you!" one of the guards turned his head to him, taking the chain Bellamy was tied with to his hands. "We're gonna stop for the night."
After a moment he realized they weren't exactly in the middle of nowhere. There was a mansion about fifty yards away. The soldiers made towards it and Bellamy followed, dragged on the chain by one of them. They knocked on the door and had to wait a while before someone opened. A young woman looked at them with confusion. "Who are you?"
"King's army" the oldest guard explained, making her even more taken aback. "We require a sojourn."
"What?" she asked. Bellamy wasn't surprised she didn't know what was going on, after all, these guys just came to her home and required her to let them stay. Then she noticed him standing in the back and her eyes widened. Again, he wasn't surprised, he was aware of how he must have looked. He was bruised and dirty, the dark streams of blood congealed on his face hours ago. He hadn't seen himself in the mirror, but he was more than sure he looked like death. "Who's that?" she pointed at Bellamy with uncertainty. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Gina?" a voice sounded from the house and after a few seconds a middle-aged man appeared next to her. "What's going on?"
"King's army" the old guard repeated, clearly irritated. "Let us in."
"Why is that?" the man standing in the door asked, Bellamy couldn't help but notice that he looked a little nervous to have them there.
"Due to law, you're obligated to take the army men in whenever it's needed." The respond sounded rehearsed, almost filled with boredom. The soldier must have been used to saying those words and dealing with people who didn't want to let him in. Bellamy wondered if it really was a law or he was just making it up. "Come on, man. We wouldn't want the king to know you made us disobey his orders, would we? It could be considered a treason."
The man shivered slightly at the obvious threat. He took a quick glance at the woman standing next to him before he sighed and opened the door wider for them to come in. He must have missed the sight of Bellamy earlier, because the moment he was dragged through the door, the guy froze for a second. "Who is that?"
„A prisoner" one of the guards answered as he shoved his way through the hall, dragging Bellamy with him. The force of the tug made him trip over and fall on his knees. The young woman scoped him out with concern, but before she could do anything to help him, the soldier sent her a sharp, warning look. "No need to be so troubled, ma'am. You're looking at the murderer."
"Murderer?" she echoed, now looking at him with not so much of concern, but with fear.
"What's your name, sir?" the oldest soldier asked, completely ignoring the mix of confusion and dread on their hosts' faces.
"Martin" the man mumbled in response. "Gregory Martin."
"Martin. I know this name. Do you serve in the royal army?"
"My father did. I fight for Shallow Valley."
The guard nodded and walked past him, looking around the mansion. "Emerson, go to the town and send the message to Polis," he turned to his comrade. "Write that we got one of them and we're staying for the night at the Martins" here he sent a very forced smile to the man - Gregory - before nodding at Emerson as a sign that he was allowed to go. Emerson silently left.
"You're staying the night?" Gregory snapped out of shock. "With the murderer under my roof?"
Bellamy didn't like the fact that his name was so quickly replaced with the word murderer, but it's not like he could say something that would change it. He killed people. Of course he would be labeled as a murderer.
"Oh come on, Gregory" the guard that held Bellamy on chain clapped mister Martin's arm which could be considered a friendly gesture if it wasn't for thee threats they made to him only a few minutes beforehand. "You're a military man. You've dealt with worse people."
"My wife and my daughter are here" he replied sharply. Bellamy took a glance at the woman who he assumed was Gregory's daughter. She was too confused by the situation she was in to say anything.
"Oh, I think she can handle it" the guard said, sending a disgusting smile to the woman. "Don't you, sweetheart?"
"You couldn't get yourself a prostitute so now you're hitting on the first girl you see? A little pathetic, don't you think?"
All eyes turned to Bellamy as he spoke for the first time since they got there. He could already see the vein pulsing on the soldier's forehead, his eyes getting filled with anger. But Bellamy had nothing to lose, so he didn't care to keep his mouth shut about them anymore.
It didn't last long before he felt a slap on his cheek, pain quickly spread all over his face. He heard the woman gasp at the sudden act of violence. She probably wasn't used to seeing things like that.
"This is enough!" Gregory raised his voice. "You, tell your friend to behave" he addressed the older guard. "And he," here he pointed at Bellamy, "He stays tied and you won't let him out of your sight."
The old man just nodded in response and silently headed to the inside of the mansion. Gregory and his daughter followed him and so did the guard dragging Bellamy with him. They entered the huge living room and Bellamy thought that it was the most beautiful house he'd ever seen. Not even Diana Sydney had a place so big and so wealthy-looking. He noticed that the design was far different from what he'd seen in Troit, less stark and more extravagant. He supposed that the architecture might have been different in every clan.
He saw a woman standing in the middle of the room, looking frankly shocked. She was very similar to the one that opened the door for her, she must have been her mother, thus missus Martin.
"We've got visitors. King's army" her husband spoke. Bellamy was almost sure they exchanged a worried look. "With a prisoner. They want to stay over for the night."
"Alright" even if the woman was surprised or worried, she hid it well behind the warm smile. "We were just about to have dinner. Would you join us?"
"With pleasure, ma'am."
They moved to the dining room and sat at the table, of course without Bellamy who was made staying in the corner, his chain tied to the guard's belt. They stayed in the awkward silence, the Martins exchanging quick glances as they waited for the servants to bring them the meal. When the food was on the table, Bellamy could so much as smell it, not allowed to eat with them.
"He looks hungry" the young woman pointed at him, breaking the heavy silence. He must have been staring at their meal without even realizing it. "Maybe we should give him something to eat."
"Oh, he'll be fine" the guard assured with his mouth full, just another form of sweet torture that made him visibly satisfied with himself.
"He has to eat if you don't want him to die on your way to Polis" she said as she took her plate and put a peace of meat and some vegetables on it. In spite of her parents' vivid protests she approached Bellamy and carefully reached her hand to him. "Come on, you can take it."
Bellamy glanced at the guards, one of them already standing up to protect the woman from possible attack. He was a criminal now, so of course, he could attack her all of sudden. The old soldier just nodded at him, allowing him to eat. He slowly took a plate from her hands and started to eat as quickly as his tied hands allowed him. "Thanks" he muttered after taking a bite. She sent him a warm smile, he noticed there wasn't so much fear in her eyes anymore.
"Gina, come back to the table" her father spoke. Gina. Bellamy realized that it must have been her name. It sounded a little bit strange to him, he'd never heard it before.
Soon, Emerson came back and they all finished their meal. Never in his life had Bellamy eaten so good, even the finest dishes he'd ever made didn't compare to the one he ate as a prisoner.
Having eaten the dinner, they moved to the living room. It was so warm there Bellamy almost forgot he was on the way to Polis where he would be most likely executed. He wondered if it was a normal thing to do for the royal army, to stay in ordinary people's houses with prisoners. He supposed that maybe, maybe it was even forbidden and those men only did it because they were more comfortable staying in the big mansion than setting up camp on their own. But how could he know? He didn't know the actual law, just the most basic rules.
"It's a beautiful house you have, mister Martin" the old guard commented, walking slowly around the ornately decorated room. He watched carefully every painting, the pottery and all kind of decorations there were.
"It's been in my family for generations" Gregory answered shortly, his eyes didn't leave the soldier for a second.
"The Martins..." the old man trailed off, as if he was reflecting upon something. "Your father was the commander of the royal army. He left after Xavier Lightbourne conquered Arkadia." Gregory's eyes widened a bit at those words. "I told you I knew your name."
Mister Martin cleared his throat before saying, "My father didn't agree with the brutality of that conquer."
"He was a big Griffin supporter" the guard continued, and Bellamy was almost sure he noticed a shadow of dismay in their host's eyes. "Where are you standing, mister Martin?"
"What do you mean?"
"Haven't you heard the news? Clarke Griffin formed an alliance with Dante Collins, she's in Podakru now. A surprise, isn't it?"
Clarke Griffin. So that must have been the survivor of the Griffin family Atom told Octavia about. It would normally be much more exciting to him, considering his love of history. Clarke Griffin was the descendant of the people he read books about, the last one of the great dynasty. But Bellamy was too exhausted to have any strong feelings about that revelation.
"I wouldn't call it a surprise" Gregory answered slowly, as if he was picking his words carefully. "People've been talking about her for months."
The man finally sat down on one of the armchairs. "Right. I suppose you're happy about it, aren't you?"
Mister Martin seemed to contemplate his respond for a few seconds. "Soldiers don't take sides, they fight for their land. As far as I'm concerned, Shallow Valley doesn't fight for Clarke Griffin" he finally said. His answer was accepted with a simple nod of the head and that's how the conversation ended. Even though, the tension was apparent in the air, as they were sitting in silence interrupted only by Bellamy's heavy breathing.
"I need to clean his wounds" Gina said all of sudden, pointing at him. "He can get sepsis." He really hoped he wouldn't, not after he saw that disease slowly killing Octavia's father. The only thing he could wish for at that moment was a good, quick death.
Emerson shook his head. "I don't think that's necessary."
"Do you want to get sepsis?" she raised her brow at them, already getting up to, as Bellamy supposed, grab something she could clean his wounds with. "If he gets it, he can infect you. And then none of you will get to Polis."
A visible concern appeared on all three of their faces. "So it's contagious?"
Bellamy was pretty sure it wasn't. Him and his mother were taking care of Augustus when he was sick and neither of them got infected. "It can be" she said instead.
The three of them looked around each other and their leader finally decided, "Okay. Emerson, watch him."
Gina walked towards the other end of the room where Bellamy was sitting and started examining his wounds in silence. "You're a nightblood. Is that why they got you?" she asked, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear her.
"Nightblood?" he rasped, not sure what she meant. He had no idea what a nightblood was, but he was pretty sure he’d heard it before.
"Your blood is black" she said in response. "You're special."
His blood was, in fact, black, but he never thought it was something special. His mother once told him that it was normal for some people and that it didn't mean anything. But maybe she didn't tell him the truth after all. Turned out she kept a lot of things from him.
He still didn't know how that made him special, but he didn't have energy to dwell on that. It's not like it mattered anymore.
Gina began cleaning his wounds with a wet towel and he let her. She'd been good to him since the moment he got there, so she wasn't bound to hurt him. He had a feeling that under different circumstances, he would be able to like her, trust her, even. She looked like she was a good person.
"I'm not a monster you think I am" he blurted. He just needed to say it, he needed someone to understand him and of all people he could talk to, she seemed to be the best option. "They wanted to take my sister" he whispered as quietly as it was possible, so that no one but her would hear him. "I had to stop them."
Gina studied his face for a second and he started to regret saying anything. She finally nodded at him slightly and wordlessly came back to her work.
Minutes past by and she looked like she was debating on whether to say something or not. "Are they looking for something here?" she finally asked so quietly he wasn't sure if he heard that. Because he didn't respond, she continued, "Why are they here? They shouldn't come here, not with you."
"What's taking you so long?" the old soldier called from the other side of the room, clearly impatient.
Gina turned her head to him. "Just give me a moment" she answered with a bit of annoyance in her voice, which she tried to cover with unnatural sweetness. She turned her attention to Bellamy again, silently bandaging his arm.
"They just stopped here for the night" Bellamy whispered in response to her previous question. He tried to guess what she was so worried about, but that family looked like anything but trouble. "Why are you worried?"
She looked like she wasn't sure whether she should answer to his question or not. "Because they always find something they can arrest you for" she eventually said. "You of all people should know that. They want something and they will find something."
Right. He, of all people, knew that. But unlike them, he was that something they wanted to find.
"I could take them out."
Bellamy wasn't sure why he said that. Perhaps he thought that, maybe, she would go for it. He really didn't want to kill any more people and the thought of another fight thrilled him, but it suddenly seemed to be the only chance he had. He could try to kill the rest of those men and run away to try to find Octavia, or he could go with them to Polis where he would most likely be beheaded. The choice came across as simple.
Gina's eyes widened at his words. Of course. How stupid was he to even say it? He just proved to be a murderer he had just claimed he wasn't. "You're crazy" she mumbled and then they returned to silence.
Since Gina didn't say another word to him and he didn't dare to say anything either, he could hear that the Martins made some small talk with the soldiers sitting with them. Emerson, on the other hand, impatient with monitoring him, started walking around the room. He began to eye all the things lying around, just like his older comrade did before. But Emerson wasn't just watching them, he was touching nearly everything that was within reach. He obviously had worse manners than his leader.
Bellamy saw that the man grabbed a peace of paper from one of the shelves and stared at it, probably reading whatever was written on it. When mister Martin noticed what he was doing, he quickly got up from the armchair he was sitting on and walked to Emerson, reaching for the paper. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" he almost screamed, but Emerson didn't seem to care.
"Anders," he said, referring to the old soldier. So Anders was his name. "Look who wrote that letter."
Anders grabbed the paper, ignoring Gregory's protests. He read the letter, keeping a stoic face until the very end. When he finished, he raised his brows and looked up at the man in front of him, whose face had gone completely white from the mix of stress and fear. "It's a letter signed by Clarke Griffin herself" Anders finally said. "Looks like you're good friends."
Bellamy, despite his tiredness, was taken aback. Did they really know the Clarke Griffin?
He glanced at Gina. Her face was twisted with fear, just like her parents'. He realized why she was so worried earlier. If only supporting the Griffins was considered a treason... Then knowing them would probably be sentenced by death right away.
"Do you realize, mister Martin, that it's a treason?"
"Gina, Roesia, go upstairs" Gregory ordered his daughter and wife, taking a step back. He looked genuinely scared and Bellamy realized that he was never a problem. It was the king's people that he feared.
Anders shook his head. "No" he said. "If this," he pointed at the letter that was still in his hand, "is legit, then all three of you committed a treason. And you know what's the penalty for that."
Mister Martin cleared his throat. "Don't you have a prisoner to escort?" he asked with a firm voice, but it was obvious that his head was working feverishly, trying to find a solution to the situation he got in.
All of sudden, Bellamy felt that Gina slided something in his hand. It took him a moment to realize what it was. A knife. He crossed his eyes with her and she nodded slightly at him.
She wanted him to take them down.
"The less enemies of the king there are, the better it is for the realm" Anders stated calmly, as if he wasn't discussing the literal execution he was or wasn't about to conduct.
Bellamy accessed his situation. Two of the guards were talking to the Martins, not caring about him at all. Only one of them - the one who's name he didn't know - was glaring at both him. He couldn't see a small knife that appeared in Bellamy's hands though, because his view was blocked by Gina.
She walked away from him then, leaving him on full view to everyone, so he quickly slid the knife into the sleeve of his coat. It was small, so - hopefully - it wasn't that visible.
"Don't worry, Gregory" Anders smiled viciously. "As long as you cooperate, you'll end up on trial. I'd recommend not to object-"
In that exact moment, his sentence was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. Gina, who silently changed her position, was standing over Anders, with a bottle she broke right on the back of his head. He collapsed under the force of the hit and that's how the chaos started.
Emerson rushed to take out his sword and at the same time, mister Martin grabbed some pricket candlestick from one of the many shelves. Emerson swung his sword at missus Martin, but it was swiftly blocked by Gregory. The two of them started to fight right away and Bellamy was surprised by how great someone could fight with a candlestick instead of a real weapon. Perhaps it was something the military men were taught to do.
Instead of helping his friend, the third guard rushed to Bellamy to make sure he wouldn't do anything harmful to them. Those men might have been a little naive, thinking that no one and nothing would stand on their way, but they weren't stupid. They had a prisoner to escort and they had to make sure they would fulfill their mission, no matter the losses.
The combat between Gregory and Emerson was chaotic, nothing like he would imagine the real soldiers fighting. They knocked almost half of the ornaments over from the tables and shelves, glass and porcelain was breaking around them, making a noise even the dead would hear. Gina and her mother backed out a little, making room for the two men fighting. The men above Bellamy's shoulder was breathing heavily, observing the ongoing situation while keeping his sword firmly on Bellamy's neck. "Stop fighting, right now!" he screamed, but no one seemed to listen. Gregory Martin was clearly not going down without a fight.
Meanwhile, Anders started slowly picking himself up from the ground. When he noticed what was happening, he didn't look happy. No, he looked absolutely furious. The situation got clearly out of hand and for some reason, he was angry that the fight started in the first place. "Emerson, put the fucking sword down" he ordered. "We don't start the fighting."
Maybe he did have some rules, after all.
Emerson hesitated at those words and that was his mistake. When his chest wasn’t shielded, Gregory swiftly stabbed him with the pricket, right in the heart.
Everyone, even Anders gasped at that. None of them expected Gregory to do more than just protecting himself. But appearances can be deceiving.
“Emerson!” the guard that was holding Bellamy still ran to his already dead friend, unwittingly pulling on the chain and causing Bellamy to make a few steps closer. At the same time, Gregory used the element of surprise and threw the bloodstained candlestick at Anders and before the latter could do anything to defend himself, it landed right in his skull.
And another one was fallen.
It all happened so quickly Bellamy may have missed almost half the details. One second they were all sitting in the warm living room, sipping the tea, and the other two of them were lying dead on the floor, their blood spilling on the costly carpets.
The third soldier, the last one standing, turned out to be much smarter and faster than the other two. He didn’t wait before he threw himself, not on Gregory, but on Gina. His sword landed close to her neck, so close it caused a small stream of blood trickle down on her skin. “One move and I’ll fucking kill her!” he screamed, his face red from rage and his eyes filled with pure madness.
He quickly realized that he had the edge, because both mister and missus Martin raised their hands and didn’t make any step. “You will now prepare my horse to go and then I’ll think whether I’ll let her live or not” he declared. He turned his full attention to Gina then. “Maybe I’ll take you with me, hm? I think I deserved a whore tonight.”
“Don’t you dare-“ mister Martin started, but he stopped talking before he could even finish the sentence when he saw that the soldier pressed the sword harder to his daughter’s throat.
“You,” the unnamed man turned his head to Bellamy, “come over here” he said as he motioned Bellamy to approach him. “Don’t think I forgot about you.”
Bellamy felt like he’d just woken up. He started to believe that he might actually manage to get away. There was only that one guard left. Without him, he would be free to go. If only there was a way to take him out...
There was one, but he had to do it himself.
He walked slowly towards the guy, gripping tightly on the knife in his hand. He was thankful that his coat was too big for him and the sleeves were long enough to hide the weapon.
Just a few steps closer and the man would be within reach. He could just swing his hands then and it would be done, he’d be free to go. Just three more seconds and it all would be over...
One.
“What’s taking you so long?” the guard barked at him.
Two.
Bellamy tried to estimate the best place he should position himself at. Gina was standing on his way, so he had to walk over to stab him in the back.
A disgusting, unchivalrous decision, indeed. But he’d already sunken low.
Three.
It happened within seconds. He made a final step and swung his hands, which wasn’t so easy since they were still tied. The knife landed in the man’s back, making his whole body stiffen. Bellamy closed his eyes and pushed the knife further with disgust on his face. He really did not enjoy the feeling of killing a person.
The man dropped his sword and his grip on Gina’s body loosened, so she quickly got away. He turned around to look at Bellamy with pure hatred in his eyes before collapsing on the ground. Fair enough.
Gina’s parents ran to her the second she got away from the guard’s grip. They hugged her, truly relieved that nothing serious happened to her, while Bellamy was standing there, over three corpses lying on the cold floor.
“You gotta burn the bodies” he finally said and they turned their attention to him, recalling that they weren’t alone. Gregory nodded and so did his wife, both still in shock after the events of the night.
“What are you gonna do?” Gina finally asked, making a step towards him.
“I don’t know” he admitted, placing a palm on his forehead. He probably should leave and go back to Azgeda to look for Octavia, but he was so tired, it probably wasn’t the best idea. He felt like he would collapse any moment and that wouldn’t help him finding her.
If there was still someone to be found.
“You can stay for the night” Gina proposed and it wouldn’t feel so weird if it wasn’t for the circumstances. She turned around to look at her parents, who exchanged hesitant glances, but she seemed to have made the decision herself. “You saved my life. Let us help you.”
He twisted his face, because he really didn’t save her, but it wasn’t in his best interest to tell her that.
“Okay” he said instead.
Gina’s parents finally nodded at each other and then at him. Missus Martin even forced a weak smile.
There was just one thing he’d realized could become a problem. He, a Lightbourne by his mother’s blood, was in the house of friends of princess Clarke Griffin herself. And she was probably the only person who could want his death more than Russell Lightbourne did.