The intruder
Octavia jumped onto their bed, not giving a damn about the fact that the other girls were completely naked under the furs.
"Can't I just say hi to an old friend?"
Clarke rolled her eyes while grabbing some of her clothing from the floor
"Yeah, sure" she scoffed
Lexa kept her eyes shut, wishing that it was all a dream and Octavia hadn't actually bursted into her room and gotten into their bed. She opened her eyes. Octavia was still there. Crap.
"Fine. I hate to wake you up to this kind of news...But with pretty eyes over here becoming our one and only leader, I sort of had to."
Lexa sat up in bed and started getting dressed as Clarke sat again by her side
"Spill the beans, O" Clarke's mind ran through every possible scenario: Azgeda breaking the coallition, a riot against them, against Lexa, war...
"I really hate being the one to tell this to you...A village was attacked and slaughtered, then burnt to the ground last night."
Lexa's jaw clenched, a feeling of powerlessness taking over her. Clarke's hand gently squeezed her hand, giving her the strength to ask
"How many?"
"237. 92 men, 96 women and 49 children."
The air in the room thickened as the news sunk in
"I...I tried to save them, our people really did, but when we got there it was too late. All we could do was put out the fire and mourn the losses."
The trio remained silent. They knew even though Octavia's earlier attitude, the girl was having a rough time. She was just trying to make it easier for them. It never worked.
Lexa began to put on her armor, unsurprisingly, as Clarke started to do the same. Octavia sighed
"There is no way you aren't going to go therez right?"
Lexa shook her head while picking out her daggers and swords. She decided even if they were just going there to explore the site, she might as well be heavily armed, the area wasn't safe at all.
"Any clue on who did this?"
Clarke and Octavia read between the lines, Lexa wanted to know, needed to, if it had been the Ice Nation's troops.
"Nothing"
Lexa stormed out of her chambers with the other girls walking a few steps behind her. She began shouting orders at everyone, gathering a small group of soldiers to go by her side, dismissing all those who kept telling her to stay in the safety of the big city, and asking relentlessly for Indra, who quickly appeared and started walking by them as well.
Clarke whispered to Octavia when she was sure no one else could hear it.
"O, about Lexa..."
Octavia smiled and replied in her low, raspy voice
"I know nothing." Relief filled Clarke's heart, she'd never doubted the girl, but she had to be sure, she thought as they kept walking
As soon as they left the tower, four stallions and ten other warriors awaited. They each mounted on their horse as Lexa spoke, her Commander face on, no expression was shown on her face but her authoritary glare.
"One of our villages was brutally attacked yesterday. There were no survivors" the multitude in the streets began talking, quickly spreading the news to those who weren't close enough to hear them "we now are riding there to find out who did it. There'll be no mercy for the traitors to the coallition."
Whispers turned into words and then into loud conversations as Lexa and her warriors started riding towards the city's gates. As soon as they left, the noise started to decrease, but not enough for a quiet voice to be noticed. A shallow, seemingly shy voice that delivered a threatening message.
"Stedaun gon Heda." Death to the Commander.
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A shadow haunted the forest. The shadow of death. The shadow of fear. That shadow commanded the troops that brought death to that village. And it wouldn't be the last one. The shadow was revenge. It had no mercy, and it was determined to end her.