Chapter 1
Andes had been following the ice warriors and their blonde captive for a few days now, observing them from the tree tops. Their captive must have been very important, since they were avoiding all the normal travel routes, going out of their way to get back to their territory. That’s how Andes stumbled upon them, they passed close to her home, which was deep in the forest, and not many ventured through there. The prisoner appeared to be Skaikru, judging by the way she was dressed. There were about ten warriors escorting one girl. She was important. Andes hated the ice nation, and she loved to torment them whenever she had the chance, and she was going to love taking this prize from them.
They were now deep into Azgeda territory, getting closer to their capital. They appeared to be stopping and setting up camp. More warriors joined them. Andes left her position up high, and moved to the lower branches so she could hear what was going on. She was covered in mud, dirt, and war paint, whatever she could throw together so she could blend in. The only thing you could see were the whites of her eyes.
Andes observed them as they tied the blonde up to a tree and then milled about waiting for something or someone. And that someone showed up about an hour later. Danko, brother of Roan, son of Nia, current Ice King, murderer, and torturer, one of the most feared warriors in the land. Nobody knows what happened to Roan, suddenly Danko was there, and Roan was not. It didn’t take much imagination to figure that one out. Danko rode up with his guards. He dismounted and immediately went to the prisoner.
“Clarke, kom skaikru, welcome to Azgeda.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“I am Danko, King of Azgeda.” He bowed before her, acting like a gentleman. Andes wanted to run him through with her sword.
“Where’s Roan?”
“Roan,” he paused, more for affect, “Roan is no longer with us. “
Clarke stared back at the large man in front of her. His eyes were black as coal, and his hair was long and tied back. His mouth was cruel.
“You’re violating the coalition. This will be viewed as an act of war. “
Danko just smiled at her. As Andes looked down on him, she realized that he still made her skin crawl. There was some history between them, years ago, a time in her life that Andes kept locked away in her mind.
“There is no more coalition. That died with the commander.” Clarke felt a sharp pain in her heart at the mention of Lexa.
“My people will come and look for me, and when they find me, they will kill you.”
“Sky girl, your people have no idea where you are. “ He squatted in front of her, “So let me tell you what is going to happen. In two days, you will wed me, and then Skaikru and Azgeda will be one.”
Clarke laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. Why the hell would you think that I would agree to marry you?” she spat out.
Danko again smiled. “Here, in our territory, I don’t need consent. I just need two other clan leaders to be present at the union. And I already have them waiting for us at our capital. So you see, when Azgeda and Skaikru are united, with Wanheda at my side, we will have the strongest clan. Then we will march on Polis, and I will unite the clans, and become commander.”
Andes shuttered at the thought of this man being commander.
Clarke looked at him with as much distaste and hate as she could muster. “You could never be commander, are you even natblida, a nightblood?”
Danko didn’t answer her.
“I didn’t think so, nobody will follow you. “
“You would be surprised what people do when faced with death.”
“Well, my people will never join you, “
“If they wish to see you again, alive, then they will.”
“They will never join you.” Clarke said this slowly and forcibly. Andes had to admit, the girl was spirited, and quite beautiful. Her hair was the color of sunshine. She remembered hearing “wanheda” whispered here and there, and now here she was, in need of a rescue, and Andes would be happy oblige, and piss off Danko.
Danko turned away from Clarke and went back to where his horse awaited. “Wait here until tomorrow, “ he said to his 2nd, “ I will prepare the capital for the union.“
His 2nd nodded. He knew the two clan leaders that would be in attendance. They were coerced, not so gently, to attend. Danko had no friends among the clans. All feared him. He killed his own brother after all. His only way to get their cooperation was through force.
Clarke rested her head against the tree. She was sitting down with her hands tied behind her back. She was so tired, but refused to show it. She was frightened also. How would anybody find her way up here? The thought of being forced to possible wed, marry, whatever, that warrior sent revulsions through her. How the hell was she going to get away in two days, surrounded by all these men? Think Clarke, think. She bit her lower lip and stared into the trees in front of her, lost in thought. She saw a movement. She blinked her eyes, because she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. A person? Hanging upside down from a tree about twenty feet from her. A girl she thought, but it was really hard to tell, because she was covered in god knows what, some type of paint, she blended right into the scenery. The girl held a finger to her lips, showed Clarke a dagger, and made a motion, with her hands, and Clarke thought the girl meant to somehow get the dagger to her. Clarke quickly and discreetly looked around the camp. No one seemed to be paying any attention to her. She looked back for the girl and she was gone. Was that a figment of her imagination? Was she seeing things? Jesus. After a few minutes she felt something behind her, she saw a muddied arm reach from behind her and slip the dagger into her boot. Well, she wasn’t seeing things. At least there was that. She had no clue what this girl expected of her. How this was going to play out, one girl against all these men? Clarke knew there were some pretty awesome women warriors here on the ground, but those odds seemed impossible.
After giving the dagger to the sky girl, Andes climbed back into the trees. She scouted the surrounding area, putting together a plan in her head. She already had an idea of where they could go after she freed the girl. Tonight, she would put some supplies at this place. And then she would wait until tomorrow to make her move, because when they started moving again, they would be more spread out and easier to pick off.
Clarke couldn’t sleep. The only thing that kept her sane was the knife in her boot. This girl was real, and maybe she had help with her. Maybe she was with a clan that she knew. Some of the clans were still wary of Skaikru, but some were on friendlier terms. The last 6 months have been trying to say the least. After Lexa’s death, and Luna’s refusal to take the flame, there was a vacuum of leadership. All of the nightbloods were murdered by Ontario, who was then put to death for her crimes. Kane, Abby and the rest of them tried to help Trikru and the people of Polis through this difficult time. They helped them form a council, a small group of respected leaders in the city. But switching from ruled by one to ruled by a few was not easy. Indra kept the army intact, but the peace around the clans was extremely tenuous. One clan going off half cocked, like the ice nation, would be enough to start a war amongst them all. And Clarke wasn’t ready for an all out war.
If only Lexa had lived. Clarke sighed and the heaviness in her heart was a weight that dragged her down. Missing her was an understatement. It ached to her very core. She was empty inside without her. They didn’t have much time together, but the time they spent had been precious and passionate. And now, there was nothing. Clarke pushed those thoughts away, and tried to find escape in her sleep, but sleep brought dreams, and dreams brought Lexa. She sighed and leaned her head back. It was going to be a long night. As they all were. She felt the flame in the pocket of her jacket, and it somehow gave her comfort, like Lexa was there with her now. She had been lucky so far, no one here had found it. She made a mental note, that if she got back to Arkadia, no, when she got back to Arkadia, she would find a safer spot to hide it. She was putting it at risk by carrying it around. She closed her eyes, and after a while, sleep found her.
Morning brought sunshine and a cool wind. Andes watched as they prepared to break camp. Most of the army moved off during the night, and they left eleven guards behind for the girl. She knew there were two on horseback, and the rest would be on foot. The horses were in front as they headed for the ice nation capital. Sky girl was at the back, with two guards near her. Her hands were now tied in front of her, attached to a longer rope that was held by one of her guards. Two others brought up the rear, they lagged behind the others. They would be first. Andes accounted for all of them and what weapons they had, then checked her own, bow and arrows, two swords on her back, two daggers attached to her thighs. It should be enough. She could tell all the warriors were at ease, too loose, thinking they were safe in their territory. They were talking and laughing. A long time ago, Andes was taught to never be at ease, expect the unexpected all the time. She waited until a bend in the path, and quietly dropped behind the two in the rear, the kills were quick, she slashed them both across the neck, and neither had time to even make a sound.
Clarke was behind her guards, allowing just enough slack in the rope that they didn’t pay attention to her. She turned around and looked behind her and noticed that the two that were behind them no longer were there. She looked around to see if anything was amiss with the guards in front. Could the tree girl and others be following? Were they the reason the guards were missing? She stayed on high alert, feeling the dagger in her boot, knowing at the first sign of anything she would be reaching down and cutting the ropes. They entered a clearing now. Clarke felt the hair on the back of her neck rise, sending chills down her spine. Suddenly, arrows were sticking out of the 2 guards closest to Clarke. She turned and saw nothing. But now the warriors in front heard the bodies drop, and turned. They drew their weapons and rushed back to where Clarke was. What happened next was a blur to Clarke. The tree girl now stood in their midst, bone mask hiding the bottom of her face, rising from the long grass, how she got there undetected was amazing, and let loose three more arrows and three more warriors dropped to the ground. Now the horses were upon her, and she drew a sword and raced towards the tree line, with the ice nation in hot pursuit. She was up the first tree and gone in a blink of an eye. The first horseman pulled up and looked into the branches, shouting orders to the rest. They split up and looked into all the trees. They briefly forgot about Clarke, so she reached down, grabbed the dagger and cut through the ropes. She sprinted out of the clearing and ducked behind a tree. She turned to look back for the girl. Her eyes caught movement to her left. The girl had dropped onto one of the horseman and quickly slashed across his throat, and dumped the body off the horse. The other warriors charged her, and she rode hard right at them, and then she stood up on the back of the horse, and just when they would have been in striking distance, she jumped up and back into the trees. “She was like a fucking pauna for god’s sake,” Clarke thought.
Once again the men circled back and couldn’t find her. They were spread out, searching in vain, one horse left, and two on foot. One of the men blew a horn, sounding an alarm, and Clarke knew that soon others would come. Tree girl must have thought the same because she was now on the ground both swords drawn, and Clarke wasn’t so sure of these odds. But the show was just beginning. It was like a deadly dance. She moved gracefully, easily avoiding the wild swings of her first attacker. She seemed to be one or two steps ahead of the man trying to kill her. He couldn’t land any blows because she was too quick, and with each thrust of his sword, he was rewarded with a slice across his arms or legs. She ran him through and pushed him off her sword as the next one came at her on horseback, swinging an ax at her head. Again, she avoided the blow. His momentum took him flying past her, so he pulled up and circled back. The girl reached down for her dagger and threw it, landing it right between his eyes. Finally, there was one left. The last one standing was the biggest, and the two circled each other, then both attacked, swords clanging. Clarke saw one of the other men, left for dead, struggling to get up. He got on his feet and he held her gun in his hand. They had taken it from Clarke when they captured her.
“Oh crap,” Clarke thought, and she ran towards him as he was pointing the pistol at the tree girl. Clarke picked up a sword from one of the dead men and rushed him. He was firing off shots which caused both warriors to turn towards him, and in that instant of distraction, the tree girl quickly sliced at the back of her opponent’s legs, grabbed him and swung him in front of her, using him as a shield to ward off the bullets. Now Clarke was near the gun man and swung the sword, taking him out. She picked up her gun and stuck it in the back of her pants. Tree girl quickly grabbed a horse and jumped onto its back, steering him towards Clarke, she reached down her hand and Clarke was looking up at steely gray eyes and in an instant, she had to decide if she could trust this person. Clarke made her choice and grabbed her hand. She was hauled up easily in front of the girl. Strong arms wrapped around Clarke to keep her steady, and they took off into the forest.