Chapter 9
Anya pitied her mount today, the horse wasn’t familiar with her, and she was so rigid and upright the poor thing shifted and struggled to balance her weight comfortably on its back. She had sent several unarmed scouts to warn the hundred not to shoot, to be prepared for their visit. One came back, explained their hesitance, that one of the scouts stayed to ensure their safety from what they called the “Grounders.” And of Lincoln, the man was alive, bruised and exhausted, but he was alive.
Anya could see the trail ending soon, flashes of a weak wall between the trees, so she sat impossibly straighter and ignored the hard, fast beating of her heart in her throat. Somewhere in this camp was her Keryontai, and if this meeting were to go wrong, it could mean her Keryontai’s death, and her own agony.
The scouts were correct in their descriptions of children. It had been several days, nearly a week, and they were desperate, filthy, and scared. Anya could smell it on the breeze.
Gaunt, pale faces glared down at them, hiding their fear with hatred and violence. Anya could see signs of longterm hunger and starvation, some of these children, especially the younger ones, were no strangers to missing meals. The older ones were filthy, they gripped their fayogun with white knuckles and bared their teeth like cornered wolves. Anya had fought wolves before, she wouldn’t be intimidated by these yongon.
The gate was pulled open by two of the larger boys, and Anya observed them down the slope of her nose. The only man, a tall broad shouldered man with unruly, curly hair and freckles dusting his cheeks stepped forward with a smaller girl, blonde hair matted with filth and blue eyes sharp as flint, at his side. Anya’s eyes scanned the other older children that circled behind their two leaders. One boy, two girls, and then the scout that had remained behind, ramrod straight for fear of the weapons around him.
The boy seemed to do his best to remain unthreatening, perhaps the peacemaker of the group, and the girls, they stood like warrior seconds, cocky and willing to fight, but naïve and unaware of their own lacking skill.
Anya returned her gaze to the leaders, moving slowly and purposefully to dismount her horse and step forward. The blonde raised her chin in defiance and the man only glowered. “What do you want?” He snarled, shifting his grip on his weapon.
The blonde glared at him, and he backed away only slightly. The children likely didn’t notice, but Anya had years of political meetings and negotiations under her belt, she knew the subtleties of power dynamics. She ensured eye contact with the girl only, ignoring the man entirely. “We are Trikru Kom Kongeda, the Commander has ordered me to meet with you, to invite you to peace negotiations between our two peoples. Refusal will result in your extermination.” Anya clipped, tilting her head back to glare down at the girl.
“Clarke-“ The man began.
“These peace negotiations will be held where?” The girl retaliated sharply, raising a light eyebrow. Anya hadn’t expected her to react so quickly, so intelligently. Perhaps force wouldn’t work with this girl, Clarke.
“The Commander waits in our village of TonDC.”
“We meet in a neutral location or not at all.”
“Clarke, Jaha would want to carry this out-“ One of the warrior girls warned.
“The chancellor isn’t here.” Clarke never took her eyes from Anya. “Warn my mother if you want to, Raven, but they’re not down here, and until then, I’m in charge.” Clarke tilted her head, sizing Anya up. “Neutral location or not at all. You can try to kill us, but with our weapons it will take thousands of you to kill a hundred of us.”
Anya bared her teeth, but stopped herself, her orders were clear. “I will arrange a neutral location.” She snarled.
Clarke nodded once. “There will be a ceasefire? None of my people are to be harmed from here on out.”
Anya would ignore her ignorance for the moment, if she did her job correctly, perhaps Lexa would let her sit in on their meeting. She’d love to watch this branwada negotiate with Lexa. “We have not harmed your people.”
“You killed Jasper.” Clarke snapped. “We’ve lost two others since then.”
Anya squared her shoulders. “You crossed the border towards the Maunon. If Heda finds you to be allies to the Maunon you will be executed.” Anya smirked. “Painfully. Jus drein jus daun.”
Clarke furrowed her brows. “We have no idea what you’re talking about. The Maunon? We’ve never heard of them.”
“I suggest you drop your lies before speaking to the Commander.” Anya warned before turning towards the wall and taking a few slow, languid steps towards her scout. “And Lincoln is to be released. If he is not, we will have no choice but to kill you.”
Clarke raised her chin. “Octavia, go get him.”
“Wait,” The man snarled, glaring at the girl that had turned to move through the gate. “We’re not letting him go.”
“Why should we?” The other girl, Raven, huffed. “He nearly killed my boyfriend.”
Clarke glanced to the sky in barely contained exasperation before turning to her. “Don’t forget that Finn was invading his home-“
“To rescue my sister-“
“I didn’t need to be saved!” Octavia snapped.
Anya clenched her jaw, it seemed Clarke didn’t have nearly as complete control over her people as they had assumed. Lexa would need to know this. A people whose leadership bickered among themselves like this can be very difficult to negotiate with, it may be safer to kill them off. “Release my warrior, now.”
The man turned, rage evident across his face. “Wanna say that again?” He growled, raising his weapon threateningly. “Last I checked you were the enemy.”
“Bellamy,” The boy warned. “We’re outnumbered. Let Lincoln go, we’re not going to do anything with him anyway.”
Bellamy took his eyes from Anya and moved to the boy. “He kidnapped my sister. I don’t care who you are, no one gets away with that.”
The boy crossed his arms and raised his chin in defiance. “Octavia wasn’t hurt, and Finn survived. Let him go.”
Bellamy bared his teeth, but allowed Octavia to slip through the gate and disappear behind the wall towards the twisted metal in the center of their camp. Clarke sighed and turned back towards Anya. “Tell me about the Maunon.”
“You’ll learn tomorrow.” Anya clipped as she saw Lincoln, a little bruised, a little bloody, and missing his shirt, slip through the gate with Octavia in tow. “I will send a scout to bring you and a few trusted advisors to the location, no weapons, no more than five people. The Commander will comply to these terms as well. For your sake, make peace with her. You will not win a war with the Trikru.”
Clarke gave one, silent nod and Anya turned to leave. “I’m going with him.” Octavia blurted out, a hand on Lincoln’s bicep. The man looked to the younger girl and back up to Anya, his face stoic. Anya had never met the man before the Skaikru came to the ground, she didn’t know his tells.
“Absolutely not Octavia.” Bellamy snarled, stepping forward and ripping the girl away from Anya’s warrior. “Get out of here.” He snarled, aiming his weapon with one hand at Lincoln.
Octavia ripped her arm from her brother’s grasp and stood between the two men. “He’s my soulmate.” She said it like some sort of defiance, Anya couldn’t understand it. “And he saved my life already,”
Clarke cleared her throat. “Octavia, stay with us for now. Until we can assure peace between us. It’s too dangerous.”
Lincoln leaned forward, said something quietly to Octavia that no one, not even Anya could hear, and backed away, glaring at Bellamy the entire time. Octavia nodded once. “May we meet again.”
“We will.” Lincoln didn’t smile, but Octavia seemed to take reassurance from the words.
Anya mounted her horse and looked down at them. “You have until tomorrow to prepare yourselves for negotiations.” Anya yanked her reigns and began a slow trot away.
“Lincoln huh? You think maybe my soulmate will be that built? Damn.” Anya could hear the last of Raven’s words just as she lost sight of the Skaikru camp through the trees.