Chapter 10
Lexa had worn a path in the dirt in her tent before midday had arrived. When it was finally time for her to stop her pacing and to settle down, she moved her war table a foot over to cover the trail, she wouldn’t want the Skaikru to think she was nervous. It only took her a few minutes to apply her war paint and settle onto her throne. Indra entered the tent, mood sour as per usual, and Anya lounged in the back, out of the way.
There were scouts posted throughout the woods of course, and they had already reported Skaikru scouts as well, which meant that Lexa was dealing with a group of very intelligent people. These were the descendants of Pramheda’s original people, of course. Lexa knew to be wary of them.
Finally, just as Lexa was beginning to get bored and play with her knife tip, the leader of the Skaikru ducked into the tent.
Lexa had to say, she wasn’t terribly impressed.
The girl was perhaps a bit younger than herself, blonde hair tangled with grease and dirt, blue eyes that sort of glowed beneath the sheen of sweat and filth on her skin. She wore threadbare, old-world clothes that looked suspiciously like the clothes the Maunonkru wore.
The girl’s eyes widened just slightly at seeing Lexa on her throne, but Lexa paid her surprise no mind. “You’re the one who’s invaded my people’s territory and driven out the game for miles.”
The girl seemed to flicker into a nearly entirely different personality as she straightened and her eyes sharpened on Lexa’s. “You’re the one who’s been killing my people off one by one.”
Lexa would smile if it weren’t so wholly inappropriate. “It’s to my understanding that your people have been trying to reach the mountain. It’s in our best interest to prevent that. I’m sure you understand.”
The girl ground her teeth. “Mount Weather has supplies that we could use-“
“Mount Weather is filled with ripa and monsters.” Lexa snapped. “What is your loyalty to them?”
The girl blinked. “There are people in Mount Weather? We were told no one made it to the bunker when the bombs went off.”
Lexa stuck her knife into her throne, tip down. “Don’t lie to me.” She stood and stalked closer to the blonde. “Mount Weather has been terrorizing my people for generations. Everyone in every clan for miles knows of this.” She stopped just before her. Lexa took some petty pride in being an inch or so taller than her. It was the little things that gave Lexa the unconscious advantage. “Are you allies of the Maunon or not?”
The girl furrowed her brows. “No. We believed it to be uninhabited.”
Lexa turned from her and strolled to the war table. “Sit, Clarke, is it?”
Clarke nodded, confusion still evident in her face. “Yes,”
Lexa remained standing until Clarke took her seat across from her. “You may call me Commander Lexa.” She paused a moment when Clarke gave her a hesitant nod to continue. “I am the leader of the twelve clans. Under my reign, I have joined all twelve clans into a powerful alliance. The arrival of your people threatens the peace I have fought for all my life.”
Clarke paled. The girl needed to know that Lexa would eliminate any and all threats to her people. “We’re a group of children-“
“Hardly.” Lexa interrupted her, voice steely. “My scouts report your people to be largely capable of taking care of yourselves.” Lexa paused to allow the silence to settle around them. “You have scared the game away from this area for several miles, and during your fall, part of TonDC was razed to the ground. This cannot go unavenged. That’s before we even address the matter of Indra’s warrior Lincoln. Capturing and holding my people hostage is an act of war.”
Clarke narrowed her eyes and Lexa could practically see the whirring of her mind as she worked through her situation. “The game will come back.” Clarke started. “Once we’ve learned how to keep from scaring it away. We can rebuild this town you talked about, and Lincoln was returned unhurt, after we captured him following the near fatal stabbing of one of our people.”
“Then there’s the matter of the Maunon.” Lexa reminded her.
“The Mountain, as I’ve said, was not something we knew of. Our information was limited, before we came to the ground we didn’t know anyone existed, let alone people holed up in a bunker.”
Lexa leaned back, crossing her arms. She tilted her head to better study the girl before her. “So it’s true.” She murmured. “Indra, Anya, out.” She commanded.
Anya grunted her disapproval, but moved to leave anyway. Indra, on the other hand, stubbornly held her ground. “Heda-“
“Out,” Lexa snapped. “This does not involve you. Reparations will be negotiated later.”
Indra snarled, and followed Anya out of the tent. Lexa could see Clarke making a conscious effort not to squirm. Though her discomfort was obvious to Lexa, she had to give the girl credit for knowing better than to show her weakness so clearly. They were alone now.
“My scouts told me you fell from the sky. I wasn’t sure if I should believe them.”
Clarke cleared her throat. “There were people in space when the bombs went off. So they combined the space stations to make one ship for everyone to live in. We survived for a hundred years up there. My people are the test subjects, to see if the ground is survivable.”
“And I’m assuming that the ground is, in fact, survivable.”
“Assuming our people can negotiate a truce, then yes.”
“So there are more of you coming?” Lexa’s stare never wavered.
“Yes,”
“I don’t understand how you could live in the sky,” Lexa began. “But that’s not for me to ponder. What do you know of Becca and the origins of Polis?”
Clarke blinked. “Nothing,”
Lexa continued to stare. “This is important, Clarke. What do you know of Alie? Becca?”
“I don’t know those women.” Clarke shook her head. “Maybe Jaha or the Counsel could help you-“
“You mean to say you’re not the leader of your people?”
“Of the people on the ground, sure-“
They were cut off by screams and gunfire.
“Jok!” Lexa stood, drawing a sword from behind her and pointed the blade at Clarke’s throat. “Yu natrona!”
Clarke yelped, stumbling backwards away from the blade. “I didn’t-“
Gunfire crackled as the screams lessened, and then a small, handheld object bounced into the tent, letting out bright red gas. “Maunon!” Lexa yelped scrambling away from the object and grabbing the blade from her throne, brandishing both weapons now at the tent flap instead of at Clarke.
“What is going-“ Clarke was cut off by a bout of dizziness that had her falling to her knees. Through the blur of the spinning room, Clarke could see Lexa join her on the ground with first one knee, and then the other, before she finally succumbed to the gas and fell unconscious.