Chapter 1
“Let’s go.” Clarke’s voice was soft despite the pounding of her heart and the blood rushing through her ears. She pulled Anya out of the cage, supporting her weight, almost not believing that this pale and listless woman was the same one she met on the bridge. “We have to get out of here.”
“Wait.” Anya’s voice was scratchy but still commanding, and there was strength in her eyes as she looked up at Clarke. “Above us. Free her too.”
“Anya, we don’t have time – ”
“She is important. She can make the Commander listen.”
Clarke nodded, and broke the lock on the girl’s cage, helping her slide out. Her legs shook when they hit the ground but she, like Anya, refused to fall. Clarke wondered who this girl was, why she would be more important than Anya (this girl was younger, and didn’t quite have the look of a warrior), but there would be time for questions when they escaped the mountain; Clarke would be sure of that.
The girl exhaled, a smile coming to her dry, cracked lips. “It feels good to stretch my legs. I’m Costia.”
xXx
Costia was plotting murder. It wasn’t her normal pastime by any means, more something Lexa would do, but when her friend was shot, when she was dragged away and tied up and not told a single thing, well, it was enough to get her thinking about killing. Clarke had said the Sky People wanted to help; that together, they could defeat the Mountain Men. Costia had believed her.
Then Clarke’s people had shot Anya, and now Costia was their prisoner, so she wasn’t too sure anymore. Alliance had been pushed to the back of her mind; she wanted to get out of here, get Anya (if she was still alive, who knew, no one wanted to tell her anything), go home to Lexa, and not think about anyone but her love for a little while. Home sounded so nice, after moving from one prison to another.
She heard boots and voices, and she perked up. Clarke was at the front, accompanied by an older woman who looked related, as well as a few men and one blonde woman in black uniforms, guards. She stretched forward against the cables binding her wrists, voice low but strong. “Where is Anya? Is she alive?”
“Don’t tell her – ”
Clarke ignored the brunette woman, nodding, and Costia let out the breath she’d been holding. “We were able to get the bullet out and patch her up, but she’s still recovering.” She glanced back at the woman, face stony. “Chancellor, this is Costia, by the way, since I didn’t introduce you before you tied her up.”
Costia snorted, a slight smile touching her lips at Clarke’s sass, and her clear frustration with this ‘Chancellor.’ “Chancellor. Is that like Commander?”
“Yes.”
“Let me give you a tip, then; I may not be a Commander or a Chancellor myself, but I have spent enough time around one to know that if you want someone to be your ally, you do not imprison her. You talk to her.” She lifted her head and set her jaw. “So if the Sky People want to negotiate an alliance, they will not do it through you; they will do it through Clarke, and only if you unbind me immediately.”
The blonde woman reacted first. “We can’t do that, having a grounder in our camp is bad enough, especially if she’s not restrained. It’s not safe.”
Once again, Clarke paid the adults no mind; before the woman had finished speaking, she had stepped over and quickly untied Costia’s hands and feet. As Costia rubbed feeling back into her hands, Clarke turned and crossed her arms, daring them to react. “If we want her to help us, we need to stop treating her like a prisoner.”
The Chancellor put her hands on her hips and leveled a stern gaze (motherly, Costia realized, was Clarke her daughter?). The next words out of her mouth confirmed it. “Young lady, you are not in charge anymore.”
Costia was not a fan of this woman. “I will speak to Clarke or I will speak to no one. And believe me: if I speak to no one, you will not have an alliance, but you may well have a war.” Lexa would go to war for her, she had no doubt about that.
Clarke glanced at Costia, then turned to who had to be her mother to speak tensely and quietly for a few moments. The victor was obvious. “They’ll wait outside.”
“But we’ll come in immediately if we hear anything wrong,” the blonde felt the need to add in what was really not that intimidating of a voice.
Costia shrugged. “That was all I wanted.” Right after they left, she turned to Clarke with an eyebrow raised. “Overbearing mother?”
She winced. “She just…we’re working through it.
“No, I understand; my mother is fond of control as well.” Costia swallowed, more pressing issues flooding her mind. “And Anya – Anya is truly well?”
“She’s still resting, but the bullet missed her vitals, so she should be fine. You’re going to have to trust me, because I don’t think they’ll let you see her.”
Her words were slow and thoughtful. “Trust you? I do not trust you, Clarke, I haven’t known you long enough to, but you are my best option right now and you, at least, are not a fool. You will do whatever it takes to get your people back.”
“So…you really think you can convince the Commander? Even after we, well, shot Anya?”
A bit of a smile, secretive, slipped onto her face. Clarke was still ignorant of who she was to Lexa; she and Anya had kept it that way on purpose, lest she decide to try to use her against the Commander. All the Sky Girl knew was that Lexa was Anya’s second, and Costia was “important.” It was almost funny; Clarke wouldn’t have had these questions if she knew. “Of course. Anya is not dead, this alliance would be useful to us both, and she cannot say no to me.”
“Good,” she sighed. “I was worried, maybe –”
“Don’t,” Costia said firmly. “She will listen to me.”
Clarke was beginning to question this faith in the Commander’s willingness to obey; it was written all over her face, the skepticism and mild disbelief. “If you don’t mind me asking…what are you to her? Why will she listen to you so completely?”
“My mother is the chief of the village she was born in; that gives me credibility, and I know my reasoning is sound. The Commander is nothing if not logical.”
“What’s she like, the Commander?” Clarke asked thoughtfully. “Will her people follow her?”
Costia sighed, trying to keep the dreamy look off of her face. She could talk about her Lexa for days without describing her fully. “She is strong and fierce and powerful, and brave, and bold – she is a wildfire. She commands loyalty with nothing but her presence, and people shiver to hear her speak. Anyone would be proud to die for her.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway. Yes. If she makes a decision, it will be followed. She may not want an alliance, but I know we need one. From what I have seen of your technology…it could be just what we need to bring the mountain down. We will get our people out of there even if it takes working with branwoda to do so.”
“Branwoda?”
Costia giggled, her hand coming up to her mouth. “Your accent is horrendous.”
Clarke raised her eyebrows. “Your English isn’t much better.”
“True,” she shrugged. Her words sounded stilted in English, she knew, but it was her second language after all. “It is just a dirty word, like bad water, but it is worse in Trigedasleng. Promise.”
“Would you teach me some?” she asked hopefully. “I know yu gonplei ste odon, but that’s about it. I would like to at least introduce myself to the Commander in her language.”
Costia tilted her head to the side. “That is considerate. I can teach you that on the way, it is easy enough; we are leaving soon, right? Every moment you and your people waste holding me here is a moment we could spend fighting the Mountain Men.”
“Actually…”
“What.” She frowned, a dangerous glint coming into her gaze. “Do not toy with me, Sky Girl; when are we leaving?” As much as she knew they needed this alliance, she would not let anyone hold her captive again, especially when Lexa was so close.
“Anya needs time to rest and heal; it’ll be a few days.” Her words were filled with regret; she wanted to get this done just as badly as Costia.
“Can I see her?”
“I don’t know if they’ll allow – ”
“I am a healer. I would like to judge this for myself.” And make sure that Anya was still alive, and that they hadn’t actually hurt her…and to see how the Sky People healed. If everything else was so advanced, their healing had to be too, and she wanted to see how it was done; her methods were sound and they worked, but she had a feeling the Skaikru’s would be worlds different, and maybe worlds better. “Take me to Anya.”
xXx
“So you do not use plants or herbs to heal, you use, what, chemicals? The Mountain Men use those as weapons, not for healing.” She and Clarke sat at one of the tables, though the seats around them had been cleared as soon as they sat down. Clarke had spoken to the adults and, convinced that Costia truly wanted an alliance and that the Commander might actually agree to enact one, they had allowed her free range of the camp as long as she was accompanied at all times.
Her first stop had been to visit Anya, of course. While only Lexa had been her second, and it was Lexa who she spent the most time with, Costia and Lexa had been so inseparable that Anya’s big-sisterhood had naturally extended to them both. Anya was a protector, a mentor, and a friend, more approachable than Costia’s mother but every bit as badass.
It had hurt to see her so unresponsive. She’d seen her injured before (as a healer, there were few people she hadn’t seen bloody and broken), but bullets were so rarely encountered, and seeing Anya lying there sedated with needles in her arm and absurdly white bandages on her wounds was unsettling. Half of those wounds Costia would’ve barely given a second glance; the Sky People had very different definitions of what constituted injury. They said it could be at least a week before Anya was well, minimum, but she knew Anya would be fine in a few days. Trikru were tough.
“Chemicals, yes, we use them to heal. What is it that the Mountain Men use?”
“Acid fog, mostly.” She shuddered. “Have you seen it?”
The grim look on Clarke’s face was answer enough, but she nodded. “I saw a boy, after it covered his body. I had to…”
“Kill him?” Costia said gently. She shook her head. “You should not feel bad; it was a mercy. He would have gone slowly.”
“Have you found a way to treat it?”
“If it is a small enough area of skin, if it is not inside their lungs or nose or eyes, we have a salve we can use. Often it will still scar, but every scar is a lesson; few people are caught in the fog a second time.”
“I hope you can teach us more; we’ve learned a few things, but even those a grounder taught us…do you know Lincoln?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes, but it was good-natured and smiling. She shouldn’t have been surprised that her uncle had gotten involved with them. “Of course it would be Lincoln helping Skaikru; he has always been interested in life outside our clan, and I heard the rumors before I was taken. Is it true that he fell in love with a Sky Girl?”
Clarke smiled. “Yes. Her name’s Octavia. He helped us survive out here because of her. Oh. Wait a second.” She jumped up from her seat before she had finished speaking, to give a girl a hug and speak to her excitedly. The girl was on crutches, but she didn’t look weak, even considering Costia’s Trikru-high threshold for weakness.
After a few moments, she decided to get up and join them; she’d been sitting down for too long, anyway, and she was always more comfortable standing.
Clarke took the lead with introductions. “Raven, this is Costia; she’s – ”
“The grounder you brought back with you, I heard,” interrupted Raven as she looked Costia over. “Your people tried to kill us; we blew them up. Why would you want to help us?” She was blunt, like Lexa; it was refreshing.
“We are not just helping you. I was in the mountain. I thought I was going to be hung up by my feet and slowly killed as the blood drained from my body. I might have made it out, but there are others still in there. To save my people, I would ally with the lesser evil; the Commander will agree. She protects her own.” She offered a slight smile, to lighten the mood a little. “I have to say, as much as I hate to admit it, that bomb you used was magnificent. Absolutely terrible, but completely impressive.”
Raven gave a smirk of her own, cocky. “Yeah, I know. Did you see it?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Oh no, of course not; I am a healer, not a warrior, I only go to the battlefield after the battle has been won. And you…you won that battle. Could you do something similar to the Mountain Men?”
“Maybe. I would like to, if I could manage not blowing up my friends in the process.”
“I have maps of the inside of the mountain,” Clarke added. “I’m sure those would he-” She froze, her gaze, along with Costia and Raven’s, went to the front of the camp where there was some sort of commotion occurring, another group of Sky People coming in. From the look on Clarke’s face, Costia would’ve guessed that the love of her life was coming through those gates; there was no other reason to be so hopeful and relieved and unabashedly joyful. This was what love looked like. “Bellamy,” Clarke whispered, before sprinting across the camp to launch herself at a tall brunet and throw her arms around him. He stumbled, quite understandably, but immediately wrapped his muscled arms around her and drew her close, burying his head in her golden hair.
Costia was so enraptured that it took her several moments to collect herself. She looked at Raven, eyes wide.
Raven’s smirk grew even more self-satisfied when she saw Costia’s expression; it was the look of someone who had more information than anyone else and loved it. She stood, adjusting her crutches, her smile dimming slightly. “Go on; I’ll catch up.”
With a quick glance to Raven’s leg (she was itching to see what the problem was and if she could fix it) and then a nod, she walked over to the small group, but stood silently to the side; she didn’t want to interrupt their moment. Was this what she and Lexa looked like to everyone else?
She waited until all the hugging was finished, a smile pushing at the corners of her cheeks, bursting at having witnessed something so pure and beautiful after going so long without any light at all. “Care to introduce me?” she asked lightly.
xXx
“Bellamy and Octavia slipped off last night. Where did they go?” Costia asked Clarke as they moved through the forest. Clarke had asked her to come with them to search for Finn, and Murphy; she knew the land and its people better than any of the Skai Kru. She had been hesitant to leave Anya behind, but she’d heard a few mutters about guns and instability in reference to the missing boys. Raven would keep Anya safe, and Costia would find these Sky Boys before they hurt anyone.
“Did you hear them leave?”
“Yes, of course; you all still have a lot to learn about how to move in the woods. Octavia was quieter, though. I assume Lincoln taught her that.”
“That’s actually…they left because of Lincoln. They’re trying to find a way into the Mountain’s tunnels.”
Costia frowned, glancing at Clarke. “What does that have to do with Lincoln?”
“He was taken by the Reapers. We’re going to get him back.”
She sucked in a breath and froze. No. Not Lincoln, of all people. He couldn’t…it had been so long since she’d seen him. And now she’d never get to. She’d lost people she loved before, of course she had, that was life and she was a healer, some of them had died in her arms but this – this was unnatural. This wasn’t disease or an arrow to the heart; this was the mountain. And this was her uncle. Her voice shook when she spoke. “You cannot bring him back. Not if he is a Reaper. He – the best we can hope for is to give him a clean death.”
“We can at least try; we have to try,” Clarke said firmly. “Octavia loves him.”
“And so do I, but – Clarke, all she will do is hurt more, when she sees him like that. That is not how he would want to be remembered.”
“How do you know we can’t save him? Have you tried before?”
Costia swallowed. “Yes. I –” A sound that she had only heard a twice in her life cut through the woods, loud and insistent and rapid and near. TonDC was near. Someone was shooting a gun in her home. She gave Clarke a wide-eyed look before taking off at full speed to her village, the pounding beats behind her confirming that Clarke was following. But their feet hitting the ground were nowhere near as fast as the bam-bam-bam that seemed to echo around them.
They came up over the crest that overlooked TonDC and – “No!” A jagged cry ripped through her throat. There was a boy with a gun but her eyes skipped right over him to see her family her friends her people crouched in the corral and lying bleeding on the ground. “No,” she repeated, a low growl, eyes smoldering. “No.”
Costia rushed into the fray, shoving the boy with the gun to the ground as she pushed past him and knelt next to Nyko, Nyko, her mentor, she couldn’t even take a moment to hug him because Artigas and so many others were hurt, they needed help. But Artigas was past help – she could see it in his pale face and blank eyes.
“Should I check the others?” she lapsed into Trigedasleng as she scanned the area. But everyone on the ground looked so still, so bloody, and no one was trying to help them, just sobbing and screaming.
“He killed them all,” Nyko growled. His hands were clenched into white-knuckled fists. “He shot them over and over and over; no one who got hit could’ve survived.” He seemed to realize, now that he was past his very initial shock, who exactly was talking to him. “Costia. You and Anya were taken. Why are you with the Sky People?”
Costia gave him a tight smile, a small flash of minute joy; she’d missed the man who’d trained her and been her friend since she was small. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she whispered. She glanced over to Clarke, who was in a heated discussion with the murderer and the other Sky Boy. “Clarke got me and Anya out of the mountain. We were going to…we were going to negotiate an alliance to take down the mountain men – no, I know, this is – he needs to pay. What happened?”
“He thought we’d killed or captured his friends. No one here was a threat to him; they were just trying to get away, but he still kept shooting.” There was pain in his voice, underneath the hardness of anger. Nyko may have been gruffer and more reserved than she was, but he still cared deeply for everyone in the village.
“Artigas…” He was younger than her, still a warrior’s second, so daring and bold that he hardly went a day without needing stitches. But he was tough. He had always grit his teeth and pushed through the pain. You just couldn’t do that with bullets. Costia wiped her eyes angrily; this should not have happened, you didn’t shoot children, elders, whole villages, you killed warriors in a fair fight, you didn’t massacre people who couldn’t defend themselves.
“Tried to stop him. Ran right at him, the idiot.” Nyko’s voice cracked at the end as he looked down at the boy. “He was brave; he died well, though there was no reason for him to die in the first place.”
“We’ll honor him,” she whispered. “And the others…”
“It’s not enough.”
“No. It’s not.” Costia shook her head and let out a low hiss. She hated what she was about to say. “But…we can’t take him now, as much as I want to tie him up and see him bleed. Anya is injured, she’s still at their camp, and I…we need them to save our people, I have to…gods, I have to go back.”
“Go back, Costia, are you mad?” His voice was low but angry, and carried a protective edge.
She swallowed. He was always looking out for her, but this was something she had to do. “We need them, Nyko. We have to get our people out of the mountain, I won’t leave them to die, not when there’s a chance to free them. I have to do this. I have to help our people.”
Nyko’s mouth tightened. “If you get hurt, Lexa will burn the Sky People to the ground. You didn’t see her after you and Anya were taken.”
Her heart squeezed. If there was one thing that could test her resolve, it was the thought of Lexa in pain. “What…happened?”
“She couldn’t sleep; I tried to give her medicine, but she refused. She hid it well, you know she’s good at that, but she was inconsolable, and furious. She would’ve launched an attack on the mountain without any planning or preparation if your mother and Gustus hadn’t reasoned with her. She knew they were right, but…”
“I wanted to run back to her as soon as we were free,” Costia whispered. She could only imagine the whirlwind Lexa must have felt; she’d held her love after countless battles, and Lexa felt every loss personally, and she didn’t know or love her warriors nearly as well as Costia and Anya. “I won’t get hurt. I won’t put her through any more pain.”
“Costia?” Clarke called. She stood with the Sky Boys, her face so full of mixed emotions that it almost seemed blank; anger, relief, despair, worry, it made Costia wonder who these boys were to her. “Are you coming back?”
She gave Nyko a tight smile and squeezed his hand. “Tell Lexa we’ll be home soon, when Anya is better. Tell her not to worry, you know how she worries, we’ll be fine – I love her, but I have to help our people first.”
After he nodded, she rose, biting back tears, almost-tears that grew angry as she walked back through the bodies. Sonia had barely survived her first pregnancy, but had never smiled so brightly as when she held her twin girls in her arms (Costia took a moment to be glad that the toddlers weren’t among the dead). Alta wanted to be be a blacksmith like her daddy, whose body covered hers but not enough to block the bullets. Kennedy had killed more Reapers than anyone in TonDC, and when his strength failed him, he planted flowers more beautiful than any battle. These were her people; she had played with and bothered them when she was little, known every intimacy of their lives when she’d grown up and learned to heal them. They were her cousins, her caretakers, her closest friends, and now so many of them laid lifeless on the ground.
It took everything in her not to crack the murderer’s neck when she walked over, and saw how he looked at Clarke like she was the sun rather than looking at the people he had killed. There wasn’t a hint of regret on his face. But he would pay his price later, she would see to that; blood would have blood. If she attacked him now, she would lose their trust, and put herself and more importantly injured Anya at risk. It wasn’t worth it, and he deserved a slower death than she could give him here, anyway.
“I am coming back with you.” She spoke calmly; as long as she focused on Clarke and not the murderer or the blood or the bodies, she could keep façade this up. She had to keep it up.
The corners of Clarke’s lips tugged down, just a twitch, like that answer had not been the one she was expecting. “He…these are your people.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. But Anya is my people, too. So are those in the mountain.” Her voice was carefully measured. It took all the strength she had not to let her emotions fly. “Nyko has things well in hand here. We should go.”