The crew was thrilled at the sound of battle. Lexa was too but she didn't let it show. Her face must always be controlled even in the middle of a battle, and when her crew yelled in pain or victory, she could only show restraint. One of her battles against Queen Nya's ships had proved fatal to Costia when Lexa allowed herself to be tender, and she did not want to repeat that.
This ship, though, was not manned by deft sailors or ruthless pirates like her own ship, the Coalition, was. The crew was formed by teenagers, and though Lexa had barely passed her twenty-first year she was more mature and strong than any of them. Even Aden, at thirteen, was more of a man than the rival ship's eldest. They were easily subdued, though many died more because of their own recklessness and pride than because of her people's mercilessness.
Indra brought them on deck. They were almost a hundred and all were looking down except for five people. The leader boy was trying to look for a chance to escape, the leader girl was looking straight at Lexa. Both looked tired, but Lexa didn't doubt they would keep on fighting if it meant their crew could escape. The other two girls and a boy who were also defiantly looking at Lexa's diverse officers looked weaker, but they would fight too. Those five would mean trouble.
"Put these five in separate cells," Lexa commanded and Gustus rapidly obeyed. "Put the strongest of the rest on the rows to allow a rest to our people. Search for any goods in their ship and then burn it."
"And the others? What of the weak?" Indra asked, her hand already holding a knife. Lexa liked Indra and how loyal she was, but the thirst for blood she sometimes showed was too much to bear. "What of them, Heda?"
"Leave them alone!" the leader girl spoke, shaking Gustus hand off her arm. "Let them go. Please."
Lexa stared at the girl. She had the eyes of someone who was used to get what she wanted with pleading, but she also looked like she would be a warrior. In some aspects, she reminded Lexa of Costia and that was not something she wanted.
"Chain them," Lexa answered, not leaving the girl's eyes. She was pleased when the girl changed her posture from pleading to defiant again. "Send her to my chambers after she's been stripped of her weapons."
The Captain of the ship had been generous and merciful, Clarke would readily admit if only to herself, but there was something in her bearing that told Clarke she would not be able to sway her. Commander Lexa, as her crew called her, was not Raven or Bellamy; she was a leader in her own right and didn't need anything Clarke had to offer.
She was expecting Clarke already, and when Gustus and Indra lead her to the Commander's chambers she was dumbfounded at seeing her without her battle-paint casting shadows around her eyes. The Commander looked younger, maybe a couple of years older than Clarke.
"Commander," Gustus voiced with a reverence. Clarke saw him and Indra bow deeply but noticed how Gustus went lower, his eyes not quite catching Lexa's in spite of looking directly at her. "Your orders have been carried."
Clarke saw Lexa lift her chin and nod.
"What happened to my friends?" Clarke demanded of Lexa. She had heard the orders of the Captain -or Commander, Clarke didn't care-, but anything could have happened when she was being tended to by the Captain's slaves. Those slaves were people Clarke recognized as belonging to the Ice Nation, and if Captain Lexa could steal them from their ships then she was a pirate to be feared.
Instead of answering, Lexa nodded again to her warrior and advisor, and they left.
"Sit," Lexa offered, extending a hand towards the comfortable looking chairs nailed to the wooden floor. Clarke did, but she was mistrustful. This was the Captain that could unite the twelve Pirate Captains in one single alliance, and as such she was dangerous.
"Your friends will be fine as long as you cooperate with me, Clarke of the Sky," Lexa intoned with a smooth and alluring voice. Hearing her name and her ship's name on her lips reminded Clarke of the moon and its eternal pull on the sea.
"How do I know you are not lying?"
Lexa got close, standing just a few centimeters away from Clarke.
"I am Heda Lexa of the Coalition," she said. "If I wanted I would take everything from you and leave the bodies of your friends as a gift to the sea. I have already burned your ship and imprisoned your crew. I have no reason to do more."
Lexa was right. Clarke and her crew had nothing now.
"Why don't you? It would tie a loose end and your crew would be happier for it. Pirates aren't supposed to care about the passengers of a ship they raid."
Lexa pursed her lips. Clarke knew she would not appreciate her words, but she wanted to know why the Commander let them live.
"Because I have seen you before," Lexa explained, not getting as angry as Clarke imagined. "When you defeated the Mountain Men and their superior ships."
Clarke smirked. She had been named Bringer of Death by the single survivor of the attack. It brought her pain to remember how she killed those men and women -those children-, but it also had advantages.
"My people call you Wanheda, and to kill you would mean the cycle of war would keep going. I want peace."
Clarke made sure not to show her surprise. Lexa of the Coalition wanted peace, of all things?
"The Mountain Men knew I would bring them to the ground and prepared for it but you got there first in a ship with white sails and manned by children. Now I have no wars left and peace would be good to my people."
Once again, Lexa was right. When Clarke and the Sky got to Mount Weather, the Mountain Men had fifty war galleys. Lexa's coalition would have endured at the end, she suspected, but the cost would have been high.
"And now what? I don't believe you will cease the raids."
"A pirate is a pirate all their life," Lexa answered. "But there is no need to fight among ourselves. I want you to join us, Clarke of the Sky, and come with us to the other end of the world, where we can find a better life for our people."
It was all too idealistic, Clarke thought, but Lexa meant well. She would be captain of her own ship, with maybe Bellamy or even Octavia as captain or another, but under the command of Heda Lexa.
In another circumstance, she would have said no and go on with their travels to explore the seas, or at least she would have consulted it with Bellamy. Lexa's hard eyes didn't look like she would be letting Clarke go and talk to her crew, with her friends, until she made her choice.
"I accept. We will be under your command, Heda Lexa," she said but didn't bow. She noticed Lexa's small smirk and wondered if she had been so sure of Clarke's answer.
"Under our command, Wanheda."