"Strike. Defend. Again." Titus calls out as he trains the nightbloods. 14-year-old Lexa does everything with ease and everyone knew she would be the one most likely to gain the title of Heda. Her only other real competitor was Luna, but she already voiced her opinion on fighting. Luna didn't want any part of it but was forced to because of her nightblood. The other nightbloods were losing steam as Lexa was barely breaking a sweat.
"That's enough for today. Get some rest and we will begin training again tomorrow at dawn." Titus says sternly and nods to dismiss everyone.
"Except for you Lexa. Anya asked me to hold you back, so she could meet with you privately." Titus informs the teen.
"Yes flamekeeper." Lexa says as Titus leaves the training area. Lexa puts her sword back in her scabbard and drinks some water while she waits for Anya.
A few minutes later, Anya finally shows up. "Lexa, we have very important things to discuss."
Lexa stands up straight as Anya continues, "You will be accompanying me into battle tomorrow against the Ice Nation. They have some of our people held hostage working as slaves and we will be getting them back."
"Of course, Anya. I will not let you down. What is the plan?" Lexa asks.
"We begin our travel to Ice Nation at Dawn. We will have warriors surround various places around the border. You will join me at the main entrance where there will be the most action. Our goal is to ambush them so once we get a few miles away we will walk the rest of the way and wait for the best opportunity to attack. Once there, we will invade their village to find the hostages. We kill anyone who gets in our way. Understand?" Anya explains.
"Yes, Anya." Lexa confirms.
"Good. Now get out your sword. Your training is not finished for the day." Anya informs the young warrior. Lexa spends the next three hours training with Anya and that was enough to make Lexa feel exhausted. She did not let it show though. When Anya lets her leave, she is relieved. She may be the best nightblood warrior, but she was still human. She doesn't accept her exhaustion until she sees Anya is out of view.
As Lexa is walking down the streets of Polis, she begins to get an eerie feeling. It is past night fall now, so the majority of people were in their houses. There were only a few torches to dimly light the streets. Lexa continues her walk to where the nightbloods lived when she heard someone behind her. As she turns around, she is ambushed by someone and taken into a dark alley. Lexa can barely see the white face paint on her attacker's face but it is unmistakable, "Azgeda." Lexa says as she is struggling to breath because of the hand wrapped around her throat.
"Tell me the plan." The Azgeda warrior demanded.
"What plan?" Lexa asks. She did in fact know what he was referring to. He was referring to the plan she just learned about moments ago.
The grip on her neck tightens which causes Lexa to let out a few choking sounds. "You know what plan I speak of. Tell me now or I will be forced to torture you until you speak." He growled.
"I will never betray my people. You will get nothing out of me." Lexa says and just as she finishes speaking, she throws all her weight onto him and kicks him to the ground. She tries to run but he is quick and recovers very quickly. He catches Lexa and pulls her arms behind her back while forcing her to the ground. He flips her on her back, "If you won't tell me something then you will give me something instead. Fight me and I will not hesitate to kill as many of your people. Tell me what I want to know, and I will stop."
Lexa gets a good look at the man who is pinning her down on the ground and she is sure his face will be in her nightmares for a while, "There is nothing you could do to me that would make me tell you anything."
The Azgeda warrior lets out a frustrated groan and pulls Lexa's pants off of her. He then quickly takes off his own. He proceeds to rape her. The entire time, Lexa wears a stoic expression. She does not want to give him the satisfaction of thinking that he is doing something to hurt her. Internally, however, Lexa is a wreck. She feels exposed and vulnerable. Something a warrior should never feel. She lets him do whatever he wants because she wasn't taking his threats lightly. A few minutes later, the torture was finally over. Lexa survived. Well she physically survived but she was mentally damaged.
"Tell anyone about this and you are dead." The attacker says as he puts his hood on and escapes.
Lexa quickly puts her pants back on but continues to lay there for a few minutes. She is shaky to the point if she were to stand then she would just fall to the ground. She finally catches her breath and after a few deep breaths, she is finally feeling well enough to walk the rest of the way to her room. She avoids everyone she sees and goes to bed without eating anything. That night she had to relive that terrible moment twice in her dreams.
Lexa startles awake after only a few hours of sleep. It is an hour before she had to get ready for battle, but she decided to get up anyway. It was either that or take the chance and relive her attack again. Lexa put on her armor and fastened her sword on her back. She made her way to the meeting point. As she walked through the still empty streets, her heart began to race. The events of the previous night have definitely gotten to the young warrior. Maybe that is what their goal was in the first place. She avoided the scene of the attack and instead took the long route.
Lexa sat still as she waited for everyone else to show up. Anya was the first to arrive, "Lexa, you're early."
Lexa stands up and brushes herself off, "A good warrior is an early warrior."
"That is true." Anya agrees with Lexa.
The pair prepares their horses as they wait for the rest of the warriors. It isn't long until they are ready to start their journey to Azgeda.
The ride is silent until a few miles away when Anya calls out, "Hold up! We walk the rest of the way. Keep quiet and don't let them hear us approach."
The large army begins to walk with some teams spreading out to cover more of the Azgeda border. As they begin to get closer, Anya notices something is off with Lexa, "What's wrong Lexa?"
Lexa was in her head just thinking and the sudden sound of Anya's voice startles her, "What? Oh, nothing. I am fine."
"Make sure you stay alert. The moment you let your guard down, you show your weakness." Anya reminds her. Lexa nods in acknowledgement and the rest of the walk is silent.
Anya leads the attack with Lexa by her side. Unfortunately, Azgeda is prepared for the attack. This just confirms Lexa's fear. She was raped not for information but because they knew it would weaken her defense. This realization hit Lexa like a ton of bricks. Lexa isn't in the right head space to fight. She didn't defend herself which the enemy noticed.
"Lexa, watch out!" Anya yelled to Lexa. She turned around just in time to behead the attacking warrior. Lexa gasped when she saw who she killed. It was her rapist. Lexa watched his head rolled on the ground until Anya shoved her to knock her out of her daze. This was all she needed to get her head into the fight and Lexa fought like she normally did, hard and with precise aim. In the end, they got the hostages with only losing a small fraction of their army. It is considered a win for them.
"Lexa I need to speak with you." Anya says sternly after they returned from battle, "You showed weakness today. This is not something I should ever see in my second."
"I know. I am sorry, Anya. I will be better next time." Lexa says with a straight face. She knows she should not show any emotion while talking to Anya or her mentor would only think she is too weak to continue being her second.
"I don't know nor do I want to know what happened to you out there but if it happens again, I will have to find a new second. You are lucky I am giving you another chance." Anya says.
"Yes, Anya. Thank you." Lexa reply's with the same expressionless tone.
"You are dismissed." Anya says and Lexa leaves without another word. She goes to her room without dinner once more and lays in bed until she could fall asleep. She allows herself to think about what happened to her the previous night and the battle today. She was hoping that if she gets all this grief she feels out of her system today, then she would be able to fight even harder.