The opening of a hatch grabbed mine and the Warriors attention instantly, causing us too both straightened out. My stance relaxed only slightly compared to the Warriors when he saw it was just the brunette girl I had seen jumping into that lake, I'm glad she's not dead at least. I watched the warrior with the girl in silent amusement, her whisperings were obviously very heartfelt. I felt my body falling into the land of dreams but i quickly snapped out of it when I heard the sound of chains being undone. The warrior rubbed his wrists in relief and hugged the girl close to his chest before changing into some of their strange clothes. He almost darted down the hatch before his eyes met mine and he whispered out,
"I will come back for you, young one. My name is Lincoln."
I nodded back to him and replied in English as he addressed me in that language,
"Stay strong."
With one last glance at me Lincoln excited the strange room onboard this ship, leaving me alone again. Yet again. It seemed like days before the hatch opened once more but by the sun patten on the ground I deduced it had only been a few candlelicks. A girl with bright blonde hair entered the room along with a boy, I had seen them at the lake! The girl moved towards me and to my surprise undid the chains attaching me to the sky and the ground.
"Hello, my name is Clarke and that's Finn."
She pointed over to the boy standing next to her. Her blue eyes radiated kindness, a healer I guessed and I found myself relaxing in her gentle presence. The Finn boy handed me a stick of meat and I great fully gobbled it down. To speak or not to speak? They had been kind to me so I guess I owed them the same back.
"Thank you, Clarke, Finn. My name is Mina."
They both looked at me in confusion,
"You can understand us?"
I looked at them blankly,
"Of course I can, you're speaking English aren't you."
They looked at each other and laughed a little, causing the tension in the room to evaporate. Clarke handed me my wolf skin and I wrapped it around my shoulders. She led me out the strange building and I smiled when I realised the whole group was under the influence of them crazy nuts. She grabbed my arm and helped me out into the forest. When they didn't immediately let me go I got confused again,
"Wait that's going on? Why are you not letting me go?"
Finn sighed,
"Sorry Mina but Lincoln's arranged a meeting between the grounders and Clarke for a peace talk and we really need a show off good faith. We will give you back to them don't worry."
I nodded, trying to dispels the bad taste in my mouth and the butterflies in my stomach. What's if my people don't want me back? What if they don't even recognise me? It has been 10 years to be fair they might not even remember. I allowed Finn to push me along to a bridge that I remembered from my childhood and I had to quickly swallow down tears. Familiar drums begin to pound as a grounder army walked onto the bridge. Finn placed him self in front of me, keeping me from their gaze and I smiled when I spot Lincoln. He smiled back at me and waved slightly. His movement must have caught the attention of the leader as she sharply questioned,
"Who is that? What's going on? Do you have another of my people as your prisoner?"
Finn took a deep breath in and I could feel it exhale before pushing me into their line of sight. I heard an audible gasp fill the crowd and my eyes quickly flutter up to come face to face with the one person I thought i would never see again. Her dark blonde hair flowed behind her, her chocolate brown eyes dart all over me and her black war paint decorates her face. She quickly jumped of her horse and I found myself running to meet her. Her strong arms quickly embraced me and pulled me to her side, I burrowed my head into her neck and whispered,
"Mum."
Mum! My mum was finally here...after all this time. I let out a small quiet sob into her braided hair and breathed out as she clutched me desperately to her. I could hear her warriors gentle whispers get louder and louder the longer we clung to each other. I stepped away from my mother slightly and she frowned when she took in the rest of my appearance. My raggedy hair, barely covering clothes, stick thin appearance, chaffed wrists. She quickly took of her long coat and helped me into it before wrapping my wolf skin over the top. Clarke stepped forward again,
"I'm Clarke, we've come here to negotiate a peace treaty."
My mum mostly ignored her before kissing me on the cheek and motioning for me to go stand with one of her warriors. I didn't recognise any of them but that was too be expected, Warriors don't usually have the longest lifespan and these people probably weren't native to the village I grew up in. I steadied myself against the bridge, hating how weak I couldn't help being. Mum walked forward but ignored Clarke's outstretched hand.
"I am Anya."
She looked at Fin next,
"Why is my daughter in such a condition? If you have harmed her in any way that itself is an act of war."
She spat out anger clear in her tone. Finn tried to come forward but my mothers people stopped him from approaching, I could see my mum was going to get nowhere like this. I straightened my back, covered my exposed flesh with my mothers coat and walked towards them, trying desperately hard not to stumble. I didn't have any particularly strong feelings towards these sky people, they tied me up and also let me go. My anger was mostly directed to that group of boys who had the audacity to knock me out and drag me to their camp, completely uncalled for. I grasped my mums forearm and smiled at Clarke,
"It's okay mum, they didn't really harm me."
Clarke's mouth tried to stay straight but I could tell she was trying not to smile at me. My mum looked at me with her calculating eyes and spoke in our language,
"Explain what you mean by really."
I gulped and tried to find a way to explain without it sounding like I was being changed to the sky. Suddenly I felt a change in the air and spun around to see a boy from the camp shooting wildly. Clarke looked devastated as Finn ran towards her and my mum sprang onto her. I knew what those bullets could do and quickly ordered my mothers people,
"Take cover those guns can kill us!"
They immediately jumped into action and mounted their horses. A young man near me went down with blood splurging out his mouth. I ran over to him and pushed him over. His eyes were glazed as he chocked back on the blood, there was nothing I nor anybody else could do now. I closed his eyes and softly whispered,
"Yu gonplei ste odon."
A hand grasped my arm and I looked up with glazed eyes to see Finn,
"Come on Mina we have to leave...NOW!"
I stared at him in confusion,
"What are you talking about? Of course I'm not leaving. I'm going with my people, with my mother."
Finn shook his head and grasped me around the waist before flinging me over his back. I screamed and pounded his back with what little strength I had left,
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!"
Finn continued running towards the other side of the bridge with me held tightly over his shoulder. He ignored me completely but I twisted around to see my mothers people retreating. She met my gaze across the bridge her eyes heartbroken as that boy leader, Bellamy I think his name was held a group of her warriors at gunpoint. She softly held my gaze in a silent promise before kicking into action and mounting her horse, her warriors following her into the trees.
Finn handed me over to Bellamy when we were half way back to their camp, his shoulders digging into my narrow waist. I screamed at Bellamy as well. Why were they doing this? They had nothing to gain from keeping me prisoner and ruining my life. At least the mountain men had clear intentions when they tortured me and bled me. I shuddered just thinking about it and Bellamy surprisingly placed a "reassuring" hand on my back. Surprising myself and probably him I melted into his touch and allowed my eyes to close. Sleep comes quickly to those drained of blood and harvested for 10 years.
I woke up back in my original chains and sighed, my head hanging down in defeat, my blonde braids tumbling over my shoulder. A scuffling of feet got closer and closer to me until Bellamy placed a hand under my chin and lifted it up,
"What's wrong grounder princess? Feeling all tied up?"
I shot him a glare and jerked away from his touch, he really was an asshole. Bellamy sighed and stepped even closer to me.
"There's no point keeping quiet I know you understand me and you can definitely do some talking."
I rolled my eyes at him, just because he knew I could talk doesn't mean I was going to talk to him.
"So the leader, Anya, is your mother."
Did he really need an answer to that one? I mean come on its pretty obvious and even if the scene on the bridge didn't happen, I look just like my mum. Same dark blonde hair, same dark eyes, same high cheekbones. You would have to be an idiot not to spot it. I glared down at Bellamy and lifted my chin higher, silently bating him. That hatch on the other side of the room sprung open and a furious looking brown haired girl emerged. I could tell by the slight puffiness of her eyes she had recently been crying and her eyes held zero comfort as she zoomed in on me. I felt my body tense and my heart rate speed up as she came closer to me. She stopped a few feet away from me before reaching out and slapping me straight across the face. My eyes opened in shock but I kept my face passive not wanting to show weakness.
"Raven what the hell do you think your doing?"
Bellamy growled at the girl,
"She needs to talk!"
Raven screamed back,
"You saw how savage her people are they're going to come after us and we have to know there weaknesses! Think Bellamy Blake, you know I'm right."
Bellamy took in a deep breath and motioned to me,
"What are we supposed to do, Raven? She's done nothing wrong and now we're supposed to torture her?"
The young leader ran a hand through his hair as his eyes flickered to me,
"Look at her Raven! She's helpless, she's just like one of us."
I felt rage burning up in my body at his words, I may be but 16 winters but I am more of a warrior that these delinquents will ever be. I am not helpless, I am of the woods clan and we always have away. Raven stepped close to me again, swatting off Bellamy's warning arm and getting right up into my face. My screams filled the air as I realised Raven was carrying some sort of electrocuting device behind her back.
She dug it into my shoulder blades and a pain like no other filled my body, making me shake and scream all over. My teeth clattered in my head and blood flowed freely from the gagged wounds deep into my shoulder blades. The blood stuck to me, flowing like a river down my back and over my shoulders. The hatch flew open as Clarke came thundering into the room demanding what the hell was going on.
Bellamy grabbed Raven in an attempt to stop her but she was having none of it. Raven kicked Bellamy straight in the halls and gabbed the wires into my stomach this time. My head hung freely against my chest as my body still jerked and flung with all its might away from the horrific pain but with no success. I felt my eyes slowly closing as a blurry figure of Clarke grabbed Raven and flung her off me. Bellamy's desperate eyes filled my vision before the world went hazy once more and I blanked out.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Octavia's soft voice was the first thing I awoke to. She dragged a wet cloth over my stomach and my back attempting to clean up the blood and damage done by that savage Raven. My body still burned from the harsh treatment it had received but luckily I no longer shook like a volcano.
"Mochof."
I whispered tiredly without lifting my head. Octavia continued to clean me up quickly and efficiently without pause.
"I am sorry about what Raven did to you, Mina. No one deserves that."
Octavia left the room quickly before I could think of something to say back to her but inside I was reeling, I had an ally. My mother always seemed to have allies wherever she went, she even trained Lexa the girl with the commanders spirit! It had been such a long time since I had seen her I could only hope she survived and became commander, a great one at that. Lexa was always such a kind spirit even though she hid it well under layers of armour my mother helped her build.
Lexa and I spent many a summer together training under the careful watch of Anya and the other generals. It was rare for a warrior to take on two seconds but my mother had done it for Lexa and I. She and I trained hard and we trained each other as well as loved each other. The three of us were a family, Lexa and I sharing a sisterly bond and a motherly bond with Anya. A smile lit my face regardless of my current situation as I remembered the long winter nights where Lexa and I would snuggle up with Anya in our tent. My mothers warm arms would encase us both as she talked to us and taught us the different clans traditions and languages. The memories released a tear down my cheek and a muffled sob thought its way through my chest.
What had happened to my mother and sister after I left? Did Anya and Lexa continue on without me? Did Lexa continue to open up to Anya as a daughter or did she harden like the coming winter? I wished it not true but even then I could tell our family bond was fragile and without me in it I wouldn't be surprised if it had weakened or even collapsed. Mother would have continued to train Lexa and make her the leader the woods clan deserved but did she craft Lexa into a women to apreachiate love and the beauty of life?
I only had 6 years with my mother before the mountain men took me but in this 6 years my little family had shaped me into the women I am today. Anya taught me strength of the mind and body while Lexa taught me much gentler emotions like friendship and love. Maybe now I am free of the mountain men I will rejoin my family but I fear that the family of my past is too far gone and left broken for far to long to be fixed by a stranger for 10 years. For that was what I had become, a stranger.
A stranger to myself, a stranger to my mother and a stranger to my sister-by-heart and best friend. These sky people here are as much strangers to the ground as I myself am to my family. If that family even exists anymore. The spirit has probably led Lexa to take her rightful place as commander, leaving my mother alone yet again. I am her only kin, and she mine. When I was taken she must have feared the worst and presumed me long dead. I could only hope that together they had recovered and become strong yet again.
Octavia silently left the drop ship after cleaning off my wounds and I welcomed the silence, for silence is a comfort to those who have nothing.
