Forgiveness does not exist

by BlueLion20

Warnings for major character deaths. The Mountain Men have fallen. But so have many, many of the Sky People. Clarke, after she is betrayed, gets the survivors that are left and they run. After this, they know there is only one thing left for them. Revenge. Warnings for gore. People you care about will die in this. Princess Mechanic later on. Trigger warnings for graphic violence.

3. Assault on the Boudalan

Warnings for violence and death, mass killings

Forgiveness does not exist

Chapter 3: Assault on the Boudalan

Myles snipped the longer part of the string for the dynamite stick off and lit the stick up, throwing it at the other side of the tunnel when he and all of the remaining Sky People drove out of the tunnel. They were halfway down the hill when the dynamite stick blew up and the caves collapsed. Only a few of them jumped and turned, but besides that, all of them were entirely poised as they drove through the forest. They had been driving through the tunnel and the forest for an hour now.

Lincoln told them to be careful, since the path they were on to get to the next territory was bordering on Azgeda land. It was only then that Clarke really felt any true fear. The Azgeda were of the most warlike people on the ground. They were the Ice Nation and wore scars on their faces instead of tattoos as a way of showing off their prowess in battle. And they were supposedly more ruthless than the Trikru. But Clarke wasn't sure she believed that. The Trikru just had a different way of being ruthless. They were liars. Would stand back and do nothing while the Mountain Men destroyed the villages. So Clarke wasn't sure she believed anything about the Azgeda. But she would trust Lincoln's advice.

They wisely avoided the Azgeda borders when they passed by them.

Seven days went by. During that time, the group feasted on the remains they gathered from the village they destroyed. Deer, pigs, rabbits, hens, the occasional sheep. Between the different animals and the 179 people that were in their party, they were able to fill their bellies. For six days. The seventh day came and they needed to rely on the rations they gathered from Camp Jaha. They knew to preserve the rations from Mount Weather. Those would last them a while, thanks to how the Mountain Men preserved their rations.

But they were fed enough with the camp's rations. Then the eighth day came.

All of them were tired, and they all knew they more or less needed baths. For those seven days, they were sleeping in crevices along hills or in the metal carts. And when they passed the Azgeda territory they huddled together for body warmth. They used the furs they took from the destroyed village to keep them warm when they passed by the Azgeda borders. Now they were in a different territory. One surrounded by rocks and mountainous cliffs.

Lincoln informed Clarke that they were beginning to edge into the Boudalankru territory. The Boudalankru, from what Clarke remembered was the Rock Line Tribe. As if to prove Lincoln's point, the first thing that everyone saw once they were way from a few hills with some trees, was a mass number of rough cliffs with boulders at the bottom of them.

There were sharp rocks and dozens of rocks of different sizes scattered all over.

"Shit," Dax exclaimed, glaring, "This is gonna be harder to get through than a forest."

"No kidding." Mbege growled. Rocks? That was annoying. You couldn't cut a rock or shoot a rock like you could a tree. That was a pain. It was like charging a cliff with a horse instead of a field full of dirt, grass and flowers. How were they supposed to get through here?

Clarke looked to Lincoln. "Lincoln, have you been to many villages in the Rock Line territory?" Lincoln nodded, "A few. On many missions. To bring food and supplies to the Rock Line territory. And I know where many other villages are." Clarke smiled, a thought coming to her mind quickly. She knew that the Rock Line people were, like the Trikru and the Azgeda, of the most warlike of the Grounder tribes. Their tactics were unseemly. Considered needed in some battlefields, but even the Trikru had some misgivings about the Rock Line people. This was good. It was good that they were here. The Rock Line territories were rich with possibilities. If they bombed the Boudalankru, and killed everyone, then they would be seen as the most fearsome people.

But it would also attract a lot of attention.

So what to do then? Bomb from a distance so no one could know who was bombing the Rock Line people? Ally with the Rock Line people in hopes of getting the Rock Line people to turn on the Commander?

No. Clarke knew that they couldn't trust any Grounder. Except for Lincoln. Lincoln was the one exception to the rule. No one else outside of their people could be trusted. They all needed to be killed. Killed everywhere they lived.

"Lincoln," Clarke said, deciding on the first and gruesome plan that she came up with, "You know where the villages are located, right? Can you tell me where the best place would be to plan a bombing on their villages?" Clarke watched Lincoln, to see how he would react to this question. To how he would receive the news that his new "Heda" was planning to bomb villages full of children.

And again, Lincoln shocked her. He nodded, without showing any surprise or hesitation. His eyes closed and he spoke softly, the softness in his voice not taking away the murderous intent of what he said, "Three villages over that cliff," He pointed to the cliff in front of them. "There are villages that have no defenses. They have wooden fences around their borders. But they will not be able to react until the first village that burns to the ground. They are at a steep angle. They won't see anything until there are flames in the air."

Clarke shivered at the intrigue that rose at this. When Lincoln lowered his arm, Clarke asked, knowing she should be disgusted by the excitement in her voice when she spoke next, "Lincoln, do you know where all the villages are?" A plan jumped in her mind and it was a horrible one. But it was brilliant. It was vulgar and disgusting, but Clarke would be damned if it wasn't innovative and useful.

Lincoln could probably see the gleam in Clarke's eyes and he didn't look bothered. If anything, Lincoln started smiling back, a cruel gleam in his eyes as well.

Clarke tried not to laugh painfully. God, what had Lexa done to them by leaving them to the Mountain Men? Leaving Octavia to be shot to death? Leaving Jasper and the others to be filled with lead bullets? Lexa made them into monsters by leaving the mountain. Clarke couldn't stop the small bout of laughter that Lincoln only watched with a curious cock of his head. They were monsters. And they needed to accept that if they were to bring the Commander's people down.

To make the Commander suffer as she made them suffer. This was about revenge. Not just survival. Revenge. Pure and simple.

Clarke and all the others, Clarke was sure that all the others knew it was unlikely they would survive for long with the things they were doing. But she was sure that by this point, like her and Lincoln, they didn't care. They were waging war against an entire world. An entire civilization. It was all or nothing. And all for revenge. It was a murderous game with no winners and all of them knew it. What they were now? They weren't sky people.

They were a firestorm. They were a flood. They were a mudslide. They were an earthquake. They were a rain of sharp, vicious hail. They were all that was going to plague the Grounders for as long as they could stay alive. They lived now to enact vengeance on the Grounders.

Clarke composed herself, a cold smile on her face, looking at Lincoln. Her brother, her friend, her servant. "Lincoln, I need you to tell me where each of the Rock Line villages are. And how far away from each other they are." Lincoln looked at Clarke oddly, and Clarke knew he was trying to figure out what she was planning, but he nodded and went to a patch of dirt, picking up a long, thin stick and started scratching shapes into the dirt.

Clarke kneeled down to face Lincoln and Monty, Mbege, Dax, Harper, Monroe and Fox did the same to see what Lincoln was doing. The shapes that Lincoln was drawing were of squares and circles. There was a large circle drawn around all the smaller circles and the squares. Lincoln spoke calmly when he did this, "Think of this large circle as the area we are in now. Think of this," He scratched in an X, "As the cliff in front of us. And think of the squares and circles as the different villages. The circles are the villages that are further away. The squares are the villages that we can reach with bombs from here. These three squares closest to the X?" The stick touched the squares right behind the X. "Those are the three villages beyond the cliff."

"And the other squares that are further from the X?" Clarke pointed to the five different squares several inches from the squares directly behind the X. Lincoln nodded, "Those are at least an hour away. But not unreachable by bombs. If we want to hit the villages behind the cliff with bombs, then we need to hit this group of villages first. This group of villages are more armed and filled with more well trained warriors. As soon as they see the fire from these villages," Lincoln's stick went to the three squares behind the X, "The other villages," His stick pointed to the next group of squares, "Will be alerted and come to the first three villages' aid."

Clarke considered this and it told her only what she suspected before. They needed to bomb both groups of villages at the same time. It wasn't missed by Clarke that Lincoln said, "if we want to hit the villages." It looked like Lincoln was serious about this. He was one of them. He was a murderer like the rest of them. He really was waging war against his own people. Clarke fought the urge to lean in and hug Lincoln. He was their lifeline right now. Everything he knew was instrumental to their survival and even more importantly, to their revenge.

They didn't have missiles with them. But they had bombs. And those bombs could be set off with the right technology. Raven and Monty were going to be useful for that.

"Then that settles it," Clarke said, "We need to bomb both groups of villages at the same time."

At the confused and startled gasps she received, Clarke answered without looking at anyone except Raven, who was also startled by this, "We have walkie-talkies. We need to contact each other when we're closer to the other villages and give each other the signal. As soon as the other group's bombs have been fired, the group bombing those villages will give us the go. And we'll start bombing these villages." Raven's face showed that she comprehended this when her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Wells looked away, accepting this, but not liking it one bit.

Clarke turned back to Lincoln's impressed face. "Lincoln, will the other villages be alerted when we attack these villages?" Clarke pointed to the further away squares. The ones further from the X. Lincoln shook his head. "Not if we hit them enough that there won't be anyone strong enough to light the fires. That far away from those five squares?" Lincoln said, "Those are too far from the other villages. The circles. So the villagers from the farther squares will have to light a fire in a signal box. You've seen them, Klark." Clarke thought about it and then remembered that wooden box that Lincoln lit on fire to get Anya and her army away from an area when they were about to attack the 100's camp.

It was a signal to alert the Grounders of when Reapers were in the area.

And as long as they bombed both group of villages at the same time? And wiped out everyone before any of them could light a signal? The other villages? Those circles? They would be destined for destruction too. Then it was settled. Clarke smirked, getting up from where she crouched, putting her foot on the dirt and shuffling her foot to wipe away the shapes in the dirt. Shapes in the dirt could mean anything, but since the Grounders were a tricky and treacherous bunch. If they saw these shapes in the dirt, who knew what they'd think?

Clarke called out when Lincoln, Mbege, Harper, Monty, Dax, Monroe and Fox lifted themselves up, "Here's the plan. We're separated into two groups. One for the group of villages beyond the cliff. And one for the group of villages an hour from here. We have walkie-talkies. I want the group that's going to the villages an hour from here to have walkie-talkies to contact us. Lincoln, you're the one that leads the group to the villages an hour away. Because you'll know where they are and where the best place is to bomb them from. Raven, how are you feeling? I need you to operate the bombs and set them off."

Raven nodded, saluting Clarke. "Got it, Clarke." Raven's dark eyes became vengeful, the hatred that Clarke was sure was in her own eyes gleaming in the mechanic's. "Some crispy Grounders coming up." Clarke should have been disgusted by Raven's words and she knew that Raven knew that too. But neither of them were going to care. These peoples' lives were forfeited as soon as their people abandoned the Sky People to die in the Mountain Men's lair.

Clarke looked at Lincoln, "Lincoln, I can trust you to watch the others when they're going after the other villagers, right? You will bring all of our people back in one piece?" Lincoln brought a clenched fist to his heart, bowing his head. "Sha, Heda." He dropped his fist and walked to the carts and Clarke gave out orders about who was going with who. With one group was Raven, Lincoln, Tim, Coleen, Diggs, Derek, Dax, Monroe, Miller, some of the other remaining 100, and a group of guards and civilians. With the second group, Clarke, Wells, Monty, Harper, Fox, Tyler, John Mbege, Zach, some more of the remaining 100, some guards and some civilians.

Their two groups went their separate ways for now. Clarke's group started driving around the cliff to get a better range on the villages and Lincoln and Raven's group drove to the path where Lincoln was pointing. In an hour, they would reach their destination and Raven would tell Clarke over the walkie-talkie that they were at the villages' location and the bombs were set up. It was time for them to set up their bombs.

"Monty," Clarke ordered, looking at her friend, "I need you to start operating the bombs we have." Monty nodded.

Monty went to the edge of one of the carts and pulled out the tech needed, putting the digital explosives down on the dirt and began to operate.

Clarke ordered for Tyler, Harper and Zach to patrol the area and make sure that no one was watching. They were now far from trees, so there would be less places for Grounders to hide and spy on them, but they still needed to be sure. They now had the perfect plan to eliminate more Grounders. They wouldn't be compromised now.

The next hour went by very slowly. It almost made a few of the 100 fall asleep before John Mbege and Wells yelled at them to stay awake and Clarke smiled at them in appreciation. Monty set up the bombs with the gunpowder at the base. It just needed a flare. A flare they could create. Clarke heard a shrieking noise on her walkie-talkie and she looked down at it, hearing Raven's voice come out from the other end, "Clarke! We're ready! I've got the bombs all set up and we just need your order and all the bombs will go off."

Clarke grinned, speaking into the walkie-talkie, chuckling when she heard cheering behind her from her friends, "We're ready here, too. Are the bombs a good distance from you? So when you use the fuel from the gas tanks, they'll be away from you?"

The answer came quickly, "Yeah! We're at a good distance. You too, Clarke?"

"We're good here in that department," Clarke said, grinning widely when she saw Monty grab the container of gasoline. "You set off your bombs first. We'll set ours off after yours are set off. You do it first, Rae." Clarke looked to Monty, who was spilling gasoline into a few jars and taped the jars to the ends of the bombs. As soon as the clips of the bombs were pulled out, the flare from the rockets that were attached to the digital tech and the bombs would set the gasoline on fire and in doing would accelerate the rockets to go off, shooting to the villages and the bombs would finally go off like Monty programmed to on time.

Raven, Clarke knew did the same to the other woman's bombs.

Raven's voice came from the walkie-talkie again, "You got it. Don't have to tell me twice. Monroe! Put the gasoline in the jars." Clarke heard a yell of answering.

Clarke heard Raven's hard voice call four minutes later, "Okay, we're setting the bombs off in 'five. Four. Three. Two. One!' Do it, Lincoln!"

There was silence on the other end, then Clarke stood up straighter when she heard a 'bang' on the other end of the line. Two more "bangs" followed. Then two more. Clarke looked up at the sky in the distance to see if she could make out the shooting bombs. She saw a few flickers of bright orange, then nothing happened. Then a sharp "boom" hit the air. Then came four more. Clarke, Wells, Harper, Fox, Monty and the others kept watching the sky with interest when a few four minutes later, fire and smoke could be seen in the distance. Clarke grinned. She turned to Monty. "Monty!" She yelled, "Set off the bombs!"

Monty nodded and grabbed the matches from his pocket. He took a match and scraped it across the side of the match packet, the tip turning on fire and Monty went to the fuse of the bomb. Monty lit all the fuses, blew out the match and pulled all the clips of the bombs, running from the bombs just in time when the gasoline that was pooled in the jars set on fire.

The fuses set on fire, the fire running up the wicks and going up to the rockets they stole from the Mountain Men. As if all together, the four rockets went off, on fire, soaring through the air. Clarke gasped as the bombs flew through the air. They watched when the bombs and rockets reached the villages. There were four explosions of fire went throughout the villages, everything catching fire. The ground, the huts, the walkways, the stables.

There were millions of screams and Clarke ordered Monty to set off the next two bombs. Monty did as he was told. Clarke ordered over the walkie-talkie, "Rae! Set off the next round of bombs!"

Monty set off their group of bombs and Clarke heard Raven give the orders for Monroe and Lincoln to set off their bombs. Two more "bangs" went off and more fire and smoke filled the air. The stink of burning flesh and wood began to fill the air too.

Clarke ordered both to her friends with her and over the walkie-talkie, "Finish off any survivors! Now!"

Clarke and none of the others knew how much time went by when the time came Clarke and her warriors were done killing picking off people with sniper rifles and machine guns, all of the barrels of the guns and the barrels on the machine guns covered with silencers. More Grounders collapsed, never getting up again. John Mbege had his M27 resting against his body, firing off six different shots, the bullets all hitting the marks.

Men, women, children. They all fell or were on fire. All of them screaming. Screaming came out of the walkie-talkie too, followed by Monroe's laugh, "These Grounder fuckers are dead over here, too, Clarke!"

Clarke smirked, after she squeezed two different shots, killing two on fire young men, trying to escape the pyre. She spoke into the walkie-talkie, "Kill anyone who's left! After you're done, stay there. We will come meet you!" With Monroe's yell in answer, Clarke gave the same order to her friends that they were to go down and kill anyone they could find that was still alive, then they go meet with the others.

OOoooooooo

Polis

Leksa saw Onya come back, eyes almost filled with hope when she saw the taller woman, until she noticed that Onya was arriving alone. There was no one else here except Onya. Leksa felt a growl rise in her throat before she could help it. Where was Klark? Leksa had awaited Onya's arrival with Klark for seven days now. "Onya," Leksa began, voice dark, standing up from her throne. She did not caring that Indra, Titus and the guards were right there, "I told you to bring Klark back-"

Leksa's voice stopped when she saw the lost look on Onya's face and the solemn, confused gleam in Onya's eyes. "Onya?" Leksa asked, waiting for an answer, fear beginning to find its way into Leksa's voice. She knew that Klark couldn't be dead or harmed. If Klark was dead, Onya would not be as calm as she was being. Onya would have been in a rage. Her eyes would have given the anger away in a second.

But something was wrong.

"Heda," Onya went down to her knee, head bowing, "Klark is not at the Mountain. And she's not at the Sky Peoples' camp. No one is at the camp. The camp has been abandoned."

Leksa stared at Onya, questions storming. "Abandoned? Where are the Skaikru, Onya?" Leksa asked, voice hard. Where was Klark?

That was the important question Leksa didn't say, but both she and Onya were thinking it with each passing second. Onya looked up at her Heda. "I don't know, Heda. There was a trail of tracks from some of the Skaikru's machines. Their carts. They led out of the camp and went into the forest."

Onya stopped speaking and looked like there was something she rather not say, looking away.

Leksa almost scowled at the older. "Yes, Onya? What is it?" Onya turned her eyes away, her face covered in dark grief. "Onya," Leksa spoke, a command in her voice, "Speak now."

Onya turned back to her superior. "Commander," Onya said, "A village has been set on fire. I saw the flames from the Skaikru's camp. There was a mass fire above the trees. I ran to the village and when I got there…there was no one left. They're dead. Men. Women. Children. Babies."

The Commander didn't move. Her blood felt cold. An entire village? Destroyed…

"How?" The Commander demanded, a terrible question stirring in her mind. Were the Skaikru responsible for this village's destruction? It couldn't be that, but it was impossible to ignore the timing. The Skaikru were not at their camp. Their camp was abandoned. And a whole village was wiped out, set on fire. This was not something that sounded like a coincidence.

The Commander closed her eyes, feeling the grief lay in her heart. A whole village. Her people. Dead, murdered, butchered. And it might have been because of Klark's people. They needed to know more. The Commander opened her eyes and locked them on Onya. "General, take a group of our warriors with you to the village and see what you can find. Try to find if there are any signs of the Skaikru being there. And bring all the warriors you can to put the fire out."

Even though both of them wanted Klark home with them, safe, they knew that their people came first. They must put out the fire before it spread to other villages. Their peoples' safety and lives came before even the Commander herself.

Onya knew this too and Leksa could see it. But she knew it killed her mentor to agree to. Onya bowed her head. "Sha. Heda." Onya got up and turned around, marching out of the room, and the Commander turned to her throne, contemplating, aware that Indra was fuming in rage.

"Treacherous Sky People!" The dark-skinned woman growled, "They invade our land and destroy our villages! We should have killed them as soon as they came here." The Commander shot a dark look to her warrior and Indra stopped her seething. Leksa did not know why. Maybe it was because Indra knew that saying that they should have killed all the Skaikru as soon as the Skaikru landed, meant killing Klark too, or maybe because Indra didn't wish to speak ill of her Seken, Oktevia.

Leksa gave an order in a firm voice, knowing that she couldn't stay here in Polis anymore. She needed to find Klark. She needed to know if Klark was involved at all with the destroyed village. She needed to know where Klark and her people went.

"Indra," Leksa ordered her warrior, looking at the other woman, "You will come with me. We are taking a band of warriors with us alongside Onya's group. They will search for survivors and see where the tracks lead. You and I? And our army? We will follow the tracks of the Skaikru's carts. We will find them. You will not attack anyone until I give the order."

Indra stood straighter and nodded, spear lifting and hitting the ground in answer. "Sha, Heda."

The Commander gave orders to the immediate order to the guards to watch over the Nightbloods in her absence, and she walked out the door, followed by Indra.

OOoooooooooo

The remaining survivors of the villages below had all been wiped out. By bullets. By slashes across the throats. Being impaled. Bombs. There was no one left. Clarke got the confirmation from Raven that the same was happening to the survivors of the villages where Raven and the others were.

As the towers of orange flames crackled all over the destroyed huts and walkways, Clarke ordered into the walkie-talkie, "Raven, I need you and the others to stay there. We'll come and meet with you and the others!"

She heard Raven's answer, "Got it! Get your asses over here!"

A thought struck Clarke when she heard neighing from the stables of the villages. She spoke next into the walkie-talkie, "Raven, are there horses where you are? Live horses?" Clarke heard silence on the other end and Raven answered, "Yeah, why? What's that got to do with anything?" Clarke nodded, looking up at the stables across from them. Their targets hadn't been the horses, just the villagers that kept the horses. The stables were untouched and the horses safe. just terrified. Clarke leaned into the walkie-talkie again, a thought hitting her.

"Raven, I need you to listen," She said, "The stables? Where the horses are. Are they untouched? Are the horses safe?"

There was more silence on the other end, then Raven answered. "Uh, yeah. The horses are all alive. The bombs didn't go near them. Clarke, why? What's going on?" Clarke answered quickly, "We need to get rid of the carts. The tracks are too obvious and traceable. If we have horses, we might be less noticeable." Clarke thought about how many people they had with them. She spoke into the walkie-talkie, "I need you to count how many horses. I'll do the same on my end."

She heard Raven's confirmation and Clarke gave the order to the others to check the stalls for the horses. After some digging out of the bullets that landed in the at one time remaining villagers were taken, some of the 100 came back, telling Clarke how many horses there were. A hundred and seven. Clarke got the confirmation on the walkie-talkie on how many horses were there in the other villages. Two hundred and seventeen.

The number made Clarke grin.

There were 179 of them. There were more than enough horses for them. It was time to dump the carts and take the horses.

Clarke called into the walkie-talkie, "How much food do we have? Do we have enough to feed all 179 of us and at least a hundred and fifty horses? For at least a few days? Check."

There was moving around on the other end of the walkie-talkie and she gave the same order to her group on her end. The guards, remaining 100 and the civilians checked all their rations. She got a satisfying answer on both her end and on the end of the walkie-talkie. There was plenty of rations for all of them and for all the horses they'd want to take along. Grinning, Clarke gave the order for everyone, both on the walkie-talkie and on her side for everyone to get as many horses as they could and that her group would reunite with Raven and the others. They would go meet with Raven and Lincoln's group after they got the horses. But both groups were to do the same thing.

Ditch all of the carts.

She got a series of verbal confirmations. Clarke and the others all got their equipment and rations out of the carts, getting the rations into bags and Clarke had them push the carts towards boulders, having the carts hide. She gave the same order to Raven and the others on the walkie-talkie. The boxy, metal carts, with great effort were all pushed back into rocks and behind boulders, leaving only track marks and deep footprints in the wake of the struggle.

They then went to the stalls and opened them, getting the leather reigns hanging from the stalls and each of them tied the straps over the horse's heads.

The wooden stalls were orange with the glow of the mass fire overtaking the two villages. It allowed Clarke and her friends enough light to observe the horses they were about to abduct. Or rescue, depending how you looked at it. The place was about to all burn down, you know?

Clarke gave two orders. The same one. One into the walkie-talkie and the other to the people around her, pulling horses out. That they could grab any horse they wanted. The others were to be freed and gotten away from the area so they didn't get burnt. But they were to take more horses than there were people in their group. It was likely that the Grounders knew how many of them were left already.

So if they left more tracks than 179 horses could leave, then people might not know they had gone the route they were going to soon go on.

Many horses were released from the stables and immediately the horses neighed, bolted fast as soon as their bridles were off. Clarke ordered the others to get horses ready.

Tyler and John Mbege both chose a large, brown horse. One for each of them. Fox led out a small, lean, but strong black and white horse. Harper and Wells brought out their horses. Harper a roan red-brown horse and Wells a brown horse with a white mane and tail. Zach chose a large, black horse and Monty chose a white horse with a white mane and tail.

Clarke looked into one of the last stalls, satisfied that they had as many horses as they needed and that the others all had their horses chosen and saddled. Then her eyes landed on the horse snorting at her from within its large, wooden stall, the animal's dark, angry eyes glaring at her.

Her mouth dropped and the hand holding the walkie-talkie almost dropped the device.

This one. This horse was hers. It was tall, big-boned. Well-built. Its entire coat was dark brown, just a few shades lighter than black. Its mane and tail were ebony. There was a bright white dollop of fur on the center of its forehead. The gleaming, dark horse nodded its head, ears pricked back as it snorted at her.

Clarke smiled, getting closer into the straw covered floor of the stall, slipping the clip of the walkie-talkie onto her belt and grabbed the leather bridle, holding it up for the horse to see, hoping the horse would be cooperative. She crooned to the horse as she approached it. "Shh. It's okay, sweetheart." She reached into her pocket and grabbed a few of the pieces of rations she had from the mountain.

Pieces of chestnuts were under the horse's mouth in seconds. "Here you go, big guy." She held the food out. The horse snorted and opened its mouth, chewing on the food. Clarke smiled, petting the large animal's nose after all of the food was consumed. She chuckled as it nuzzled itself into her hand. It looked like the horse was warming up to her. Good. She wanted him or her to like her. She wanted this horse. He was dark and beautiful. He would be fitting for her to use as a steed of doom when she brought the fight to Lexa's front door.

While the horse was appeased, Clarke slipped the bridle over the horse's head and slipped the bite into its mouth. The horse snorted a few times when Clarke did this, but didn't struggle. When Clarke got the bridle secured over it, she pulled the horse along by the bridle's strap, and the horse snorted again, stomping its front feet, but followed Clarke in response. It nodded its head many times as they came out into the open, joining the others.

Clarke called out, "Who has the saddles? I have my horse." Miller came over, carrying a saddle, bringing it to the horse who was now chewing on some of Clarke's hair. "Here, here." Miller said, pushing himself up and slapping the saddle over the horse's back, slipping the straps around the horse's large stomach, buckling it.

"Thanks, Miller." Clarke said to him. She changed her hands on the reign and her right hand went to her walkie-talkie. She brought it to her mouth and spoke into it.

"Alright, Rae, does everyone have a horse with them?" She heard the static, then Raven's voice. "Yes, we do! But there is no way I'm getting on one of these things. No way. You hear me, Clarke? No way." Clarke snorted, rolling her eyes. "Yes, you are. The Grounders will find our tracks with the carts way more easily than with horses. Everyone uses horses here. If we want to be hard to track and find, we need to all use horses. Now get rid of all the carts. And here's another order. Our recognizable clothes? Like your jacket, Raven? Get rid of it. Burn it. Anything that would make us identifiable, get rid of it."

She heard startled silence on the other end, but then there was a confirmation. "Alright, Clarke." She heard the aggravated sigh and heard Raven relay that message to everyone around her. Clarke did the same, shouting the order to everyone. There was a series of startled looks but gradually everyone took off their identifiable clothing, throwing the pieces of clothing into the fires. Clarke did the same to her own jacket. She put her walkie-talkie back on her belt and pulled off her black jacket, throwing it into the fire.

"Clarke," Monty pointed out, "You know your hair is a giveaway, right?"

Clarke nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I know." She glanced up at the pale locks on the right side of her forehead in annoyance. She looked around the village, noting that everything was of course, on fire. She looked down at the many carts next to her and the others. Her eyes dropped on a long, leather jacket with a hood laying at the bottom of the second to first cart. She leaned down, letting go of the horse's reigns for a moment.

She grabbed the hood of the leather jacket, pulling it out of the cart and held it up for everyone to see it. "Is this anyone's?" She called, looking at everyone in front of her. She received many shaking heads.

"Wait," Miller spoke, stepping close, looking at the jacket. "I've seen it before. It was…it was my dad's. He brought it with him down here." Clarke nodded, deciding to dismiss the thought of taking it for herself. She offered the coat out to Miller. "Here," She said, hoping Miller would take the coat now. "It's rightfully yours." Miller looked at the coat with pain in his eyes. He shook his head. "No." He said, more sadness in his voice than he could help. "I can't wear it. I'll just remember my dad. And it'll hurt like hell. I can't deal with that." Nathan shook his head, grimacing. "You take it, Clarke. It's yours. You can use the hood to cover your hair."

Clarke looked at Miller carefully. "Are you sure?" He nodded, looking away. "Yeah. Just do it. It's yours." Clarke sighed. "Okay."

Without another word, Clarke pulled the jacket on and let the long, leather length cover her body and she flipped up the hood, having it cover her hair. Clarke ordered everyone to get on the horses. And for the remaining people on the ground to drive the carts to where Raven and the others were and that she would give them the instructions then.

Miller, Monty and some of the others clumsily got up on their horses, straddling the animals' backs and slipping their feet into the stirrups. Clarke dragged herself up the animal's side, foot in the stirrup, and pulled herself up, left leg going over the horse's back. She straddled the animal, foot going into the other stirrup. The dark horse looked back over at her, its ears perked forward, looking at her curiously.

Clarke smiled. "I hope you don't mind, beautiful. You're my horse now. You're going to take me to the other villages." She gathered up the reins in her hands and pulled the horse's face to the path where the tracks of the other carts had been. Clarke half expected the horse to resist, but the dark horse didn't mind being pulled. The horse started moving to the pathway where Raven and the others' carts drove.

Eventually each horse moved along to the pathway where the other tracks were. Some of the guards jumped into the front seat of the carts and started driving.

Clarke had a specific plan in mind as they rode down the path. She checked behind her, looking past the leather hood and her right shoulder. She saw Monty, Miller and the others riding behind her. She smirked, turning back to the path.

They made a good running pace down the path, the carts driving alongside them.

After a couple of hours, they reached Raven and the others. They saw the remains of the fires in the villages before they saw the carts and their friends and family and the horses they stole. Clarke waved at the others and Raven, Lincoln, Monroe and the others waved to them.

Clarke viewed the damage down to the small group of villages. They were demolished. Destroyed. There were burnt bodies all over the ground. Clarke As soon as Clarke and her group reached them, Clarke yelled, knowing they didn't have time to relish in their victory, "We now need to drag the carts into the woods. Get all of the things we need out of the carts. And then set the carts on fire. We're going to take the rations and run off with the horses. Lincoln," Clarke looked at the Grounder, loyal to her and the other Ark people. "Can you take us to another cluster of villages? We're going to cripple Rock Line defenses. Kill as many of them as we can."

Again, Clarke kept expecting an objection. Or just a look of horror to cross Lincoln's face. But it never came. He just nodded. He responded in a cold voice, "Sha, Heda." Clarke almost gasped at how compliant Lincoln was to her commands. So this really was what they were going to be from now on, wasn't it? Mass murderers. Terrorists. Creators of genocide.

Lincoln went past her on his newly claimed horse, a big, strong looking grey horse with dark spots all over its neck and snout and he rode it to a narrow, rock and pebble covered area leading up to some bare, sharp cliffs. "This way, Heda." Lincoln said, pointing to the pass between the cliffs. "This way to the next group of Boudalanakru villages. If we wish to end the Commander's forces, we need to destroy all the villages."

Clarke tried not to feel unsettled at how easy this was becoming. She briefly wondered if there would be any Rock Line Warriors left by the end of the next couple of days. If they could have it their way? There wouldn't be. It occurred to Clarke that they couldn't risk the Boudalankru tribe to survive. They were the majority of the Commander's forces. The Rock Line warriors were considered the strongest tribe under Lexa's reign. The Boudalankru had to be wiped out.

Clarke watched as all of the guards got off the horses and started pushing the carts to the woods. A few of the guards pulled off gasoline tanks and opened them, spraying the contents all over the carts and one of the guards took a match and snapped it against his lifted boot, tossing the lit match into one of the carts, flames beginning to billow up from the bottom.

The guard did the same thing with many of the other carts. All of the carts started catching fire. The carts were metal so they wouldn't burn necessarily. But any sign of identifiable perishables would incinerate. And the burning carts would serve as a distraction for the Grounders until the 179 of them and Lincoln got out of there.

Clarke looked over the rest of her people who had separated from her on her orders. All of them had done as she instructed. They took off their identifiable clothing and had tossed it into the flames. Raven's jacket was gone. Monroe's jacket was gone. Clarke was startled when she saw that Monroe's braids were gone. They had been slashed off.

She stared at Monroe's lack of braided mane. "Monroe," Clarke grumbled, "What happened to your hair?"

Of all things for Clarke to say, when there was so much more she could have asked and could have investigated, Monroe's hair was what caught her attention. Monroe just smiled, shrugging. "I figured I might as well cut off a lot of my hair. Cause why not? They can identify me with those braids. I got rid of them before I needed to cover them."

Clarke chuckled and nodded. So that was why. Everyone else covered themselves with clothes and covered their hair with hoods. Clarke yelled to everyone, "We have succeeded! We have accomplished a great victory today! But We are not finished yet! This is our new mission before we reach the Floukru! We wipe out the Boudalankru before the Commander realizes what we've done! We destroy her defenses! And we do this soon. We leave on the horses so that no one sees the tracks of the carts! With horses, people will suspect Sky people less! Now, let's leave!"

There was an outburst of agreeing cheers and whooping cries. Dozens of the people wholly agreed with this plan and the more Clarke observed, the more she realized everyone was onboard with his plan. It should have been repulsive, it should have been deterring. But it wasn't. It wasn't even remotely deterring.

It was encouraging. It got Clarke's blood flowing and burning. Hungering for the Commander's peoples' blood. To kill them all.

Clarke gripped her new horse's reins, her right hand raised up and she swung it to the cliffs where Lincoln was getting his horse to walk to. "Come! This way! Follow Lincoln! He will take us to the next group of Boudalan villages! And we will KILL them!" The screams and cheers reached the sky with vehemence and bloodlust.

Clarke called for the patched up Raven and the patched up Wells to come and stand by her side. She needed to make sure they were both safe. She lost enough people. She wasn't going to lose Lincoln, Wells and Raven too. Raven awkwardly controlled the horse enough to guide the silver animal to Clarke's side. Wells did the same to the brown horse he was on. Clarke kept both of them in her eyesight, making sure they were safe.

She did the same with Harper, Monroe, Monty and the others who were coming over with their own horses. Together, following Lincoln who was up ahead, the horse walking up the rocky path, Clarke felt Raven at her left side and Wells was at her right. Her people were all at her back. With multiple, hungry flames raising up in the air, consuming everything, setting the trees aflame, the murderous army of 179 began up the path, to the cliffs, going to the next cluster of villages, mass killings on their minds.

No way around it. Clarke and the others are just your average terrorists now. Horrible, but there you go. Now the only question will be is if the Commander, Anya and the rest of the Trikru will discover them and have them killed. Also, anyone who thinks that Clarke and the others aren't planning this through fully, you're right. They're not. I don't really think they have a plan. It's just kill as many as they can find and get it over with.