So, I was hoping to post this chapter last night. But that would have been a cliff hanger. And I didn't want to do that to you guys. Enjoy!
Chapter 20
Shae had woken late into the night, feeling the first pangs of labor. Foolishly she had thought that she could stop it, convince her child to wait until they could be rescued. She had seen what had happened to the two women who had given birth to healthy, beautiful baby's. The mothers had been killed and the babies had been left out in the cold to freeze. She did not want that fate for her child, but worse, if she was carrying the next Commander in her womb she did not want it to be raised in the North.
Closing her eyes tightly and biting her lip to stifle any sound so she would not be seen by the guards who watched her every move. She was the last of them. There had been a handful of them before her and now they were all dead because they did not produce to Commander.
Breathing deeply, Shae hoped that she could hold out just long enough.
Lexa knew that Nia wasn't going to resist the challenge of marching her entire army to the front gates of the fortress. Even faced with the full might of the 12 clans, Nia was arrogant. And she believed herself to be safe behind her walls. It didn't matter how many warriors she lost. She would rule over a land of corpses so long as it meant that she would have the satisfaction of seeing Lexa die. That was the order she had given every warrior before they marched onto the battle field, every archer would take aim at Lexa, the Commander was not to leave the field alive.
"My Queen, the Commander does not lead them." Nia looked down at the horde before her, looking for the familiar flash of red that would signify the Commander's sash. In all the clashes that they had since the war started, Lexa had never been absent. Nia had mocked Lexa's sense of honor that forced her to lead her army when she could stay behind them and be safe.
"Where is she?" Nia demanded.
"No one has seen her."
"She is up to something. She has to be, if she is going to let the army march without her. Find her. I wand her head delivered to me." Nia ordered. Not knowing where Lexa was made her nervous. Lexa was not an opponent that should be underestimated.
Cole watched as the full might of the Queen's army emerged from the fortress. They had grossly underestimated how many warriors Nia still had. They thought that she had lost enough in the earlier battles that there could not be many people left. But as the hundreds poured out of the open gate with no sign of stopping, Cole turned to the gona nearest to him.
"Send riders back to the camp. Bring everyone." Come said.
Shae felt her water break and stared down at the pool of liquid that stained her blanket. Before she could conceal it, the guard in charge of watching over her spotted it. He opened the cell door and walked in, grabbing the blanket he lifted it and saw what she was trying to hide.
"Inform the Queen."
"Stay away!" Shae said defiantly. She was in no condition to fight them off. She could barely stand on her own. When he lifted her, Shae leaned heavily against him. He didn't care, he would carry her if he needed to. Nia would be pleased that at the start of battle an omen such as this.
Lexa led the small group of warriors she had chosen to come with her, Octavia behind her and the dozen or so of her best warriors. She knew that she was asking them to have a lot of faith in her, following the information of a captured Ice Nation defector. But she needed to end this war, getting the gates open was the only way to do that. Her army would be waiting for them when they finally got the gate open. And if they failed, then her army died for nothing.
Feeling the ice beneath her feet shift and crack Lexa hesitated. Searching for signs that the ice had broken through. Breathing a sign of relief when she found that it had not. The ice was inches thick if not feet, and she had purposely chosen as light as possible. Each of her warriors were instructed to bring their weapon of choice. But they would be traveling on the ice too much to risk breaking through.
"Are we sure that there is a door down here Heda?" Octavia asked silently. The stairs that they had found were
"It would seem foolish if they built stairs that went nowhere." Lexa answered. She didn't know what they were to expect with the door they found. If it was unguarded as Echo had told them it was, then Nia had been confident that it could not be opened. It was possible that the door was frozen shut, or perhaps they had attempted to seal it up, but Echo had seemed certain that they would be able to use it to get through into the fortress.
The door, though Lexa didn't know if they could call it that, was a solid sheet of ice. It was almost impossible to see through the layers to make out the door. But if she looked closely enough she could see the hint of letters that had been preserved by the ice.
"How are we going to get through the ice?" Octavia asked. Lexa moved aside letting one of her warriors past. He didn't carry a sword or a bow like the rest of them, he carried a hammer. Octavia was surprised that he could even lift it. Let along swing it with his entire body weight behind it. It took a few attempts; he had cracked the ice enough that they could break it away.
"Does that answer your question?" Lexa asked with a faint smile.
"Sorry, should have known that you would bring a human battering ram to the fight." Octavia answered shoving at the door with her shoulder. She felt the pain of it radiate through her shoulder. When the door gave way, it was with a loud crack that echoed through the darkness in front of them.
For a moment they stood still, waiting to see if they had drawn attention. After a few moments, Lexa was sure that they hadn't drawn any attention she led them inside. It was a basement of some sort, where they had put a lot of the old world things that had long ago been forgotten. It was a treasure trove of things, maps, objects that could tell them more about the old world. But this wasn't the time for them to look around.
"What is the plan Heda?"
"Get to the front gate and open it." Lexa answered. She spoke as if it was going to be simple. But she knew that it would be anything but. She only had twelve warriors, her best warriors beyond doubt but they would likely be facing hundreds when they tried to reach their goal. When they were discovered inside the fortress, the Queen would stop at nothing to kill her.
"You can draw this out as much as you want, but you can't fight nature. You cannot stop your baby from coming." Nia taunted standing at the base of the bed, watching Shae writhe and strain against her natural instinct to try and help the process.
"My baby will never be yours."
"Your child will be the new Commander. That should bring you some joy." Nia answered with a cruel laugh.
"My Queen, the Commander is inside the fortress." Nia's smile faded quickly, casting one last look at the woman on the bed before her and then she turned to leave.
"Have the guards protect this room. They will not steal this baby from me. Bring me the Commander's head." Nia ordered.
Clarke found that there was a lot that needed to be done, and she was grateful for it. Grateful that there was something that would take her mind off of the fact that Lexa was out there right at that moment and that she could possibly not come back. Grateful that she could focus on something other than how mad that it made her. So she helped Abby set up the countless beds that she knew that they would need. The battles so far hadn't resulted in too many casualties. But her gut told her that this one was going to be different.
"We brought with us the last of the morphine that we had. We'll have to make it count." Abby said looking between Clarke, Nyko, and Jackson.
"Are we…when the wounded start coming in, are we operating on triage protocol?" Jackson asked his voice catching. No physician wanted to be put in the situation where they needed to chose who lives and who dies. It would be all of their first instincts to try and save all of them. But it wasn't likely that it would be possible to save everyone. Not with field medicine.
"We'll do what we can for everyone. This is how its going to work, Nyko and Clarke will handle the minor injuries and those who can wait. Jackson and I will handle the more serious cases, those with missing limbs and life threatening wounds." Abby instructed. She was more concerned with Clarke, her daughter had such a big heart that it would be hard for Clarke to walk away from someone, even if she couldn't save her.
The sound of chaos outside the medical tent drew all of their attention, it was too soon for the wounded to start coming in. But when then walked outside, they saw everyone scrambling for the weapons. Warriors who had been told that they would not be needed because they had been fighting for so long already, they had earned their rest. Now they were being called to the front lines.
"What's going on?" Clarke asked. Nyko listened to the orders being shouted in Trigedasleng and then looked behind them at Hudson who was also reaching for his weapon. The order extended to him too.
"Everyone is being called to the front lines."
"That's not good right?" Clarke asked.
"It means that the Queen's army was bigger than we thought." Nyko said. Clarke watched her faithful bodyguard. The man who she was surprised had come to mean quite a bit to her.
"Be careful Hudson." Clarke said. He smiled softly and then was lost in the sea of bodies as they prepared to march.
"She's going to be alright Clarke." Abby promised.
"I know." Clarke answered staring at the marching army.
"How can we help?" Raven asked with Bellamy in tow. Neither of them liked being put on the sidelines. Lexa had refused to allow Bellamy to help the army, even in the direst of circumstances. Bellamy thought that it was her way of punishing him. But Clarke knew that it had more to do with her than Bellamy. Lexa knew how much Bellamy meant to Clarke, and that if anything happened to him Clarke would never recover from it. So she kept him safe by keeping him in the camp.
"Until the wounded start to arrive, we will maintain the perimeter of the camp." Nyko said handing Bellamy a sword and leading him off. Abby was already telling Raven what she could do to help.
Lexa had learned early on during her training that a warrior should never show pain on the battlefield. It would only allow the enemy a target to exploit. She tried to remember that when she felt one of the enemy's blade catch her just across her ribs sending searing pain through her body. Around her, her warriors were fighting as fiercely as she was, cutting through warriors as if they were nothing more than training dummies. Arrows flew around them, her best archers shooting from a safe vantage point allowing them to get closer to the main gate.
Hearing the sound of Octavia hitting the ground Lexa spun, seeing the young brunette laying on her back having been knocked down by a larger warrior who now towered over her. Lexa pulled her dagger and threw it, catching the warrior right in the throat. She did not wait to see him hit the ground before turning her attention away. They were in a bottleneck. When they had reached the main floor of the fortress the warriors had started coming at them and they had not stopped.
"We're going to get slaughtered if we stay here." Lexa knew her gona was right when he said it. No matter how good they were, facing so many of them was only going to get them killed once exhaustion set in.
"There is a stairwell up there. It will lead to the throne room. Archers." It was hard fought to get to the stairwell. Lexa half expected that there would be warriors waiting there too. But when they reached the narrow ascending stairwell it was surprisingly without obstruction. It didn't give them much, but it gave them the faintest hint of a head start. Having to go two by two would slow the Ice warriors down.
"Now what?" Octavia asked leaning against the wall, taking a moment to recover what little strength she could.
"Now we separate. We no longer have the element of surprise and nothing is more important than getting the gate open. You will get the gate open or you will die trying." Lexa commanded. She watched as each of them straightened and nodded their heads. None of them questioned, they didn't even hesitate.
"Where are you going?" Octavia asked while the others rested for the brief moment they were allowed.
"I am going to finish what Nia started." Lexa answered.
"I can go with you."
"This is something I have to do alone. Besides, I need you with them. They have a better chance of success with you then without." Lexa said with a reassuring smile. If Octavia wasn't covered in blood and sweat she probably would have blushed.
"Just, don't get yourself killed. Clarke will kill me." Octavia said extending her hand to Lexa. Lexa took Octavia's hand.
"Likewise, I made a promise to your both Clarke and Bellamy that you would return to them unharmed."
"May we meet again Commander."
Lexa watched them go, waiting until they disappeared down another hallway before she turned and went the opposite direction. She just needed to find Nia. The Queen was old; she wouldn't stand a chance against Lexa. But Nia knew that. She wasn't going to face Lexa alone, or if she did she would not allow the fight to be fair.
Ultimately, it was the sound of someone crying out in pain that drew Lexa's attention. She could recognize the sounds. When she was a child, before she had understood what responsibility she had inherited. One of the women from their small village had gone into labor. Lexa remembered the way that it sounded, she remembered it vividly because they were trying to keep her away from it. Though as a child Lexa was curious, she wanted to know about the process of life.
She had snuck out of the tent when Anya wasn't looking. She wanted to see it. Lexa remembered watching as the mother struggled to bring the child into the world. The midwives encouraging her, coaching her, letting her know that she should scream like a warrior when she wanted too. The sound of pain made Lexa shy away. Why anyone would want to do this to themselves was beyond her.
That was how Lexa knew that one of the pregnant women who had been taken was now in labor. The sound was unmistakable. She wasn't sure how the pieces started falling into place. But as she got closer to the sound, step by silent step, wary of everything around her. Every shadow maybe being the hiding spot for a guard. She was beginning to understand Nia's plan.
"Come for the birth?" Nia asked as Lexa emerged into the throne room. Lexa saw the older woman sitting proudly on her throne, beside her Roan stood in his armor and white war paint. Clearly ready to fight Lexa on behalf of Nia.
"I've come to kill you." Lexa answered simply.
"I'm impressed that you have gotten in. Tell me, who told you about the passage below the fortress? A defector?"
"You do not command the loyalty you think that you do Nia."
"We can't all be bleeding hearts for our people." Movement in the corner of her eye caught Lexa's attention and she turned to see a figure slinking around in the shadows. She couldn't get a good view of whoever it was. Only that they were carrying a weapon. Lexa didn't know if she was supposed to see the newcomer, but if Nia was disappointed that the element of surprise was gone she didn't show it.
"How is this going to go Nia? I fight your champions and when I best them I get to kill you? Is that how we are to end this war or are you going to fight for yourself for once?" Lexa asked her eyes flickering between Roan and the poorly hidden figure.
"You assume that you can beat them. Roan is the best swordsman in all of the Ice Nation." Nia boasted. Roan puffed out his chest at the praise. Nia's words were rarely kind, and though he knew that she was only saying it to try and intimidate Lexa he would take the praise when he could get it.
"Let's get this over with then." Lexa said swinging her sword, watching as the blood that had coated her sword splattered against the ground. Roan descended the stairs from the dais and stood before Lexa with the kind of arrogant strut that lowered her respect for the warrior already.
Roan was physically more imposing than Lexa, he would be able to over power her easily if she allowed him the advantage. But Lexa had faced many warriors that were larger than her. Gustus used to train her how to fight against those who would use their size as an advantage. The larger they were, the quicker they tired and the slower they moved. Roan looked as if he could still move quickly though.
The two warriors circled each other, each waiting to see what the other was going to do. Lexa never attacked first. Impatience was enough to cause someone to lose focus. When he finally could not stand the circling anymore he lunged at her. She dodged him easily, using the handle of her sword to hit him along the back and send him tumbling forward. But he was quick to recover, standing quickly with a look of pure fury.
They were evenly matched in many ways, blows delivered and answered almost as if they were training instead of fighting to the death. Though it was not for lack of trying, Lexa took every opportunity that Roan gave her to strike a killing blow. It was only by sheer luck that Lexa saw the attacker coming, it was in the reflection of Roan's blade that she saw the second attacker coming at her knife drawn. Spinning out of the way Lexa grabbed the woman's outstretched arm and spun her away from her body.
"And this is Ontari, she is particularly skilled at not fighting fair." Nia laughed. Lexa stared at her two opponents. She should have seen this coming. Nia was never one to fight fair. Though it seemed that Ontari's sudden participation in their fight was a surprise to Roan as much as it was to Lexa.
"I am handling this." Roan growled. He didn't want Ontari to take this victory from him. He would be the one to kill the legendary Heda of the coalition.
"Not well enough." Ontari replied. Lexa studied their dynamic. They were on the same side but clearly they were not fond of one another. Dare Lexa say that they were rivals.
Lexa had thought that fighting Roan would be a challenge, but fighting him and someone else that looked to also have skills in fighting Lexa was less confident about her chances. Nia watched the fighting, her smile still firmly in place. Expecting that she would soon bare witness to Lexa's death.
Clarke had never seen so much blood. She had treated bad wounds on the ground before. But this, this was the worst she had ever seen. As wounded started coming from the field, in agony and bleeding more than their hearts could pump. Her hands were coated in it, making them slick and sticky at the same time. Lexa's words echoed in Clarke's mind "Plans don't last very long in battle". Their plan of who would treat who and where fell apart the moment every one of their beds was full. Clarke stepped over the dead and dying on her way to treat those still clinging to life. Whimpers and groans of pain filled her ears and would haunt her to the rest of her days.
"Clarke I need your hands over here!" Abby yelled over the chaos. Clarke turned and saw her mother elbows deep in surgery. Clarke turned, but before she could return to the medical tent she felt a hand grip her ankle stopping her. A warrior, marked with black. He would die from his injuries but he wasn't dead yet.
"Help me." He whispered, the hand not gripping Clarke's leg cradling the gash on his stomach that gushed blood.
"Clarke!" Abby called again when Clarke didn't arrive promptly.
"I'm coming!" Clarke answered kneeling down beside the warrior. She could see that he knew that he was going to die. There was a knowing look in his eyes. "Yu gonplei ste odon." Clarke whispered before standing and forcing herself to walk away.
Clarke joined her Abby by the surgical bed, she was amazed that the warrior on the table was still alive with how much blood she was losing. Abby was stopping the blood as quickly as she should but with how many severed veins and nicked it was a losing battle.
"We need to start removing the dead. Open up the beds." Jackson said.
"Have one of the grounders help. The grounders treat their dead with honor. The bodies need to be taken care of." Clarke instructed.
Lexa's entire body ached, her arms like lead as they hung by her side and her chest heaved. They had been doing the give and take battle for what felt like eternity. Ontari never seemed to slow. So Lexa was intent to push aside the pain and soreness and fight because her life depended on it. She wasn't sure when she came to the realization that she was going to lose this fight. That didn't mean that she was going to five up. She would fight until her last breath.
When she came to that realization, it wasn't so much about how she was going to manage to kill Ontari and Roan to get to Nia. It was, how was she going to kill Nia despite being locked into a fight to the death with Roan and Ontari. Thankfully, she wasn't the only one that was tiring. And while their intentions hadn't changed they were slowing down. Lexa pulled her dagger, twisting away from Roan Lexa threw the dagger as hard as she could. Watching as moments later it found its mark, impaling Nia through her throat.
The shocked look on Nia's face as the life bleed out of her allowed for a moment of satisfaction. Even if she died, she had done what she came to do. Roan stumbled backward, looking at his Queen and seeing as he slumped against her throne.
"Long live the King." Lexa muttered. Ontari voiced her outrage at losing Nia with a savage roar before lunging at Lexa. The two fell to the ground, the force of Ontari hitting her forcing the air from her lungs. Ontari's movements were frenzied, they lacked all focus she was like an animal throwing punches and scratches. Doing everything and anything she could to cause Lexa pain. Roan watched, knowing that he should be helping Ontari. Lexa had just killed his Queen; he should want to avenge her. But he stopped because of what Lexa said. She was willing to allow him to become King of the Ice Nation.
Kicking Ontari off of her, Lexa pulled herself to her feet, bloodied and bruised Lexa just wanted to stop.
"It is over Ontari. Your Queen is dead." Lexa said. It was clear on Ontari's face that no matter what she wasn't going to stop.
When Ontari moved to lunge at her two things happened simultaneously. Lexa was able to get her hands around Ontari's head twisting hard enough that the bones of her neck snapped with a loud crack. And second, Lexa felt the sharpness of Ontari's knife slide between the plates in her armor. The force of her fall only pushing the blade deeper into Lexa's rib cage until the blade had disappeared completely.
Lexa watched Ontari fall to the ground, her head twisted in an unnatural angle. And for a moment she stood, swaying unsteadily on her feet. Her hand cradling the hilt of the blade. Roan stared at Lexa, seeing the wound and he moved quickly to catch her before she fell to the ground and caused more damage.
"You are not allowed to die; your people will kill me without you teeing them otherwise." Roan said pressing against the wound to try and slow the bleeding. Leaving the blade in kept the flow of blood minimal for now.
The throne room was filled with the eerie quiet that came with death. Broken only by the sounds of Lexa's labored breathing, wheezing more and more under the strain of trying to breathe. The sound of a pain filled wail broke that silence so violently Roan jumped, jostling Lexa slightly causing her to groan.
"Take the child, once it is born, take it to my people." Lexa instructed.
"Babies and I do not get along well."
"Do this, and you will have your life. Take this, it will ensure that they take you at your word." Lexa said pulling her red sash free from her army and pushing it into Roan's hand.
"You want me to leave you to die?"
"Go." Lexa said pushing Roan weakly, but her message was received and the newly appointed Ice King stood. Casting one last glance at Lexa as she lay on the ground staring up at the ceiling he went into the adjoining room.
The room smelled strongly of blood, looking around at the healers who were somberly moving around with their bowls filled with blood soaked towels. On the bed, Shae lay still her eyes open and unseeing. Roan knew without asking that she was dead. Attempting to fight the birth had caused irreparable damage to her and died shortly after the infant was born.
"Where is the child?" Roan asked looking around for it. He had expected to hear it crying but found that he heard nothing. One of the healers held out a bundled cloth, but the infant wrapped around it was silent.
"The child never drew breath." Roan took the the bundle, wrapping Lexa's sash around it and did as she had ordered him to do.
The sound of celebration seemed to erupt throughout the army as the coalition army stormed through the doors of the fortress, sweeping through any resistance with a new found fervor. Roan walked slowly, cradling the infant remembering what he had learned from Nia of the way that the Commander's spirit moved on. The child may yet accept the Commander's spirit. If that were the case, he wanted to be remembered as the one who delivered it to the coalition.
"You there! Stop!" Cole commanded seeing Roan walking. Roan stopped obediently. Octavia saw the bundle that he carried and felt a chill run through her that had nothing to do with the cold.
"Where is the Commander?" Octavia demanded.
"She told me to bring the child to you. Giving me this to prove that my words are true." Roan said producing the sash. Cole took the baby and looked down, finding the child to be stillborn. He turned and demanded a horse be brought to him, he would take the child to Clarke.
"Where?" Octavia repeated.
"The throne room. She was not far from death when I left her." Roan answered surprised by the sadness he felt at relaying this information. He attributed it to the pain that he saw reflected back at him. He made no move to stop Octavia or Lincoln when they sprinted past him to the throne room. Maybe Octavia would make it in time so that Lexa did not leave the world alone.
Clarke washed her hands clean of the blood. Things were finally starting to settle down. There were still people that needed tending to, but Abby had told her that she needed to take a few minutes and collect herself. When she saw Cole riding towards them, her relief was short lived when she didn't see Lexa riding with him. And when she saw that he was carrying something.
"What is he carrying?" Clarke asked. Abby followed Clarke's gaze, she didn't know if Clarke meant to verbalize her question but when she saw that Cole was holding what looks suspiciously like a child Abby reached for Clarke.
"Clarke…"
"What. Is. He. Carrying?" Clarke repeated her voice breaking.
Cole stopped his horse and dismounted smoothly so not to jostle the bundle he was entrusted to. He made his way slowly towards Clarke and Abby, knowing the pain that he was about to inflict on Clarke.
"Where is Lexa?" Clarke demanded. She couldn't bring herself to look at what Cole carried. Jackson took the infant and disappeared into the medical tent. Clarke felt Raven stand behind her, her hand on Clarke's shoulder offering support. Several moments later they all heard the loud wailing of the infant.
"CLARKE! ABBY!" Octavia's voice cut through the air and drew everyone's attention. Clarke looked behind Cole and found Octavia racing towards them on her horse, with Lexa held in front of her. The Commander's eyes were closed and her body limp but one of Octavia's hands was holding the knife to try and keep it from moving. Clarke
It took many of them to get Lexa down from the horse without moving the knife too much. Clarke watched Abby begin her assessment of Lexa's injury, she wanted to help. But she couldn't move. She stood motionless, watching as Lexa lay unmoving and unconscious. Raven and Octavia practically held Clarke up supporting their friend as best they could, it was the only thing that they could do.
"She's going to be okay Clarke. She's Lexa." Octavia promised.
"She has to be. We didn't go through all of this for her to widow me now." Clarke answered.
It took hours for Abby to stabilize Lexa, she had been lucky. The knife had nicked one of her ribs altering the angle of the blade just enough to avoid her heart. It still caused one of her lungs to collapse which needed fixing but by the end of it Abby was pretty sure that Lexa would be alright, unless there were any further complications.
"What should we do with the child?" Abby asked. Cole looked at the infant that had been laid to rest on a small makeshift bassinette. But it had not stopped its crying since it had been brought to them.
"It lives, that is a good sign for Heda. If that child was the newest Commander the child would not have awoken until Lexa died." Cole explained. Lexa lay still half in her armor, what they didn't have to remove anyway and she was covered in layers of furs to try and keep her warm. Clarke sat beside her, refusing to leave her wives side until she woke up.