It had been a few hours since I had contacted my dad on the radio. He informed me that a small team was on their way, and I should stay put. They would pick me up when they arrived. Anxiety was eating at me though, and I found it impossible to stay still. For one thing, it should only have taken the small team an hour at most to arrive if they were in the Rover. It had been 3 hours and the radio had been silent no matter how many times I tried to call. Secondly, I had silently made my way back towards the trading post and hadn't seen any sign of Clarke. What I did see was one of the scouts from earlier walking around the trading post as though he were casing the exits and entrances. I wondered what had happened to his buddy. Maybe he had been sent back to whatever camp they had come from to tend to his knife wound. Still, there would be no going into the trading post to warn Clarke. If he recognized me, he would know she was there for sure.
A few moments later Clarke walked out the front door and my stomach dropped to my feet when I saw the scout place a blade to her neck.
"Hello, Wanheda."
Clarke didn't fight back as he tied her hands and shoved a gag into her mouth. My hands drummed nervously on my thighs as I crouched in the bushes a small distance away. What to do, what to do…. I couldn't attack him, that much was obvious. I needed to wait for them to make camp and for his guard to be down. I didn't stand a chance without the element of surprise, and him with no weapons. More than ever I wished I had a gun. Knives seemed pretty useless right about now. I could wait until the team my dad sent arrived and let them know what had happened, but then what? We would have lost the trail. No, I had to follow them. That was my best bet.
The scout dragged Clarke off through the woods, and I quietly snuck out of my hiding spot and darted into the trading post.
"hei, na Ai help Yu?" Hello, can I help you? Inside, a blonde girl with sharp features addressed me with apprehension.
"You know Clarke." I told her, not wasting any time. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she didn't deny it.
"I'm her friend. Listen, she is in trouble."
"She is always in trouble." The girl replied in accented English.
"One of those scouts took her." I said, "But I'm going after her."
"And why do you tell me this?"
"Because more of my people will be coming. Can you let them know I've gone after her?"
"I will do what I can for her." The girl replied, tucking a few of her long braids behind her ears. "Be careful, friend of Clarke."
"You can call me Tara." I smiled briefly, before running out the door and following the scout and Clarke into the forest. I kept my distance, almost too well as I nearly lost them at one point. It was only when I heard sounds of struggle in the distance that I found them again. Clarke was sopping wet and sitting in the water with scout, streaks of red rushed down her face as the dye ran from her hair, turning it back into its natural bright blonde. From the look of fury on the scouts face I could only guess that she had tried to drown him, and very nearly succeeded.
"On your feet, Wanheda." The scout growled.
"Those scars...you're ice nation." Clarke's voice carried to where I was concealed behind some trees. My blood ran cold. Ice nation? Here? Lincoln had warned us about ice nation, as they were much crueller and battle-ready than those of Trikru. I really hoped my backup would arrive soon, wherever they were. I hoped whatever was keeping them wasn't a life or death problem.
Probably just a flat tire, Tara, I reassured myself. Those potholes on that road can be a bitch.
The ice nation scout hauled Clarke out of the water and shoved her onward towards a large grass field. I smiled. It was perfect for concealment if I stayed low and crawled. I was already covered head to toe in mud, so it wasn't like I was worried about getting dirty at this point. The two of them entered the field, Clarke obviously fuming about being dragged along like a dog. I waited about 5 minutes, until they were well into the middle before inching my way forward. Immediately I noticed a problem with my "crawl in the grass" plan, as I couldn't see a fricken thing, as to which direction they were going unless I stuck my head up every 5 seconds. In my peripherals I could see a forest on the outside that they were heading towards, and figured maybe my best bet would be to try and jog the edge of the field and get around beside them. I ran around the edge of the field hoping that the scout and Clarke were deep enough in the middle of it that they wouldn't notice me. I didn't breath easy until I was back among the trees, lightly jogging towards an area I assumed would be near their exit point. Peeking out from behind my area of cover, I noticed I was close. Really close, actually. Close enough to hear Clarke start screaming, despite the gag in her mouth. In the near distance I saw two grounders approaching, and the angry ice nation guard dragging Clarke with a bag over her head towards them.
"Well, shit." I muttered. If they were ice nation too, we were really going to be screwed. One of the new grounders reached forward and ripped the bag off Clarke's head. I pulled my one and only knife from my boot and polished the blade until it shone. I let it catch the sunlight, reflecting it towards Clarke, so it would catch her eye. She noticed the blinking and looked in my direction, shock evident on her face. Things between the scouts seemed to be taking a terrible turn as the ice nation scout dropped Clarke's rope and prepared to fight them.
The enemy of my enemy...I thought, as Clarke seized the moment and sprinted towards me. I ran out of the trees towards her to help as one of the other grounders was following her, but just as I reached her, and arrow pierced him through the back and all 250 pounds of him collapsed on top of me.
"Tara, C'mon." Clarke tried pushing him off of me, as the ice nation scout approached.
"Run," I told her. "Get out of here. It's you they want, not me!"
"That's why they'll kill you!" She all but sobbed, as I pushed my way free. I tossed her my knife to cut her hands free, and we started running. We were fast, but the scout was faster. His hand latched onto the back of my jacket and threw me to the ground.
"It didn't have to be this way." His deep voice chided.
Clarke spun wildly, catching him in the stomach with my blade, just as he was about to grab her. I had pushed myself back to my feet, despite the lack of air in my chest after having the wind knocked out of me. Clarke turned to run again, but the scout grabbed me in strong headlock before I could even take one step forward.
"You take one more step and she dies." He snarled. Clarke froze.
"That's what I thought."
I clawed uselessly at the strong leather forearm guards that he was wearing as I struggled to breath.
"Let her go." Clarke voiced each word carefully.
"You've been nothing but trouble. I may not be able to kill you, but I can kill her. Perhaps she'll keep you in line." The ice nation scout was clearly angry. To be fair, Clarke had just stabbed him in the stomach. Wait, that's it! I lowered my hand from trying to loosen his choke hold and pressed my fingers viciously into the stab wound. The man barely flinched. He loosed a grunt of pain before tightening the hold to completion, and sending me spiralling into darkness.
I awoke tied to a pillar. My neck was tied, and my arms were bound behind me. Fan-fuckin-tastic. I groaned. My head ached. I looked around in the dark damp room and noticed Clarke was tied up to the pillar next to me. So much for my brilliant daring rescue.
"Are you ok?" Clarke asked me, voice tinged with worry. My tongue felt too big for my mouth, and my head was fuzzy, but aside from that, all was in working order.
"Been better, been worse." I told her, thinking back to all the pain I had endured at Mount Weather. "I'm sorry."
"I'm just glad you're not hurt." Clarke replied.
"Where's tall, dark, and grumpy?" I asked, looking around the small room. There was a fire going, but no one else in sight.
"Probably out getting supplies." Clarke sighed. "You shouldn't have followed me, Tara."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"So I should just have gone back home and told your mom and my dad, 'Oh Clarke? Yes, I let her get caught and brutally murdered by ice nation. No, no I didn't try to do anything to stop it. What's for dinner?' I'm sure they would take that really well." I joked, but the darkness of our situation really made it seem like gallows humor.
"Well, now we're both going to die, and for what?" Clarke continued. "All because these crazy people think that by killing me they can absorb my death power."
I snorted. "Death power?"
Clarke didn't laugh.
"C'mon Clarke, we'll figure it out." I told her, trying for her sake as well as mine to be optimistic. "We'll get out of this."
"If you know what is good for you, you won't try to." The deep voice of the ice nation scout drifted in from the doorway.
"Where are you taking us?" I asked him. He didn't answer. Instead, he walked over to the fire and took out my knife which Clarke had used to stab him. My breath hissed in involuntarily as fear caused adrenaline to quicken my system. Luckily, he didn't approach us with the blade, but rather, he started heating it over the fire. I loosed a sigh of relief. I really would have hated to die by my own blade.
"Another inch and I would be dead." He told us, gesturing to the wound. Clarke didn't say anything, so I followed her lead, much as I wanted to tell him how much of a crying shame that would be. I doubted he would appreciate my dry humour.
"Maybe you're not the commander of death after all."
Still, she said nothing.
"Oh, now she's quiet." He rolled his eyes.
"Why are you hiding from your own people?" Clarke finally spit out, clearly unable to maintain the silent act for any longer.
"Why did you run away from yours?" He shot back.
"She didn't." I snarled at him. "Not that's it's any concern of yours."
The scout looked at me, and narrowed his eyes, walking back over to the fire. He grabbed the now red hot blade.
"You know, a person in your position would be smart to keep their mouth shut and not draw attention to themselves." He replied, walking towards me carrying the knife. I pressed myself back against the pillar I was bound against, as he stopped right in front of me, the blade still glowing. "Otherwise, they could get hurt."
He pressed the blade against his own side, cauterizing the seeping wound Clarke had given him. He sucked in a breath as the pain must have been terrible. His muscled chest spasmed against it, but not an ounce of pain showed on his face. After a moment, he pulled the blade away, leaving only an angry red scar as a reminder of what had been. I tried not to throw up from the smell of burnt flesh. He crouched down in front of me, holding the knife.
"Your knife?" He asked, wiping the blood off on my trouser leg.
"Yes, so if you're going to stab me, I'd prefer you use your own. Nothing worse than getting stabbed by your own knife." The words poured out before I could bite them back. The side of his mouth quirked up.
"If situations were different, I might almost like you. But for now, I need you to shut up." He pulled the gag that was hanging around my neck back up into my mouth. If looks could kill he would have been a dead man. He turned to Clarke.
"The great Wanheda. Mountain slayer."
"I'm no one." Clarke told him emphatically.
"A lot of people out there looking for no one." He raised an eyebrow.
I was busy working at the gag in my mouth. It was loose, so with enough movement, I could manage to get it free enough for speech to be understandable.
"Look, you're obviously not loyal to the Ice Nation, so why are you taking me there? Whatever the Ice Queen is giving you, my people will offer you more." Clarke switched to the role of diplomat.
The scout glanced back at me as soon as Clarke mentioned her people.
"I doubt it. Not for someone who abandoned them. And besides, once I hand you over, I'm sure your people will give me enough ransom money for your friend here."
I shouted against the gag. "Yoummr am muffmmingmm demmadmman"
He looked at me, walked over, and grabbed the gag. He tightened it around my head with practiced efficiency.
"You don't know anything about me." Clarke hissed at him.
"I know you took the cowards way out." He told her. I tried to shout at him again, but he pulled the gag tight against my face until it cut into my cheeks. I settled for glaring him into oblivion, not that that helped much. He knew nothing of what Clarke had had to do.
"Like you're so different. You're in disguise, same as me. You're on the run, same as me. In the wilderness, same as me." She threw the words at him.
"I am nothing like you. I was banished. You," He paused, and pointed the knife at Clarke. "You had a choice. So no, I can't bring you to your people, because you're my way back to mine."
I mumbled against the gag again. The scout turned back to me.
"What could you possibly have to say?" He snarled, ripping the gag from my mouth.
"Why were you banished?" I worked my jaw around, pleased to have the gag out.
"Right, that's enough of that." He shoved the gag back in. I met Clarke's eye and shrugged. I guess our captor wasn't in a sharing mood. He walked over to Clarke and shoved the gag in her mouth too.
"I'm going to get food. If you're not here when I come back, I'll kill your friend while you watch." He told her. She only glared in return, biting into the thick fabric that bound her mouth.
For ten minutes I tugged and pulled at the woven ropes that bound my hands and only succeeded in making my wrists a bloody mess. I huffed in defeat, slouching against the pillar. Whoever the ice nation scout was, he certainly knew his way around some knots. I heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs, and went still, so the scout wouldn't think I had been trying to escape. Not that my hurt wrists wouldn't give me away.
"Tara?"
I had never been more relieved to hear that voice. Bellamy. Bellamy pulled a knife and cut through my ropes, before his eyes caught on the other person in the room with me.
"Clarke!" He exclaimed dropping the knife and running to her. He crouched down in front of her, while I pulled the gag from my mouth and got rid of the remaining ropes tying me to the pole. He brushed her hair gently out of her eyes, before removing the gag from her mouth.
"I'm going to get you out of here." He breathed, sounding as though he couldn't really believe that after months of searching, Clarke was in front of him. I immediately felt guilt start to eat at me that I had let him worry about her for so long, before reminding myself I was just keeping my promise. Clarke had asked for time and space, and I had been determined to give her that so she could heal. Not like what had happened with Jasper.
I stepped forward to untie Clarke's hands as Bellamy was still tracing her face, looking at her in wonder.
"Look out!" Clarke suddenly cried. I saw why instantly. The ice nation scout was back and he had gotten the jump on Bellamy.
"No!" I cried, leaping forward away from Clarke. The scout had Bellamy on his back his hand went to his belt for his knife. My knife. Before I knew what I was doing, I darted forward to grab the knife Bellamy had dropped, but the scout was faster. His knife was already at Bellamy's throat by the time my hand had closed around the handle of the other one.
"No, no, no. Please." Clarke sobbed. "Not him. Please. I'll do anything. I'll stop fighting. I'll go quietly."
The scout looked at her and considered, and then his gaze fell on me. I dropped to my knees, and placed my hands together in front of me, as though presenting them to be bound, and dropped the knife I had snatched. It landed on the ground with a resounding clang.
"Please." I begged. "Not him. You won't have anymore trouble from me either. I swear it. Please, please, spare him." Tears leaked from my eyes as I glanced at Bellamy on the ground. I could see the panic in his eyes for his own life, but also his fear for ours. Begrudgingly, the scout pulled the blade from Bellamy's throat, and I loosed a sigh I wasn't aware I had been holding. I thought all was going to be ok for just a moment until the scout brought the blade down into Bellamy's leg. He screamed.
"Don't follow us." He hissed, kicking him in the jaw, sending him into unconsciousness. I scrambled forward towards him.
"Bellamy, Bell, Bell, wake up." I said his name, hoping it would wake him up. I quickly ripped a strip of fabric off my shirt and tied it around his leg to stop the worst of the bleeding. It was all I could do before strong hands grabbed me and tied my still sore wrists together once more.
"You didn't have to do that." I told the scout.
"You really think I don't know that look in his eyes?" The scout replied. "He would have followed us into hell itself."
I glanced at Clarke as she stared down and Bellamy's prone form with worry and anguish.
"If I'm not going to fight, you can let Tara go." Clarke told the scout. The scout tilted his head, considering, his sharp blue eyes intelligent.
"I don't think so. I think I'd be a fool to take Wanheda at her word. C'mon. It's time to go."
The ice nation scout dragged the two of us through the forest for a few hours until we came to what I could only describe as a city.
"Welcome to Polis." The scout huffed, pulling us forward towards the large tower that stood in the centre. In front of the building, grounder guards stood assessing everyone who came in.
"Prince Roan of Azgeda. You can tell your leader that I have Wanheda." The scout told to the one guard. I turned to stare at him in disbelief. A prince?! Not just any prince but the ice nation prince? A girl just couldn't catch a break these days.
"Who is the other?" A guard asked in trigedasleng.
"SkaiKru. She can go to the dungeous." He said, handing me off like I was trash. I fought against the hold of the guard, shouting into the gag to let me go with Clarke. She was my friend and I needed to go with her.
"Stop fighting." The guard pressed a blade against my neck. "I have no love for sky people. Wanheda burned my brother alive."
I swallowed, hoping I wasn't about to die right here right now.
"But Heda wants a coalition. I won't be the one spill the blood that starts a war." He continued. I turned to look at him, as he dragged me towards the cells. War paint streaked across what could have been described as a handsome face, were it not for the thick scar running from below his eye to his mouth.
"Welcome to your new home." He grinned, shoving me into the barred room, that was entirely brick except for a small chamber pot in the corner and pile of straw in the other.
"Homey." I muttered as he pulled the gag from my mouth and freed my hands. He slammed the bars shut, locking me in. I could only hope that Bellamy was ok and would get word to my dad. I had never needed his help more.