The village was small but it held nothing back for the feast. Before it really got going, there were speeches from the elders, and one from Lexa, and even one from Clarke in a mix of Trigedasleng and English that brought a round of cheers nonetheless. There were toasts, but Clarke and Lexa were both careful to only sip from their mugs, and cover them when refills were offered. Lexa took Clarke's worried words to heart, and wanted to be ready should anything out of the ordinary happen. Clarke knew from experience that drinking brought nightmares featuring the brilliant red of freshly spilled blood and the voices of the dying.
Lexa was unreadable except when she glanced at Clarke. She spoke with the leader seated on her other side, and everyone who stopped at the table. Lang stood behind Clarke, Bowie behind Lexa. Braddock and Roosevelt sat at a nearby table, enjoying the food, but Clarke noticed that they, too, were drinking very little.
Halfway through the meal, Clarke felt extremely tired. Maybe it was from too much sun, she thought, and continued to nibble from her always full plate. She took another sip from the mug and frowned at the bitter taste. She couldn't remember whether it tasted like that earlier, and put something in her mouth to erase the taste. She reached for another morsel and took a header into her plate.
Lexa frowned and lightly shook Clarke's shoulder. She didn't respond. Her body was limp. Lang stepped forward and pulled Clarke's face out of her food with one hand and snagged her mug with the other. He held Clarke upright and sniffed the mug.
"Heda," he said, drawing her attention from Clarke. He offered the mug.
Lexa sniffed at it, and went rigid. "Take her away," she ordered and turned to the leader. "What have you done?"
Her reply was a confused look. "Heda?"
Lang lifted Clarke. Braddock and Roosevelt left their table. Braddock walked with Lang. They went to the house Clarke and Lexa used earlier to clean up. He laid Clarke on the bed and covered her. "I will stay with Klark."
Braddock nodded and returned to Lexa.
100 - 100 -100
"Natrona! Show yourself or everyone here will pay for your crime."
The few celebrants who hadn't fallen quiet at the sudden activity at the head table became silent. Lexa jerked the leader to her feet and put a dagger at her throat. "I will not ask again."
A woman Clarke's age stepped out of the crowd. "She knew nothing."
"You admit treason?"
"Yes," she answered defiantly.
Lexa released the woman and vaulted the table. "What did you do to her?"
"You care more for her, an outsider, than for us, your people."
"She is heda of our ally. Attacking her is the same as attacking me. What did you do to her?"
"Nothing. She will sleep."
"When will she wake?"
When there was no answer, Lexa said, "Put her on the tree."
Roosevelt took one arm, Braddock the other. While they dragged the woman to the nearest tree, he said, "Heda will be merciful if you speak true."
"I did speak true. There are many women of our clan who are a better match than that outsider."
"You are a fool," Roosevelt said. "Skai Heda destroyed Maun-de. She and Heda eliminated Azgeda. We have peace for the first time in my life, and you are willing to throw that away because you presume to know better than Heda."
Bowie joined them, holding a mug of hot water and leather laces. "You will tell us how to wake Skai Heda, or you will cry for death for days." When she didn't answer, he shrugged, and bound her to the tree with the wet laces, which would contract as they dried.
100 - 100 -100
The young man who served as the area's healer blanched when he sniffed the mug. It was rare for anyone to survive the poison it held, and it had no cure. The first thing he did was turn Clarke onto her side and shove two fingers in the back of her throat to induce vomiting.
She brought up what she ate, and a bit of blood. He carefully wiped her mouth with a damp cloth before returning her to her back. Lang watched him tend Clarke and clean the floor.
The healer left for a few minutes and returned. He had a pail, a mug containing a black slurry and a flexible tube. "I need your help," he told Lang.
"What are you doing?"
"This will help absorb the poison. We must get it into her stomach and force her to bring it up again."
Lang looked at him suspiciously.
"If she does not survive, Heda will rightfully take our lives. I am not ready for mine to end."
Lang nodded and pulled Clarke into a sitting position. He let her head lay back, her neck supported by his forearm. The healer carefully put the tube in Clarke's mouth and pushed it until her gagging told him he had it in her esophagus, not her trachea. He used his hand as a funnel at the top of the tube and slowly emptied the mug into the tube, then removed it. He motioned for Lang to let Clarke lay down.
He began counting silently and stopped early when Clarke began to gag. They turned her onto her side again so she could expel the charcoal. It took a long time for her to stop vomiting, and longer for the dry heaves to end. Lang cleaned her this time while he sent the healer for some mint leaves. By the time he returned, Lang had carefully removed all traces of black from Clarke's mouth. He ground the leaves into a paste in his palm, then spread some of it in Clarke's mouth while the healer began cleaning the mess from the pail caught some, but not all of what Clarke brought up.
When Lang laid her down, he looked at the healer. Without being prompted, the healer told him, "Now we wait."
100 - 100 -100
Lexa watched their guards systematically inflict pain on the young woman. She was brave, but they were experienced. It took several hours, but she broke, and whispered the names of the plants she used. It took all of Lexa's strength to keep her face impassive. "When she dies, you die three days later," she said, and stepped forward. Lexa jammed a dagger into her shoulder, pinning her to the tree.
The crowd cleared as she walked angrily toward the building where Clarke lay unconscious.
Lang moved from Clarke's bedside so Lexa could be close to her. The healer was still on his knees, scouring the floor. Lexa told him what Clarke's poisoner used, and he nodded at her confirmation of his educated guess. He did not look at her as he explained what he did.
Lexa didn't respond. She watched Clarke breathe for several minutes before sending both men outside. When they were gone, Lexa knelt on the damp floor. She cupped Clarke's cheek and leaned up to kiss her forehead. She softly repeated what Clarke told her long ago. "I need your soul to stay where it is."
She stayed a few more minutes. As much as she wanted to stay with Clarke, duty demanded that she watch the natrona's punishment and administer her death when the time came. She went outside and found Braddock.
"Lang will return in a moment," he told her. "We will stay."
Lexa nodded. She understood that both of them staying with Clarke meant that one would be available to let her know of any change, positive or negative. She straightened her spine and strode angrily toward the tree.
Before it, the people of the village waited stoically to take their turns with their daggers.
100 - 100 -100
Clarke gagged, interrupting her shallow breathing. Braddock turned her on her side and held the pail under her mouth. He moved Clarke's hair out of the way and supported her while vomiting and dry heaves shook her entire body. He was reluctant to put Clarke on her back again, and held her while Lang cleaned her mouth and freshened it with mint.
Lang supported Clarke while Braddock sat on the bed. Lang put Clarke's head on Braddock's thigh, and they worked together to turn her on her side. Lang put the packs behind her to keep Clarke from rolling onto her back.
100 - 100 -100
These fever dreams were nothing like the last ones Clarke had. They were far worse, as her brain had more ammunition to use against her. Not only had Mount Weather's residents died, but Maunon did not offer Lexa the deal, and her people died thrashing in cages, burned by acid fog. Nearly all the 100 died too, driven into shock by repeated drilling into their large bones without anesthesia or painkillers. Bellamy died in a hail of bullets after turning a corner into a squad of Mount Weather's security force bearing automatic weapons. The explosion that took down the power grid killed Raven. Clarke murdered Dante Wallace. She saw her mother's lifeless body pulled from a bloody operating table and dropped into a chute.
Worst, she saw Lexa dead by Cage Wallace's hand, his revenge against her for his father's death.
Clarke vomited, expelling heat and sorrow, and it wasn't enough to make her feel better. She burned inside, and the scenario changed. The bridge exploded, and what was left of Lexa's body landed in front of her. The missile screamed through the sky, and Lexa shoved her away before being crushed by a ton of stone that was once a building. Clarke heard Lexa screaming through the roar of the drop ship's flames, and her corpse was the only one recognizable when they went outside. It was Lexa, not Atom, who Clarke had to give relief from the acid fog.
She would have screamed if her throat wasn't blocked.
After every time she tried to empty her stomach, the scenarios changed. It didn't matter. In the end, Clarke was alone, surrounded by death, and everyone she loved was taken from her.
100 - 100 -100
After two rounds with daggers, Lexa decreed that fists and feet were to be used. She wanted natrona to feel some part of the pain she caused. Lang appeared from time to time, bringing updates, none of them with good news. Lexa debated destroying the entire village for producing such a person, but decided against it solely because Clarke wouldn't approve.
The punishment went on through the night, and by dawn, everyone was exhausted. Lexa dismissed all of them except Bowie. He would remain on guard to ensure that no one gave the traitor any relief. Her guards would rotate that duty as long as Clarke lived.
Lexa returned to Clarke. She was pale and sweaty, the paint Lexa applied so carefully streaked on her face. She sent Braddock to rest with Roosevelt. She needed two guards awake and alert at all times, one to protect Clarke, the other ensuring that natrona remained alive as long as Clarke did.
Lexa found a cloth and wet it in the now cool bathwater. She carefully cleaned Clarke's face, rinsed the cloth, and laid it on her forehead. Clarke was hot and shivering again, bringing memories of when Lexa tracked her to that cave. Lexa stripped and removed Clarke's clothing. She carried her to the tub, stepped in, and rearranged Clarke's limp body before lowering them into it.
The whimper Clarke made when her body entered the water both hurt Lexa's heart and gave her hope. It was the first sound she heard Clarke make since her speech the night before. Lexa called for Lang and had him bring the damp cloth to her before sending him to find clean towels. He had clean bedding when he returned as well, and quickly remade the bed. "Anything else, Heda?"
"Not now. At midday, get Braddock to replace you and send Roosevelt to relieve Bowie. Make sure all of you eat. Send the healer."
"Sha, Heda." He acknowledged her instructions, but didn't leave.
"What is it?" she asked while wiping Clarke's face.
"What will happen if" He couldn't finish the question.
"I do not know." Lexa knew Clarke's death was probable, and could not think about it.
She heard him walk toward the door. Shortly after he left, the healer came. This time, she questioned him, asking what Clarke had ingested and what actions he took. He suggested they try to get some liquid in Clarke, and returned later with cool mint tea. Lexa sent him away and tilted Clarke's head back enough to dribble some into her mouth.
Clarke choked on it, but swallowed the next bit. Lexa kept at it until the mug was empty. By that time, Clarke was shivering from the coolness of the water, so Lexa got them out of the tub and supported Clarke with her body while she rubbed her dry with a towel. She put Clarke in bed, dried her body and hair, and redressed.
Lexa sat beside her, keeping her fingers on Clarke's face, and watched her. Lexa's eyes burned with exhaustion and unshed tears. She kept telling herself that Clarke was strong enough to survive this. Lexa knew that Clarke's death would shatter her. It would be worse than Costia's murder, partly because it came from her own people, mostly because it was Clarke.
When it was time for Clarke to drink again, Lexa got in bed behind her and tried not to think about doing this before. She dribbled liquid into Clarke's mouth, and Clarke swallowed it. When Clarke's temperature spiked again, they got into the tub, which she had emptied, cleaned, and refilled with cool water.
She didn't dress before they got back in bed. Lexa held Clarke close and dozed, too worried to sleep deeply. Through the night, she forced liquids and moved them to the tub when Clarke's fever rose.
At dawn, Lexa reluctantly dressed and left Clarke. She went to the tree, verifying that the traitor still lived. The healer and the village leader went with her, and Lexa ordered them to keep her alive as long as Clarke breathed. She had to do something other than hold Clarke and worry about her, but could think of nothing that would distract her.