Ai Hod Yu In
Chapter 23
A/N: Hey guys. Here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy, and thank you for all the support everyone has given me with this story! I appreciate you all!
It did not take long at all for Clarke to learn that they would be riding to Arkadia with Nia's body. It had been a long time since she had been home, and she was actually looking forward to being able to show Madi a little bit of it. Nia's death had brought Clarke peace in a way she hadn't expected, and now she was ready to keep moving forward. For her, that meant refocusing on her little girl.
It was early morning when Clarke climbed onto the horse with Madi in a sling. They had a long trek ahead of them, but Clarke could not deny enjoying the company.
"Thinking about home?" Lexa asked her, looking at her with that look she had. Clarke could not deny that she was indeed thinking about it, though.
"Thinking about whether Arkadia is home," she admitted, a bit ashamed of the thought as she said it. Just a little over a month ago, Arkadia was the home she intended to raise her daughter in. She'd fought so hard to return, but it had been so long since she had returned there, "When I left, it had a different name. I was different. Madi has never even been there, this will be her first time."
"You left a hero to your people. And you return one. You do what you must for your family, Clarke. You do what is best for your daughter first, and I admire that about you," Lexa smiled at her, and Clarke looked down a bit, "The Mountain Slayer returns with the body of the Ice Queen. You bring your people justice with this."
"You bring them justice," Clarke corrected her, raising her eyebrows and almost challenging Lexa to try to correct her.
"We bring them peace," Lexa looked happier today than Clarke could ever remember seeing her before, and she had to admit it was nice. She was spending the day with the woman she liked and her daughter. This day could not be going better. Clarke smiled back at her. They continued their journey.
"Heda!" one of the guards yelled. Everyone stopped, taking a moment to stare in horror at the battlefield before them. There were so many bodies. Clarke didn't have to take their pulses to know they were all dead. She didn't have to count them to know that there would be about 300 of them, all the guard sent to protect her people. Flies swarmed around the bodies, and Clarke felt bad for all these people.
They disembarked from their horses to examine the battlefield.
"All bullet wounds," Clarke commented solemnly, trying to keep her mind from going where she knew this had gone. They heard yelling in the distance, and Lexa began to run toward the voice. Needing to know what happened, Clarke did nothing but follow, making sure to hold Madi securely all the while.
"Indra!" Lexa called, seeing the sole survivor of this massacre. She rushed to the woman's side, and Clarke once again followed.
"Heda!" Indra groaned, trying to move herself a bit. Clarke finally reached Indra's side, and lifted part of her clothing to better see the wound. It came as no surprise to her to see a bullet wound on Indra as well
"I need bandages!" Clarke called.
"Stay away!" Indra responded, "You're one of them."
"Indra.." Lexa said, continuing on softly in trigadesleng. Indra stopped struggling, and Lexa continued, "Indra, what happened here?"
"They attacked while we slept. Our watch was to the north, looking for Azgeda. They killed our archers first. Our infantry couldn't get close. Then they executed the wounded." Indra told them.
"The summit was two days ago. How could Kane do this?" Clarke asked angrily. They had worked so hard for peace, and her people had thrown it all away.
"It wasn't Kane. It was Pike." Indra said.
"How did you escape?" Lexa asked
"Bellamy."
"Bellamy was with them?" Clarke asked, getting even angrier now. Bellamy knew better than this. Bellamy had changed from the asshole who didn't care who lived or died. The Bellamy she knew would never do this.
"He wanted to spare the wounded, but they wouldn't listen. He convinced Pike to let me live, so I could deliver a message." Indra told them.
"What message?"
"Skaikru rejects the coalition. This is their land now. We can leave, or we can die." Indra said. Lexa looked as though she was about to cry, perhaps out of anger. She stood up and turned around, facing her guard.
"Send riders. I call upon the armies of the Twelve Clans. In a day's time, we lay waste to Arkadia and everyone within its walls!" Lexa called angrily. Clarke looked down, trying to think what to do. This was supposed to be a day of peace, not this.
"Yes, Heda." one of the soldiers responded. "Mount up!"
Clarke began to stand as well, trying to think, "Wait. Give me time to fix this."
Clarke started to walk away, her mind still racing to think of a solution to this.
"Hod em up!" Lexa said.
"What are you doing?" Clarke asked
"I can't let you leave, Clarke."
"So I'm a prisoner now? Just like that?"
"Yes."
"Lexa, let me go to Arkadia."
"No."
"At least let me talk to Kane. We can bring him here. Indra, at the summit, Kane told me he gave you a radio. A way to signal him. Do it. Please." Clarke begged. She was getting desperate. She knew how this was going to end, and she needed to change it. Indra looked at Lexa, and she nodded.