Chapter 1 – A baby from the stars
Lexa had arrived in TonDC a few days ago. The messengers who had brought word to Polis about the thing which had fell from the stars, had brought worrying news to the capitol. It seemed that the invaders who had fallen right into Trikru merely consisted of untrained youths. But they spoke the tongue of their enemies and from what the reports had told her, they may be posing a danger to their people.
She had not been in TonDC for some time now, although she had grown up around these woods. The reunion with her former mentor, now general Anya, had been brisk. She knew that the older woman must have taken her banishment from Polis to the outskirts of Trikru lands as a personal insult.
It felt refreshing to be back in these woods now and Lexa rejoiced in the ability to leave the watching eyes of her people and roam through the dense forests alone again.
She was being updated on the sightings of the invaders daily and she had given order to try and capture one or two of them for questioning purposes. She herself had wandered closer to their camp, careful not to be seen. What she had observed there, was confusing to her.
From the way these invaders acted, they were nothing more than wild children. Untrained and unkept. Alone in a world they obviously knew nothing about. It was more than obvious that they had absolutely no clue on how to survive. She wondered if it would actually be necessary at all for her to send warriors to them and kill them, before they could become a threat.
What had confused her even more though, were the unmistakable wails of a small child from the camp. She had not been able to get close enough to catch a glimpse of the baby that must be with them. But it had seemed as if most of the invaders had actually been upset about the baby's continued crying. She was puzzled why none of them seemed able to calm the baby.
One of their patrols had attacked a boy crossing the border to the Mountain the previous day and the invaders were obviously on high alert. So, Lexa had been forced to retreat before she could be detected.
On the same night, Lexa was roaming through the forest again. She had increased the amounts of patrols circling around the camp of the invaders, to make sure that the invaders would not be able to make their way to the Mountain.
It seemed that one of their patrols had run in with a few of the invaders ahead of her. Lexa hurried her steps slightly.
She heard the trap being triggered ahead of her, before she got a clear view. She also heard a grunt, presumably of whoever had just walked into one of their traps, before the shrill wails of a baby resonated as well.
Lexa's brows furrowed. It had not seemed as if the invaders had taken the baby out of their camp yet, but the sounds were unmistakable. None of the scouts had been able to tell her anything specific thus far, just that they also had heard the signs of a baby being there.
She broke through the tree line, just in time to bark out an order to the warrior who was approaching the trap.
Lexa walked slower to it, just as the warrior obediently stepped back, lowering his dagger as well. Her own hand hovered above the handle of her dagger strapped to her thigh.
A young man had walked into their trap and the blood bubbling from his mouth easily revealed his wounds to be fatal.
Right next to the trap, the baby was standing on obviously wobbly legs.
Lexa took a closer look at the toddler. She recognized that it probably was a girl and she could not be older than a summer or two at most. Her little face was still round and her skin, although pale, had the rosiness of a baby. It was slightly red now from crying. Blonde bouncy locks framed her little face.
The very moment, the child looked at her and Lexa's green eyes connected with the clear grey eyes of the young girl, she stopped crying instantly.
Lexa looked down at the child for a moment longer, unsure on how to proceed. She had given the order to her people that those who could not be questioned, ought to be killed. But the girl seemed so young, that it was possible that she could not yet speak at all.
She felt something within her heart clench, as the young child's grey eyes left her face and returned to the killed young man in the trap, pulling at the leg of his trousers lightly with a chubby fist. Her chin quivered for a second, when there was no response, she began to cry again in shrill obviously desperate wails, as tear drops ran down her round cheeks.
On some level, the toddler seemed to understand that there would be no response anymore from the young man, she was trying to cling to and she let go a moment later, letting go of the support which had allowed her to remain standing.
Before Lexa could catch on to what her instincts made her do, she had already made a quick step in the little girl's direction, as the child had begun to wobble precariously on her little legs and just before she could fall, she had reached out and steadied her.
The bright grey eyes which connected with hers a second later, were still swimming in tears and a few large tears spilled over as the child turned the slightest bit to face her, stretching out her chubby arms to be picked up.
Lexa let her hand finally fall from the handle of her dagger and swept the child into her arms, giving into her instincts fully now.
The child was innocent, she did not deserve to die just like that. No matter if the invaders indeed would pose a threat to them or not, the little girl in her arms clearly was too young to be a threat to anyone.
She was surprised slightly that the child quitted down immediately within her arms and she only adjusted her grip on her small body, as she felt the girl's chubby fists latch onto her coat.
When Lexa felt the child shiver slightly, she slowly without putting the girl down, opened her coat with one hand, encasing the girl in the material as well.
Her thoughts were turmoiled, as she made her way back to TonDC. She was not sure if the child had fallen asleep or not, but the girl was not moving an inch. If she could not feel her moist little puffs of breaths hit her throat, she would have begun to worry that the girl had been wounded away and died within her arms.
Something she could not pinpoint yet, felt like there was an instant deep connection between herself and the little child. And although Lexa could not explain why, but holding the girl now was feeling right in a way that nothing else had in a long time.
She wondered if the warrior she had called back, would have indeed killed the small girl. But Lexa shoed the thought from her mind, she had basically saved the young girl's life and for some reason she was deeply grateful that she had been there in this moment.
She would figure out later, what would be happening to the baby now.