Skaifaya

by Cairlinn1991

What if Charlotte was not the only or even the youngest child on the dropship? This is the story of nine-year-old Marie Matthews, who is sent down to earth as a member of the 100. When Murphy is exiled from the 100 Marie follows him and they run into grounders. Separated from the 100 and to become Anya's second how will Marie stay alive and find a new life for herself?

22. Chapter 22 (211 - 220)

Chapter 221

Marie did not know for sure for how long they already been travelling by now. But her thighs were protesting painfully against the unfamiliar strain of having to sit in a saddle for hours without break.

Lexa had set a brisk and quick pace for the small unit of the army, so that they should be able to catch up with the rest of the army fairly quickly.

Smaller groups of scouts travelled in circles around them, making sure that no hidden assassins could suddenly make an attack in a last vain attempt from Nia to prevent the war from taking place at all.

Marie internally wondered how long they would need to travel until they reached the queen's fortress. She did not give voice to her thoughts though. She was riding flanked by Anya and Lexa and both women did not appear to wish to speak at the current moment. To Marie it seemed, as if Anya was constantly looking around them, searching for a potential threat. She guessed that doing so was pretty unnecessary with all the scouts making rounds around their group.

"Are we still on Trikru lands?" Marie asked, turning her gaze to Anya. She had noticed that the thick forests around them had begun to thin ahead of them, but she had not noticed if they might have crossed the border already or not. She had heard in one meeting that a blockade had been put into place at the borders between Trikru und Ice Nation, so she thought that such a blockade should have been noticeable.

Anya's brown eyes narrowed slightly at the girl's inattentiveness. She had personally held quiet a number of lessons with Marie, trying to instil certain landmarks into the child's mind surrounding Polis and she should be able by now to distinguish between them.

Before Anya could say anything, Lexa chimed in, sensing the general's displeasure at the girl's mere question "No, Marie, we have not yet passed by the fallen trees". The commander's tone was kind, while she minutely bandied a look with her previous mentor, clearly telling her to let the matter slide for now.

Marie frowned for a moment, before a sheepish look passed over her features "Oh, I forgot about those" she commented lowly, picking at a lose threat on the reigns slightly. She gave Anya an innocent smile, hoping that the woman would not be angry with her, she remembered the lessons about them now. On the way back from the queen's fortress, Ontari had led them on a different path, so that they had not crossed these special trees.

Anya rolled her eyes at the girl, before she returned her gaze back ahead of them. Her eyes may be focused on the way in front of them, but from the corner of her eyes, Anya had kept Marie under close surveillance the whole time since they had left Polis. Both Lexa and she were worried how Marie would react once the fighting began; they did not doubt for a second that the girl would side with Nia all of a sudden. But they knew how mentally fragile the girl was at the moment, so it was impossible to predict just how she would react.

Occasionally, she looked over at the Ice Nation nightblood riding on her other side. Ontari did not show outwardly if she might be in any kind of pain, the girl had not said a single word since they left Polis and her expression was stoic and blank. Anya knew that the girl had as many reasons to look forward to Nia's impending downfall.

Anya highly doubted that they would be able to continue for much longer without stopping to make a short break. The group of Skykru which travelled with them would surely not be used to their ways of travel and their pace would be even harder for them. In the back of her mind, she also hoped that the journey would not be too hard for Marie as well.

Marie's eyes widened once the fallen trees came into view. Anya's words had truly not done justice to how they really looked like.

Anya smirked slightly, when she watched Marie's reaction. The girl's grey eyes shone visibly and awe clouded her features.

No one knew, why the trees grew in the way they did. But in a patch of around two hundred metres the tree trunks had not grown horizontally like they were supposed to, but rather in a height of only around a metre, all the trunks had grown towards the earth.

"Are they still alive?" Marie asked, wonder and confusion mixed in her tone. It appeared as if the trees even still had foliage, but it looked rather weird, scattered over the ground.

Anya nodded in mute agreement. No one knew exactly since when the trees had been like this, but they were even still growing.

Lexa suddenly pulled on her reigns, raising a hand and by thus stopping the whole group in their tracks "We will make a break here" she proclaimed loudly.

Marie sighed gratefully and she glanced down at the ground with a slight frown. Her legs felt weird and she was not sure if she would be able to get down from the horse without crumbling to the ground.

"Won't you get down?" Ontari suddenly stood beside her grey horse, having dismounted already and wondering why the younger girl was still on her mount. When Marie still had not moved a moment later, she stretched out her hands, offering to help the girl from the horse.

Marie smiled in thanks, accepting the older girl's hands and she kept her holding on to Ontari's arms once she felt the ground beneath her feet again; her legs were tingling uncomfortably and her knees felt far weaker than they should.

"The border is not far away now, right?" Marie asked, looking up at Ontari. In the background she could see Lexa and Anya speaking to generals, she did not know the names of.

Ontari shook her head "We will pass it within the next hour. It will get colder soon" she answered easily. She knew that borders between Trikru and Azgeda well and they should soon be able to see the blockade. She also knew that they would also soon travel through the first villages of Ice Nation and she internally feared what they might find. She was certain that Nia would not have lifted a finger to help the smaller villages close to the border and the blockade had been long enough in place now, that these villages would have been hit the hardest by the forced isolation and stopped trade.

Marie frowned slightly, when she noted the slight worry within Ontari's dark eyes. "Do you think the villagers will put up a fight?" she asked the older girl lowly.

Ontari shook her head "I doubt that they still can" she commented darkly, but she did not elaborate when Marie's frown only visibly deepened.

Marie's attention was diverted from Ontari, when she felt Anya's hands settle on her shoulders. She glanced up with a soft smile at the woman, leaning back slightly, feeling Anya's body heat almost enveloping her. She had not realized before, but it had already turned colder and she shivered slightly, as she leaned back fully against Anya.

Anya put a hand on the girl's forehead, checking her temperature quickly, when she noticed that the girl was shivering. Fortunately, it did not appear as if the child was running a fever. She gently nudged Marie back into the direction of her own horse, as she knew that some spare clothing had been stored in her own saddlebacks for Marie and herself.

Marie followed Anya willingly and her gaze quickly travelled over the group which accompanied them. She had already recognized that most of the warriors came from Trikru, beside the group of Skykru. All of them had more or less fallen from their horses, shaking out their legs with slight grimaces on their faces.

Anya's eyes fell on the same scene and a disparaging look crossed her features "Still weak as newborns" she muttered under her breath with a clear note of impatience in her tone. Their travels had barely begun after all and they still had a lot of way to cover before the commander would call for them to rest for the night.

Marie's gaze flitted up to her mentor shortly and she lowered her eyes with guilt clouding her expression, she did not feel as if she was faring much better than the rest of Skykru was.

Lexa frowned slightly, she had stopped her talk with the two generals from Shallow Valley and the Broadleaf clan and she had turned towards Marie and Anya just in time to see clear guilt flit over the girl's features. Her gaze shortly followed Anya's to the group of Skykru, almost all of them were visibly showing their discomfort from the last few hours in a saddle. When Anya still muttered some critics about the Skykru under her breath, it clicked in Lexa's mind, that Marie must have taken the general's words personally.

She wordlessly took the clothing intended for Marie out of Anya's hands, ignoring her clear look of confusion and instead stepped closer to Marie. The rest of the warriors were giving them enough space, that Lexa did not have to fear her words being caught by them. She motioned for Marie to strip out of the thin coat, holding up a warmer shirt for the child.

"You are holding up just fine, Marie" she reassured the girl in a soft tone, while helping the child slip her arms into the long sleeves.

Surprise flashed over Marie's features at the commander's words, before doubt clouded her gaze minutely.

Lexa squeezed the girl's shoulders reassuringly and her green eyes looked down kindly on the child.

Marie swallowed once, visibly straightening herself again before she stepped back a little from Lexa, who now held open a warmer coat for her. She gave the woman the hint of a grateful smile, when Lexa stepped around her, fastening straps over the cloak.

The break was over much quicker than Marie would have liked and soon, Lexa called for the group to get back onto their mounts.

Ontari mutely helped her up on her grey horse. She would have probably managed to get up without assistance, but the horse really was huge and it was probably better to accept her help than visibly fail to mount the horse on her own.

Marie was still a little confused by the grounders sense of pride in that regard. On the one hand, they clearly believed in strength and being able to cope with everything on their own. But at the same time it was regarded as shameful to fail at something when help had been available. She knew that Lexa, Anya and Ontari would not have truly thought any less of her, if she did not manage to get on the horse on her own, but she did not want to ridicule herself in front of the other warriors like that.

Marie was surprised to see just how many warriors were upholding the blockade, once they got near enough to the border to see it ahead of them. She had somehow envisioned a few scarce warriors fighting against soldiers and people from Ice Nation constantly. But it was rather obvious that there barely had been any fighting to begin with. Lexa had sent so many warriors to enforce the blockade, that Azgeda had probably known that trying to break through would have been a useless waste of manpower.

So, it did not really come as a surprise when she learned that a great portion of the warriors from the blockade would begin to travel behind them as reinforcement if necessary.

Marie internally wondered just how deep into Ice Nation lands they would need to travel to find the queen and her own army. From what she remembered of the queen, she was convinced that the woman would be sitting in a fortress, guarded with probably the complete army at her hand.

She glanced over her shoulder minutely, the group of Skykru had obviously been given warmer clothes as well. She still remembered a few of them from their landing on earth and how they had looked then. The contrast was really stark now with the warm fur laced grounder clothing.

Internally Marie could not help herself but remember the sketch Clarke had done almost immediately after her return from the queen to Polis. She shuddered involuntarily, hoping that her physical appearance had truly begun to change again. She did not want to be the girl the queen had forced her to be.

Maybe she would ask Clarke at one point to do a newer sketch of her. Lexa might have chosen against forgiving the blonde woman for now, but Marie had noticed the glances the both of them were shooting each other from time to time and the longing within both their eyes was painfully obvious as well. She would be lying if she said that she was not glad for a selfish reason that Clarke was now travelling with the army solely as a part of Skykru and not as Lexa's love. But the thought more and more pushed into her mind that Lexa was truly unhappy with her decision and she still did not understand why the woman had made the decision if it was paining her in such a fashion. She knew that now was certainly not the time to ask her, but she would in private at one point.

The tension in the group mounted visibly when they neared the first bigger village and Marie dearly hoped that they would soon stop for the day. It could not be long now until the sun would set and she felt utterly exhausted.

They had already passed a few abandoned single huts some time ago and Ontari had quickly explained to Marie that the inhabitants had probably sought shelter in a bigger village or had starved on the way there. Marie had looked at the older girl with wide eyes, hoping that she was not correct in her assessment. She had seen that a few warriors had searched through the huts, coming out again only moments later, not finding anyone living there anymore.

Marie frowned slightly, when Anya steered her brown horse even closer to her own mount. She spotted one of the general's hand resting on a dagger on her thigh, obviously prepared to pull it out and protect them at a moment's notice. She opened her mouth to tentatively asked why Anya was so tense, but the woman mutely shook her head, silencing her efficiently.

Marie's brows knitted together when they truly entered the village. The group of scouts preceding them, had obviously already forced all inhabitants of the village out of their huts and Marie could see quiet a great number of people kneeling in front of them.

Lexa called the whole group to a stop, dismounting quickly and scrutinizing the Ice Nation people with suspicious eyes. It was obvious that the blockade had hit this village full force, the people were all visibly thin and they seemed almost afraid.

She kept her expression stoic and blank, as she raised her voice, her eyes minutely flitting to the few children clinging to their parents with wide frightened eyes. It did not look as if one of them was contemplating to attack and she could not spot signs of a fight either. "No one will be harmed, food and supplies will be distributed among you, until the blockade can be lifted again".

Marie watched on with interest how the scouts slowly eased away from the inhabitants of the village and she smiled slightly when she noted the obvious relief of the people.

Lexa looked back over her shoulder at Marie, noting on the way the girl's shoulders were slumped slightly in clear exhaustion. They had travelled through most of the day by now, with only one longer pause and she knew that they would be able to catch up with the rest of the army either on the next day or the day after at the latest, closing their ranks before they would reach Nia's fortress. She nodded towards her generals "We shall make camp here for the night". Stopping here for the night was saver than staying out in the open.

Marie let out a small relieved sigh under her breath at the news and she did not hesitate for a second to accept Anya's help to get down from the horse. The village looked different from TonDC and she could not spot a single building which seemed to remain from the old world still. The huts mostly appeared much bigger than the ones in TonDC and Marie learned later that several families shared one.

Marie shook out her legs carefully, keeping in a little groan of discomfort. She internally wondered just how she would be able to get back onto the horse on the next morning. She looked over the people from the village a little closer, when she followed Anya towards Lexa, who was speaking with the village elder.

"…thank you, commander" Marie heard the old man say, as they stepped closer. She gave Anya a short soft smile, when she felt the general's arm settle over one of her shoulders.

Lexa inclined her head "My fight is with Nia, not with Ice Nation" she clarified in a decisive tone. In their vicinity she could already see warriors beginning to unload a few of the extra provisions.

Ontari stayed behind at the horses, letting her gaze wander around the village. She remembered having been here years ago already. As one of the villages closest to the border to Trikru, it had often been the place of the warriors to gather before setting out to their skirmishes with the Trikru warriors. She remembered also that the village had been very loyal to Nia in the past, it surprised her that there had not seemed to have been any kind of resistance from them.

It took some time for the group of warriors to either erect tents for themselves or be assigned to one of the large huts. The inhabitants of the village had all been very accommodating and opened as much free space as possible in the buildings of the village.

Lexa had reclined the offer of a complete hut for herself, opting to use the commander's tent instead. It would certainly allow for more privacy with Anya and Marie. The general had asked her beforehand that she wanted to Ontari to also sleep with them, the tent was large enough after all.

A large fire had been lit in the middle of the village and fresh meat was roasted over the fire, filling the crisp cold air with an appetising smell of food.

Marie stood beside Ontari at the fire, Lexa and Anya on her other side, speaking with the village elder about how the blockade had affected the village. Marie suppressed a jaw with all her might, now that she had finally gotten from the horse and her legs felt mostly normal again, she felt the exhaustion settle into her body. Her stomach grumbled slightly in hunger, their break for lunch was long ago now.

She still thought it weird that the group of Skykru kept closely to themselves, standing isolated at one side of the fire, not really speaking with anyone beside themselves. She wondered if the scene would look different now, if Clarke was standing beside Lexa.

The longer the gathering around the fire stretched, the lower Marie's mood became, she was tired and wanted to lie down. But neither Lexa nor Anya showed any intention yet of retiring for the night.

"What is it?" Ontari asked the younger girl under her breath. She was trying to listen to the talk ongoing around the fire, but Marie's increasing shuffling was distracting her.

Marie shrugged her shoulders, a small pout on her lips, she had just opened her mouth to answer verbally, when the older girl looked away.

Ontari's attention was caught by a group of three younger men, nearing the general and commander and their expressions were somehow alarming to her. They somehow reeked of trouble already and she turned her full attention to them. Her premonition was proven, when the three of them suddenly had daggers in their hands and boldly attacked the commander, shouts of "For the queen!" tumbling from their lips. Following on instinct, Ontari charged forward as well, at the same time as Gustus and Anya did.

Marie watched the scene play out with widened eyes. Before she could really process what was happening, everything was over already.

The village elder was apologizing rapidly, the villagers all seemed equally afraid of what this would mean for them.

Lexa seemed the only one barely affected at all, green eyes staring down emotionless at the three men. Two of them already dead, one killed by Gustus and the second actually having been killed by Ontari.

Anya had the third one subdued, a gash bled on her own side, concealed by her coat.

Lexa's mask was firmly in place, as she slit the man's throat without hesitation "Burn them" she proclaimed loudly, turning on her heels and walking off in the direction of her tent without another word.

Chapter 222

Marie had watched the proceedings with widened eyes and her heart hammered quickly in her chest. No matter how hard she tried, she could not tear her eyes from the corpses on the ground, barely a few feet away. Red blood slowly ran from the body of the man with his slit throat, inching closer to her with every second.

Marie startled strongly, when Anya suddenly stood in front of her. She blinked a few times, as her mind slowly processed that she must have spaced out for some time. The corpses had already been moved and there was no sign of Lexa anywhere around.

Anya looked down on the girl with worry passing through her eyes, the girl had not moved an inch during the whole incident, obviously frozen in place in shock. Such a reaction did not sit well with her at all, once the real fighting began they would need to know that Marie would at least be protecting herself or taking her with them into battle would prove dangerous for all of them.

A sheepish expression settled into Marie's features and without further thought, she slung her arms around Anya's midriff, giving her a quick hug and taking in a deep shuddering breath, as her heart slowly began to calm as well. The people had appeared all friendly on the first glance and she had not expected that anyone would try to assassinate Lexa. Now that she thought of it, it made sense though. The war would surely not take place if the commander died after all.

Anya bit back a pained hiss as the girl slung her arms around her midriff, putting pressure onto the bleeding gash on her side. She knew that she needed to get seen to by a healer. Her eyes flitted over to Ontari shortly, the girl had reacted exceptionally and if there had been any lingering doubt about her loyalty to Nia, it was completely erased now. The nightblood girl had almost instinctively protected the commander. Anya remembered that Ontari had told her to have been trained as a personal guard to Nia before and that had shown just now. She nodded to her older charge, who had suggested to stay by the fire to make sure that none of the other villagers might try to make an attempt against Lexa again. The girl had not sustained any injuries, so she had agreed.

Marie frowned when she backed off from Anya slightly and her eyes widened when she spotted the fresh blood now smeared onto one of the sleeves of her coat. Her eyes searched over Anya's form quickly, trying to locate the source of the blood, hoping internally that it not been hers at all. Her frown deepened when she spotted a suspiciously wet looking dark patch on the woman's side. She itched to reach out and simply heal it for her, but a quick glance around them told her that too many people were watching currently for that to go over unnoticed. She was still worried about how deep the wound would be, Anya's expression gave nothing away and she did not even show that she must in any kind of pain at all.

Anya's lips thinned slightly; the girl's thoughts had been more than obvious on her features. "Don't even think of it" she told the child in a quick whisper, grasping onto one of her shoulders and steering her in the direction of the commander's tent.

Marie hurried to keep up with Anya's brisk pace without stumbling. If Lexa had not been hurt, there probably would not be a healer at all yet in the tent, so she could still heal Anya then.

The commander was alone when they entered the tent, Ryder and Gustus stood guard and a few others circled around the commander's tent, making sure that no one could enter from any other way than the main entrance as well.

Lexa took a deep breath, when she heard Anya and Marie join her. She had expected that something like this could happen, but she was nevertheless angered that it had. Three men had died a senseless death in a vain attempt to protect a queen, who did not deserve any kind of loyalty at all. She could have easily ordered her army to raze down all villages on their way, nearly erasing Azgeda from existence in the process. She had decided firmly against that approach and yet, this was the gratitude she received for her efforts.

Anya hissed audibly, when Marie reached out as soon as the tent flap had fallen close behind them and the bleeding wound on her side knitted itself back together in seconds. As soon as the burning sensation of the healing had faded, Anya felt fresh bursts of energy course through her veins and she sighed in resignation at the girl. There was no use any more in trying to discourage her from using her talent so frequently. The only possibility to hinder Marie from doing so, would be to keep the girl firmly distanced from them and that was no real option in her mind at all.

Marie's grey eyes were determined when she met the general's gaze. She would not apologise for healing the woman's wounds. She felt it as her responsibility to make sure that Lexa and she were not injured. It was a real way for her to contribute and she would continue to do so. She could stop again, when the war was over and they were not in such grave danger any longer.

"Thank you, little star" Anya finally settled on saying, brown eyes gentle, as she pushed the worry for the girl into a far corner of her mind. Marie did not seem to suffer any repercussions from using her talent so frequently in the last days and it was obvious that the child felt helpful healing them like that.

Marie's features brightened with a smile and she hugged the general again shortly. She backed off from her again and her smile froze when she noted how grave Lexa's expression was.

She stepped closer to the commander slowly, grey eyes looking up at the woman filled with compassion "I am sorry that they attacked you" she offered in a sad honest tone.

Lexa sighed under her breath, giving the child the hint of a smile for her efforts.

Marie looked the woman over quickly as well, trying to see if the commander had suffered any injuries as well. She tried calling forth her talent, stepping even closer to Lexa and giving her a hug as well.

Anya frowned when she watched the girl's hands glow golden for the briefest moment as she made contact with Lexa. She was sure that her previous second had not been injured at all during the confrontation, so there should be no wounds to heal.

Lexa's eyes narrowed at the girl as she slightly nudged her away from her. She had felt the tension of the day's journey drain from her body instantly, her muscles loose and refreshed again. But there had been no wounds to heal at all. So far Marie had only healed obvious wounds and not simply used her power to replenish their energy. It worried her somehow that the girl was able to do so at all, the energy for her talent must be coming from somewhere after all. The soft smile the girl gave her, soothed her worry slightly, as there was no obvious sign so far that Marie had any side effects at all.

"Are we going to bed now?" Marie asked, a slight hint of hope apparent in her tone.

Lexa shook her head in the negative. They needed to return outside to the fire, joining back with the villagers, showing that there would be no repercussion to what had happened.

Marie kept close to Anya once they stepped out of the tent. In the distance she could easily spot the quickly erected pyre and the three corpses burning.

The atmosphere around the fire had changed almost painfully, the villagers seemed afraid to breathe too loudly.

Marie glanced up at Anya minutely, when the general squeezed her shoulders once, before the woman left her at the fire, joining back with the other generals. She searched through the crowd for Ontari and her eyes travelled over the group of Skykru.

Her eyes stayed on Clarke, Raven and Bellamy for long moments, observing the three of them in silence. Clarke seemed solely focused on Lexa, barely sparing the two beside her any glance. Bellamy visibly was annoyed to be ignored like that and his dark eyes kept on flitting to the family from the village beside them in obvious suspicion. Raven's expression was hard to decipher for Marie, as she was not familiar enough with the brunette mechanic to know her mannerism like that.

Marie was interrupted by the Ice Nation nightblood girl suddenly appearing right in front of her. She looked the older girl over quickly as well; she had not even considered that Ontari might have gotten injured as well.

The corners of Ontari's lips lifted upwards into the hint of a smile "I am alright" she reassured the younger girl quickly, knowing Marie's way of thinking well enough by now that the girl did not need to articulate her worry at all. No one had ever truly worried for her in such a fashion and she was still slightly touched by the younger girl's compassion.

Marie nodded mutely in acknowledgement, while she turned her eyes back towards the fire. On the other side of the fire, she could spot two families of villagers, both seemed to consist of at least four children each. At least three of them were her own age and she bit back a slight giggle, when one of the boys caught her eyes, making a funny grimace at her across the fire.

Ontari's attention was called by a boy approaching her boldly. He was one of the villagers and she judged them to be similar in age. The scars of Ice Nation adorned his famished face, but his dark eyes glittered in something akin to admiration as he approached her, asking her straightforward about her training with the royal guard of Azgeda.

Marie tilted her head sideways slightly and a pout took over her expression when Ontari solely focused on the older boy now. The boy had spared her not even a single glance and she tapped her foot impatiently. She frowned, when Ontari began laughing lightly moments later, now completely absorbed in their discussion. Her brows knitted together in confusion at the older girl's antics, she had never seen her act in such a way before and for some reason, she could not pinpoint at the moment, she felt something curl inside her stomach uncomfortably.

Marie readily let herself be distracted by the younger boy, who had thrown her the grimace before and continued doing so now. She barely thought anything about it, when the boy motioned her towards himself a few moments later. A quick glance at Ontari told her, that the older girl was not paying her any attention any longer at all, so she turned away from her and moved around the fire, joining the three children.

A tentative smile graced Marie's features as she joined them and she barely brought out a shy "Hi" before the boy pulled a laugh from her, by another comical grimace.

"Wanna play?" he asked, dark eyes twinkling beneath his shaggy brown hair and a challenge was clear in his tone.

Marie tilted her head to the side slightly in question "Play what?" she asked, while her eyes darted around the other two children as well, another boy and a brunette girl, all three of them appeared visibly famished and dirty.

It turned out that the other children wanted to actually play hide and seek with her and Marie was immediately hooked with their idea. The talk around the fire was boring and she was getting tired, so the diversion by actually playing was more than welcome.

Lexa had been engaged in speaking with the village elder, reassuring the man that the village still had nothing to fear from her or her army. The man obviously found it hard to believe that a commander who was not from Azgeda was actually considering the wellbeing of the normal civilians of the clan.

It seemed that the village elder was convinced that a few of the villagers would even choose to side with the coalition's army against their own queen, if given the chance. Lexa tried to persuade him that she appreciated the thought, but her army would not need the help of a few additional soldiers and the families who had suffered under the effects of the blockade for long weeks would now firstly need to recover.

When she finally managed to placate the village elder sufficiently, she joined Anya with the other generals, who were sharing a drink at the fire. Lexa frowned when she could not spot Marie with her former mentor, neither could she see Ontari at first glance.

Anya's hand, guiding a mug with wine to her mouth, paused, when she noticed Lexa watching her tensely. Her gaze followed the commander's and she understood quickly that Lexa was in fact searching for someone among the crowd. For a moment, she thought that the young leader was looking for Clarke, but her heart stopped for a beat, when she spotted Ontari, clearly joking around with one of the village boys. She had left the blonde girl near Ontari and had seen that the two had stood together at the fire moments later, but there was no sign of Marie anywhere now. She quickly handed over the mug to a second of one of the generals.

Lexa stepped closer to Anya, reaching out with one hand and grasping onto one of her elbows, hoping that the general indeed knew where their charge was. "Has Marie told you where she is?" she murmured quickly; green eyes boring into Anya's brown ones intently. Her thoughts were already portraying scenarios of what might have happened and a sickening feeling settled into the pit of her stomach.

Anya shook her head "I left her with Ontari" she said in rising exasperation. She was sure that Marie would not just have retired to their tent alone, the girl still hated sleeping alone too much for that.

Lexa's eyes narrowed and annoyance filtered into her tone "She is clearly not with her now. Where can she be?". Her heart was beating quicker already in her chest, fearing the blonde child could have been abducted right in front of their eyes. It was obvious that neither of them had paid any real mind to Marie in the last hour and she was already regretting not insisting that Marie stayed beside her, where she could see the girl.

Anya's lips thinned, as she did not have an answer to that question "I'll check the tent" she offered, although she highly doubted the likelihood of finding Marie there.

Lexa nodded and after a moment of hesitation, she hastened behind her general. She had looked over the crowd around the fire at least ten times now and she would have surely spotted Marie by now, if she had been there.

Ryder and Gustus quickly fell into step behind the commander, following on the woman's heel.

Lexa entered the tent with little hope of seeing Marie, so it came to no real surprise to her that Anya stood in the middle of the tent, desperation clinging to her features.

Anya shook her head in exasperation "She has not been here at all" she assessed. There was no sign that any of the furs had been touched at all, neither had anything else been moved.

Lexa nodded in mute agreement as a deep sense of fear settled into her mind. She could not stop her mind from conjuring images of Marie being delivered into Nia's clutches once again. The child would surely not survive such torture again without breaking completely. If her worse fear became true and Marie truly had been abducted and was already on the way to the queen's fortress, there was no scenario in which they would be able to catch up with her in time to save her.

Anya swallowed forcefully, seeing her own fears reflected on the young leader's features "She has to be in the village somewhere" she said, trying to reassure Lexa as much as herself.

Lexa snorted slightly under her breath, a mixture of anger and grief flashed through her green eyes as she tried to agree "We will find her". She could only pray in her mind that her words would prove to be true. She stepped out of the tent shortly, addressing Gustus and Ryder in hushed tones.

She could not risk for a panic to spread now, the atmosphere in the village was still too tense. After the failed assassination attempt on herself, it would be a disaster if someone from the village was still working with Nia and had lured Marie away from safety.

"I cannot be seen searching through the buildings of the village now" Lexa addressed her general, regret clear in her tone. She wanted to tear apart every single hut of the village singlehandedly until they had found a sign of Marie, but she was forced to remain here as to not raise suspicion, too many generals were present as well in the village. How should they trust her, if she failed to protect her second and that not even on the battle field?

Anya nodded, already turning on her heels, giving Lexa only a fleeting compassionate glance, before she hurried from the tent back to the fire. She stepped up to Ontari and without any kind of forewarning, clasped onto the girl's shoulders and forcefully guided her from the fire, a little away from prying ears.

Ontari sobered quickly when she noticed how serious and tense the general appeared, something must have happened, although she had no idea on what exactly.

"When was the last time you saw Marie?" Anya hurriedly asked the nightblood girl, brown eyes staring down at her hard.

Ontari blinked in confusion for a moment as she raked her memories "Some time ago" she answered vaguely. She remembered that Marie had stood right next to her before the boy from the village had approached her, but she had not looked for her afterwards again. She felt worry settle in her mind, the general would not be asking for Marie, if the Trikru woman knew where the younger girl was, which clearly meant that the child was currently missing.

Anya cussed under her breath at the unhelpful answer. "We need to find her, now!" she proclaimed, tone urgent and brown eyes desperate.

Ontari nodded quickly, feeling guilty already that she had neglected to keep watch over the younger girl. If something had happened to Marie because of her inattentiveness, it would be her fault alone.

Anya steered Ontari in the direction of the nearest hut, not caring in the slightest that they would be invading the living quarters of the villagers, all that mattered in her mind was locating Marie as quickly as possible. She refused to accept the idea her mind was entertaining of Marie having been abducted again, there simply had to be another explanation.

Anya felt her slight hope dwindle down quickly after they had searched through five of the twelve large buildings and had not found any signs of Marie yet. She stopped Ontari before they exited, ordering the girl to search through another hut on her own, hoping to speed up the process in that way.

Ontari nodded fervently, feeling her own worry only increase with every passing moment. She tried to force her thoughts to remain focused, but she could vividly remember how Marie had been with Nia and she could not help herself but envision the blonde girl kneeling in front of the vile woman again.

In the sixth hut Anya encountered three children and she frowned when it looked as if they were searching for something as well. She stopped one of them, a lanky brunette boy, asking him for what they were searching. Her brows knitted together when he stuttered out that they had been playing hide and seek with the commander's second.

Anya was torn between an irrational sense of anger and relief at the fact that Marie had probably not been abducted but was in fact hiding somewhere as a part of a childish game.

The next hut was empty as well and Anya felt her anger mount with every second, she was already thinking about just what it was she would be telling Marie about such carelessness. She would make sure herself that the girl would never even think about playing hide and seek ever again.

Chapter 223

Marie left from the fire in the company of the three other children. The boy who had motioned her over had volunteered to be the first one to search for the others. She had asked this time if there were any limitations on where they would hide, remembering getting lost in the tower while playing the same game with the nightblood children. She was told that they just did not leave the village, anything else was fine, the more creative, the better.

Marie nodded to the boy with a slight smile on her features.

The girl was complaining to him already that he needed to play fair this time and actually count to the number they had agreed on, so that they even would have a chance at hiding, before he simply chased after them.

Marie watched the exchange with a smirk, it was obvious that the three children knew each other for years and seemed good friends. She felt a flash of sadness wash over herself as fractions of the time she had spent with the nightblood children, Nymo especially, flashed up within her mind, reminding her sharply of the friends she had lost. When memories of years long past began to invade her mind as well, Marie forced herself to focus back on the present and she was startled slightly when she noticed that the other two children had already left to hide.

The boy stood opposite of her; his head titled slightly to the side "You're not gonna hide?" he asked with a mixture of a tease and confusion in his tone.

Marie could not decide on whether to shake her head or nod and a weird in-between gesture was the result instead.

The boy laughed at her antics "I'll give you another minute" he offered good-naturedly, closing his eyes again and even covering them with his hands.

"Thanks" Marie called over her shoulder, already moving away from him quickly. She had no idea why she had just spaced out like that, but she shook the thought about it from her mind, focusing on her task at hand instead.

She looked around the village in a haste, she was not familiar with the outlay of the village, which clearly gave her a disadvantage in comparison to the other children she was playing with. They had all grown up here, so they naturally would know the best places to hide at.

She completely ruled out crossing back the path towards the fire, being relatively sure that hiding there would be way too obvious, her blonde hair was much too obvious for her to blend into the crowd without being noticed. For a moment, she contemplated hiding within the commander's tent, technically it was part of the village currently, but she was fairly certain that hiding there would be unfair. She doubted that the boy searching for her, would even be granted entrance into the commander's tent at all.

So, she focused her attention back to the other buildings of the village, she did not want to hide outside. Now that the sun had already set, it had become even colder and sitting in a place to hide without the possibility to move around, did not sound appealing at all.

The first building she entered did not seem to be actual living quarters but rather some sort of shared communal area. She could easily identify that there was some space reserved for cooking and large tables filled most of the room. She wondered why the warriors had not gathered inside here, the building appeared large enough to hold them all and it would have been much warmer than standing outside by the fire. The large room did not offer much in places to hide for, so she hurried out of it again, entering the next building quickly.

This building obviously was used as living quarters. Marie remained frozen in the entrance for long moments, letting her gaze travel over the unfamiliar room. The building looked nothing at all like the living quarters she had come accustomed with in the tower and even less so compared to the confined small quarters on the Ark. It was obvious that the large wide room was used not just by one family and actually families and not just as practical living space for warriors.

A sound from outside of the building startled Marie and she teared her gaze away from a large bed, covered in what appeared to be a mixture of blankets, who could very well still come from the old world, with some pelts and furs. She thought to spot what could pass as a toy on the bed as well, so she guessed that the whole family was using it to sleep together.

She looked up towards the ceiling and noted that she could relatively easily climb up one of the posts in the room and try to hide on what appeared to have been the remains of a second floor of the building. Marie hoped that the boy would not think to look for her there, she had first considered trying to hide beneath one of the beds, or inside one of the large enough looking chests distributed around the room, but she guessed that to be too obvious hideouts and she would have searched that places first.

She distinctly remembered Ontari grumbling about the fact once that Anya was trying to teach her how to climb trees quickly to hide out of sight as well. The nightblood girl had been of the opinion that hiding from view that way was cowardice and facing an opponent outward was the better choice. After having been in Azgeda herself, she could even slightly understand that way of thinking. Ice Nation lands did not offer many trees to hide in and if there were trees, they mostly did not have any foliage to cover yourself behind, so that you would still be easy to spot. So, hiding above eyesight did simply not appear to be an obvious thought for Ontari. Marie hoped that it would be similar for the boy and offer her an advantage, nulling the fact that he was much more familiar with the village.

Marie stepped closer to the post and she smiled slightly when she spotted a few juts in it on the perfect heights to allow her to pull herself upwards easily enough. She would thank Anya later for all the lessons she had forced on herself concerning climbing and moving around trees. She felt much more comfortable in heights now and she was not feeling clumsy and unsure any more, as she climbed up the post.

She barely had managed to balance herself on the plane next to the post, which was surprisingly unsteady, before the door to the building was pushed open. Marie held her breath, when she spotted the boy entering the building and she smirked when he barely glanced up above his head at all, searching through what she would have considered the more obvious hiding places only, before he exited the building again.

Marie smiled in victory once the door fell shut behind him again, relatively convinced that he would not return too quickly to the building, probably searching through the other ones first. She hoped that she would be able to win the round of hide and seek that way.

As Marie let her eyes trail around herself in interest, taking in the walls of the building and that there appeared to be remnants of old drawing on them, she barely noticed how she became increasingly tired all of a sudden, when the excitement of having to hide in a short amount of time left her system.

Marie shook her head quickly, when her head fell forwards onto her chest, trying to shake off the sudden exhaustion. She could not sleep now, she told herself firmly.

She got onto her hands and knees, crawling slowly over the unsteady material of the floor, trying to keep on the parts where she guessed beams to be underneath as supports. She got more careful when she spotted some holes in the material in front of her, guessing that the second floor was probably not under use anymore, because it had become unstable over time.

Marie stopped crawling after a few moments, when she had the distinct feeling of liquid running from her nose, although it did not feel clogged. She frowned when she looked down and actually spotted a single drop of fresh blood beneath herself. She barely managed to crawl backwards, propping herself up against another steady post, before she fell unconscious all of a sudden.

Anya's mounting anger gave place to a growing sense of panic, when she met with Ontari again. They had searched through all the buildings once now and had failed to locate Marie. There was a possibility that the children of the village might have innocently lured Marie from the fire to play with her, only for someone else taking up the perfect opportunity of the child being alone and unprotected to seize her.

Ontari pursed her lips when the general told her from her brief meeting with the small group of children. She had never been allowed to engage in such idiotic games like hide and seek, being forced into Nia's tutelage from an age of barely being able to raise a sword upwards. She had not spotted any signs of a fight, but that did not have to mean anything, Marie could have been overpowered having been taken by surprise. She guessed that they would need to alert the scouts circling around the village, searching for tracks which had been made in the last hours, exiting the village briskly.

Anya ordered Ontari to search the buildings once again, choosing to quickly detour to the commander's tent, being all too aware of how Lexa would probably be worrying sick over Marie as well at the moment. When she neared the commander's tent, Anya could already make out Lexa standing in the entrance, expression drawn and tense and the flash of panic and disappointment at seeing her return empty-handed was all too obvious as well.

"No sign of her at all?" Lexa asked, voice strangled and green eyes desperate.

Anya shook her head in the negative with a heavy heart "She left the fire willingly. I met three of the villagers' children, they apparently engaged in playing hide and seek together" she proclaimed, tone harsh and impatient.

"Hide and seek?" Lexa echoed with a raised brow, remembering all too well that they had already spent hours searching for Marie in the tower after the same game. But they had been fairly certain back then that Marie was still somewhere in the tower, whereas she now could basically be anywhere at this point.

Anya nodded in mute confirmation, brown eyes glittering angrily "If she left the village, I'll wring her neck myself!"

Lexa narrowed her eyes at the older woman. She was fairly certain that Marie would not have been reckless enough to willingly leave the protected parameter of the village. The girl would be aware of how dangerous it would be for her personally to fall into the wrong hands in this place. Lexa knew that it was reasonable to assume that Nia would have given clear orders to bring anyone in front of her, who could potentially be used against herself. After what the girl had suffered through already at Nia's hands, Lexa would stop at nothing at this point to protect and rescue her daughter.

She had already discarded the armour of her station and she only took up a warm coat again. It would be useless to try and obscure her identity, but she would not remain within their tent, simply waiting until Marie was found and she had to cling onto the believe that they would find the girl unharmed and well.

Anya frowned when Lexa dressed more warmly quickly in front of her. They had agreed beforehand that she needed to remain calm and not be seen as the commander searching for their second. "I will find her, Ontari is still searching for her, I will join back with her now" she tried to reassure her former second.

Lexa shook her head with a decisive expression "No, I will join the search now" she proclaimed in a hard tone.

Although Anya knew that tone well enough, she still tried to dissuade the young leader "Let Gustus and Ryder help in the search, but…".

Lexa did not let her general finish and her green eyes almost burned in their intensity now "They already question the scouts circling around the village" she retorted firmly and determination filled her whole poise "I will not sit back and do nothing, while our daughter is potentially brought back to Nia".

Anya swallowed hard once, while her emotions battled with her rationality. She nodded after a moment of heavy silence between them, she was in no position to order Lexa to stay put, being outranked by her former second and her heart could very well empathise with her need to help search for Marie and her refusal to accept that something might have already happened to the girl. Maybe they should consider not letting the girl leave their immediate sight ever again, they had been searching for her already too many times for comfort.

On their way out of the commander's tent, they encountered Gustus. The burly guard was visibly worried as well, expression drawn and dark eyes nervous. "There are no tracks leading away from the village" he relayed their findings up to now quickly.

Lexa breathed out deeply, nodding her head curtly. Logically that must mean that Marie was still somewhere within the village. If she was hidden and kept somewhere against her will or if she was still hiding as a part of the game with the other children would be revealed once they actually succeeded in locating the child.

If Marie was kept somewhere in the village, they would need someone who knew all the potential hideouts of the village. They could try searching through the village one time more on their own, before she would alert the village elder. She did not want to cause a scene after the happenings of before, but she would not hesitate if they failed to find the girl in the next hour.

"Keep circling the village" she commanded sharply, just in case Marie was kept somewhere against her will and whoever had her was just waiting for the right moment to move the child.

Gustus nodded curtly and he almost tentatively offered "We will find her unharmed" before he turned on his heels and returned to the scouts, coordinating to change the rhythm of their rounds to a more frequent pace, slimming the chances of anyone slipping through their ranks undetected.

Lexa accompanied Anya to the first building she had searched through before, letting her eyes travel carefully over it, trying to look at it through the eyes of a child, looking specifically for small spaces which would allow a hideout for the small body of a child.

She felt her frustration and fear mount tenfold, when they could not locate Marie in the building. They had begun calling out for the girl as well, the atmosphere around the fire was still relatively lively and no attention had yet been drawn to the girl's disappearance.

Anya did not seem to fare any better and anger had returned to her demeanour. Every moment of searching for the girl and not finding anything, was like a slow mental torture and her nerves felt stretched thin, close to snapping already.

Lexa took a deep breath, schooling her features into blankness again and forcing her mind to calm as well. They would achieve nothing by panicking and they still had enough places to search through. She led the general out of the building and into the next one in quick strides.

Anya grumbled "I have searched through that one already, as did Ontari" her jaw locked together tightly, before she ground out in frustration "She is not here!"

Lexa's eyes narrowed at the general in mute warning, looking back around the building in silence instead.

"Marie!" Anya called out loudly "Your game is over, if you do not come out right this instant…!" she thundered.

Lexa rolled her eyes slightly at the older woman's words. She only cared for locating the girl, she could understand that Marie had agreed to play with the other children. But they would need to have another word with the girl about disappearing out of sight without telling anyone.

Marie startled awake all of a sudden and her huddled mind needed long moments to understand just what had woken her so abruptly at all. She felt her heart beat quickly, when she recognized Anya's voice calling out for her, the anger in it was almost palpable. She quickly hurried to stand up, intent on climbing down from the second floor. In her haste, she had forgotten how small the height of the roof was and her head connected painfully with the roof.

The impact of the collision with the hard wood of the roof was so great, that Marie fell to her knees, seeing stars in front of her eyes. A small startled cry escaped her lips, as the roof suddenly gave way under her and the sickening feeling of a fall settled into the pit of her stomach.

Anya whirled around at the cry, identifying Marie's sounds of distress easily and she was standing close enough to catch and gentle Marie's fall only by pure luck. The anger she had felt coursing through her mind only moments ago, dwindled down instantly, when she took a look at Marie.

The girl was pale and blood ran from a slight gash on her forehead, her grey eyes were wide, frightened and she was clearly in shock. She breathed out a deep involuntary sigh of relief of feeling the girl's weight in her arms. She cursed herself a fool in her mind, for not having though to look for places on to which the child could have climbed to hide. She had after all repeatedly tried to point out the importance of such hideouts to Marie during their training. Anya was undecided yet if she should compliment the girl for actually having listened well during their training or simply being angry at her for frightening the both of them like that.

Marie blinked at Anya in speechlessness, she was glad that the woman was holding her, the room was spinning around herself slightly and she was sure that she would fall if she was forced to stand on her own right now.

Lexa stepped closer to Anya and Marie quickly, feeling the tension drain from her chest immediately at seeing the girl alive. Her green eyes worriedly took in the bleeding gash on the girl's forehead and the unhealthy paleness of her complexion. She gently inspected the gash, fortunately it did not appear to be very deep, but a bump was already swelling on the girl's forehead, she must have hit her head hard to cause that. She immediately remembered Abby's cautious words to make sure that the girl would not hit her head again, saying that the bone structure of her head would remain weaker and more fragile.

"Do you know where you are, Marie?" she questioned the girl in a soft tone, waiting until her grey unfocused eyes slowly turned towards her.

Marie nodded her head in mute agreement, groaning when the movement only made her feel sick. She tried to turn from Anya slightly, when she felt the pressing need to vomit.

Anya breathed out a sigh, trying to balance the girl carefully in her arms and she tried to keep her tone soothing "It is alright, little star, we have got you". Her eyes connected with Lexa's minutely and her deep relief was mirrored in them vividly. Her anger resurfaced briefly at the worry through which the girl had put them during the last hours, she opened her mouth to reprimand the girl.

Lexa quickly shook her head, silencing her general before the woman could say anything else, the glint in her brown eyes had easily given away her intentions. There would be time to speak with the girl of the dangers of what she had done later, once the girl was feeling better again. "Let us move back to our tent" she said instead, tone soft but firm "We will speak about this in the morning".

Chapter 224

Marie nodded with another pained grown, borrowing herself slightly against Anya's chest, pressing her lips together firmly, once Anya began to move and the jostlement only made her feel sicker again.

On their way back Lexa instructed Ryder to signal Gustus, Ontari and the scouts still searching for Marie, that the child had been found and to send for Alira quickly. She also proclaimed that they would be retiring for the night, taking care of Marie was her first priority at the moment and the girl clearly needed to rest for the night.

Anya tightened her arms around Marie, trying to keep her as steady and immobile as possible against her chest, sensing that the girl was probably close to retching again and she did not particularly care for being covered in vomit. She would not say anything about it though, the girl was obviously suffering from a head injury and was not doing so purposefully after all, she was only deeply relieved that the child was still alive.

Lexa walked so close to Anya, that she could put a hand lightly on one of Marie's shoulders, feeling the inexplicable need to have a physical connection to the child for the moment. She did not particularly care for the fact that someone might observe her in such an improper situation. Marie was officially her second after all and she was entitled to worry for her wellbeing, it was no one else's business in her mind that the connection between Marie and her was much deeper than she was allowed to broadcast openly.

Marie had difficulties to grasp what had just happened in the last moments. The last clear memory she had in her mind had been of climbing up the post in the building to hide out of view and feeling victorious when the boy left the large room again, after having failed to locate her in the obvious hideouts. She fuzzily remembered looking around the second floor of the building, her interest quipped by the drawings on the wall. But she frowned, when she remembered that she must have bled from her nose again and she could not remember clearly what had happened afterwards. Her head pounded painfully and trying to make sense of her thoughts was only adding to her headache. So, she let herself be slightly soothed by Anya's calming warmth and scent almost encasing her, feeling the woman's strong arms keeping her secure and she distinctly felt Lexa's gentle touch on her shoulder as well.

Marie distinctly wondered just how much time might have passed between her falling unconscious, or she at least assumed that she had, and Anya and Lexa beginning to search for her. A deep sense of guilt settled into her mind at her train of thoughts, she had not intended to make the both of them worry at all and she could only pray that she had not involuntarily caused a scene in front of the other warriors. She was trying so hard to appear to be the perfect second for the commander and her general, she would have just failed again at it, if she indeed had caused a scene.

Marie felt tears clouding her eyes at her own thoughts, hoping almost desperately that her disappearance had not been noticed by anyone beside Lexa and Anya. It was hard enough to know that the two women had had to search for her to begin with.

"I am sorry…" she brought out somehow, almost unintelligible, as the first tear ran down her cheek against her will. Her breathing only got erratic and a real sob escaped past her lips at the fact that she was crying and by thus yet again showing another sign of weakness out in the open like that.

"Hush, Marie" Lexa addressed the girl in a gentle tone, squeezing her shoulder slightly. It was obvious that the girl was already working herself into a state and she feared that the child was confused as well due to the injury to her head. She could distinctly make out blood around the child's nose as well, so Lexa guessed that Marie must have hit her head pretty hard before falling through the unstable floor. They truly had been lucky to have been in the very building at all at the time, Marie would have probably only injured herself, possibly even gravely, if Anya had not stood in that exact same place to catch the girl like that.

At their entrance into the commander's tent Anya immediately carried Marie over to the huge bed, placing the girl down gently on it. She had to pry Marie's fingers from her coat with gentle force, the girl seemed disoriented and confused, still crying pitifully as well.

"Everything is going to be alright, little star" Lexa said, kneeling down at the girl's hand and gently swiping blonde strands of hair from her forehead, where they had begun to clung to the blood still pouring sluggishly from the bleeding gash.

Anya backed off from the bed, when Alira entered the commander's tent, accompanied by one of the healers personally allocated only the commander's personal welfare. She hovered behind the bed, while Lexa only moved her position slightly, holding on to one of Marie's hands the whole time, while the healer tended to the injured girl.

Marie groaned in obvious pain when the man cleaned out the gash on her forehead, trying to twist away from his hands, only to have the whole world begin to spin in front of her eyes again. "I am dizzy…" she whined slightly in protest and her words were slurred noticeably.

Lexa squeezed the girl's hand in mute support, trying to reassure the child again that everything would be fine again later.

Fortunately, it did not take long for the healer to tend to Marie and he backed off from the bed only a few moments later, instructing Alira on which tea to prepare for the girl to help with her apparent dizziness. He would have advised on letting the girl stay on bedrest for a day or two, but with the group of warriors being on the way to catch up with the rest of the army, they could really only hope to alleviate some of the girl's symptoms for the moment.

Alira immediately prepared the asked for tea, making sure to add an extra portion of honey for the girl, knowing all too well how unwilling Marie was to drink their bitter teas without them being sweetened overly much for her sake.

Lexa took over cleaning away the blood from the girl's face gently, dismissing the healer with a light glare when he dared to protest her intentions. She thought that Marie would surely like it better to be taken care off by one of them and not someone who was a stranger to her. Now that the child had been assessed to medically, they could take over the rest there was to do on their own. The child would surely settle much easier and quicker, if Anya and she took care of her.

Anya waited behind Alira, until the handmaid had finished the preparation for the tea, dismissing the woman as well for now.

Marie visibly grimaced when she went over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and Lexa propped the girl up, slipping onto the bed beside the child to keep her upright with her own body. Marie let her head fall back slightly against Lexa's chest, closing her eyes for a moment, hoping that the annoying spinning sensation would fade again from her senses.

"Marie, open your eyes and drink the tea" Anya addressed the girl and annoyance filtered back into her tone quickly, when the child only ignored her words.

"Marie" Lexa said in a gentle tone, letting a hand caress over the girl's back in a gentle gesture "Open your eyes for us, please".

"It only spins then…" Marie retorted, borrowing herself a little firmer against Lexa's body, making herself slightly more comfortable on the bed.

Lexa's gaze softened considerably and her tone was light and caring as she reasoned "The tea will help with that, but you have to drink it first, Marie".

Marie let out a mixture between a groan and a pitiful whine, forcing her eyes open a short moment later again. "It still spins…" she complained, clutching on to Lexa with a little force, hoping that the feeling of her steady body behind herself would also ground her own senses somehow.

Anya brought the mug with the tea towards Marie's mouth slowly, offering it to her directly. She had already blown on the surface of the hot brew, so the temperature should be fine to drink from it immediately.

Marie obediently took a few sips from the mug, being relieved that the tea sounded as sweet as it did. It took her long moments to drain the complete tea and she was internally grateful for Anya for not trying to force her to hurry along at all.

Lexa and Anya waited patiently for Marie to drink the tea and Lexa kept on gently caressing the child's back in a soothing motion, allowing the girl to draw as much comfort from her presence as possible.

Marie still sniffled slightly, when Anya took the now empty mug away. Unfortunately, her head still pounded with a deep ache and if she believed her eyes, Anya was moving around weirdly, although she theoretically knew that the woman was sitting beside her immobile instead.

"I had not meant to get lost" Marie sniffed out, looking at Anya with wide grey eyes, still swimming in tears. Although Anya seemed to have calmed, she could distinctly identify a lingering anger in her brown eyes.

Lexa bandied a look with Anya, hoping to convey to her former mentor to go easy on the girl now. Marie was in no real constitution to be scolded right now and actually learn anything from it. The girl was obviously still in pain and feeling physically sick, tomorrow would be early enough to have a serious word with the child.

Anya sighed under her breath, firmly putting a stopper onto her minutely flaring up anger. Her reasonable side could fathom why Lexa did not wish her to scold Marie at the current moment. "We know" she agreed with the girl, trying to keep her tone calm and kind.

Marie sniffed slightly, trying to get her fuzzy gaze to truly focus onto Anya's features in front of her. She sobbed a little more forcefully, when Anya's features remained somehow blurry in front of her.

"Sshhh" Lexa tried to sooth the girl, feeling that she was only getting agitated again and not calming down at all "You can explain to us in the morning, what has happened" she assured the girl softly.

Anya took the girl's hands into her own, gently letting her finger glide over the girl's knuckles. "You are safe now, little star, that is all that matters for the moment" she said honestly.

Lexa glanced up from Marie curtly, when she heard the tent flaps being opened and falling close again only a moment later. The harsh comment burning on the tip of her tongue died, when she realized that it had only been Ontari entering the tent without allowance.

Ontari had been told by Ryder only a few moments ago that Marie had been found and that a healer was taking care of the younger girl now. She had felt relieved unbelievably at the news, but the fact that a healer was required did not let all of her worries die just yet. She breathed out a deep breath, which had been held in far too long, feeling the tension drain from her frame immediately at seeing Marie alive. It was obvious that the younger girl had somehow suffered a head injury, but Ontari wondered just how she had managed that, nowhere had been any signs of a physical fight.

"What has happened?" Ontari asked almost hesitantly, as she stepped closer to the bed. She felt that Marie would not have gotten hurt at all, if she had just kept a closer eye on the younger girl at the fire before.

Lexa shook her head at the nightblood girl, when Marie tried to sit up a little straighter with the clear attempt to justify herself now "Hush, Marie" she silenced the blonde girl in a gentle firm tone, pulling her back against herself. She lowly hummed the melody of the old lullaby under her breath, knowing that this was one of the only things which usually never failed at calming down Marie, if all else failed.

Marie blinked a few times, against her will she felt calmness settled in her mind just a few moments later already. She wanted to explain to Lexa and Anya that she had not wanted to cause them to worry, how she had simply wanted to play with the other children, but her head was also still pounding painfully in sync with her heartbeat and Lexa's low voice soon lulled her to sleep.

Lexa kept on holding Marie for way longer than it had taken the girl to drift off, her body had noticeably relaxed within her arms, but she wanted to be absolutely certain that the girl would not wake immediately, once she moved.

Anya stood from the bed as soon as Marie's breathing had evened out, Ontari was still hovering in her periphery uncertainly.

"I deeply regret, that I have not kept closer watch over her…" the nightblood girl excused her failure immediately, once the general stood facing her and her dark eyes were honest and filled with clear compassion for the younger girl.

Anya shook her head, taking a deep breath. She would not blame Ontari for not watching over Marie, she had failed to order the nightblood girl to do so in the first place and neither she, nor Lexa had payed any more attention to Marie. So, it was very well all of their faults combined, just as Marie's fault for not alerting someone to her plans.

It had turned very late into the night by now and they only a few hours of sleep available now, before they were required to rise again. "I do not place the blame with you, Ontari" she assured her older charge with conviction in her tone "It is late already, rest for the night. The sun will rise in only a few short hours".

Ontari nodded with the hint of a tight-lipped smile. An additional bedroll had already been provided for her, so without further ado, she began stripping out of her own armour. Now that she was able to move her previously injured shoulder again, she did not need any assistance any longer. Her shoulder hurt slightly, but the ache was bearable and it would be completely gone in a few days.

Anya watched for a moment how Ontari got ready to retire, making sure that the girl truly did not need any help from her again. She turned back towards the big bed as well, already shrugging out of her own armour.

Lexa carefully manoeuvred out behind Marie, placing the girl down on the mattress softly, without waking her up. She quickly disrobed as well, opting to sleep in her trousers and her undershirt, leaving the braids in place as well for now.

They got ready to join Marie in silence and Lexa remained standing for a moment in front of the bed, mutely observing the sleeping child. When she felt Anya's presence beside herself, she looked over at her former mentor. It was obvious that Anya still held onto her anger at Marie's irresponsible actions. "She is alive, that is all that matters right now" Lexa repeated in a low tone.

Anya snorted slightly under her breath and crossed her arms over her chest "These moments will only keep on repeating themselves if she does not learn to identify the danger of certain situations. She is too trusting still. She has probably not even realized how danger leaving the fire like that was".

Lexa nodded with a deep sigh; she could only agree with her general's assessment. The girl's trust in adult strangers had noticeably decreased, but she had obviously not thought about the fact that the children of the village could have been working with someone loyal to Nia as well. "She will learn" Lexa assured the older woman with conviction in her tone. The both of them would certainly make sure of that.

The night had passed peacefully for all of them. Lexa and Anya both had lain close to Marie, needing to make sure that the child was indeed with them and breathing still. Whatever had been in the tea from the healer, had worked excellently in knocking out the child for the complete night.

Because Marie had healed both of them only a few hours ago, neither Lexa nor Anya had felt particularly tired. Lexa had spent most of the night in deep mediation, only napping scarcely. While Anya had kept watch over both of them and she had continually lightly caressed over one of the girl's arms, only drifting off shortly before the sun began to ascend.

Marie woke up with a slight sigh, which quickly turned into a groan. She had hoped that her headache would have vanished over the course of the night, but she immediately had to realize that this wish had not been granted. Her head pounded still and opening her eyes felt much more strenuous than it should have.

Lexa was awoken fully immediately by the slight pained sound coming from Marie and she turned onto her side, facing the girl fully. Her eyes worriedly flitted over the girl's face, being almost afraid for the flash of a second to find the girl's blonde hair tinted red once again by blood. Fortunately, she could not spot any additional blood on the girl's hair or face, but she was obviously still suffering from a strong headache. The bump which had swollen on her forehead did appear rather big.

"What happened?" Marie asked against the pounding her head, once she looked at Lexa and found the commander awake again.

"You don't remember?" Lexa retorted; voice pitched an octave higher. The girl had not seemed to suffer from memory loss last night.

Marie frowned for a moment, waiting for her mind to get fully awake as well, but it remained a little muddled still. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear it further, but the motion only increased the pain radiating through her skull. She gingerly touched the bump on her forehead "Ouch…" she let out involuntarily, clenching her teeth together against the intensified pain.

"I will prepare another tea" Lexa said, swallowing forcefully. Her heart raced within her chest almost painfully, she could not imagine how dealing with the girl during a war with another bout of memory loss would turn out.

"Mommy…" Marie said, trying slowly to sit up. Her memories of the last evening had returned to her slowly and with it the deep sense of guilt.

Lexa whirled around quickly at the girl's single word, feeling the weight lift from her heart immediately. If the girl remembered their deep connection, she could not have forgotten much, if anything at all. It was possible that her head injury just impaired the speed of her thoughts. She stepped closer to the bed again, sitting down beside the girl. "It is alright, Marie" she assured the girl in a gentle tone, caressing her cheek softly "Your pain will fade in a few days".

Marie nodded slightly, but her expression was still deeply mirrored by guilt "I am sorry…" she tried to apologize as tears already gathered in her eyes.

"Ssshhh, little start" Lexa hushed the girl, wiping under her grey eyes gently "There is no need to cry".

Marie sniffed slightly, trying to stop herself from fully bursting into tears. Lexa did not appear to be angry with her outwardly, if anything the woman was looking at her with the hint of worry in her green eyes. "I had not wanted to worry any of you" she tried to justify herself again, remembering now that she had not been able to do so last night.

Before Lexa could say anything to it, Anya stretched slightly, sitting up as well. The general's brown eyes immediately searched for Marie and relieved was palpable in them at spotting the girl sitting upright.

The clear guilt in Marie's grey eyes, stopped Anya's already prepared scolding from being articulated out loud.

"I am sorry, Mama, for worrying you" Marie said honestly, her lower lip trembled suspiciously and Lexa put a hand onto the girl's lower back reassuringly.

Anya sighed under her breath "Don't you dare ever playing hide and seek again, without telling us beforehand" she proclaimed in a strict tone. The love and relief gentling her brown eyes belied her firm tone somewhat.

Marie winced slightly, before she nodded her head fervently, groaning immediately at the intensifying pain in her head.

Anya reached out quickly, steadying the girl's head "Stop moving around" she admonished the girl in a low tone, suspecting that too loud sounds would surely only add to her pain as well.

Marie gave her the pitiful resemblance of a smile, she gnawed at her lower lip for long moments, before she finally breathed out the question almost burning on her tongue "Did I cause another scene?" her shoulders already dropped in disappointment at herself.

Anya shook her head in denial "You have not, no" she reassured the girl vehemently. They had been fortunate enough that the other generals and warriors had not noticed that anything had been amiss at all.

Marie breathed out a sigh of relieve "I am sorry" she repeated and she twisted around slightly, wanting to be able to look at Lexa "I had not wanted to disapp…"

Lexa hushed the girl before she could finish her apology "You have not disappointed me, Marie" she reassured her "You could not".

Marie nodded, although her expression looked less than convinced. She would try even harder from now on. She frowned slightly once Lexa's last words registered in her mind. "Why not?" she questioned as her brows knitted together "I have not behaved like the commander's sec…".

Lexa interrupted the girl again, as she let an arm snake around the girl's body and she gently swiped a blonde lock behind the child's ear "You will never be only the commander's second to me, little star, you are our daughter now, Marie. You have done something which has placed yourself in grave danger" she said and her green eyes stared intently at the young girl "You will learn with time to identify these situations and use your head before heading into danger without further thought. But we love you deeply, you cannot disappoint us by making a wrong decision".

Marie's smile turned watery all of a sudden and she sobbed under her breath, overwhelmed with the whirlwind of feelings coursing through her mind currently. She looked between Anya and Lexa with wide eyes, trying to swallow down the lump in her throat. "Love you…" she whispered to the both of them likewise, she was torn between who to envelope first and with a slight smile Anya slipped closer to the girl, so that Lexa and she both could hug the girl simultaneously.

"Love you, too, little star" Anya said, voice thick with emotion, bending down and pressing a kiss to the girl's hairline, careful not to come close to the bump on her forehead, while Lexa tightened her arm around Marie mutely.

Chapter 225

Although Marie's obvious discomfort worried Lexa and Anya likewise, they were both aware that they needed to leave the village and continue their way to catch up with the rest of the army.

Lexa had tried to calculate as much reserves for the army as possible, taking into account that there was no guarantee that the war would be over only a few days, but she knew that already causing a delay now, way before they had even reached Nia's fortress was not wise at all and she could only hope that Marie was fit enough to ride. It would probably be advisable to have the girl share a horse with Anya, in case she lost consciousness, falling again would surely only worsen her condition.

They had stayed in their embrace for long silent moments, until Anya heard sounds of Ontari waking up as well and the general separated from Lexa and Marie, backing off from the bed completely. She strode to the entrance of the tent, quickly ordering for a light breakfast to be brought to the commander's tent for all of them.

Ontari grimaced visibly, once she sat up fully under her furs. The day spent in the saddle had put more strain on her body, than she had thought possible and she painfully felt all the days now that she had been forced from training because of her injury. Her shoulder actually felt slightly better already and all sensations of pain would fade soon completely.

Lexa tightened her arms around Marie slightly, caressing over her soft hair for a moment, before she slowly loosened their embrace as well. She smiled down at the girl with a gentle expression, placing a kiss onto her forehead, careful not to touch the visible bump at all.

The corners of Marie's lips tilted up in a bright smile and her grey eyes shone up at Lexa. She still acutely felt the strong pounding pain radiate through her head, but she was only concentrating on Lexa for the moment. "Can I have the tea now?" she asked after another moment and a slight whine filtered into her tone.

Lexa smirked softly at her "Of course" she answered, squeezing the child's shoulders once, before she stood up from the bed. The preparation of the tea did not take long at all and only moments later, Lexa stepped back towards the bed, offering the streaming cup to Marie with the orders to wait for a few minutes before she actually drank it.

Marie settled back against the pillows slightly, turning the cup between her fingers. She watched mutely how Anya redressed into her armour, checked her hair quickly and applied some war paint to her features.

Lexa began readying herself for the long day ahead as well. She had barely finished putting on her shoulder pauldron and red sash, before Alira delivered breakfast.

Ontari visibly needed a bit longer to dress this morning, her movements were stiff and slow and it was obvious that it was causing her some discomfort. Internally she was grumbling over the fact how easily Marie had gotten off, the commander and general seemed to think that Marie's head wound was enough punishment already for her actions the night before. She knew all too well that she would have been black and blue for days if she had pulled such a stunt with Nia, not that she would have ever seriously considered something as foolish and childish anyway. She highly doubted that Marie would think twice about making the same decision again if presented with a similar choice in the future. She was not convinced that the younger girl was even aware of the grave danger she had so foolishly put herself into. She did not doubt that Marie had a heavy conscience for worrying the two Trikru women, her remorse over it had been honest enough to believe it. It bugged her somehow that Marie seemed additionally only worried about having caused a scene in front of the other warriors, reflecting badly onto her position as the commander's second. If she had to watch over Marie again, the younger girl would not slip away ever again, she would make sure of that.

Lexa and Anya began eating breakfast quickly, they still had to meet with the other generals and Lexa had to speak with the village elder again before they could leave the village.

Marie's lips visibly turned downwards when the two women proclaimed the need to leave for some time, but Ontari readily agreed to stay behind and watch over Marie. The younger girl had just finished her tea and was waiting for it to take effect, before she could even contemplate eating something herself.

Marie frowned slightly when she noticed Ontari's visibly darkened mood. After a few tense moments of silence, she asked tentatively "Are you alright?" grey eyes compassionate and innocent, worried slightly that something might be wrong with the older girl.

Ontari narrowed her dark eyes at Marie. To her it seemed as if the blonde girl had not even contemplated the possibility that she could have worried for her as well and for some reason this fact angered her immensely at the moment.

Marie's frown deepened at the nightblood girl's darkened expression. "Are you angry with me?" she asked after another few moments of silence, the tension so thick that it could have been cut with a knife.

"Of course" Ontari ground out her confirmation through clenched teeth.

Marie's brows knitted together in confusion and she tilted her head to the side slightly "Why?" she breathed out lowly. It was obvious that Ontari was really angry and the older girl had not looked at her with such coldness in her dark eyes for a really long time.

Ontari huffed in frustration "Can't you think of a single reason?!" she exclaimed in mounting exasperation.

Marie blinked at the older girl. She was confused at the moment. It was obvious that she had somehow hurt the older girl, but she could not think of a reason for that right now. All she knew was that she had angered one of her only friends and she did not like the heavy feeling that caused at all. Before she knew it, tears misted over her eyes. "I am sorry..." she offered remorsefully as her breathing began to get uneven.

Ontari huffed again, feeling a definite flash of guilt at bringing the younger girl close to tears. She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, breathing out a deep breath, trying to calm her mind. If Lexa and Anya had not thought it necessary to really reprimand the child, it probably was not her place to do so anyway. She still could not ban her frustration completely from her thoughts. After another moment of Marie visibly shrinking on the bed, Ontari sat down on the edge of the bed. "You left the fire while standing next to me, without saying a single word" she tried to explain herself in a carefully measured tone.

Marie frowned slightly, remembering clearly that the older girl had not payed her any attention at all. "You were busy" she defended herself with a little pout on her lips "I had just wanted to play with them" she added after a second.

Ontari rolled her eyes at the younger girl "Have you considered for a single second just how dangerous leaving the fire unattended was? No one would have even known to look for you if you had been abducted again!" her voice rose with each word.

Marie winced visibly at the raised voice "But I just played with the other children..."

Ontari narrowed her eyes again "Just because they were children does not mean that they could not have worked for Nia. Or someone else might have just waited for you to be on your own for a moment" her gaze was dark and angry as she stared the younger girl down.

Marie shrank further into the furs, as Ontari continued to rant.

"You have not even thought of the possibility of something happening to you. You left the protection willingly, without thought. You don't have any idea on how I would have felt if something ..." Ontari accused the younger girl.

Lexa returned to exactly that scene, hearing Ontari's last words only and seeing Marie already crying pathetically on the bed. She had to agree with the nightblood girl to a certain degree. Marie needed to learn to identify the danger of certain situations, her remorse would not help anyone if she was severely injured or worse yet even killed because making a foolish decision. But she also knew that being too hard on the child now, would not yield to anything. Marie needed to know that it was alright to make an error, but that she simply had to try to think ahead of the consequences of her decisions. She felt a definite surge of irritation towards Ontari for upsetting Marie in such a fashion, but Anya had only been less hard on their daughter because of her own insistence.

"That is enough for now, Ontari" she interrupted the nightblood girl's rant, voice tinted with a little force.

Ontario looked over to the commander quickly, not having realized that they were not alone in the tent any longer. Surprise flashed through her dark eyes, followed by a flash of reluctance to let the matter drop and finally resignation settled onto her features.

Lexa inclined her head towards the younger nightblood girl, mutely signalling her that she was not taking offence from what she had heard. It might even be possible that Marie would be more inclined to listen to reason from a friend than who she considered her mother figures. She moved over to the bed in fast strides, Ontari hastily stood up, making room for her.

"Are you angry with me as well?" Marie asked in a pitiful tone and her lower lip trembled visibly again.

Ontari sighed under her breath at the younger girl's overly dramatic antics.

Lexa shook her head with a slightly forced smile, as she sat down on the edge of the bed, hand reaching out to lightly trace the side of the child's face. "We are not angry with you, Marie, but Ontari is correct in her assessment that you put yourself willingly into unnecessary danger. We cannot protect you from harm when you continue making foolish decisions like that."

Marie pouted lightly at Lexa's words, looking up at her with an apologetic expression in her wide grey eyes, but she immediately leaned into the light caress.

"You will learn with time to use your head first" Lexa reassured the child "You have frightened all of us last night, but you are alive. Unfortunately, I cannot stop the march for you, Marie".

Marie nodded in acceptance; she had not expected such anyway. She only hoped that she would not immediately get dizzy again by the swaying motion of the horse moving under her once they resumed their journey. "I am sorry..." she offered sincerely, likewise directed to both of them.

Lexa gave the child a slight smile "Have you eaten yet?" she asked when her eyes fell on the seemingly untouched plate sitting next to Marie on the furs.

Marie shook her head in denial mutely, she was not feeling particularly hungry at all, being a little worried that she would not be able to stomach anything at all. Her whole body felt slightly off still.

Lexa gave the girl a pointed look, shoving the plate closer to her "Eat something" she ordered in a firm tone "We will leave soon and we will not reach the next stop until late in the day, possibly only after sunset."

Marie nodded with a slight grimace, inspecting the plate more closely and searching for something which picked her interest, half-heartedly she began to nibble on a piece of cheese.

"Eat, Marie" Lexa repeated, glancing pointedly at the girl, before she looked over at Ontari. It was obvious that the nightblood girl felt uncomfortable in the whole situation by the tenseness lingering in her poise. "You can watch over her until the tent will be dismantled" she directly addressed Ontari.

Ontari nodded in mute agreement "She will not get lost again under my watch" she proclaimed with determination.

"I would assume nothing less" Lexa agreed, amusement shortly dancing through her green eyes. It deepened to a slight smirk, when Mari scowled darkly at the both of them.

The time until the tent was to be dismantled passed mostly in silence after Lexa had left again. Marie was still scowling slightly and obviously not in a chatty mood for now, eating her breakfast mutely.

When the guards entered the commander's tent, beginning to pack everything up, Ontari quickly assisted Marie in dressing herself for the day. It was obvious that the blonde girl was experiencing some feelings of imbalance and Ontari hovered close to her the whole time, intent on catching her before she could fall down completely.

Marie did not argue at all, when Anya stepped closer to her, proclaiming that she would be riding with her for now. Internally, she was relieved, the world still seemed a little woozy around the edges of her vision. She felt her stomach clench and churn strongly, when Anya boosted her up onto her hazelnut steed in one quick motion and she gladly let herself relax backwards against Anya's steady frame.

"Sleep, if you wish" Anya offered in a low tone, tightening her arm around the girl's midriff, pulling her firmer against her own body. They had only begun their journey for the day and to her it appeared as if Marie already had problems with keeping her head up, as it continued to lightly fall forward.

Marie nodded mutely, wiggling a little, until she had felt a really comfortable position. It had gotten noticeably colder in comparison to the temperature that she remembered from Polis and Anya's warmth was more than welcome now.

Lexa kept an eye on the child from the corner of her eyes, riding directly next to Anya, Gustus on her own other side and Ontari riding on Anya's other side. She was really hoping almost desperately that Marie would hold on during their journey. Internally, Lexa was raking her mind for a valid reason to halt the march of the group for a day or two, if Marie's condition would decrease suddenly. But she was unsuccessful with coming up with something reasonable and the rational part of her mind screamed loudly that she was a fool for even contemplating such things.

As the group had left the village it had been rather obvious to all grounders that the Skykru travelling with them were already feeling the effects of having to ride for hours without pause, being mostly unfamiliar with the strain it put on the body. Lexa wondered if the generations their ancestors had spent in space, were now hindering them too truly adapt to their way of living and a small sliver of doubt settled in her mind that it was even possible for them to adapt at all.

The Skykru ambassador Monty had given her a report a few days before leaving Polis on the progress of Arkadia. It seemed that a few of the younger members of Skykru were truly beginning to mingle with Trikru now. Apparently, Octavia and Lincoln bonding to each other had only been the beginning and the report had stated clearly that already fifteen of the younger generation of Skykru had already moved from Arkadia to TonDC mostly. The higher portion of them seemed to have left their people for love, choosing to move to Trikru to be together with their love interest. Others had found firsts to teach them in the ways of the warriors or even apprenticed to other professions. The report had been worded by Abby and her dislike of the development was more than apparent between the lines. Lexa was well aware of the budding romance between Kitara and Monty as well.

She would not prohibit people from Trikru or even other clans to choose to live with Skykru, but she regarded the chances of such an event happening still rather low. Lexa wondered if there might come a time where Skykru would more or less merge together with Trikru, the two clans were already beginning to intermingle. She had heard from Indra that Octavia was not part of the army marching towards the north, simply because the young Skykru woman was expecting a child with Lincoln. It would be the first child born between both clans and its birth would surely be remembered.

Skykru were so small in their numbers that Lexa did not think it necessary for the clan to truly remain an actual clan. But she highly doubted that Skykru would think positive of such a suggestion. She would need to grant them more time to try to establish a place for them in the world.

As the commander Lexa was well aware of just how distrustful the other clans were of the technologies Skykru still could wield and by thus the knowledge the small alien clan had, which had been lost to them a long time ago now. She was convinced that the clans would be open to use such technologies as well if the clans could be convinced of their superiority. But such thoughts could still be considered after the war.

Marie had dozed off quickly into their journey for the day and woke up an undefined time later, head pounding and feeling distinctly disoriented. She squirmed in Anya's arms, confused what was wound around her at all, as her woozy mind was unable to grasp what was going on.

"Sshhh" Anya hushed into the girl's ear, tightening her arm further around the girl's body "You are safe" she reassured the child in a soft tone.

Marie blinked a few times, before she tilted her head upwards, glancing at Anya for long moments in silence, before she asked "How long have I slept?" a light frown settled onto her features. The sky was weirdly grey and she could not spot the direct sun above them.

"It is long past midday already" Anya easily answered. They had encountered distinct tracks of the army ahead of them around an hour ago and although the tracks had not been very fresh, as most of the warriors of the army were travelling by foot, she estimated that they definitely would catch up with them before nightfall.

Marie's frown deepened and she found it hard to believe that she should have slept away most of the day already. From the weird feeling in her body she would have assumed that she had barely slept for more than an hour at most.

Her frown disappeared all of a sudden and her grey eyes widened when she spotted something in the air "Are that snowflakes?" she asked as clear excitement filtered into her tone.

Anya snorted under her breath at the girl's rising enthusiasm, she had thought that Marie would have been cured of her fascination for snow by now. "Obviously" she commented drily, brown eyes staring ahead of them. To her, snow meant that it would get even colder now, making travelling even more strenuous and dangerous, but at the same time also that they were slowly nearing their destination. Anya felt a dark thirst for revenge settle into her mind at the thought of finally coming face to face with Nia again. Absentmindedly Anya enveloped her daughter even firmer, she would not let Nia touch a single hair on Marie's head ever again and she would take great personal pleasure in taking vengeance for the child. Anya almost hoped that she would get presented with the opportunity to face Nia alone, she was positive that she would not even be needing a weapon to tear the vile woman apart, her pure hate and encompassing anger at what the woman had done to the girl, would be enough.

Anya minutely glanced over at her previous second on her left and although Lexa's features were blank and calm, she was sure that the commander would readily agree to her train of thoughts. Lexa had even more personal reason to want to finally see Nia die and the brunette would have waited long years for her revenge on Costia's behalf. She also did not doubt for a second that Ontari would willingly help in taking out her previous tormentor.

The light giggle falling from Marie's lips as her eyes followed the snowflakes and she began to try to catch one with her hands out of the air, instantly quitted Anya's dark thoughts for now and although she felt the need for revenge linger in her veins, almost like a dark beast only waiting to be unleashed, the child's pure joy at something so innocent at freshly falling snow, warmed her heart again and she watched the girl's antics with a mute smile. From the corner of her eyes, Anya sensed Lexa watching the scene as well. Marie was definitely not behaving in the proper way for being their second, but they obviously both did not have it in their hearts to scold the girl now. The moments of Marie being carefree and so obviously fascinated had become scarce since her return to Polis and Anya treasured every single one of them greatly.

A smirk pulled at her lips, as she had to tighten her arms around Marie to keep the girl in front of her in the saddle, as her movements increased, stretching slightly towards the snowflakes which slowly became denser around them. It seemed as if they were travelling in the direction of an ongoing snowstorm, so Anya would let Marie enjoy the small peaceful moments for now.

Chapter 226

Like Anya had already predicted, Marie's exuberant antics quitted noticeably after some time. The few snowflakes which had beautifully danced around them when the girl had woken, had gotten heavier and a strong wind was now blowing the snow, which had turned more into harsh pieces of ice, hard into their direction, making it hard to keep the eyes open against the icy wind.

Marie burrowed back more firmly against Anya, trying to cower away as much as possible from the ice raining down on them relentlessly.

It did not seem as if the horses were perturbed by the changed weather condition at all, trotting forwards obediently in a never changing fast pace. The warriors on foot ahead of them who constituted the rest of the army would have been slowed down even more by the snow storm, so they would catch up very soon now.

"How far away is the queen's fortress?" Marie asked, almost too low against the howling wind for Anya to catch.

The general noted on the unmistakable fear within her charge's tone with a slight frown.

Her mind shortly flashed back to the meeting they had arranged between Roan and Marie, only a few days prior to leaving Polis. Although Marie had been sure that she had wanted to meet with Roan again, she had been shaking with fear then, clinging to Anya's hands strongly.

Lexa had spoken with the prince of Azgeda beforehand, telling him plainly on how to act around Marie as she had not truly been convinced that agreeing to this meeting had been a good idea. The girl had been moody at best and mentally fragile at worse and she had honestly feared yet another breakdown to occur. Although the prince and his mother did not share much of a physical resemblance, their eyes were absolutely identical and would surely be enough to remember Marie of her tormentor.

Although Roan had seen the girl in a few meetings already, sitting beside the general, he had not spoke a single word with the child in private since her return to the capitol. The physical changes in the child had been painfully obvious and he had assumed that the girl's change of behaviour might have been because she was truly growing into the role of the commander's second. But as he had been faced with the frightened girl in their private meeting, it was apparent that the child's calm and proud demeanour during the meetings had been nothing more than a façade. His mother had obviously hurt the girl far worse than what he had assumed. He had heard some rumours of course and he had found the idea absurd that the child could have returned to the capitol to assassinate the commander. The sweet child he had come to know months ago, would not even have contemplated such an act. But he knew how well versed his mother was in torture method and psychologically breaking a stubborn prisoner. He would not have guessed that someone would put a mere child through such extreme measures, but the way the child's grey eyes had widened in almost palpable horror when their eyes connected was enough testament that even the wildest rumours which had circulated around had not even come close to the truth. He had tried to get the child to speak to him, trying to sooth her with softly spoken words, but his words had been wasted on Marie and it did not seem as if they had even truly registered in the girl's panicked mind.

The girl had held herself stiffly through the whole meeting, not saying a single word. The rational part of her mind knew that Roan was not the queen herself and the man had never hurt her. She remembered how they had trained on the ice together and how she had spent the night with the prince without even knowing who the man truly was. Marie had felt safe with him then, but she had not been able to shake off the almost paralyzing fear rooting her to her spot during the meeting.

Marie felt a sliver of the same fear coursing through her mind now, she was keenly aware of the fact that every step of the horse was carrying her a little further towards having to face the queen again. A part of her wished to turn to Lexa and beg the woman to make them stop and turn back. She was afraid of what was going to transpire at the queen's fortress.

When Anya failed to give her an answer after several long moments, Marie repeated her question just a little louder again.

Anya shook of the memory of their meeting and focused her attention back on the presence. "Not more than another day of travel" she assessed truthfully. Once they had caught up with the army, Lexa would surely soon call to make camp for the night and according to Ontari the fortress in which the queen was most probably residing now, would be reachable on the end of the next day.

They could not know for sure how their welcome would look like there. It could range from the queen's army awaiting them, with the fortresses' defences raised for a long siege, up to finding only a rather small number of Azgeda warriors. The queen had sawn rumours of being in another fortress altogether, but Lexa's spies had all belied the rumours before the army had left Polis. Ontari had also confirmed that the queen rarely remained in her actual fortress at times of war, preferring a smaller fortress which had thicker walls, many hidden corridors and was all in all easier to defend.

Marie swallowed forcefully, feeling Anya's arms settle firmer around her yet again. She tried to relax again, focusing on the woman's warmth and scent surrounding her. She glanced over at Lexa, feeling the weight of the woman's gaze resting on herself heavily for a few moments. She tried to muster a smile, but she felt herself that it was not really convincing. She tried to cover the grimace from rising onto her features, the tea which Lexa had prepared for her had all but lost its effects by now and her head was yet again pounding strongly.

"Is the pain bearable?" Lexa leaned over towards Anya and the child slightly. Gustus and Ryder were the only ones riding close enough to hear her words anyway.

Marie winced slightly, she guessed that it depended on the definition of bearable. But she was fairly certain that neither Lexa nor Anya would have said anything about any kind of pain if they had been in her situation, so she nodded in mute agreement to the commander's question.

Lexa frowned a little, sensing that Marie was not being exactly truthful in her answer. She did not like being lied to in such a fashion, but she was fairly certain that Marie was just trying to appear strong for the sake of her position. She motioned Gustus closer, ordering the burly guard to seek out a healer, asking for something to take off the edge of the child's pain. She could not stop the group for the girl's sake as she was still able to remain in the saddle with Anya's help, but she could still try to get the child as comfortable as possible in their situation.

Marie tilted her head to the side slightly when Gustus closed up to the general's hazelnut horse short moments later and offered a small bundle of herbs to her. She distinctly remembered having been given some yellow flowers against pain before, so she did not question on what to do with the herbs now, but rather took them without hesitation and gingerly began to chew on them. She grimaced immediately at the immensely bitter taste invading her sense. "Why does all of this stuff have to taste so vile?" she exclaimed with a protesting frown.

Anya rolled her eyes at the girl's grouchiness, choosing not to make any comment at all.

A light smile ghosted around the corners of Lexa's lips as she watched Marie's antics with amusement. She sobered quickly again, once her ears picked up on the faint sounds of the army ahead of them, slowly drowning over the sound of the howling wind.

Marie ceased her grumbling as well when she noticed how Lexa and Anya both seemed tenser, spurring their horses on to move just a little quicker still. It took her much longer to pick up the sounds of the army ahead of them and when she did, she frowned, wondering just how many warriors were walking in front of them. Even against the wind, the sounds were not loud and clear, although she could not make out any physical signs of them just yet, but she could also hear the steady beat of various war drums setting the pace for the army. It suddenly felt as if the whole ground might be vibrating ahead of them, jostled by the force of numerous feet moving at the same pace and goose bumps raised the hair on her arms and neck, sending a shiver through her frame.

When Marie glanced over at Ontari, who had been riding beside them in absolute silence, she was slightly taken aback by the grimness of the older girl's features and although her dark eyes stared ahead of them, Marie thought that they were filled with an almost bitter determination.

She let her gaze shortly travel over the other members of the group who she could see without having to twist around too much in the saddle. Anya was already wearing a disparaging expression, but had not yet reprimanded her to remain still.

Marie could see the same tenseness and almost excited anticipation in most of the generals riding with them, only the other members of Skykru appeared a little out of place. They obviously suffered the most from the bitter cold and exhaustion was already visible on their features. Raven and Clarke were banding nervous looks once the sounds of the war drums could not be ignored any longer and Marie felt a little better seeing proof of the fact that she was not the only one not truly looking forward to the battle which would come.

Once the rearguard of the army came into view on the horizon, Lexa spurred her steed onwards even quicker.

The army immediately seemed to part in the middle and Marie had a strange thought in her mind. She remembered that she had heard that Moses had divided the sea and it somehow appeared as if the army parting for their commander, was the sea now. She minutely wondered how all the warriors were even suddenly aware of their presence, she had not been able to detect a single one of them turning to look behind themselves.

It took her a moment to realize that some of the war drums were having a different rhythm now and one of the many lessons she had had with Anya came back to her mind. The war drums and their distinct patterns were used easily to carry signals through the whole army without them having to be shouted out loud. Most of the patterns and their meanings had slipped her mind unfortunately, but she was fairly certain that the war drums must have already broadcasted the commander's arrival.

Her grey eyes widened distinctly, when they had reached approximately half of the army, now being sandwiched by the large force of warriors. When she glanced behind them, she could barely make out the end of the army and neither could she truly identify where the very first line of warriors was walking far ahead of them. It would probably be utterly impossible for her to try to count all of the warriors, but she had severely misjudged the size of the army. Marie had naively thought that the whole army of the coalition had marched on the Mountain in the past, but seeing the sheer size of the army now, that never could have been true. This army was easily built up out of at least thrice that many warriors. She wondered why Lexa had not gathered the full force of the coalition against the Mountain. She would remember to question her on it at one point.

She understood now why Lexa had emphasized the fact that every single hour of delay for the army would increase their need for supplies already. Marie had great difficulties to even try to picture just how much food the whole army would consume at a single meal, let alone a travel of several days. She guessed that at least water would not become a problem. The terrain they were moving over now, was already covered in a relatively thick layer of snow. The memory of herself wandering through the snow in her instinctual attempt to flee from Ontari, only to return and try to keep the nightblood girl alive, melting snow for them to drink as well, flashed up in front of her eyes minutely.

Marie glanced over at Ontari in silence. She was not really sure how many months ago the two of them had met. She knew that the circumstances had been less than ideal, but she was glad to have the older nightblood girl as a friend now. Ontari's behaviour and mindset had changed completely since their first meeting and Marie could only hope that she would be able to change back to her old self with more time as well.

The nightblood girl shortly caught her gaze, now that they were travelling with the army together, the pace was reduced considerably, giving Ontari the opportunity to let her guard down and her gaze wander a little as well. Ontari gave her a fleeting smile, dark eyes flashing with worry minutely for the younger girl's health and Marie tried to convey with her eyes that she was faring all right. She highly doubted that she would have been able to ride for that long on her own, as she still felt that the world was moving and even spinning at times weirdly in front of her eyes, but Anya was easily keeping her securely up in the saddle.

Marie did not know for how long they would continue to ride. A number of scouts had already made a detour to the commander, quickly relaying what they had found ahead. From what she had been able to understand, the army had already encountered a number of Ice Nation warriors. Marie was fairly certain that these warriors would have easily been dealt with and killed without the need to actually hear that articulated in words.

The storm seemed to slowly calm around themselves and Lexa gave the order to signal to the army that they would make camp for the night. It was useless to try to continue and search for a place which would allow easier cover. The terrain of Azgeda often only offered open planes and there were absolutely no trees in sight any longer either.

Marie breathed out a quiet sigh of relief when Anya pulled on the reigns and the hazelnut horse ceased moving immediately. Although the bitter herbs had clearly achieved some relieve and taken away the edge of the pounding in her skull, Marie's legs felt almost numb from a combination of the harsh unrelenting cold wind and the uncomfortable position for hours without end. Her stomach had also begun to audibly proclaim its hunger some time ago and she would definitely eat more now than she had had at breakfast.

Anya almost automatically steadied the girl after she had dismounted and helped her from her steed. Marie appeared a little shaky on her legs, but the girl had held up better than she had anticipated. She acknowledged the slightly sheepish expression of the child with a mute squeeze to her shoulders, before she turned slightly and handed over the reigns of her horse to one of the younger warriors who had been assigned with the duty to take care of all the mounts.

"Why is it taking so long?" Marie asked, turning to Ontari with a little pout. Lexa and Anya had left the both of them for a few moments, speaking with the other generals for now. They now stood in front of the commander's tent or rather what would be the tent in hopefully only a few short moments.

Ontari raised a brow at the younger girl in silent question. She did not know for certain after what Marie was asking at all. By the way the blonde girl was glaring at the warriors erecting the tent for them, she had a good guess now though. "It takes as long as it takes" she retorted calmly.

Marie rolled her eyes, before her eyes narrowed at the older girl "Not you too!" she exclaimed a little hotly. She remembered Lexa using the very same words in a situation before, telling her that she was clearly lacking patience.

Ontari's brows knitted together in confusion and she was still contemplating internally what Marie meant, when the child spoke up again.

"I swear, Lexa used exactly these words before" Marie explained quickly with a pointed look.

Ontari frowned slightly for a moment, wondering since when she had begun to use phrases from the commander. She had definitely not been consciously aware of doing so at all before now. She was also not entirely comfortable with the concept and what it actually meant. She would have even felt more comfortable if Marie had said that she was using the general's wordings. Although she had by now probably spent nearly as much time in the commander's presence as in the general's, in her mind there still remained the invisible barrier of power. Ontari was always aware of the fact that the brunette Trikru woman was indeed the commander, a fact which the blonde child seemed completely oblivious to in private.

Her attention was fortunately diverted from her train of thought when one of the warriors stepped up to them, proclaiming that they were welcome to enter the commander's tent now. Ontari minutely wondered what the other warriors might be thinking of the fact that she was allowed to share a living space with their leader, but she guessed that it did not matter in any form at all. It definitely showed her that the commander trusted her now.

Marie sighed out loudly in relief, grabbing onto one of Ontari's arms and almost dragging the older girl inside, who seemed rather lost in her own thoughts. She smiled slightly when she noticed that a fire had already been lit and her smile widened when she spotted that something to eat and drink had also already been provided.

Ontari snorted lightly under her breath at the girl's overly dramatic antics, sitting down across from her. She would have never thought possible just how much a single child from the Sky could have changed her life. She was not foolish enough to assume that she would have ever been allowed to live and learn separated from Nia, neither would she have had any motivation to even consider changing her mindset. It was a rather weird thought for her to realize that she would most likely be dead by now if Marie was not existing. Even if she would have somehow managed to miraculously take out the conclave and the commander and had taken up command herself, she highly doubted now that she would have lasted long. She would have missed the foresight to keep the clans together and she knew by now how dangerous the life of a commander was when there was unrest among the clans. She could not put into words to Marie just how grateful she was for recognizing someone worth saving inside of her, when no one else would have even considered. She only watched the girl eat with a kind smile, while her thoughts played out in silence, maybe she would find the words one day to explain to Marie just how much of an impact she had had on her life.

Chapter 227

When Lexa and Anya arrived within the commander's tent, Ontari and Marie had obviously already finished eating. The nightblood girl was telling Marie a story as it seemed and the blonde child was leaning slightly against Ontari, listening attentively to her very word, although it was plainly obvious that she would not be doing so for very long. The girl's eyes were already beginning to droop as the day's journey had clearly exhausted the injured child.

"Has she eaten?" Anya interrupted the nightblood girl's tale briskly, more worried for Marie than letting them enjoy the moment for now. It was late already and she wished to only eat shortly and directly retire afterwards as well. Marie clearly needed all the rest she could get as well at the moment.

Marie frowned slightly, affront at having been interrupted like that and not even being addressed in person glimmered in her grey eyes, but before she could say anything, Ontari beat her to it.

"Yes, she ate enough" the nightblood girl commented, although she had still been rather lost within her own thoughts, she had absentmindedly kept watch over the younger girl. She had noticed before leaving Polis that Anya and the commander likewise seemed alarmed at the small portions Marie only ate and most of the times just after having been prompted to eat anything at all.

Anya nodded curtly in mute acknowledgement, while Marie huffed under her breath, turning a slight glare towards Ontari and moving away from the older girl.

"No more meetings today?" she asked, looking directly at Lexa with hopeful grey eyes.

Lexa shook her head in the negative "No more meetings" she echoed in agreement and amusement flashed through her green eyes at the clearly pleased look settling on Marie's features at the news.

Marie watched Lexa and Anya mutely as the two women took off their armour for the day and changed into more suitable clothing for sleeping. Alira had brought another tea to the commander's tent while they had still been eating and she barely felt any discomfort from the large bump on her forehead at the moment.

A definite frown settled on Anya's features when the child seemed to specifically wait for Lexa to come to bed and how Marie immediately crawled closer to her former second, settling into the young leader's arms for sleep.

Lexa only briefly bandied a look with her former mentor. She did not know why Marie was actively seeking her out now and had made no move to cuddle up to Anya, when the older woman had lied down beside her moments ago already. But she would surely not deny the girl her closeness when she obviously wanted it at the moment. Maybe Marie was more worried about what the next day might bring for herself than for Anya, but Lexa regarded such a train of thought rather unlikely for their daughter. The girl did not seem to discriminate between them so far and she highly doubted that she would start doing so either in the future.

"Lexa?" Marie quipped up again, remembering that she had wanted to ask the commander something just as she was about to fall asleep.

Lexa looked at the girl, brows raised in silent question, waiting for her to state her mind.

"Why are there so many warriors now?" Marie asked, voice tinted with honest curiosity.

Lexa was slightly surprised by the girl's question; she had not expected for Marie think of matters as this. "The army consists of almost the full force of the coalition, Marie" she explained in a kind tone.

Marie frowned at the answer "There were not even a third as many at the Mountain" she contradicted.

Lexa inclined her head in acknowledgment "The war against the Mountain had been too spontaneous for all the clans to send their warriors" she easily deflected the question. She was still surprised that Marie had even noticed such a thing at all, let alone wondered about it enough to care to question for a reason.

Marie nodded with a little hum, mulling the answer over in her head, as she snuggled back up a little tighter to Lexa. She had been there for the preparation of the war after all and she knew that the Trikru army had originally gathered to take care of first the other delinquents and later Skykru. The war against the Mountain had truly almost suddenly appeared on the horizon when Lexa had accepted to work with Skykru after speaking with Clarke.

It made sense that this war now had been prepared for longer. She had distinctly heard that Lexa had begun its preparation once the queen had sent her cut off braids to the commander, as a sign of her death. Although her hair was slowly growing back, she still mourned the loss of her long hair and could barely wait for the day that it would have grown back to its original length completely.

Even though Marie felt distinctly safe within Lexa's arms, she could not really get her thoughts to quite down. Once she had stopped contemplating about her hair, her thoughts irrevocably turned to the queen. She knew from Anya's estimation that they would reach her fortress on the very next day. She kept on imagining all the traps that the queen could have had put into place and her fantasy provided much too visible ideas on how Lexa, Anya and Ontari could die on the next day.

Lexa tried humming the old lullaby to Marie, feeling how a certain tenseness lingered in the girl's body and she kept on shifting subtly as if she was unable to truly find a comfortable position.

Anya who had previously turned her back to her the two, turned back around after long moments and the brief flash of irritation at girl melted from her mind, being replaced immediately with worry at the girl's apparent restlessness. She reached out and placed a hand on the girl's back, letting her feel that she was there as well.

"You cannot die…" Marie breathed out, tone barely loud enough for them to catch and tinted strongly with desperation, clearly addressing both of them likewise.

Lexa and Anya bandied a look over the girl's head, neither of them wanted to lie to the girl and they knew that there was no sensible possibility to make such a promise neither of them could vow to keep.

"Sleep, little star" Anya said instead, letting her hand caress lightly over the girl's back, while Lexa continued to lowly hum the melody of the lullaby.

Fortunately, the combination seemed to do the trick and Lexa felt Marie's body relax within her arms only a few moments later as sleep finally claimed her mind for good. She only hoped that the girl's exhaustion would be deep enough to suppress her usual nightmares or neither of them would get too much sleep this night and all of them direly needed to rest. A moment of inattentiveness could easily end deadly on the impending day.

It seemed that Lexa's slight hope had been granted and Marie remained peacefully asleep until Anya rose on the next morning, well before the sun had even begun to rise.

Although it was almost painfully obvious how afraid and tense Marie was, Lexa still found it necessary to remind the girl of something during breakfast. Neither of them had said much more than a quick good morning so far before that.

"Once we reach Nia's fortress, Marie, you will do everything you are told, right to the point" Lexa addressed the younger girl and her eyes were hard and tone unrelenting.

Marie blinked up at the woman with a slightly confused frown. She had not consciously disregarded any orders to her knowledge.

"You did not leave me behind at our encounter with the pauna, you will do so now, if you are ordered to" Lexa explained and her expression was strict.

Marie's brows scrunched together and she felt reluctance rise in her mind. She remembered now that Lexa had scolded her lightly for that during their night in the foods, but she had already reasoned back then that she could not have left the woman behind and she would surely not do so now. She was keenly aware of the fact that she would actually be the only one able to safe Lexa and Anya - she was not sure if her talent would work with Ontari as well – if it came to it. No healer would be able to help the two women in a way that she could and could truly not understand that Lexa was already hinting at the possibility for them to have to separate.

Anya watched the emotions flit through Marie's grey eyes with internal resignation. No matter what sort of promise Lexa would force the child to give now, it was apparent already that the blonde girl would not hesitate to break it, if that meant saving Lexa and she was aware without the need for actual words that the same would hold true for herself as well. The girl loved the two of them too deeply to contemplate letting them die, if she could help it somehow. It was absurd of Lexa to even try to hinder Marie from doing so. It only worried Anya that she was fairly certain that Marie would not hesitate on using her powers on the battle field if one of them would get lethally wounded.

Anya glanced over at Ontari; she was relatively sure that the nightblood girl would indeed do exactly what she was told. Before Marie had literally fallen into her life, Anya would have easily proclaimed the opinion that following an order, no matter how absurd it might appear, was always the better choice. But somehow Marie seemed resistant to that whole mindset and Anya was not sure any longer if that was such a bad thing at all.

Ontari was visibly confused by the commander's words, but kept obediently silent. The nightblood girl rarely contributed to the conversations, usually only speaking up if she had been directly addressed and was required to give a verbal answer. The only exceptions were to sometimes explain something to Marie or to try to make her see a different view of certain aspects. The girl was much more talkative being along with Marie as Anya had quiet often witnessed by now.

Marie still had not said a single thing to Lexa's orders, only looking at the woman with a frown.

After long moments of silence, Lexa huffed out a frustrated sigh, standing from the table abruptly, sensing that she would not get any kind of promise from the girl which she could trust even remotely. It was almost comical how she did not consider the fact at all that she could very well be the one losing her own life during the confrontation with Nia, but was so worried for Marie's survival that she let her feeling and her need to protect her daughter overrule her rational mind like that.

Marie watched Lexa almost storm out of the tent with a slightly opened mouth, words stuck in her throat and she felt her heart drop into her stomach, when the commander did not even throw a glance back before leaving the tent altogether. She wanted to stand up and follow after her, but was stopped by Anya grabbing onto one of her wrists suddenly.

She stared at the general with turmoiled grey eyes, desperately wishing to understand what had just happened.

Anya's brown eyes were soft and her tone kind as she explained to Marie briskly that Lexa was obviously as tense as she was and clearly worrying for her.

Marie frowned, but nodded with visibly hunched shoulders. She hoped that she would get the opportunity to briefly speak with Lexa again before they would break camp. She shortly looked over at Ontari, but the older girl only offered her a compassionate gaze, still not saying anything.

Marie's eyes widened visibly once they left the commander's tent a few moments later. She had of course seen how big the army must have been during the previous evening, but seeing endless rows and rows of tents in front of her eyes still was a weird sight to behold. She could not really see from their positions just where the tents started and where they ended. But it was obvious that the break of the camp was ongoing as tents were already dismantled all around them.

When she spotted Lexa already standing with her steed, Marie quickly stepped away from Anya and Ontari, intent on at least apologising to the woman. She would never promise to leave her behind though and she was slightly affronted that Lexa would even think her capable of doing so.

Lexa sighed under her breath, when she saw Marie quickly approaching her.

Marie looked up at Lexa with intent and she was glad that beside Gustus and Ryder already waiting with their own horses, who stood a few paces away, none of the others were there yet, so she could speak freely without having to fear to be overheard by someone. "I am sorry but I would never leave you behind" she proclaimed and she pressed her lips together slightly. She knew that she should not contradict the commander's words in such a fashion, she would appear disrespectful and disobedient if someone else heard her, but she was not thinking of Lexa in her political function now. She would also never leave Anya behind.

Lexa sighed again, she was torn between reprimanding the girl and simply enveloping her into her arms. Within her dreams she had pictured Marie somehow falling back into Nia's clutches. The Ice queen had presented her with the choice to exchange places with Marie and she had not hesitated for a single moment. The fear of such an event actually coming to pass, had not completely left her mind just yet, no matter how hard Lexa tried to push it from her thoughts.

"I am aware, Marie" she answered in a grave tone. She would never be able to forgive herself if the child was harmed because of her. But Lexa knew how hypocritical it had been to even ask for such a promise from the girl. She still saw the worry underlying Marie's apparent insubordination, the girl was afraid enough about what would happen as it was. Lexa forced a calmer expression onto her features and she lightly pulled the girl into a hug for a few moments.

Marie tightened her arms around Lexa, feeling slightly lighter with the proof that the woman was not really angry with her.

Marie was truly surprised to watch how quick and efficient the army was in breaking down the camp, she would not have believed that it was even possible for such a huge camp to be dismantled so quickly. But it did not seem as if they had waited long at all until the generals of their respective units signalled that they were ready to leave.

Marie was allowed to ride on her own again with the strict order to say something immediately should she begin to feel worse or experience any kind of dizziness at all. Anya helped her onto the grey horse and slowly the whole army began to move.

The pace was so much slower now that they were surrounded on all sides by warriors on foot. Marie was still slightly awed by the fact of how quickly the warriors were still able to move, she doubted that she would have been able to hold up with them for very long.

During the day they passed through other villages and Marie swallowed forcefully once she noticed a few obviously freshly slain warriors lying at the edges of their path.

"They have been foolish to try to fight against a whole army" Ontari commented from her side, having caught the younger girl's startled expression. She was convinced by now that the largest force Nia had at hand would be awaiting their approach directly in front of the queen's fortress. They had not encountered enough warriors on their path to allow another assumption.

Marie shivered slightly at the way Ontari had spoken so offhandedly and she could barely tear her eyes from the snow which was slowly being tinted red. She swallowed forcefully, knowing already that she would be seeing much more deaths in the upcoming days and she felt slightly foolish for the way it still perturbed her somehow at all.

Marie frowned in confusion when Lexa suddenly raised her hand and the war drums immediately changed their rhythmic beating and the complete army pulled to a stop only short moments later. She could not detect anything amiss and had no idea of what was going on.

It seemed as if the atmosphere had changed as well and the whole air suddenly was felt with a strange buzzing energy. Marie felt the grey horse under her trample around in nervous restlessness at the change as well and she cast a worried glance towards Ontari; Lexa and Anya had moved a little ahead, quickly speaking to the other generals. "What is going on?" she asked the older nightblood girl, grey eyes flitting nervously between the other girl and the place where she could see Lexa and Anya.

Ontari's expression was a little grim, she had recognized this place as well. They were not far now from Nia's fortress and she had already told the commander that the ice plane they would need to cross now, which was the last distance they needed to cover, could have been relatively easily manipulated to turn it into a dangerous maze of unstable ice. Nia's troops would surely await them shortly behind the ice planes or rather behind the constriction which followed immediately afterwards.

Nia's fortress was surrounded by icy sharp cliffs on all sides, leaving only a very narrow path to the entrance. Lexa had asked her if there was no other way around the obstacle, but it would not be feasible for the army to try to climb over the cliffs, too many would lose their life before they could reach the fortress. Crossing the narrowing was also a problem. Even though the coalition's army was much grander in numbers, that would matter very little if only a small portion of them would be able to cross through the narrowing at once.

"We have nearly reached our destination" Ontari proclaimed, eyes only shortly flicking to the younger girl. She wondered why the brunette young woman from Skykru had been called forth and her frown only deepened when Anya motioned her over as well.

"Do you think that the path will be blocked completely if Raven uses her explosives on some of cliffs?" Lexa immediately asked her.

Ontari blinked at the commander for a few moments. She had never seen actual explosives being used, but she had heard tales of a Skykru woman destroying a bridge with a single can of some sorts. "I don't know" she answered honestly, although slightly reluctant as she could not offer any real input at all.

"Oh, I wanna blow something up" Raven chimed in and seemed completely ignorant to most of the generals turning a bewildered look towards her. "It can work" she reasoned, only speaking to the commander directly "If I could blow up a bridge with the improvised bomb, I can definitely destroy some old rocks with my babies now" she proclaimed, eyes almost shining with excited mirth.

Lexa contemplated their options for a few moments in silence. Raven would need to be protected while she placed her bombs, but Ontari's cautioned words about the narrowing and her own strategical thinking realized that giving this a try was probably for the best. Internally, Lexa could not really believe that she was agreeing to let a Skykru woman use bombs in such a way, a weapon which none of them understood, but she would use everything to her advantage which she could right now.

So, she nodded solemnly in confirmation.

Anya watched the younger woman turn with a frown. "Let the war begin" Raven proclaimed almost cheerfully, clearly giddy with the prospect of actual being allowed to put her explosives to usage.

"Imagine Marie would be like that" she commented under her breath to Lexa, still looking behind Raven in disbelieve.

Lexa blinked at her former mentor and a look of slight horror crossed her features "I'd rather not" she commented almost drily.

Chapter 228

Watching Raven set up the bombs was interesting on one side and quiet terrifying on the other. Marie still remembered vividly how she had come to the scene of the blown-up bridge and how Tris had suddenly appeared from the treeline, stumbling and with blood on her lips, before the older girl had collapsed and died only a few hours later. The memory of feeling the earth vibrate beneath them, resonating the explosion which had destroyed the Mountain for good, was also ingrained deeply within her mind and Marie doubted that she would ever forget it again.

When Marie looked around herself, she quickly noted that she was not the only one watching Raven tinkering around with some weirdly shaped block like objects, connecting them with various wirers. Bellamy and Clarke assisted Raven, when the brunette mechanic gave them an instruction but kept their hands off of the things otherwise.

Marie stood directly next to Anya, even leaning against the general slightly. Lexa was speaking with some other generals and had told her to remain with Anya for now, so being in contact with the general would need to be enough for her.

Quiet a number of warriors had assembled around Raven and her things, keeping an obviously respectful distance, but also eying the alien equipment with barely veiled interest. Marie was not sure if all of the onlookers were truly honest in their interest, some wore definitely distrustful expressions. Although Marie had not really seen Raven work so far, she had been told that the young woman had set up a machine from the Mountain in the medical bay of the Ark which had been used by Abby to examine her months ago. She could not remember what had really happened, but Anya had told her about the proceedings afterwards. So, Marie guessed that Raven must know what she was doing at the moment, she highly doubted that Lexa would have allowed the Skykru mechanic's involvement if she did not believe in her abilities either.

She borrowed herself a little closer to Anya, when she noticed Roan approaching them in the company of two burly warriors. Marie was not sure if the man was in fact still more or less a political prisoner or if the warriors were rather there to protect the Ice prince. She knew theoretically that the man had no intention to harm her, he had shown as much already, but she still felt fear grip her mind in an almost automatic reaction. She did not even understand fully why she was reacting to him in this fashion now, she had after all trusted the man without even knowing him previously.

Marie wondered why the Ice prince was with the army at all. She distinctly remembered that Lexa had once promised him a chance to challenge his mother to a duel for her throne. But she was fairly certain that the queen would never agree to such a challenge, probably choosing to execute her own son for being a traitor to the loyal blood line and the crown.

"The ice planes will have been manipulated" Roan proclaimed, addressing Anya, as his proposal to speak to the commander had been denied for now.

Anya inclined her head "Ontari already pointed that out. If you do not know of a way around them, then my second has already told us everything" she retorted. She had felt the child pressing itself firmer against herself and she glared lightly at the Ice princess; his mere presence was obviously putting Marie on edge.

Roan's lips thinned for a moment, before he sharply nodded "There is no way around the ice planes, neither around the narrow path towards the fortress. But I am certain that Ontari will not know of a few short cuts that I know within the fortress" clear satisfaction had settled onto his features at having superior knowledge.

Anya dangerously narrowed her eyes at the smug man "Short cuts leading to where?" she asked in a sharp tone.

Roan met the general's gaze for long moments in silence as if he was enjoying watching the Trikru woman visibly losing her patience with him with every passing second, before he finally offered "To protected quarters within the fortress. My mother will most likely barricade herself there. If the army can fight its way to the entrance of the fortress, I can bring you to my lovely mother" his eyes flashed darkly for a moment.

Marie took in a sharp breath, grasping onto on of Anya's arms and pulling it around herself in a weird envelope.

Anya minutely glanced down at the girl, but did not make any comment on her behaviour. Instead she looked up again, meeting Roan's gaze with the thirst for revenge drumming hotly in her veins "That would be lovely" she acknowledged. She internally wondered why the man had not shared this knowledge with the commander beforehand. They had after all agreed that Roan would freely share all details which might aid in taking out his mother in exchange for the throne of Azgeda and Lexa's support in his crowning. She narrowed her eyes at the man, although she believed that he truly wished for his mother to be removed from the throne, she was not entirely convinced that the prince could still somehow twist and use the war only for his personal gain. It was reasonable to assume that the man would be holding a grudge towards Lexa, she had after all as the commander made his banishment from Ice Nation and delivery into the capitol one requirement for accepting the clan into her coalition. Nia had only begrudgingly agreed to the terms of the commander, but the Ice queen in reality had not had much of a choice if she wanted Azgeda not to have to stand alone against the clans, like she was now.

Once Roan finally turned around, leaving them alone again, Anya loosened her arm out of Marie's grasp, kneeling down in front of the girl. She looked at her intently, waiting until their eyes met and the clear panic visible in Marie's grey eyes tore at Anya's heart painfully "You will not be with us when we capture Nia" she assured to the child in a decisive tone.

Lexa and she had briefly discussed this a few days ago. The ideal outcome of finally facing the queen would be for Roan to kill his mother, but something in Anya's mind told her that the prince would hesitate and Lexa had agreed with her. Another viable possibility would be to simply execute the queen for her transgressions against the coalition's laws. But it was entirely possible that the queen would not readily let herself be capture and surrender but rather chose to fight until her last breath. Lexa and she had agreed immediately that they did not wish for Marie to have to really come face to face with the woman who had hurt her so deeply ever again. This way they could also be absolutely sure that Nia could impossibly get a hold of Marie and injure her ever again.

Marie looked up at the woman with a frown. She was the commander's and the general's second and by thus her place was beside both of the women and surely not anywhere else during a fight. She also did not wish to get separated from them for too long, being too afraid that either of them could be injured during her absence, no matter how brief. "But…" she began to retort, brows creased together.

Anya shook her head and a little firmness underlined her tone "The decision is final, Marie" she put an end to the girl's argument before it could have even begun.

Marie let her shoulders drop in clear agitation and her disappointment at the whole situation was palpable in her poise.

Anya's expression softened slightly as she pulled the girl into a brief hug "You will not have to see Nia again, little star, we shall make sure of that" she whispered the reassurance into the child's ears before they separated again.

Marie was not entirely convinced if she should feel reassured by the information. She somehow really feared what the queen might be holding in stock for Lexa and Anya or actually anyone who came too close to her. But she still felt a little touched at the obvious attempt to keep her safe that way. She hoped that at least Ontari would remain with her then, she could already picture how watching the two women leave to capture the queen would feel like. She did not have any further time to dwell on it, as Raven had obviously finished her preparation.

Beside herself, Marie could not contain her light giggle at seeing the clearly frightened reactions flash over the warriors' features which were told that they would need to help Raven carry her bombs, making sure that not a single one of them would touch the ground or fall down, because all of them would detonate at once in that case.

Marie was confused when Anya did not lead them back towards the horses and she noticed only now that a few warriors had begun to erect tents right where they stood.

"The horses will not be able to pass the ice planes" Anya answered the girl's mute confusion. The healers would mostly remain with tents as well, together with some troops of reinforcement. They still did not know if they were preparing for a longer siege and starting do so could come in handy later.

Marie nodded in understanding. She had no clear imagination as to how manipulated ice planes would actually look like. She glanced up with a nervous expression when Lexa stepped up to her. The commander's green eyes seemed to gleam dangerously beneath the dark war paint smudged over her features and Marie was reminded vividly of the first time when she had seen Lexa in her full commander regalia. The woman's armour had been adjusted slightly to allow for the inclusion of fur line warmer clothing and a heavier cloak, but beside that Marie could not detect obvious changes in the young leader.

"Keep close to me and Anya" Lexa addressed Marie in a calm tone. Her mind had already switched to battle mode and the previous slight anticipation which she had felt buzzing through her veins, had quitted down, leaving her senses sharpened and ready for the battle to finally begin in earnest.

Marie nodded with a grave expression. A part of her longed to reach out and grasp onto one of Lexa's and Anya's hand, but she was fairly certain that such would not be welcomed now. She needed to keep vigilant now as well, Ontari had cautioned them already that the queen would have used every opportunity to construct deadly booby traps and position hidden warriors of her own to decrease the number of the warriors marching against her.

The ice planes turned out to be a much larger place than Marie had previously imagine. She could not identify immediately what could have been manipulated about them at all. All she could see was what appeared to be an endless surface of ice covered in a light dusting of fresh snow.

Marie even thought the ice looked quite beautiful where it was not covered in snow. It looked different from the ice which had covered the streams around Polis and it was glittering beautifully.

She tugged at Anya's arm, when she spotted something passing beneath her feet, pointing down. Marie thought it might have been some sort of fish or mutated water creature and she let out a startled yelp when the shape seemed to be turned around by the current of the water and she was suddenly gazing down at the frozen features of a human being.

Her grey eyes remained fixed on the frozen corpse and she could even make out the horrified grimace being frozen in place in a morbid lucidity, until she felt Anya's hand squeezing her arm lightly to catch her attention.

Marie's eyes snapped up at Anya again "How did he get there?" she asked, voice shaking slightly.

Anya's lips thinned slightly and she did not get the chance to answer.

They had stopped in their steps when Marie had suddenly been rooted to the spot only moments ago, warriors had begun to move ahead of them, because Lexa had halted in her step to see what was wrong with Marie as well.

Marie's eyes widened noticeably when ice only a mere meter away from them suddenly seemed to tear open. She could sense Lexa tensing up beside her and the story the woman had told them about losing one of her brothers to breaking into the ice flashed through her mind.

For a horrified second Marie glanced down at their own feet, already expecting to find cracks in the glittering surface. She frowned in confusion, when she could not spot any cracks. She felt one of Anya's hands rest on her shoulder, as if the woman wanted to pull her closer.

The warriors standing on the ice which had apparently shifted looked around, being frozen in their steps and Marie could only watch in silent horror how a large chunk of the ice suddenly seemed to be turned over, throwing quiet a number into the icy water beneath in the process and she shuddered when the ice had turned around completely, sliding back into place with a weird almost groaning sound. Her eyes fell to her feet almost automatically and Marie felt her breath getting stuck in her throat painfully when she spotted their own warriors being carried away under the ice. Some were trying to get some purchase on the ice, using their weapons or even their bare hands. But the current seemed too strong for it and they were either carried away or drifted lower as they drowned.

Marie looked up at Anya with wide grey eyes, she now at least understood what was manipulated about the ice planes. They began to move again awfully slowly, broke up into even smaller groups and Marie held her breath in anticipation with every step they took, afraid of feeling the ice turn beneath them.

In the distance she could spot the same happening to a few other groups as well, but it appeared as if most of the warriors reached the end of the ice planes. Marie had seen that the edges of the chunks of ice which had turned over under the weight of the warriors had actually been sharp, as if the ice had been cut on purpose and she guessed that such was the fact as well. The corpse she had spotted before had probably died during the construction of the booby trap. She knew that Trikru were spiking the woods with their own booby traps as well, but not all were deadly and if they were, they mostly only targeted a single person. She also wondered internally how the queen's own warriors would navigate through the ice planes or if there could be some sort of trick to it.

Anya held the girl back once the narrowing in the path became visible in front of them, pushing her body slightly behind herself. After the ice planes, she highly doubted that there would not be more traps waiting to be activated ahead of them. She would have expected to encounter Ice Nation warriors already, but the sight ahead of them was clear and the snow looked fresh and no tracks were visible. So, it seemed as if the last warriors had passed through this path hours ago already, if not even longer ago.

A small group of warriors was sent ahead, to look for all possible booby traps and find out from which point on they would need to fight through. Lexa called the rest of the army to a stop during the wait. Her eyes flitted between the narrow path and Marie standing leaned against Anya's legs.

Marie felt as if the wait stretched into eternity but she did not ask for what they even were waiting for exactly. She also wondered how long they would wait still. She guessed that it was entirely possible that all the warriors might have already been taken out by the opposing warriors.

Marie immediately noted that the number of the small group had visibly diminished at their return, but at least some had returned.

She listened to the brief report one of them gave to Lexa in hushed tones, standing close enough to the commander to understand most of it. They had encountered quiet a number of booby traps and although they had even found a few of them without triggering them and had been able to dismantle them without losses, not all of them had been so lucky. But they did not seem to have encountered any Ice Nation warriors.

Lexa contemplated the report for a few moments. It worried her slightly that there was still no sign of Nia's troops. She knew that the woman still had enough of warriors at her hand, not enough to match up to her army, but enough to cause huge losses. If she were in Nia's shoes, she would have definitely positioned at least some of her forces at the end of the narrow path, it was easier to pick off your opponents one by one after such a natural obstacle. She had already appointed a group of warriors to accompany Raven to her post to start to apply her bombs and she send them ahead now.

Marie frowned when they were told to remain in place for longer, without moving around any longer, she again felt how cold it actually was. "Where do you think are the queen's warriors?" she asked lowly, her eyes flitting between Anya and Ontari in question. It did not make sense for the queen to not attack in her mind.

Ontari's lips thinned slightly "Surely not far" she retorted. She was fairly certain that they would show themselves soon as well. She doubted that Nia would have ordered all of her warriors to remain within the fortress. Ice Nation had been cut off from the other clans for such a long time now, that she thought it likely that even the fortress would run out of supplies sooner rather than later now. She guessed that the queen's troops were keeping themselves hidden for now.

Marie startled strongly when the ground suddenly vibrated beneath them and a cloud of smoke soared ahead of them into the clear sky.

"It is alright" Anya reassured the girl quickly. A larger group of warriors already moved into the direction of the narrow path, having been ordered to clear away the rumble which would surely be lying in the way now. She allowed the child to hold onto her hand for now, until they would need to move closer to the fortress as well.

Marie felt her throat constrict painfully when Anya pried her fingers lose again long moments later. Part of the warriors had returned, proclaiming loudly that the Ice Nation army finally was showing their face. She felt panic rise in her mind and her heart rate increase, when Lexa and Anya simultaneously took out their swords.

"To war!" Lexa proclaimed in a loud yell, which was resonated from all directions and the war finally began for real.

Chapter 229

Moving forward through the priory truly narrow path felt weird to Marie now. On all sides a few warriors were still busy trying to clear away as much of the rubble as possible.

She felt her stomach roll uncomfortably when the encountered two warriors, supporting one of their comrades. The man in the middle was visibly wounded and she guessed that he must have been standing too close to one of the sides of the explosion, as a piece of chalky rock, equipped with razor sharp edges had lodged itself into his abdomen. The man seemed barely able to keep himself on his feet and the thought that the healers would probably not be able to save the man only minutely flitted through Marie's mind.

Her attention was caught only the flash of a second later from Anya, suddenly pulling her behind herself with a sharp tug. Marie eyes widened when she spotted a short bolt protruding from the ground, exactly in the place where she had stood only a second ago. She had not even noticed that they were already under attack.

Lexa and Anya both seemed to know where the shooters must be hidden and Ontari pointed upwards and slightly ahead of them. It seemed as if small spaces had been curved into the stony walls, allowing for hideouts of single shooters. Marie doubted that they were expected to come out of this battle alive, as soon as Lexa's warriors would reach them, they would be picked off easily, but she was somehow sure that the queen would not care a single thing for the loss of a few of her warriors like that.

Only another moment seemed to pass, until Marie could see a larger number of opposing warriors nearing their own front of warriors. The difference between the two fronts was rather obvious because of the different style of clothing and the war paint.

Marie actually froze for a second after Anya had killed the first warriors of the Ice Nation force, as her eyes remained glued to the fallen warrior's face. The complete face had been painted white with some sort of sticky colour, the eyes and the skin around the eyes had been tinted black with coal and it almost appeared as if red blood was bubbling from the warrior's lips. For a moment she wondered if the warrior was truly just spewing out blood in his last moments of life, but she saw a moment later on the face of another warrior, directly charging towards her, that his features were painted in the same fashion and that the true substance was truly just colour.

She did not even think twice about how she reacted to the large warrior wanting to attack her. She instinctively took up a defensive stance, deflecting his first blow he had made with a heavy axe and ramming her own sword directly into his abdomen, trying to rip it out as fast as possible and stepping out of his immediate reach at the same time.

Marie felt as if the time was switching between slow motion and passing all too quickly to catch everything which was transpiring around herself. She knew that Lexa, Anya and Ontari were all fighting close to her; she could occasionally make out Ryder and Gustus taking off a few opponents from the commander as well.

If she had thought that they had already faced a lot of warriors by the time, that Marie could make out the end of the narrower path, she was sourly mistaken.

It was as if they had crossed an invisible line without knowing and suddenly, they were shot at not just with arrows and bolts, but it seemed that the other army was using catapults as well.

Gustus and Ryder shielded Lexa with their own bodies, while Anya and Ontari both pulled Marie out of the line of fire as the stronger attacks began.

Large chunks of stone and what appeared to be almost complete tree trunks set aflame were shot in their direction and Marie watched in sickening fascination how one of the warriors assigned to the commander's group was buried beneath one of the burning pieces of wood. The man's cries died down quickly and Marie's eyes flitted over Anya and Lexa quickly, trying to see if the two women might have already gotten hurt.

She could not detect any tears in Lexa's armour, but most of her gear was completely black, so she doubted that she would be able to easily spot a wound any way. To her internal worry, she could already see a bloody tear on one of Anya's upper arms. It seemed as if almost everyone else's attention was clearly fixed ahead of them and she could hear Lexa quickly talking to two generals, giving them a change of orders on how to proceed.

So, without thinking further of it, she stepped closer to Anya, touching the woman's back from behind, where she was fairly certain that her hands would not be visible to the others standing around themselves right now. Marie had figured out already that it was not necessary for her talent to work to directly touch the wounded area that she wanted to heal, but general contact seemed to be enough.

It did take her only a brief second to feel the buzz of her healing talent at the tips of her fingers and Marie hoped to look as unobtrusive and innocent as possible, as she let go of Anya only a moment later.

Anya immediately felt it, when the girl used her talent, healing the cut on her upper arm in only a second. The burning pain which had been absolutely excruciating the first time that Marie had used her talent on her, seemed to decrease as well with every further time that the child healed a wound for her. It still felt uncomfortable, but Anya did not show any reaction at all, although she internally longed to turn around and physically shake the child for her stupidity at using her talent so blatantly in the open. Her brown eyes scanned over their immediate surroundings quickly and she felt her nerves settle a little at the realization that no one was paying her or Marie any special mind at the moment, so no one had obviously witnessed her miraculous healing.

She knew that the child could not have suffered anything more than a few scratches if anything. From what she had seen, Marie had fought well. It was obvious that the girl could pass off as a highly trained already. What she was lacking in physical size and strength, she was mostly able to make up for with agility now.

Anya had not spent as much time with Marie on the training pits since her return from the north, as she would have liked to and she was internally immensely relieved that the child was in fact now freezing up in battle, but was using the techniques which she had been taught. To her slight dismay Anya had to recognize that Marie was instinctively using quiet a number of moves, which she had most definitely not taught to Marie. They seemed to play into the fact that the girl had right from the beginning tended to leave her defences too low and charged right at her opponent. But it was obvious that the girl was barely paying any mind to the fact that she could easily be taken down by an opponent who would deflect her own first attacks.

The girl was also paying very little attention to the warriors surrounding her from her own side. She had seen the same style in Ontari already. It was obvious that both girls had been taught mostly by the same people and had been drilled to only depend on themselves. She made a mental note to teach both girls more in depths about how to efficiently fight with a partner, if they all survived this battle that is.

Marie felt Anya's disparaging gaze resting on herself for long moments, but she met the woman's eyes unfaced. She was fortunate enough that Anya could not outright say anything to her now, without them being overheard by others.

It took only a few moments longer until warriors carrying heavy shields arrived at their position and Marie watched with a baited breath, how they formatted into what looked to her like an unbreachable wall of shields. They were even covering their heads with heavy shields. Between the warriors carrying the shields, who all seemed to be wearing the thickest and sturdiest armour, Marie spotted a few slimmer warriors, looking more agile and they moved with the wall of shields towards the front of the Ice Nation warriors.

Marie tugged at Anya's sleeve lightly, wanting to know when they would follow the other warriors. She could not remember that the war against the Mountain had contained such long moments of waiting time and time again. She could understand that the commander in person would not always be in the forefront of the army.

"We shall add battle strategies to your training once we return to Polis" Anya retorted with a slight frown. In her mind such a question was rather unnecessary at the moment.

Marie pouted lightly as a sheepish expression crossed over her features. She could not ask Lexa at the moment, as the woman was still speaking to other generals.

Ontari had caught the younger girl's question as well and readily explained "Moving pure infantry against siege engines, such as catapults, or long-range weaponry like crossbows and bows would only lead to high losses."

Marie nodded along in understanding. The older girl's words made perfect sense and she threw a slightly accusing gaze towards Anya, offended that the woman had not simply explained the facts to her.

Anya rolled her eyes slightly and even on the battlefield she felt a small surge of amusement at the girl's antics flash through her mind. She was grateful for the fact that Ontari seemed to have sort of taken up the role of an older sister to Marie in the past months.

Marie looked up again, when she felt one of Lexa's hands coming to rest on one of her shoulders as the commander called for her attention mutely. Their eyes connected and Marie was not at all reassured by the open worry she could depict flashing through the woman's green eyes before she could have masked the emotion.

"We will move forward in a few moments" Lexa said, bending down slightly to get closer to the child while she left her hand on her shoulder; she could not initiate any closer physical contact at the moment, so this brief and innocent contact would have to do, although she wished for nothing more than to pull the girl into a strong envelope and only let go of her again once the war was over and won and she could be certain that no harm would befall the girl. "Remember that you are to stay close to me, Anya and Ontari. Once we reach the middle of the field, you will remain with Indra and her unit until we return" her green eyes bore down at the girl intently; there was no time any longer to argue with the child and she had to trust that Marie would not try something as stupid as following them on her own.

Marie nodded begrudgingly. Everything within her mind was screaming in protest, the prospect of being separated from the three of them in the middle of the battle field was anything than appealing. A small part of her mind recognized that the chances of her having to see the queen ever again were much slimmer that way, but she was not convinced any longer that this clear advantage was strong enough to outweigh her fear that something would happen to either of them during their time of separation.

Lexa squeezed the girl's shoulder, holding her gaze for a long moment, until the war drums changed their rhythm again, signalling that the path was free to move ahead for the rest of the army. She let go of Marie and took out her swords again - the blades were already crusted in blood of the warriors she had slain – tightening her grip around the handles and nodding to the generals to move ahead.

Marie inhaled one big shuddering breath, trying to force all of her fears of what could go wrong or what plans the queen could have thought of which would still lead to the army's downfall from her mind, refocusing all of her attention on the way ahead. The familiar feeling of the small swords resting in her hands now calmed her somehow and she closed up to Anya and Ontari after a moment again, having been told to fight between the two of them.

The sight which was clear after the narrower path, made Marie stop for the blink of a second and her eyes quickly took in the fortress ahead of them.

The structure was somehow bigger than she had imagined and it did not compare at all to the fortress which she had inhabited during her time with the queen. Back then the fortress had been built on a free space out of big black rocks. This fortress almost appeared to have been carved into the icy mountain looming behind it and although it surely had a certain beauty to it, Marie's mind registered all the sharp and glistening ice tips which appeared to almost grow out of the fortress.

She was slightly taken aback by the sheer number of warriors which were ready to fight all around her. Marie had assumed that the queen's army would have been rather small, but she could barely make out a single free spot in front of the fortress.

The queen's army was obviously still waiting for their order to charge ahead and only a few single warriors painted with the Ice Nation war paint had already engaged in fighting against warriors from the commander's army and they were falling quickly.

It seemed as if Lexa's appearance had been the sign for which the queen's army had been waiting and Marie startled strongly when all of the opposing warriors let out loud war cries at the same time.

Marie tightened her grip around her swords and she felt Anya and Ontari moving a little closer to her, probably intent on keeping her from harm as much as possible.

The war drums off their own army stopped in reaction, to only beat three more short times; their own signal to attack and Marie joined in the war cries as well now.

Anya realized quickly that Nia must have ordered the most trusted of her warriors to only directly attack the commander. It became apparent only a short moments after the real fighting began that a group of around ten to fifteen warriors were only clearing a path in their direction and they were making their way with a worrying speed.

The loud bangs of the shots from the Skykru weapons froze some of the Ice Nation warriors; they had obviously not expected for the new clan to be allowed to use their own weapons or rather for the commander to allow such.

"They are only moving into our direction" she pointed out to Lexa, barely looking at her former second. She was occupied enough with keeping part of her attention on Marie while also taking down whichever warrior managed to get too close to them.

Lexa nodded with a grim expression as she had already recognized the same. She motioned Ryder closer, quickly ordering the guard to signal to the Skykru that this group had priority to take down for now. It would only take a few more moments for them to break through the line of her own army and to reach them.

Anya shoved Marie slightly behind herself when the group of Ice Nation elite warriors broke through even before they were in the range for the Skykru shooters to take down.

The elite warriors fought with unbridled ferocity, almost mowing all of their opponents down, while sustaining almost no losses themselves. It was clear that they had a goal in mind and they would either achieve it or gladly die trying.

Anya noticed Ontari stepping in front of Marie as well when the first of the warriors was almost within reach; they obviously agreed internally on the fact that Marie would not be able to hold up against on these elite warriors.

Anya gritted her teeth and her lips were pulled back into an angry snarl when she felt the biting pain of a cold steel blade imbedding itself into her side moments later; she had already taken down two of these warriors, but the third one had used a little slip in her guard. She had noticed Marie stepping closer seconds before and in her attempt to shield the child, she had left her own side only weakly protected.

Anya cussed under her breath, trying to blind out the pain from the hit. She ripped her sword out of the corpse of the warrior who had wounded her and she blinked her eyes for a moment. It appeared suspiciously as if the world was beginning to spin in front of her eyes. Her cussing turned louder when she brought her hand to her side shortly and it came back coated in way too much blood to be considered healthy. She could already feel her legs losing their strength and she pressed down on the heavily bleeding wound strongly. When she felt her flesh giving way under her pressure slightly, Anya bit her lips strongly at the blinding pain.

Marie's eyes widened in fright when she noticed Anya faltering in front of her. It seemed as if the time had turned to slow motion again. She had seen the gleam of the blade of the Ice Nation warrior before it had been embedded into Anya's side. The man was dead now, but Anya was clearly swaying on her feet.

Without further thought, Marie closed up to Anya; there was no other warrior directly in front of them. Ontari was still fighting with another one, spinning under his guard and ramming her sword directly through the man's throat.

Marie briefly hoped that no one would watch her too closely now, but she could also not really care about that now. She directly placed her hands above Anya's and it took her only a second to activate her powers.

She held Anya's gaze for only a brief second, before her head whirled around and her breath stuck in her throat for a moment. Ryder had been taken out by the elite warriors already and Gustus seemed to barely be holding himself up any longer. But two warriors had surpassed the burly guard and directly charged at Lexa. While Lexa was able to deflect the first sword easily, the second one pierced through her abdomen with a sickening sound.

Marie immediately let go of Anya and she neared Lexa with fast strides, hoping that none of the warriors would actually bother to attack her; she had even let her sword fall to the ground. She tried to force her feet to move quicker over the icy ground, when Lexa fell to her knees.

The man who was towering over the commander had a satisfied smirk on his face, which was quickly erased when Anya's sword suddenly protruded from his chest. He had only had eyes for the dying commander in front of him, leaving himself completely unprotected.

Marie fell to her knees directly next to Lexa and her hands immediately pressed on both sides of the bleeding wounds. She had no idea how fast she needed to heal someone or how close to death she would still be able to save someone and she felt tears clouding her eyes at the brief thought of being too slow to heal Lexa. She breathed out in relief when she felt her power activate and she sobbed out a watery laugh when Lexa looked at her a second later. The wounds had healed completely and the commander could stand up again, unharmed.

Marie's laugh died, when she felt blood running from her nose and she blinked at Lexa in alarm when her vision began to swim in front of her eyes. She tried to reach out to Lexa or Anya, when suddenly all fell black around her.

Chapter 230

Lexa made a quick leap forward at the sight of Marie suddenly beginning to drop. She reached the girl just in time to catch her limp body, before she could fall to the ground. She felt her heart beating frantically in her throat in fright, as she adjusted her grip on the girl's body, so that she could look at her face again.

Anya suddenly crouched down next to her and the older woman had already removed the gloves from her hand, reaching out carefully and righting Marie's head. The amount of blood smeared on the child's unhealthily pale features was alarming and Lexa was not sure if all the blood truly only originated from her nose.

With slightly shaking fingers Anya trailed one hand to the girl's neck, holding her breath in anticipation and desperately searching for a pulse, for any sign really that their daughter was still alive.

It had happened all so quickly that Anya's mind was still trying to somehow make sense of what had happened. Thanks to Marie's healing of the deep gash on her side, Anya felt energized and refreshed, but her heart had missed a beat at watching Lexa's body being impaled by her opponent's sword. Marie must have reached Lexa in time to stop the commander from bleeding out and the younger woman seemed unharmed again.

"Is she alive?" Lexa asked, holding onto Marie still and her voice shook noticeably. She did not know what she would do if the answer was positive. All around them the fighting was continuing as if nothing had transpired at all and yet, the mere possibility of Marie dying felt to Lexa as if the world had suddenly stopped spinning.

One of Anya's hands continued to search for a pulse on the child's neck, while she held her other hand directly in front of her nose, trying to sense if Marie was still breathing and Anya felt her whole body tense in anticipation the longer she needed to spot signs of survival from the girl. Her own breathing was slowly becoming erratic and could feel unshed tears burn in her eyes, when she suddenly felt a pulse.

Anya blew out a heavy breath as the anticipation melted from her frame "She is alive" she answered and despite the fighting continuing around them, her lips tilted upwards lightly into the hint of a relieved smile.

Lexa swallowed harshly, meeting her previous mentor's smile with one of her own. But it only took her senses a further moment to realize that now was not the time, they had a war to fight after all. It worried her that Marie was still unconscious, but it would have to do for now to know that the child was still alive. She was by no means trained in the art of healing, so she could not help the child.

Her green eyes shortly flicked upwards, when she noticed Gustus' shadow looming above her. The burly man was visibly trying to contain a pained grimace and Lexa immediately spotted several tears in his armour. She had also noticed that Ryder had fallen and it was obvious that the man was not just wounded but had already perished to his wounds.

Lexa could see Roan approaching them, being accompanied by the four guards which had been assigned to him. She closed her eyes for a brief second, squeezing the child's body once, before she let go of Marie completely, coming to her feet again. It did not appear as if anyone had truly noticed Marie's talent and she just now realized that Anya had been observant enough to kick snow over the sword which had been impaled into her own body; the black blood would have shown without any doubt that she had been the one wounded severely.

Anya hoisted Marie's limp body up into her arms, not wanting to leave the girl on the icy ground for a moment too long. It was obvious what needed to happen now without further words. Anya's mind screamed to carry the girl to the healers herself, but another part was gleefully waiting for her chance to face Nia.

Reluctantly Anya handed over Marie's unconscious form to Gustus, another pair of warriors were already waiting to escort them back through the narrower path and to the healers' tents. She held Gustus' exhausted gaze for long moments, before she truly let go of Marie completely. She knew without doubt that the man would not let the child get harmed as long as he drew breath. She still watched the man slowly making his way from the battlefield and she had to force herself to remain within her place.

Lexa's expression had already been carefully blanked when Anya turned back around. It seemed as if the commander had just been waiting for her attention to give the signal for the group to leave the actual fighting. Anya felt a slight surge of worry at placing their trust like that with the prince of Ice Nation. The man could very well be leading them into a trap and although Anya knew that the man had been put under guard for the last months which had only been increased tenfold since the blockade had been put into place, she knew that there were always options left on how to smuggle a letter to someone, so they could not rule out that the prince had still somehow managed to keep in contact with his mother. His wish to take out the woman had seemed genuine, but Anya was reluctant to accept his words for the truth; she had learned many times that it always payed off to be exceptionally distrustful.

Anya closed up to Roan with a few quick strides and her tone carried more than just a concealed threat "If I even sense the possibility of a trap…" she let her words trail off, glaring at the man distrustfully.

Roan rolled his eyes at the general's antics. It was annoying him slightly that the Trikru woman was still so blatantly distrustful towards him, he had had more than enough chances to cause harm to their second and yet he had actually protected the girl from Echo's interest. He had obviously not succeeded as well as he had hoped, he had heard later that the spy had been the one to bring Marie to his mother. He was not a fool, his mother would never leave the throne willingly before she died and he had spent too much time away from their lands already, his mother would surely not even recognize him as a suitable successor any longer. He was also still convinced that his mother was a fool for wanting to tear apart the coalition, he had seen with his own eyes that it was improving the lives for the clans. He had in fact been contacted by his mother quiet a few times, but he had dutifully handed over each and every letter since he had decided to work with the commander against his mother.

He continued to meet the general's clearly angry gaze unfaced for long moments until the commander clearing her throat quiet loudly, broke their staring contest.

Lexa's lips thinned at her former mentor in clear displeasure; they had already argued back and forth at numerous times about the prince's motives and had only come to the conclusion that their own opinions did not overlap at all in this matter. As the commander Lexa had the final say in the decision on whether to trust Roan or not and she had been sure that she had already made it more than clear to Anya that she in fact did trust the man for now. She knew that her trust could be wrongly placed, she would be a fool not to expect that the man's loyalty could waver at any moment.

Anya averted her eyes in obvious defeat, but her hand still tightened around the pommel of her sword. Even if the man did not directly lead them into a trap, the prince could not possibly know how many guards would still be within the fortress to protect their queen. Right now, they could only hope that the moment of surprise would gain them the upper hand quickly.

Roan lead them towards the fortress with sure steps, while the unit Anya had trained circled around the small group which would accompany them inside of the fortress, disposing of all the Ice Nation warriors which attempted to stop them.

Right before the main entrance came into a clear view the man side-tracked and lead them along a wall. Although it was not visible from the outside, there was a narrow crack in the sturdy wall of the fortress, well concealed by huge rocks and ice spikes.

"I have used this path to get out as a child" Roan informed the commander, walking next to the woman with quick purposeful strides. He put away his sword with an almost apologetic expression "It will be a tight squeeze" he added. He remembered slipping away to play with some of the guards' children on numerous occasions, but he had been much younger and smaller and even back then the way had been narrow and he had to navigate quickly. It only came back to him now that he had always had to cover some of the way with bend knees, because the heights of the tunnel had not even allowed for a child to walk straight. He grimaced slightly at the realization that they now would surely have to cover some way crawling on their hands and knees. But he knew that the tunnel led to a part of the fortress which was rarely guarded, the halls of the fortress had been constructed like a complex maze with a little courtyard as the centre and the tunnel would lead them there.

Lexa narrowed her eyes at the man, but inclined her head in acknowledgement, taking up the offer of his short cut was their best shot at reaching Nia before they had to erase the complete army of Ice Nation.

Anya's annoyance at the whole situation was almost palpable and the general stared hard and long at the prince telling them a moment later that the tunnel would be too small to walk through.

Roan proceeded the group, followed by three warriors, Anya and Lexa and three more warriors in the rear together with Ontari. His estimation of the heights of the tunnel had been relatively accurate and it took them long torturous moments to crawl through the tunnel until light became visible again, forecasting the opening towards the courtyard.

Roan let his eyes trail around the courtyard for a moment, waiting for the rest of the group to close up to him. He lightly brushed off some dirt from his clothes. He had spent long hours at this courtyard, his teachers had rarely searched for him here and for the eyes of a child, the courtyard offered a lot of entertainment. He had spent long time to climb around the rough walls, which were uneven enough to allow easy climbing.

Lexa let her hands fall from her swords, once she could stand up fully again, taking in their surroundings with quick eyes. She frowned slightly, the prince had been correct, there were absolutely no Ice Nation warriors in sight.

"Have you been here before?" Anya turned around to Ontari slightly, offering a hand to the nightblood girl to pull her back to her feet.

Ontari shook her head in the negative. She had only been within this fortress a couple of short stays and she had spent most of the time in Nia's immediate presence. She had rarely been allowed to roam around freely. If she had not been trained by the royal guard, she had been with the queen.

"My mother will most likely be within her quarters" Roan proclaimed with a thoughtful expression "The throne room would be impractical to hold and her quarters have another shortcut out of the fortress and into the mountains behind it. The way would be hard to cover, but she would surely rather flee than concede defeat".

Lexa inclined her head in acknowledgment. She would expect nothing less, Nia had yet to outright confront her in a single conflict. But this also meant that as soon as they encountered one of Nia's guards, they needed to move forward as quick as possible before the woman could decide to flee. The prospect of having to hunt the queen down was less than appealing and a rather big part of her mind wished to return to Marie's side as soon as possible as well. She was unable to completely ban the worry for the child from her mind.

Ontari's attention perked up as well, she knew the way toward Nia's quarters well enough and she was fairly certain that she knew the guards' rotation better than Roan would. She approached the general, quickly telling the woman that her knowledge could come in hand now. She gave the woman the hint of a smile, when Anya nodded in acknowledgement, agreeing that her input was valued and needed now.

The way through the halls of the fortress were confusing and Lexa quickly realized that they probably would have never reached Nia in time. The queen would have surely been forewarned of the defeat of her army, if they had had to fight their way to the main entrance, which would have given her more than enough time to leave the fortress. Long before they could have spotted the queen in this maze of halls.

It did not take them too long to encounter the first member of the royal guard. But the moment of surprise was on their side and the warrior was killed before he had truly realized that the fortress had been breached at all.

"Only a little further" Ontari called over her shoulder, voice low and spoken through clenched teeth. In the last minutes they had encountered more and more members of the royal guard. It was obvious that the frequency of the guards was increasing as closer as they came to Nia's quarters. She knew that the door to the quarters was only around the very next corner and she felt a calm kind of anticipation settle into her mind. Months ago, she would have been one of those warriors being slain in the halls, trying to protect her queen. Now, she was almost leading the attack against the woman who had practically raised her.

Doubt hotly flashed through her mind, but Ontari squashed down on it relentlessly. Remembering all the times the woman had raised a hand against her in anger, enforcing a lesson with even more physical violence and she felt cold anger rise in her mind. Nia had robbed her of her childhood, tried to groom her to become the next commander. She had once believed that the queen truly wished for her to rule, but she had realized by now that she had been a fool to ever believe such. In truth it would have been Nia who would have ruled the clans. She would have only sat on the throne as a symbol and Nia's loyal puppet. Snippets of fresher memories replaced her darker memories quickly. Of Anya taking care of her during her time of injury and quiet a number of little memories linked together with Marie.

Her thoughts halted abruptly altogether, when she heard an angry snarl fall from Anya's lips and it almost sounded as if the general was rumbling a growl from deep within her chest. She looked over her shoulder for a second and was almost taken aback by the pure hate and rage broadcasted openly on the general's sharp features.

Ontari's eyes widened in recognition for a second when her eyes fell onto Echo standing in the hallway opposite of them. It was as if time had stopped for a short moment as the general and the Ice Nation spy faced off with each other.

Echo had previously raised her long sword, ready to attack whoever she had heard approaching. But the woman visibly froze and faltered at who she was facing now.

Ontari was convinced that the guilt she had seen flashing over the older woman's face had even been genuine. She was certain that the spy had only recognized later to exactly what fate she had delivered Marie into.

Anya felt her rage bubble tenfold at being confronted with Echo. She had trusted the woman and allowed the spy to remain within the capitol and trained her singlehandedly within her own unit. Her trust had been thanked by Marie's abduction and she was certainly in the right to seek avenge on behalf of her daughter, just like Lexa would want to as well.

She carelessly let her own swords drop, the spy did not deserve the quick absolution of death through a few blows only. She charged ahead at the Ice Nation woman, knocking off her sword with practised ease. Anya barely realized that the blade of the sword had grazed along her left arm, which she had used to deflect the sword. She ripped the pommel of the sword from the other woman's hand and it seemed as if Echo was completely unprepared to react to her untamed rage.

Anya easily pushed the woman against the opposite wall, catching her before she could fall from the rather harsh impact.

Echo's survival instincts had obviously kicked in and the woman was trying to pry the general's hands from her body, kicking out at her almost blindly.

Anya did not even react to the kicks at all, the pain was not even registering into her mind through her thirst for avenge. She turned the other woman's hands around harshly, not minding the loud cracking sounds as she crushed Echo's wrists against the walls.

Echo let out a grunt of pain just as Anya raised her fist and with all her might began to land punch after punch directly into the spy's face. Her head kept on bouncing off against the wall, but Anya was blind to the fact how Echo's body grew lax in her grip and how her face was turning into a bloody mess and how her own knuckles were scrapped raw and bloody. Her mind kept on supplying images of Marie after her return to the capitol and how the girl had had several break downs after regaining her memories. If Echo had only followed her orders and helped in the actual search of Marie and handed the child back over into her care, nothing would have happened to their daughter beside her amnesia, but they would have been much easier able to handle this without the added trauma of her time with Nia.

Ontari watched the general take out her obviously enormous rage onto Echo and she had to swallow slightly. If there would have been a single sliver of doubt left within her mind of just how protective the general was on Marie, it would have been erased now. She was slightly taken aback by the pure unaltered violence of the woman's attack and she would remind never to push the Trikru woman too far.

Lexa did not stop Anya from killing Echo with her bare hands. She stood back for long moments in silence, feeling a small surge of satisfaction at watching the woman's death. But the rational part of her mind knew that they needed to keep moving. Anya's outburst was causing too much noises and they still had their actual target to take down. She could not allow Anya to fare with Nia in such a fashion, although everything within her mind longed to even aid her former mentor in singlehandedly tearing the queen to shreds. She stepped closer to the general, placing a hand onto her back lightly "She is dead" she assessed in a firm tone, calling Anya's attention from Echo's lifeless body.

Anya blinked once, letting go of Echo's body abruptly and the corpse slid to the ground of the hall. She cracked her hands once, realigning her abused knuckles and her brown eyes still burned with hatred as she fully faced the commander "Let us avenge our daughter then" she said, her words only addressing the commander, spoken too low for the others to understand.

Lexa nodded with a grim expression, she could barely wait to finally see the woman fall.