Chapter 28
Lexa clenched her jaw, swallowing forcefully for a moment. She shook her head in the negative, unable to formulate words right now.
Marie letting out what sounded like a strangled whimper, forced Lexa back into action.
The commander tried to keep her expression as controlled as possible, although her mind was in turmoil. She had not even truly considered the option that Anya would not return. The woman had always been almost invincible in her mind. Something within her mind was revolting at the news, denying the possibility that her former mentor was indeed gone.
"Th'y all sto'ped b'eat'ing" Marie asked in a strangled tone and slight hiccups were already making her words so much harder to understand, as Lexa crouched down in front of the young girl.
The scout had clearly relayed that their whole army had been killed. Lexa merely nodded her head, not fully trusting that her own voice would remain steady right now if she attempted to speak.
She knew what this loss meant. She had lost someone she genuinely cared about, even if she had done so in private and secrecy. But they had also lost 300 warriors. Their power would be dearly missed. She knew that some of the surrounding villages had sent each and every warrior they had, which now left them without any kind of protection. Lexa had hoped that the Trigedakru army would have been more than enough to take care of the invaders, but this now forced her to quickly send for reinforcement from the other clans as well.
The tears which began to run down the child's roundish pale cheeks, stopped Lexa's strategical mind from planning for a moment and she focused her whole attention on the little girl. She was at a loss for words though. She knew that there simply were no words for this. So, she mutely pulled the girl into her arms, hugging her close to her own chest.
Marie immediately put her arms around Lexa's neck and she nestled her face against the crook of her neck. Her whole frame was shaking with the force of her sobs.
Lexa tightened her grip on the small body within her arms, allowing herself a small moment of weakness. She felt tears burning within her eyes as well, but she forced them to remain unshed. She caressed over the girl's blonde locks, simply holding her silently and letting her cry.
The child must have exhausted herself with the crying and Lexa felt her sobs slowly dying down, before her breathing evened out and she carefully carried the girl over to the bed, placing her onto it and tucking her in with a fur.
Before she swept from the tent, Lexa picked up the wolf plushie which the little girl had dropped before and placed it within the sleeping child's arms. Although she did not like the sight of the child's tear tracks, she also did not wish to wake her up by cleaning them away.
On the way to search for Indra and a few scouts she could send to the other clans, Lexa ordered Gustus to remain by her tent and fetch her in case Marie woke up. She was uncertain how the little girl would react to this loss now, but she sensed that the child would need her more than ever in the next few days.
Lexa was still in the process of issuing out all of her orders, when a few villagers suddenly pointed at the sky, their features distorted in what appeared to be astonishment and a hint of fear.
She knew what this large thing falling from the sky must be and Lexa had to control her own expression tightly to remain passive. Her army had failed to erase the smaller group of the invaders who had been nothing more than untrained youths and from the little bit of information Marie had been able to supply them with, the people who were falling onto earth now, would not be unorganized children, but at least part of them would be trained warriors with weapons which resembled those of the Mountain Men.
Lexa quickly modified her orders to the scouts. She wanted word to be spread through every clan immediately, asking them to either kill or capture everyone of the people from the Sky. She also would require the full strength of the army of the Kongeda to either kill all of the invaders or at the very least force them from her lands. She also ordered for scouting teams to locate where the people from the sky had landed.
It was already dark, when Lexa returned to the commander's tent. Gustus had told her that there had been no kind of noise from within the tent, so Lexa had not expected to nearly fall over Marie as she entered her tent.
The little girl seemed nearly hysterical and Lexa was internally irritated why Gustus had not noticed the child's distress. Marie must have been in the middle of the tent for some time. She could only guess that the child had woken from a nightmare or something, only to find her gone. She could imagine how scared the little girl must been.
Judging from the way the child's grey eyes looked red and slightly swollen, Lexa knew that she must have been crying for some time already as well and she felt her heart give a painful clench at the thought of having left the child on her own in the first place. She could already imagine that she would need to take the girl with her everywhere she went during the next few days, before Marie would calm down again. She knew that children her age could still suffer from separation anxiety and the girl had admittedly already been through much and she was the only person alive now to which the girl likely felt any kind of connection.
Marie must have immediately rushed into her direction as Lexa had entered the tent, probably more than overjoyed to see her return and as Lexa had not expected the child to be out of bed at all, she had nearly stumbled over her small form.
"Mommy!" Marie let out in a teary tone, which already sounded exhausted.
Lexa tried to give the child an encouraging soothing smile "I am here, little one" she tried to reassure her. She did not bother to kneel down, but just picked the girl up. It was late, they both needed to catch at least a little more sleep before the sun would rise. She could already imagine that the next days would be busy and she could also imagine that Marie might be a little cranky.
"You gone" Marie sobbed out as she wound her arms and little legs around the woman, holding on as tightly as she could.
"I am here" Lexa repeated in a soothing tone. She sat down on the edge of the bed, trying with one hand to untie her boots and kick them off her feet. She did not have it in her heart to separate their contact even for a moment now.
Lexa gently wiped the child's tears away after she had convinced her that they would lie down together now in order to sleep and that she would not be going anywhere anymore tonight.
"Ssh, I am here, little one" Lexa repeated again in a soft tone. She had lied down on her back and she was not in the least surprised when Marie found her way back onto her chest, lying down in the position in which she had already slept the previous night. She also did not comment that the child's wolf plushie was being pushed into her face. She mutely continued to rub soothing circles on the child's back as she felt her own shirt slowly getting damp with the little girl's tears.
Lexa already thought that the child had fallen back asleep, when she heard her whisper in a nearly broken tone "Don't go 'way again, mommy".