Here is the second to last chapter, the longest I could write on this fic, I hope you'll like it as much as the others :) Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you liked it :)
The gong finally rang the start of the fight, sounding the end of everything for Lexa. She didn't see a future for herself, but she could end it with honor, die with dignity and do the right thing. She could make the world see Philemon for what he really was, as a traitor...
The man facing Lexa had raised his sword, ready to strike his first blow. But the queen could see his body trembling, he was not sure of himself. Obviously, the young man seemed to be afraid, very afraid. He was there, alone, in front of the queen, and he knew what an exceptional fighter Lexa was, he knew he didn't have a chance.
Seeing the trouble of the young man she took pity on him, she asked him to give up, that if he did that, he would keep his honor and could leave in peace.
The young man seemed to hesitate for a moment, but suddenly raised his sword in the air, shouting at the top of his voice and advancing ferociously towards Lexa.
She did not have to make any effort to avoid the blow that the man had tried to carry to her. In a lively and agile movement, she had deported herself of a step on the side and brought down her sword on that of the stranger who dropped it on the spot. Lexa gave him a kick which made him waver and fall to the ground. She placed her foot on his chest, the man was out of breath whereas the combat hardly started, and she put her sword under his throat while ordering him to give up if he did not want his life to end here.
This one saw in her glance that she was not joking, and the red eyes of shame it struck the ground with its hand, sign that it gave up the combat. He left, sheepishly, to look for the reward promised by Philémon.
Then Lexa turned to the stands, looking at Philemon with a look full of hatred and revenge.
- So, that's it? That's the candidates for the ultimate challenge? I'm going to take a bite out of you and my last blade will be for you, the Isarian traitor!" Lexa shouted loud enough for everyone to hear her words.
Philemon stood up, looked at the young woman with disdain and pretended that the warrior's words did not reach him. However, Alexander, standing beside him and waiting for the right moment to act, had seen him clutching the cup of wine in his hands almost to the point of blood. He sat down on his seat as soon as the new fighter presented himself in the arena, ready, him also to fight.
The young man who presented himself in front of Lexa had the air a little older than the previous one, a little more muscular also. Nevertheless he did not look like a threat to Lexa. The young man chose as weapons a sword and a dagger.
And hardly the gong signaling the beginning of the fight the young man threw without hesitation the dagger in direction of the young woman. Without effect however, she had no difficulty to avoid it.
She then advanced towards the man, and although this one was in guard and looked sure and determined, she had no difficulty in disarming him by giving a blow on his sword which wavered and fell on the ground, making rise a cloud of dust.
She hit him in the face with her fist, causing him to fall to the ground and placed her foot on his chest to force him to give up.
Faced with Lexa's determination, he had no choice but to submit and he too gave up the fight.
The fights went on as easily for the young woman. None of the fighters was as good as her. She had beaten them with disconcerting ease. Some of them were even part of her supporters and had only shown up to give her a well-deserved break and had given up the fight before it had even started.
But after nineteen fights, and although she had beaten them all easily, Lexa could feel the first effects of fatigue. She didn't show it though. She didn't want to give Philemon the satisfaction of seeing her suffer and tire herself out.
Unfortunately the day was far from over, and the serious things were about to begin for Lexa. The warriors who were going to appear before the young woman were serious warriors, warriors that she had even trained herself or had been trained by Philemon and who therefore knew perfectly the way of fighting of the queen.
The one who appeared before the queen looked like an accomplished warrior. Lexa recognized him immediately. She had started training him about a year ago before she sent him away. He was becoming too violent, impulsive, and his decisions depended more on violence than on reason. She decided that it was better not to have this kind of warrior in her ranks, because he could have participated in a possible rebellion and she needed reliable and faithful people.
He had been very angry with her and had sworn to take revenge. So there he stood, in front of the queen, ready to fight and show her his strength.
When the gong signaled the beginning of the fight, he grabbed a shield and a sword. And immediately put himself in guard, turning all around Lexa like a jackal waiting for its prey.
He threw a first sword blow that Lexa managed to dodge a first time, but he immediately followed up with another one that fell this time on the sword that the young woman had raised in the air to parry the blow. He was quick, fast, and the fatigue did not help her, she had much more difficulty to dodge the blows of his opponent.
He had succeeded in giving him a kick in the belly what made her waver the space of a second. She did not have time to recover as the man in front of her gave him a blow of shield on his sword to try to make him let go.
Fortunately she managed to keep it in hand. And in a skilful gesture, she slid on her knees while spinning on herself and gave a blow of the pommel of her sword on the inside of her opponent's knee, which had for effect to unbalance him and to make him fall on the ground heavily. She then got up hastily, placed her sword under his throat and asked him to give up.
But the man, proud, managed to unbalance Lexa and to make her fall by giving him a circular kick at the base of the feet of the young woman what had for effect to make her fall on the ground for the first time of the day.
For a moment, Lexa wondered if it was not better to finish, to put an end to this masquerade and to close the eyes for good... But when she closed her eyes, going with lucidity towards the darkness, Clarke's face appeared to her suddenly. Benevolent, luminous, her azure blue eyes looking at her tenderly and asking her to fight, not to give up, to get up...
So when the warrior in front of her was about to place the fatal blow of his sword, she succeeded in blocking it with hers, got up by rolling on the side and pierced the chest of the man with her blade, making him fall on his knees on the ground, bleeding, dead on the spot.
She had just defeated the twentieth warrior with panache and Philemon was increasingly worried. This time it was no longer indulgence that prevailed with Lexa, now it was death that awaited the warriors who would come under the queen's control, she would have no mercy for all the traitors who would come before her.
However, she was getting more and more tired. She had defeated, yes, but she had been knocked down, something that could never have happened if she still had all her physical strength intact.
For her part, Leonie had joined Rose and mingled with Nayak in the crowd. There were so many people that Philemon didn't even notice their presence, too busy paying attention to Lexa's various fights, patiently waiting his turn to kill her himself.
Two men came to remove the body of the man Lexa had killed. As long as the body was being removed, Lexa kept glaring at Philemon, glaring at him insolently. She knew that in order to save Clarke she would have to hold out until the last of the battles, and therefore until Philemon. But she wouldn't give him the pleasure of showing herself weak. She would be strong, until the end, until her death if necessary.
Meanwhile, Clarke was discreetly trying to break her bonds with the help of the dagger that Léonie had given her. Unfortunately, the ropes that tied her up were very tight, and it's finally in blood that she succeeded to get out of her tight ties rubbing her wrists with her hands to make sure she wasn't seriously hurt. Fortunately, she had only burned herself slightly with the ropes, a minor injury.
She hurriedly untied her feet as well. Then she moved back into position as if she were still tied and pretended to feel faint and lose consciousness.
The guard then rushed inside his cell to see what was going on and as soon as he was inside his cell, Clarke rushed at him and put her blade under his throat.
She forced him to give her the keys to his cell, hit him to knock him out and locked him inside the cell while taking care to gag him and tie him up so he couldn't give the alarm of his escape.
With almost all of Isarian in the audience witnessing the supreme challenge, Clarke had little resistance in gaining access to the outside of the castle. She then hurried as quietly as possible to the Queen's private quarters to change into her traditional Isarian clothes, in order to go unnoticed in the crowd.
Meanwhile, Lexa was waiting for her twenty-second fighter. She felt the fatigue strongly, it was lascivious, taking, suffocating her and preventing her from moving as she wished, but yet she showed nothing of her suffering. And among her people, even those who thought she was a traitor for having loved an enemy began to take sides with her. More and more they were saying that the gods had decided, that they had decided to give her their strength. It was not possible otherwise that she could be so strong and enduring, they thought... Nobody understood that God had nothing to do with it and that only her love for Clarke kept her alive and gave her the strength to stand.
The man who came to her had all the makings of a seasoned warrior. The muscles were prominent, he was tall, obviously of great strength, and Lexa would surely have a hard time defeating this candidate. She did not have to choose the defense any more, she had to take the initiative from now on in order to attack the first one so that it is her who leads the dance and not the opposite. From now on, only the attack could make her win. Wasn't it said that the best defense was the attack?
She was going to put this adage into practice, because it was her only chance to survive.
The warrior, on the contrary of his opponents, chose as a weapon a spear and two daggers. He also chose a sword that he chose to place in his back as a secondary weapon.
Once the gong sounded, Lexa threw herself on the man, sword in hand. She gave a big blow on him that the man dodged with a disconcerting ease. Then with his spear, tried to stab her, but she also succeeded in dodging the blow and pivoting on herself. She took advantage of it, at the time of her turning, to give him a kick in the hollow of her knee in order to make him lose his balance.
Balance that he lost the space of one moment, but he got up instantaneously before Lexa did not have the time to carry its second blow.
He then dropped his spear and took hold of his two daggers and he began to turn on himself several times in order to succeed in stabbing Lexa who had no other choice than to move back as the man advanced on her.
The warrior almost on her, tried to stab her again, Lexa avoided the blow of hardly, but this one tore her top at the level of her shoulder, wounding her slightly. This was her first wound, the only one that managed to touch her.
She barely had time to realize that blood was flowing from her shoulder when she looked up and another blow fell on her. She took her sword to protect herself from the blow, hit the man with her fist on one of the hands of the man who was holding one of the daggers, which had the effect of making him drop it immediately. She then took advantage of this to land another kick that made him fall to the ground. Then she spun her sword in the air and gave him no chance. She planted it in his chest, while saying with rage:
- Death to the traitors!
Then she turned back to Philemon, her gaze dark, sure and determined.
- So that's it? she shouted arrogantly.
Philemon chose not to pick up on her remark. At that moment, he didn't know that Clarke had escaped and he still thought that he had the upper hand and that in any case Lexa would die by his blade, whether she wanted to or not.
Lexa had the rage, the rage to win on one hand, the rage to want revenge, but also the pain to think that she would never see Clarke again, and that she had to die for her to have a chance to survive.
So it was in this state of mind that she prepared for her other fights.
Her twenty third fight went relatively easily, although it tired her a lot, because the man was a master of dodging and he had played well his role which was to tire the queen as much as possible.
She had however succeeded in defeating him by unbalancing him, and had also killed him with a blow of blade.
Lexa was exhausted. She wondered how she was still standing. And although she did not show her state of fatigue and knew how to remain dignified, her panting breath could not deceive Philemon who was already enjoying his future victory.
It is thus in an advanced state of tiredness that the penultimate warrior presented himself before Lexa.
In the crowd, Rose and Léonie noticed Clarke who was watching with great anxiety the fights of the love of her life. They joined the young woman in order to give her all their support and they placed themselves as close as possible to the arena in order not to miss anything while being on the side and thus not being in the angle of vision of Philémon.
They were unanimously happy that almost all the people were in favor of Lexa and that Philemon, as a result, was losing more and more of his influence. His only way to regain it was to defeat Lexa and take her life.
But Clarke knew Lexa all too well, the way she fought, the way she moved, the way she breathed... She knew that she didn't show anything to people, but she saw the advanced state of fatigue of the young woman and that it could be fatal to her. So she wanted to find a way to let her know that she had managed to free herself and that she was there to support her, to encourage her, because she was well aware of the outcome of her fights if Lexa thought that Clarke was still a prisoner.
When she saw Lexa's wound on her shoulder and the blood stain that was present, a shiver, a mixture of horror and worry, went through her. The woman she loved was hurt and she couldn't stand the thought. She had never had as much hatred for Philemon as she did at that moment, and she wanted to finish him off immediately by cutting his throat. But Rose and Leonie stopped her, arguing that it would only make things worse and that for the moment, only Lexa mattered, Philemon would be the problem later.
So she changed her mind, but in her mind, this man was already dead, she would never let him put an end to Lexa's life, even if it meant sacrificing her own so that she could live.
The penultimate candidate had just entered the arena. Lexa had already seen him at work. He was an outstanding fighter, probably the best in his army. A man who had also been trained by Philemon and so she knew that he was indebted to him, hence his presence here.
The sun was now high in the sky. The crowd was going wild and chanting Lexa's name, covering the insults of her detractors who were still present.
The warrior was of a huge build, all muscle, long black hair tied in a ponytail. Hazel and almond eyes. Even in full possession of his means Lexa would have difficulty to overcome him, then exhausted and wounded... She was going to have to take out all her malice, all her strength, all her ingenuity of fighter in this fight. And she knew, she knew that if she came out of this one victorious, she wouldn't have the strength to face Philemon anymore, not the strength to defeat him and not the strength to take revenge. But Clarke would be alive and that was the only thing that mattered to her.
The gong for the penultimate fight finally rang. Lexa had kept her eternal sword and added a shield for defense, while her opponent had also chosen a sword and a shield. He also took a dagger that hung from his belt.
It took him barely a second after the gong to deliver his first sword blow to Lexa, who managed to parry it with her shield and spin around to get around him. She then gave him a sword blow that he parried with great ease.
The fight between the two was raging, each one returning blow for blow, although Lexa, with the tiredness only made mainly parry the blows rather than to attack.
Rose and Léonie were worried, Alexandre, always at the sides of Philémon was also it. But the most worried was Clarke. She saw the woman she loved fighting, but she was getting too tired and was in a very bad position.
So Clarke came closer to the front row, she wanted Lexa to notice her, to transmit her strength and courage. But Lexa was totally in her fight, she didn't see anything, nothing else than her opponent and her will to defeat him in spite of her own weaknesses.
The fight lasted now for twenty good minutes. Lexa had more and more difficulties to stand, she still didn't notice Clarke in the crowd.
But suddenly Lexa took a masterful kick that completely stunned her and put her on the ground. She was completely stunned, her eyes revulsed, she saw small stars in her eyes, sign of a serious trauma. Then a face suddenly appeared to her, like an angel descended from heaven. A pretty blond head with an azure, angelic look, almost magical and of an infinite softness.
Lexa thought she was in paradise, ready to join death, she was waiting for it lasciviously, patiently, and almost with joy and happiness. She could hardly keep her eyes open because of the pain in her body.
Then she heard a voice in her head, a voice she knew all too well, a voice she thought was beautiful and heavenly, a voice that seemed to want to bring her back to the side of light. This little voice was telling her not to give up, to resist, and that she had to get up if she didn't want to die.
But did she want to? Did she want not to die? She herself was not sure of the answer.
But the voice suddenly became louder and more insistent. She looked to her right, her eyes half closed, and her gaze met Clarke's, the azure blue met the emerald, the darkness the light.
- LEXA, GET UP !
- GET UP LEXA ! Shouted to her with all her strength Clarke so that she hears it finally.
Lexa was not dreaming, she did not hear voices, she was neither insane nor about to die. She then realized that Clarke had managed to escape and that she was asking her to get up, fight and stay alive. Her love was alive, and she was about to die without telling him one last time how much she loved him.
She realized then that everything could not end like that, that everything could not stop in a second, that it would not be the second of too much or the end of her life.
And in a whisper she pronounced the name of Clarke, as if to make sure that all this was real.
And as the warrior was about to give her the fatal blow with his sword, cheered up by the fact of knowing Clarke was alive, in good health, that she had escaped and therefore, she was no longer under the threat of Philemon, she succeeded in parrying the sword blow of the warrior by rolling on the ground on her side.
She got up quickly, as if her strength had been restored and she had regained all her freshness and lucidity.
She forgot then completely the tiredness which lived her body and struck the warrior of all its forces which was quite astonished to find the warrior with so much strength after all its preceding fights. He had great difficulty in dodging the blows that the young woman was giving him, almost smiling and certain that she was going to win.
But in the distance, Philemon had noticed Clarke's presence. Immediately he knew that Lexa would not let himself be defeated, that he had no chance against her. So he ordered his men to go and get her and bring her back.
Lexa was suddenly distracted by the men in question who were fighting with Clarke. This one had no intention to let her. She was too close to the goal to find Lexa that she put down without difficulty four of her men.
Lexa gave up her fight completely to go and help her. The people looked on in disbelief at what was happening without really understanding what it was all about.
But when the people saw their queen going to help this unknown woman, they recognized Clarke as their wife, the cause of this supreme challenge, and they remained mouth beh and suddenly almost silent.
Lexa didn't have the time to reach Clarke, who had succeeded in getting rid of the men who had attacked her, that she heard this one screaming on her when she had almost reached her.
- ATTENTION LEXA ! She shouted to him with the force of the despair.
Indeed, the man behind her, the warrior she was supposed to fight had just thrown a dagger to her, which was heading straight to her and Clarke.
She pushed Clarke on the ground to protect her and took the dagger, this one planting itself then on her already wounded shoulder making her fall down on the ground almost unconscious.
She landed in Clarke's arms before she fell to the ground.
- No no no no not yet ! Was crying Clarke while seeing the warrior collapsing in his arms the closed eyes.
As she fell into Clarke's arms, an uninterrupted stream of images invaded the warrior. Images of herself, of Clarke, of Nayak, of kisses, of her adolescence, images that she didn't know and that nevertheless monopolized all her mind suddenly appeared. Unconscious, she didn't understand what was happening to her, she didn't understand these images, but suddenly she became aware, she became aware of what was happening to her, her memory came back. Her first meeting with Clarke, their first emotion, their first training together, their love for each other, she remembered, she remembered everything.
And then she felt guilty, guilty of having forgotten Clarke, guilty of having been the cause of her sorrow, guilty of having been so stupid and arrogant in her choices.
Her love for Clarke had come back to her like a boomerang in the face. Of course it was already there since she had rediscovered Clarke when she had no memory of her, but this time was different, her feelings were much more powerful than anything she felt until now, this was already too strong.
The warrior then approached the two young women, wanting to finish and complete his fight, but Clarke put down the body of Lexa still unconscious on the ground, seized the one of her wife and parried herself the sword blow of the man who was about to put an end to the life of the woman she loved. And no matter what the consequences, she would not let that happen, she would prevent it.
She leapt to her feet, parried all of the warrior's blows and swung her sword in the air, then with a nimble step to the side, she pierced the man through the heart and he fell to the ground, dead on the spot.
She then rushed towards Lexa, whom Rose and Léonie were taking care of, she was unconscious, but did not seem to be seriously injured.
Philemon had come out of the stands from where he had been watching the whole scene with rage. He ordered his men to arrest and kill Clarke immediately as well as all the people who could help them.
But just as they were about to execute Clarke, a commotion among the people began to sound, they were starting to panic and the sound of a horn was heard, a sound that meant we come in peace. Everyone knew this signal and they all fell silent instantly as they were so surprised to hear it.
Indeed, a guard of about five hundred men had just appeared, Zenarians, Melchior and the Zenarian chief in the lead, at the side of Neven, the warrior who had finally helped Melchior.
The Zenarian chief, Clarke's father, got off his horse and went to meet Philemon who was walking towards him with hatred in his stomach.
- What are you doing here? he asked
- I am here to put an end to your reign of terror, you are responsible for what is happening in neutral territory, you have betrayed your people by turning them against us and fostering hatred. It was you who made the neutral territory your place to recruit slaves to serve your greedy and treacherous ends!
He said this loudly enough for everyone to hear, for everyone to know who the man was who wanted to lead them.
The people could not believe their ears, Philemon had used the neutral territory for his own purposes, he had betrayed his people and immediately they wanted to lynch him in the public square.
But the Zenarian leader, who had come to officially offer peace between their two peoples, shouted at them that the supreme challenge could not be postponed and interrupted, and that it had to end, that it could not be ended in this way.
Philemon pointed out that the challenge had already been interrupted by Clarke killing the warrior who was to fight with Lexa.
- Your greed and arrogance make you forget the most sacred laws of your own people ! Clarke's father shouted at her.
- The author of the supreme challenge can choose a candidate to replace him as long as that candidate is a member of his own family!
- We know that Lexa and my daughter are married, so they are part of the same family, so you won't mind if my daughter takes over, will you?
His only way out now was to win this challenge, which no law would allow him to defeat and grant him supreme power despite all his actions.
Clarke looked at her father with great astonishment. She would never have believed that he would come to her rescue, let alone offer peace between their two peoples.
Melchior must have loved Lexa very much to have organized all this and to accept a love that would never bring him peace. Clarke then felt sorry for him, understanding his pain and the pain that must be inside him at this very moment.
She then asked Rose and Leonie to take care of Lexa who was unconscious and was about to take her place to fight Philemon when she suddenly felt the warrior's hand move slightly. Then she slowly opened her eyes, to the great relief of Clarke who still had Lexa's head on her lap. And to the great astonishment of all, she got up, with difficulty, certainly, but she got up nevertheless.
She then wanted to take back the fight, wanting to take care of Philemon herself, thus granting herself the absolute and complete respect of her people who were proud that their queen was so brave and courageous.
Clarke held her by the arm, pointing out that as a married woman she could take over, that it was also part of the law.
But Lexa turned to her.
- Clarky stop worrying about me, I know what I'm doing ! she whispered to her low enough so that only this one could listen to her.
Her words, this nickname, only the old Lexa knew it. She remained motionless the space of one moment, not realizing what it had just occurred, widening the eyes to be sure of what she had just heard, her heart jumping furiously in her chest.
- Stop drooling my love made Lexa a smile to him while making him a wink and approaching his wife who was almost paralyzed by the emotion.
Then she leaned her head in the hollow of Clarke's ear and whispered to this one :
- I remember, I remember ALL of Clarke!