Ai Hod Yu In
Chapter 11
The man forced her to the ground, pinning her down on her back. The tall grass all around them kept them hidden from view.
"Quiet," he told her. Finally, he brought her up to a sitting position, leaning her back against a tree trunk. The two of them both looked over at the people passing. She could barely see them over the grass, but she knew they were there. The man held his knife to her throat, "Ice nation scouts. Come on, we back track. Then we go around."
Clarke did the math in her head. If they were fighting this man, she might have an opportunity to get away before they were finished. If she could escape, she could ensure that she and Madi were safe. She began to scream as loud as she could. The sound woke Madi, who decided to join in on the fun. The two screaming voices caught the mens' attention. She couldn't see them in this position, but she certainly heard their swords come out. The man glared at her for a moment.
"Their deaths are on you," he told her, covering her head with a cloth bag of some sort. He forced her up and to follow him.
As she carefully followed the man, she tried her best to figure out what he was saying. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite make it out. It didn't take too long before one of the other men lifted the hood from her head. Both men seemed to just stare at her for a moment. All of them had raggedy hoods pulled over their heads. One had a bow. The one with the bow kept it firmly trained on the man holding her.
There was more murmuring around with all four men, and even though she couldn't quite understand it all, she could tell she would be no better off with these men.
Then, suddenly, the man holding her dropped her bonds. She didn't hesitate. She just ran. She knew that it would take a while for this fight to be over, but no matter who won she wanted to get away from them. She had to protect her child. It was all that drove her. Still, the man was good. A man had followed her, and with an arrow to his back he fell on top of her. She did her best to cushion Madi's fall. If there was something wrong with her daughter because of this then there would be hell to pay. She promised herself that, at least. Still, trapped as she was, she was well aware that it may very well be an empty promise. She wished Bellamy were here. He wouldn't let anything happen to Madi. She trusted Bellamy with her life. She spotted a knife that the other man had dropped, and she grabbed and hid it as quickly as possible.
"Didn't have to be this way," the man told her, moving the body off her back. He began to lift her up, and she lunged forward with the knife in her hand. She stabbed at his gut, his throat, and even his head. She was distracted, though. He grabbed hold of her collar, staring at her for a moment.
"If you were going to kill me you would have done it already," she told him, glaring at his form for a moment.
"There's still time," he told her, beginning to drag her away after a moment. She debated for a moment. This man was her kidnapper. He wouldn't care about her worries or concerns. What if she hadn't shielded Madi well enough though? What if she'd gotten cut and started bleeding? That would make things complicated.
She really had no choice here. She wanted so badly to check over every square inch of Madi, to kiss and soothe every hurt. She'd never really thought that was the type of parent she'd be when she inevitably had her allotted one child on the Ark, but she'd thought she'd be more like her mother, who had spent more time working than raising her child. There were plenty of programs to watch children on the Ark.
Her dad had often taken time off of his engineering to take her for walks around the Ark. He'd kissed every injury and tell her that it was magically better now. He'd been her rock. He'd been an amazing parent, and she wasn't surprised at all that she found herself subconciously trying to copy him with her own child. Still, her father had things much easier than her. He didn't have people likely trying to kill them both while raising her.
So she did her best to shush Madi as she was pulled along. She hummed to her child and tried her best to make sure Madi was unnoticed by anyone. She held herself back from begging this stranger to let her check over her daughter. She paid attention to what she could notice about Madi without physically stopping and checking her. And most of all, she continued to hope that her child was okay. After all, that was all she could do right now.
