A/N: Another day, another chapter, I hope you guys like it :)
Just something quick I wanted to ask, I am working on an original novel set in a school about two girls who fall for each other. And I was basically just wondering whether anyone would be interested in reading it once I have wrote a bit more of it? I know it's a terrible summary, but I'm just putting together the skeleton of it now.
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and please keep letting me know what you think! xxx
The next morning, Clarke and Lexa opened their eyes to see Raven and Octavia frowning at them from the end of the bed.
"Clarke, our friends look angry." Lexa said tiredly as she sat up. "Tactical retreat?"
"We're stood in front of the door." Octavia growled angrily.
Raven nodded at Octavia's words, "You told Indra to stop us leaving Polis?! How did you think that we were going to be ok with that?"
Lexa sighed as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and started lacing up the boots Clarke had left there the night before. "I knew you wouldn't be ok with it, which is why I told Indra to keep you from leaving. I presume she doesn't know you are gone?"
"Oh she knows." Raven laughed, as Octavia smirked beside her.
"You may want to do some renovations when we get home." Octavia chuckled.
"Of course." Lexa stood up and moved in front of them, towering over the pair of them as she drew herself up to her full height. "Listen carefully, I wanted you safe, I have no idea what is going to happen because I have never been in this situation before."
"But you were ok with risking my girlfriends life?" Raven argued hotly.
Lexa frowned at her, "Of course I wasn't. My intention was to send Ontari back to Polis as soon as she brought back Emori and Murphy."
Raven faltered for a second, but Octavia soon jumped in to fill the gap, "There is no way she'd actually leave, Ontari is a warrior, running from a fight isn't her thing."
"Fine, perhaps she would stay then. But Ontari is natblida, we are stronger and faster than others, and we heal quickly." Lexa shot back, "You have been in our world for less than a year, my only aim was to keep you safe."
"And Lincoln?" Octavia asked, "He has been training as a warrior his entire life, why keep him away?"
Lexa rolled her eye at the question, "The one constant in our lives is that where one of you goes the other will follow."
Octavia smiled, despite the context of their discussion as Clarke just groaned in exasperation and walked over to stand between her girlfriend and their friends.
"Ok enough, Lexa shouldn't have tried to force you away, but you're here now so let's just all forgive and forget ok?" She said calmly.
"But-" Lexa started, immediately silenced when Clarke turned a glare on her, "Of course Clarke."
Reluctantly, Raven and Octavia nodded as well.
It took two days for Ontari to arrive back. In that time, Lexa had divided herself between attempting to train Skaikru into a halfway decent army and pacing anxiously with Clarke attempting to calm her. Which was a complete role reversal from before the attack on Mount Weather when Lexa had been the cool headed one.
The one thing that proved to calm her was when the army she had sent for arrived, making camp outside the walls of Arkadia, from that point they had taken the lead on training Skaikru, which had the effect of giving her more free time to agonize over strategies with Clarke in the council room.
When Ontari raced through the gates, Clarke and Lexa were already waiting at the front of the camp. They both breathed a sigh of relief as two more horses followed closely behind, carrying Murphy and Emori, who looked less than pleased to be there.
Swinging down from her horse, Ontari greeted them both quickly with a one armed hug before handing off her horse to the Trikru who had taken charge of the horses.
"Your information was slightly out of date Lexa, but I found them."
"Mochof Ontari, your annoying girlfriend has returned despite my best efforts to drive her back to safety. Would you go an collect her along with Octavia and Lincoln, I believe they are eating with Abby and Kane. We will meet in the council room."
"Sha Heda." Ontari dipped her head, before disappearing to do as Lexa had asked.
Emori dropped to one knee as Lexa turned her gaze on her, tugging Murphy down to join her, "Heda." She said, keeping her voice even and respectful.
"Do you know why you are here?" Lexa asked curiously, unsure of how much information Ontari would have revealed to the two of them in order to get them both here.
Murphy shook off Emori's hand on his arm to stand up, "All we know is that your friend came to get us and said we were needed to stop Arkadia from being wiped off the map."
Clarke laughed as she nodded back to the main building, "Come on then, we'll have to catch you up before we tell you what we need."
She led them straight through to where they had told Ontari to bring the others to meet them, taking the time before they got their to catch Emori and Murphy up on the message Kane had received along with their efforts to shore up the camps defenses.
They had just finished when the door slid open and their friends slipped through, joined by Kane and Abby who Lexa had assumed would tag along anyway.
Once they were all sat down, Clarke looked at Emori, who was sat directly across the table from them, "We need you to tell us everything you know about this clan less army."
She held her hands up helplessly, "Look, I don't know anything, "I've just been-"
"Not good enough!" Lexa shouted angrily, surging to her feet and slamming her fist against the table. The others reacted with surprise at such an abrupt reaction from the usually calm Commander. "I can tell when a person is lying, and you know more than you are saying." Her voice evened out as she took a breath and reminded herself that she needed the girl she was so angered at.
Murphy looked as though he was about to shout right back at Lexa, but Emori quickly caught hold of his wrist and shook her head, "Ok then, say I do know something, what happens if I tell you? They will come straight after me."
"I vow that I will protect you." Lexa offered, sitting back down and taking Clarke's hand under the table to ground herself. She recognized how the tension she was feeling was threatening to overwhelm her, so she clung to Clarke as a lifeline.
Emori stared back at her critically, evaluating the honesty of Lexa's word as the rest of them watched her breathlessly.
"What do you need to know?" She said eventually, relaxing back into her chair now that she had made the decision to put her safety in the hands of her Commander.
"How many warriors do the clan less have?" Clarke asked immediately, having been anxiously wondering that herself all week.
Emori smiled grimly, "They are all warriors. Being cast out from your clan means you have to depend on yourself. But how many are marching together? Maybe up to three thousand at most, I've never had the chance to count them."
"Why are you not with them?" Octavia asked curiously from where she was sat.
"Because there's nothing for me there, all I ever had was my brother and now John."
Lexa sighed as she looked at the map that was spread across the table, "There are more of them than I thought, if they fight with their whole army out losses may be severe."
"Isn't your girlfriend the Commander of death?" Emori asked skeptically, immediately getting matching glares sent her way by those sat round the table for insensitivity.
"Stop it." Clarke waved at them until they all looked back at her, "She has a point. I'm called Wanheda because every time we have had out backs up against the wall we have pulled a big move that took out most of our enemies at once."
Raven nodded slowly as Clarke met her eyes, "You want me to rig explosives again? Like at the bridge?"
"The bridge?" Abby asked in confusion, having not heard this particular story before.
"Our camp was poisoned to weaken us, it cause an incredibly contagious virus that made us cough up blood, and they were going to wipe us out at night fall. Raven blew a bridge and it stopped the Trikru under Anya's command getting to us until as many as were going to, had recovered." Clarke explained quickly.
Abby's eyes widened in horror, and Murphy shuddered, remembering that day clearly.
"Did you order that?" Abby asked Lexa accusingly, who kept her face impassive as she just dipped her chin slightly.
"Skaikru invaded my lands and had killed two of my warriors that went to talk peace. Anya asked my permission to wipe out their camp and I agreed." Lexa said calmly, refusing to rise to the challenge sparking in Abby's eyes.
Clarke shook her head, "Mom it's in the past, the point I was making is that it worked, using our technology we can set up a perimeter full of traps for anyone trying to breach it."
"You believe this will work Clarke?" Lexa asked her, as she looked again at the map.
"I do," Clarke said confidently, "Trust me."