Bellamy's POV
I could see the clouds looming above just knowing it was going to rain. I knew Octavia was leaving to go to Trishana or the glowing forest people, as the Arkadians called them. That's how I found myself on guard duty tonight. I had to work shifts all day so I could take tomorrow off and go with Aden's small group, with it only being a peace treaty having to be signed. The day itself began normal, Monty and I training recruits for the guard then I got to put my bum in the chair I was currently sitting in on duty.
Hours had passed with nothing happening. No sign of the Commanders sister or Octavia. They should be together and Octavia herself told me how much she likes Eretria, but I knew she wouldn't have stayed this long out in the woods with the girl. Especially since she also told me how mush she loves working with Aden and protecting Eretria. Also it was bound to rain sometime in the near future and they should've been back by now.
When I saw Aden walking through the courtyard I took my chance and climbed down the ladder of the watch tower I was stationed in before chasing after him.
"Aden, hey." He turned around along with his cousin, Roman I think his name was. Roman was a mysterious figure but I could tell he was one not to be messed around with either. "Have you seen either of our sister's?" I asked him, trying not to let my worry show too much.
"No. That's why Roman and I are heading out to the lake they're always at. Something's off, and I can tell it's not the thing those two have going on. We were actually looking for you to ask if you wish to come, but we're leaving right now. If Eretria is in trouble, I'm not going to be sitting in here." I nodded my head and quickly caught Monty to ask him to take over for me in the watchtower. I knew I would owe him big time later for missing his date with Harper, but if Octavia was in trouble I wasn't going to be sitting inside Arkadia either.
"Do you think there is something wrong, Aden?" I asked trying to get a clue to as why he would think something was wrong.
"I hope not but I overheard an Arkadian traveler saying he got reports of bandits in the area and delayed his trip because of it. I just want to find them so that way I can personally escort them back behind these walls."
We were heading towards the stables when we heard shouting at the gates and that's when Aden and I both saw it. Two Arkadian guards were each holding something that gave me a clue to as why Eretria and Octavia weren't here. One of the guards was carrying a girl. An unconscious girl, by the looks of it. I couldn't tell if it was Eretria or Octavia right away but I was guessing the former because she was unarmed, and Octavia didn't even sleep unarmed.
All three of us boys were at the guards sides immediately with Roman taking the unconscious Eretria in his arms, confirming my suspicions. I could see a faint trace of a bruise on her left temple where a trail of blood led to. Switching my focus, I looked behind the horse who I now recognize as Octavia's horse Helios, expecting to see my little sister running up to me. My heart sunk as I watched the guards close the gates.
"What happened," Aden frantically asked the guard.
The guard shook his head before replying,"We saw a horse with a rider who clearly looked distressed," he gestured to Eretria as we all started walking towards the infirmary,"so we sent a rider out to receive them. When I got there she was already unconscious."
"Did you see anyone else?" I asked.
"Nope. Just the girl and the horse." The guard shrugged before heading back to the courtyard, most likely to resume his post. Roman carried Eretria bridal style all the way to the infirmary where most of the time Abbey was. No such luck this time as it was completely empty.
"Where is your healer?" Aden asked me with worry and a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"She should be in a meeting at the main hall," I just remembered. I turned to go get her before Roman stopped me his hands now empty without Eretria in them.
"I will get the doctor, get whatever you think may be necessary to help her," he pointed to the now peaceful looking Eretria on the closest gurney in the doorway. Though I was concerned for Eretria, she was still breathing and safe for the time being. I was really worried about Octavia and if she was even alive. Anyone could tell that she would easily give her life for Eretria, like she might've done tonight. I turned to Aden.
"I need to go find Octavia and see what happened. I don't have any medical knowledge, I would just be in the way here. I'll tell you whatever I find," and with that, I turned and started to walk away only to be stopped by Aden.
"I'm going with you," my puzzled look must've given away my confusion because he quickly added,"I'm going to help find whomever attacked my sister. Well, our sisters, and I will see them tortured to their crimes." Not really having an argument, I just nodded my head and grabbed a gun before he joined me in the rover. I thought he might've taken a horse but it was clearly dark out now and the rain was really coming down, so I guess he is smart to ride with me.
I pulled the rover out and turned the headlights on before signaling to the guards to open the gate. As we got going, I realized I had no clue to where I was going. I knew of a few small rivers Octavia usually went to but I don't know which one specifically.
"Take a right up here and follow the trail. We will have to get out soon because the trail will lead to a dead end in, which we will have to get out and walk due to the sylvan forest." I followed his directions and he was right, because not a minute later we stopped and got out into the booming thunder and pelting rain. This was a bad storm.
With Octavia out here somewhere.
I grabbed an emergency lantern and handed it to Aden, taking the flashlight for myself. Holding up my pistol and him his sword, we made out way towards the sound of water as best we could in this storm. It wasn't long after that we came upon a small and dead fire with a saddle and blankets next to it.
My long curls were now soaked and falling in my eyes but that wasn't my main concern right now. I had to find Octavia. I turned to see Aden crouching on the ground, inspecting something.
It didn't take a genius with good eyesight to see the many sets of footsteps leading back towards Arkadia in the now thick mud.
"Octavia must've gotten Eretria out of here as soon as possibale. My guess," Aden stood up again, "is that somehow that I don't know, Eretria was knocked out. I know Octavia's horse is trained to backtrack it's steps if given the right instructions so she got Eretria away from the danger and ran that way, forcing whomever attacked them to follow." He pointed towards where the footprints led before something in the moonlight caught my eye.
"Aden look," I ran over to a dead body laying near some bushes, careful not to let my guard down. "These are bandit clothes are they not?"
"They-" he stopped talking suddenly, and focused on something behind my back. Turning around to see what he was staring at, I heard it more than saw it through all this rain. Someone was running towards us.
Making sure my safety was off Aden and I made our way towards the noise. Then we both saw it. There, running for his life was a boy. He couldn't be very old and was unarmed, carrying only a backpack and a torch dressed just like the dead corpse next to us.
He saw us with our bright lights as well. It didn't take him very long to change his course and run in the opposite direction.
Aden took off and I followed right behind him. My desperation was running high now. I just needed to find Octavia, see her for myself. I gave it a thought while chasing after the boy to change direction and go to the spot I could only guess he was running from.
Running up a small hill, I slipped with all the mud pushing me back down. It's like it was trying to keep me away from finding Octavia. Digging my hands into the mud, just trying to get to the top, I finally did.
Panting and drenched with rain, I put my gun and flashlight up and made my way towards the sound of swords clashing. The thunder was booming and my heartbeat slowed down, almost like time did for me.
I had to remind myself to relax my trigger finger so I didn't accidentally fire off a shot. Up ahead I could see two people next to a fallen tree, one of them about to stab the other.
I didn't think twice as I pulled the trigger and killed the man about to hurt Octavia. I could see the blood splatter and mix into the air with rain, disappearing. The man fell to the ground, dead.
"Octavia?" I called her name hoping she would look up and see me. She didn't move.
Thinking the worst, I lowered my gun and dropped to her side, not caring about the mud surely staining my clothes. Gently I lay her head in my lap and put my ear to her chest, feeling a heartbeat rather than hearing. On closer inspection I could see a gash on her forehead and her head was swollen. Surrounding her left eye was an already forming nasty bruise.
Gently lifting her up and holstering my pistol I made my way towards the rover. When I was sure she was okay laying in the rover, I made my way to where I last saw Aden.
As much as I didn't want to leave Octavia, I had to make sure Aden was ok too. It didn't take me long to find them due to the light coming through the trees. I don't know how kids torch survived this rain but I could clearly see both lights as I made my way towards Aden carrying the unconscious boy, giving him a hand.
"Did he tell you anything?" I asked him.
"No. He refused to come peacefully, even put up a good fight, but I had to knock him out. We will take him to Arkadia for questioning. Did you find Octavia?"
"Yea. She was unconscious but alive. The sooner we get back to Arkadia, the sooner we can both check on our sisters." We threw the boy in the back of the rover next to Octavia and made our way home.
Waiting outside the infirmary with Aden, we both waited for news on our sisters. I took the time to clean up into some dry clothes and put my gun back. Aden did the same as he was in all black grounder clothes.
Just when I thought I was falling asleep in the chair outside the infirmary, Abbey and Clarke came out. We all stood next to the door as Abbey explained us their injuries.
"Eretria will be fine. She suffered a small concussion from hitting her head on something hard and is awake now. She's sitting with Octavia." Abbey looked to me and smiled. "Both your sisters will be fine. Octavia did require some stiches on her forehead and her eye is fine, she just has an ugly bruise and split lip. She's still sleeping, my guess is due to exhaustion. You boys can go see them if you want."
Thanking Abbey I stepped around her and entered the room, Aden behind me. When we entered the room I could see Eretria sitting next to Octavia, who was sound asleep and tucked into the bed. Both of the girls were changed into sweatpants and a tank top.
"Eretria," Aden called, startling the girl. "How do you feel?" He kneeled next to his sister as I made my way to mine.
"I'm fine. Just a bump on my head." She touched her head where sure enough, there was a bruise already formed on her left temple. "Octavia got the worse of it." We could tell she was obviously upset about Octavia protecting her and Eretria not being able to do the same.
I sat down in a chair across from her as Aden pulled up a chair next to his sister and we sat in silence. Aden reached over to Eretria's hairline and pulled it back, revealing a swollen head with a bruise.
"We caught a boy that was in the group that attacked you Eretria. Interogations will start tomorrow at first light."
"What about the peace signing in the glowing forest tomorrow? Surely we can't miss that. Trishana people are expecting us and we've had this planned for months," she argued with her hands gesturing wildly.
"We can postpone it for a small time. Besides," Aden took a deep breath,"we don't know who was behind the attack. For all we know it could be Trishanakru."
"And what reason do they have for trying to throw away peace negotiations?" She challenged him.
"Eretria, think about Octavia. Would you rather have some stranger up for protecting you tomorrow? I know I can't otherwise I would. I won't allow some stranger to protect you either, I trust only Octavia. So unless she wakes up and can suddenly protect you tomorrow, we are not going."
Eretria let out a long sigh, obviously knowing he was right.
"Well," a voice suddenly spoke up and we all looked to her,"It's a good thing I'm up for the task," she said, struggling to sit up.
My heart jumped with joy at seeing Octavia up.
"Hey O, how ya feeling?" I asked her.
"Like I just killed six people," I didn't laugh. This was the second time in three months that she could've easily died.
"Well I am proud of you, Octavia. You have truly proven yourself to me that not only would you do anything to protect Eretria, but you did your very best to bring in her attackers for questioning as well." Aden stood up and turned to leave."I guess interogations can wait for a little bit. Tomorrow we ride to the glowing forest to continue peace. I'm glad you're ok, Octavia. I must get going though, Roman and your Chancellor are waiting for me." He turned and left.
"I should get going as well, it's late and I should pack for tomorrow," Eretria stood to leave before Octavia grabbed her hand.
"Please stay," she asked. I could see Eretria consider it before sitting back down, nodding her head.
"Well Octavia, I best go pack for both of us. So I'll see you tomorrow little sis." I left the room and made my ways to Octavia's to pack then get some sleep.
Tomorrow was going to be hell.
Octavia' POV
When Bellamy left the room, thankfully giving Eretria and I some privacy, I turned to the beautiful women next to me.
"Hey, are you ok?" I reached for her hand and locked fingers with her. I was glad she chose to sit on my left because my right hand was bruised from punching and fighting.
"Am I ok? Octavia are you ok?" She asked through a slightly teary laugh, squeezing me hand tighter.
"I will be. I'm just glad you're ok. If anything happened to you I would never forgive myself...that's why I couldn't go with you when we were escaping. I had to send you to safety while leading them away so that-" I was cut off by her lips on mine for the second time tonight, the sweet taste shutting me up.
She slowly stood up from her chair and put an arm on either side of me, trapping me. I didn't care though. My hand made its way up to her cheek and I leaned forward into the kiss, deepening it as my free hand grabbed her lower back, pulling her closer to me.
Eretria, not wanting our lips to part for even a second, climbed onto the bed and now layed next to me. We continued to kiss each other until I found her hands tangling into my hair, bodies flushed together.
"Ow!" I unvoluntaringly squeeked out when she touched my stitches.
"Oh my god, sorry!" Eretria sat up and lay next to me.
"It's ok, the stitches are still sore a bit."
"Well I best be going," she got up to leave when I grabbed her soft hands.
"Stay with me?" Wordlessly Eretria climbed next to me in the bed and curled up next to the my chest.
That's how we woke up early in the morning. When my eyes opened they were met with the beautiful green eyes of Eretria's. I felt her hand drawing small patterns on my arm as I leaned in for a good morning kiss.
"We have to get up and prepare for the day," I told her, sitting up to do just that.
"Hey!" Eretria shrieked and started giggling as I stole the blankets and went to grab my extra layer of clothes.
"Where are you going," her hair lapped over my shoulder as she rested her chin on it.
"We have to get ready for today Eretria. I need to sharpen my sword and knives and make sure my arrowheads are screwed in tightly. Then I have to feed our horses and prepare a small group of Aden's men to come. I want to run over procedures with them to be ready for any situation," I took a breath at the end, having finally finished what I had to go do.
Eretrias smile turned into a frown. Oh dear lord, she was pouting. I turned around and grabbed both her hands before leaning into one more kiss and leaving.
"Don't forget to train an army while your at it!" She called to me from down the hall.
"Don't worry, that's on my bucket list for tomorrow!" I replied, turning a corner. I mentally prepared myself for the day because there was no way I was at my fullest physically, so I would be relying more on my archery skills for awhile.
Today was going to be a long day.
