Lexa awoke with the sun as she had for her entire life, slightly bleary from all the food she had eaten last night but she shook off her sleep and threw together her pack. Over on the other side of the shelter the geda were already getting themselves together. Lexa tossed her shoe over at Ophus, who rolled over and grumbled, but Lexa knew he would get up. She jumped out of bed and went outside. A swim in the ocean would wake her up best, plus she didn't know when the next time she would get to would be. She dashed out onto the sand, her bare feet digging into the soft ground as she stripped off her shirt and jumped into the freezing waves. The water was cold enough to take her breath away, but it did well in waking her up perfectly.
"You had the same thought as us!" called a voice over the waves, and Lexa watched as Lincoln and Rena appeared in the ocean. Vause was further back.
"Good morning," Lexa said. "You guys leaving today?"
"Yeah," Rena said. "We have something of a ride ahead of us, not as bad as some of the other villages, but ours is over a mountain, so that's gonna be interesting.
"Yeah," Lexa said. "We're on the south side of a mountain, so luckily enough we can just ride east and avoid going over.
"The ride for us is flat, but long," Lincoln said.
"What are you going to do," Lexa replied, wishing she could say something smarter.
"Shechan is getting antsy anyway," Rena said with a smile. Lexa froze in the water, and it wasn't due to the cold.
"Shechan?" she asked. "Tall, darker skinned, long black hair?"
"Yeah," Rena said, looking at Lexa.
"He was my heda. Before I was a sekon," Lexa said. She hadn't even realized her home village would've been at the meeting, the hedas who had introduced themselves at the meeting a blur.
"You know," Rena said. "It's been so long since I thought of where I grew up. I mean, I consider my geda my parent now. But I suppose they're still out there somewhere. I hope they're doing well."
"It's an interesting way we do things," Lincoln said, unblinking.
"On that note," Lexa said. "If you do know a Han and a Whitney, tell them I'm doing well."
"I'll do that," Rena said with a smile. "They're both wonderful geda."
Lexa smiled and waved goodbye as she headed back in, throwing her clothes on and running to the building. Anya gave her a look, telling Lexa she had overstayed in the ocean. Lexa put her things together silently, knowing there would be punishments later. But she didn't want to think of that now. Lexa threw her shoes on and twisted her wet hair so it wouldn't drip. She joined the group as they headed to the stables. Tohru wanted to head out early and make good time. If all went well, they'd be back just before sundown.
The air was chilling Lexa's head as she saddled Naya. Perhaps she had caught one of the last opportunities to go swimming. Much sooner, and the water would be far too cold. Another moon or two and it would freeze.
The group headed out, headed straight west, the rising sun behind them, casting a long shadow in the woods. Lexa sat behind Anya. She thought about what Rena had told her, news that her parents were still alive, still fighting, still doing well. She hadn't given them any thought since arriving at her village. It just wasn't how the Tregedakru did it. The system had worked for so long. Family is who you're with, not the blood you are. That was what they were taught. Plus, parents in the tregedakru didn't pay that much attention to them anyway. They were busy training and preparing to be sekons, learning the basic skills of the woods, knives and hand to hand combat. Nothing serious, but enough to defend yourself in an emergency. Fighting was for sekons. There wasn't even a proper name for the youngsters. Goufa, maybe.
The sun crept higher in the sky as Lexa fell into doze watching Anya's horse plod forward. Tohru broke up the cantering with periods of walking so the horses could have a break. They stopped once to give the horses water by a river, but other than that, much like the trip there it was the same trees, over and over again, the same bird sounds through the trees, the same chilly air despite the sun being up. The summer was truly over.
As the sun began to creep in front of them, the trees began to look more familiar, the air started to smell like home. As Lexa began to lean forward, Naya began to prick her ears up. "Yeah girl?" Lexa murmured to her horse. "You excited to be home again? Me to."
Naya nickered softly. Her ears flipped back towards Lexa. She began to slow. "Something the matter, girl?" Lexa said. Her brows pulled into a frown. Naya stopped, dancing sideways. She was the last in line, and nobody noticed her as they pulled slowly ahead. Naya started making a scared noise, a sort of bawling. "What's going on?" she said, increasingly beginning to panic.
Suddenly, Naya bolted. Lexa had just enough experience to hold on, otherwise she'd have been thrown as Naya galloped through the woods. Adrenaline had her holding onto her horse has tightly as possible, her knees gripped ironclad on the saddle as she let Naya run the jitters out of her. Lexa wasn't experienced enough to be able to reign her horse in.
Naya stopped in the middle of the woods, no path in sight. Lexa's heart was pounding in her chest. She looked around, straining her ears as far as she could, but the trees were like a blanket, keeping the sound in. The forest was silent, no bird calls, no wind rustling in the trees. That wasn't a good sign.
Naya was breathing hard. Lexa reached forward and calmed her horse down as she caught her bearings. She looked around, and instantly knew where she was, almost like her inner compass was tugging her back to the village. She turned Naya around, meaning to head back to the village. She still had a ride in front of her. She wedged her heels into Naya's side. Naya refused to budge.
"Naya!" Lexa said angrily, for a moment losing the calm atmosphere she had regained as the heat of frustration flared up. The horse stood there, refusing to move. Lexa nudged her, harder this time.
Suddenly a scream echoed through the forest, followed by rough yells. Lexa froze. She knew the voice of her healer. Something was happening. Naya glanced back. "You're a battle horse!" Lexa growled in frustration, digging her heels into her horse's back. "Move!"
And like she said the magic words, Naya ran, even faster than she had run before. Like oil work, Lexa had her bow off her back, strung, and an arrow knocked within a few seconds. Her legs took over as she let go of the reigns to hold her weapons. The leaves of the trees whipped by her head as she bent low over her horse's neck, travelling faster than one of the arrows she carried back to the group.
Shapes caught her eyes, running through the woods. Grunts and yells in front of her signalled the beginning of a battle. Lexa tapped her horse, reached up and entered the trees. She would be able to do her job better, and Naya had been trained to loop around the battle when a geda left the saddle into the trees.
Lexa climbed through the trees monkey like, her bow tucked safely over one shoulder. Reapers. At least thirty of them, and the grounders were being decimated. They were just far enough away from the village that help couldn't be reached. Lexa knew what to do. Taking it in, she had time to fire a few arrows in, landing in a few of the Reaper's necks, but too few to make a difference. And her thoughts were gone, she was merely part of the machine at this point. She didn't stop to watch, didn't see where Anya or Ophus or Yunto were. No time. She whistled sharply, and Naya appeared below her as she dropped into her horse's saddle.
A Reaper appeared next to her, it's eyes dull and black, it's teeth stained red, it's head deformed. Their eyes met, and Lexa suddenly realized this creature had once been human. Once. She shot an arrow straight into the Reaper's eye, and he went down with a rough yell. She tapped her heels to Naya's sides and her horse rocketed out of the battle scene. The screams faded into the trees as Naya and Lexa ran, dodging trees, Lexa bent low over Naya's neck. "Faster, Naya," Lexa whispered, and as though some force took her horse, her horse's legs started to move even faster than before. They tore through the forest, Lexa guiding Naya straight to the village.
The trees opened up into the village as Naya tore into the center of the village. Corin looked up, put in charge when Juram and Tohru and Anya had all left. She looked up, startled at seeing only Lexa.
"Reapers," Lexa said, breathless. She realized that she was covered in sweat and blood. "Reapers are attacking the party to the northwest of the village.
Corin gathered her thoughts for perhaps half a second, and reached down on her belt to a beautifully carved horn, bringing it to her lips and blowing on it with all her might. A deep sound echoed through the village, a sound only heard in emergencies. Geda appeared from nowhere, shoving swords, bows, spears and knives into various belts. It took perhaps half a minute for the cavalry to mount up.
"Lead us," Corin said, already on her magnificent white horse.
"Naya, go," Lexa whispered, and turned her horse around to ride out. The warriors streamed out behind her, riding fast and hard. From the crowd emerged the face Lexa wanted to see most, tossing her her spear from behind her own first. Lexa's eyes met Costa with a look only meant for her best friend. She turned back to the woods, her hand gripped on her spear, ready to fight.
It took a few minutes, but the sounds of battle came through the trees, slightly faded but still there. The Geda streamed into battle with cries and screams. More of the tregedakru appeared in the trees, arrows whizzing by to the Reapers, falling.
Lexa turned, stabbed, shot and yelled, thoughts fading into the battle. There was nothing that could distract her in that moment. She had learned her lesson.
In a few minutes, it was over. The grounders pulled their horses in, surveying the scene. The reaper's bodies littered the clearing. Lexa looked, her heart pounding, her body so pumped up she couldn't focus.
And then she saw them. The group she had abandoned to get help. Anya stood up, looking straight at Lexa. She leapt off her horse at the same time Lexa did, and the two of them sprinted across the clearing. Anya straight lifted Lexa up from the ground, embracing her. It didn't matter the two of them were covered in blood, sweaty. Lexa's mask broke, and she began to sob into her first's shoulder. Anya's hand went to the back of her sekon's head, wrapping her and calming her. "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok," Anya whispered in a mantra.
After what could have been a few seconds or an hour, Lexa's feet touched the ground again. The energy was gone from Anya's eyes. Lexa took in her first, at the gashes made in her arms, the blood stains on her shirt and her pants. Some of them had been haphazardly tied up.
And then her eyes found the others, and she froze in horror. Ian, slumped against a tree, his eyes staring into nothing. Ophus, his legs twisted in a horrible angle, his eyes shut tightly. Lexa saw his chest rise and breathed again. Yunto, covered in blood but alive. Juram, face-down on the ground. And worst of all. Tohru, neck twisted, arm ripped off his body.
"They got to him first," Anya whispered. The tregedakru fell silent as they realized the damage done to the party.
Corin broke apart from the other geda, walking forward, coming to a rest before Tohru. "Yu gonplei ste odon," she whispered hoarsely. The rest of the geda echoed, yu gonplei ste odon. She went to each of the fallen grounders, whispering it into each of their ears. She whistled through her teeth, and her horse came forward. She draped Ophus on the saddle. He was passed out from the pain, and whisked him away through the trees.
And the spell was broken. Several grounders stepped forward, gathering Ian, Tohru and Juram. Anya and Lexa and Yunto were left. "Come," Anya said, mounting Levi and gathering Yunto in front of her. Yunto remained shell-shocked, frozen. Lexa whistled, and Naya emerged. Lexa mounted her horse and followed, silent, back to the village.