Echo

It had been just over a week since Roan had sent me back to Polis. "To keep the peace," he said. Yeah, right. With word of Praimfaya out, nearly half of the Azgeda army left to go home, to be with their family for when we faced the inevitable. And on the return home, they burnt Trikru villages to the ground.

Leaving me to pick up the pieces.

Leaving me to deal with vengeful Trikru in Polis.

Yesterday, was a tragic day. Nearly fifty of my warriors were slaughtered. Skaikru had armed Trikru and with the guns, they took out my men. They took our temple and, from what my spies pieced together, they found safety. A bunker beneath the temple, a place where over a thousand people could live to ride out Praimfaya. My spies also returned with fateful words. Azgeda will never see the inside of this.

We should have never trusted Skaikru.

Bellamy

"Kane!"

Clarke, Roan, and I had just arrived in Polis. Kane exited the temple and called for us to hurry. He seemed…anxious. Like we would be under attack at any second. Roan warned us that Polis was a warzone, with Trikru and Azgeda both here.

"Ai Haihefa! Yu komba raun."

Echo appeared with two hulking warriors at her sides. And she looked pissed.

"Echo," Roan greeted her uneasily. His brow furrowed. "What happened?"

Echo glared at Clarke with more hate than I've ever seen. "Skaikru happened."

"What happened?" Clarke asked.

"Your people armed Trikru, with your weapons. I lost fifty of my warriors yesterday." She was seething, eyes flashing dangerously. She switched to her native tongue. "Ai don tel yo op, Ai Haihefa. Skaikru en wanlida. Emo saik au non wich in."

"Who armed them? Echo!" he stepped in front of Clarke, blocking her from the furious warrior's sight.

"Klikalida."

"What did she say?" I dared to ask. "Echo!"

She finally turned to me, her hard face softening a bit. "The bringer of the key."

"Jaha," I mumbled. Of fucking course. "Was he alone?"

She shook her head. "I don't know who else was with him. Two others. One of my men thinks it's your leader with him."

"Kane." Damn it, Kane! I thought angrily. Why was he with Jaha? Who did he have with him? "We need to speak to Kane," I said, meeting Clarke's gaze.

"We're coming with you," Roan spoke with finality.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," I said slowly.

"I agree with him, sire." I gave Echo a nod of thanks. She nodded back, warily. She trusted me, to what extent I didn't know quite yet.

I started towards the temple, Clarke following me, praying that we wouldn't be Trikru's next targets. We made it into the temple, and were greeted by Trikru warrior guarding a hole.

"The shelter," I whispered.

She nodded.

"We're here to see Chancellor Kane," I told the warriors. They ignored me, as when Clarke took a step towards them, one of them drew their sword.

"Woah!" I put my hands up and silently begging Clarke would fall back. If these were the same warriors who had used guns to slaughter Echo's people, then they were dangerous. "Clarke!"

She folded her arms and glared at the warriors. Did this girl have a death wish?

"Let us through. Now."

One of the warriors laughed. "Ha oso na wich yu in?"

We looked at each other in confusion.

"We saw you out there—talking to the Azgeda King and Spy." The other warrior spit. "Azgeda and their allies are not welcome here. Leave before we kill you!"

"Enough!" I shouted loudly, hoping the sound reached Kane. Sure enough, just as the second warrior dew his sword, Kane and Indra appeared from the shelter.

"Hod op!" Indra ordered and the warriors sheathed their swords.

"Bellamy, you arrived," Kane began but drifted off at the look on our faces.

"I just spoke to Echo," I said between gritted teeth. "Kane, you called open fire on her people?"

"I did what I had to."

"And killing Azgeda helped you how?" My voice rose to a shout. "You could have killed her!"

"I wish we had," Indra growled.

I don't know what came over me, but I pulled my gun from its holster and pointed it at her. I felt an odd sense of…protection over her.

"You shouldn't care for that Azgeda spy. It's better for everyone if she was dead. She's too close a link to Nia anyways. Nia's dead, Ontari's dead…it's the spy's turn."

"Enough!" I screamed.

Clarke grabbed my arm when I went to pull the trigger. "Bellamy, no! Think of Octavia," she pleaded. "If there's a chance of her forgiving you, it'll be gone if you do anything to Indra."

I hesitated. Clarke was right. But I had to make it clear that I won't tolerate them threatening Echo—threatening Azgeda, our allies. In a split second I turned the gun to the guard who had pulled the sword first and shot him in chest, twice. His lifeless body fell to the ground and Kane, Indra, and Clarke looked at me in disbelief.

The door behind us swung open.

"Bellamy!"