Chapter 14: The Sacred Symbol
Lexa rolled over under the covers of the thick pelts of her bed. Her eyes flittered open as they adjusted to the sunlight that streamed through the windows. She stretched out her bare arms and startled when her hand touched skin. For a brief moment, she had forgotten that she was not alone in her bed. Lexa turned on her side, using her elbow to prop her head up on her hand. Blonde hair was sprawled out on the pillow beside her own.
The woman lying next to her was still fast asleep. Lexa cherished this moment with her whole heart; she did not get to see Clarke with no lines of worry on her face very often. Clarke looked at peace in her sleep- no nightmares or clouded dreams. Lexa leaned in to press a gentle kiss on her neck, but Clarke didn't even notice in her deep sleep.
But the moment didn't last- a knock on the Heda's door brought Lexa from her peace. She stepped out of bed and threw a robe over her naked body. The knock came again and Lexa cursed under her breath; she didn't want to wake Clarke.
Cracking the door open, Lexa looked at the messenger on the other side, "Chit?"
"Moba, Heda. Indra em komba roun," murmured the messenger, his head bent in apology.
Lexa pulled the robe tighter around her. Kane and Monty had left only four days ago; she hadn't expected anyone back so soon. Indra was supposed to be with her warriors, fighting against Pike. She hoped this was good news. "Hashta Pike?"
"Em laik honon," replied the messenger and Lexa closed the door with a smile on her face.
When she turned back to the bed, she saw her beautiful lover wiping the sleep from her eyes. Clarke yawned and mumbled, "Who was it?"
"Indra has returned," answered Lexa with a small smile as Clarke's eyes lit up at her words. "And Pike is now our prisoner."
Clarke threw back the covers and jumped out of the bed to embrace Lexa. Lexa kissed her cheek and laughed, "Would you like to dress before we see them?"
Looking down at her naked body, Clarke joined in her laughter. They both walked over to where Lexa's clothes were hung. Clarke had begun leaving her own clothes in the room about two days ago, so that she wouldn't have to leave Lexa.
In less than an hour, the Heda sat upon her throne with her advisor, Titus, to her right and her lover, Clarke, to her left. Indra entered the throne room with pride. Behind her came Clarke's friends: Octavia, Lincoln, Miller, Harper, and Jasper. To Clarke's surprise, there was another person with them: Bellamy. His eyes were downcast and he stood back away from the others.
"Indra, what say you?" asked Lexa, with her head held high.
"Kane and those loyal to you from Skaikru have removed Chancellor Pike from power." She turned around and signaled to the guards. The doors to the throne room opened and four men drug a chained and dirty Pike into the room. The grounders in the room hissed at him in anger. "I present to you the murderer, Charles Pike, my Heda."
The guards tied Pike to a stand in the middle of the room. His eyes were stern and his lips pulled tight. He barely looked at Clarke, but instead kept his attention focused on Lexa. But it wasn't Lexa who spoke. Titus stepped forward with a grave voice, "Charles Pike, you are being charged murder and trespassing. Your actions against Trikru are answerable by death. Do you have anything to say?"
Pike raised his chin and looked at his accusers straight on. "I did what was necessary. Your people attacked us first. Your people killed over a hundred of our people and I just answered in kind. If what I did was murder, then what was that?"
"Queen Nia and Azgeda paid for their crimes," answered Titus firmly.
"Not by us," replied Pike bitterly. "I know that this coalition would have moved against our people. Your leader already deserted us once on that mountain. It was cowardly then-"
The grounders around him cried out in rage and Pike's voice was drowned out. Titus tried to call for order, but the members of the coalition wanted Pike's blood and they didn't want to listen to his excuses. The people in the room only fell silent when Lexa stood up. She walked toward him with a hand on her sword.
"I hear you, Pike. And so does the rest of my coalition," spoke Lexa calmly. The angry murmuring started again, but Lexa raised a hand to stop it. "But you have gone against our ways and we do not take that lightly. I send a messenger as a token of peace, but you murdered him. I would have given you your revenge, but you chose to attack peoples who did nothing to wrong you."
"My people died. So did yours. How is what I did murder?" asked Pike, glaring at the Heda, who on the other hand didn't look flustered at all.
"That is for me to decide," spoke Lexa. This time she addressed her people around her. "This man is here because he committed crimes against the Trikru peoples. As your Heda, I will not stand for this. The Sky People were wronged, by both Queen Nia and myself. But I have made my peace with the leaders of Skaikru. And Queen Nia has died for her actions. If Chancellor Pike had heeded my messenger, he could have sought his revenge with the Azgeda peoples. Therefore, I find Pike guilty of murder of the Trikru peoples."
The crowd roared in approval and in Pike's eyes there was a flash of fear. Behind him, Bellamy made a step forward in concern, but was stopped by Miller and Harper. Clarke remained still from her position next to the throne. Her heart was divided; she had never liked Pike's methods, but she wasn't sure she wanted to see any Arkadians put to death today. Especially by Lexa.
Titus took over for Lexa when she returned to her throne, now that she had given her ruling. He spoke to the audience, not to Pike. "And now we address the members of Skaikru that also committed these acts of murder."
"Wait," shouted Pike, his voice raspy with emotion. Titus paused and turned to look at the prisoner with distain, but he allowed Pike to speak. "Wait. My people…they were just following orders. They are soldiers who do what they are told. I should be the only one judged today…do not kill my people."
Titus glanced toward Lexa who gave a brief nod. It clearly wasn't the answer that he wanted, but he upheld his Heda's ruling, saying, "The Heda grants mercy to the people of Skaikru. The Heda will seek council to judge the punishment for Charles Pike. He is to be held alone while he awaits the Heda's decision."
Pike did not protest as the guards pulled him from the room. The ambassadors of the coalition all began shouting at once. Clarke didn't have to speak the language to know what they wanted. They wanted death- death to every person who fell from the Sky. But Lexa did not heed them. She stood and motioned for Clarke to follow. Together, they exited the throne room, with the Octavia, Lincoln, Miller, Bryan, Harper, and Bellamy close behind.
They didn't make it very far before they ran into more grounders arguing in the hallway. The men stopped suddenly at the sight of their Heda. Lexa glared at them and asked, "Chit yo gaf?"
There was some mumbling and shoving and Lexa was clearly irritated. "Ai seiso!"
One of the grounders stumbled forward and replied, "We found this on…"
He opened his hand hesitantly to reveal a light blue object. Lexa stepped in to get a better look and couldn't help but gasp. She grabbed the object and asked sternly, "Where did you get this?"
"Off a Skaikru thief. We saw the sacred symbol and came straight to you, Heda."
"Where is this thief?" Lexa cast a sidelong glance at Clarke, but the other girl had no idea what the item was. But the symbol on it, a sideways eight, looked familiar. Clarke racked her mind before realizing where she had seen it before: on the back of Lexa's neck.
BREAK
Kane and Monty stood at the ledge of a small hill overlooking Arkadia. They could see the camp clearly in the morning light, but there were no people in sight. There were no signs of a fight, for that Kane was relieved, but there were also no other signs of life.
"Did they abandon Arkadia?" asked Monty.
"The only place to go is Mount Weather and it would be too dangerous to make the trek without the rest of Pike's army," answered Kane, but that thought had crossed his mind also. "Hopefully, they've just barricaded themselves in the Ark. Maybe when they lost communication, they moved inside."
"They'll be able to see us coming," warned Monty.
"Pike is no longer in power. If they do try to detain us, we just have to place a call to Indra using our radios."
No one greeted them when they walked through the gate. Kane had an uneasy feeling that something was terribly wrong. There were no signs of anyone dying or any other fighting. But everything was put away as if no one needed it anymore.
"This place is deserted," said Monty, as he nervously gripped his gun. His mother had a couple hours head start as Kane had made sure that Pike was on his way and the other Arkadians were well looked after. If Hannah had arrived at Arkadia, there were no signs.
Kane led Monty to one of the side doors that was closest to Medical. If everyone was safely inside the Ark, Abby would be in Medical. After finding a crowbar, the two were able to pry the door open. To their surprise, the faint sound of music could be heard.
"That's coming from Medical…" whispered Kane. There wasn't another soul in sight. Kane was still cautious as they headed toward the source of the music. With a pointed look at Monty to remain on guard as he pushed through the tarp that led into Medical. Music was blasting from a nearby computer and all of the gurneys had been pushed to the walls of the room. In the middle was Abby, Sinclair, Raven, and Wick. On the table that they surrounded was a computer with several devices that Kane did not recognize.
"Abby!" called out Kane over the music and the pots that Wick was currently banging on. Everyone stopped at once and stared at the new comers.
Raven, whose eyes were red rimmed and wild, spoke first, "You shouldn't be here…"
"Shit, shit, shit…" muttered Sinclair staring at something in the corner of the room. "You don't have much time…"
Abby approached him with a scared look on her face. Her hands were trembling when she touched his shoulder. In an uncertain voice, she whispered, "Please get out of here, Marcus…you need to leave."
"Abby, what is going on?" Abby's eyes kept flickering from Kane to the corner of the room and it was making him nervous. Monty could sense it too. Raven had already turned back to what she was working on. There seemed to be some sort of head gear with electrodes on it.
"You need to leave, Marcus. She knows you're here and I can't protect you."
Kane cupped her face in his hands, desperately trying to figure out what was going on. But she was avoiding his eyes and a silent battle seemed to be going on behind her pale face. "I can protect myself, Abby. Tell me what's going on."
From the corner of the room, unseen by Kane and Monty, stood ALIE with a perplexed look on her holographic face. The group of people had spent the last three hours trying to drown her out of their consciousness, albeit unsuccessfully. She had already had to use manipulation to make Abby and Sinclair to take the chip. But they were fighting her. Jaha was trying to convince ALIE to override their free will and make them fall in line.
But she wasn't prepared to do that. Not yet, anyway. She was curious about how they thought they could rid her from their minds. ALIE was impressed by their solution: an electromagnetic pulse to disrupt the chip's connection to their brain stems. So far, though, they had been unable to get all the supplies they required, because ALIE had access to their every thought.
But the arrival of Kane had thrown a wrench in her plans of merely waiting the rebels out. She could feel the hope pulsing through Abby as she tried to warn Kane of what was happening. ALIE sent a thought to another member of her collective and smiled, knowing he was on his way.
Abby pushed her palms into Kane's chest, forcing him to walk backward towards the door. "You have to leave. Jaha has taken over. There's this chip…you have to go, Marcus. She'll take you over. Our best hope is that you can get away."
"How rude, Abby. Why wouldn't you offer our friends their future?" Kane whirled around to face Jake standing in the doorway of Medical. Jake smiled sweetly as he walked over to turn off the loud music. "You really thought that would work? ALIE is stronger that you give her credit for."
"Jake, what is going on?" asked Kane, clearly not grasping the fact that his old friend was not there to help them.
Monty, on the other hand, had taken in the situation and said quietly, "Sir, maybe we should leave while we still can…"
"The kid is smart. But the City of Light could use both of you. We need you, Marcus."
Abby moved between her husband and new love. "Go Marcus. Take Monty and run."
At the same time, Jake said, "Take the key, my friend. You'll finally find the peace you've been looking for your whole life."
"Jake, come on. You can't possibly have bought into that City of Light crap that Jaha was going on about."
ALIE knew that Kane wasn't going to give in easily, not with Abby telling him not to. They didn't have time for this. She had discovered, through Raven, that the second version was not within the Ark's matrixes. She needed more minds, which meant she needed to take Polis. None of the people currently within the city had ever been to the grounder capital. But Kane had and she needed his knowledge.
Walking up behind Jake, ALIE told him, "I need him."
Ignoring the rest of the room, Jake looked at her and replied, "He isn't going to take it willingly."
"Take what willingly?" asked Kane, his anger rising. Something was wrong with Abby and the others. This wasn't the Jake Griffin he knew. This Jake wasn't burdened by the past. He exchanged a look with Monty and nodded his head in the direction of the back door. They would have to run through some corridors to get out, but he thought they would be able to manage it. Grabbing Abby's hand, he said, "Let's get out of here."
"I can't," she whispered, tears appearing in her eyes. "She's in my mind. She'll know everything."
"She needs more minds," added Raven. "She needs the grounders."
"Abby, I can't leave you," he murmured, but Abby just shook her head.
"Go, before I can't help you...They used Jake against me. I don't want you to have to go through that." Abby pushed him away, tears now streaking down her face.
Sinclair was saying something to Monty now as the young man began to walk quickly to the back of the room. Jake sighed and approached Abby and Kane. "You could be a part of something so much greater, my friend."
ALIE could sense the situation deteriorating. Closing her eyes, she focused all of her energy into the four chipped members of the room who were resisting her influence. She couldn't outright override their free will- but there were loopholes and backdoors in every piece of programming. They struggled as she pushed their minds to the limits. Humans had such limited perception of reality.
Raven cried out in pain as Wick fell to the ground. Sinclair was using the table as a crutch to keep himself upright as he begged for ALIE to stop. Before Kane's eyes, Abby dropped to her knees. He knelt beside her, but Abby cried, "Go, Marcus. Please, I can't fight her. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I love you, Marcus. Take care of Clarke!"
Kane could feel the breath stop in his lungs, his entire body screaming at him to take her in his arms and hold her. But he knew the only way to save Abby was to get help. Monty was calling for him to run. Kane took a moment to kiss Abby's forehead and wipe the tears from her face. Staring into her troubled and scared eyes, he whispered, "I'll come back for you. I love you. Don't forget that."
As soon as he said the words, her face fell slack and her expression turned calm in an instance. They both stood up. Kane backed away slowly as the woman he loved cocked her head to the side and said, "I think it's time that we talk, Marcus Kane."
Fear gripped Kane's heart as he stared back at whoever was talking to him through Abby's body and voice. Making the only choice he had left, he looked at Monty and shouted one word, "Run!"
Translations:
Chit?: What?
Moba, Heda. Indra em komba roun: Apologies, Commander. Indra has returned.
Hasta Pike?: What about Pike?
Chit yo gaf?: What do you all want?
Ai seiso: Answer me
