"Lincoln what's happening?" I asked jumping around the inside of my tent trying to pull my boot up. This was not grounder like at all, but balancing was on and off with me; sometimes I could sometimes I couldn't. I had come back last night, and reported my findings. All seemed to be well then, but this morning everything seemed chaotic.
"One of the sky crew was speared" Lincoln said going through his pouch with all his medical supplies. Lincoln was an inspiration to me; he could hunt, heal, and fight. They say in clans everyone has a designated job out of the three; hunter, healer, or warrior. Unless you were a leader, you had to become one of these things. Lincoln wanted to go beyond what everyone expected though and trained in all three fields.
I was following his lead but so far I'm only very good at hunting. I could do long distance, bow and arrow, and I could manage my own in close combat if it was one on one. Two or more against me and I would lose. Healing I was working at but I can't handle blood. Not friend blood anyways.
As he packed up his medical supplies I did the same with my own supplies. Inside my left knee high boot was a knife tucked in carefully so it didn't cut me, and on my thigh another longer knife was strapped to it that could be used for throwing or close combat. In my pouch that was strapped to my waist was my medical supplies. Half of the things in it I didn't know how to use but Lincoln insisted I carry it. And strapped to my back was my bow and arrow set.
"What do you mean one of them was speared?" I was confused. Why send me to spy on them if we were just going to kill them?
"One of them crossed to Mount Weather. We speared him when he crossed" Mount Weather was not a good place. Once you enter Mount Weather you don't come back out. And if you did come back out, you didn't come back the same. They should count their blessings we kept them away, even if we did spear one of them.
"So what's the plan then?" I asked throwing my hair up into a high ponytail, braids pulling back my bangs keeping it out of my face. Most grounder females preferred to keep their hair down but to me it just got in the way in the woods. The branches would tag and snare at it weaving it around its branches. That would be an easy kill for someone, seeing a grounder hanging from a branch by her hair.
"The plan is I go and patch up his wound and you stay here and out of trouble" Lincoln strode out of the tent and I followed him, not letting that be the end of the conversation.
"Wrong, the plan is I go with you. The others will go back for him I need to be there; remember I'm a spy now"
"You're impossible some days" he sighed before looking at me with a small smile. "Alright you stay with me, you don't go out of my sight, and when I say something you do it" Grounders took pride in concealing emotions. This was Lincoln's way of saying 'I need you safe'
"Understood. Honestly though who's becoming leader here me or you?" I arched a brow at him and smiled.
"I have a feeling that even when you become leader, I'm going to be standing beside you making all the decisions for you while you run off and chase the butterflies" I stopped walking and watched as his back came into my focus, before shrugging and realizing he was right.
"Where are you going?" A voice called out from behind us just as we were exiting the camp. I turned and saw Anya striding towards us, her normal scowl on her face.
Though Lincoln originally started training me, I soon became Anya's second and she advanced me further in my fighting's, and every day I continue to train with her to become the best that I can be.
"I'm accompanying Lincoln when he goes to see the boy who was speared. After Lincoln is done healing him I will stay with him, hidden in the bushes until his people come for him. I will then continue to watch over them" I held my head up, hoping to be forceful when I spoke, like I was telling Anya what was going to happen. Instead it sounded like I was waiting for her approval.
She nodded her head and looked deep in thought. It was the face I had seen many times when she was discussing battle strategies to blow away our enemies before they could even set foot on our land.
"Yes that'll do. Go then, and hurry the boy may not have much time if you don't go now" Anya turned and strode away showing her dominant side. I wished I could be as leader like as her. If I'm not I fear I will cause the destruction of our clan.
I turned to Lincoln and nodded ready to go. We took off sprinting into the woods, moving stealthily. If someone were to look at the woods where we were they wouldn't be able to detect us. This was our life, we spent our time perfecting our capabilities, sticking to the shadows. Now we were the things that stalked the prey in the dark.
Lincoln stopped running and I skidded to a stop beside him. There on the ground surrounded by two other grounders was the boy who wore the goggles. Lincoln moved to him and knelt down, and I copied on the other side of him.
Sweat beaded his body and his moans of pain filled the clearing. I could see the two other grounders with their hands close to their knives. I couldn't tell if they were getting ready to attack something if his moans attracted a predator, or if they were getting ready to cut off his tongue.
Lincoln grabbed some seaweed from his pouch to make a poultice for the wound.
I suddenly felt a clammy hand cover my hand and squeeze. My eyes widened as I looked at our hands. I tried to pull my hand back feeling uncomfortable with the boy I didn't know grabbing me but his grip was tight.
'He doesn't know me, yet he's using me as a support system?' His eyes opened and the look in his brown eyes made me understand it all; he wasn't squeezing my hand in pain, he was squeezing it in fear. Fear of dying. I stopped trying to pull my hand away and instead gave into it. I squeezed his hand back, and gave him an attempted smile. It probably looked more like a grimace.
And to my surprise throughout his extreme amount of pain he smiled at me.
"Lincoln patch him up faster" I commanded. I wouldn't let myself show that I care about this boy's life while I was in the presence of people I was going to command over. I would simply show my leadership skills.
"I need to make the poultice, it could take me a couple of minutes to get it prepared" Lincoln told me and I shook my head. This boy's life was slowly draining away. It was like I could see his spirit slowly seeping out of his body slowly floating to the sky.
"He's not going to make it" No one deserves to die at such a young age, especially when they haven't done anything wrong. Majority of the grounders hated the sky people because they left us here to die, but I couldn't. Sure it was heartless, but they needed to keep some people alive. If only we had known 97 years ago that we could survive on the ground.
"You're the optimistic one. He'll make it" Lincoln told me, giving me a look as if to say don't give up, and don't question my skills. Lincoln continued to make the poultice, but I could tell he was working faster now. Blood continued to spill out of goggles here, and I tried to look anywhere else.
I closed my eyes trying to keep calm, and I drew in a shaky breath. Opening my eyes I looked at the wound and noticed how much blood was still coming out. I drew in one more breath before slowly taking off my gloves and pushing my hands onto his chest, attempting to slow down the bleeding.
I wanted to puke when I saw the red stain my hands and gush up between my fingers. No longer the tanned white, but a cherry red.
"That's good, keep pressure there until I can get this done. Don't push too hard though" Lincoln nodded in approval and continued crushing the seaweed.
"I figured I could do something to be helpful" I glared at the other two grounders but with my shaky and breathless voice I knew it wasn't very intimidating.
"We owe him nothing" the one on the left grumbled out, his voice deep. He was scary looking with his face paint but he couldn't hurt me. I'd have his head cut off and his skin hanging from a tree.
"We need him alive, or are you forgetting we aren't at war with the sky people. If he dies and they declare war on us we could have casualties that we could have prevented. That could possibly include your life" I kept my eyes on the boys goggles. I couldn't look at the boys face, I couldn't see the pain clear in his eyes.
It had gone eerily silent until a chocked "Jasper" rang through the air. I focused on his goggles still, avoiding his eyes.
"My name is Jasper, Princess" he smiled despite the situation. Lincoln pushed me to the side and started to patch Jasper up.
I didn't know how to respond, was I supposed to interact with him as if becoming his ally? Or was I supposed to stay silent and not talk to him?
"Cassia" I offered him quietly but still with an edge. This was uncharted territory for me and I didn't know how to react.
"Pretty name for such a pretty girl" he started to shake again, and I shuffled back more on my knees but his clammy hand wrapped around my wrist halting my movements.
"How much blood have you lost?" I tried joking but it came out awkward and seemed painfully forced. To my satisfaction and surprise I heard him laugh too. I even saw Lincoln and the two guards crack a smile, although they tried to suppress it.
The mood was cut short as Lincoln stood up signalling he was done. I was shoved to the side by the two grounders, who had completely gone back to their composed self. Lincoln gripped my forearm and pulled me up.
My eyes refocused onto my hands now stained red with Jaspers blood. In the intensity of the moment the thought of the blood on my hands went over my head. But now as I stared at my hands I saw just how thickly they were coated. So much blood, dribbling down to my elbows as I held them in front of my face. I wanted to puke.
"Water" I gasped to Lincoln who nodded. He struggled with his pouch.
"Water, now" I was reduced now to a shaking mess. The blood seemed to take up my vision. I could no longer see my hands, only red. I couldn't see the world, everything brilliantly green was reduced to cherry red. Water began to pour over the blood, slowly washing it away as I began to scrub not minding if I hurt myself.
I wasn't afraid of blood. If I started to bleed I was fine, or when I killed an animal or struck down my enemies I was fine with their blood. Not that I liked killing things. My problem was when I had someone's blood on me that I considered an ally. When I had blood on me that I couldn't help, and I had to watch them bleed out and watch the pain fill their eyes and the tears fall out. That was when I couldn't handle the blood, when I couldn't do anything except for watching. I didn't consider Jasper a friend, hell we probably weren't even acquaintances but still he was like me; he was curious of the world and wanted an adventure, but instead he was more trapped than he thought.
Lincoln tilted my head to meet his eyes, silently asking if I was ok. I remember when this tiny fear of blood had surfaced.
I was 7 at the time, and I had been out with a boy my age. He was so dear to me, people had practically already married us off. But I never saw him like that. We had been climbing trees outside of camp-
"Cassia?" My eyes snapped back up to Lincoln who had apparently been talking to me. I took a deep breath before nodding and turning towards the tree where I saw Jasper getting strung up rather roughly.
"Hei! Be careful kom em o ai swear!"* I started to march to the tree only to have Lincoln pull me back. He gave me a stern look and I bowed my head submissively.
After Jasper had been strung up, and some outbursts from me in between, the two grounders and Lincoln left, the latter giving me a look saying 'you get hurt I will kill you' and I smiled at him when the other two weren't looking.
Unsure of what to do I awkwardly stood on the ground in front of Jasper, before deciding to climb up. I climbed up beside Jasper but sat down away from him.
"Hurts" he murmured to me his head lolling to the side. I nodded my head awkwardly, praying his friends came soon and I didn't have to sit beside him anymore.
"I know but it'll be over soon. You're friends are coming" I fidgeted with my fingers tangling them together.
"My heroes" he grumbled and I tried to bit my lip to hide my smile but I knew it still blossomed onto my face. We sat in silence, Jasper continuously going in and out of consciousness, until I heard a female voice shouting out.
"They are here" I jumped out of the tree and rushed into the bushes. Jasper moaned after I told him this but I didn't look back. Crawling down low into the grass I peered out into the clearing.
I am the hunter they are the hunted.
Standing in the clearing was the blonde girl, the guy with the huge nose, the guy who those two hate, the guy with the longer hair, and finally the rebellious one.
"Jasper" the girl gasped rushing forward only to fall. I continued starring on, pushing my concern down. I had nearly forgotten that we had a lot of these traps laying around. Only people from the Woods clan knew where they were, anyone else wouldn't be able to spot it.
The curly dark haired man pulled her up along with the others and then they continued to the tree.
"Jasper are you awake" the blonde yelled from the bottom of the tree.
"My heroes" he faintly mumbled again.
"We are going to get you down!" She yelled again.
"Cassia?" I hear Jasper moan and I started to slowly back away, my cover being blown.
"Cassia?" The guy with the longer hair asked as he climbed the tree. I saw everyone look at each other, all wondering the same thing.
"Pretty grounder" Jaspers words were now slurring together but everyone understood him. Or they understood the message of this; they really were being watched by others who had survived.
"Jasper, you talked to a grounder?" The darker skinned guy asked only to receive no answer. Jasper was unconscious once again.
"Think he's hallucinating?" The curly black haired man asked the blonde.
"No I don't think so, he had a name to give us" the blonde looked to be in thought only to look up at a growl. I stopped moving, and slowly reached for my knife strapped to my thigh, being careful not to make noise. I was almost to the tree line, just another couple of shuffles back and I could duck into a bush.
"Bellamy gun!" So the curly haired man's name was Bellamy. I saw him reach for this gun but nothing was in his belt. The darker skinned guy pulled out the gun and began to shoot causing the panther to jump in the bushes. I winced as I heard the gun fire, and bit my lip hard.
The panther jumped into the grass and got real low. I kept perfectly still. If I didn't move maybe it wouldn't know I was there.
The panther jumped out again, and went to attack Bellamy again but another shot rang out followed by a click noise. The gun was out of ammunition, and the panther was still alive. It was swaying on its feet from the shot to its leg but it was still ready to pounce. The group stood frozen, no one wanting to move and hope the panther left them alone because it was hurt, or died from the wound.
I continued to back up towards the bush, and felt triumph when my foot hit a fallen stick. Pushing myself back I almost wanted to cheer as I became covered by the trees. I was okay. I stood up and turned getting ready to head home, when I heard it.
"Cassia" Jasper moaned, having woken up again. I stood frozen unsure of what course of action to take. I owed these people nothing, I don't even know them. They weren't my problem.
But as I heard him moan again I knew I couldn't just leave them. Grabbing my bow and an arrow I lined up a shot at the panther. Closing one eye I looked through my makeshift scope and released once the panther was in sight.
A thud was heard as the panther dropped, and I watched the reactions of the group. From shock, fear, amazement, and curiosity the group displayed it all. Jasper groaned again and that was a sign to get back to helping him, and it was my cue to go.
Hey guys here's another part done. I really hope you are enjoying my story so far, and I would love to know what you think :D
Again, I don't own the 100 or any of its characters all I own is my characters and plots that I create.
Hei! be careful kom em o ai swear means;
Hey! Be careful with him or I swear!