Authors note
I noticed that I called the Ark "Camp Jaha" in the first chapter. They are one and the same. And it is fitting that the name changes back anyway, hint, hint ;)
I´ve managed to outline the next few parts of the story so hopefully now there will be less of those odd scenes where I seem to have forgotten who was there so people suddenly seem to appear. And the spellchecker has done a couple of weird things to a few sentences…
Well, well, bygones, on with the story. Who would have thought this would turn out to be a legal drama ;)
Don´t worry the trial won´t drag out. And there is a death coming up, I´m warning you. Reviews would make me happy, and makes me write more. And faster.
Chapter 5.
The grounder camp, the woods. Far from the ark
The grounders are still discussing the impending attack. Despite Lexa´s speech there seems to be disagreements between several of the tribes. Octavia hides behind some dense bushes but she has a good view of the whole scene. Lincoln was tied up, sitting by the horses with a guard on watch. She knew he had a knife, now he just had to act.
When the arguing got even more intense - she heard weapons being drawn - Lincoln took advantage of the noise to cut his ropes. The guard was to preoccupied with the ruckus to notice. He was down in an instance and Lincoln moved behind the horses and snuck out of the clearing.
Octavia meets him behind a large tree, they hug but said nothing as they venture further away from the grounder war meeting. When they had run about 20 minutes it felt safe enough and Octavia motioned for Lincoln to stop. They were in an area of large, dark spruces with dense shrubs, they wouldn´t be seen there.
"We need to warn your people" Lincoln was out of breath, "There will be an attack soon". He bent down panting.
Octavia didn´t hesitate "We leave now!"
What they didn´t know was that the attack was already on the way, and the enemy had horses.
The mess hall, the Ark
Bellamy walks slowly to the chair assigned for witnesses and sits down. The prosecutions lawyer - the good lawyer, Murphy thought – clears his throat and starts
The packed mess hall/court room was dead silent in anticipation. Many didn´t know what had gone on as the kids were unwilling to disclose more than the bare details. Abby knew though, she thought this was a bad idea.
"State your name"
"Bellamy Blake"
"You know the accused John Murphy?"
"Yes, I do" Bellamy looks over at Murphy who turns away and looks down. Bellamy is dreading this
"Can you explain how you found at that Connor had died?"
"Clarke told me, we thought that he must have choked on blood in his sleep"
"Do you still think that?
"No" There are some low gasps from the audience.
"Explain"
"He had been sick but he had been improving so Clarke thought the whole thing was a bit strange. Connor didn´t have any residue blood in his mouth, and Murphy had been on watch that night. We had a lethal disease spreading in camp that he had brought in from the grounders. One of the symptoms was vomiting blood"
Another gasp from the audience. Bellamy continues
"Connor was the one who put the noose around Murphy´s neck on the day that we banished him. I believe he killed him as revenge"
The jury looks at Murphy. Murphy looks indifferent and stares straight ahead with a blank expression. Anya tries to get his attention but he doesn´t look in her direction. She senses that he is too ashamed. His bounds wrists gives him away, his hands are tense. No way he is not having a hard time, she thought.
"What about Myles?"
"That I almost saw, I was in the next room. Jasper went up the ladder to the second floor of the drop ship and saw John with a plastic bag practically over Myles head and Myles was dead. Jasper told me later but I heard the whole thing"
Why did he use his first name, Murphy wonders.
"Can you explain about the hanging you mentioned?"
"A couple of weeks before Chancellor Jaha´s son, Wells Jaha, was found killed. We thought grounders had done it, but when Octavia and Jasper found John´s knife"
Stop it, Murphy thought, it was strangely intimate to hear Bellamy refer to him as John. No one did that, just his parents.
Bellamy looked strained now
"- next to two fingers – Wells´ fingers. And we added two and two together and the whole group agreed to punish him"
"How?" the lawyer presses on.
"By hanging him from a tree" Bellamys voice is quiet. You can hear a pin drop.
"So then what"
"A girl called Charlotte shouted that she was the one who had done it, and Clarke cut Murphy down. He wanted to kill her for that. Not Clarke, but Charlotte. I tried to stop him" Bellamy´s voice shook "In the end Charlotte jumped off a cliff and we banished Murphy from the camp for his crimes"
Bellamy was finished.
"Thank you son. Your witness Jacobs"
Murphys lawyer gets up, "So when John Murphy was banished he hadn´t killed anyone?"
"Technically no" Bellamy answers. And to his own surprise he continues"It was a mistake. We should never have done it" and looks straight at Murphy as he says it. Murphy looks back and his face is animated for the first time since the trial began.
"Did you have any proof of Connors murder?"
"I didn´t"
"And where is Jasper, can he back up your account of the other murder?"
"He is missing"
"So we only have your word for it?"
"Seems so"
Murphy couldn´t understand why his assault on Bellamy and shooting Raven had not come up yet. Hadn´t Bellamy told them?
"So no proof there either. Chancellor, the defence is finished with this witness"
Bellamy stands up, looks over at Murphy and whispers "we´re even"
Murphy nods.
The woods
Octavia was exhausted but they still weren´t close to the Ark. She was worried they would be to late. She could see in Lincolns eyes that he thought the same.
Outside the Ark perimeter.
Several grounder armies had gathered. Lexa stood among her advisers and delivered the last plans. They would avenge their dead and take back their land.
She slowly raised her spear to make the signal to move in.
I have outlined more chapters. This was actully supposed to have some more scenes but that court scene became a monster. So no deaths yet. Muahahahahahahaha.