Chapter 25

Echo woke to the morning sun shining through the opening of the cave. Slowly she worked her way out of the pallet that she'd shared with Clarke. She knew that they needed to move. She wasn't sure how long it would take anyone to find Ledo's body. To be honest, Echo wasn't sorry that he was dead. She was sorry that she wasn't the one that did it. She was upset that Clarke had been abused. She was mad that Ledo had put Clarke in a position where she was the one that killed him.

She looked over at the sleeping blonde. She'd been fussy through the night, but thankfully she hadn't screamed out. Echo held her. She'd felt Clarke shivering with the nightmares. She whispered in her ear and rubbed her back until the blonde settled. It would last if she was lucky for two candle marks or more. She didn't begrudge Clarke for any of it. She felt responsible for her.

Shaking herself back to the task at hand, Echo began to move around the cave. She was going through their stores and deciding what they could carry with them now. She knew that they wouldn't be back. They needed to travel light but heavy. She was packing up things when she heard Clarke began to start stirring. She turned to look at her, but Clarke didn't fully wake. Echo went back to packing. She knew that if they looked like long range hunters, they could get farther before anyone realized that they were whoever was being hunted from Troi.

Once she was happy with the packs, she moved back to Clarke. She gently woke her. Clarke's eyes flew open. They were wild and scared. Echo anticipated this and moved quickly just as Clarke rolled up and had a knife in her hand.

"That was a great reaction, but I am not threat to you, Wanheda."

Clarke shook her body as she forced herself to completely wake. Her eyes flit around the cave and then landed back on Echo. She nodded at Echo. Replacing the knife to her back, Clarke tore off her shirt and rummaged around until she found another one. Once she felt dressed enough, she moved towards her pack.

"Klark?"

"You know that you can't call me that around others," Clarke warned her as she started securing things in her pack.

"I know that, but that goes for me, too."

"Too many know you as Ekou?" Clarke asked her.

"In Azgeda, sha, they do. Outside not as many but Sangeda will as well. We can think of something on the way. It doesn't matter now."

"It does," Clarke answered. "We also have to do something with my hair. I know that blond is more popular here in Azgeda, but mine is lighter than most. I think only Nia's hair rivals mine. Cutting it won't be enough. I need to dye it or something."

Echo nodded. She understood what Clarke was saying, but she wasn't sure what they had in order to do it. Clarke moved around until she found some dark red berries. They weren't exactly the same as those in that she'd used in Eden, but she knew that it would work. She grabbed a bowl and began to pulverize the berries until she got a thick paste and juice. She grabbed another bowl. In the second bowl, she poured in the juice and some ash that she found on the floor of the cave. Looking around again, she met Echo's eyes.

"I need your help for this," Clark told her.

Echo moved closer. She watched as Clarke mixed ash in both bowls. She didn't understand what Clarke was doing, but she trusted that Clarke knew what she was doing. When Clarke seemed to be happy with both, she moved around until she found a cooking pot and started dropping the paste and some leaves and bark. The paste turned from a darker color, but it wasn't a bright red. It looked like a strange brown color with red highlights. It was enough that Clarke would be able to pass as a southern Azgeda woman. Echo nodded as Clarke started to to scoop up some of the paste from the cooking pot and rubbing it on to her hair. Echo then realized what Clarke need for her to do. She helped her make sure that every strand was covered in this mixture.

"How long do we have to wait on that?" Echo asked her.

"Less than fifteen minutes."

"What?"

"A quarter candle mark," Clarke answered.

Echo nodded. She went to the furs and started ripping them apart. She shreded a few of them and threw them about the cave. Clarke just watched. She wasn't sure what Echo was doing, so she went to some of the stores and grabbed some of the salted meats and dried fruits. She made a breakfast of sorts for the both of them. When she was done, she started to pack up the rest of the meat and fruits, also some roots. Echo started smashing the rest of the stores in the cave. Clarke watched as she trashed the place.

"Stay here, but get ready to go when I get back."

"Sha, Fos," Clarke answered as she chewed on some meat.

Clarke watched as Echo stepped out of the cave. She knew that Echo would be back, even if she didn't know what Echo was doing. Clarke looked around the cave. It was trashed, but Clarke wasn't sure why. She looked at the furs and pelts that Echo had destroyed. She didn't understand why she ripped them and didn't use a knife. Then she looked at all the stores, pots and other things that were destroyed on the ground.

Then it hit her. Echo was staging a scene. She was hoping that if someone found the cave they would believe whoever had stayed there had been attacked.

When Echo came back, she had a two big bowls and some dead small game. She grabbed one of the bowls and motioned for Clarke to come over. She left the other bowl on the other side of the cave. She grabbed some water skins. Pushing Clarke over the one bowl, she began to wash the homemade dye out of Clarke's hair. Using the bowl to catch the dyed water, Echo slowly worked it all out of Clarke's now darker hair.

"I need the juice, too," Clarke told her.

"Why?"

"It helps to set the color and keep it in longer," Clarke answered.

Echo just nodded and brought it over to her. She watched as Clarke rinsed her hair with the juice mixture. When she was done, Clarke squeezed her hair out over the same bowl. As Clarke wrung out her hair, she turned and met Echo's eyes.

"What do we need to do?"

"I'm going to butcher these up and spread the blood around the cave."

"You're trying to make it look like we were attacked?"

"Sha, sekken, I am. It will help them think that we were either not here or we were hurt and staggered off to die. Soon, I'll leave some other bones on a false trail. I don't know if it will work, but hopefully, it will buy us more time as we follow Lake Hu."

Clarke nodded. It made sense. She helped Echo clean up a bit and then finish staging the scene. She wanted it to look like they were attacked, but she also wanted it to look like the cave had been ransacked and goods taken. They had to make sure that there was no trace that they were ever there. Quivers were full of arrows and attached to their backpacks. Clarke realized that they couldn't leave any trace of themselves. She used some water to wash away what little bit of drawings that she'd made while Echo had brought her there for training.

Looking out of the mouth of the cave, Echo sighed. It was getting late. They needed to go. They needed to get as far away from Troi as possible. She knew that it was going to be hard for Clarke, but they had to go.

"Get your stuff on and make sure to cover your head and face. We need to go. We are going to hike toward Lake Hu. Once we are far enough way, we will have to run. It will be weeks before we are going to get horses to travel with. I need you to keep up with me. Can you do this?" Echo questioned.

Clark grabbed a long coat with a hood. Inside the hood, it had a scarf built in. It was a hunter's coat that Echo had procured for her just as the weather was changing. It would be good for Clarke as they moved. It was thin enough to be lightweight, but it was thick enough that she could use it for warmth, and it was long enough that it could be used as a blanket, if needed. It was perfect for them as they traveled.

Echo got suited up as well. She had a black long coat with a hood as well. It came with a red face covering that sat low on her chest.

It wasn't too cold out near Troi, but Echo knew that they were heading north and into the ice. It would be a day, maybe two, before the ice would be seen again. It might be nearing the seconding planting, but the further north that they went the closer to ice they would be. It might be warmer south of Troi, too. Echo knew that it was especially in Polis. And, it would be warm when they got closer to the Dead Zone, but they were heading straight towards the Ice Fields to the North. It was going to get a lot colder before it got warmer for them again.

Slowly they made their way down out of the cave. Echo didn't even bother looking back. The cave was not somewhere that she'd be returning. It was lost to her. It would no longer be a haven that she could use to hide in while waiting for her orders. Her life in Azgeda was over, and she knew it. For now, she would continue on and she would live for Wanheda. That was her job now. She had to protect and keep training Clarke.

They followed an elk trail towards the lake. They went slow at first, knowing that they were still too close to "civilization." If they ran now, it would draw too much attention. She hoped that they would get closer to a village for the night. It wasn't a necessity, but she wanted to be as close as they could to the lake as possible. She knew that they had to pick up the pace once they were far enough away. They wouldn't be staying in any villages, but that didn't mean that they couldn't skirt a few on their travels. The only good thing about when they were heading into the ice floes was the fact that it wasn't the dead of Winter. This meant that they would be able to hunt as they continued to run. Food wouldn't be abundant, but it would be scarce, either. They would have a chance.

They came to the end of the elk trail and would have to finally blaze their own way. Echo knew that they would have to stay together. Clarke would have to follow behind her and stay in her footsteps. This would hide how many people were traveling. She looked over her left shoulder to see Clarke better.

"Stay behind me and step in my foot prints."

"Sha, Fos," Clarke answered as moved behind Echo.

They kept moving through the wilderness. Echo was looking at every tree wondering it was going to be the last. She knew that the evergreens wouldn't be growing the closer that they got to the lake. They would thin out and cause them to not have cover. It wasn't ideal, but it was what it was. Echo knew that once they got to the lake, they would have to head over the water and to the north.

The sun was overhead. Echo reached back and grabbed some of the jerky out of her pack. She ate as she moved. She would check on Clarke occasionally. She saw that Clarke was eating and drinking as they continued their march towards the lake. She was also proud of Clarke for not complaining. She was being a trouper. She was doing everything that she needed to or that Echo asked of her. She just kept moving, and Echo knew that meant more life than death in their world. She just needed to keep Clarke moving and they should survive. They needed to survive. She looked at the horizon and kept moving.

Echo wanted to get to the lake. She knew that it was a ways away, but they needed to put distance between them and Troi. She kept a grueling pace. She knew that they would need to camp near the lake before they took the ice floes over it. They would also need to lighten their personal loads. She also knew that they needed to get a sled. She would find somewhere for them to camp and get a sled from a nearby village. They would use the sled to transport the rest of their gear. She knew that they couldn't get a dog or anything to help them. They would have to pull it in shifts. It would be hard, but Echo knew that they could do it. The person in the back would have to cover their tracks, though. Echo would take the first shift in the back and show Clarke how to do it. But first, they had to get to the lake or at least near it.

Echo just kept pushing them until the sun went down and the air got cold enough that they needed to stop. She veered off the non-existent path she was blazing to find somewhere for them to bed down for the evening. There were no caves for them to hide in. There were no hidey-holes, either. So, she found a clearing where they would have good visibility for them to make sure that they weren't being stalked, by humans or animals. She looked around until she got to the biggest tree in area.

"We'll bed down there for the night," Echo stated as she pointed out the tree to Clarke.

Clarke followed to where she was pointing and nodded. She moved to the spot slowly. Looking around, Clarke found an area and dropped her pack. She reached into the side and grabbed some more jerky. She was chewing on it when Echo joined her on the ground. She looked over at the slightly older brunette and watched as she rummaged through her own pack to find something to eat on. Echo turned to look at Clarke.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm tired, but I'll live," Clarke answered.

"Check your feet," Echo warned her.

Clarke did as she bade. She pulled off her boots and checked her feet. They weren't blistered, thank Keyron, but they were showing a little redness and tender. Clarke fished around in her bag until she found some ointment. She slathered a healthy layer on her feet and then put on new socks. When she was done, she didn't wait for Echo to check her own feet. Clarke did it for her. Echo just cocked her eyebrow at her question but didn't comment on it. While Clarke was dealing with her feet, she pulled out some of the furs from her pack.

As soon as Clarke was done with her feet, Echo moved her pack a little bit away from the tree. She laid two furs down and then sat down on top of them. She pulled her pack close to her right side. She then made Clarke get up. She pulled Clarke's pack closer to her left. She pointed down between her legs and Clarke looked down and then back up at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"You're going to sleep first. I'm going to hold you. This way you sleep and I keep watch. I will wake you halfway through the night. We will switch."

"Are you sure?"

"In this position, we will keep each other warm. Our packs are close enough to get to a weapon. We will be safer this way," Echo told her.

Clarke knew though. She knew why Echo was doing this. In this position, Clarke would find comfort and it would hopefully keep the nightmares at bay. She didn't doubt that she would stay warm though, too. Clarke knew enough about shared body heat and it's benefits for health. She didn't say anything as she pulled her boots over to where Echo had situated her pack. She loosened her coat some and found her way between Echo's legs. She reclined and got comfortable. Echo reached down and draped the other furs over Clarke and herself. She knew that it was going to be along night.

Their days went on like this for four more days. Clarke could smell the water, if that made any sense, before she saw it. Having never seen an ocean or a sea, just the little lake by Arcadia, this lake was massive. She thought that the water was supposed to be salty, and she was amazed that it wasn't. She looked across the water and wondered how they were going to get to the ice floes. Echo kept them moving though.

When Clarke thought that they were going to follow the trails and the travelers directly to the east, they didn't. They kept a more northerly direction. She realized that this was where Echo hoped to lose anyone that was following them. Before Clarke knew what they were doing, they were near a small fishing village on the edge of Lake Hu. They called it Coldwater, and it was aptly named.

It was farther away from the bigger villages, especially Ronto. But, it was still in Azgeda. They were near the border of Delphi without being in the "Lake People's" territory. In fact, while they were looking Delphi, they would crossing the ice and heading straight across towards the Dead Zone.

"We'll stay just outside the village for the night. Tomorrow, I'll get a sled and we'll head out on the lake and onto the floes. You cannot do anything that I don't tell you. Do you understand?"

"Sha, Fos, I understand."

"Good, Sekken, reshop."