Chapter 26
Echo came back the next morning as Clarke cleaned up their little camp with a small sled. Clarke looked at it and then up at Echo. She waited for Echo to explain what it was for. Echo grabbed her pack, so Clarke did, too. But, Echo didn't put it on. She instead deposited it beside the small sled. Clarke again looked from the sled to Echo and back again.
"The sled is going to bear some of the weight. I also got us some snow shoes. It will help out on the ice. We need to loose some of the weight we bear ourselves. The sled will carry it and we'll pull it," Echo told her.
Clarke got it. The ice floes weren't the safest route to take, but it was safest that they could take without being seen. Even with her hair changed, she wasn't Azgeda. The people would notice and take note. And should anyone ask, they would point towards their trail.
She followed Echo's lead as they started to separate things. The arrows and bows would stay with them. The piles of furs would go on the sled. They kept most of the food, the jerky, berries and nuts, in their packs. Once everything was set, Echo motioned for her to get covered. Clarke grabbed her coat and put it on. Then she grabbed her pack. She watched as Echo did the same. On top of the pile of stuff on the sled were the snow shoes. They wouldn't need the right away, but soon enough they would. When they were all ready, Echo reached down and grabbed the guide rope to the sled. She tied another piece of rope to it and wrapped it around her waist. The sled would follow behind her.
"You're going to lead the first leg," Echo told her.
"I don't know where I'm going though."
"Just head north and follow the lake. You'll be fine. If I need to course correct, I'll let you know."
For two days they followed the edge of the lake north. Clarke would lead all morning, and Echo all afternoon, by the evening they were looking for somewhere to sleep. They'd set a good pace, but they hadn't been running. Echo didn't seem to be that worried. She just kept checking the tree lines and the stars.
On the third day north, Echo had them turn east. Not longer after their turn did the snow and ice show up. Clarke couldn't even be surprised. They stopped early on the third day to bulk up on food and get more furs to stay warm. As they relaxed that night, against the lone tree, Clarke felt like they would actually make it. She knew that Tawa was still a ways off, but it was still in Azgeda. They wouldn't be near Delphikru lands soon enough and Clarke wondered how many times that Echo had made a trek like this.
"How long were you alone on the ice?"
Echo looked down into her "brown" hair and cocked her head. She knew that Clarke couldn't see it, but she wondered where the question came from. Clarke had been quiet since they left Troi. Now, she was asking questions, but they were questions like she'd started asking when Clarke's training changed. It was like she needed the distraction in order to make her mind rest and quieten down just enough for her to sleep. Echo didn't begrudge her for it. She actually found answering the questions helped her relax a little as well. She knew that she couldn't completely let her guard down because of what they were doing, but she could find a way to relax during this tense adventure they were on.
"What do you mean, Sekken?"
"How long were you alone on the ice before?"
"Before what?"
"You told me once that Nia found you on the ice and took you in. It was why you became a spy for her. She saved you, right? So, how long were alone?"
"I wasn't alone," Echo told her.
Clarke shifted just enough to turn and look up into Echo's brown-hazel eyes. Echo was looking down at her still, but Clarke could tell that she was aware of everything around her. She didn't know why, but Echo looked like she was at home there. But, then again, she'd seen Echo in so many different scenarios over her lifetimes that she couldn't fault the spy for looking at home anywhere. It was her job, but this was different. There was a different light in Echo's eyes while they were out on the ice floes. She hadn't noticed it before, but being this close to her now, Clarke did.
"I thought..."
"Speak correctly," Echo told her.
"I thought you were alone when Nia found you."
"I was, but I hadn't always been alone on the ice floes, Klark. Out here, I was with my family. My father died shortly before Nia found me in the wars, but before he did, he taught me to hunt and how to be the best archer I could be. I was still young, but I remembered everything that he taught me."
"You lived on the ice floes?"
"We did after a fashion. From here, I know how to hunt and what to hunt when. I know what to listen for and look for on the ice, but not just to hunt, to move, to run, and where to look for places to hide. I learned how to survive in the cold and what to do if I fell through the ice into the freezing water."
"All good things to know here, I'm sure," Clarke mused.
"Sha, they are."
"So, this is where you grew up?"
"It was nearer to here than it was to Troi, sha. But, after my father died, my mother took us south more onto the lake and nearer to Ronto and the Delphi border. That is where Nia found me before she took me in and started my training to be a spy for Azgeda," Echo replied.
"Where was that?"
"A little village called Mordo, but it is gone. Most of the people that survived the massacre that Nia had on the village moved to Severn to the south. It was the closest village that could take anyone without too much issue. It isn't nearly as big as Troi, but Severn is the largest village before getting into Delphikru. Mother thought about defecting to Delphi, but she never got the chance."
"Moba, Fos."
"Why are you sorry, Klark? You weren't here. It isn't your fault."
"Are you even angry with Nia for what she did to your family?" Clarke questioned.
"Anger isn't the right word for it. I've accept my fate, though, Klark. I knew that I would never be able to kill her. I knew that I could help my people though. I did what I had to do in order to survive. I'm not proud of everything that I've done, Klark. I can't be, but I know that it helped my people."
"And now?"
"I am still helping my people by helping you. I still can't get close enough to Nia, especially now. Ontari will have no choice but to hunt us down. Nia will spin it as we've betrayed her, and unfortunately, she'll believe her. But none of that matters," Echo told her.
"Then what does?" Clarke asked.
"Making sure that you stay alive and we evade capture from any forces that are searching for us. Nia won't make the distinction between us. She'll want us both. She'll either kill me in front of you or she'll kill you in front of me just to prove a point. Either way, we will both suffer at her hand if we are caught."
"Then, we won't be caught," Clarke stated.
"I don't plan on it, Sekken, but we can only plan for so much. And, plans will only get us so far. All we can do is keep going and react to anything that comes our way. As it is, I hope that we get across the floes in a week's time."
"Are we still going towards Tawa?"
"That's the plan, but it all depends on the ice at the moment. For now, it isn't moving, so we can travel easily. As we get further into, it might be thicker or thinner depending on the sun and the weather. If it is thick, we can keep going. If it starts to thin out too much, we'll have to head south and hope for the best. For now, we are safe and sound. Get some rest. We'll need to start moving at first light," Echo stated.
"Ekou?"
"Sha, Sekken?"
"In case something happens," Clarke started very sleepily. "Thanks for taking care of me. I am just a girl from the stars trying to live on the ground..."
"You are a star, Klark. You will light the way for us all as Wanheda. Sleep now, Skaifaya. I will protect your light."
Echo was answered with a soft snore. She wrapped her arms around Clarke and held her tight. This arrangement seemed to keep her nightmares to a minimum. However, the cold, quiet, dark parts of the night that Echo watched over her did nothing for Echo's own issues. Echo didn't fear the night or her memories. She feared being a failure. And, the one thing that she wouldn't let herself do was fail Clarke.
Clarke spoke of Praimfaya burning the world. She couldn't stop it, but she'd live through it. Echo would get her Becca's palace. There she would fulfill her destiny. She would deliver Wanheda to a place to survive it, but she wouldn't. Echo was okay with that. She was okay knowing that she was going to die when Praimfaya came. To her, it seemed fitting. For all the evil that she'd done at Nia's bidding, finding Wanheda, protecting her, training her, and getting there away from Nia's tyrannical rule and the threat of death were all going to be part of her atonement.
Echo never thought that she'd meet Wanheda. She thought that stories were just stories, but she'd hung onto them all as a kid. They meant something. They gave people hope. And, in the end, even in the Mountain, Echo found herself calling out with her thoughts to Wanheda to save them. And, she had. She would never tell Clarke about that. She knew that the younger woman didn't believe fully in herself or the title. Clarke might not be a deity, but the more time that Echo had spent with her, training and talking, the more she realized that Clarke really was the foretold Wanheda of the legends.
She realized that she hyperfocused on Clarke's breathing to make sure that she wasn't having a nightmare, that she hadn't been listening to the world around them. They weren't close to a village or any other real form of civilization. She knew that hunters would make little camps, but this didn't sound like a group of hunters. This was heavier and not as refined.
"Ai Skaifaya," Echo whispered into her ear, barely loud enough to stir the younger woman.
"Hmm?"
"Quiet. We aren't alone. Either someone has caught up to us, or it is hunters."
"You don't believe it's hunters," Clarke quipped just as quietly.
"No, I don't. They aren't being quiet. They are also heavy," Echo replied. "Can you reach your boots and sword?"
Clarke fumbled around a bit and nodded. She hadn't really moved from where she was laying against Echo's chest. Echo heard the faint slink of metal on metal as Clarke drew the sword with her left hand. She pulled it up under the furs and nestled herself down a little, lifting her feet so they were flat against the ground. Echo reached for her own sword. She felt Clarke lift the furs again to let the blade rest against her right side. It was still within reach, but Echo wasn't moving until she knew what she up again. Clarke seemed to be studying everything around her without moving much.
"Four men to the north of us. They are heavy, weighted down with armor. They are slow and unprepared," Clarke told her.
"Soldiers."
"More than likely. They would have had to be given word which way we went. We've been careful."
"Maybe not careful enough."
"We hid the sled lines, Ekou. Something tells me that Nia sent the troops to make sure we came. We've upset the queen."
"It seems she's sending a personal invitation for us now," Echo added.
"Really now you go for sarcasm. Earlier, it sounded like you were channeling Lexa herself. Now, you are using sarcasm."
"You will have to explain some of that later, Sekken. For now, we need to be worried about them. They are here for us."
"There are only four. We'll be fine," Clarke told her. "I am Wanheda and I will it so, remember?"
"Now, who is using sarcasm to mock?"
She could feel Clarke's body shake in silent laughter. She could also picture the little smug smile on the former-blonde's face. Echo wanted to shake her head, but she didn't want the four men who had come to think that they were awake. She wanted them to believe that they were still asleep. Luring them in with a false confidence, they would have a slight upper hand on them. And judging by their size, Echo would take any advantage that they could.
The four men continued to lumber towards them. She wasn't sure if they were any of Nia's men, and by extension from Ledo's troops. It didn't matter though. If they started anything with the women, the women were going to finish them.
"I need you to promise me that you aren't going to let any of them live," Echo whispered.
She felt Clarke shutter and then nod against her. She knew that the younger woman didn't want to kill unless she had to, but Echo would explain her reasoning later. Either that, or Clarke would tell her that it was a sound plan in the end. She knew that Clarke wouldn't like it, but she understood that it was necessary for their continued flight and safety. A hand came down onto her right leg and gave it a squeeze. She knew that it was confirmation from Clarke that she would do what needed to be done. She felt Clarke's body take a deep breath as Clarke's right hand moved up Echo's leg until it was Clarke's belt. She knew then that her sekken was drawing her knife. If she was going to kill them, she would do so with the mark of Wanheda.
The men kept lumbering through the ice and snow. The crunch was loud in Echo's ears. She kept her gaze to the men more of the right. Her left hand slid down Clarke's left arm to the elbow and gave it a double tap. It was short command, but thankfully, one that she knew Clarke understood. They kept their breath deep and sleepy. The men kept coming.
Finally, two of the men stepped forward. They were coming closer to them to check if they were actually sleeping. One came right and the other left, but they didn't realize that they were both now targeted. Most soldiers would opt to come to the weak side at an opponent. These men didn't know who they were chasing or going up against. This was another reason that Echo and Clarke fought well together. They could stand side by side and protect each other's flank.
Before the men could call out, Clarke already had her knife buried, squarely center, in the right one's chest. She was upon the man to the left before the first hit the ground. She didn't yell. She didn't shout. She merely went to work in her slaying of the other man. Echo didn't have time to watch. She got up and took on the other two men. It was a tense fight. She could hear Clarke battling the other man alone. She wanted to dispatch her two quickly to make sure that Clarke wasn't out matched in the dark.
Being a spy, Echo had to know how to deal with her enemy in a variety of situations. The dark was nothing knew. She knew how to move in the dark with the shadows, do what needed to be done, and be gone before anyone knew she was there. This fight should have been easier for her, but she knew that she was distracted. She was worried about Clarke. It didn't make her fight go the way she wanted, but she persevered and completed her mission for the evening. Which in all honesty at this point was no to die.
She ducked under one of their swings and managed to get inside the man's fighting space. She grabbed her knife and stabbed him as many times as she could while defending herself from the other man. It wasn't an easy feat. The guy to her left was larger and she wasn't sure that any of her hits were doing anything more than pissing him off more. Finally, it seemed that he had enough of her playing as he managed to push her just far enough away to get his sword back into play. She felt the sting to her left side, but thought nothing of it as she buried her sword to the hilt in the other warrior. Kicking him off her sword, she turned just in time to block the man from the left and to step out of the way as he fell in front of her. When she looked down, she could see two arrows buried in his back.
Clarke was running to her side, bow in hand. She quickly pulled the arrows out as to not leave a clue at who or what clan had shot the man. She glanced over to Echo for a brief second. When she didn't see in major wounds, she went back to the men to strip them of things that they could sell or use on their travels. She knew that they would be missed, but it would be days before anyone realized that this was the direction that Wanheda had gone. Echo turned around and checked her men. It was then that she remembered the sting in her side.
Carefully, as to not arouse suspesion if Clarke was watching her, she eased her hand into her shirt. It came back dark with blood. They didn't have time to deal with it now. They needed to move before more men, who might have been with this small unit, came upon them. She grabbed some snow and packed it against her side. It would have to do for now. She pulled her shirt down and got back to work.
Once all the men where striped down of gear, money, food, and a few weapons, they got fully dressed and set out. This time they weren't following the lake. They were crossing the floes on it to get to the Ice Fields. It was going to be cold and rough going, but Echo knew they could do it. She grimaced though as she pulled up her pack to get it settled. Clarke didn't see it, though. Instead, the former-blonde picked up the sled rope and attached it to herself. Echo didn't fight her on it. She took up the rear making sure to cover their tracks, and silently hoping for some fresh snow before morning.
With their new items, they set off into the darkness. Clarke would turn and look to her, but the moon was a good enough guide for her until it was fully overhead. Then, Clarke followed the stars. Echo wanted to laugh about it. The girl from the stars was now using them to find her way on the ground. Clarke would always be with the stars. It was why Echo was calling her "Ai Skaifaya" now, even if Clarke didn't always hear it.
