Chapter 31
Clarke shot the first two men quickly. Upon drawing her next arrow, she shot the warrior behind the leader as he charged at Echo and him. Clarke wasn't going to stop until they were all dead. She drew, aimed, and fired. After ten shots, the other four men were down. Clarke however wasn't completely unscathed. When she turned to check on Echo, she realized that she wasn't either.
She ran to Echo's side as the leader and the last of the small party fell. Echo had gutted him in the end with her sword. Clarke wasn't proud of some of her shots. She thought that she should have been able to take the other four out with just four shots. She wasn't happy that it took ten arrows to subdue them.
She slid into a spot neck to Echo as she fell to the ground. It was then that Clarke realized that the she had a few arrows from the men in her. Clarke knew that she had to treat those wounds first. She wanted to check her over, but she didn't want to stay there.
"Can you move?"
"We need to go," Echo told her.
"I know that. Can you walk? Can you get on the horse?"
"I will to get out here," Echo answered.
Clarke helped her up and then realized that she, herself, had an arrow sticking out of her left thigh. Looking down at the offensive thing, Clarke broke it off. She looked around and knew that she needed to get them out of there, but she didn't know where to go. They had a tail. This was more men after them and Clarke knew that Nia wasn't going to let them go completely without a fight or dead bodies. Clarke wasn't going to give Nia her body, so death to those that came for them was the only thing that Nia was going to get.
Clarke looked up at the sky. The evening was upon them and they needed to get out there. Echo was hobbling, but she was moving. Clarke leaned her up against the one horse as she looked at the other.
"Leave it."
"Don't we need it."
"You want to take theirs, too?"
"No, I just want to get out of here," Clarke answered.
"Then leave it. We'll ride together. We need to get out of the desert. It is too easy to track us without a windstorm to come. And, we really don't want to get caught in that in our condition," Echo explained.
"Where do we go?"
"South, towards Trikru and Floukru. It is the only way that we can go. We have to take care of ourselves. There has to be some place that is still loyal enough to you or Lexa that will hide us for a few days."
"I have an idea, but I'm sure you aren't going to like it," Clarke stated.
"If it gets us out of here and closer to Beka's, I'm all for it," Echo told her.
"I'll remind you about this later when you are upset about it," Clarke snarked while she helped Echo up onto the horse.
Once she got Echo set, she made sure that Echo had her sword and some gear. She moved around their little area and gathered up her bow, quivers, and gear. She tied them on the horse. She then got Echo's bags of food stuffs and all the water skins. She tossed a fur blanket up at Echo and told her to wrap up so that she didn't go into shock. Echo didn't know what it meant, but she knew an order from Wanheda when she heard one, so she did as told. Clarke managed to get their gear down to one pack. She dumped out the rest of the other and took the bag.
She then went to the other horse. She made sure that it was completely unsaddled and free to roam. She knew that it would find its way back to someone. The horses that Echo had gotten them knew the desert enough to get through it and back home. She knew that most animals knew how to survive on their own without human intervention. She just hoped that it made it to a village before it got too dehydrated.
"Go," she told the horse as she slapped it on its rump.
It took off, but the other horses followed it. Riderless they would back to a village faster. Hopefully, they would make it back to one of the earlier oases and some villager from Sangeda would claim them. She hated to do it, but she knew that they had to go.
She got back to the other horse as fast as she could and climbed up on the back of it. Echo made her get in front. She wrapped them both in the blanket as best she could as she wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist. Clarke knew it was so she could hold on while Clarke led the horse on their way.
The only place that Clarke could think of was Niylah's trading post. It was on the border of Azgeda and Trikru. They were far enough east though, that most of Azgeda wouldn't be looking that far south for them. They would keep going east. It was a risk, but it was a risk that Clarke was willing to take. She needed to get them some where somewhat safe and quickly.
"Go," Echo whispered in her ear as her body slumped around Clarke's.
It was all the invitation that she needed. Clarke took the out of the desert southwards in hopes that they would make it to the borders by morning. She hated riding through the night, but she knew that it was going to be necessary. There was no trail, but within hours, she saw trees.
Her heart leapt into her throat. She was happy to see them again. She hadn't realized how much she missed trees and their cover until they were deep into the desert. Then, she realized that the fact that she was seeing these trees meant that they were out of Sangeda completely and back towards Azgeda. Her heart sank. But, this was the furthest south and east that Azgeda ran. It was mostly unguarded, except for a few border villages, that were really there just to terrorize Trikru more than anything. They were more like outposts where Nia kept gona stationed to prepare for an invation that was never really going to happen as long as the Kongeda existed.
It was at this time that she finally felt the heat coming from Echo's body. She was burning up. This meant that her wounds were feverish, or she'd been poisoned and her body was trying to fight it off. Knowing Azgeda's penchant for poisoning, she went with the latter theory. She needed to deal with Echo and she needed to do it soon. She was possibly running out of time, and damnit, she wasn't going to let Echo die like this. She refused.
She kept them moving though. She knew that she couldn't stop. Echo needed her help. And, then she heard a sound.
It was faint at first. She thought that she was dreaming, so she turned the horse around. She heard it again. The clank of the metal under a hoof.
Clarke jumped down off the horse. Her leg smarted, but she had a mission. She didn't have time for her own pain. She shoved the horse over and ran her hand on the ground below it. There was a bunker.
She got down and opened the hatch. Not seeing the bottom, she knew that she would have to do something for light. She found a stick, ripped a piece of the horse blanket off and made torch. She lit it with a small piece of flint and her knife. It wasn't perfect, but it would do.
She climbed down into it after leaving Echo next to a tree. She wrapped her up and went down to see what was inside. Hopefully, she could use something in there to help Echo. She didn't think that they would make it Niylah's. Echo needed help and she needed it now.
While scouting around, she found two beds and fresh linens. The bunker hadn't been raided too bad and it didn't look like anyone ever made it inside. There were can goods of food that Clarke wasn't ready to tempt. They weren't that hard off at the moment. There lots of jugs of water. They were all glass though. She didn't care, at least, she could tell that it was clean. There were lamps that still had oil. She lit them and strategically placed them around. Which is when she found boxes of "emergency candles" and some other gear that might help them. (She'd talk to Echo about that later, but for now, she'd wait. She knew what Grounders thought about firearms.) Then, she hit the mother load. She found a medicine cabinet. It wasn't just a little kit, this was like a whole storage box attached to the wall. Inside, she found guaze bandages, gauze wraps, pills of various uses, actual Band-Aids, alcohol swabs and a bottle of alcohol, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, oinments (that she'd only ever heard of from her mother, but never seen), and some other medical stuffs that would help them. Whoever built this bunker was prepared.
She scrambled back up the ladder. She knew that they needed to get down and inside. They would be relatively safe there. So, she started gathering their things and tossing them down and to the left of the ladder. When everything was inside, she turned to look at Echo and ended up rushing to Echo's side. She tested her forehead with the back of her hand. She was still burning up. Clarke didn't like her pallor. She needed to get her down into the bunker though. She knew that it wouldn't be safe for her to carry her down. They would both get injured. Looking around she didn't see anything that would help her.
"You can't climb down, can you?"
"Doubt it, Skaifaya," Echo mumbled.
"I'm going to see what I can do to get you down there."
She dropped back down into the bunker. Her leg was on fire, but she couldn't stop. She had to find a way to get Echo down. Then, she saw the ropes. She clambered back up and started to create a huge pulley system with a tree, the horse, herself and Echo. She got Echo to the edge of the bunker and got everything ready. Echo looked down into the hole and then back at her.
"Let me go, Skaifaya. I am just going to hold you back. You have to go. You can do it on your own. Yu laik Wanheda."
"You're right, Ekou. Ai laik Wanheda. And, I am commanding you not to die on me today," Clarke told her as she literally kicked her over the side and into the hole of the bunker's hatch.
The rope caught tight. Clarke's hands burned from the rope, but she managed to ease Echo down to the floor of bunker. She left her there while she gathered up the rope. She unsaddled the horse. It wouldn't be able to help them now.
"Go home. Thank you for your help, good friend. Be free. Your job here is done," Clarke told the horse before slapping it on the rump to shoo it away.
Once the horse was gone, Clarke realized that she would have no way to cover the hatch of the bunker. It just rested even with the ground. She would have no way to get foliage and other ground cover back over it. It would be a sign of where they were. It frustrated her to no end. And, then the wind picked up. She looked around and she could smell it. The petrichor of a coming storm. She looked up at the sky. It was late, but she could see the clouds. It seemed that even Keyron wanted them to be safe. She knew that the storm would cover the hatch back up for them.
Finally, she made her way back down into the hatch. She closed it over her head and then realized that it had an internal lock. She locked it, just to be safe.
When she got to Echo's side, she realized that she was doing worse. She managed to get her up long enough to drop her on one of the beds. There wasn't time for modesty. She needed to deal with her wounds and analyze what the poison was. If indeed it was poison and not just a quickly setting infection in one of her wounds. She quickly stripped her down and laid fresh blankets on her. They were a little musty, but they weren't furs covered in blood and trail.
"Ain Skaifaya," Echo murmured.
"I am here, Ekou. Rest. I will treat you."
"Ain Skaifaya...Ain Wanheda kom Skai...ain sekken...ain Klark kom skaikru...ain striksis Shenan...ain skai..." Echo stated before passing out completely.
"Well shit," Clarke said as she looked at her friend.
Pulling the blanket down, she went to the first wound that she found. It was an arrow in her shoulder. Clarke shook her head. Of course, Echo had broken the shaft and pushed it through at some point. It likely hurt like hell, but felt marginally better after. She leaned forward and sniffed the wound. It wasn't poisoned. She cleaned the wound with the gear from the bunker, suddenly very appreciative that Echo had passed out as she pour the rubbing alcohol on the entry wound of it. Echo stirred but didn't wake.
Clarke went to work on the other wounds as well. She pulled two more arrow heads out of Echo's body. Her leg was smarting, but she just knew that she had to get Echo stable first before she tended to herself. She sighed as she washed the wounds with alcohol and sewed up the ones that needed it more. She refused to burn any of them shut, because she was so afraid of infection setting in. Once she got Echo patched up, she looked her over one more time to make sure that she hadn't missed any wound. She hadn't. She covered her back up with the blankets and draped the fur on top of those to keep her warm.
She was worried about the fever. She needed to find a way to bring it down, but now that they were in the bunker, her ideas and supplies were more limited. That wasn't going to stop Clarke though. She was her mother's daughter. She'd tended more serious wounds in the Drop Ship with less. In the bunker was as close as to being in the Med Bay of Alpha Station on the Ark as she was going to get. And, that was saying something. She knew what she needed to do.
She treated her leg. It sucked, but she pushed the rest of the shaft through her leg. Thankfully, it didn't bleed to much, but her black blood made a mess.
Looking at her hands, covered in her own blood, and then at Echo, Clarke came up with an idea. She searched through her little med kit from her pack and then through the medicine cabinet of the bunker. She found what she needed, but she knew that Echo was going to flip out when she woke up. It wasn't an ideal situation, but Clarke was willing to try.
She gathered all the necessary supplies and dumped them on the other bed. Then, she moved said bed next Echo's. She grabbed one of their packs and dumped it out on a table. She loaded it up with their dried meats, berries and nut. Grabbing three water skins and a glass bottle of water, she loaded those into the bag as well. She placed the bag at the top of what would be her bed.
She grabbed some more linens and blankets. After making up her bed, she looked over Echo again. Her fever seemed to steady, but she wanted to force some pills down her throat. She knew that they had "expired" decades ago, but she was still hoping that there was enough potency left in them to help. She knew that it was risk, but it was one that she willing to take. When they left the bunker, she wasn't going to take the pills with them. This was just a stop gap for her at the moment because Echo needed it.
Crawling on the beds, she got as close to Echo as she could and left her torso and head. She forced her mouth open and pushed the pill in. With how she was holding the older woman, it reminded her of the nights they spent together on the Ice Floes, keeping each other warm and being on watch. Letting out a huff, she reached back for a water skin and opened it. She put it in Echo's mouth and tilted it up. She rubbed Echo's throat a few times to stimulate her into swallowing. Echo finally did with very little sputtering because of the flow of water. Clarke didn't immediately take the water skin away. She wanted to get more water into her for multiple reasons, to keep her hydrated, to help fight the fever, and to make sure that pill got down into her stomach. After a few minutes and plenty of swallows later, Clarke moved away from Echo to set up for the next procedure.
She'd sniffed the arrow heads and didn't smell any poison, but Clarke knew that didn't mean anything. She hadn't smelled anything on the knife when Lincoln stabbed Finn, but the blade had been poisoned. The reaction that Echo was having led her to the fact that she knew that the men were Azgeda, they weren't hunting for food, they were hunting for people, so they were using poison to either subdue or kill. They didn't care which, and now Clarke had to deal with it. She also hadn't known that the tea that Ontari gave her was poison that only Natblida could process. And, that gave her an idea. She wasn't going to try to dig out the abused flesh, she was going to give Echo her blood. She would use herself like a dialysis machine. It wasn't going to be perfect, but it had to work.
She got undressed for the most part. She knew that she would somehow end up cuddled up with Echo as time went on, which is why she was glad that she had the wherewithal to have the food and water in the bed with them. She crawled into the bed next to Echo. She pulled out the needles and tubing that she'd found in Azgeda. She dripped alcohol through the tubing to clean it. She set it up and took a deep breath. She slid the first needle into Echo and got the flash. She crimped the tube. She knew it was going to be harder for her. She placed the needle on her arm, but she wasn't hunting for a vein. She was looking for an artery. When she hit it, and she hoped she had, she hooked the tubing up to the needle in Echo's arm. Then she reversed the process, so that Echo was sharing her tainted blood with Echo.
It was mess. There was blood and medical trash between them. Clarke cleaned it up as best she could and then dropped the gauze and other items onto the floor to clean up later. Her mother would be yelling at her for it, if they were in the clinic, but right now she didn't care. She looked at the tubes between them. Black flowed through one and red through the other. She doubted that this would turn Echo into a Natblida, but it would help with the poison and healing. If it worked, she hoped that she'd be able to convince Echo to take some marrow when they got to Becca's lab.
Finally, wiping down Echo's brow, Clarke lay down beside her. She pulled the other woman into her arms and went to sleep. It was going to be a long night, day, or whatever, but Clarke had done everything that she could to make sure that they were safe. The last sounds she heard that night was the storm brewing and bellowing above outside.
