Brave Princess - A Bellarke Story

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Clarke:

It's been four days since Anya came into our camp. Everyone in this camp wants peace. I just hope we can give it to them.

Bellamy is going hunting again today. I'm going to try to come with him, but he's probably going to try to stop me. But that's okay. It shows that he cares.

The people who are going with him are gathering around him now. I duck into my tent and quickly grab my bag, before sticking a knife in my right boot.

I go outside and join the people there. But Bellamy noticed me immediately.

"Come to wish me off, princess?" He asks.

I roll my eyes. "No, Bellamy. I'm coming with you."

His face immediately tenses. "No you aren't."

I sigh. "I need medicine. Besides, I can't just stay cooped up in here all day."

He looks at me for a long while before giving in. "Alright. Just stay close."

I smile at him, and walk with the others through the gate. It's silent in these woods. But the silence is loud. You can hear every footfall and every slight stumble any of us makes. It's almost beautiful. I didn't realize I had been making my way up front until I saw Bellamy at my side.

Suddenly, he motions for everyone to stop. I follow his gaze to a large cat. We've eaten them before. The meat is tough, but it is food nonetheless. Our group ducks down in the large leaves to watch the cat. It's eating what looks like a rabbit. From this angle, though, it's hard to tell.

And then there's a sharp twang of the arrow as the cat slumps dead. I turn around, and the boy behind me has stood up. He's a good shot. The arrow went right into the heart.

As they all go over to the kill, I look at the plants around me. I recognize these. But what are they? I should remember this. I was the top of the class in Earth Botany. And then my brain clicks.

I've forgotten the name of the plate, but it doesn't matter, because I know what it does. It, if ground into a paste, is numbing. It numbs the nerves around the area for a short period of time, but it is long enough. I grin, and begin to pull up the plant.

"What did you find, princess?" Bellamy asks behind me.

I smile at him and stand up, stuffing the last handful of the plant into the bag.

"Medicine. This will numb your nerves for about five minutes." My smile drops though, at the thought. I suddenly remember all of the people who were in pain as I was operating all of them. "I should have gotten this sooner," I finish, pursing my lips and standing up.

Bellamy puts his hands on my shoulders. "Hey, Clarke." He pauses there to look intensely at me. I don't know how much longer I can take with out touching him. And his hands on my shoulders are making that worse. "You've done good."

I look down and nod. It continues like this for most of the day. Someone spotting something. We all hide. I look for medicine along the way. Quickly, though, our haul has become as much as we can carry.

I end up carrying two rabbits, along with my pack.

We walk up to the wall and Bellamy yells, "Open the gate! We're back!"

The gate creaks open, and we walk through. Bellamy puts the meat he's carrying on a tarp, and everyone else begins to do the same. I'm tossing my rabbits into the pile, when I hear my name being called desperately from the other side of camp.

I turn my head and see Octavia. It looks like she's been crying. What happened? But her words make my stomach drop. "It's Asher."

I don't think. I don't look toward Bellamy. I just start running. Someone runs behind me. Bellamy, probably. The blood pounds in my ears as my feat hit the drop ship ramp.

Octavia looks at me desperately. "I couldn't do anything. I got him out of there in time."

"In time?" Bellamy asks, behind me.

"The grounders don't want peace," Octavia said.

I swing open the tarp and look around the room for Asher. He's lying on a table on the far right. I move so quickly I'm there within seconds. His eyes are closed, but he's breathing. Barely.

My eyes scan his body for injuries, and then I see it. It starts from the center of his stomach and travels along to below his bottom right rib. A cut. I immediately pull the leaves out of my bag, and begin to crush them, working fast.

My heart is pounding loud, but I'm able to calm myself. "Where were you? How did this happen?"

"He wanted to see the river," Octavia says. "They just kept shooting."

It's all she says, but it's enough. I start to clean Asher's wound, and he begins to wake up.

"Hey, Ash," I say. "I'm going to help you, okay. Just stay with me."

"Clarke," he groans, reaching out his hand to me.

"Yes?" I'm at his side in an instant.

I grab his shaking hand. It's covered in blood from holding his wound. Tears begin to form in our eyes. And then, the dirty, ugly truth displays himself when he speaks.

"I'm not going to make it. Just stop trying."

I'm crying when I speak next. "I can't let you die. You're too young."

He gulps in large breaths of air. It's getting harder for him to stay. "Clarke," he says, his voice cracking.

"You don't deserve this."

He breathes in desperately, and then lets it out.

"That's it," I say, as I stroke his hair. "Just keep breathing."

But his hand falls limp in mine.

AN: Hello! Sorry about the small amount of Bellarke in this, but I think it's important to the story that this chapter happens. I just started reading the books, and I realized that there is a character called Asher in there already! I wasn't trying to copy the books, because I hadn't read them when I first wrote Asher's character.

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