Fallen

Chapter Forty-Eight: False Commander

Ash sits in the throne room, waiting. Echo waltzes in, clearly angry.

"Your king is at a Summit," she informs Ash. "You will not side with Skaikru. Even if you are one."

Ash grabs the spy's wrist quickly.

"I am both Skaikru and Azgeda now," she reminds her. Echo pulls away. "You will not tell me where I will stand. Roan knew how I think before he decided to make me queen."

"You are biased."

"And so is everyone else. At least I try to help as many as I can unlike others." Echo seems to process what Ash had said, looking her up and down. A question pops in her head. "What have I done for you to hate me?"

"It's what your people have done," Echo snaps. "Each turn they have deceived my king. Multiple times they have tried to kill him."

"They were mind controlled!"

"And today?"

Shock hits Ash's system. "What? Is he alright?"

"He is fine. But your father teamed with Trikru to kill him."

"That doesn't make sense."

Echo ignores her comment. "You may be my queen now, but I will always be loyal to King Roan."

Ash recollects herself. Right. She's a queen now. She needs to be thinking like one. Not just someone trying to survive. 

"I would expect nothing more," she tells Echo. "Now take me to Roan."

"There's no need," she hears. She turns to see Roan walking through the doors. There is a sense of relief actually seeing that he's okay. He looks at Echo. "Leave us."

Echo reluctantly leaves the two alone.

"What happened?" Ash demands. 

"It was a trap. If it weren't for Wanheda, I would be dead."

Two thoughts go through her mind. The first being that Roan called Clarke 'Wanheda'. The second being Clarke had to save Ash's husband from her father. How many can say that happened the first week of marriage?

"So what about the bunker?"

"We're going to have to take it to save Azgeda."

"And what about everyone else?" He turns away from her, but she won't back down. "I will not stand by and let innocent people di-"

Roan quickly turns around, snatching her wrist mid movement. There was no physical flinch, but she could still see the pain in his eyes.

"I was not going to hit you," she quietly tells him. "I was just moving my hands to emphasize how I feel."

"I'm sorry," he quickly responds, dropping her wrist. "We need to consider our people first."

"The point of us getting married was to make both clans our people. To protect them both."

"That was before your father tried to kill me."

"And I bet your mother would try the exact same thing if she was still alive."

Echo enters the throne room and whispers something to Roan. Ash looks out the window, seeing a bunch of people head in one direction. No one is fight amongst themselves. What is going on down there? She turns back to the others. Echo locks eyes with Ash just before she leaves. 

"I need to deal with something," Roan tells her.

"You're not just locking me in here again," she snaps. 

"You're not gonna want to deal with this."

"You're not going to stop me."

With that, she walks out of the throne room. She needs to get out before she really says something she will regret. Echo and a few guards are waiting. One of the guards tries to stop her.

"Let me through," Ash orders. 

"You need to stay here."

He reaches out to grab Ash, but Echo grabs his arm before he could.

"She's not a prisoner," the spy reminds him. "When the queen gives you an order, you obey."

She nods her head towards Ash. There has to be some other motive, because that was way too quick of a switch. But Ash doesn't question it at the moment. Instead a thought pops in her mind. Might as well figure out what is going on downstairs. Maybe it could be the exact thing they need to save everyone. Or maybe it's another threat they need to prepare against. She throws on a hood, casting some shadow on her face. 

Once out of the tower, she slips into the crowd, following them. Inside the room, the ascension ceremony is set up. Was there a Nightblood found? That is until she sees it's Clarke in the center of the room. Murmurs flutter through the room until Gaia, the new protector of the Flame, cut Clarke's hand. Black blood pours from the gash. Just as Gaia goes to cut the back of Clarke's neck to insert the Flame, Roan and Echo enter the room.

"This is a sham," he states. "Wanheda is making a mockery of our traditions."

"She is a Nightblood," Indra argues. 

"And so is my wife," Roan counters. More people start talking. Several of them have seen Ash bleed and now they're debating what they may have seen before. His eyes scan the audience, stopping a moment on Ash. "But both weren't born with it but were artificially turned into Nightbloods."

"Roan," Clarke hisses.

"It was to protect us," he adds. Still some don't believe him. "Bring in the medic." 

A couple guards walk in with Abby.

"Mom," Clarke practically sobs.

"I'm sorry," Abby tells her. She looks at the audience. "I created the serum to make Nightbloods in hopes of saving people."

Outrage starts to swell through the room. Something needs to be done before there is a bloodbath. But with no Commander, there needs to be one person that makes the decisions. But there is only way to determine it here. One way. Ash quickly steps forward. Insults start to be directed towards her. Ignoring them, she goes up to Clarke and Roan. The two are arguing about what to do.

"A conclave," she quietly offers to them. "One warrior per clan. This way it limits how many will die."

The two stop to consider this. 

"You're willing to agree to the outcome?" Roan asks her. "No matter who wins."

"I  won't have a choice according to the customs," she points out. 

He leans down some to whisper in her ear, "Then show them why you are queen."

She turns towards the crowd, accepting the new challenge set before her.

"Silence," she demands. Soon many other leaders fall silent, looking towards her. With all the eyes on her, all confidence seems to disappear. Her heart is pounding so loud she thinks everyone can hear it. Swallowing the lump forming in her throat, she keeps eye contact with them. "A final conclave will take place. Each clan will present a champion to fight for them. The winner will make the final decision."

"You are not the Commander," someone calls out. Clarke moves where Ash can see her. Taking a deep breath, Ash responds. 

"No, I am not the Commander. Nor do I claim to be. But I have the right to call it as well as anyone else." Clarke nods her head slightly, giving Ash a bit of a confidence boost. "I, Queen of Azgeda, declare a conclave for the new commander and decision of who can use the bunker."

One by one, representatives of each clan agree. Another fight. And hopefully the last for a long time. Now the question is, who will fight for Azgeda and who will fight for Skaikru.