The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 113

The man stares at his fallen comrade with horror as red slowly stains the hazmat suit around where my arrow is still sticking out of their chest.

"Perhaps now you will listen to me." Lexa says in a deathly calm tone. The man looks between me and her, pale and with eyes full of fear. "I do not accept your people's deal. We are at war, and the only way your people will survive is if you surrender."

The man stares at her incredulously before chuckling. "That's a good joke. Like you savages could win against us," he snorts. "Even with the help of your girlfriend and her people, you could never win."

"I guess we'll find out." I say, hating this man more and more every time he opens his mouth.

"Now go," Lexa orders. His eyes snap back towards her. "Tell your people what we have said. And go quickly so we do not get more tempted to catch up and cut off your head or put an arrow in your back."

The man makes a scared squeaking sound and practically trips over himself as he turns and flees.

"What should we do with that one?" I ask Lexa once he's out of sight. I point towards the other Maunon that's dead.

Lexa purses her lips. "He is right in the way of our marching. We need to move him."

"We could just bury him," I suggest.

"That is a good idea. Do you know if anyone brought a shovel?" Lexa asks.

"I don't, but I bet someone did." I say. "Hey, we can ask someone else to dig a hole for him."

"Or we could carry him into a nearby bear den. I know one that is not far."

"Lets do it."

Lexa picks him up by his shoulders while I pick him up by his legs. It's awkward to move and difficult to walk, but at least it works. We make our way slowly towards the cave Lexa mentioned.

We toss the Maunon just  inside the cave. The sound of his body hitting the ground must wake up the bear, or at the very least makes it really angry if the thundering roar we get in response is any indication.

Lexa and I exchange a look and get out of there as fast as we can. Once we get closer to camp, we slow to a jog then a walk. We stop and sit at the base of a large tree together, catching our breath.

"Well, we have had an eventful day." Lexa remarks, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I chuckle and lean my head against her shoulder. "It will only get busier and crazier from here."

Lexa hums in response and we sit in silence for a relatively peaceful moment. "Should we head back?"

"Yeah," I sigh. "They're probably starting to worry about us."

I stand up first and offer my hand. Lexa takes it and stands, then brushes some dirt off her armor with her other hand. We keep holding each other's hands as we head back towards the camp.

Raven is the first person to notice that we're back, and the relief on her face when she sees us makes the others around her turn to look at us. The group around her is mainly the "inner circle" plus Artigas and Kane.

"You're back!" Mom cries out.

She rushes over to us and wraps us both in a hug. I can feel Lexa stiffen for a moment before she relaxes and awkwardly returns my mom's embrace. Mom pulls back and looks between us.

"Where were you? We've been worried. A guard told us you two were going on a patrol but it shouldn't have taken this long just to patrol."

"We were on patrol." I tell mom, using my hand that's not holding Lexa's to hold my mom's hand.

"Yeah. 'Patrol.' Luna, Anya, and I have done that too." Raven makes air quotes and winks at us.

"That's not what we meant, Rae. We actually were patrolling. We just came across a Mountain Man or two." I say. 

Mom starts looking Lexa and I over, checking for wounds until I reassure her we're both fine. I can't keep the small grin off my face, knowing that Mom was concerned about Lexa too.

"So what happened?" Raven prompts us when my mom is done fretting and looking us over.

"Well, at first there was one. He tried being sneaky by being up in the trees but he was noisier than Skaikru was when you first got here." Lexa begins. "Clarke shot a warning arrow and hit the tree right next to him. So he came down and asked about whether I accept the Maunon's deal. I said no and signaled for Clarke to listen for another Maunon." She nods to me, indicating that I should continue.

"There was another one in the trees in the perfect sniper position. So I shot him with an arrow in the heart. Then the other Maunon got scared and we shooed him away to go tell his people that we don't accept." I explain.

"Dang. That's badass, Clarke." Raven raises her hand and I let go of Mom's to high five her.

"Thanks. Has anything happened while we were gone?" I ask.

"One of the Grounders sang a beautiful opera-sounding song." Raven says. I raise an eyebrow at that. "No, I'm not joking. What was it called?"

"Take a Life With Me." Anya answers.

"You're kidding," Raven says. "You're not kidding. Okay, wow. In my defense, it's in Trigedasleng and the only words I know are jok (fuck) and ai (me/I)."

"Oh my god," I murmur under my breath. That is way too much information about Raven, Anya, and Luna's sex life.

"It was beautiful." Mom says.

"It is the song of our people." Lexa says. "It is one of the few songs that almost every person in every clan knows. It is mainly sung during a war, before a battle, or during a ceremony."

Next chapter, the plan continues!! Maybe we'll get to see what exactly Bellamy's doing up in the Mountain all alone... Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments! Stay awesome!