ASCENSION: BOOK 1.

Chapter 2: The Lost Commander.

In my twentieth year I had been away from my people for six months, travelling to visit some of the clans in order to open up trade and to strengthen our relationship with them.
I was an emissary for Skaikru, a solitary traveller, the girl who walked in two worlds. Not just Grounder or Sky Person but both. Since I was eighteen I had built a reputation for showing the clans that Skaikru sought a harmonious living arrangement on Earth, a unity of trade and bond of survival that would be beneficial to us all.
I intended to build on the foundations of peace my Father and Grandfather had begun to lay down all those years ago. Some of the clans reciprocated, others preferred to keep their distance. I considered this a work in progress.
For the past month I had lived with the Plains Riders and had managed to strike up a successful trade agreement for horses in exchange for medical supplies. They were fierce warriors and honourable people who taught me skills with a bow an arrow I never knew I had.
When the day came to leave, to return to my own clan, a sadness filled my heart. I had bonded with Ingranronakru more than most and fallen in love with their way of life. Still covered in their tribal paint, a gesture of honour from their Kru Heda, I rode away from this strengthened alliance back to my homeland of Arkadia.
The journey was straight forward, no hostile territory to avoid other than the lands around Mount Weather. A place where no Grounder or Sky Person dared to tread for fear of being taken away by The Mountain Men.
I was half a day away from my home when the incident occurred. The sound of loud bangs echoed through the air. As  I halted my horse to look around, I saw a Grounder man breaking through the tree line, running for his life. Chasing behind him were five other men in military uniforms, carrying weapons that had long been outlawed in our society. They urged him to stop as they fired these weapons into the air.
The decision I made next would lead me down a path I could never have been prepared for.

I watched in horror as the armed men closed in on their target. The Grounder man was injured and exhausted, a fight that seemed far from fair. I urged my horse towards them, drawing my sword as my steed pounded her hooves upon the ground.
They didn't see me coming until I rode straight into them, slashing my blade at the first man that got in my way. Blood flew from his face as the gleaming steel collided with his flesh.
I positioned my horse between the men and the Grounder, blocking their attack. One by one I fought them off, killing another two of them before one of the attackers fired his gun as I turned to face him. The loud bang was deafening, causing me to lose my focus. A burning sensation blazed across the side of my head, followed by the unpleasant feeling of blood running from what I now considered to be a lucky escape.
The bullet had grazed my flesh, knocking me from my resolve, but it seemed death didn't wish to take me that day. I shook my head and regained my composure just as the man took aim once again. Within a split second I'd kicked him to the ground and dismounted my horse. As he attempted to get to his feet, I ran my sword through his body without hesitation.
Four down, one to go. The last of the men had grabbed the Grounder and was dragging him back into the woods. From the saddle of my horse, I took the bow and arrows Ingranronakru had given to me as a parting gift and aimed it at the military man.
They were seconds away from disappearing back into the tree line as I took my aim, inhaling deeply as I had the target in my sight. I exhaled slowly as I released the arrow, watching it cut through the the air, finally embedding itself into the man's eye. He fell to the floor, dead, letting go of his grip on the Grounder.
I took a breath to process the gravity of the situation. Men with guns only meant one thing to my people and the Grounders, The Mountain Men were upon us. Yet, this time something was different, something had changed and it filled my heart with dread.
I wiped the blood from my head and stepped over the bodies that lay around me.
It was curious and concerning that these men of Mount Weather were walking around  without the protective suits they usually wore when they would come to steal us away in the night. They had no immunity against the radiation that still lingered in this world, keeping them confined to a  bunker complex inside of the mountain.
They had survived for a hundred and fifty years, always seeking a way to once again walk in the sunlight. It was clear they abducted our people to perform experiments, to use us to regain their place upon these lands. We'd seen the bodies of our lost ones, drained of blood, tossed aside into the woods like trash. Those of our kin who survived were turned into monsters, cannibals used to guard the access tunnels around the mountain.
It now seemed the Mountain Men had found a way to be free and whoever they were chasing was of great importance to them.

I approached the Grounder man as he lay exhaused, unable to stand. Kneeling beside him, I searched his body for injuries. He had bullet wounds to his leg and shoulder and cuts all over his body that appeared to be of a surgical nature. The discovery that shocked me the most was the black blood covering his flesh, the mysterious man was a Natblida.
I did my best to stop the bleeding but he needed more than just my basic medical skills. Taking all the strength I had, I helped him to his feet and onto the back of my horse. As I climbed on my steed, I felt the man slump his body against me, his breath was becoming shallow, time was running out to save him.
Urging my horse on towards Arkadia, my mind raced with a thought I couldn't shake. The Nightblood man was in his late fifties, bore tattoos of The Woods Clan and judging by his scars he'd been in that mountain for quite some time. I couldn't be sure but if he were conscious enough to tell me his name  it would be the name of a great leader, the name of a lost Commander.