Chasing the Wind

Chapter Four

"Umm, I don't know you," I looked at the girl in the front seat.

The girl smirked, "I'm Madi. Clarke found me after the radiation."

No one else would have noticed that meant she was a nightblood.

I smiled right back, "Guess I'm not the only one the flamekeepers missed."

Madi nervously laughed, "Guess not."

We drove back to Polis over the sand dunes and dry lake beds, through petrified forests.

Finally, we reached the pike of rubble that was once a great building.

When I saw it for the first time on a field trip when I was six, I was fairly sure that it was holding up the sky, and if it broke, we'd all die.

Well, it broke when Praimfaya hit, and a whole lot of people died, so I guess I was right.

One specific pile of rubble had collapsed over the space Clarke claimed was the bunker.

The new people Clarke had described as the Eligius 4 prisoners- I guessed that was just another spaceship like the Ark- would arrive a few hours past dawn.

I couldn't sleep that night, no matter how hard I tried.

"You should get some rest," I said to Echo, who was on watch.

"So should you," the Azgeda spy was incredible at keeping all emotion out of her voice.

I nodded, "I was asleep for six years in a coma. I can wait to sleep."

"No rest for the wicked, I guess," Echo smiled, "That sword. Where'd you get it?" She asked about the Azgeda sword I carried.

I removed it from its sheath and handed it to her.

It had a curved handle, designed for a comfortable grip. This was covered in a tape-like fabric.

The blade itself was straight up until the end point, which curved in the opposite direction from the handle.

Small snowflake patterns ran down the blade, as well as the spike separating the blade from the grip.

This spike seemed to be made out of carved bone, unlike the rest of the metal sword. It pointed forwards along the blade, but wasn't that long.

"I was on patrol with the others," I recalled, "Azgeda warriors jumped out of the trees and held this blade to Jasper's throat, and he just smiled. I needed a sword- I hope it's not offensive or anything."

"No," Echo held out her blade, exactly the same, but a little smaller and visibly older, "They must have been part of Queen Nia's guard, hunting Wanheda."

I nodded as we put our blades away again, "What happened to you? They wouldn't say, claimed it was your secret."

"Even though they thought I was dead," I joked, "have you heard of Samukru?" I showed her the clan crest on my shoulder.

Echo smiled sadly, "So you're that girl."

"You?"

"Queen Nia found my parents, who were protestors. She killed them and trained me. I was eight."

I suppose every grounder has heard of the last Samukru. Most of them probably use me as a sad example of why to never be afraid.

And every grounder fears the Azgeda royal guard. Elite warriors and spies, capable of taking down grounder empires without anything ever being traced back to them.

They are masters of different accents and languages, and they bore no clan tattoos so they could fit in with anyone.

"Seriously," I said, "Get some rest. I'll take watch."