Loyal

Chapter Thirteen

The funeral wasn't until that night. They thought it would be best to have a feast first.

Everyone had to leave their weapons outside of Tondc.

"You've got to be joking," Snow growled.

"All weapons here for the safety of the Commander and Skaikru," the man said, "No excep-"

He stopped talking when she pulled down her hood. Snow began twirling a dagger between her fingers.

Then, he started talking so fast it was a jumble of words, "I am so sorry, you may proceed, Sonchakripa."

"Sonchakripa?" Bellamy asked, "That's a long name. What's it mean?"

"Lightstalker," Snow replied, "There are worse nicknames."

The whispers spread. Apparently, in Tondc, the most common nickname was, "Sheidaz," the ice shadow.

There would be a feast. The guy who put Snow in a cell the first time they met, Marcus Kane, handed Lexa a bottle of something.

"What is that?" Snow asked Lexa warily.

Just because she wanted an alliance to work didn't mean she would be oblivious to someone possibly trying to kill her Commander.

Lexa repeated my question, answered by, "Its what we drink when we want to celebrate."

The Commander handed Snow the bottle for her to sniff it. It has a strong smell that could hide poison, but from what Snow could tell, it was safe.

"It seems fine. I would feel safer testing it before you drink it."

Gustus, Lexa's bodyguard, looked uneasy. Everyone was, but he looked a litttle more on edge.

Snow didn't blame him. As Lexa's bodyguard, if anything went wrong and any harm came to Lexa, he would be blamed.

Lexa nodded, taking the glasses Gustus, her bodyguard, handed her, and filling them. One was given to Clarke, the other to Snow.

Gustus was trained as a Trikru soldier, and became the Commander's bodyguard.

That was who Snow would be for the next Commander, but far better trained with more experience.

Snow drank the cup, just a sip, before placing it down and wrinkling her nose.

"Poison?" Lexa asked. Snow was trained to be mostly immune to certain poisons, but others still affected her.

"Alcohol," Snow replied, "Just generally disgusting."

But then her legs crumpled under her as she collapsed. She began shaking violently, foam building in her mouth.

Trikru left the small underground cave, turning over a table as they did. Lexa turned to the Skaikru angrily, "If she dies, you all die."

She then shut the gate, clearly assuming Trikru didn't have the antidote.

Snow rolled onto her side, hyperventilating and seizing before passing out.

"Snow?" Someone asked, "Snow, can you hear me?"

The person slapped her face once. Then once going the other way.

On their third try, she caught their hand, "Slap me again and you'll lose your hand."

Bellamy pulled his wrist away, "She's alive."

"Great," Clarke said sarcastically, "Now can you please tell your Commander that we didn't poison her?"

"Can you give me a second to wake up?" Snow asked, "You just poisoned me, it's the least you could do."

Clarke frowned, "We didn't poison you."

"No, you just tried to poison my Commander," Snow snapped back, "If I was your target, no one would miss me."

"Except your loving grandmother," Kane added, "Found out a lot about you, princess."

Snow raised an eyebrow, "My grandmother wouldn't be happy, but she wouldn't start a war over it. She'd probably just unbanish my dad."

"I'm confused," Abby, Clarke's mother and the doctor, interjected.

"We didn't poison anyone," Bellamy said, "But they think we did, and they're torturing Raven."

In Snow's opinion, the girl deserved it, but she could hear the screams. Death by a thousand cuts.

"Find a way to prove it," Snow suggested, "Because if it wasn't one of you, it was Trikru, and there are hundreds of-"

"What?" Clarke asked, noticing her expression, "What did you just think of?"

Snow turned to the gate, "I'll be back. With Raven if all goes well."

The guards let her out of the cell and up to see Lexa, "Stop, it wasn't Raven!"

Everyone froze, "Then who was it? They found the poison in her pocket."

"Because I didn't smell any poison in the bottle, but I didn't test the cups," Snow stated.

"Then why would she have poison, and who would have poisoned the drink?" Lexa asked as Raven's head rolled to the side, a groan of pain escaping her lips.

Snow shook her head, "Gustus looked uneasy as he poured the drinks, more uneasy than someone of his rank should be. He gave you the cups, and he made a spectacle of searching Raven. He planted the poison there."

"Lies!" Gustus shouted, "Your little spy is lying! Why would I poison you?"

"To break the alliance," Lexa sighed, "But I need more proof."

Snow nodded and rushed back down through the gate, grabbed the bottle, and ran back up, followed by the others.

She spoke in English so everyone could hear her, "Here's proof. If I die from drinking this, the bottle was poisoned. If not, let Gustus take Raven's place."

Gustus looked even more uneasy, but only a well trained spy would be able to tell from the look in his eyes.

"That's too dangerous!" Lexa snapped.

At the same time, Bellamy asked, "What if you're wrong? What if Raven was just mad about Finn?"

Snow took no regard of their warnings and drank a bunch of the disgusting fluid.

After five long minutes, she shrugged, "I'm fine. Maybe a little drunk, but fine."

Lexa turned to Gustus, "Why?"

"You can't trust them," Gustus argued.

"Apparently I can't trust you either," Lexa growled, "Snow."

No one saw what was coming, except Gustus. A dagger hit his heart, and he fell dead.

Snow retrieved her weapon and cut Raven down from the post, helping her move towards her friends.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

Snow didn't reply, cleaning off her dagger and sliding it back in place as they watched the funeral.

Gustus's body was added to the pyre, which Clarke lit on fire. They stood watching the blaze.

Snow whispered softly, "Yu gonplei ste odon."