Clexa- Ai laik kwel gon yu

Chapter 31

  Clarke rose early in the morning and made her way down to the training fields before the sun had fully risen, Ryder trailing behind her. Yet even with her early rise, Gaifu had beaten them to the fields. She smiled at him when she arrived and was happy to see a smile in return.
"We have much to discuss Wanheda. Come, walk with me."
Clarke walked side by side with the weathered warrior, Ryder trailing behind close enough to come to her aid but far enough to not intrude on their conversation.
"I have spoken with Indra and the commander. I was given mostly free reign to train you as a leader, although I doubt I will have much to teach you. For about a week you will be a member of this squad only. You will follow orders and learn how this patrol works and I will give you pointers on why I command what I do. Once you have done this you will begin to transition into the role of the leader until I am comfortable enough to give you full control of this patrol."
Clarke nodded seriously, "I can't wait to work with you."
"This scouting team as well as a few others take orders directly from heda. In her stead, Indra. Our job is to track down dangerous persons and to bring them into Polis for questioning and judgement. It is also our job to keep Polis safe from group and singular attacks by tracking dangerous groups and people like Ontari's followers. Today's mission is to track a known thief in a town called Ginan on the outskirts of Polis."
Clarke nodded, "does he have a route?"
"We have a source that believes he knows who the thief is. He's been tracking her movement for weeks now."
Clarke nodded, "perfect, let's get to work then."
**
Clarke had been sitting in the same tree for hours now. Her post had been here the past several days. The first day none of them had seen any sight of the so called thief. So they had come back again each day with the rising sun. Clarke shifted uncomfortably, her butt going numb from sitting on the same branch for so long. Ryder sat in a tree not too far off ever the stoic figure. Clarke envied his resolute patience, she had trained enough to be able to sit silently in the same place for as long as she needed; but that didn't mean she had to like it. Ryder seemed so unfazed that she could almost assume he enjoyed it. Maybe he did.
A sudden crunch in the distance pulled her from her musings. Her head shot up towards the sound but she didn't allow herself to make any noise or draw attention to her position in any way.
She saw a girl, younger than Clarke herself moving stealthily through the woods. On her back she carried a sack bulging with goods. Clarke eyed Ryder nodding her head towards the girl. Ryder nodded in return and Clarke slowly climbed down the tree, careful to make no sound. Ryder moved to follow her but Clarke shook her head. She tracked the girls movement following carefully and at a safe distance behind her. Clarke tracked her all the way to a cave deep in the woods, Ryder had gone to gather the others and follow Clarke's trail. What Clarke saw surprised her, the girl entered a cave where a little boy was curled in the fetal position next to the flames of a fire. The boy looked extremely ill and the girl was ruffling through the bag of stolen items. Her hands emerged from the bag holding some herbs which she ground into a bark plate and began to force the boy to ingest.
Suddenly Gaifu emerged from the treeline and stood next to Clarke. Clarke turned to him, anguish in her eyes. "She's trying to save him. She's not stealing for greed, it's to survive."
"Sha, but she steals nonetheless. The people she steals from need to survive as well. No one citizen deserves to survive over another. Steel yourself wanheda, these are your orders and you must follow them."
Clarke nodded, no matter how much pity she felt she had a job to do and she would do it. She rose and approached the cave silently, one of her swords drawn. She stormed into the cave quickly taking down the girl who was otherwise preoccupied. She quickly tied her hands and stood to the side waiting for Gaifu's entrance. He strode into the cave, cloak billowing behind him. "In the name of heda, you will face judgement for your crimes," Gaifu spoke in his deep baritone. The other members of the scout gathered inside the cave behind Gaifu. "Lead her to Polis."
Sharek stepped forward to grab the girl who struggled valiantly, yelling out for her brother. Gaifu began to turn away but Clarke called out to him. "Gaifu, can we not take the brother as well and help him?"
Gaifu turned back to her a grim look on his face, "these are not our orders wanheda."
"We can't just leave him to die. You said it yourself. One person does not deserve to survive or not survive over another, if we leave him here we condemn him to death. Give him a chance!"
Gaifu turned on her a dark look in his eyes and Clarke grimaced widening her stance to prepare for a fight or yelling. Instead she watched as a wide smile began to break out across his face. Clarke straightened confused.
"Very good Wanheda, you passed the test."
"Test, what test?"
Gaifu smiled even brighter, "a good leader must know when to follow orders and when to go their own way. You just proved that you knew your place, but that you were also a wise and just leader. Congratulations wanheda, you have earned the right to lead."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that, take a day off. This was a long tedious mission, all of deserve a good night's rest. Meet me in the morning to discuss our next mission, which you shall lead."
Clarked bowed her head slightly, "mochof Gaifu. You honor me."
Gaifu smiled slightly, "no wanheda. You honor yourself and heda."
Clarke smiled sadly to herself as she followed the rest of her scouting team back to Polis. Lexa had been gone for several days and Clarke missed her. Every night they had camped out in the woods and she gotten very little sleep, when she returned that night she would return to an empty bed. Shanal and Horan walked behind the group carrying the sick boy. Clarke saw to it that the boy was delivered to a healer and was well looked after before she retired to the commander's quarters.
There she fell into the furs exhausted from long hours sitting in the trees. She bundled the furs around herself missing Lexa's warmth. When she finally fell asleep it was a restless one.
***
When Clarke woke in the morning she rose and dressed quickly, making it to the training fields just before the rising sun. Gaifu was already there when she arrived and briefed her quickly on their next mission. Her job was to lead a mission into the mountain to investigate a series of reports about inhabitation of the mountain. The reports said there were several people seen entering and never leaving the mountain bunker and Clarke's job was to lead her team into that mountain to determine what was going on. Once all the others had arrived Clarke took her position as lead. Gaifu had explained her new position and left her to brief the others on the mission. Clarke had decided that once they reached the mountain they would split into three groups as following: Shanal and Horan, Sharek and Gaifu, Renya, Ryder and herself. Once the team received their orders, they gathered their things and assembled at the stables to move out.
It took them nearly three days to reach the mountain and as soon as its figure began to loom in the distance Clarke's back stiffened. She held her head high, but being back to the mountain for the first time since the battle was painful for her.
"Hod ep!" She spoke clearly when they reached the edge of the forest. All of the scouts pulled their horses to a stop and faced her. "We will leave the horses tethered in the trees and walk on foot from here."
Hidden in the treeline the horses would not be easily seen and so the group left the horses and approached the maunon. They split into their groups and began to scour the mountain, with orders to meet at the entrance once again as soon as they finished searching their quadrant. The quadrant that Clarke took with Renya and Ryder was rather quiet. They split up to search within the quadrant to hasten the time. Most things were in shambles from the explosion that had killed the skaikru that had moved in here. She didn't understand what could possibly be here that had survived that anyone would want. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and with every room she checked her breath caught in her throat.
Finally she approached the room that she had pulled the lever in to irradiate the entire maunon population. Her heart hammered in her chest but she ignored it. She couldn't allow emotions into this situation, she had a job to do and she would do it. She looked around the room for any hidden compartments. A digital display was open in the room that she had never seen there before and she approached cautiously. The screen flashed with a warning sign and she tapped the LCD screen surprised that it had not been destroyed in the explosion. She quickly realized that this is where the assassin must have launched the bombs from. With the limited knowledge she had of technology she navigated the device looking for anything that could be important. Her eyes widened as she came across an encrypted file that must have been unlocked by the codes the assassin undoubtedly had. Her eyes widened further at what she discovered and she quickly cleared out of the files placing them under an encryption of her own that Raven had taught her.
She tapped the digital display head forcing it back into the desk. She checked to make sure it was invisible and then left to quickly finish her rounds. Renya and Ryder met her at the end of the quadrant with no news. Everything was desolate and they hadn't found any remnants of people. Clarke nodded at them, "let's meet the others at the entrance."
When they arrived, Gaifu and Sharek stood stolidly, but Horan and and Shanal were nowhere to be seen. Once assured that neither Gaifu or Sharek had seen anything out of the ordinary she pulled Gaifu off to the side.
"You found something?" he questioned.
"Yes, but nothing that indicates anyone has been here. However, if it were to be found that would be an issue. I will need to speak to heda when she returns."
"What did you find?"
"It appears that the maunon still has missiles. I have encrypted the file and hidden the computer access to the best of my ability. But I will have to speak to heda about what I plan on doing."
"What if that is what these people are after? We may not be able to wait for heda to return."
"The digital access was out in the open when I found it. If that was what these people were after, they would have found it already. I believe we have enough time to contact heda about it."
Gaifu inclined his head, "and what is your plan if Horan and Shanal come back with nothing?"
"We will send two back to Polis to get a message to heda. The rest of us will remain in the area and scout the surrounding area as well as the mountain in case they come back."
Gaifu nodded, "I agree."
They returned to the group just as Horan and Shanal appeared. "We've found no remnants of people, wanheda."
Clarke nodded to them and gave them their new orders. Shanal and Horan would split from the group and return to Polis to find a way to get a message back to Lexa. Renya, Sharek and Gaifu would scout the area while Clarke and Ryder would remain by mountain to be sure no one entered or left.
***
For several days, Clarke and Ryder had been watching the mountain with no activity. Gaifu had returned to them multiple times to report, they had seen a hooded figure several times moving towards the mountain and then they would completely disappear without a trace.. They had not heard from Shanal or Horan at all, but Clarke assumed they had gone to find Lexa wherever she was. Even so, she was beginning to become anxious with the lack of any news. She had a bad feeling about this situation and she knew she shouldn't ignore that. Nearly two days after Gaifu's last scouting report, Clarke saw movement from the East. Horses tearing through the woods from the direction of Polis. Clarke alerted Ryder and they both readied there weapons. The horses came within sight and on its back rested Horan and Gaifu. They both jumped down immediately.
"Wanheda. Horan spoke quickly. "There is news from Polis."
"Speak quickly," Clarke replied.
"Shanal went to find heda,to deliver your message. It took some time to locate where she was last seen but he rode off to the boat clan. However, as I made my way back here I saw a group of ice nation warriors camped out a days ride from the Polis. I approached close enough to hear them speak, and I heard them speaking of the maunon and avenging Ontari and queen Nia. They would attempt to take heda's life. They are sending a group to locate her and take her down wherever she is traveling."
Clarkes eyes closed briefly. "This whole thing has been a diversion. That person you've been seeing Gaifu is meant to distract us. They thought that if they could distract the scouting teams that they would have clear access to heda when she returns."
"This is possible wanheda, but no one knows when heda will return."
Clarke's eyes went wide at the realization. "Lexa is going to be back in Polis today."
Gaifu's eyes travelled to Clarke, "how do you know this?"
"I just know, you have to trust me. This isn't an idle threat, they're after Lexa. We have to find them and stop them," Clarke spoke rushed already beginning to pack her things. "They must have someone who is near Lexa and knows where she is moving. They have set up camp near Polis now, because she is returning and we are distracted. We have to go now!"
She saddled her horse and set off at break neck speed, the others following behind. "Horan, alert the others and then set off for Polis as quickly as you can."
Horan headed off to the others and Clarke urged her horse faster. She had to reach Polis in time. Lexa was in danger.