Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 32: A Line in the Sand

"Greetings," Lexa says, making her voice iron. "Explain yourself."

"You got quite far into our territory before we caught you," he says, ignoring her question. He is very tall – topping Lexa by nearly a foot – and has a long beard, carefully braided. A thick ropy scar stretches across his right cheek and down his chin. Despite this, he could only be a year or two her elder, running on bravado and ego.

"Your territory?" Lexa's voice becomes colder. "All of the twelve clans are my territory. Or have the Azgeda forgotten their duty to their Heda?"

He bows, though not with enough apology for Lexa's approval. "Moba, Heda. I am sorry. The Azplana has ordered that all gonakrus entering must be stopped."

"But not mine, surely," Lexa says, using her most silky and dangerous tone.

The leader just quirks his eyebrow at her, an unimaginably dismissive gesture that fills Lexa with rage.

The man next to the leader, no doubt his second in command, swallows hard. Lexa realises he is sweating. He does not like his orders, this man. His leader may be confident but he is terrified. "Even yours, Heda. The knowledge of your visit is so widespread, our Azplana worries that someone may attempt to impersonate you to enter our lands." His voice breaks a little at the end and he bows, much deeper than the leader. The look he gives Lexa is filled with unquestioning deference, nearly reverence. This man is smaller than the other but older.

Lexa looks at him. "And you believe I am an impersonator?"

"No, Heda," he says immediately, bowing deeply again.

"What is your name?"

"He is my second in command, Zion," the leader says, shooting a glare the unfortunate Zion's way. "I am Rathan. I command here." He sounds boastful of the fact, instead of powerful and weighted with responsibility as most leaders are.

"And I command everywhere," Lexa says coldly. "Zion is wiser than you, General. He is aware I am no impersonator."

"He believes that, he does not know," Rathan says with a tone of smugness. "We must send a messenger to fetch someone who has met Heda before, and they can identify you."

Lexa blinks. It is an absurd accusation for many reasons. An impersonator could not have an army of Trikru. Lexa meets every description of the Heda, including her sacred tattoos. Most importantly, no one would dare to impersonate the Commander. Nia has planned this purely to annoy Lexa, she realises, and she is using this fool Rathan to do it. He is the type who lets his muscles do his thinking for him, who believes his strength and height make him better. He must have leapt at the chance to show the slender, petite girl-Commander that he did not consider her superior to him. Also, this explains his relative youth – he has been given this command only now, and is drunk on the power. Nia has sent him to his death for her own petty spite and he is too foolish to know it. But before that, perhaps Lexa can use this.

"Then I, and my three advisors, shall come to the village and wait, with a guard of course," Lexa says, voice pleasant. She knows from experience that people find her pleasant tones almost more fearsome than her threatening ones – they do not know what she will do next. She glances at Indra, Anya and Clarke, none of whom look happy, then looks forward again.

Zion meets her eyes for a second and then looks down. He is properly afraid, that one.

Rathan does not look down. "Search them all for weapons and remove them," he barks at his gonas. "Her and her advisors first."

There is a rumble of disapproval from the gonas behind them – and behind Rathan, for that matter, though they quiet when he turns and glares. Indra, despite being ordered by Lexa earlier not to speak, can clearly take it no more. "You offend our Heda," she hisses. Her sword is out before Lexa can stop her. Octavia beats her by a second, though, Lexa can see from the corner of her eye. Perhaps Indra is a bad influence on her.