Heda's Rogue (wlw)

Young Blood

I dodged a hit and counter-attacked by stabbing my sword into my opponent's stomach. I received a look of shock from the warrior as I pulled my sword out and watched him fall to the ground in a puddle of blood. I lowered my sword, the crimson colored blood and silver steel gleaming in the sunlight as the dust cloud around us settled. Everything went silent before a loud cheer erupted from the crowd. "NEVIS!" I turned to find Lexa, a large smile plastered across her face. I smiled and waved. My eyes looked beside her and found Anya crouched, giving me a nod of approval. Lexa waved back at me as she called my name again: "NEVIS!" I walked towards her as her voice turned from an echo in my mind into a clearer sound. "NEVIS! NEVIS! STOMBA OP!" Wake up? What does she mean?

A final call followed by a hand shaking my body woke me up. I smacked Lexa's hand groggily and rolled over, wanting to sleep more. "Aw come on Nev, Anya's going to punish us if you're not up soon. I already bought us a little more time to let you sleep but I can't do it again, Indra will get suspicious." Lexa said, trying to drag me out of my cot. I grunted and sat up reluctantly, sore from yesterday's training.

"Hos op, Anya's going to be in here any minute now. Get dressed!" she urged, throwing my clothes in a pile in front of my cot. She scurried to the other side of the room and peeked through the tent flap. I got up and threw my clothes on, hopping to get my boots on in a timely manner.

"She's coming, quick!" I finally slid my boots on and sat on the floor as Lexa jumped behind me and started playing with my hair, fixing the stray braids. Anya opened the tent flap and walked in, scanning the room silently. I kept my eyes low and adjusted my coat as she approached us. Her boots stopped 2 inches in front of me and my eyes slowly trailed up to her seemingly emotionless face.

"I was starting to think we'd have to leave you behind and let Indra decide your fate." she said, staring down at me. I dipped my head both out of humiliation for my actions and respect for my mentor. "I'm sorry, Anya." Her blank expression morphed into a gentle smile. I looked up and tilted my head to the side slightly, a confused expression on my face.

"Nevis, you know I'm messing with ya. I wouldn't let Indra decide your fate just for sleeping in. You girls had a rough day yesterday and I understand that. That's why I let Lexa's plan to save you work. Besides, my pre-training morning rounds lasted slightly longer than normal." Anya explained, reassuring me. I smiled at her and leaned back into Lexa's lap a little, finally able to relax now that fear and adrenaline weren't coursing through my veins.

Lexa finished fixing my braids and pulled my head into her lap, looking down at me with a smile. I smiled back at her and snuck my fingers into the jar of black face paint beside us. In a quick movement, I swiped some across her face and started giggling. "HEY!" she exclaimed, taking some off her face and rubbing it onto mine as I tried to crawl away. I missed a movement and fell face first into the dirt as Lexa crawled over and smeared the paint on my cheek, laughter erupting from both of us.

Anya chuckled and crouched beside us. "Well that's one way to paint your faces but I think we should stick to the traditional way. This looks like an absolute mess!" she said as she licked her finger and wiped as much of the paint into a shape as she could. She stopped halfway through and looked curiously at both of us as we sat up to allow her easier access to our faces; it was as if she was considering something.

She then continued shaping the paint to her liking and when she finished with both of us, she picked up a piece of polished metal for us to see her artwork. Lexa and I looked at our reflections and then turned to face each other in confusion. Lexa spoke up.

"A-Anya..isn't this the face paint for Heda?" she asked. I turned my gaze to Anya, unsure of how to feel about having half of Heda's face paint on me. "Yes but I have a feeling you two have what it takes to become Heda one day." she smiled. This time I spoke up. "But isn't there only one Heda?" Anya nodded as Lexa and I exchanged confused looks.

Anya sighed and looked at both of us. "That's why I did only half for each of you. If you put your heads together.." she said, putting a hand on both of our faces and pushing them together. "..then you get one whole Heda. When you work together, you become one." she smiled, her hands slowly sliding off of our cheeks and down to her lap.

"But even if we work together, we are not physically one. We are still two individuals which would mean two Hedas sharing power. That's untraditional and you said it yourself earlier; if something isn't done traditionally, it's an absolute mess." Lexa said, challenging Anya with her own words as usual. I chuckled.

Anya smiled. "You're quite quick for a thirteen-year-old. You see, young Lexa, that's where you get to challenge tradition rather than me. I have a feeling you two will do great things for this clan. You just have to prove to them that a change that big can and will be beneficial and in their favor. Show them how well you two work together and how your minds are able to merge into one powerful spirit through how you fight and hunt together." she said, her eyes seeming to sparkle with hope. Lexa and I looked at each other and smiled, having newfound hope as well thanks to Anya's speech.

Anya stood up and held her hands out to us, helping us up off the ground. "Now come on my two young Hedas, we're on hunting duty today. After second meal we will train for battle." She turned and we followed her out of the tent and through the crowds of warriors and other apprentices tending their own jobs.

As we walked through camp, Lexa and I looked at each other with pride coursing through our veins from wearing half of the highest ranking warrior's face paint on ourselves. We went to the weapons tent and grabbed one bow and a knife each, as well as enough arrows for the both of us. Anya led us out of camp and deeper into the woods, following a faint trail that led to a clearing in the forest with a stream running through it.

We stepped lightly and stayed silent, not wanting to scare away the animals at the stream. Anya crouched into a bush and watched the animals as Lexa and I climbed into a tree and got ready to fire our arrows. I climbed slightly higher to get a better angle and watched for Anya's signal directing us towards a specific animal she wanted. Once Anya finished scanning our options, she gave us hand motions: 2 fingers up, hands shaped to form antlers, hand straight up then quickly angled down.

Lexa and I quickly translated this and aimed our arrows to hit the two headed deer standing on the bank. I moved my eyes to look at Lexa and she returned the glance. We nodded at each other and fired at the same time, hitting the deer in both of its heads. We quickly grabbed a new arrow and fired again, getting it in the chest. For a few moments, we watched it fall to the ground and stop breathing before we moved from our safe spots.

Anya moved forward quietly as Lexa and I slid down the tree and caught up with her. When we got to the deer, Lexa leaned down to check if it was dead or not. She turned and gave a thumbs up but I noticed some slight movement come from the body. I dropped my bow and ran towards Lexa as her smile faded to confusion at my sudden urgency. "LEXA MOVE!" I yelled, diving towards her and pushing her out of the way just as one of the heads shot upwards in its final defense.

Right as Lexa hit the ground at Anya's feet, I felt a terrible pain go through my side and got flung into the air. I landed a few feet away and scrambled up onto my elbows with my knife in hand, prepared to defend myself. I caught a glimpse of Anya shoving her knife into the deer's head right as I felt my arms go weak and everything faded to black.

~A/N: Hello all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it isn't much but I've gotta start somewhere and set up parallels and symbols that will come back later on so there's a lil hint ;) I am going to be working on the next chapter tonight so I expect that to be published sometime soon!~ {Edit: I am currently on vacation and having internet issues that are slowing me down but I am going back home on Thursday so things may pick up after then. Thank you for your understanding and patience}