Fragments of war: Unlikely Alliances || The 100

3||

   I looked around the area, hoping to spot Daktari. I looked at the ground for small footprints. Unfortunately, there weren't any. The kid was great at hiding his tracks.

Remembering Jax was crouched next to me, I turned to look at him, meeting eye-to-eye with his fearful expression. "We need to get Daktari. There's no way they'd let him live after finding their friend like this." He whispered, and it was clear he cared a lot for his brother.

I nod. We may not have anything in common, but one thing we do is show protectiveness over Daktari. He was like a brother to me, and I don't know what I would do if anything happened to him.

"Oh my god, Jasper?" I turn over to see five of what I assume are the sky people: one girl and four boys. They called the boy who was struck with the spear Jasper. I lay low, observing their next moves.

"What the hell is this?" a boy with tanned skin asks as they approach the boy strung up to the tree. The poor boy is hanging on for dear life-literally.

"We need to get him down," she orders, fixing the pack hanging on her shoulder. Up close, they look so clean-sweaty but very clean. None of them have any sign of battle scars. They aren't going to survive down here.

The girl hastily walks forward, nearly falling to her death before the boy with tanned skin can reach for her. He hesitates to pull her back up before the others rush to help him.

A boy with a pale face who looked like he was well overdue for a haircut immediately obliges to her commands. "I'll climb up there and cut the vines." Not until after the boy stops talking does Jax tap me on my shoulder.

I looked over at him, unfocusing my attention from the sky people. Jax pointed behind the large tree. There sat Daktari, his head on his knees. The poor kid was probably panicking for his life.

The long-haired boy and a darker-skinned one start walking to the tree.

They planned to climb up and get their friend back. My heart beat fast, hoping that they wouldn't find Daktari hiding behind that tree for the sake of our lives.

My eyes linger back and forth between Tari and the sky people. The dark-skinned boy ended up staying back with Clarke and the tanned-skinned boy. His face was covered in freckles.

The last boy followed behind the long-haired one. They seemed to have a problem with him and the freckled boy. Having trust in him but not completely.

"There's a poultice on his wound." That was Aislinn's doing; if not for her, their friend would have been dead.

"Medicine? Why would they save his life to string him as live bait?" The dark-skinned boy questions. I don't understand; they got him back. He is not in likely condition, but he's alive. "They should be thankful I didn't kill him," Jax growls beside me.

I glanced at him with my lip curled. I wished they'd take him instead. "Maybe what they're trying to catch like's it's dinner to be breathing." That's when it clicked.

Jax lied. They weren't returning him. They were using him as actual bait for food. Black panthers usually roamed this area. I'm surprised we haven't run into one by now. "Maybe what they're trying to catch is us."

"As if we want them," Jax mutters. I shove his shoulder to hush him up. If he continues to comment on everything they say, they'll figure out we're here.

The pale boy looks up at his friend. I cross my fingers, hoping he doesn't look behind the tree.

Although hope wasn't enough in such situations, Tari moved around to get more comfortable instead accidentally stepping on a tree branch. It cracked only loud enough for the pale boy to hear.

He takes a look at the ground with question-filled eyes. I notice how he spots Daktari's tiny foot. Before that, the bushes started rustling loudly. Jax's target. The boy takes his attention off of Daktari and onto the bushes.

"What the hell was that?"

"Grounders?" Is that what they call us? Sky people are odd. Jax crawls backward at the sight of the black panther drawing closer to the group. My eyes widen, and my heart starts pounding.

"Bellamy, gun!" Clarke yells as the panther runs towards her. The freckled boy reaches down his back pocket. I assume he was looking for the gun, but he couldn't find anything when suddenly the dark-skinned boy fired at the animal.

I slightly jumped at the sudden noise. Only the mountain men owned guns, although they never fired them enough for us to get used to the noise. My head spun over to Daktari; he wasn't behind the tree anymore.

"GROUNDER!" the boy with pretty eyes exclaims from the tree. The two climb it, only to sit down and not untie Jasper. My life flashes before my eyes as I see the dark-skinned boy point the gun at Daktari.

I jump up and run over to him. Jax's arm reaches up for me but fails to grab hold of my shirt. "DAKTARI, NO!" I scream as loud as possible.

All eyes were scanning around, not having time to worry about us while the panther was still moving. The boy takes his aim away from Daktari and fires again at the panther before finally killing it. He drops the gun to the ground, his hands shivering.

It must be his first kill.

Everyone stayed quiet as they tried to catch their breaths. I kneel and cup Daktari's face. "Don't ever do that again." I breathe. His life could have been taken with one shot.

Bellamy, the freckled boy, walks up to us. "Get up," he declares. I looked up at him unafraid; he had a handmade knife. I slowly stand up, almost meeting eye level with him if he weren't a couple of inches taller. I hold onto Daktari as tightly as possible.

"Bellamy, don't hurt them."

"Look at what they did to Jasper, Clarke." He raises his knife to my neck, swiftly spinning me around. "Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim." I managed to mutter because Daktari was afraid. His tiny hands were shaking, and his eyes were filled with tears.

Get knocked down, get back up. Another thing Lincoln would always tell him. I wasn't going to die without a fight. Daktari was the last person I needed to see me look weak in the hands of a sky person.

"Gonplei, Beja!" He cried out. His little voice broke down, except I couldn't do anything; otherwise, they'd kill him. I looked over to the bushes for Jax, but he was gone. "What the hell are they saying?" Bellamy's knife digs deeper into my throat.

"Make this a warning for your people, kid." The two boys on the tree had taken down Jasper and safely brought him to the ground. My eyes never left Tari for even a second, afraid they would do something to him.

The boy with beautiful eyes walks up behind him and grabs his arms. "What do we do with them? They don't speak English." He says while Tari kicks and screams. "Daktari gon we! Hon op Linkon en lok op Jax."

Daktari kicks the boy in his stomach as hard as he can manage to. He runs north towards Lincoln's cave. The boy groaned with pain, cursing unholy words under his breath.

The last thing I see before Bellamy swings me around to face him is the boy chasing after Daktari.

"I don't know what your people want, but we're going to find out." He takes some of the leftover vines and ties my hands up.

I spit in his face. "Yu na wan op"

He wipes my spit off before knocking my head with a rock.