ASCENSION: BOOK 3- APOCALYPSE.

Chapter 24: Risk.

We strode out into the courtyard of Polis, heads held high as the war horn sounded out.
Freya and her warriors were here.
Lexa immediately called out to her people, "You all know what is expected of you. Everyone take their positions, one way or another this ends today!"
They obeyed their Commander and waited in silence for the conflict to descend upon their Capital.
Lexa and I positioned ourselves with the archers on the city walls and looked out into the distance.
The Queen and her armies marched ever closer to their goal. Polis held as much salvation for them as it did for us. Neither side wishing to give up hope for the survival of their people.
Four riders approached our gates. Three were Freya's Generals and another was led on horseback, hands bound, covered in her own blood. Anya had been captured and tortured by The Queen, but was still alive.
"The Queen calls for your surrender! Give up your city or she will take it from you," her General called out.
I could see the anger in Lexa's eyes and also the hurt at the choice she much make as leader. Anya was her mentor but also I knew Lexa always saw her as family. She knew that sacrifice would always be a part of leadership but some sacrifices could burn through to your very soul.
Anya looked up at Lexa and nodded at her Commander. She was silently telling Lexa to lead, to stand her ground, she was telling her to let her go.
As Lexa stood looking at Anya, her heart breaking from the decision she now had to make, I saw a tear roll from her eye down the black warpaint upon her cheek. Her expression remained stoic, never giving into the heartache she was now feeling. She inhaled deeply and for the last time Lexa heeded the guidance of her mentor with honour and with strength.
"Tell your Queen to turn her warriors around before we kill every last one of them. Accept your fate General, Ragnarök awaits you," Lexa growled back at him.
"So be it!" He grinned as he took his dagger and sliced it across Anya's throat.
Her body fell to the floor, blood now covering the ground where she lay dead. Freya's General pulled the severed head of Gustus from the saddle of his horse and threw it next to Anya.
They turned and rode away, leaving Lexa crushed and full of fury at the disrespectful deaths of her mentors. She ordered for their remains to be brought into Polis and treated with the respect of fallen Trikru Warrior's.
I looked at her, understanding the pain she was feeling, "Lexa, I'm so sorry."
She took every ounce of energy she had to swallow her pain. None of us had the luxury of time to mourn our losses. This war the brutally of war when our very existence was at stake. Her face hardened, knowing she needed to focus on what lay ahead, "Don't be. They died for their people and I intend to honour their lives and their sacrifice. ARCHERS TAKE AIM!" She called out.
As Freya's forces moved into range, Lexa paused for a moment. Her next order was about to set something into motion we couldnt turn back from.
"FIRE!" She shouted as the sky rained down arrows upon our enemies.

Freya's warriors fell as our arrows hit their targets, but it didn't stop the rest of them storming towards our city walls.
Wood stone and metal always stood strong against conventional attacks. The Queen, however had no intension of fighting fair and neither did we.
Her warriors threw their grenades against the walls of Polis and with every explosion sections of our perimeter wall crumbled away into rubble.
"They're almost through, Commander." Indra reported.
"Good. Let them continue. Once they're inside the city don't make it easy for them, The Queen mustn't become suspicious of our intensions. If we can't get to her on the battlefield, then let's allow her to come to us." Lexa ordered.
Indra nodded and positioned her warriors accordingly.
Lexa looked at me with fire in her eyes, "Now we save our people."
Both of us moved to from the wall to face the onslaught at ground level. Before we knew it, Freya's forces had broken through the barrier of masonry and launched a full scale attack inside of our Capital.
We fought hard against our foes, the sound of steel clashing on steel as gunshots echoed throughout the city. Lexa gave them enough leverage in combat to think they had the upper hand, all the time positioning them where she wanted them.
It wasn't long before Queen Freya came into view, once again surrounded by her Generals. We'd defended ourselves for long enough, sustained enough minor, yet convincing injuries to hide behind, Lexa ordered for The Clans to surrender.
Our weapons were thrown to the ground as we raised our arms in submission and defeat. The Queens warriors rounded us up and forced us to our knees as Freya looked around at the place she'd travelled so far to reach.
She basked in her victory thinking she'd now laid claim to salvation for her people. The Queen stood over Lexa, looking down at the Warrior Commander she had defeated and smiled at her.
"You will die knowing you failed your people, Commander. The Gods have chosen. Fremtiden har ingen plass for de svake! The future has no place for the weak!"

Queen Freya's people were ordered to search the grounds of Polis to seek out the bunker of The Second Dawn.
The radiation had begun to affect them also, many of Freya's people now looking sick from the poisonous atmosphere that surrounded us all.
Freya was beginning to loose her patients with Lexa refusal to co-operate. She ordered her General to strike her several times to get her to give up the location of the bunker. She took every hit, never once giving Freya the satisfaction of seeing her break.
The Queen looked down at her, "If you contiune this down this futile path, Commander then I'll have no choice but to start killing off your people one by one. You're all already dead, whether you die quickly or slowly, that's your choice. I will find that bunker with or without you."
Lexa glared up at the Queen with hatred in her eyes, "Then I choose a slow death, Nordic Queen!"
"Have it your way," Freya uttered in disappointment as her General continued with his brutal attack on Lexa.
"STOP!" I yelled out in anguish.
Lexa swiftly caught her breath to respond, "Clarke, let it be. My fight is over."
Our interaction intrigued The Queen, "I'm sensing a connection between the two of you. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. Bring her over here."
Her General dragged me over to face his Queen and pushed me to the ground between her and Lexa.
"I see that you care for each other. Love and leadership is a volatile combination, Commander. It makes you weak, let's your enemies know exactly how to destroy you. Sometimes a broken heart is worse than broken bones or even death itself. Now tell me, where is the bunker of The Second Dawn?" Freya spoke as she began to remove the second Flame from the locket around her neck.
I looked at Lexa and offered her the faintest of nods. She stared up at Freya with the determination of a true leader, "Death is not the end."
The Queen looked on in frustration and sighed. She held up the second Flame to show Lexa before forcing me to bow my head as she activated it, "Ascende superius!"
After that only searing pain, fire and darkeness found me.