Trikru warrior pov:
The cold soaks into our bones, we are not used to this freezing weather. Our boots sink into the snow, freezing our feet. After a while, the castle begins to come into view in the distance. He smiled, at last we had arrived.
"Stop," orders our general, "Remember, this is a capture mission, not an attack," we all shout in assent, "Bring the prince and Skai Prisa.
We let out a battle cry and started our way to Vancou.
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Clarke pov:
One year. One year since I came to earth, one year since I became Skai Prisa. Training has become even harder since I found out we are at war. Bitter Witch left the capital for the border several months ago. Since then Roan and I have been trained by a big, burly man named Darius. He is not as cruel as Bitter Witch but he is no slouch.
Roan swings his sword at me and I fall into a puddle of water, soaking wet. I look at my reflection in the melting ice. The marks symbolizing my clan stand out grotesquely. I remember how painful they were. I had them done the next morning at the coronation in a more private ceremony, just mom, Roan, me and of course, the bitter witch. It was the only time I allowed myself to cry in her presence.
Training has taught me to endure pain, but I was barely two weeks into training when I had them done. I realize my nose is bleeding, oh you'll regret that bigabro. I grab my sword and stand up, landing an accurate thrust. Roan doesn't manage to block it and gets a small cut on his abdomen. Although I don't like to hurt him, I don't like to lose more.
Finally I disarm him and place my sword on his neck. We stare at each other for a few seconds, until he reluctantly admits defeat. I smirked, little Clarke has become very good, even better than him. I am about to make a witty comment about his defeat, when his face transforms and he raises his sword from the ground in a defensive stance. Alerted I turn around and see them, they are several soldiers invading the training grounds.
Their skins are darker than ours, and they have tattoos on their faces. I realize that they are not Azgeda, they are Trikru.
"Trikru!" I exclaim, alerting everyone.
Roan grabs my arm and we run with swords in our hands back to safety inside the castle. My shout must have warned them because they started to follow us. We reach the castle gates, trying to run through them amidst the pack of guards coming out to defend us. We run through the corridors to the kitchens, where the nearest door to the passages is.
Roan goes in first, as I'm about to step inside, a soldier grabs me by the hood of my cloak, pulling me back. The pull is so strong, I fall sitting on the floor. A maid screams and the soldier throws a knife, which sticks in her throat, killing her instantly. There is a scream, and it is a few moments later that I realised it was me. Blood pours from her neck, she is dead. I recognize her, it's Sydney, or was. She took care of Roan and me sometimes. She was so sweet and patient, she didn't deserve to die like that.
I hear a war cry and Roan buries his sword in the soldier, "Jus drein jus daun." He says to the dead soldier, as he pulls his sword out of the body. I am paralyzed, two people have died in front of me in less than a minute.
I used to like the idea of fighting, of being a warrior. But now, the sight of blood, the killing, I'm not sure I want it anymore. It dawns on me that this is war, you attack your enemy and innocent people die. Like Sydney. And even though he killed her, the soldier was just taking orders.
"Clarke, are you okay?" Roan's worried voice makes me turn to him. He has his hand on my shoulder and looks at me trying to figure out what I am thinking.
"Yes," I say in a whisper. I take my sword and stand up: "Let's go, before they find us".
We enter the passageway, blocking the door. Since I discovered them, Roan and I have investigated every corridor and doorway. Over time we have memorized them, giving us complete freedom in the castle, being able to go to forbidden places without being seen, such as Nomon's study. Roan thinks he has convinced me not to spy on her, but he has not. I do it every day, hearing the news of the war and learning about other clans.
During this time, the conflicts with Trikru had been escalating and an attack was imminent. However, I never imagined that it would be in the capital, that they would come this far north. It is impossible for them to have crossed the entire territory without our spies seeing them. Or maybe they did.
How they came to us is strange. They were not a small group, but neither were they numerous. Attacking the capital like that is suicide, so they weren't attacking. The realization of their presence hits me halfway up the stairs. They weren't attacking, they were coming for us. Without us, there would be no successors. After they assassinated us they would go after ai nomon and there would be no more leaders. The war for power and control would erupt, making it easier for them to beat us.
Roan seems to notice my concern, because he asks me: "What's the matter?"
"They weren't attacking," I say, looking him in the eye, fear in my voice, "They were coming for us."
Roan seems to realize Trikru's wonderful plan: "But we are safe here, so let's continue", he takes my hand like many times before and leads us through the corridors.
Finally we reached our shelter. It is the only room in the passageways. It must have been built in case someone had to stay hidden for a few days. The place is stocked with food that Roan and I steal from the kitchen to eat whenever we want. This is also where we used to plan our pranks to bitter witch, but since she left we settled for anyone who crossed our path.
Roan had his friends before I came down, but he hasn't seen any of them since they were all called to the front. I don't get along with any girls, and the boys are even bigger jerks than they are, so I gave up trying to make any and settled for Roan's lonely but constant company.
We sit down and Roan begins to wipe the blood off his sword. He's quieter than usual, I guess murdering someone, even if it was necessary, didn't stand well for him. I go over and hug him. He starts to cry and I try to comfort him as best I can. We stay like that, in that position for a long time. So long, it seemed like hours, days even.
Roan breaks away and wipes away his tears, putting his stoic mask back on. He starts cleaning his sword again and I sit on the floor playing with a cloth ribbon I found. I hum a song Mom taught me as I pray that the attack will end soon and we can come out of hiding.
I must have fallen asleep, because Roan's caresses woke me up. His gaze is calmer than when I fell asleep, "Hey, the attack must be over. Let 's go back." He gives me his hand and helps me up.
I wake up as I walk and yawn. I've had a good nap, but the tiredness is still there. We climb several stairs, up to the floor where our rooms are. We exit through the passageway leading to Roan's and then into the hallway. No one is there, so we decide to head for ai nomon's study.
I'm rubbing my eye, trying to shake off the tiredness when my mother's voice startles me: "Clarke! Roan! Oh, for Heda's sake, they're all right," she runs to us and hugs us. We hugged her back as tight as we could. "I thought you were captured." The relief is noticeable in her voice and so are the tears.
I had never seen my mother cry before. Not even when I lost. We hug her even tighter, trying to comfort her. She breaks away and places one hand on my cheek and the other on Roan's. She is kneeling and her right arm is even higher, as Roan is much taller than me. It's not that I'm a midget, he's a giant. Yes, it 's that.
She hugs us once more, before she starts barking orders to her soldiers. "Come, we must talk." Her tone is serious now and none of us dares to contradict her. She leads us into her study and closes the door. We sit down in front of her desk and she takes her place behind it. We look at each other in silence for a while until she lets out a long sigh: "As you know, we have been at war with Trikru for quite some time now" Her words are delicate, she wants to tell us something not very pleasant: "This attack was sudden, we couldn't foresee it. And I almost lost you."
"But you didn't," I interrupted her. She gives me a glare that tells me I shouldn't have done it: "Lucky we hid in..." I stop myself. Now I screwed up, I screwed up big this time.
Roan gives me a murderous look and I shrug my shoulders with an apologetic one. "You hid where?" This is it, this is my funeral. Neither of us speaks, neither of us wants to break our blood oath. "Speak!"
"We can't, we swore!" I raise my voice. Mom looks at me confused and Roan even more angry.
Finally he sighs and comes to my defense: "She's right, we made a blood oath. We can't break it."
Ai Nomon seems to understand the importance of this secret and desists: "Well, it doesn't matter, did any of them hurt you?", again we fall into a thick silence, "Seriously?", she asks irritably.
"A soldier grabbed Clarke and murdered Sydney," Roan begins, looking at his feet, "I murdered the soldier in revenge. Jus drein jus daun." He doesn't dare to look at our mother as she speaks.
Mom seems to realize that what happened is attacking his conscience, because she gets up and kneels down in front of him. "You know that at some point it would be your turn to take someone's life. It's never easy, but that's how we survive," Roan nods and they embrace.
I smile oblivious to the scene unfolding before my eyes. I am lucky to have found such a beautiful family. They part and Nomon returns to his place at the desk, as if the sentimental scene never happened.
"Well, as I was saying, war is at our doorstep. Literally now:" I grimace, trying to contain my laughter. This is no laughing matter. "I'm afraid more soldiers are needed at the front. I'm sorry Roan, but you'll have to go. You leave in a week."
The laughter fades from my face and I go pale. Static in my chair staring at my mother in disbelief. Roan will go. To war. The information seems to be processed a little at a time. No one speaks, mom lets us sink the news. "What?" I suddenly burst out, getting up from my chair. Roan still seems to be registering his army enlistment. "You can't take him to war! You can't!" At this point tears stream down my face.
"Clarke." Roan stands up and walks over to me. "It's okay"
"No! It's not okay! Nothing is okay!" I scream hysterically in the studio. "You're my brother, my best friend! I can't lose you too! I can't!" I burst into tears.
My legs fail me and Roan holds me, carrying us to the floor. He comforts me, stroking my hair, but to no avail. In a week he won't be with me anymore. He's not going to calm me, he's not going to comfort me. I will be alone. And maybe not for a while, but forever. Roan could die on the battlefield.
Nomon comes over and crouches down beside us, wrapping her arms around us. I cry, trying to be comforted by both of them to no avail.
"I shouldn't say it now, but you'll hate me if I keep it a secret," Mom says to me, getting my attention, "Clarke," her voice fails and her eyes fill up with tears, "In a year, you'll be joining him."
She begins to cry, but I am blank. My life has just taken another turn in such a short time. I will go to war. I will be the warrior I dreamed of, but it's not what I want anymore. I want to stay in the castle with my mother and Roan. I want everything to stay as it is. But that is not going to be possible. Suddenly I understand and process what my mother told me. I will go to fight on a battlefield. To see blood and death everywhere. I swallow deeply. Now I'm not only afraid for Roan, I'm afraid for me.
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Nine months later......
It's been so long since Roan has been gone, it's hard for me to remember his face, his voice. He sends us letters, but they take a long time to arrive. My only consolation is that we have not been given the bad news of his death, so at least he is still alive. My other consolation is that I will soon join him. I'm terrified of going to war, but my brother is going to protect me, right? Isn't that what brothers do?
Mom and I have become even closer. I have begun to participate even more in her councils, demonstrating my nature for politics and leadership. We both know that our time together is a countdown, so we make the most of it.
I have trained even harder. More hours, more weapons, more tactics, everything to be prepared. I have learned everything I need to know to survive, from fighting, to hunting, to healing wounds. I don't waste a second of my day not learning something else that can be useful to me when I'm out there alone in battle. At the beginning I tried to combine it with socializing, but I soon discarded this idea, since I have no time to waste in which I can train even more.
I feel like I have become a killing machine. All I do is train, eat, train again, rest, train harder and finally sleep, only to be the first to wake up the next morning and train again.
Nomon insists that I take a break, but I don't think it's necessary. What I need is for this damn war to end and I don't have to lose anyone else. I sigh getting up from my bed. I haven't slept due to the insomnia that haunts me for several nights. Before, Roan used to sing me to sleep. Now that there is only my Teddy bear, I have to fight the tiredness during the day.
I get ready and leave my room for another day of training. Screw you, the ones who started this damn war.
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