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BLOOD FIRE
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JINNY RODE ON THE BACK of Raulf's horse as he came to fetch them from their camp. Abby and Kane were with her behind two other riders; the designated leaders of their people. The ride to the Grounders' encampment was short, offering limited words to be exchanged between them. Raulf was relieved that Finn's death had been quick; he was never one to revel in the pain of others. Jinny felt that she could see no reason to distrust him, he was as pure as first snow.
When they arrived, Abby was the first to ask for Clarke before darting into the Commander's tent when Raulf pointed that she was inside. Jinny and Kane went in after her, staring at the sight of the blonde girl sobbing in her mother's arms. "They would have tortured him. I had to! I had to. What did I do?"
The grief in her broken voice was blatant and it sent a searing knife twisting into Jinny's heart to see her like this. Raven's screams continued to haunt her, but Clarke's anguish genuinely pained her. Kane covered his mouth with his knuckles as he looked at them, sympathy reflected in his eyes from the candle lights around the tent. Clarke immediately stopped when the curtains were thrown open again, and the imposing Grounder from before walked in.
"The Commander is ready to talk," he informed.
Clarke nodded her head, quickly composing herself and wiping the tears from her cheeks. She stood up to take her place next to Jinny just as Lexa entered, followed by Raulf and Indra. The Commander took her seat on the wooden throne with her advisors and bodyguard on either side.
"Blood has answered blood," she announced. "Some on my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands." Jinny casted a shady glare towards Indra as Lexa addressed Clarke, "But they do not know that your suffering will be worse. What you did tonight will haunt you until the end of your days. Still, there will be restitution, the body will be given to the people of Tondc; murderer and murdered joined by fire. Only then can we have peace."
"No," Kane protested. "No, we've done enough. The boy should be buried by his own people—"
"Enough?" Indra cut in. "We were owed the pain of eighteen deaths, we were owed the righteous kill. My village deserves justice."
"You don't want justice, you want vengeance!" Abby retorted heatedly.
Jinny looked towards Clarke who was side-eyeing Indra with a numbness that seeped onto her face. Revenge isn't justice, her voice rang in Jinny's ears as she recalled Connor's sneering face. It is justice, he replied.
Indra moved forwards threateningly but Jinny stood in her way, face characteristically impassive in front of the wrath of the other woman. She could see every scar on Indra's face that outmatched her own. "You'll have your restitution," Jinny told her evenly. "He will go to the people of Tondc."
"Jinny," Kane's voice was soft but filled with dismay.
"We'll do it," Clarke agreed in confirmation. "But when it's over, we talk about how to get our people out of Mount Weather. All of our people."
"We want the same things, Clarke," Lexa said with a solemn nod.
"Good. When do we leave?" she asked.
"Now," the Commander declared, standing up with her lean sword in hand. "Choose your attendance."
With that, she walked out of the tent with her entourage. Abby stopped Clarke before she could leave, touching her arm gently. "You don't have to do this," she whispered.
"Yes I do," Clarke replied. "If this truce doesn't hold, I killed Finn for nothing."
Jinny followed Clarke back out into the cool open air, her eyes scanning the cosmic stars in the sky overhead as she took a deep melancholic breath through her nose. She averted her eyes back to the ground when she noticed that others from the camp had decided to venture down. The Grounders paid no heed to them, the whispers of truce already having spread amongst their ranks. Jinny ran towards Bellamy when she spotted him and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly. He reciprocated the hug, lowering his cheek to the top of her head and she revelled in his warmth.
"What did the Commander say?" he asked when she pulled away.
"We're bringing Finn's body to Tondc," she replied. "They want to burn him with their dead. Hopefully, the last demand."
He nodded in understanding, eyes glancing behind her. She turned her head over her shoulder, finding Clarke speaking with Raven who was shouting at her over Finn. Tears continued to streak down her face, despondence and anger lacing her tone with malice before she stormed away.
"Raven," Jinny called, catching the crook of the girl's elbow as she walked by. "You're coming with us, right?"
She nodded stiffly and looked at her with trembling lips and shimmering eyes. "I'm just going to bring Clarke's damn radio," she told them.
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The march to Tondc was depressing. Raven was sitting on the cart next to Finn's body which was wrapped in a white cloth. She wouldn't leave his side. As selfish as it seemed, all Jinny wanted to do was to go back to her room with Bellamy, hide under the covers like they used to do as children and forget about the world around them. She trudged along the dirt road next to him, Clarke walking a few steps ahead of them in a daze. Suddenly, the girl's head snapped up and she stared towards the trees with terrified blue eyes. Bellamy frowned when he noticed her odd behaviour, glancing in the direction she was looking at and finding nothing.
"Hey," he called, catching up to pace with her and Jinny followed suit. "You doing alright?"
Clarke started, glancing at the both of them before nodding quickly. "Yeah."
His lips twitched with empathy. "You did the right thing, Clarke."
"And I get to live with it," she retorted, repeating Lexa's words. Was Finn already haunting her? Clarke looked at him. "You think this truce is a bad idea, don't you?"
"I think we're wasting time with politics while our friends are in trouble," he said candidly.
"We need this truce, Bell," Jinny told him. "We don't have enough manpower to infiltrate Mount Weather."
"We need their army," Clarke asserted.
"No, you don't. Their army has been getting their ass kicked by Mount Weather forever," he rebutted. "What we need is an inside man. Someone to be our eyes and ears."
"Bell, no!" Jinny hissed, grabbing his jacket imperatively. "I'm not letting you go on a suicide mission!"
"If Clarke can make it out, I can make it in," he insisted.
"No, Bellamy!" Clarke said firmly, much to Jinny's relief.
He sighed in frustration. "Every day that we waste is a day they lose."
"And I can't let Jinny lose you like how I lost Finn," Clarke remarked almost angrily before stalking away from him. Jinny hung her head low, allowing her eyes fall to the ground and her dragging feet while thanking Clarke in silence. The day grew shorter and then night fell on them, forcing their party to make camp ten miles out of the village. Clarke tried to set an example by sleeping out in the open without fear of the Grounders. Naturally, Bellamy and Jinny felt compelled to back her up, but distrust of their new allies wasn't the reason that kept Jinny up that night.
She kept thinking; what if Bellamy was right?
They arrived in Tondc the next day, to its gates made of jagged corrugated metal. Gustus got off his horse and made his way towards Clarke with another warrior holding a metal bin. "Weapons," he simply demanded of them.
Lincoln walked forwards to surrender his knife. "We need to disarm before we enter."
Jinny sighed as she started to rid herself of her weapons, which was a fairly lengthy process. She first lifted the strap of her rifle over her head and placed the firearm in the bin, then the shock baton from her belt went with it. And the handgun on her other hip. She drew the two daggers from her boots and dropped them inside as well. Then the hunting knife strapped to her thigh. They had no idea about the needle hidden in her hair though, and she liked to keep it that way.
Once Gustus was done stripping Raven of her weapons, which she made no attempt at giving up, he finally turned around and said, "Heda! Em klir."
Lexa nodded before entering the village, and everyone followed after her. The people started to shout upon seeing their Commander. "Heda! Heda! Monin hou!"
As soon as Jinny and Bellamy stepped through the gates after her, the warriors protecting the village tensed instinctively with their weapons held high. The welcoming voices turned harsh, rowdy, and Jinny frowned in perturbation when a few people spat at her feet. Bellamy drew her close to him with a protective arm around her shoulders, eyes wary as they kept close to the Commander's entourage.
A man blocked their path in front of the square, speaking with imploring Trigedasleng, but Lexa didn't look the least bit touched by his words. Her face was unreadable as a blank canvas and set in granite, immovable as a mountain against a tidal wave. Jinny wondered whether there was even a heart in that cold chest of hers.
"Step of," Gustus ordered.
"Ripa nou ge teik in hir."
To Jinny's astonishment, Lexa nodded her head slightly towards Gustus. The large bodyguard moved forwards and attacked the frail man, sending him sprawling backwards onto the damp soil. He stood over him and sent blood spurting in the air with every punch of his knuckled fists. The poor man's grunts of pain resounded with each crack of the bone, helpless against the onslaught of the hardened warrior's blows.
Clarke darted forwards to implore Lexa, "Commander, stop him, please. They'll blame us for this too."
Jinny couldn't see Lexa's expression but she eventually said, "Teik em kik raun."
Gustus immediately stopped and allowed the man to be brought away by another villager. Lexa then turned around to address the crowd behind her with a voice of biting authority. "The Sky People march with us now! Anyone who tries to stop that will pay with their life."
With a stern glance at her subjects, she whirled around and marched away. Bellamy shook his head. "Warm welcome," he remarked sarcastically and Jinny punched him in the arm.
The Grounders prepared the funeral pyre in the middle of the village's courtyard and Finn was set on top with the other bodies stood below. Everyone gathered around with solemn faces, the taste of bereavement hanging thickly upon the air. Jinny looked to Lexa who stood in front of a heavily bloodied pole. There were notches in its wood and barb wire snaked up from its base with heavy chains dangling along its length. It looked horrifying.
"Kru kom Tondisi," Lexa began. "Raun faya... oso woda klin laudnes-de kom foutaim."
Lincoln translated her words to English for their sakes. "People of Tondc... With fire, we cleanse the pain of the past."
Indra passed a blazing torch towards the Commander, who paused as a thought occurred to her. She turned around and called to Clarke, extending the torch towards the girl instead. The Grounders started to shift uneasily, their eyes turning sharply to look at them as murmurs erupted around the gathering. This was obviously not how the rite was supposed to take place. Jinny watched as a few warriors sneered at the Commander before glaring in her direction. She quickly averted her gaze back to the funeral pyre uncomfortably.
Clarke walked forwards to accept the gesture from Lexa, standing in front of the wooden structure that held the dead. She paused with her eyes downcast in obvious mourning, before lifting the torch to meet the wood. The fire started to eat its way through the kindling, and the zephyr on the air fed the orange flames. "Yu gonplei ste odon," she recited.
The Grounders lifted their chins in acknowledgement to her words—a tribute to the fallen. It seemed to lift some of the stigma of allowing an outsider to burn their dead, reminding them of the honour that was due to be paid. Jinny would go so far as to hope for a smidgen of respect that Clarke had quickly learnt a fragment of their custom.
In just a few seconds, the pyre was engulfed by flames that licked high into the air above them. That was the end of Finn as they knew him. Maybe now he could walk freely amongst the stars and take respite in the infinite. The burst of heat reached their skin with a warm glow and Bellamy lowered his head with quiet respect. Jinny watched the dancing flames that were reflected in her dark eyes; along with the sacrifice and the slaughter.
If only they could burn away the guilt of her past too.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © KAYE CEE
DO NOT STEAL, COPY OR TAKE ANY PART OF THIS WORK.
Translations :
"Heda! Em klir." - Commander! All clear.
"Heda! Heda! Monin hou!" - Commander! Commander! Welcome back!
"Step of." - Move aside.
"Ripa nou ge teik in hir." - Murderers are not welcome here.
"Teik em kik raun." - Let him live.
[ author's note ]
aah the calm before the storm :)
just out of curiosity, would you want to see jinny go into mount weather with bellamy or usurp lexa's authority as commander? ;)
it won't change the storyline though (but bonus chapters at the end may come!)