"The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."
-Marcus Aurelius
10.
"All units radio check." I say into the talkie. It's been only fifteen minutes since Roan agreed to talk to Clarke and I could tell everyone was getting impatient, especially the grounders which was my main concern.
"Unit one," I say.
"Unit one, check." One of the guards confirm.
"Unit 2."
No reply.
"Unit 2. Riley, where are you?" I ask into the walkie. I point my scope towards where I had it last but he's not in his position. I look to Monty next to me and it seems we both realize what's happening when our eyes go wide.
"Shit." I say slowly backing away from the edge and standing up near the treeline so the grounders won't see me and start to worry. Monty follows me.
"Costa, you got eyes on Riley?" Monty asks into his talkie.
"He went to take a leak." I shake my head.
"How long ago?" I ask into mine.
"Not too long ago."
"Did he take his rifle?" I ask again worry starting to fill my body rapidly like wild fire.
"Negative. He took it with him. But he did leave his radio."
"Damn it!" I yell. Monty looks at me waiting for orders that I don't have.
"All units, keep your eyes on the target. If they fire, you fire. Otherwise, do not shoot. I'll be back." I say into the talkie. I nod to Millers dad to take control.
"What are you going to do?" Monty asks me.
"He's going to try and kill Roan. I need to stop him."
"You'll never make it past the army." Harper says from her position.
"I have to try. If he kills Roan, we're all dead anyways." I explain. I take off my rifle from my shoulder and hand it to Monty.
"I know there's no talking you out of this. Just be smart, stay safe." Monty says and I nod.
I quickly make my way down the rocks on the other side and once I'm at the bottom they notice me and I can hear their bows stretching ready to let go on me any minute. I raise my hands to show I'm no threat. Bellamy looks scared along with Kane, which is understandable because there's nothing stoping Echo from killing me right now if she really wanted to.
"I'm unarmed. I need to talk to whoever's in charge." I say as I walk closer. I can only assume Echo is in charge which will make this a lot harder. One of the grounders grabs me and leads me over to Echo who stands by Bellamy and Kane. Bellamy nods his head at me. He knows I wouldn't do this without having a reason and I know he believes in me.
The grounder pushes me to the ground in front of Bellamy and Kane. I grit my teeth from the impact.
"Hey!" Bellamy yells at him but the grounder ignores him.
"Take it easy. I came unarmed, there's no need for that." I say.
"Is Octavia alive?" Bellamy whispers to me as I kneel. I nod my head with a small smile. He looks so relieved and I can only imagine he thought she was dead.
"Speak." Echo says coming to stand over me.
"One of our people has moved out of formation. I have reason to believe he's trying to kill your king." I explain.
"Why are you telling me this?" She looks shocked.
"Why do you think she's telling you this? She's trying to stop a massacre." Bellamy tells her.
"Who is it?" Kane questions me.
I sigh, "Riley."
"Riley? He shouldn't even be here." Bellamy says.
"Yeah, we already came to that conclusion." I tell him.
"You come with me." She tells one of the grounders.
"If our guards see archers on the move they will open fire." Kane tells her to stop her.
"Those are our orders." I tell her as she looks to me.
"And who gave those orders?" She demands.
"You're looking at her. They will not let you leave here alive without me." I almost want to smirk at her at how annoyed and angry she looks but now is not the time to gloat.
"Just let me use the radio I brought to tell them to stand down." I tell her. She sighs and grabs the radio off the grounder who took it from me and hands it to me.
"All units, you let me and Echo through, you understand? We're working to stop Riley right now. Let us through." I say.
"Copy that." Millers dad says. Echo snatches the radio from me and clips it onto her belt. I stand up as one of the guards grabs a hold of me to ensure I won't try anything.
"Wait, let me come with you." Bellamy calls to Echo.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I know Riley, he will listen to me." I dont think he should be so sure. He didn't see Riley today about to shoot Roan. He's out of control and I don't know if Bellamy will be able to get through to him. I sure do hope so though.
"Fine. Get him up." She tells another grounder and he quickly stands him up.
"Let's go." She says and we are lead out by her. I look up to the gunners and nod to give confirmation I'm okay.
"If I'm not back before the sun passes the trees, kill him." She tells the army while looking at Kane. She pushes us forward to walk.
"This should be fun." I mutter under my breath.
"That spot gives the best sightline to the cave, that's where we'll find him." Bellamy says motioning with his head to the ridge ahead of us.
"Are you really willing to kill your man to save my king?" Echo asks him.
Bellamy turns to face her and I do as well. The grounder keeps a hand firm on my shoulder.
"Doesn't it get old? The sides. My man, your king. Primfaya doesn't give a damn what clan you're from." He tries to reason with her. But I know her well enough to know she doesn't give shit.
"I'm glad you will get to say goodbye to your sister before it comes." She tells him. I can see Bellamy falters at her words.
"I'm glad you'll be able to brush up on your fighting skills considering she's alive and well back at our camp. Some warrior you are." I glare at her. She raises her head, I can see her wanting to snap but she doesn't.
"If you would have killed her, these chains would be around your neck."Bellamy adds.
"Keep walking." She tells us and before I can turn around to do so the grounder pushes me forward himself. Bellamy was still in chains so Echo was watching him and I got this aggressive grounder to watch me.
"Watch it, I'm pregnant." I tell him for kicks.
"Do you use that excuse for everything?" Echo says from behind me.
"It's not an excuse. But yes I do, but only when I'm being handled roughy." I glare at the grounder.
We continue to walk and that's when I see him on a rock with his rifle already aimed.
"There he is, Riley!" I try to run but the grounder holds me back.
"Let her go." Echo speaks as we all run to him. I get there first.
"Riley, stop!" I tell him as Bellamy goes to his other side. Echo lifts up her bow ready to shoot him.
"Echo, wait!" Bellamy tells her.
"Riley, pulling that trigger will end in war. Kane and Monty will be executed and our side will open fire. It'll be a bloodbath." Bellamy tries to get through to him.
"You're a prisoner. You're just saying what they want you to say." He tells him.
"Riley, look! I'm not a prisoner, I came here on my own will. You need to stop this, Riley. I get you want revenge for what happened but this isn't the way." I say. Riley continues to keep his stance.
"I'm done with this." Echo says ready to shoot her arrow into him.
"Wait!" Bellamy tries again.
"Riley, trust me when I say you don't want to do this. If you do this you won't be able to get it out of your head. War made me a murderer. Don't let it do the same to you." I take in Bellamy's expression, he's still hurting. He's still living with what he's done and I can see it scares him.
For a second I think it's to going to work. He's going to shoot. But finally he sighs and his finger leaves the trigger as he starts to cry.
I want to have sympathy for him but I can't right now. He put everyones lives in danger just to try and fill his personal agenda.
"Get up." I tell him. He does as told as I take the rifle away from him. Considering I still want Echo to trust us, I hand it to her. She eyes me curiously but takes it from me and slings it over her shoulder.
"Bellamy? Taylor? Are you guys okay?" Clarke says as her and Roan come into view.
"Riley?" She adds.
"We're fine." I tell her.
"I miss anything?" Roan asks Echo. She looks over to us and then looks back to him.
"No, sire."
"So are we going to war?" I question them. They share a look.
"No, but if we can't find a way to crack night blood, we're going to share the ship. We'll survive together." I gotta give it to Clarke for always being able to somehow find the median.
Before I can speak a loud explosion sounds through the wood. We all turn to see smoke rising from an opening.
"That's arkadia."
A/N:
Hey guys! I know it's been awhile again but trust me I'd rather be writing than doing my homework. I have so many essays and projects due soon It's starting to really stress me out again so I've been trying to finish my assignments first.
Anyways, Taylor is still as badass as ever! She's willing to do whatever it takes to save her people and it really shows.
Thank you all so much for all the reads and comments. You guys honestly make me smile so much with your positive messages. So thank you!
Much love, xoxo