XX

[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia distracts Bellamy and Clarke so she can free the two captured grounders. As she acts upon her cleverly devised plan, Octavia learns a few interesting facts about Lincoln and Aidan].

For the next half an hour, Lincoln, Aidan and I stayed hidden deep within the woods.

Lincoln had secured the upper hand by climbing up a thick nearby oak. He crouched precariously on one of its branches, scanning and making mental notes of our surroundings.

Aidan stayed with me behind the spruce brushes. From our vantage point, we could see the camp gates and the top of the drop-ship. We could also hear the chaos that erupted once the escapade of the grounders was discovered.

No one ventured out of the camp to look for us, though. I presumed that Clarke persuaded Bellamy to wait until morning. To be honest, I was surprised and almost a little disappointed. As much as I wanted Bellamy to keep as far away from us as possible, I was a little upset that he didn't come looking for me. I was his sister after all ...

As we waited for the full cover of darkness to settle in, I decided to get some answers to the questions flooding my mind.

"Why did you save my life?" I queried, gazing intently at Aidan.

He was facing away from me, but even then, I could make out his defined jaw and cheekbones, the rippling muscles of his back and the scars that tattered his upper arms.

Aidan cast a sideways glance at me and shrugged.

I couldn't get two words out of him!

I groaned in frustration. "Oh c'mon. I deserve to know why you helped me ... and then tried to stop me from leaving those tunnels. What were you trying to hide?"

Aidan stiffened as he turned to face me fully. Obviously, by the look on his face, he hadn't expected that I'd recognise him.

"I - I know who you are ..." I stuttered, trying hard not to avert my eyes from his. "I - I just need to know ... that's all ... w-why would you save my life? I'm not one of you. I'm one of them! Someone that your people are trying to kill ..."

"You don't know anything about our people," Aidan shot back.

I swallowed. He did have an accent. But from where? I couldn't pinpoint it. "T-that's true ... But then again, you don't know anything about us."

"We do know that your ship blew a missile that burned an entire village to the ground and killed 300 of our people," Aidan returned, the anger evident in his tone. "We also know that you were trying to take our land and now you've tried to take us!"

I shook my head. "No, it's not like that! Some of us are impulsive, yes, but in the long run, we're just kids - er - they're just kids. They don't know what they're doing. They don't have a leader to follow."

Aidan guffawed. "Bellamy," he hissed. "He is their commander and if he choses to lead them into battle, we will be ready and we will slaughter you ... all of you."

I sat back, my mind frantically trying to process all of this new information. "B-Bellamy ... he's my brother."

Aidan's jaw stiffened and his hands curled up into fists. "I know."

"You - you can't kill him," I whispered.

Aidan glowered at me. "We won't kill if they won't kill. That's the Trikru way. But ... one misstep ... well, blood must have blood."

Trikru? I decided not to bother Aidan with any more questions. Instead, my face fell and my heart grew heavy.

"I'm sorry," I offered softly. "I - I'm sorry we crash-landed on your - er - planet. We - we didn't have a choice though. We're all criminals and we were sent down here to die."

Aidan's brow furrowed in surprise and confusion. "W-what did you do?"

"Uh ..." I hesitated, not sure how to respond. "I - I ..."

"Osir na gon we," Lincoln spoke up from his position in the tree above us.

Startled, I lifted my head and watched as he leaped nimbly to the ground. "I'm sorry. What?"

"It's Trigedasleng for 'we will leave'," Aidan explained briefly as he stood up and slung his pack over one shoulder.

"T-trige-d-dasleng?" I stammered, unsure of the word's meaning.

"Yes. Use your brain. That's the language we speak," Lincoln scoffed. "Now hurry up. Taim yu drag raun, taim yu ge ban au." He paused when he saw the quizzical look on my face. He heaved a deep sigh as he translated, "If you fall behind, then you get left behind."

I nodded as I quickly sheathed my sword and got to my feet. "TonDC, here we come," I whispered to myself.

All that night, we travelled ... across streams, over hills, and through valleys. The journey never seemed to end. I was so exhausted by the time dawn broke over the horizon that I felt like collapsing and never getting up again.

But, I understood the urgency in Lincoln's footsteps: we had to put as much distance between us and the drop-ship as possible.

The sun was just slipping up over the distant knolls when we finally stumbled into a large clearing overlooking a slight dip in the distant earth. Lincoln motioned for us to squat down behind a foliage of bushes, which we did.

As we sat there, waiting for his next order, the smell of freshly roasted meat filled my nostrils and my stomach growled with hunger.

"Let's go," Lincoln spoke up, waving us over as he got to his feet and started down the steep slope.

Aidan followed him without question so I had no choice but to comply also.

As we reached the bottom of the hill, I noticed that we were standing before a large cluster of thatched bamboo houses. A broken-down sign, displaying the words, "TonDC" crested the outskirts of the village. Strings of clothes were hung up between each constructed home and baskets of raw meat was lying near a large fire in the midst of the town square.

Bellamy had been right. The grounders had been draining our hunting fields.

I pulled my cloak's hood over my head, grasped the handle of my sword and stayed close to Aidan as the three of us entered the village.

Little children, clad with furs and armed with knives, were chasing each other through the flapping wads of drying clothes. Women were kneeling over pans of delicious smelling flesh and pots of boiling water. Men were gathering around the town square, sharpening their blades and talking in jest.

As we approached the main square, Lincoln held up his hands and announced, "Hei ai stegede."

Murmurs of greeting and sighs of contentment and relief rippled throughout the village as some of the male warriors came forward to welcome Lincoln and Aidan home.

Then, their attention turned to me and their brows darkened in suspicion.

"Chon yu bilaik? Hakom yu kamp raun hir?" a hairy, sharp-looking man demanded.

"LINCOLN!"

I jumped and whirled around, my eyes searching the throng of people surrounding us for the speaker.

A tall African woman, scars lining her cheeks and forehead, broke through the gathering crowd and strode briskly towards us. Her dark eyes were flashing with anger and a long, curved sword hung by her side. Armour clad her arms, legs and chest and dark coloured furs were wrapped around her body. A long black cape encircled her shoulders and billowed in the wind behind her.

"Snap kom dalop, nami," she barked as she came to a sudden stop before Lincoln. Her eyes flittered over towards me and she froze. "Natrona!" she sneered as she whipped her sword from her belt and started towards me.

"Indra, wait! Don't kill her," Aidan held out a restraining hand. "She could come in useful in case of war."

I stared at him in shock and horror. "W-wait ... what?"

Indra fell back reluctantly. "You're right. Disarm her and take her to the commander ... now."

Gif: Octavia as she enters the grounder village.

XX