chapter 47

The black blood was dripping almost languid off of Anya's extended nails and the drops fell slowly to the ground. Anya's face was still twisted in a snarl and the pain from Anya cutting into her arm was all too fresh in Clarke's mind.

Clearly, there had been some changes to her body that she wasn't aware of. Black blood? It hadn't happened when she had broken the glass. The deep red colour of her blood when she had crushed it was still vivid in her mind.

In hindsight, even then the red was a lot darker than what blood should have looked like even when deoxygenated.

It was then that she remembered what Darah had said about the Novus changing her body. Clarke hadn't really paid much attention to it, but the usage of her powers hadn't caused her pain except for the new one she had activated to escape the Mountain.

That meant that the acclimatisation of her body must have caused her blood to slowly change colour. Clarke wasn't sure what the purpose was, but she did notice that the niggling (and at times excruciating ) pain she felt when using her powers was gone.

She had gotten used to the pain that she had begun to associate with the Novus. She didn't really want to talk about it to the others because that would have caused them to worry and it wasn't anything Clarke couldn't handle.

However, now she felt no pain whatsoever and she knew she had to speak to Darah about what else might have changed without her knowing.

Clarke dispelled these thoughts and instead looked at Anya who did not look any calmer at all. It was obvious that the blood meant something to Anya, but whatever it meant could not have been good to garner such a violent response from Anya at the mere sight of it.

"Anya,"said Clarke cautiously, "What's wrong? Is it my blood? Why does that matter? We need to get to the Commander to–"

Unlike the last time Clarke reacted on time to Anya's attack and as expected she appeared next to Clarke her nails looking to rip the younger girl's throat out. Clarke caught the extended wrist of Anya and she threw the older woman away.

Anya recovered gracefully, though, and she skidded on her knees on the ground with her angry expression still set on her face. The woman spat towards Clarke's feet and said,"To think I trusted you. You don't wish to aid the Commander. You wish to overthrow her and take the title of Commander for yourself. I'll kill you myself before I let you get near to Heda."

Clarke raised her hands in what she hoped was a harmless gesture and said,"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I want what's best for my people and that's with the Commander in charge. Lincoln said she created the Coalition and I want to see if we could join it."

Anya rose to her feet her nails decreasing in size as she rose. Twin plumes of smoke appeared in the woman's hands and the smoke faded to reveal gleaming daggers. The blades were clean and polished and the edge seemed to be extremely sharp.

Clarke knew that any words she might say to Anya at this stage would not matter. Whether it was her anger at being captured by the Mountain Men or actual distrust of Clarke driving her actions she knew that Anya wouldn't stop attacking Clarke until Clarke put her down.

Clarke felt confident in her ability to beat Anya, but she still tried the diplomatic approach once more as the two women began to circle each other,"I don't want to hurt you, Anya. We can talk this through."

A wicked smile split Anya's face and immediately Clarke knew this wasn't going where she wanted it to.

Anya adjusted her grip on her daggers and finally spoke,"That's a shame because I really want to hurt you."

Anya whipped her right hand forward and there was a flash of silver as the dagger that was in Anya's hand flew through the air at high speeds. It wasn't all that fast for Clarke however and her superspeed allowed her to swiftly, if a little clumsily, move out of the way of the dagger.

The clumsiness she showed clearly highlighted what was, in Clarke's opinion,one of Instinct's biggest failings. The self-preservation ability only activated when Clarke was unaware of danger such as in sneak attacks or when the explosion of the acid fog had almost burnt her to a crisp in the hallway outside the chamber.

Instinct however didn't activate when the Mountain Men had shot at her because Clarke was aware of the danger she was in and as such she had had to come up with ways to counteract these threats. It was why Anya had so easily cut Clarke.

The surprise of her ally of a few minutes ago attacking her had frozen her stock still and she was only able to raise an arm in self defense. A bad idea considering Anya's nails had felt as sharp as any scalpel Clarke has ever used.

The knife pegged into the ground and Clarke raised her hands at Anya and she hesitated for a bit before firing a psionic blast at the woman. Alas, her hesitation cost her and Anya had teleported out of danger the moment the shot left Clarke's hands.

The woman appeared in front of Clarke her arm already going for a slash with the dagger. Clarke recognised this exact move from Anya and she was able to catch the wrist of the arm that had the dagger in before slamming a palm strike on Anya's chest.

The air in Anya's lungs was quickly expelled and the woman herself was sent careening across the clearing before slamming into a tree. The sound Anya made when she collided with the tree echoed around the empty forest, but Anya herself was silent as she quickly regained her breath.

"Fight like a warrior,"said Anya as she finally regained her breath, "If you had punched me you could have won, but still you hesitate. "

Anya teleported to Clarke and she swung a fist towards the girl's face. Again Clarke's inexperience showed as she clumsily parried the punch. Anya lashed out with a kick and Clarke used both her hands to catch the strong blow. The ringing in her arms confirmed to her that the Grounders also had enhanced physical prowess.

Clarke looked up to Anya's face, but the smile on the woman's face clearly spelled trouble for her. In an amazing show of dexterity, Anya used her only standing leg to kick Clarke in the face and she wrenched her other leg free once the girl's grip on it loosened.

"Why do you hesitate?"said Anya in annoyance. Clarke turned to the other woman and Anya was amazed to see the bruising on the girl's face disappear quickly.

Clarke spat out something out of her mouth and Anya looked at where it had landed and she was surprised to see a globule of blood mixed in with teeth.

Clarke wiped the black blood that was dripping from the edge of her mouth and looked to the other woman. The teeth she had lost were already regenerating and once they were done Clarke said,"I already told you. I don't want to hurt you. I have no idea what the hell this blood means to you. A few days ago, my blood was red and now its black. I have no idea if this is some sort of new power or something, but what I do know is that you're trying to kill me for something that's not my fault!"

Anya had detected the switch in Clarke's tone and she had barely had enough time to brace herself before a purple blast smashed into her chest and sent her tumbling across the clearing again into a tree.

This time Anya groaned loudly as the pain of her smashing into the tree was far louder than before. Anya barely had time to process her surroundings before she felt a hand grip her by the front of her shirt.

Anya was pulled face to face with Clarke and the younger girl's eyes were emitting a radiant purple light as she said,"Speak or else."

Clarke had raised her other hand that wasn't holding onto Anya and the beginnings of a flame were beginning to form on it.

The threat was clear.

Anya for her part smirked and she wrapped Clarke in a tight hug before Clarke could even twitch and the other girl was confused as she felt her surroundings shift in a blink of an eye. The temperature dropped rapidly and she felt oddly short of breath.

There was blue and white all around her and Clarke realised where Anya had teleported them. They were both falling from the sky towards their death.

Anya was still holding tightly onto Clarke, but that soon changed as she disappeared in a wisp of smoke leaving Clarke all alone falling to her death.

Clarke's clothes were wet from falling through the clouds, but that all ended soon as she fell through the last of the clouds before she broke into open air.

The view of the forests and its surroundings would have been breathtaking if it hadn't been for the fact that Clarke was falling to her death. There were vast plains, high trees and Clarke was sure she caught a glimpse of a tall tower that must have survived the bombs, but she couldn't quite confirm it as her body twisted and spun through the air as the Earth's gravity pulled her closed to it's surface.

Clarke shook her head as the lightheadedness from shifting environments so quickly and spinning through the air began to get to her. Clarke closed her eyes and she hoped that her gamble wouldn't end with her going splat on the forest floor.

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In a forest clearing, a rabbit was hopping around in erratic bursts of energy. It's brown fur shone under the shine of the morning sun and it stopped every few hops to nibble on grass.

Suddenly, the rabbit paused as it's ears began to twitch wildly. It looked in a direction and sure enough a lone wolf was staring at it. There was a moment of silence before the rabbit began to run away at top speed into the surrounding brush.

The rabbit was swift, but the wolf had already prepared for this and it had begun to give chase after the rabbit. The wolf began to track the elusive bunny.

The chase continued on for minutes until the rabbit burst through the forest, but had to skid to a stop as a large river appeared in it's path. The rabbit tried to circle back, but in a flash it was all over.

The wolf snatched the rabbit up into it's maw and bit down firmly before it loped off back into the forest with the rabbit still alive somehow. It was only once the wolf was safely near it's den that the wolf bit down harder on the still alive rabbit.

Red liquid began to drip down the wolf's maw, but just as the wolf was about to snap it's jaw shut, large bolts of electricity emanated from the rabbit and the shocks that ran through it's system reflexively caused it's muscles to lock up which in turn prompted the rabbit to produce stronger amounts of electricity.

It was a vicious cycle that eventually ended with wolf collapsing once the stream of electricity died down. The wolf's jaw stayed lock, but the rabbit trapped within the jaws of the beast was already dead. The wolf's jaws had begun to bite down harder and harder as the electricity coursed through it's nervous system and a reflexive response from the rabbit had killed both predator and prey.

Back at the river were the rabbit had been caught, there were a few chirps and whistles from birds that emanated from the trees. The sounds began to rise in volume and intensity under the glow of the morning sun. However, all sounds were cut off as Anya appeared a few metres above the river in an explosion of smoke.

Less than a second later Anya lands feet first inside the water as a scream tore it's way from her lungs. A large spout of water rises up as the woman falls in before the water finally settles and stills.

There is no sound near the river for a few seconds and the birds that had been startled by the sudden appearance of Anya had begun to sing again. The birdsong had almost returned to it's previous volume before a large splash of water cut it off again.

Anya took a deep breath as she surfaced from the water and she began to gingerly swim towards shore. She finally reached the bank of the river and she pulled herself up onto the dry land.

Despite landing feet first, the impact with the water had been extremely painful, but it was necessary. A slight amount of guilt filled her chest at having killed the young girl, but she could not take any chances with Lexa's life.

Clarke being a natblida was an unforeseen problem and despite herself Anya wanted to help the girl help her people, but if word got out that another natblida existed aside from that pitiful Floukru woman then there would be problems.

Anya rose to her feet and she surveyed the area she was in. The explosion at The Mountain would have drawn a lot of attention and Anya was certain that Lexa would already have begun her travel to it or at the very least send scouts to investigate the incident.

Anya was about to teleport to one of the near villages, but she stopped something landed in front of her and kicked her in the stomach sending her back into the river. Anya cradled her stomach before pushing the pain down and swimming up to the surface.

She took a deep breath in and she turned to her attacker only to take in the sight if Clarke glaring at her with the girl's hands pointed towards the river. Lightning was crackling on her arms and Anya was initially confused about how the girl could have possibly survived such a high fall until she took in the large wings that were spread out behind the girl.

The girl's eyes were also different from their usual blue instead they were a deep yellow or golden colour with a black centre. The girl's hair was very messy – obviously a result from falling from so high – and some strands hung in her face.

Clarke glared at Anya before speaking, "Tell me about the black blood, Anya. Why is it so important to you? "

Anya was about to protest, but she stopped as she saw the lightning on the girl's arms intensify.

"I don't think you can dodge lightning, "said Clarke her eyes never leaving Anya's, "You said I was weak for holding back, but now I'm serious. Tell me what I need to know about the blood and anything else that's important or you'll be dead before you can blink."

Anya felt like screaming in pure frustration. She had forgotten about the girl's ability to fly when she had taken them to the skies. That usually took care of even the toughest of opponents, but clearly this woman wasn't the same as those that came before her.

"I'll tell you what you need to know,"said Anya and it went without saying by either of them that she was to remain in the river.

Anya sighed before she began to speak,"After the old world had been destroyed by the bombs, there had been chaos and death everywhere. Sickness, hunger, murder, rape...it was a time of true savagery. The powers we had been given by our ancestors were used as tools to fight and those few who did not obtain any powers were swiftly cut down."

Clarke's eyes had shifted from their yellow colour back to blue as Anya finally began to cooperate.