chapter 27

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option as Clarke's Instinct activated and used her psionic powers to form a shield in front of her. It was right in the nick of time too as Anya appeared in front of her in a cloud of black smoke and tried to stab her, but she was stopped by the translucent, blue barrier.

"Guys. Diggs. Now."said Clarke simply and it was enough for the other three delinquents to understand.

Clarke pointed her hands at Anya who had tried another futile stab and shot a blast of energy at her. The blast passed straight through the barrier and hit Anya in her midsection.

Anya was sent careening across the span of the bridge and Clarke snuck a look behind her in time to see Raven fire a beam of energy from her hands.

The beam shot straight through Pascal and he was dead before he hit the ground. Diggs began to run, but Bellamy had run off into the woods after him and Clarke was worried until she saw Octavia and ,after a moments hesistation, Raven run off after him.

Clarke turned back to Anya and saw she was just getting back up to her feet. There was blood dripping from the crown of Anya's head and yet it didn't seem to bother as she yelled across the bridge at Clarke,"So you lured me saying you wanted peace, but I can tell you clearly want war!"

"No!"shouted Clarke vehemently as she felt a pit form in her stomach,"Those people are not under my rule anymore. They left our camp! I didn't know they were going to be here!"

Anya snorted loudly and said, "Just like how you didn't think the flares you launched might hurt someone? You say you want war the moment and the next moment you shoot at me with your powers."

Anya walked back across the bridge and Clarke tensed herself waiting for an attack, but it never came. Anya had only come to pick up her knife that she had dropped.

"If it's a war you want, Klark,"said Anya as she toyed with the knife in her before throwing it at Clarke,"It's a war you'll get."

The knife was moving at an extreme speed, but to Clarke's horror it wasn't aimed at her and it lodged itself firmly into Lincoln's heart. A perfect throw from over 30 yards.

"Traitor,"spat Anya in disgust as she watched the man fall.

Clarke had ignored the rest of what Anya had said before she ran back to Lincoln and she quickly yanked the knife out before her hands glowed green and she pressed them firmly over Lincoln's chest.

"Please don't die,"said Clarke as an image of Roma overlaid on Lincoln's face, but it faded as she could feel the flesh beneath her palm knit itself back together.

After only a few seconds, Lincoln was no worse for wear except for the blood across his chest and Clarke was pretty sure the wound was going to scar badly. The man was unconscious, but his chest was rising and falling if only a little unsteadily.

Clarke turned back to Anya who hadn't moved an inch and seemed surprised at the sight of Clarke healing Lincoln from a mortal wound.

"There's no need to start a fight, Anya. We can resolve this peacefullly."said Clarke as she tried one last ditch effort to stop the war.

Anya snapped out of her shock and sneered at Clarke,"Peace? There will be no peace for my men that your people killed. No peace for their family and friends. No piece until justice is served. Jus drein jus daun. Blood must have blood. That is the way of the ground, sky girl. It's time you've learnt that."

Anya was about to attack, but was cut off by the sound of a horn blowing.

Clarke had flinched at the sound of the horn and she recognised it for what it was,"Acid fog!"

Clarke hefted Lincoln up and she ran as fast as she could for the woods. She was sure that she couldn't make to camp however and so she stopped roughly a few hundred metres away from the bridge and pulled out the portable tent Finn had discovered a while back and assembled it before pulling Lincoln inside and shutting the zip.

Clarke waited expectantly as she waited for the first signs of the acid fog, but there was nothing. Clarke waited and waited until she heard the sound of movement outside the tent.

Relief washed over Clarke as she heard Octavia call out, "Clarke, is that you?"

Clarke scrambled out the tent and sure enough Clarke was face to face with Octavia. There were a few bloodspot on her clothes, but Clarke ignored that as Octavia said,"Come on! Raven stole the horn and blew it. We need to get back to camp."

"What about Lincoln?"said Clarke and Octavia shifted unconsciously before she said,"We'll need to leave him. He may have helped us and he's the reason I'm not stuck in a cave, but considering the fact you just shot his leader across a bridge and some of our people just killed a bunch of the Grounders, it's likely that we're at war so..."

Clarke knew Octavia was being practical, but who knew what Lincoln might do. Anya may have tried to kill him, but he just might take it out on them.

"I think we should take him,"said Clarke finally,"We need to know what we're up against. We'll tie him up until he wakes up. If he's willing to help us then we'll set him free."

Octavia looked hesitant as Clarke slung the large man over her shoulder, but ultimately decided to let the matter drop.

Clarke was grateful that Octavia didn't put up more of a fight and said,"What happened with Diggs?"

"There were a few more of them in the woods. I think their plan was to kill Anya since they must thought she must have been the Commander or something, but I don't think they had a clear shot so they just shot at whatever Grounder they could."

"Why were there more of them in the woods?"said Clarke, but even as the words left her mouth she knew the reason which was confirmed by Octavia's statement.

"To kill either me, you, Raven or Bellamy. Probably all of us,"said Octavia before adding,"We got all 7 of them except for Trina. That bitch bolted as soon as she saw Pascal drop to the ground."

"A war on two fronts, huh?"said Clarke as she felt a headache develop,"Probably shouldn't have given Mbege those guns."

"Yeah, well, I'd take laser beams over superpowers any day,"said Octavia in a resigned tone, but the resignation quickly changed into resolution as she said,"Clarke, I'm behind you all the way on this. We may be outnumbered, but there's no way we're going down without a fight."

Clarke wished she could provide some words of comfort or reassurance to Octavia, but the hateful glare of Anya was stuck firmly in her mind.

"We need to get back to camp and amp up the guard details. I'm activating some of the dormant powers too,"said Clarke as she turned to Octavia.

"Don't you think that will hurt them?"

"It will definitely hurt them, but I think everyone would agree with me when I say pain is better than death,"said Clarke with a wry smile.

Clarke took Octavia's silence as the younger girl agreeing with her statement and she allowed her thoughts to go inward as she wondered how they would survive a war against Mbege and the Grounders.

Clarke only hoped that if they did survive the war that she would be able to look herself in the mirror and not see a monster.

However, it might already be too late for that.

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Trigedasleng

Maunon- Mountain Men