SWEET LITTLE LIES // BELLAMY BLAKE // THE 1OO

TWENTY-SIX

✿ TWENTY-SIX ✿

"Out of control

What can I do"

___

They arrived at the bridge early in the morning. The walk to it had been exhausting, but the way Finn and Clarke had been circling around each other the whole night, completely ignoring her entire existence, had been more exhausting. She was glad to see Octavia waiting on the bridge already, immediately pulling the girl in for a hug.

"Why doesn't it surprise me that you got involved?" Octavia asked her, chuckling softly as she let go.

Katherine smirked, giving Pather, who was already reaching a little over her knees, a pet. "I could ask you the same."

Just as Octavia was about to reply, the Grounder, whose name was Lincoln, she'd learned, came running out of the woods. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Bellamy with Jasper and Raven hidden in the banks of the river, two of them wearing a disappointed expression. She watched as Octavia and Lincoln hugged, which provoked a faint smile.

Her interest was soon taken up by the sound of hoofs clattering on the ground and the soft neighing that came from behind the bushes. Not too long after, three horses live horses came out of the hedges. They were breath-taking, the way all things appeared to be the first time you saw them for real. The horses showed no signs of radiation, except for being really tall. The men on top of the horses, however, looked like warriors from a long time ago, carrying weapons and wearing skulls.

Panther's tail swept to her leg in a pace too fast for him. Though he might appear relaxed from the outside, she felt his restlessness. Trying not to be too obvious, she scanned the trees surrounding them, spotting two archers without any difficulty. She knew many more had to be hidden.

"Hey!" Finn called out, catching up with Lincoln and Octavia. "We said no weapons."

Not feeling the particular need to step forward as well, Katherine observed the situation from a little distance. It was obvious Lincoln was surprised by the presence of the weapons as well, leading her to believe he wasn't up that high in their ranks as she might have hoped.

Finn tried to take a step forward, but he was held back by Lincoln. His eyes fell on her frame. "She goes alone."

Now, she did feel the need to walk forward and so she did. They parted for her as she walked past and she tried to not look at their faces, only keeping her eyes focused on the woman who was getting off of her horse. Though she might appear to be collected, maybe even slightly unbothered, or at least, she hoped so, she was filled from bottom to top with fright. Yes, she'd read many peace treaties and she also knew how much of those had lead to another war. She was also hyper-alert to the fact that it would only take one arrow to send her to the next life, but she tried to push that away as well.

As she and the woman met up in the middle, the latter observing her like a piece of meat, Katherine refused to back down. Instead, she stared back at the woman, impressed with the way she was so small and fragile, but yet seemed to radiate off so much authority. Her eyes were blackened with charcoal, giving her face even more sharp angles. Her eyes shifted to Panther, who was standing next to Katherine, still as a statue except for his tail, which was making S-shaped movements.