The Shield of Heda

Then Comes Peace

It's been a rather Stressful month, I'm not gonna lie when I say that with Le-Heda treating me like just another of one of her personal guard I feel terrible. I know that she doesn't really believe that Costia's death is my fault. Blaming me is just easier, it's an outage for all of her rage and grief that she is feeling. I know that isn't an excuse for her to treat me this way, but if it stops her from blaming herself, I'll bear it gladly.

Ever since Costia's head had been delivered to Polis about three weeks ago, Heda has grown to be a rather cold and calculative leader. Gone is the free acting Lexa I am used to, gone is the Heda that has true sympathy for each and every one of her people. Don't get me wrong, she still cares for her people greatly, but what I mean is that she will make harsh decisions that can effect many people without remorse. She already has used a squad of young warriors as bait for an Azgeda ambush, twenty young men and women slaughtered by Azgeda, and in return, we absolutely massacred them. One hundred loyal warrior lives for three hundred enemy Azgeda lives. It was a Decision that had caused the coalition to gain valuable land within the Azgeda territory and because of it, the war is close to an end. The downside however, was I had to send messages to each and every family that had lost a member in the operation; that was a depressing day for sure.

The Lexa I know and love isn't completely gone though, every once in a while beneath her cold mask of indifference, I see the pain she is still suffering. Even during the night, I hear the suffering from her grief. During these times I want to do nothing more than just embrace her. hold her close, and whisper soothing words into her ear. Now that she is Heda, she has taken up residence inside of Matthew's old chambers. In the beginning, I was happy that she was so close, now it hurts that she is close, and I can do nothing to help her.

"Prepare yourself, Shield."

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of Lexa's voice. Looking around, I noticed that the coalition's army had arrived at the Azgeda capital. "Understood Heda." I replied respectfully, riding to each of the clan's generals and ordering them to position their troops around the capital, effectively surrounding it.

Once every general's respective troops were in position, I returned to Heda to inform her.

"The troops are in position, Heda." I informed her respectfully. The only acknowledgement I received was a swift nod, she didn't even look in my direction.

I frowned behind my mask, thankful that she couldn't see my face. She would probably reprimand me for showing weakness in the presence of the troops.

After a few minutes of sitting atop our horses in silence, Heda finally spoke. "Set up camp, we wait for the Azgeda messengers to arrive!"

Dismounting off of our horses, I followed Heda to one of the nearby hills that gave an advantageous view of the Azgeda capital. The area was covered in a thick blanket of snow and in the middle of the snowy wasteland was a large village, the village was surrounded by a large wooden wall which seemed to be the reason there were no nearby trees. Within the wall, there were many stone and wooden buildings, some small and some large. The largest though, was placed in the middle of the village, it seemed to be a large manor of old. I assumed that's where Queen Nia was located.

We stood there in silence, looking to my left, I see that Lexa seemed to be deep in thought. Her brows were furrowed and her gaze was unwavering. I knew that she was too stubborn to be the first one to talk about what happened that night. Which sadly meant I was the one that needed to bring it up, which could either go good or bad. Honestly I am not too sure how Lexa will want to handle this, she still has a lot of rage and grief bottled up. Choosing to instead put her leadership duties first, and in consequence only hurting herself.