Who We Are [Bellamy Blake]

Chapter 12

When the afternoon finally rolled around, a thin layer of mist reaching hip level, the deal had been decided. Anya would go, with troops though the Sky People expected them to come alone, hear them out, and make her decision. However, Athena had heard what Anya had said in the tent, and she was livid about how many villagers had died because of the Sky People. She didn’t think that this was anything more than a scare tactic. Bringing a small army was to keep them safe, to hide in the trees and fire at any threats.

Aslan threw himself over a large black horse; it shook its pitch black mane and a shudder ran through its whole body, the muscles rippling. Athena placed her hand on the horses shoulder and stroked it gently; such a large and stunning creature would not do well upon the mountain, and so Athena rarely saw anything resembling a horse other than goats. She was almost surprised that Aslan was able to ride one bareback, but recalled that he had spent more time down in the woods than she had, due to the fact that he had been old enough to fight in the wars when Athena had not.

The large man slung a bow behind his back, the strap crossing his broad chest. Even fully covered, a few tattoos peeked out from the top of his shirt. He did not wear a mask like many of the others did. Aslan liked to face his enemy, eye to eye. Athena smiled at his bravery, and then turned on her heel to meet with Lincoln and Anya, though she only found Anya.

“Where is Lincoln?” Athena asked, breathing in sharply. Perhaps he did not make it back?

“Gone ahead.” Was all she said, then she grabbed the thick, bone horn from her hip and brought it to her lips. A death-waking call shuddered through the forests and birds shot from the trees. The sound of hooves and feet stomped and then began the trek to the bridge, where the meeting was to take place. Athena got up on the black horse of her own, unsteady, uneasy, beside Anya, feeling the distrust and anger emitting from her. With each step, Athena wished she were back on her mountain, she wished she had denied assisting Lexa. However, that would have meant severing their own truce.

Aslan and Athena rode beside Anya, the voyage taking almost an hour. When the bridge was in sight, it was clear that they had only brought three people, and Lincoln was already there. Stopping at the very beginning of the bridge, Athena watched the Sky People react; they had said no weapons, but Anya insisted that they be safe and protected. The weapons that the Sky People had were more deadly; guns. Her brown eyes scanned the forest on the other side, but she saw no movement. Overall, she was surprised that Bellamy had not shown. Though, she assumed it was due to his distaste for Athena’s people.

Athena strained to hear what Anya and the blonde, Clarke, were saying. Their voices were loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to hear the actual words being said. That is, until Anya raised her voice into that which was firm, stern and aggressive. “You started a war that you don’t know how to end!”

Clarke retorted, “What? No… We didn’t start anything. You attacked us for no reason!”

“NO reason?!” Anya shouted, stepping closer to Clarke. “The missiles you launched burned a village to the ground.”

“The flares?” Clarke gasped, “No… Those were meant to contact our families.”

Though Athena could hear them, the vicious tone obvious coming from Anya, she couldn’t catch every word; it was all in English. She was grasping enough of it to understand that Anya was only playing games. Athena tuned out, not trying to listen to the vicious words Anya would have to say, ignoring every possible peaceful thought Clarke had to say. She considered turning her horse around and leaving, going back up to the mountains and living out her life, but that was cowardice. She was part of this, she had to see it through. Whether that meant war or that meant peace, she would see this to the end.

The large stallion below her shuddered and caused Athena to glance around; if she couldn’t at least hear what Anya was saying, she should be doing what she did best; prepare for attack. Though only three weaponless people were on that bridge, not a lot of people would have come without back up. They were children, yes, but Athena had not seen them act foolishly. There was always thought behind their actions; they had been the ones smart enough to know that only a truce would keep them alive.

As Athena scanned the forest for the tenth time, she spotted someone. A dark haired boy, young looking, burst out of the woods. He held the same weapon in his hand that Bellamy had when he killed the Reapers; a gun. So, they had brought back up. Athena noticed as Aslan pulled his bow over his head, an arrow from the sheath on his back.

“Clarke!” The boy shouted, “run!”

The shots began to fire, and Athena felt her heart race. Aslan didn’t hesitate to fire arrows at those in the woods; there were three of them now, and Athena recognized one of them as Bellamy. Something in her stirred, an anger bubbled into her throat. Her people in the trees had not fired, and had not intended to fire unless something went awry. She gritted her teeth and held onto the reins as her horse bucked at the sound. It got up on his rear legs, his front legs kicking once, twice, and then falling back on all fours. Athena did not have the experience to prevent the horse from doing what it wanted, which was to get away from the battle.

Athena saw as arrows shot across the river, and bullets replied. Many of her own people collapsed from the trees, their bodies disappearing in foliage. Her eyes darted all around her; she had no long range weapons, and so all she could do was protect Anya, as she was supposed to. Finding Anya, she watched as the Unit Leader pulled a knife on Clarke, only to have a bullet fire at her. She dropped to avoid being shot, and Clarke escaped.

Anya rushed back to her own horse, between Athena and Aslan, who was firing at will, his arrows now dwindling.

“Go!” Anya shouted, her teeth gritted as she yanked the reins on her horse, turning the brown and white steed. Athena pulled the reins as well, and her horse followed suit of the others. Aslan fired until his ammunition had almost run dry, and he turned, gesturing for Athena to go ahead of him; she glanced back at Bellamy and the others, gun shots still firing and ringing in her ears. She turned her horse and began to gallop away, and one more gun shot fired.

She growled in pain as the bullet ripped through the flesh of her thigh, and was suddenly thankful that she was upon the horse, as it continued to run when she would not have been able to. Aslan reared up on his horse and turned around, seeing the blood spilled from Athena’s left thigh.

“Aslan, don’t!” She screamed at him; he had two shots left.

He disappeared before she could say anymore, yet her horse kept on barrelling down the forest beside Anya. Athena’s mouth was bone dry, her teeth were grinding together as she fought the urge to curse at the pain in her leg. She glanced back, but whether it was because of Aslan or Bellamy, she couldn’t decide. 

Wow, this story is getting a lot of attention! Usually I dedicate to anyone who shows up in my newsfeed in regards to the story, but since there are various votes from various people (not consecutive), it seems silly to dedicate a chapter to someone who voted on chapter 3, sometime last week. I've still written down every username that has voted/commented/added to reading list, but I have put stars beside the people who are constant with comments and votes, because you are the reason I keep writing, not the random votes. If I run out of people with stars, I will go to the first person without a star, and so on. If you don't get a dedication by the end of the story, it is because I have run out of chapters compared to readers!