Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 100: Gonakru Prefer Blondes

"I hope you bring me good news from the south," Nia's voice echoes and crackles through the radio. Clarke puts her sketchpad aside in the middle of shading something and straightens, listening. "So far you have failed to bring me anything else of worth."

The man on the other end, who Lexa recognises as Diefen, clears his throat nervously. "We will find them, Azplana, they must simply be further north. You have already said you believe Pri - the natrona Roan has abandoned the blonde Skayon and the former Commander's thug. They will not be able to hide so easily without the help of that mokskwoma."

Lexa wonders if he is not allowed to refer to Clarke as the Destroyer of the Mountain, just as he is not allowed to refer to Roan as a Prince. It is very like Nia to refuse to recognise anyone's else's titles or status.

"We are not discussing your failures at present, but news from the south," Nia snaps. "Report."

"Messengers say that the raiders you sent to the south have returned," Diefen says quickly. "Only half were able to survive the traps set for them, but they have made it back across the border, and they managed to steal a great deal of food from the Trikru for our people as well. I believe if we ration the food and direct it to the places most in need, we can keep the nation fed for another week, perhaps a week and a half."

There's a long pause. "So much for the other clans coming to save us," Raven grumbles in an undertone. "It's totally unfair that they get two armies and we -" Clarke shushes her as Nia starts talking again.

"Excellent," she says. "Have them bring the food north as quickly as possible."

"...All of it, Azplana?" Diefen says uncertainly. "Villages in the south are also -"

"They are nearer to the border," Nia snaps. "If we raid again, we may be able to find food for them. But this food, these gona, they must come here now. Do not question me. Our priority is the far north." Diefen sucks in a breath, causing the radio to crackle, and Lexa is sure that he can also see the message in her words. The two Azgeda in the room draw back as well, horrified, and Gustus lets out a huff of disgust.

Nia has realised that without the missile and Clarke on her side, she has very little chance of taking Polis, and is fortifying the area she is in instead. With all the spare food and warriors sent there, the Azgeda to the south will be more likely to starve and be easily defeated if it comes to war – but she will be able to hole up in the north for much longer. In warmer months when the lake melts, she might be able to use the gona to blockade the relatively narrow path created by it, protecting the tiny tip of Azgeda lands where she hides. If she finds enough food to survive until next winter, any alliance gonakru besieging the north would be forced back into Trikru territory by the cold, leaving her to retake the conquered areas. Nia could turn this into a protracted, messy affair causing the deaths of thousands of Azgeda as well as thousands of the other clans' gona. The sheer selfishness of the strategy leaves Lexa breathless.

"Sha, Azplana," Diefen says, voice tight, and Lexa wonders if he has family in the middle or south of Azgeda territory.

"Good. Order them to make haste. Also, send Wilfrid. Tell him that he is to take charge of three dozen gona and have them bring as much food as they can carry, not to my location but to the usual place we have villagers deliver food, and then to send the gona back to their kru. He will know the place I mean," Nia commands.

"Sha, Azplana," Diefen repeats.

"And find the three natrona quickly," Nia continues. "Make sure you take them alive, they could be useful. No more burning houses. If you fail me again, I will not be so forgiving."

There is a click as the radio goes silent, and Raven blows out a breath. "Jeez," she says. "That woman. She's actually almost scarier than the news we have another army after us. How come we never get good news?"