Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 83: Gunpowder Treason and Plot

It takes Clarke forty minutes after finding the empty cartridge to find the last bullet. A good half hour of that was just dealing with the two that had rolled into the nearest stall – several times she considered ignoring them, but the horse in there seemed to be mocking her cowardice with his eyes so eventually she had to. From a distance, of course. She spent the half hour poking in the stall with the end of the broom and yanking it back whenever the horse lunged for it.

While it's inconvenient for those two bullets, she's probably lucky that Azgeda horses are trained to savage anyone beside their rider who comes close. It means that each stall is cleaned by an individual gona, which has the side-effect of meaning the area outside the stalls has been cleaned by none of them, leaving all of the bullets Titus accidentally ejected scattered in the sparse straw.

Snowball whickers softly at her, sticking his head over the side of his stall and surveying her with his big soft eyes. Clarke wraps the last bullet in a scrap of fabric so that it won't jingle against the others and stows it in the rip she made in the inner lining of her bulky coat, and goes to him, reaching out her hand to stroke his nose. He's so much gentler than the others, even though they can all trust their rider and he can't trust anyone at all. Or maybe that's why he's sweet, because he never expected anyone to treat him better. The thought makes her sad.

"You know if you proceed with your foolish plan, you will not be able to take the horse with you," Roan says from behind her. He's been watching the door for her grudgingly. So far he's been obeying her instructions, but with plenty of sourness.

"Why not?" Clarke asks reasonably. "He can move much faster than we can."

Roan snorts. "Not if we wish to go south over the frozen lake as I suggested. Even if you could persuade him to venture onto the ice, which not one horse in a hundred will do, he would leave a trail across it with the spikes on his shoes, and is far more likely to break through the ice. And going around the edge of the lake, even on a horse, takes a couple of days longer."

"Then why doesn't everyone walk?"

Roan shrugs. "Many do, if they do not have horses to worry about. It is risky with large groups, however, especially close to the shore – it is still early winter and the edges crack and break easily under too much weight. In a few weeks it will be far safer." Clarke blinks at the thought that this is early winter, not wanting to consider how cold it will be in a few weeks. "But if you wish to avoid leaving a trail, and slow their search by forcing them to go around the lake to get to the south, this is our only option. And that means leaving the horse."

Clarke considers this. "We'll see," she says eventually, though inwardly she admits he's probably right. She returns to rubbing Snowball's nose, cooing at him, then looks up at Roan again. "How are you going with the task I gave you?"

"I have been doing as you ask. The cook now believes I have a drinking problem," Roan scowls. "I have six waterskins of fayowada hidden in my room, and I still do not understand this plan."

"You don't need to," Clarke says coolly. She's not telling Roan about her plans mostly because she's still bringing it all together in her own mind, but also because some of what she's doing she doesn't want him to understand. After all, one part of her plan involves these bullets. As far as he knows, she's gathering these just in case they can manage to also find Titus's gun – she doesn't want him to realise that bullets have a use without a gun. After all, the Grounder culture bans touching a gun, but isn't so specific about ammo.

Clarke kisses Snowball on the nose. She's gotten quite fond of him – considering she used to be terrified of horses, that's quite something. But he's the only one here who she absolutely trusts. Gustus would sell her out if he thought it would be best for Lexa, Roan would sell her out if he thought he could survive it, Nia would kill her in a second if she stopped being useful, and Ontari would kill her if she could come up with an excuse for it, but Snowball just looks at her with his big dark eyes, broadcasting total adoration. She's been visiting him often, Ontari following her and scowling, but today apparently Ontari was annoyed enough by these constant visits not to bother accompanying her. Hence the bullet-gathering.