Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 107: The Path Less Travelled

The area is treacherous, with steep slopes and most flat paths petering off quickly. They take the same path as Nia's group used when she brought Clarke back because there are no other options. It unnerves Clarke, but Lexa points out that there would be no logic in keeping a place so secret and then having gona visibly guarding the place for such a significant stretch. A square mile covered with guards wouldn't remain secret for long, not even so far north.

Surprisingly, it's Clarke who notices the problem first. Of course, it's because she's the only one who's been there before, not because of some innate snow survival skills, but she thinks it still counts.

"Hod yu op," she says suddenly, every instinct she has shrieking with alarm and suspicion. It's something to do with the large white tree in front of them, the one she remembers thinking had a branch that looked like a dragon the first time she went this way, riding on Snowball with Ontari.

Lexa frowns. "What is it, Clarke?"

She doesn't know what it is. The ground is white and clear with snow, the frozen trees hunched over, icicles dripping from their branches. There's nothing new around, nothing there that wasn't there the last two times she followed this path. But something's wrong.

"We cannot stand around like this for hours," Assan growls, and Lexa fixes him with a fierce glare.

"Shof op, Assan," she says coldly. "When I wish for your input, I will ask for it. But you should not hold your breath waiting."

There's nothing new here. But there's something that's missing. The smooth perfection of the snow...

"There was a branch here," she murmurs, "A branch that fell from that tree. A big one. Snowball balked at it and Ontari swore at him and yanked on the reins so hard it hurt him. And when we were leaving Roan had to persuade him over it as well. There were other things as well... other smaller branches, old animals' burrows, that kind of thing."

Lexa's eyes widen. "I see," she says quietly. She gives Assan and Lincoln a nod, which they return, and then they move forward cautiously, staring at the snow like it's going to come alive and attack them. Raven leans on Clarke as they watch.

"This reminds me of the time my mom lost one of her favourite earrings," Raven considers the accuracy of this, then adds fairly, "Of course, her search involved a lot more drunken stumbling."

"Found it," Lincoln says grimly, clearing away the upper surface of the snow. They all come to stand beside him when he beckons.

It must be fishing line or something – so transparent it's nearly invisible even without the snow covering it. Clarke follows the path of it with her eyes to two trees on opposite sides of the path. "A tripwire," she says unnecessarily. "What's the trap though? Does it make sound, alert the guards, throw something deadly at us, what?"

"If they are attempting to keep this place a secret, a loud noise would not aid them," Lexa points out, but there's a note of uncertainty in her voice that probably only Clarke can hear.

"I think what it does probably depends on who they think is likely to trip it," Lincoln says thoughtfully. He straightens, wincing at the pain in his back. "They cannot expect an army, not yet."

"So?" Raven asks impatiently.

"They probably expect Clarke," Lexa says. "The gonakru Nia had searching could not find her. If she assumes they are being effective, then she must know Clarke could only be in the far north. And Clarke used gunpowder to get out – perhaps they believe she has a stash of such weaponry."

"Maybe. Or they're worried about Roan," Clarke says. "I could see Roan deciding to put it all on the line and just straight-up try and assassinate his mother, if he thought he had no other choice. What with my 'weaponry', and Roan and Gustus' combat skills, maybe she thinks we'll come back and try and deal with her in a more direct way."