Survive for Another Time

Chapter 44

After her capture Raven had been thrown on the back of the dark blonde woman's horse saddle and they had ridden away from the pod and her sole chance of contacting the Ark and warning them of those… well, she couldn't call them savages since they had language, tools and clothes and seemed to have a hierarchy with the woman at the top but she could call them… grounders. Yeah that was a good enough name for now.

So, those grounders were taking her somewhere unknown to do something unknown but considering Finn's medical report from three days ago, it could be potentially hurtful or deadly. She had lost her bearings in the forest which she believed had been done on purpose and was now at an unknown location with an unknown distance between herself and the kids. That was waaay too much unknown for her taste.

She had tried to ask questions. Granted it sounded more like a rant mixed with several yelps and empty threats but they did not need to go so far as to gag her. Moreover, she had seen the grounder wipe his dirt covered clothes with the cloth they had used to do so! It was so not hygienic! Bah! Grounders, that level of unsavoriness was so them!

Anyway, now she was no longer on the stinking horse but tied to a post in a tiring and uncomfortable position, her hands above her head, in the middle of what turned out to be a village made of wood, mud bricks, straw and tole with small wooden enclosures for a few cows and chickens and several back courts with veggies being grown. No fruits from what she could see though, maybe they were getting them directly from the forest. Who knew. Again, whatever.

What was important was that another bad-ass looking woman had shown up next to the dark blonde one and was looking at Raven with much suspicion and contempt which was a dangerous mix in these circumstances. She was a little bit shorter than her kidnaper and had black skin, multiple scars on her face as well as short frizzy hair. Considering she was holding herself as straight backed as veteran guards of the Ark and her hand never left her sword by her hip, Raven could guess she was a warrior of some rank and importance but she had no clue of how much or if she was this 'Heda' person the dark blond woman said she was working for and that, left her worried she would anger her and seal her fate and that of the hundred delinquents.

The two bad-asses were now talking in a dry and harsh dialect with much gusto but at low volume so as to not be overheard by the other grounders milling about. She vaguely recognized some insults thrown at her from the tone and looks the dark-skinned woman was pinning her with and made sure to remember them for later use. She had a reputation to keep and a whole new set of retorts and diatribes had just presented itself to her, she would be stupid to reject them.

In the end the dark skinned one just abruptly nodded as if consenting to something and took post next to the dark blond one, who came before Raven and addressed her for the first time since she understood this was not an hallucination. Just like she had done before, she spoke in a mix of English and the other language.

"I am Onya kom Trikru, commanding officer of all Trikru gonas, you are Reivon Kom Skaikru. an invader to our lands."

Raven would have retorted that she was not in fact an invader but a messenger looking for her people unfortunately her gag had still to be removed, a wise decision from her abductors since she would have drowned them with her words in a probable attempt of showing bravado. She could only keep listening to Onya and decided that, if she was going to be killed she would want to know why.

"As of now the Commander of all twelve clans, Heda, is in negotiation with the camp of a hundred Skaikru, Sky People, that has arrived in our territory four days ago." (A/N: 44 chapters for approximatively 4 days. Considering I have to do Lexa's, Onya's, Clarke's and the Ark's point of view it means each day takes eleven chapters to transcribe… damn, that's a lot!)