章 13: Then Comes Peace
It's been a rather Stressful month. I'm not gonna lie when I say that with Le-Heda treating me like just another of one of her personal guards, I feel terrible. I know that she doesn't really believe that Costia's death is my fault. Blaming me is just easier, it's an outage for all of her rage and grief that she is feeling. I know that isn't an excuse for her to treat me this way, but if it stops her from blaming herself, I'll bear it gladly.
Ever since Costia's head had been delivered to Polis about three weeks ago, Heda has grown to be a rather cold and calculative leader. Gone is the free acting Lexa I am used to, gone is the Heda that has true sympathy for each and every one of her people. Don't get me wrong, she still cares for her people greatly, but what I mean is that she will make harsh decisions that can affect many people without remorse. She already has used a squad of young warriors as bait for an Azgeda ambush, twenty young men and women slaughtered by Azgeda, and in return, we absolutely massacred them. One hundred loyal warriors lives for three hundred enemy Azgeda lives. It was a Decision that had caused the coalition to gain valuable land within the Azgeda territory and because of it, the war is close to an end. The downside however, was I had to send messages to each and every family that had lost a member in the operation; that was a depressing day for sure.
The Lexa I know and love isn't completely gone though, every once in a while beneath her cold mask of indifference, I see the pain she is still suffering. Even during the night, I hear the suffering from her grief. During these times I want to do nothing more than just embrace her. hold her close, and whisper soothing words into her ear. Now that she is Heda, she has taken up residence inside of Matthew's old chambers. In the beginning, I was happy that she was so close, now it hurts that she is close, and I can do nothing to help her.
"Prepare yourself, Shield."
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of Lexa's voice. Looking around, I noticed that the coalition's army had arrived at the Azgeda capital. "Understood Heda." I replied respectfully, riding to each of the clan's generals and ordering them to position their troops around the capital, effectively surrounding it.
Once every general's respective troops were in position, I returned to Heda to inform her.
"The troops are in position, Heda." I informed her respectfully. The only acknowledgement I received was a swift nod, she didn't even look in my direction.
I frowned behind my mask, thankful that she couldn't see my face. She would probably reprimand me for showing weakness in the presence of the troops.
After a few minutes of sitting atop our horses in silence, Heda finally spoke. "Set up camp, we wait for the Azgeda messengers to arrive!"
Dismounting off of our horses, I followed Heda to one of the nearby hills that gave an advantageous view of the Azgeda capital. The area was covered in a thick blanket of snow and in the middle of the snowy wasteland was a large village, the village was surrounded by a large wooden wall which seemed to be the reason there were no nearby trees. Within the wall, there were many stone and wooden buildings, some small and some large. The largest though, was placed in the middle of the village, it seemed to be a large manor of old. I assumed that's where Queen Nia was located.
We stood there in silence, looking to my left, I saw that Lexa seemed to be deep in thought. Her brows were furrowed and her gaze was unwavering. I knew that she was too stubborn to be the first one to talk about what happened that night. Which sadly meant I was the one that needed to bring it up, which could either go good or bad. Honestly I am not too sure how Lexa will want to handle this, she still has a lot of rage and grief bottled up. Choosing to instead put her leadership duties first, and in consequence only hurting herself.
"Lexa, abo-..."
"Stop." She said Harshly, turning to look at me.
"Did you forget? I am your Heda, therefore you shall address me as such."
I struggled to keep myself from letting out an exasperated sigh. She wasn't going to make this easy on me at all.
"Heda, about what happened that night... We need to talk about it... YOU need to talk about it." I could see the cogs turning in her head, her silence and lack of response shows that she was at least listening to my words.
"You are my best friend, my only friend... and I am yours. I care about you, and seeing you suffer in silence, knowing there isn't anything that I can do because you won't let me... It hurts. I don't want to see the strong woman that I've grown to care about suffer anymore, please Lexa... let me help you." I finished softly, staring into her eyes. I could see them moisten a little at my words which gave me hope.
She stared at me in silence for what seemed like forever before finally speaking. "James, I-..." she was cut off as one of the generals approached us from the now setup camp. Looking away from me towards the direction of the approaching general, I thought I had lost my chance to help her.
"Shield, after this battle with Azgeda is finished I will speak with you on these matters."
Her words made me smile, once again happy that my face was hidden behind a mask.
"Understood Heda." I spoke calmly, keeping my happiness from leaking into my words.
The general that ruined the moment Lexa and I were having came to inform us that an Azgeda messenger had arrived at the Heda's tent. Acknowledging the news, the three of us made our way to the before mentioned tent.
Following Heda to her throne-like chair at the head of the tent, I quickly took my position on her right side while she sat down with a relaxed air around her. No sooner had she sat down had the Azgeda messenger been escorted inside of the tent. Stopping about five feet from the Heda, the messenger sneered in disgust and my grip tightened on my spear in response. The blatant disrespect shown to Lexa was enough to make me want to kill the man right there. I could see Lexa's jaw tighten in anger as well, but there was no other outward response to the man's disrespect.
"Well, does your queen surrender?" Lexa asks with a smirk, knowing that Nia wouldn't surrender so soon.
"My queen would never surrender to a false commander like you! An alliance between all twelve clans is simply despicable!" The messenger snarled in response.
I had enough of his blatant disrespect, no one treats Lexa like that in front of me. Quickly striding forward, I land a solid punch to the man's nose with the hand holding my spear. There was a satisfying crack of bone that filled the air immediately after my punch landed signaling the mans nose was broken. While the man cried out and clutched his face in agony I sent him the meanest glare that I had possibly ever given anyone before.
"Never disrespect the Heda in such a way you Azgeda scum!" I roar in the man's face. I was about to punch him once more when a small hand was placed on my arm stopping me. Looking over my shoulder I see Lexa with a small smile on her face and an unreadable emotion in her eyes.
"That is enough, my Shield." She said softly yet firmly. She then turned her attention towards the suffering messenger. "Tell your queen that if she does not surrender, then her people will starve. We have her city surrounded and there is no possible way she will make it out of this alive if we decide to attack directly. If she ends up coming to her senses, she is to make her way here to my tent along with her son, Prince Roan. She has two weeks." Lexa finished, turning away and walking into the adjoining room that is her personal quarters.
Looking at the messenger, I don't need to say anything. I simply give him a harsh glare and adjust my fingers around my spear and he nearly stumbles over himself trying to leave the tent. Smirking to myself once he is gone, I think back to the smile that Lexa had on her face only moments ago. I haven't seen her smile since it was discovered that Lexa had been killed.
Finally, Progress...
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It was the day before the end of the deadline when we got word from Queen Nia. They were gonna retreat, and they were going to come tonight for Lexa to dish out the terms of their surrender and make sure that they join the coalition. In the entire time that they were waiting on Nia's decision, not once has Lexa smiled again, nor did she even mention our discussion on the hill above Azgeda's capital. Her silence on the subject is not settling well within my stomach, I am worried that we will never make up at this rate. If only that dumbass general didn't interrupt us, then perhaps I could have made some real leeway.
I was at my usual spot on Lexa's side when Queen Nia and Prince Roan entered the tent. The way they walked in made it seem like they were the most important people there, their attitude pissed me off.
"Heda." Nia said in greeting, but the way she said Heda was almost like a curse, like it physically hurt her to greet Lexa using such a title.
Lexa didn't respond with words, she only gave them a swift nod in greeting.
Queen Nia put on an obviously fake smile before talking to Lexa. "So, I have come to surrender and join the coalition. Now what are the terms?" She asked with faux cheer.
The Heda stared them down for a little while in a show of superiority before answering. "My terms are simply, you will join the coalition, or you will be destroyed. However, my only requirement is this... Prince Roan, must be banished from Azgeda."
It was near silent in the tent following Lexa's demand. Prince Roan had a look of shock on his face but Queen Nia had dropped all facades and stared at Lexa with absolute hatred. Lexa wasn't fazed though and continued to stare Nia down. I just smirked under my mask, Nia had taken Costia away from Lexa, now Lexa had taken her son in return.
Finally the silence was broken by Nia's voice. "I accept."
Looking towards Prince Roan, I could see that he knew his mother would agree and he had a look of grim acceptance of her decision. Nia only wanted power, but she couldn't have that power if she was killed today. Therefore, she agreed.
hashing out a few more terms, Queen Nia returned to her manor. Prince Roan however, was banished from Azgeda with nothing but the clothes on his back and the sword at his hip. The army's camp was packed fairly quickly and the ride back to Polis was spent in celebration. No one was killed and a clan wasn't wiped out, but more importantly, peace between all twelve clans was finally achieved. I knew that Azgeda would still be a problem in the future though, they have always been the problem child of the clans, and they were the most outspoken against the idea of a coalition of all the clans... But time would only tell us for sure what the future held in store for us.
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