Chapter Text
It was interesting how close you can grow with someone who is partly responsible for the worst pain you have ever been submitted to. But as the month passed, Clarke learned to value Ontaris presence.
After the first day Nia had her moved to a different room. It was split into two parts, a living area with shelves, a moderately comfortable looking bed and desk to eat, and a small cell right next to it. The cell held a small space for a toilet and a rag covered bunk that barely passed as a bed. A small slot under the door of the cell made it possible to get food.
Ontari had had to carry Clarke to the cell the first night, sending for a fisa to clean the girls wounds. Once the fisa had left, the two girls were left alone. Ontari got comfortable in the living space, as Clarke lay down on the hard rack.
At first, neither had talked, caught up in what had happened that day, until.
„If we are gonna be roommates, you might as well call me Klarke“.
Ontari had stared, and Clarke had smiled.
They had spend time talking after that. Getting to know each other. And by the time they went to sleep, Clarke couldn’t help but think that Ontari would make a great friend.
Roughly a week into her imprisonment, Clarke found herself lying on her stomach on the cot, her back a mess of cuts after that days session.
(Though admittedly, she did prefer the physical punishments over the waterboarding, it was always incredibly hard to stay in her mind space when everything told her she was drowning.)
Alas, she was spread across the cot, when she heard the door to Ontaris room open.
She drew in a sharp breath (tensing up had become much too painful), already expecting to be pulled out for another session (it had happened before). Instead, Ontari got out of bed with a smile, clearly happy to see the intruder.
Said intruder greeted the woman, before his eyes found Clarke laying on her cot.
Coming over with Ontari in tow, he winced at the sight of Clarkes injuries. „You’re not going easy on her, are you Tari?“
The mans voice was surprisingly soothing to Clarke, who had decided to stand up when she saw him walking over (She had regretted that decision almost instantly but was much too proud to lay back down, though by Wanhedas silent fuming she’d get a lecture about that later).
„Klarke, meet Roan“, the warrior introduced, unsuccessfully trying to mask how she had recoiled at Roans statement.
Clarke waved awkwardly, a bit lost at the situation. Roan chuckled. „Ai laik haihefa kom Azgeda. Nia ste mi nomom“ he explained, as though that would clear everything up.
Judging by Clarkes ridiculed expression, it didn’t. He looked at Ontari in slight exasperation. „You didn’t explain?“ The older girl shrugged „We were a bit busy“ snorting despite himself, Roan eyed the blonde. „I can see that“.
Turns out, Clarke and Roan got along great.
After the rather stiff introduction, the two Azgedan natives explained how not a lot of people in Azgeda stood behind Nia.
Most citizens were too afraid of what the queen would do, should they ever go against her. None of that surprised the blonde, as it was pretty much what Lexa had hinted at as well (the thought of the girl still send a pang of pain through her heart).
What she hadn’t been aware of however, was that Roan and Ontari had been building a network of warriors, spies and assassins, who were ready to rise against their queen.
But due to Nias tight grip on a majority of the leading positions in the army and the citizens, they had no way to win any kind of fight against the queen as it is.
„So what is my role in this?“ The blonde asked once the two had explained the basics.
„You’re our solution. Kind of like our bomb, really. My mother rules through fear.“ (Clarke was aware of that. Why else would Nia want her to bow to her instead of killing Clarke. Controlling the commander of death makes her seem so much more powerful than wielding that power - especially because the idea of holding the power of a spirit when you killed a vessel is wildly argued about.)
„Our people need someone whose reputation makes her seem much less terrifying.“
„So you need me to rise up against Nia?“ The two nodded.
„And how do you expect me to do that? Don’t misunderstand me, if there is a fight against Nia I will join, because Azgeda deserves better and I won’t let innocent people get hurt over a selfish royal sociopath“,
Wanheda hummed in agreement with her words,
„But right now I don't see any real way out. I can fight, sure, but I don’t think I’d hold myself against more than two warriors at a time, Nia is keeping tight security on me, judging by the amount of guards around this room“,
the other two winced at the remainder that those guards meant Nia didn’t find Ontari entirely trustworthy,
„And even if I could get out and join the fight, we’d be grossly outnumbered with no chance of survival once the fight starts“.
„Well, you’re not wrong about any of that“,
Roan send Ontari an incredulous look at the admission,
„But there’s always time to figure it out. You’re right, without the Kongeda behind us we don’t have a chance. But Heda won’t start a war against Nia without cause, inviting her to the coalition after my nomom killed Costia showed that already. And while our people hate Nia, she also has them believing that Heda is weak. And they won’t follow a weak leader“
Roan leaned forward to look at the blonde intently,
„But they will follow Wanheda. They will follow the mountain slayer“.
Clarke considered the words, a part of her scared of what that meant for her future.
„If we do that, I need to get stronger. Much stronger than I currently am“
„I can help you with that, strikon“ Wanheda interrupted.
„The strength and fighting will come. Both Ontari“, she looked at the woman, „And Wanheda can prepare me“.
„So can I“, Roan threw in, earning himself a raised eyebrow.
„Im the best sword fighter in Azgeda. If I join your training for the pits once or twice a week, I can always say Ontari asked me to be your sparring partner because you’re supposed to become the best“.
Clarke nodded.
„Only issue is, how do I get out of Azgeda and find Leksa?“
The familiarity when using the Commanders name drew a surprised sound from Roan, but he decided it’d be better not to ask. From what he heard, the Commander had left Clarke at the mountain, breaking the girls trust beyond repair, which wasn’t something he was too keen on bringing up any time soon.
Besides that, neither Ontari nor Roan know how to answer the question. It would be much easier if they knew what exactly Nia had planned for the girl.
„Well“, Wanheda cut through Clarkes musings,
„From where I stand there are three choices. The first would be that Nia lets you go“
the blonde snorted incredulously at the idea
„No, hear me out, strikon. Normally, Nia makes her prisoners fight in the pits for up to 6 months before they are given the choice to serve her or to be released. If she wants you to fight as an unnamed prisoner, you might get the same choice. She does tend to send assassins after those she releases, but that’s something we can deal with when it comes to that. The second option is to try to escape. I don’t have any information regarding the guards, traps or area. And i’m sure that Nia expects you to attempt to escape, which means doing so would be incredibly hard. But with enough patience and planning, I am sure we will figure something out. Especially with Roans and Ontaris help. Now the last choice Im hesitant to bring up. Nias goal in all of this is for you to submit to her. You could Make it seem as though the fights in the pits were breaking your spirit, until all that is left of you is a shell of pain and anger. Anger at Leksa and the Kongeda, a deep rooted wish to make them pay for what you went through“
Clarke sickened at the notion of betraying Lexa. She had long since come to accept, that while the commander might not care for her (And in the dozens of conversations they’ve had about the topic Wanheda still disagrees, stupid reasoning about how her scars had disappeared before the mountain after all), she cared about the commander too much to betray her like the other girl had done, even if it was only a temporal betrayal for a greater goal.
The death spirit noted the girls unease.
„I did say it was an option i’m hesitant to mention. Not for the apparent betrayal, but because if I were Nia“, she shuddered at the comparison,
„I would make you bow to me and swear fealty with a blood oath in a public setting before I use you. And once you made a public blood oath, you cannot go against Nia. Doing so would mean your word means nothing, that you’re dishonorable and disloyal. No-one would follow you“
She hated it when the spirit was right.
„So? What did they say?“ Ontari pressed, used to Clarke zoning out of conversations when she’s talking to Wanheda.
„Well“, she relayed what the spirit had said.
„I’ll do my best to find out what I can about the security measures my mother put in place“ Roan promised, which was something he had already been working on anyway.
„I cannot be sure she’ll give you the choice to be free, but we can prepare for the second option in any case“,
Ontari was quick to agree.
„I will train you harder than anyone, together with Roan and Wanheda we will make sure you become the best. And then if she doesn’t let you go, we make sure you escape“,
Ontari squeezed Clarkes shoulder.
„You will be free from here, we will ensure that“.
For the next month and a half, it turned into a bit of a habit for Roan to slip into their quarters every few days.
Through training and planning, the three had grown inseparable.
A part of Ontari worried about how much she cared for the younger girl, who had become like her sister, because the following day, the girl would be standing in the pits as Nias champion, before leading a war against Azgeda that wasn’t even hers to fight and everything inside of Ontari screamed to get the blonde out of there before any of that happened. Free her from her cell, take her far far away from all the death and heartbreak.
She had brought it up with Roan once and he had simply wrapped her in a hug.
„She won’t let us do that, Tari“, the older mans voice sounded weirdly choked up as he admitted that.
„She is born to lead, born to fight for those who can’t defend themselves. There is no way she’s backing out of the fight“
And Ontari knew he was right, just as she knew that he too itched to grab Clarke and make a run for it.
Every day when cuts from the torture littered the blondes skin and Clarke wrapped Ontari in a hug to tell her its okay, the older woman wanted to beg the girl to run.
Every time the blonde woke up in screams of terror, she held her little sister and wished she could keep her safe from the rest of the world.
She hated it. Roan hated it too. But, she looked over at Clarke, sitting in a meditative stance as she and Wanheda trained in her mind scape, the blonde would never want that.
So Ontari would do what she could to protect the blonde from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, Nia was lounging on her throne, one of her spies crouched before her.
„The scouts have yet to be successful to find Wanheda, ai kwin. Allegedly the false commander is still sending out scout missions for the girl, though it has been seven months since the mountain fell. Apparently she even goes out herself at times, spends days away from Polis to find the girl“,
the spy looked up at the queen,
„My informant told me she is as lost as she was when you took her love away“.
Nias face lit up in a vicious smile. That was something she could work with.
A wave of her hand dismissed the girl, and Nia made her way to her chambers.
Pulling out hair she had stored in a bag around two months ago, a blonde lock twirled around Nias fingers. She smiled.
She had a brilliant idea.