Hi guys,

First of all, I was really set on deleting this story. It's really frustrating when you spend time writing a story, post it and the first thing you receive a negative comments. I instantly thought, why bother you have other stories to work on.

But then I received all of your beautiful comments showing me that there are some of you out there whom enjoyed this so far. You guys told me to ignore the haters and just do what I like to do. And I really like this story. I probably would have continued writing it, but just for me. Now, after a night of thinking it all over again, I decided to keep sharing it with you. So thank you for everyone who wrote me and encouraged me to continue, ….and beating some sense into me :)

Since I have no other way to thank you than my words I decided to put out the next chapter and hope that you will understand my gratitude. You guys rock!

Enjoy your Sunday :)

Chapter 4

The market of Belona was loud as ever, traders screaming for customers to make special offers. There was nothing you couldn't get on this market. It was one of the largest trading places of all the thirteen kingdoms, resulting in the meeting of quite the range of different characters. Stories and tales of the different kingdoms made their way from person to person, creating myths and rumors about this and that.

Clarke shoved her way through the crowd, ignoring the traders offering her different goods. It wasn't her first time in Belona and certainly not the first time on a market as big as this one, though she believed the market in Ocana in Floukru more beautiful. But that was just her personal opinion.

Her eyes swept over the people she passed by, looking for a certain brunette she may trust with her life, but still shouldn't be unsupervised seeing that trouble followed her dear friend. Though if she was being honest, trouble seemed to follow all of them.

Clarke whipped around when she heard her friend's voice from somewhere close, trying to find her in the masses of people. She finally saw her three booths to her left, deeply in an argument with a trader. Sighing, Clarke made her way over to the two quarreling over what seemed to be utensils for forging.

"Are you kidding me? I could get this from any village for half the price!"

The trader scoffed. "Then go and get it from somewhere else!"

"But I am here!"

"Then you have to accept the price I told you."

"That's sheer robbery!"

"Listen you little-" The trader started, but got cut off by Clarke whom put her arms on her friend's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry for my friend. We'll get out of your hair now." Clarke said, pulling the other girl with her all the while the annoyed stare of the trader bored into their retreading backs. "Are you serious, Raven? Do you have to annoy all of the traders?"

"You didn't see the prices! They're horrendous. And I'm not sorry for arguing with traders. That's their job. Trading. And sometimes you've got to argue to settle on a price both parties can live with."

"But we're not here to buy items, Raven. Not this time. We're here to sell the skins our hunters collected. Not spend the money on forging utensils."

Raven stopped and turned back to Clarke. "But we need those utensil if you guys want me to keep working on new weapons."

"You already have more than enough material."

"No one has ever more than enough material, Clarke. Not when there are more and more people joining the rebellion every day! We both know that we'll soon rise against the kingdom, and who'll they be blaming when there aren't enough weapons? Yeah, me!"

"Raven, Octavia and the others are in Boudalan right this moment to get you more forging material."

Raven scoffed. "Please! As much as I love our friends, they have no idea about forging. Those sneaky Boudalan traders could be selling them useless chunks of stone and they wouldn't notice it! I should have gone with them instead of joining you."

"You couldn't. You know exactly that the Boudalan don't trade with you again." Clarke chuckled. "You actually managed to insult all of the blacksmiths who are trading with us."

"Incompetent idiots." Raven murmured under her breath, just loud enough for Clarke to hear. The blonde shook her head amused by her friend's antics.

"Now, come on. I actually wanted to be on the road again an hour ago. The others are waiting for us."

Raven groaned. "Can't we stay another night and ride out in the morning?"

"No, there's something going on. There are more soldiers than usual. I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Clarke replied and grabbed Raven's arm, dragging the girl after her towards the others.

They were almost out of the market place when someone walked into her, resulting in letting Raven go. Clarke turned to the person who walked into her, ready to offer her apologies and continue her way out, however as she looked at the person, all she could see was green.

Forest green eyes stared into her ocean blue ones. She couldn't see much else from the person, a cloth covering her head. But she was sure that it was a girl not much older than her. Curly, brown hair strands looked out of her cloth. She didn't know how much time had passed when she noticed the girl's lips moving, muttering an apology before pulling the cloth further down and continue walking into the direction Clarke and Raven had come from.

"Hey, Griffin. You doing okay? You kind of spaced out a moment ago." Raven asked, a knowing smirk on her face.

"Whatever. Let's go."

Lexa met Costia at the agreed spot just outside the market, both coming back empty-handed. The black haired girl had given her the description of Aden and both set out individually to search for the young rebel, but there were too many people at the market to successfully search for the one person the so urgently needed to find.

And now Lexa was haunted by a pair of blue eyes. They were the same shade as the ocean. Lexa had seen the look on the girl's face and feared that she may have recognized her, so she left as fast as she could. But those eyes. She just couldn't get them out of her mind.

The girls were currently walking to a tavern Costia knew to be on the side of the rebellion. The chances were good that Aden and his group had spent the night there. And if they were already gone, maybe the host could give them pointers where they might be heading to.

The tavern stood hugely in front of them, the wooden beams playfully interwoven into themselves. Artful windows decorated the tavern tastefully. Loud music could be heard from inside, the smell of cooked meals reminded her that she hadn't eaten in quite a while.

Lexa followed Costia inside, noting a few people sitting in the tavern. The man at the bar cleaned cups as his eyes fell upon them. He looked like a man no one would want to start a fight with. He was tall and muscular, the scar leading from his left eye down towards the corner of his mouth added to his daunting physique.

The man put down the cup and waited for them to reach him, when he spoke his voice vibrated deeply through the room. "Welcome, my ladies. How may I help you?"

"We're looking for our friends. We were told that they would be here to trade, but we are unable to find them. It's very likely that they spent the night in your tavern." Costia told the man, but he didn't react. He just kept staring at her and Lexa almost thought that he wouldn't answer.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I am of help for you. But I wish you luck in finding them."

Costia moved closer, briefly looking over her shoulder to see if anyone might watch them before turning back to the host. "Are you sure?" Lexa saw Costia moving the collar of her shirt slightly to the side, the man's eyes flickered down for a second before moving them back up again and Costia let her shirt go again. "The group consist of six people. Three females and three males. All of them around our age."

"They left an hour ago."

"Where did they go?" Lexa asked.

The man glanced warily at Lexa. It was clear that he didn't like to give them the information they needed, only the strange interaction between Costia and the host a moment ago seemed to have broken through his stone-hard resolve. He looked back to Costia, ignoring Lexa's presence. "I heard that they were heading out through the northern gate."

"Anything else?"

"No. I think it's better you leave now. Walls have ears, even mine." The man huffed and turned to continue his work.

Costia nodded and signaled Lexa to follow her back out of the tavern. They hastily made their way back to where they had left their horses and rode towards the northern gates and out of Belona. Two miles away, they saw a group of people riding away from Belona in the distance, their pace not too fast but not comfortable one either. It was clear that they wanted to put distance to the city.

They picked up their pace and closed up to the riders in front of them. The group rode in pairs down the road, not noticing the two following riders until they almost completely caught up to them. The horses slowed down and the front riders turned around to see why the others stopped them.

A young man approached them on his horse, glancing between her and Costia. "Costia?"

"Aden." Costia smiled, relieved that they had finally found them.

So this was the group Tris had told them about, Tris' brother Aden was in the middle of them. He shared some facial features, but his hair was blonde instead of brown. He held himself proudly on his horse, radiating a certain authority. He was tall and well-built, and Lexa guessed he was already a skilled fighter for his young age. The sword he carried on his back only added to her presumption.

Lexa's eyes glanced over the other members of Aden's group. The man next to Aden was also tall and quite muscular, his skin tone dark and his black hair was cut short. Still, there was something kind in his stare. His sword was secured in a strap on his horse.

On his right side was a girl with dirty blonde hair, braids artfully woven into it. There was an old cut above her right brow that seemed almost healed. Her hazel eyes looked sharply at them, fingers dancing readily on the dagger strapped to her thigh.

Right behind her was another man with unruly black hair, an old thin scar on his chin was strikingly on his right cheek. Just like the girl he had a dagger on him, his sword hanging proudly on his back and a bow was secured at his bag behind him.

One of the two front riders made their way over to them and came to a stop besides Aden, and Lexa's heart jumped wildly in her chest as she noticed that it was the blonde, blue-eyed girl from the market. She honestly never thought she'd see her again.

"What's the meaning of this, Costia?" The blonde asked confused, and Lexa shuddered at her husky voice.

"Something happened and we need the help of the rebellion. Anya and her friend, Lexa," Costia nodded towards her. "Are being hunted by the soldiers. It's crucial that they arrive safely at the rebellion compound."

The blonde's eyes moved over and Lexa could see something like recognition flash through them.

"Where is Anya?" Aden asked.

Costia lowered her head slightly, sadness filled her eyes. "She and your sister drew the attention of the soldiers who snuck up to us just before dawn to them so that we could escape."

"My sister?! Is she okay?"

"We don't know." Lexa replied, drawing the attention towards her. "They told us to catch up to you and to not look back. They'd follow after us."

Aden turned to the blonde. "We should head back! They may need our help."

"No," The girl exclaimed, immediately silencing Aden's protest. "That was days ago. There are so many possibilities as to what may have happened to them."

"I've met Anya before. And I know your sister, Aden. They are both skilled warriors. They can look after themselves." Finally the last rider of the group rode up to them from behind. She had long brown hair, brown eyes and olive skin.

Aden stared at his companions, obviously thinking about all possibilities. Finally he nodded, accepting the decision. "You're right. If there is someone I trust to find their way out of bad situations, it's them."

"So, I take it you two are at fault for the increase of soldiers throughout the kingdom?" The blonde asked.

"I'm afraid so." Lexa confirmed.

"Well, we know her," she nodded towards Costia. "But I believe we've never met before. At least not official." There was a glint in her eyes that told Lexa that she was thinking back at their brief meeting in Belona and the brunette felt the corner of her lips lifting slightly as she also thought back to the meeting. Suddenly, the future seemed to be brighter.

"My name is Lexa."

"I'm Clarke." She introduced herself, and Lexa was happy to finally get some names to the faces. "You already know Aden. Next to him is Nathan and the other guy is Marvin. Besides Nathan is Harper and this one next to me is Raven." Lexa nodded at them. "May I ask why you two are being hunted?"

"Let's just say I stumbled upon an old intrigue regarding Dante Wallace and now he wants me gone. Anya got me out of the castle." Lexa told them vaguely. For now it was better not to tell them that she was actually Princess Alexandria of Polis.

"Alright, we have time to talk more when we're farther away from Belona." Nathan stated.

"Right, let's move to a better place." Clarke led her horse around and started riding into the opposite direction of Belona. The others and Lexa and Costia followed her. For now, Lexa felt a little bit safer with the rebels on their side. She just hoped that Anya and Tris were okay.

I hope you liked it. I had fun writing it! Especially the Clarke/Raven interaction :)