Episode One, Part 4:

P r o p h e s y 

Never been the type to let someone see right through. 
Maybe won't you take it back, say you were tryna' make me laugh.
And nothing has to change today. 

"Lyra shot her." 

Kane stumbled backwards, disbelief knocking the air out of his chest as he struggled to comprehend what his son had told him. 

"What do you mean?" Kane asked. "Thats- No. No, I mean, she wouldn't do that." 

Wynn stepped back as his dad struggled for words, pacing around to the side, trying to calm himself down. 

"Can we talk to you? Alone?" He made his way back over to Kane, who was still attached to the Commander's hip. His voice was heavy with anger - a lack of patience to deal with all this tragedy in front of everyone. Perhaps more so, angry that his dad didn't even seem to be trying to help them. 

"I'm afraid I can't." Kane admitted. 

"You can't? Or you won't?" 

"Wynn, please." The man softened his voice, as if worried of the scene he was causing. "I-I know it's been a lot for you guys to take in after everything that has happened. Maybe we should meet again in a day or so-"

"Kane..." Rhea warned from beside him. 

"With Elara." He added, not missing a beat. 

Ares looked over at Wynn and Quill, all knowing what he was thinking. They didn't want to keep Elara away from their dad as it would only make her more rebellious to their decisions, but there something about the people of Targo, or maybe just Kane, that made them question everything. 

"Elara is-" As soon as Ares began to speak, a chilling scream ripped through the forest, sounding in the direction that Basilisk had came. 

It was unmistakable that it was her. 

// 

Relief washed over Kodiak when he finally caught up to the girl, calling out her name so he didn't startled her. 

"Elara! Wait up." 

Elara turned around, nervous to have been caught, and only slowing down rather than stopping altogether. She felt guilty knowing that she had caused him to come all the way out here, but it wasn't enough to stop what she was determined to do. 

"Hey." Kodiak called her again, confused at her silence. He followed beside her, taking time to catch his breath. 

"We should-" 

"Do not tell me that we should go back." 

Kodiak gulped, caught off guard by her fierce response. He exhaled, then adjusted his trail of thought. "We should be careful." 

Elara looked over at him, trying to decide if was frustrated, or warning her, or even disappointed, but he wasn't any of those things. He beamed over at her, then quickly looked back at where they were heading, keeping an eye on their path. 

Elara breathed out, letting her defenses down now that she knew where he stood with her. 

"Can I ask you something?" There was an uncertainty in her voice. A quiver she couldn't hide from him. 

"Of course." Kodiak answered sincerely. 

"Why didn't Ares want me to see our dad?" 

It hit Kodiak like a punch in the chest - the guilt at the pain he could hear in her voice. The confusion. The betrayal. He had to tell her the truth. 

"It wasn't Ares that didn't want you going. It was me." 

"You." She mumbled to herself, trying to understand. 

"Yeah." Kodiak admitted. "Dreea and I met them the other day. They were... Well, it didn't feel right. Even your dad's intention's; I know I don't know him, but-" he sighed. Not wanting to finish. 

"But what?" Elara pushed. 

"But they only seemed to want one thing." 

"And what was that?" 

"It was you. It was you, Elara." 

Her mind tried to process what he was telling her. What he could mean by it, what he wanted her to know, but the truth was she didn't enough experience of the Ground to imagine all the fears that Kodiak could. 

"I don't understand." She exclaimed, overwhelmed by all the anxiety that rushed through her. 

"Don't worry. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even said anything." Kodiak apologized. 

For the first time in hours, Elara had been persuaded into stopping, as she grabbed onto Kodiak's wrist to get his attention. 

"Please don't be sorry." She told him. "You're the only one who actually tells me anything around here." 

"Your brothers are just trying to look out for you, you know?" 

"Yeah, I know." Elara rolled her eyes. She began kicking at the rocks by her feet. "But I still wish that I could make decisions for myself. Like, if I want to go outside of Basilisk, then that decision is up to me." 

"Actually, that's one's down to the Sovereigns." Kodiak pointed out. "But I get your point." He laughed. 

Elara joined in with laughter, but it faded quickly as she began to dart her eyes around the trees, trying to identify the nose she had just heard. 

"What is it?" Kodiak asked, noticing her change immediately. 

"I heard something." 

Kodiak pulled a gun out from his waistband, holding it tightly for reassurance as he scanned the area. 

"It was probably just one of ours. We sent a few shooters out to keep watch on River and Dreea." He put in best efforts into getting Elara to believe him, not wanting to give her a reason to worry, but even something inside him screamed that he wrong. 

His arm raised out, pulling Elara close behind him, not able to stand the thought of anything happening to her. 

"Is that why you have your gun out then?" She remarked, her breath hitched in her throat. 

"El-" 

The way her body fell backwards was too familiar, and it felt as if she was falling into the past where it was her mother who's fate took a turn for the worse, rather than simply falling  into the ground trying to comprehend what had just happened. 

Kodiak heaved as he stared down at his stomach, eyes blinking furiously at the spear wedged into him as if he was trying to blink it away. 

Her only instinct was to scream, a hope that her voice would find it way to help, somewhere. Somehow. 

// 

"Elara." Wynn breathed out her name, head snapping in the direction of her scream. Within a moment, he, Ares and Quill were all sprinting towards the sound, stopping for nobody. Sol's eyes followed the boys as they took off, all intelligence warning her that it wasn't safe for them to go alone, but the threat still remained before them, as well. 

Kane tried to move forward, but was stopped abruptly. Dreea had drew a sword out from her cape, holding it as a barrier, close to Kane's neck so he knew he had no option of moving any closer. 

Instinctively, Rhea and all her of people behind drew out their weapons momentarily. Aiming at the Sovereign's and a lone Azha who froze fearfully behind them. 

"I see you stuck to our rules." Rhea barked. 

"These aren't your lands. You have no sovereignty here." Dreea reminded her. 

"If the girl's hurt, we should go. We have healers." Rhea attempted to persuade them. 

"We have our own healers." Sol informed them. "The girl is a Basilisk. She doesn't concern you. Now leave." 

Rhea licked over her lips, contemplating over her words with a sinister grin. She didn't say anything but her intimidation didn't falter nonetheless. 

"River, go. I got this." Dreea muttered. "Find out what's happening and get help." 

"Dreea." Sol didn't think it was a good idea to leave Dreea alone with all these people, especially when they were almost all armed. 

"It's okay." Dreea assured her. She had figured out their vantage point by now, even though she didn't fully understand it. "We've got our shooters surrounding us. If I go down, they go down with me. Besides, we've got something they want." 

Rhea tensed up, the smirk fading from her face as anxiously waited to hear the Sovereign's verdict. 

"Elara." Dreea declared. 

Rhea's face hardened, a passionate hatred burning that couldn't be denied. 

Sol nodded behind Dreea, hesitant, but knowing that she had no other option. 

"Azha." She muttered, nodding for the man to follow. He did so immediately, jumping at his chance to flee, and hurried along with the Nobel as they went to investigate the noise. 

"Elara?" Sol called out, looking around frantically. 

"Over here!" She could hear Quill calling. He met her halfway, catching her before she drifted too far away to find them. The expression on his face said it all, and she knew in that moment that whatever she would find would be desolating. 

She ran alongside Quill, expecting to find Elara, but not her best friend, her fellow Sovereign lying on the ground with a spear through his stomach. 

"Oh my gosh, Koda!" The words quivered out of her. 

Sol hurried over to him, making sure he was alive - which was perhaps the most terrifying part of it all. 

"Riv..." Kodiak coughed, trying to grab hold of her hand. 

Sol refused. Refused to him a comfort. Refused to allow him to go. 

"No. Don't." She warned him, voice sharp. All emotion was swept to the side as she cleared her head to think about what to do. 

She pulled her radio from her back pocket and held it up so one of the boys could take hold of it. 

"I need someone to call camp and get them to send medical out immediately with one of the cars." 

Quill nodded, taking it out of her shaking hands and following her instructions. 

"I need someone from Basilisk. Can you hear me?" He asked. "K-Kodiak is hurt. We need Aeryn, or another doctor, and a car to transport him." 

Cutting off his rambling, a static buzz interrupted him. 

"Quill?" Aeryn asked down the line. "Where are you? What's happened?" 

"West of the river." Sol yelled over at him, knowing he wouldn't have a clue. 

"West of the river." Quill repeated back, pacing back and forth. 

Sol pushed her hands around his stomach allowing Elara to pull her's away. They were shaking and covered in blood almost the whole way up to her elbows. Kodiak's head was resting on her knees. 

Sol knew to keep the pressure on him, and to slow the blood down that was dripping along his sid.. There wasn't much else she could do, but she knew it could be enough if he held on. 

"Okay. We're coming. We'll be there soon. Tell River to-" The radio cut off midway through Aeryn's response. 

"I need to what?" Sol asked Quill, thinking he had turned it off or pressed a button by mistake. "I need to what, Quill!?" She snapped.

"I-I don't know. There's no signal or something." He answered, scrambling about trying to get the radio to work. 

Sol dropped her head, biting her lip to keep it from trembling, blinking repeatedly to keep the tears in her eyes. 

When she needed it the most, Wynn crouched down beside her slowly, his eyes focusing on her. "What can I do to help?" He asked, voice as calm as it could be. Something steady for her to lean against. 

She was a little overthrown by the question. Relieved that he was trying to take the burden off her shoulders. That he was telling her he was there, and he would all he could to help save him. 

"Um..." She muttered. "I need help putting pressure on him." 

Wynn nodded, and Sol closed her eyes, praying that help would be here soon. Praying that Dreea would show up and be able to do something. More than anything, praying that her best friend didn't die beneath her. 

Wynn reached down into the red that drenched his skin, pushing firmly. His hand overlapped Sol's, their fingers connected under all that blood, bound together to save Kodiak. 

Ares bent down beside Elara who was shaking violently, no words, but replacing his hands under her's and allowing her to step away where she didn't have to force her eyes upon the boy on the ground. She breathed in and out, never seeming to catch her breath, pulled aside by Quill who held tightly onto her as they waited what felt like forever for help to find them. 

Everyone but Sol wondered who would have done this, and why, and why they hadn't taken the opportunity to hit anyone else when they were all in the open, and defenseless. 

There was not a single doubt in her mind about who had shot Kodiak with spear. It was Blood Riders, and it was a declaration of war. 

One // Part Four

His hand overlapped Sol's, connected under all that blood.