Episode Three, Part 2:
Exiles.

If you forget the way to go and lose where you came from; 
if no one is standing beside you, be still and know I am. 

The four Sovereigns were still in the tent, trying to go through every possibility that reached their mind in an attempt to keep their people safe. Of all the things that they couldn't figure out, there was one thing they knew for sure and that was that if both clans simultaneously came to attack them, they'd stand no chance at making it out alive.

"I keep coming back to this one idea," Sol announced, feeling the words echo in the back of her mind every time another one of them came up with a suggestion that was ultimately turned down. "But I think I know how you guys are going to respond."

"It's worth a shot," Kodiak shrugged. "Might as well say it."

"I think we need to try and form an alliance."

"An alliance?" He asked. "What makes you think we'd even be able to get near enough to them to propose the idea before they'd kill us?"

"I don't," Sol answered. "That's the problem; we're living in constant fear that the next time one of their people sees us, they're going to kill us and, as it's been demonstrated to us multiple times now, they know these woods pretty well. They can hide in places we know nothing about; they can be right around the corner from us and we'll have no clue which means they can kill us in an instant."

"Okay. An alliance would definitely imply that their people wouldn't kill us," Dreea clarified, confirming to Sol that they understood her reasoning. "But why would they want an alliance with us? They don't seem to want to live in peace or any kind of unity with anyone. They want this island to themselves and an alliance with us would mean that they'd let us live here, and that's a completely foreign concept to them."

"Not to mention everything that's already happened," Wynn contributed. "The raid here; you three killing those guys in the woods; Dreea and I breaking into their camp and stealing their weapons; me and-"

"Okay. I get it..." Sol rolled her eyes, hurrying to cut him off as she couldn't listen to another second of why it was destined to fail. "But this is what I'm talking about; we need a reason Terra Firma would want to have an alliance with us-"

"And we don't have one of those," Dreea reminded her.

"Yes we do!"

Everyone frowned at Sol's reply, looking around at each other to see if anyone had any clue what she was talking about, but they were all just as confused as each other.

"What the hell are you on about?" Kodiak asked.

"Ugh, Exile Allegiance!" Sol exclaimed, frustrated that it wasn't seeming to click for anyone.

"Exile Allegiance?" Wynn did his best to hide his doubt from her, but Sol could see that he thought she was going crazy.

"We've already gone over this," Sol sighed, shaking her head at them all. "Terra Firma have been setting the mines up as traps for Exile Allegiance and someone from Exile Allegiance has been recording the location of the mines because they are not the ones who put them there. Meaning that the people of Terra Firma are trying to kill the people of Exile Allegiance."

Wynn, Dreea and Kodiak finally looked as though they were understanding what she was saying to them and though she was still incredibly frustrated that it had taken so much effort to explain herself, she was relieved that they all seemed to be on the same page.

"We propose an alliance with Terra Firma to help them against Exile Allegiance," Dreea clarified, taking in Wynn and Kodiak's reactions to see how they thought about her idea.

"It makes sense," Kodiak nodded. "Especially if Terra Firma want to get rid of Exile Allegiance that badly. But I don't know how easy it'll be to convince them and, as I pointed out, it'll be near impossible to approach one of them to talk without them killing us."

"I'm sure we can do it," Sol said. "Sometimes alliances form between two clans you least expect; Blood Riders and The City of Targo had an alliance," she pointed out. "Not to mention you guys made an alliance with Blood Riders... That's still one I'm trying to wrap my mind around giving our clan's long and violent history with theirs," she laughed.

"Yeah, well that was all down to Elara," Kodiak chuckled. "I don't think we should rely on her this time around. Us Sovereigns should contribute every now and then."

"So you agree?" Sol searched. "We'll figure out a way to get an alliance?"

"I think it's out best option," Kodiak told her. "At the very least, it should buy us some time until we can figure out a way off of this island. There's still a lot of water and I don't think those vessel ships can sustain a long journey if we can afford to wait."

"Good," Sol exhaled, relieved that she had their support. "So we'll plan a way to get Calvin to talk and then the hard part will be convincing him that he should form an alliance with us. Just know that if anything goes wrong..."

"We're all screwed," Wynn finished for her, not even able to fake a laugh this time around. They knew the consequences and there would be no escaping from them.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt..."

Everyone turned around to the entrance of the tent, sending warm smiles Chessca's way as she hovered in sight, somewhat hesitant at her own timing.

"It's fine," Dreea assured her. "What's up?"

"Uh... I was wondering if I could talk with Riv?" She asked, fiddling with the ends of her sleeves, too nervous to look anyone in the eye.

"Of course," Sol nodded, sharing a look full of concern with the others, knowing without a doubt that something was seriously troubling her.

"Are you okay?" Dreea frowned, reaching her hand out to hold onto Chessca's arm, worried that something had happened to her. "Do you want me to come as well?"

"No," Chessca hurried the words out, not meaning to offend anyone. "I'm sorry, Drey," she apologised, looking up at her with her big, beady eyes. "I just need to talk to Riv at the moment. I'll tell you later."

Dreea nodded and offered a tender smile towards Chessca, lingering her hand on her skin until she drifted away with Sol, leaving her terribly afraid that something horrible had happened, and 'terribly afraid' wasn't an emotion Dreea had a lot fo experience with...

"Chess, what's wrong?" Sol sighed, trying to keep up with her pace as she steered her away from the tent and far in the opposite direction of where everyone else was sitting. "Hey, please tell me. You're freaking me out. Are you hurt?"

"Not yet," Chessca whispered, not feeling safe enough to talk until she had brought Sol to the furthest fire pit they had set up along the beach, the nearest people to them being hundreds of metres away.

"Not yet?"

"Yes, 'not yet,'" Chessca clarified, puzzled as to why Sol hadn't immediately understood what she was referencing. "The City of Targo are around. I was sitting with Elara and Atlantis and all I could think about was how far away they were or if they were creeping up in the woods right behind me; watching me."

"They are not the same people as those from The City."

"You don't know that, Riv!" Chessca argued, beyond desperate for her to see that. "How don't you of all people understand? I watched everything that happened to you in The City; I watched them put you through The Alteration, steal every one of your memories, leave you with nothing and most alarmingly, try to kill me to get to you. Every day before you found me, I was afraid," she said. "And now they're back and I feel the exact same way."

"Hey," Sol murmured, halting all of her racing thoughts by slinging her arms around her neck and pulling Chessca into her embrace. "What was my rule?"

"Riv-"

"What was my rule, Chessca!?"

"You'll hurt anyone who tries to hurt me. You'll kill them."

"Exactly," Sol replied, running her hands soothingly up and down her back. "And I'd rather die than let anything happen to you. I mean that."

"I know you do," Chessca nodded against her, hating that she could feel the own dampness of her tears as they soaked into Sol's shirt and she leaned against them. "But everything is different this time. None of us knows a thing about where we are. We're so disadvantaged against these clans and hearing those kids out there say the name of theirs..." She pulled away from Sol and hung her head low, ashamed to admit what she was feeling. "It's completely thrown me off guard."

"We're not in The City anymore, Chess. Those people have no idea about anything Rhea told those people-"

"They have no idea that everyone despised me and wanted me dead? Is that what you're saying?"

Sol wished there was a kinder way to put it, but there wasn't; the truth was as cruel and vile and Chessca had said. "Yeah," she whispered mournfully. "They won't even know that I was the Commander. Rhea never mentioned anything about an exile clan, so it was probably formed by people long before she had any authority."

"There was a lot of things Rhea never told you," Chessca sighed, not wanting to start the conversations that the two of them had managed to go all this time without; not wanting to open up old wounds that had finally started to heal. "Whose to say that Rhea didn't know about them?"

"Fine, you're right. She might have," Sol admitted. "But they're exiles for a reason and people aren't exiled for no reason; they've obviously done something to challenge The City's rules or way of living. I don't have all the answers this time, but I have a clear head about this because I'm thinking of you," she said. "Exile Allegiance don't want to kill you. They don't even know who you are. They don't even know who I am."

"I think I heard something once..."

"What?" Sol searched, not sure if Chessca was simply thinking out loud.

"I said 'I think heard something once'. Something about a clan of exiles formed outside of The City's boundaries, but no one seemed to know much about them and then it reached a point where no one would tell me anything... It slipped my mind because it never mattered but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I've heard this before."

Sol drew in a deep breath, wounded as ever to think about what life had been like for Chessca before she showed up; how she was alone and terrified and outcasted by her own people; how she had no one in the world at all to call her friend. She couldn't think of many other things that could get to her heart as easily as that.

"Chess, listen to me," Sol instructed, taking hold of the girl's face to bring her to look her in the eyes. "I love you so much. But you're out of your mind if you think that anything in the world - anything at all - could ever find a way to get to you while I'm here. I will protect you with my life. So will Dreea. So will Atlantis. So will all of us; you're a Basilisk now, remember? All of these people are your home. Have any of them so much as looked at you in the wrong way since you came back with me?"

Chessca reluctantly shook her head as if she didn't want to admit it because she knew that even though Sol was right; even though the people of Basilisk couldn't even imagine a single reason to harm Chessca, she could think of hundreds of reasons why they would want to.

"That doesn't really help, does it?" Sol asked.

"It means a lot to me," Chessca assured her. "Knowing how much you love me and what lengths you'll go to, to protect me."

"You couldn't even measure it."

"But I will never feel safe until I know whose those people are, or why they left The City, or if any one of them were there when I was; if they know they should want me dead."

"Okay. I hear everything you're saying. I understand," Sol murmured, delicately wiping the tears away from Chessca's cheeks. "I promise I'll get the answers for you."

"H-how?"

"...How do you think?"

"Riverly, you can't go there. If any of them know you, they'll know you were the Commander and they'll kill you," Chessca warned.

"Who hasn't tried to kill me at least once in their life?" Sol smirked, trying to show Chessca that she wasn't worried. "And who has ever succeeded?"

"This isn't what I meant. I don't want you to put yourself in danger for me-"

"Fine. Then I'm doing this for Elara because she's the Heir to The City of Targo and she went through literal hell to escape it; for Quill because I allowed that manic woman to come back with us and she hurt him terribly; for Izzy, because she means the world to Kodiak and Elara and I hate to think that awful things happened to her when she lived there; for Liam, because he still hasn't told us much about his life before Basilisk because he's doesn't want us to see him as one of them..." Sol explained. "I can't even think of a single one of us that hasn't been affected by that place, and I hate that when I do think of The City of Targo, I think about you; about being tied down to a bed with you crying at my side and being told that you were about to be killed. I understand every ounce of your pain, Chess, so I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure it goes away."

"Okay. And I love you incredibly for that," Chessca said, grabbing onto her hands. "For the way that you've made all of us your family even though you want to believe that deep down, you're this dauntless, fearless Nobel Sovereign when in reality, you're the softest place I've ever known. But you need to think this through. Think about how you felt on Neptunum when it was Wynn who was rushing into decisions to save people and all you wanted was to be able to get through to him."

"Don't worry. I'm not going yet," Sol said. "We've got something we need to take care of first and you know me; I always have a plan up my sleeve. I'm not going into this blindly."

"Riverly..."

"Just don't tell the others, okay? Do this for me?"

/////////

"Stand back!" Wynn ordered, yelling his command over at Dreea and Bas who were lingering behind him, hurrying to move out of the line of the explosion.

As predicted, Wynn managed to set one of the mines off that the journal led them to - the closest one to Terra Firma's camp so they could be sure they would hear it.

Wynn coughed up a mouthful of dirt, not having made it far enough away from the mine to avoid taking the brunt of it.

"You alright?" Bas asked, brushing some of the dust away from Wynn's shoulder as he eventually reached them.

"Yeah," Wynn nodded, spitting on the ground beside him, unable to completely rid himself of the taste of mud. "You think they heard it?"

"I'm sure they have," Dreea chimed in. "We managed to hear the ones Izzy set off all the way from the beach, so I'm confident that Terra Firma will have heard these ones, too. So," she said, "assuming that it's worked, we need to get in positions. Bas, you remember what to do?"

"Course I do," he chuffed. "As soon as I see you guys have succeeded in your part, I'll run back to camp and alert Kodiak."

"Good. Now hurry up and hide," Dreea instructed, swatting him away as she remained close to Wynn. "I wish I knew where the hell Riv was," she muttered now that Bas was gone, not wanting to make him worry that her absence could affect their plan.

"You and me both," Wynn replied. "Did Chessca say where she went to?"

"I couldn't find her, either," Dreea admitted. "I probably could have if we had more time before jumping into this, but... It's not like Riv or Chessca to wander off without telling us."

"They were probably just talking somewhere private," Wynn tried to assure her. "Knowing me, I might have walked right past them without noticing; I bet they were sitting just out of sight by the trees so they didn't get interrupted."

"Maybe..."

"What's wrong?" Wynn searched. "Is this because Chessca wanted to talk to Sol alone?"

Dreea shrugged. "She tells me everything. I can't imagine what she wouldn't talk to me about unless it had something to do with them and Atlantis being out-"

"...What? What is it?" Wynn could see that a sudden realisation how found it's way to Dreea, but he was yet to catch up.

"It's because of Exile Allegiance," she said. "Because she thinks they're from The City of Targo. She probably thinks they're on their way to kill her and I was stupid enough to leave camp and now she'll think that I'm not there to protect her if something happens."

"Hey, Sol's with her," Wynn assured her. "And Atlantis, Kodiak - everyone else. She's not on her own somewhere. She's safe. I promise."

Dreea nodded, breathing deep as she focused on Wynn's words, not used to feeling such an unshakable sense of panic in her chest. "I don't know where I'd be without you sometimes," she admitted, managing a smile as she laughed away the last of her stubborn fears. "Now I know what Riv saw in you all these years. You're good to have around."

"You're just figuring this out?" Wynn joking, nudging her shoulder, relieved to see that she was more steady-minded.

"Fortunately not. I've known it for a long time - longer than you've been a Sovereign, I just never wanted you to get a big head about it."

"Too late for that," Wynn said.

"I know. Now, back to the plan: do you want to get our hostage, or should I do the honours?"

"No, this one's mine," Wynn told her. "After what they did to Elara? This one's mine."

"Keep that anger," Dreea encouraged him, noticing a spark of intensity glaring in his eyes. "It's always done you well; all those times you needed to save Riv. Don't lose it."

Wynn smiled fiercely at her and nodded, beginning to walk in the opposite direction from her as he attempted to take cover in the trees, wanting to make sure he was out of sight from the people of Terra Firma that came to investigate the explosion.

He knew the risk at him being the one to take the hostage; he knew that if he underestimated the strength of the person he grabbed onto, then one wrong move could get him killed, but with Dreea and Bas close around him, he knew he was in good hands.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, he could hear footsteps descending down the slope above him and cautiously approaching the steaming crater in the ground that was a result of the exploded mine. Whoever it was that Wynn could hear obviously knew what they were looking for; they weren't mumbling questions to themselves as they tried to figure out what they had stumbled across, nor were they backing up in fear as if they worried there were more of the mines out there. Whoever it was, was someone that Wynn was looking for.

He peered around the tree that covered him, focusing his eyes on the soon-to-be-hostage who had come down in search. She hand long, dirty-blonde hair which stretched down to her mid-waist over her blood-covered jacket; tears all along her black jeans and muddy shirt, but no visible weapons that Wynn could see. Of course, if she had any experience in the woods - which she seemed to have - then Wynn knew that it was doubtful she would have left her camp without some sort of protection. He'd have to be silent as he snuck up on her; not giving the girl a chance to so much as reach for her weapon before he grabbed her...

When he could see that her back was turned on him - no doubt trying to figure out who or what had set off the mine, Wynn crept up the forest bed until he was right behind her, accidentally breaking a stick beneath his foot which alerted the girl to his presence, but it didn't matter. He had caught her.

The girl struggled, more out of initial shock than anything as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her, but Wynn was much stronger. He wrapped an arm around her neck which kept her restricted against him and his other hand clasped over her mouth, covering any potential screams from more of her people who may have been within earshot.

Once Wynn had his hostage secure in his grip, Dreea stepped out of her hiding, yielding a sword which she held up as she walked over to them.

"I believe we met at the beach," she smirked, automatically beginning to pat the girl down as she searched her for any weapons she had hidden, finding a blade tucked into the back of one of her boots.

"What do you want?" The girl spat, struggling to annunciate her words from how tightly Wynn was holding her.

"We want to speak to whoever's in charge of Terra Firma. Calvin, isn't it?"

"Why? And in case you haven't realised that by now, I'm not Calvin."

"I don't like your attitude," Dreea frowned, well aware that she was amusing Wynn who was the last of all people who needed to be distracted from the task at hand. "You'll hear whatever it is we want to say when we talk to him, but we need you until then. You're the price of admission."

"Price of admission!?" She exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"If we have you, you're people are going to come out to listen to what we have to say," Dreea explained. "Don't worry, we don't actually plan on killing you."

"That's reassuring..." The girl muttered, grunting as Wynn suddenly pushed her forward, following Dreea's lead up the hill towards Terra Firma's camp.

Dreea was still somewhat cautious as she guided them up, looking over her shoulder every now and then to make sure no one had their eyes on her, but eventually, they made it to the front of the campground and with their hostage in plain sight, anyone that was watching them was too afraid to shoot, not wanting to miss and hit the wrong target.

"We have one of your people," Dreea called out, seeing a crowd beginning to form at what appeared to be the entrance to their camp. "Let us speak to Calvin, and we'll leave her unharmed."

A chorus of voices broke out among the people, none of them distinguishable to the Sovereigns as they were all blurred together; a minute or so passed, and then a path formed between the crowd, splitting them down the middle as someone hurried to get through.

"Ivy!?" Calvin yelled as he appeared, immediately wide-eyed in horror as he realised who the so-called hostage was that one of his guards had alerted him to.

"Don't come any closer," Dreea warned, raising up her weapon so Calvin could see and turning to hold it close to Ivy.

"Okay! Okay!" His voice was full of spite but yet, his hands were up in surrender. He turned over his shoulder, taking a moment to catch his breath before he screamed out a command to his people. "Everyone, clear off!"

Within a couple of seconds, the guards of Terra Firma starting steering everyone away from the commotion leaving just Calvin, Ivy and a couple of extra guards for security, in front of the Sovereigns.

"Let her go!"

Dreea laughed. As if it was going to be that easy, she thought.

"What do you people want? You want to kill us?" Calvin asked. "You've made that pretty clear by the number of bodies my guys have had to bring back from the forest."

"We didn't come here for a kill," Wynn answered him, "but if you're not careful, if you don't cooperate with us, that's exactly what will happen."

As he spoke, Wynn noticed how Calvin tensed up and bit down on his lip; how his hands curled into fists at his side and he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot. Ivy was someone incredibly important to Calvin, he concluded, wishing he had a way to tell Dreea without anyone overhearing them, but he would have to act on that information alone.

"Fine," Calvin growled. "Then just get it out with. What the hell do you want?"

"We're here to offer an alliance with Terra Firma Tribe," Dreea answered.

"An alliance? You- you guys want an alliance with us?" This time, Calvin was the one laughing, certain it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "You're so intimidated by us that you know the only way your people are going to survive in the long run is if my people stop attacking yours. You've only gotten lucky so far and you know that's all there is to it-"

"Funny," Dreea interrupted. "Because we thought it might have something to do with where you stand with West of The City Exile Allegiance."

Ivy struggled in Wynn's arms after Dreea had finished speaking, hoping that he was so focused on Calvin's reaction that she would be able to get away, but the Sovereign's restraint on her didn't falter.

"What do you know about them?" Calvin asked, doing a terrible job at hiding how invested he suddenly was in the conversation.

"Doesn't matter," Dreea said. "We know all that we need to. We know enough that it's already making you nervous."

Calvin gritted his teeth together and glared at Dreea, hating that no matter what he said, everyone would know she was right. "What would the alliance mean?" He asked.

"That your people stop the attacks on mine. You leave us alone so we can find a way off of this island and in return, Basilisk will help your people in the attacks against Exile Allegiance. I mean, that's your ultimate goal, isn't it? A war against them..."

Calvin looked over at Ivy, hesitating somewhat. It was as though he seemed sure of his answer, but he didn't want to admit it in front of her, even though deep down, it was clear that she knew.

"We want them gone," Calvin confirmed. "We've got more numbers than them, but you guys must have had a couple hundred from what we saw at the beach; that'll be an advantage to us."

"So is it on, or not?" Wynn asked, exaggerating his hold on Ivy to remind Calvin of what was at stake.

"They could be bluffing," Ivy called out, hurrying to get the words out before Wynn silenced her. "They said they weren't going to hurt me."

Dreea let out a frustrated sigh in front of them and no-doubt rolled her eyes as she turned around to face them, nonchalantly walking over.

"I can change my mind," she pointed out, drawing her sword and slowly dragging it along Ivy's arm, seeing the material of her jacket tear in her stride and blood begin to drizzle along the blade of her weapon. Ivy squirmed in pain, her knees giving way underneath her, but Wynn kept her upright.

"Okay! That's enough," Calvin snapped, becoming desperate for a way to break their facade. "I have people that could kill you two in an instant. I could have a hundred men with guns on you at this very second, but I could also be bluffing; we can both play this game... How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Wynn waited a couple of seconds to see if Dreea knew what to say, but even if she silently stringing together the most flawless response in her mind, Wynn couldn't wait any longer.

"Dreea, take her for a second," Wynn said, already beginning to push Ivy into her hold before she could say 'no'. Dreea was clearly confused as to what he was trying to achieve, wishing more than ever that Sol was around so she could see right through him.

The next thing she knew, Wynn was pulling a leather-bound journal out of his inner jacket pocket and holding it up for everyone to see.

"I have things in here that even you might not know."

"Like what? Is that a book?" Calvin asked.

"Not quite. It's a journal-"

"Wynn..." Dreea muttered, trying to keep her voice quiet from Calvin but it didn't make much of a difference when Ivy was held against her and could hear every word going on between them.

Wynn ignored Dreea's warning and continued on, flipping the pages open until he found one he was looking for. "There are maps in here; details about hideout spots, stashes of weapons... I don't know who exactly wrote it, but it's very clear that it's someone from Exile Allegiance. Wait a minute... I'm sure there were initials carved into the spine," he stalled, shutting the book and searching for the two letters. "T.B."

Calvin glanced over at Ivy, the look they shared revealing to Wynn that what he had said was a game-changer.

"Give me that journal and you have an alliance," Calvin said, barely taking a minute to even consider his offer.

"Fine. Then we have a deal," Wynn said. "Your people don't kill any of ours and we'll help you in the war against Exile Allegiance."

He chucked the book over towards Calvin, watching it land a metres away from Calvin's feet. He expected him to make an immediate jump for it, but there was something else on his mind.

"Let go of Ivy," he ordered.

Wynn looked over at Dreea, waiting for her to comply. She glared over at him viciously, beyond reluctant to give in to what she thought was a stupid deal, but she didn't have much of a choice. Wynn hadn't allowed for any other alternative. Or so he thought...

"No," Dreea said. "I don't trust you. And if you want Ivy to survive the rest of this conversation, you'll give me a minute to set up some ground rules with my fellow Sovereigns."

"Dreea, what are you d-"

She rolled her eyes at Wynn, barely having the patience to deal with him, and nodded in the direction behind him. As he turned around, he noticed Bas had returned with Kodiak and better late than never, Sol was there, too.

"Bas, come take the hostage," she summoned him over, eager to pass Ivy onto someone else to deal with. Once she was sure Ivy couldn't get out of his hold, she grabbed onto Wynn's arm - holding a little too tightly for his liking - and dragged him over to the other two Sovereigns.

"Ouch," Wynn complained, pulling himself free from Dreea as she shoved him over towards the others. "That was a little mean-"

"Shut it, Wynn," she snapped at him, turning her attention over to Sol who was the next victim of her rage. "Where the hell were you?" She asked. "We had no choice but to go into this without you."

"I'm here now," Sol said. "That's what matters."

"Why have you come over here?" Kodiak interrupted, seeming to be the only one of them who was trying to get to the point. "From what we heard, it looked as though you guys had secured the alliance."

"I wasn't expecting Wynn to be so stupid," she said. "He gave Calvin the journal. The one Izzy found that has all the clues about how we survive this place. He completely left me in the dark out there and I don't know what the hell we're going to do without the journal, let alone the fact that from my knowledge, it's in the worst possible hands right now."

In the middle of Dreea chewing Wynn out, Sol glanced over at him, seeing that he wasn't really phased by any of the enraged things Dreea was saying about him and seemed to be waiting until she was done so that he could speak."

"You have a plan, don't you?" She asked him, smirking his way because she knew him too well whilst Dreea was in the middle of giving Kodiak an earful.

Wynn nodded, amused and half-impressed with himself, turning his attention back to Dreea who was furious that he hadn't been listening to her.

"What are you smiling at?" She barked.

Wynn let out a small laugh and opened his jacket a little, revealing a second journal tucked away safely inside. "There were two journals, remember?"

Something about how carefree he seemed made Dreea twice as frustrated as she was before. "I swear if you don't just tell me what you're thinking, I'm going to-"

"I copied some things over into the blank journal Izzy grabbed," he said, trying to keep his voice hushed. "The one I gave to Calvin has a few sketches of some maps and other notes that I read from this one," he discreetly gestured to the one in his possession. "The real one. I changed some details and purposefully made a couple of errors in them, but some of that stuff dates back and it's credible; there's no way we could have made it up. Besides, it's not like they're going to cross-references anyone's handwriting and figure out it's mine. It'll pass."

Kodiak let out a breath of relief, glad that everyone was finally on the same page. "Calvin doesn't have any truly valuable information," he clarified.

"Yeah," Wynn nodded, eager to direct Dreea back to them, but before he could get a word out, she had grabbed a hold of him and pulled him into a headlock, messing up his hair and roughhousing with him.

"You infuriate me more than anyone I've ever known. You know that, right? You're absolutely impossible."

"Yeah, I get it," Wynn laughed, managing to pull himself free from her hold and straighten himself out. "Now, can we get back to them? Because I'm pretty sure that I just got us that alliance we came out here for."

"Fine," Dreea rolled her eyes. "But you haven't heard the end of this."

Despite the warning in her words, they both knew that she was messing around and it was her way of apologising to him for doubting him, even though they couldn't deny that Wynn had a very strange way of carrying out a plan.

"I'm so glad you found some time to get back to us," Calvin grumbled as Wynn and Dreea returned, moving to stand beside Bas who had been wondering how long he'd have to stand there with a random hostage in his arms. "Can we get to finalising this-"

"Wait!" Ivy called out, shifting against Bas - not in an attempt to escape, only to be able to speak clearly. "I have a suggestion."

"Ivy, can't this wait until-"

"You should let these people take me," she cut Calvin off, instantly regretting the way her words had come out.

"What? Ivy, are you insane? No."

"Just hear me out," she said, knowing that even the Sovereigns were puzzled on this one. "You let them take me and in return, you take one of them as your hostage."

"Why would I do that?" Calvin asked. "I want you-"

"Because then I'd be able to make sure these people are trustworthy, and we'll both have a reason to keep end our end of the deal because if we do, we'll all have something to lose..."

Wynn glanced over at Dreea, understanding that Ivy had a point, but he was still confused as to why she was voluntarily offering herself as a sacrifice.

"Who would you take in return?" Dreea asked, knowing that her answer depended on who Ivy suggested.

The other girl contemplated for a moment, looking over Bas and the Sovereigns, being limited on choice, but she made up her mind. "You," she said.

Dreea raised an eyebrow, beginning to wonder if she had underestimated Ivy as she was becoming more and more impressed with her nerve. "For how long?"

"A couple of days?" Ivy said. "That'll give me enough time to report back to Calvin and decide if we want to keep the alliance with your people, and I'm sure you'll end up learning a thing or two about us. Assuming that the alliance is still on, we can both be handed back to our own and they'll be no bloodshed."

"Would you take someone else instead?" Wynn asked, earning a shake of the head from Dreea.

"Wynn, stay out of this. I can negotiate-"

"Chessca," he said, knowing that in the heat of everything, the knowledge that Exile Allegiance were descendants from The City of Targo was the last thing on her mind.

Dreea sighed, almost wishing that Wynn hadn't brought her name up. It would break her heart to imagine all the fears racing through Chessca's head without her around and to think that every second she was away, Chessca would be fearing for her life...

"Every part of me wants to go back to her," she told him, "but however bizarre this offer sounds, it's not one we're going to get again. It could be fundamental."

"I understand," Wynn assured her. "So will Chess. Don't worry - Sol, Kodiak, Atlantis and I will make sure she's safe. I promise."

Dreea softened her gaze which was already long-gone of the irritation she had for him and nodded his way before turning back to face Ivy.

"You have a deal." 

Three // Part Two
I will protect you with my life.

Wow... A lot to unpack in this 6.4K WORD CHAPTER!??!?!?! I'm honestly a little impressed with myself at how much I've been able to write for the chapters this season...

Sol has a plan to protect Chessca? Wynn had a genius plan to help get the alliance with Terra Firma? Ivy has a plan for something... But is it what she says? Do you trust Ivy?

She's a very complex character and I'm excited to reveal her storyline and everything about her that makes her so in-depth! A lot coming up! I hope you liked this one!

19/02/21.

Btw, I am about to experience severe burnout any day now (as if I didn't have multiple breakdowns last week, lol), so please be patient with me if I don't get to writing for a couple of days. I cam completely overwhelmed by everything all of the time and it's not fun.

In good news, this book is predicted to be 146,000K + words!!!!!!!