Chapter Text
Lexa’s eyes flitted across the battlefield, her heart pounding. Her hands and arms ached from clinging to her sword so tightly, but she ignored it, knowing that letting her guard down could mean the death of her comrades or herself.
“Alex!” She looked over at Lincoln, her second in command. “We have to move out, they want us on the southwest side.” She swallowed and nodded in acknowledgement before falling in with the rest of her troop. Her sense of safety increased as the familiar faces fell in behind her, knowing that she could trust them to have her back.
Lexa often tried to avoid speaking to her comrades. Her voice was higher than theirs, and forcing it down an octave in order to better match them took a toll on her throat, and she was too tired to deal with yet another thing. She had been going by the name Alex for a few years now, as long as she had been in the military. She was not the biggest fan of the change, but it had been necessary because Lexa was too obviously a woman’s name.
Lexa had grown up in an orphanage with many boys, whose options once they turned eighteen were either to join the military or try to strike out on their own with no support. Because of this almost all of them joined, and they often trained, and Lexa was not one to be left behind. Those who came back to visit would tell glory filled stories of the battlefield and their fights with the Mountain Men. For as long as she could remember, she waited for King Jake to change the archaic laws banning women from joining the military. When she turned eighteen and the law still had not changed, she shaved her head and walked down to the nearest recruitment tent, claiming to be Alex Woods, a man ready to serve his country.
She had quickly risen through the ranks becoming a corporal in the beginning of her second year, a position that allowed her to let her hair grow back out. She had told no one she was a woman, not even her closest friends, with the exception of one person. In her first year, she met another woman, Costia, who had also joined the army under the guise of being a man. Before even knowing the other’s true identity they became fast friends. When they did discover they were both women, they fell in love. Costia was not as discreet with her identity as Lexa, and one day she was bathing in the middle of the day, and she was revealed to the rest of the troops to be a woman. For this treachery, she was executed. Lexa barely recovered and she closed herself off and was more vigilant than ever. When the topic of women came up with her friends, she joked that “love is weakness,” but in her heart, she knew it to be true.
As Lexa’s troop made the journey to the southwestern side of the mountain, where their command base was, and where very little fighting took place. She found it unusual that they had been called from the main battle to return, but was hopeful that it was for some much needed food and rest. After all, her troop was one of the first to enter combat this morning.
As the base came into view, she felt her heart plummet into her stomach. A surprise attack. There were many Mountain Men, overpowering the Arkadians, who were in desperate need of back-up. She took a deep breath and looked over at Lincoln, her second in command. He grimaced at her, clearly having come to the same realization: the odds were stacked against them.
Regardless, she was ready. She raised her sword and her voice, calling to her troop, “Men, today we have fought hard, but now we must fight harder. Together, we will chase the Mountain Men out, with their tails between their legs.” Her men let out a cheer, and together they entered the battlefield.
For Lexa, time always slowed down in a fight. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she slashed her way through the enemy line. She parried and lunged, taking down man after man in front of her. She had her lips together in a tight line of concentration, sweat beading on her forehead.
As she watched the number of Mountain Men dwindle, she felt her confidence grow. She paused, realizing there were only a few left, when she heard a yell. She turned, and only ten yards away, she watched as an unfamiliar Arkadian hit the ground, a Mountain Man standing over him, ready to go in for the kill. Lexa charged, swinging her sword at the man. She caught him by surprise, his eyes widening, as he realized he did not have time to defend himself. She knocked him to the ground, his helmet bouncing off, and brought her sword down hard on his skull, cracking it open and killing him instantly.
She looked around for anyone who may come to avenge the Mountain Man’s death, but realized that they seemed to be retreating. Once she was more certain, she sheathed her sword and dropped down next to the fallen Arkadian man.
“Are you wounded?” Lexa asked. She was scanning his legs and torso, trying to decide if he needed a medic.
“No,” the man replied, “I’m alright, just had the breath knocked out of me.”
She let out a sigh of relief before finally making eye contact with him. She blinked rapidly, shocked. The man she had saved was her king.
She bowed as best she could, considering she was already on the ground, and he was laying below her. She hoped that she had not offended him.
“I’m sorry, your majesty,” Lexa stuttered out, “I did not realize it was you.”
He let out a short laugh. “Do not apologize. I should be thanking you. You just saved my life, and you may have just ended this war.”
“I don’t understand, sir.”
“The Mountain Man you just killed is not just any foot soldier. That was Prince Cage himself. He convinced his father to start this war, and now that he is gone, it may be over. You are a hero for more reasons than one. You will be rewarded greatly for this.”
Lexa’s brain was moving a mile a minute, trying to decipher the exact meaning of his words. She had spent her whole career trying to avoid attention in order to keep her identity hidden, and now she may have just unintentionally put herself into the brightest spotlight anyone in Arkadia had ever seen.