Ordained

Chapter Seven

"It's capture the flag." A voice whispered behind her somewhere as she was herded into a large room along with around twenty others.

"How do you know what the test is?"

"My sister went through the pairing two years ago and she said they do capture the flag for the ambitiousisousness."

"Ambitiousness, you idiot."

"Well I heard they change the tests every year anyways."

"Oh, I heard they always do the same ones."

Emmeline ignored the bickering and focused instead on the hall. Wooden structures, almost like a playground, had been erected. Bushes and trees in vast terracotta pots littered the room amongst the various timber frames. It was unlike any room she had seen before.

They filtered in, filling one side whilst on the far side of the room another lot of participants were also arriving. This was the first time she had been able to see the men who had entered this year's pairing. With eagerness bordering on excitement she scanned the crowd amongst her and across the hall.

It was quickly obvious that she wasn't the only one. One man across the space caught her eye and winked. With a shock of blonde hair and impressive muscles, Emmeline couldn't help but blush at the attention. He was rather good looking. With a sudden flush of embarrassment she looked away, focusing on someone else, anyone else.

A third team arrived and then a fourth. Soon each wall had a group of people against it, a coloured armband on each of their arms to denote their allegiance. Emmeline flicked her blue band, not enjoying how it constricted her arm, but obediently wearing it like everyone else. Men appeared in after the women, making up the remainder of the blue team. There was a surge in excited whispering as the opposite sexes were allowed to mingle at last.

As it turned out, it was capture the flag. Somewhere nearby there was a hoot of 'I told you so', that made Emmeline grin. A young man in gold and white robes stood in the centre of the hall with his hand on the flag that was positioned there. A white flag with large gold embroidered twin stars emblazoned across it. The symbol of the pairing.

It was fairly impressive how loudly he projected his voice. Given the sheer size of the hall, she didn't think it would be possible to be heard in all four corners, but as soon as he began deadly silence fell, which helped a great deal.

The rules were simple.

The first team to collect the flag and return it to the door their team entered from, would win. It sounded easy enough until the barrels were rolled in. They were full to the top with small bean bags that had been soaked in paint. Emmeline, like many others, picked one up, testing its weight and squeezing it a little to see the paint drip.

If you were hit by a bean bag, you were out and had to return to the wall where your team currently stood.

Emmeline wondered how far she could throw the small bag full of beans. Not far enough she thought as she returned her gaze to the other teams.

Her team had some strong men and women, their frames were lean and toned from hard work, perhaps they could win.

Directly opposite the orange team were organising it appeared. A tall man with dark hair that he pushed back from his face, was surrounded by others, gesturing to various structures and where the bushes would provide cover.

Glancing around no one seemed to want to step up amongst her team. Some of the men were gathering armfuls of bags without speaking to one another, while the smaller team members seemed to be shrinking backwards. Above them was a mezzanine full of examiners, their robes like an unending banner of gold and white running around the room. She wondered where Mellissa was and what she would write about her performance during this task.

Time was clicking on and still no one had spoken up. The red team had divided into teams and were stretching ready to start running. The green team were huddled together in a group with their backs to everyone else.

"Hey." She said, cursing how quiet she was. "Hey." She shouted a little louder, hating that she was blushing.

"Who's a fast runner?"

With a lot of awkward silences and without a lot of words exchanged, the blue team had some sort of plan in place. If you could call it that. The strongest were going to push forward to the first line of structures and focus on throwing. The quickest in the team were going to run for the flag. And everyone else was going to just follow the runners and try to hit someone whilst not getting hit themselves. Not exactly a brilliant strategy, but it was something.

..

The throwers were out of ammo. Turning around to face the teammates still behind her she saw a handful of people cringing back away from the centre of the action. With a confidence that surprised her she shouted. "You and you, keep bringing the throwers more bags!"

The two girls started at being addressed but quickly nodded, retreating back to the safety of the wall and doing short trips back and forth to the two stations where the throwers were based. The plan quickly devolved as the flag was grabbed by not one, but three people.

The member of their team with their hand on the flag was a young woman of maybe 20. Her build was strong but slim and it was with a sigh of regret that Emmeline turned just in time to see their runner thrown bodily away from the flag.

She winced as the girl hit the floor, rushing ahead to check she was alright.

Emmeline didn't see what happened next but the collection of 'ooooo' sounds and the cursing of the man who had thrown their teammate to the ground told her that he had gotten his comeuppance. Karma was swift it seemed.

Emmeline glanced up to see a dark haired man towering over her.

"Is she okay?" He asked, the flag held casually in his hand. She wanted to tell him he was supposed to rush the flag back to his door, but there was something in his posture that told her not to.

He was far too relaxed to be worried that someone might take the flag from him.

Glancing from him to the man that had thrown her team mate she gulped. The loser was picking himself up off the floor, dusting himself off with a murderous expression.

For a second Emmeline thought he might attack the dark-haired guy before her, but he didn't, sloping off towards his door with a string of muttered curses.

The dark haired guy snapped his fingers in front of her face impatiently. Indignation swelled in her as she squared her shoulders and stood at her fullest height.

She was far far shorter than him but she stared him down nonetheless. "She is fine, thank you." She scowled. "Congratulations." She added, trying not to sound bitter. He had deserved to win, she had watched him organise his team earlier, and he had beat that other guy fair and square, but that didn't mean she liked having fingers snapped at her. He was rude.

Returning her attention to her teammate she helped her off the floor and the two of them walked back to their door. "Did you see him?" The girl at her side whispered, sounding giddy with excitement.

"I saw him alright." Emmeline muttered. 

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Author's Note:

Here come the booooys. 

Vote if you are enjoying the book so far, and don't forget to leave your comments in the ... well the comments. 

Ta,

Sophie.