The Crown

Chapter 1

Thump. Thump. Thump. Maeve shot arrow after arrow at the target. The last part of her training before she could test to become a Seelie fighter was to go on an assignment with one of the Seelie divisions. They'd been training and preparing for weeks now and that day they were to leave for the Lugh Athbhaile for their assignment. If they were successful all of her years of training would finally pay off and she would be able to test to become a Seelie fighter. This had been her dream for as long as she could remember. As she picked up another arrow from the ground she could see Bran, the division leader, pacing back and forth out of the corner of her eye. He seemed extremely anxious as he muttered to himself shaking his head and fidgeting with his hands. This was quite odd. He was normally extremely calm and collected and this assignment was nothing out of the ordinary. He had already been on thousands of them. She tried to ignore it and continued shooting arrows at the target.
    After another ten arrows she decided to call it quits. She didn't want to tire herself out before they even left for the mission. She headed back over to the camp on the outskirts of the Seelie Court headquarters.
    She weaved through the trees that made their camp and once she arrived at her tree she ducked inside and grabbed her satchel. Walking over to the chest that was at the end of her bed, she carefully picked up a few daggers, strapping one of them to her thigh and put the rest of them into the slots on the inside of her leather satchel. She grabbed some strips of meat that she had previously dried and put them into a little pouch that she then placed into her satchel as well. She added a pouch of water and slung her carved bow onto her shoulder before leaving her tree.
    Walking about the camp, she admired her surroundings. The beautiful trees extended up as far as the eye could see and there were glowing lights coming from underneath the roots. She loved the feeling of the luscious greenery beneath her toes.
    She walked to the heart of the camp where the rest of her division was slowly starting to gather all of their supplies. Bran was flitting to and fro muttering anxiously, eyes wide. Maeve was growing more and more worried about his frantic state. She had  no idea what was wrong with him. All they had to do is go to the Lugh Athbhaile, deliver some supplies, and patrol for a bit. It was quite routine, really. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. As a Seelie fighter who had been a leader for the past 250 years he seemed quite nervous.
    "Maeve!" Oisin called out.
    She made her way over to him and nodded in greeting.
    "What do you need Oisin?" She asked him.
    "I need some help bringing supplies over."
    She followed him over to where a pile of boxes containing books, papers, armory, and food stood and started to pile them up. They were fairly awkward to carry so they could only carry a couple at a time.  After making a few trips back and forth they could finally relax for a bit.
    "Have you noticed anything odd about Bran?" Maeve asked Oisin as he bit into an apple.
    "Yes he is being quite odd." He responded with bits of apple and juice dribbling down his chin.
    "That's absolutely vile!" She squealed laughing and giving him a little shove as she observed the mess. He responded by giving her a toothy grin causing even more of a mess. She chuckled and shook her head, turning her attention back to Bran who was now frantically looking around as if he expected someone to jump out at him at any moment. Oisin was also observing this odd behavior and they turned to each other and erupted into laughter finding the humor in Bran's odd behaviour.
    "What are you lot laughing at!" Bran shouted at them, storming over.
    "Oh no." Oisin muttered under his breath.
    Oisin and Maeve stood up in unison and stood at attention as Bran approached them. He looked at us, eyes wild and looking extremely cross with his arms folded in front of him.
"Don't you two have anything you could be doing? Preparing for an assignment maybe? I expected a lot more from you Maeve. You're supposed to be proving yourself for the trials." he turns to Oisin. "And you! You've been working this post for what? 80 years? Go clean your face!" And with that he turned on his heel, stormed off, and resumed his anxious pacing.  Oisin looked at me, shrugged with an apologetic look on his face and walked off to his tree. Maeve stood there, dumbfounded. What was the matter with him? He was never this tightly wound. She couldn't remember him ever yelling at any of them like that before.
    She sat there in silence for the next hour or so just sharpening her daggers and waiting to leave for the Lugh Athbhaile until she heard voices coming from a few metres behind her. She turned around in her seated position to see a group of Seelie Court officials walking her way. She swiftly got out of her seated position and stood at attention.