‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
"I'm going to vomit." I ignored Callan as I pinched my lips together, bracing my hands on my knees as I tried to keep in my own vomit. The world was spinning around me, the edges going fuzzy. I let my eyes drift close as I sucked in sharp breaths.
"Aw, not feeling so good, Eira?" I heard someone ask. I picked up my head from where it was drooping to see Mason eyeing me, a grin on his lips. He was with his meatheads of friends, who were punching each other's shoulders and laughing as if watching me struggle was their greatest entertainment.
"At least I didn't sprint off during that first lap and have to walk during the last stride," I managed to say between gasps. It was the first thing I had ever said to Mason, the asshole who had been taunting me for the entire two weeks I had been here. Mason was tall and broad, with curly golden hair that I had the constant urge to grab onto and yank.
"Oh really?" Mason asked, anger infuriating in his vomit-green eyes. He stalked towards me, reaching out a hand as if to grab me, but then something was shoving his hand down and away from me. The hilt of a sword. Mason and I both glanced up to see Foley hovering above us.
"Don't be petty, Mason," Foley growled. I felt my cheeks warm at the feeling of Foley so close. The smell of mint and forest greeted my nose and I could feel the heat rising from his body. "Fighting with a little girl is beneath you." I felt my brows shoot up to my hairline. Who was he calling "little girl"?
"Yes sir," Mason grumbled, before taking a step away. He managed to shoot me one last dirty look before heading back over to his friends, who were staring at me with equal discontent. I struggled not to scoff, all of Mason's friends were like dogs, following their masters every command, tails wagging. It was disgusting.
"Are you alright?" a deep voice pulled me out of the staring competition I was having with Mason. I turned to see Foley much closer to me than I thought he had been. I felt my breath hitch in my throat, but this time I couldn't blame it on the run.
"I'm fine," I said, my voice strange and wobbling. The tips of my ears were growing cold and my mouth was growing dry. Foley was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and I was acting like it.
"Good," he said, grinning down at me. I was pretty sure that in that moment, I actually felt my heart leap out of my chest. But as my heart was still twirling, Foley did something that made my heart plummet into the clouds. He winked at me. Actually winked, before walking away.
"Might want to close your mouth there, miss heart-eyes," Callan said, walking up to my side. I realized he wasn't joking, my mouth actually had been hanging open. I snapped it shut and whirled towards him. "You look like the gods just graced you."
"They did," I whispered harshly. "Did you even see that? He winked, Callan. Winked." I could barely stop the smile from spreading on my lips.
"I don't think I've ever seen you so...giddy," Callan said, looping his arm through mine as we followed the rest of the group beginning to walk forward. "Didn't you hear him call you 'a little girl'?" I ignored him, continuing to walk with the group. I didn't know where we were going, but we had spent the morning going on an extremely hard run. Five miles with thirty second sprints whenever Foley blew his whistle...which was quite a bit. My legs felt like jelly and beads of sweat had started to form on my forehead because of it. Now that I was made of the cold, I realized I hated sweat.
"Do you know where we're going?" I asked. The sun hadn't come up yet very much, the sky was a deep purple color and the birds were just beginning to chip. We never woke up after six here, Foley always had us awake and working out first thing in the morning. In the past two weeks, we'd done lots of runs, weightlifting, and strength training. I had already started forming muscles that I never thought I'd be able to form. All the other initiates did too, everyone looked harder, with less of that childish glimmer in their eyes that they had when they first walked into Camp Caligo.
"Not a clue. Maybe Foley will make us do more sprints, just to see how long our legs can last until they fall off completely." I snickered, bumping his arm with mine. Like always, I kept my eyes and ears open as we walked. I was still a Killers of Kings spy, despite the fact that I felt more like a soldier. I had been on the lookout for any information worthy of giving to Elda, but I hadn't found anything so far. I was probably her most disappointing spy. And to think, I was her first fully fae spy. What a waste.
"Really? No comment on the legs falling off? What a buzzkill," Callan said, letting out a whoosh of air.
"Sorry, I was...thinking," I muttered, running my hands along my arms as I felt goosebumps spread across my skin.
"You do that a lot," Callan said.
"What?" I asked.
"The thinking." He shrugged. "You escape into your head a lot. Where do you go?" I looked down at the ground, at the blades of grass swishing in the wind.
"Nowhere you'd want to be," I joked with him, bumping his shoulder with mine. It sounded like a joke, but it wasn't. I was sure that where I "escaped" too inside my mind was for no one of such pure heart like Callan. I was pretty sure it'd corrupt him. That I'd corrupt him.
We walked until we hit the expanse of forest at the end of the camp. We had never walked out that far before. Foley always commanded that we stick to the borders of the camp itself, not the large grassy expanse around it.
We didn't stop walking until we were a good mile into the forest. At that point, it didn't even matter how far the morning sun had risen into the sky, the thick trees of the wood covered the entirety of the sky. The forest itself was thick and green and the smell of metallic magic filled the air. I was beginning to smell that magic everywhere, as if it was always running through Hiraeth. I doubted that it wasn't. Magic was the foundation for the kingdom afterall.
"You can stop here, initiates," Foley said, walking out to the front of our group. He was wearing his standar uniform with his thick jacket, all medals of rank pinned to the front, with his heavy boots and weapons belt. Foley never didn't wear his medals, they were always broadcasted for everyone to see. But was such a high rank in a murderous army such a good thing?
"Welcome to the third week of training," Foley said, clasping his hands behind his back and scanning the crowd before him. I was pretty sure he enjoyed his job of commanding us. The power he held over us was something he used quite a bit. At some points, he did scare me. He'd yell or shout orders like we were nothing but children. But other times, I'd see him laugh or smile and all that harshness would melt away. I wished I could've known the boy under the role of Ensign.
"This is one of my favorite days of training. Do you want to know why?" Foley asked. All the initiates glanced at each other, wondering if it was a trick question. Foley did that a lot, asked a lot of trick questions. "It's my favorite because I get to watch you all pummel each other for nothing but a mere slip of fabric."
"The fuck?" Callan muttered, bumping his boot with mine. I only barely shook my hand in response. He acted like I had any idea what our Ensign was talking about either.
"What do you mean?" Mason was the first to speak up among the confused soldiers. Foley flashed him a pearly set of teeth.
"Capture the flag," he said. Suddenly, clothing appeared on the ground at his feet. More of that metallic smell filled the air. Magic. "I'm going to split you up evenly, no biases, and then your teams are going to hide the flag and defend it with these." There was a wave of his hand and at least fifty sets of bows and arrows appeared next to the clothes. I cursed inwardly, they had yet to teach us how to use one of those.
"These arrows are dull, not penetrable by any means." He picked one up, showing off the strange, circular end. "But they are tipped with a sleeping powder. If this touches you, the magic will seep through your skin and render you unconscious in a few seconds."
"Sleeping powder?" someone said. I recognized it as a blonde boy who cried after they had made us run those three miles. "Is that even legal?"
Foley glanced at him, chuckling. "We're the king's army. Everything's legal between these walls." I felt my powers stir at that, making the temperature around us drop at least ten degrees. I saw a few initiates even shiver. His statement made me uneasy. Could they kill me? Was that legal? They were run by the fae king, and the fae king had a killer who was notorious for his treatment of spies. And let me just say, he was not known for treating them to a fancy dinner and a bottle of wine.
Foley split us up into two teams of twenty five, thankfully, I got paired with Callan on the team opposite to Mason. The groups, as soon as they were split, were already eyeing the other with distaste. Draw a line between two parties, give them opposite goals, and all of a sudden they're enemies without needing to be.
"Alright, you're going to split, and decide where you want your flag to go. The goal is to keep your own flag safely hidden away and undisturbed, but you want to steal the other teams flag. That's the only way the game will end," Foley said, eyeing all of us with an excited glint in his eyes.
"And what are the arrows for?" someone called out. I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. I was pretty sure it was fairly obvious.
"To shoot at your enemy with," Foley said. "The other team is going to be coming at you, looking for your flag. If you shoot at them with an arrow it's less people you have to worry about. But I do suggest firing cautiously, lest you want to waste your arrows." As Foley spoke, I felt my muscles begging to tighten and my spine stiffen. I felt like I was about to go into war. Sure, it was only a game of capture the flag, but with those initiates I was sure it'd feel like a game of war. Every soldier was desperate for notice, for some sort of pat on the back from a superior.
"No aiming arrows at the face, but play dirty, this is war afterall." Foley swept his arms out to either side, beckoning for us to go. We all glanced at each other, still reeling from Foley's last sentence. Was that how the kings army played, dirty? Honestly, I was sad to say I didn't even feel remotely surprised. Of course they did.
My team trailed deeper into the forest until we were out of earshot. Our flag was in the hands of a girl I was pretty sure was named Kylie. It was a bright blue, ensuring it'd be seen very clearly, there was no trying to camouflage that thing.
"Alright, so I say we form a circle around the flag and play defense. We have them come to us and then just fire at anyone who runs for it," someone named Michael said. I nudged Callan at the awfulness in that plan. It was full of holes.
"Who put you in charge, Michael?" someone else said. I glanced at Callan, who was looking at me as well. Obviously, everyone wanted to be in charge, everyone wanted to be the one to win the game and claim victory.
"No one. I'm just the smartest one here," he said, shrugging his large shoulders.
"I think someone else should be in charge, someone who isn't so arrogant," someone else said. Michael turned around quickly, towards the person who spoke. His nostrils flared and he marched forward, but I suddenly slammed my hand against his chest, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"We're a team," Callan said, coming up to my side, almost as if we had planned it. "I think we should brainstorm a few plans and vote on them. Majority wins. Democracy." Michael practically growled down at me, eyeing my hand on his chest. One little blast of ice and he'd drop dead. I ripped my hand away from him the moment I felt my powers swirl in response. My powers had been swirling desperately inside of me since I got to Camp Caligo, they were begging for release.
"Fine," Michael said, eyeing me strangely. He hadn't felt my power, had he? Fear stirred in my stomach and I laced my hands together, tucking them behind my back. Shame filled me, hot and ugly.
"Okay so, maybe one of us can hold onto the flag-" I let my mind wander as other plans were talked about. Some sounded better than Michaels, but not many. Either way, none of them sounded good, all of them had too many dark points, too many parts subject to human error. Sorry...fae error.
"I say we cut the flag into sections-" My head snapped up to a girl who was speaking, quite passionately, about cutting up the flag and distributing it to some of the stronger members of our team.
"Is that even fair?" Callan asked me.
"No. But it's less stupid than someone shoving it down their pants," I muttered. That was an actual idea someone had. Really, someone had actually thought that one up using their actual brain.
"You need to be the one leading us," Callan whispered. I flashed my gaze up to his, forcing out a chuckle that scraped against my throat on the way out.
"That's crazy," I said.
"Alright, maybe it is," Callan said, shrugging. "But tell me you don't already have an idea forming up there." He tapped on my forehead, grinning. I furrowed my brows, rolling my eyes. But in reality...he was right. An idea had popped into my head the moment Foley had started talking about the damn game.
"Well, I think that if we did cut up the flag-"
"Enough," I said, stepping forward. I glanced over to where the other team was gathering, the canon surely would've been going off soon. "I'm sorry Jackelyn, but that is an awful plan, we'd get defeated in minutes." Jackelyn, the girl with the awful cut-the-flag plan, gave me a dejected look. She probably thought she was saving the day.
"And who in the hells made the little girl the captain?" Michael said, glaring at me. Ice swirled under my skin and I swallowed hard, keeping it at bay.
"First of all, stop being a misogynistic fuck. And second of all, call me 'little girl' again and I'll cut your balls off, understand?" I asked, blinking up at him with big, doe eyes. His face paled visibly and he took a step away from. Callan let out a hoot.
"Glad we're at an understanding, Michael." I turned to face the rest of the group. "Here's what's going to happen. We can't play either offense or defense, we need to play both, at the same time." I said.
"We have trees around us, we should use them. We need to split into two groups. One group will hide in the trees and fire down on anyone running towards the flag. Wait till they get close so you don't waste arrows. That group will be defence. The other group will go out and try to find the other team's flag. They'll play offense." I watched as my team stood taller at the idea, nodding. They liked it. Much better than flag-cutting, I had to admit.
"Alright, but where do we hide the flag?" Michael asked.
"We don't," I said. Everyone's jaws hung open and I grinned. I grabbed the flag and spun the bright fabric between my fingers. "We tie it around a tree trunk in plain sight, make them think they have it easy-"
"Then those hiding in the trees fire down on them before they reach the flag. Game over," Callan said, coming up to my side, smirking down at me.
"Exactly. Hiding it in plain sight will attract more people which will take down more enemies." Everyone was nodding now, murmuring their agreements. I realized then why it took everyone so long to form an idea. They'd been selfish. They wanted to be the heroes, the ones who were thrown up in the air for creating such a good idea. But in reality, all it took was to think things through, not for your sake, but for everyone else's. We'd celebrate the win as a team, not just the person who formulated the plan.
"We still have to vote," Michael said, glaring daggers at me. He wanted my plan to fail, wanted his to be the one we went with. Too bad everyone liked mine and his was shot down for stupidity ten minutes ago.
"Everyone in agreement to go with Eira's plan, please raise your hand." I watched as everyone's hand rose into the air. Even Michaels, though it took him a bit longer than the rest. It was in that moment that the canon exploded, the sound crackling in the air.
"Game on," I muttered.
I slammed my back against a tree trunk, barely missing an arrow that went whizzing past me. "Callan!" I whisper yelled. "The objective is to shoot at your enemy!" Callan jogged off in the direction of his arrow, placing it back onto his bowstring.
"I'm sorry," he said, running back to me. "I was adjusting it and it just went-" He made a little whistle noise and I sighed, rolling my eyes.
"Alright just don't 'adjust' it again."
"Yes, Captain," he said, giving me a mock salute. He had also been calling me 'Captain' since I had been elected as the leader of our team. I didn't exactly hate that though.
"I think we're getting close to them, do you see that part of grass that's trampled down?" I asked, talking to my small group. There were only twelve of us, but we were the offense group. I had split the team into two, making sure that the smaller, faster people were the one's going out and the stronger ones were staying back. It only made sense that the people needing to run through the trees and dodge arrows had to be fast, and that those in charge of protecting the flag had to be strong enough to do so.
"You think that's where they gathered?" Callan asked. I nodded. We all had our bows prepped and ready, arrows on the strings. I could tell everyone was nervous, I was nervous too. All my muscles felt tense and coiled, ready for action. My powers were swirling in anxiety too. They wanted to take part in the action as well. I clamped down on them and shoved down the need.
"There! Hide!" someone at the end whisper-yelled. We all ducked behind a tree to hear the sound of boots clomping past us. Two sets of boots actually.
"Well whatever they're doing, they're taking forever," a girl said.
"I know," another voice said. A boy. "I wonder how long this is going to take. I need to pee." Callan chuckled and I glared at him, widening my eyes in a 'shut the hell up, you idiot' sort of way.
"Hey, did you hear something?" the girl asked. There were more footsteps, but this time they were coming at us. Cursing, I whipped my body out from behind the tree and released my arrow. Unfortunately, it hit the girl straight in the boob. I really did have no aim. She let out a cry of pain and annoyance before her body hit the ground, her eyes slamming shut. Asleep.
"Eira, look out!" An arrow came straight at me and I squeaked, ducking down to the ground. I watched in amazement as it slammed into the tree above me. I rolled to the left before the glimmering gold sleeping powder could fall on me.
There was another thump and the boy who had needed to use the bathroom was asleep on the grass. I looked up to see a girl who I was pretty sure was named Evren pulling her bow back. She was tall, with wavy brown hair, dark skin, and blue eyes. She was pretty, but the most noticeable thing about her was the thick scar running down the right side of her face. I did my best not to stare at it.
"Thanks," I said, my voice sounded rough.
She blew out a breath, moving a curl out of her face. "Stop thanking me and start moving. We've been lingering here for too long." She walked forward, the rest of the group followed.
"Alrighty then." Callan said, following after them. I got up, brushing dried leaves off of my pants. As soon as my hand touched them, ice coated the thin leaves, making them fall to the ground and shatter. I gaped down at them, horror uncurling itself in my stomach. Or was that nausea?
"Come on, Eira," Callan said, I looked up to see him bobbing his head in the direction of the group. He didn't look horrified, he obviously hadn't seen my power outburst. Normal fae, like Callan and the rest of Camp Caligo, weren't supposed to have extra powers. They weren't supposed to be stronger than the rest, it terrified others. Those with extra powers were normally never around for long, Elda had warned me of that.
"Right," I said, running to him, my heart a thunderous thing inside my chest. I adjusted my bow and jogged forward with the rest of the group.
"What is that?" I heard someone ask, but their words were overshadowed with the sound of arrows flying through the air.
"Behind the trees!" I screamed, flinging myself behind a trunk. I heard arrows pound into the ground and the trees around us. I ducked my head, keeping my limbs tucked tightly into myself. The others were hiding behind the trees next to me. Some looked scared, others, like Callan, looked excited.
I whipped my head to the side to see that there was a rundown looking building hiding among the trees. It was there that I saw lots of fellow soldiers milling around. They all looked on high alert, which meant one thing. The flag was definitely in that building.
"Hey! Why are we shooting?" a voice yelled. Mason. I'd recognize that disgusting voice anywhere. It never ceased to make me feel like spiders were crawling over my skin.
"I thought I saw something move out there!" someone else said. They sounded scared.
"Well don't waste your arrows, you idiot." There was a clap of skin on skin and I winced. Mason just hit whoever had shot at us. It took every inch of willpower inside of me not to run to Mason and pummel him with ice bullets. Every inch.
"We need a plan," Callan whispered.
"No shit," I said, glaring at him.
"So what are we going to do?" Evren asked, looking over at me. I chewed down on my lower lip, leaning my head against the base of the tree. We needed a plan and everyone was looking at me. Why me? I had no training in this. I had been a human for nineteen years before I'd come here.
I pinched my eyes shut, breathing in the cold, dry air. I saw a plan forming on the edges of my mind, I reached out and grabbed onto it before it could disappear. Once I had it, I thought it through, over and over again. It was solid and ready in under thirty seconds.
I explained it to them and they all nodded warily. There were some holes in it, places where it could go terribly wrong...but it wasn't like anyone had anything better. "Are we ready?" I asked from our hiding places behind the trees. Everyone nodded.
About half an hour later, Callan and the rest of the group, aside from Evren, walked into the middle of the field, hooting and laughing. They were talking loudly about how stupid the game was, and how no one was even around to hunt them. The sound of arrows whizzing sounded throughout the air and I grinned.
"Now!" I whispered to Evren. She ran like a dart through the trees, moving to the left where there were a cluster of trees and branches to hide us. I followed after her, my arrow drawn, ready for an attack. Callan and the rest of our group were returning fire, and I could hear Callan's laughter from my spot behind the trees.
"There's two levels to that building, we climb up the side pole to get to the top and swing onto the balcony, okay?" I said, confirming the plan with her. She nodded. I took over the running from there while she defended our backs. I was faster than her, and knew how to navigate us so that we wouldn't be seen by the cluster of soldiers in that building.
We got to the pole and I grabbed onto it, shimmying my body up. It seemed to be some sort of drainage pipe and was covered in grime, but I hardly cared as I hauled myself up, new muscles groaning.
The climb wasn't terrible, though Evren was swearing and complaining behind me the entire time. Once I got to the top I propelled myself onto the balcony and ducked as I saw an arrow come flying at my face. I felt the wind from it blow my hair back. I had been that close.
"What in the hells!" a soldier said. There were three soldiers on the balcony. All the ones shooting at Callan were on the ground floor, we hadn't been so stupid as to waltz onto a balcony with twenty soldiers, expecting an attack.
"Hello there," I said. I pulled out an arrow and sent it careening into the first person's chest. They fell to the ground with a hearty thump. I would've kept firing had a rock now been thrown and plowed into my arm. I let out a scream, dropping my weapon.
"Playing dirty?" I gasped out, glaring at the girl who had thrown the rock. I ran at her, dodging arrows as I went. She threw a kick at me but I avoided it, sending my first lunging into her middle. She groaned, sending her elbow careening into my cheek. I screamed through my teeth, my head whipping to the side. While I was down, she pushed her knee into my gut. The air was expelled from my lungs and I dropped to my knees. I heard her snicker above me. Like hell, bitch.
There was a collection of arrows on the ground underneath me and I grabbed one, jamming it straight into her leg. She let out a gasp and I twisted to the side to avoid her body as she collapsed.
"Good riddance," I muttered, rising to my feet. My entire body ached, and I spat out blood from where she had caught me in the cheek. I thanked Foley who had taught us those basic combat training moves. I probably would've gotten way more hurt without them. I turned to see that Evren had taken care of the other soldier. We both watched as she hit him with a sleep arrow and his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Take a beating?" she asked. I let my fingers rise to my cheek, feeling the way it was already swelling. I shrugged. "Where do you think the flag is?"
"I think it should be-" I stopped mid sentence as I saw the bright yellow of their flag hidden underneath a stack of boxes. Only a tiny slip of it was showing, and I probably would've missed it. They had only commissioned three guards to guard it while the others were defending the entire building. They must've been confident in their offense team then considering there weren't many people guarding the flag.
Evren glanced at the flag too, she took a step towards it, and I swore I felt the air between us change. It turned cold. Her eyes turned to slits as she glanced between me and the flag.
"Take it," I said, taking a step back. "It's your win." She didn't smile, she just merely nodded.
"I won't forget that." She said. And then she winked at me. It made my stomach plummet although I was sure it was meant to be in a nice way. She grabbed the flag and let out a hoot, running to the edge of the balcony. She waved it above her head and I stayed in my spot, letting her have the victory. I listened as arrows stopped flying and the sounds of groans from the other team could be heard. For some reason, it didn't feel like a real victory to me, not when the guilt of playing with a team I was fighting against in the real war was the only thing I could focus on.