The One True Commander [BOOK 1]

Prologue

"Ahaha, you can't catch me!" I ran through the forest in the late afternoon heat. I could hear the waterfall echo in the distance, the birds singing in the trees. My footsteps treading carefully as I ran.

"You better run faster Y/N, I'm right behind you!" I could hear my brother right behind me, his footsteps heavier on the ground.

I picked up my pace, and easily weaved through the trees and jumped over rocks. I was quite fast and agile for a five year old, but my brother being older was faster and I felt his arms lift me from the ground and spin me around.

"Got you!" My brother laughed and placed my small body on his shoulders.

"Ahaha, I will be faster than you one day" I held my brother's shoulders for support as he started to walk back to our village.

"We will see about that" my brother let out a chuckle.

I gazed at my surroundings as I sat on my brother's shoulders. I loved it up here as I could see more forest as my brother was quite tall. A deer with a fawn galloped elegantly past us, leaving it's tracks in the dirt and it soon disappeared in the trees. I let out a small smile as I saw the Trikru symbol decorate the entrance to our village, I was proud of my clan and would fight to keep our name strong.

The familiar smell of smoke hit my nose as we entered our village, the sound of goats adding to the aroma of home, West Creek village. My favourite place to be.

My brother lifted me off his shoulders as our house came into view. It wasn't much, but it was home. Me and my brother entered to find our mother sharpening her sword. Both our parents were warriors and that's what me and my brother wanted to be when we got older. My brother being thirteen, had already started his training and I was pretty jealous because I was way too small to even handle a sword properly.

"I see you two have had fun" our mother commented, gesturing to our muddy faces and clothes. Me and my brother snickered as we realised how muddy we were.

My mother sheathed her sword and hung it up on the wall. "Elian, help your sister clean up please."

"Okay, come on Y/N, let's get all clean before dinner" my brother took my hand and we entered the washroom where a big bowl of clean water was waiting for us.

I noticed a trickle of warm liquid run down my cheek, I put my hand to my face and saw my blood, as black as night on my fingers. I found it strange that I had black blood, everyone else had normal red blood. My family told me that having black blood was special and a rarity and that I should be proud of it.

Me and Elian cleaned ourselves up and treated my little cut on my face. We got into our nightwear ready for dinner, and we returned to the main room, where dinner was ready on the table.

"Elian, go and get some fresh water from the pump please" my mother handed him a bucket to fill. "Y/N, go tell your father dinner is ready, he is with the goats."

We nodded to our mother and went our separate ways to do what she asked.

I saw my father milking a goat in the small paddock we owned at the side of our house. I trotted towards him smiling.

"Dinner is ready!" I opened the gate to the paddock, petting a few goats as they came up to me.

My father finished milking the goat. "Good, I'm starving" my father picked me up in his arms and walked back into our house. "What's for dinner? cabbage soup again?" My father chuckled, I hated cabbage soup.

"No, I think it's roasted deer" I smiled, very thankful it was not cabbage soup.

My father placed me back on the ground and locked up the doors for the night. I went over to the dinner table and sat down, a hungry grumble coming from my stomach. Elian, now returned from the water pump, ruffled my hair as he sat down next to me. I let out a quiet chuckle as I fixed my hair from it's ruffled state. My mother and father sat down and handed food to us. We sat down eating our food,  talking about the day and after we had finished, we cleared the table and washed the pots.