The Broken Crown

~1~ Mila

Being at Asylet Tavern in the middle of the night was not where Mila wanted to be. But her friends were waiting. Actually, Mila thought, they weren't her friends. Just some people she had received an offer from. But any offer was a gift, and friends gave gifts.

She had received the call from an "Elyon Wynlee" a couple days earlier, while relaxing in her cottage in the middle of Firgrove Forest. The buyers called for Mila Halvorsen, because nobody did a job quite like she did. And Mila was proud of this fact. That nobody in Firgrove or even all of Jorvik had the guts to start a fight with her.

But as she walked through the dense forest filled with trees so dark they appeared black, with abundant leaves that seemed to make faces in the dark, Mila sensed danger. Not one of her powers, necessarily, but she had learned when walking through the forest at night that no one else should be there. Mila herself was there because she had a job to do, and because she had become excellent at walking without sound.

Mila always walked without a weapon. They weighed her down and she found them unnecessary. If anything, she would carry a knife hidden in her waistband.

The slightest crinkle of leaves from a nearby bush. A crescent moon provided little illumination, but Mila knew this forest like the back of her hand. She could just see the wooden walls that surrounded the city of Firgrove up ahead.

Suddenly an arrow whooshed by Mila's head. She whirled in the direction of it. Elves? No, they didn't come to Firgrove from Valedale, although it was a short way. Elves didn't really associate with any other creatures, especially humans. So who was shooting at her?

Mila raised a hand in the direction where the arrow came. Katrina was the only human Mila knew that practiced archery, only because she was fascinated with it. So if an elf was after her, she was very valuable. Which meant she wasn't going to let herself be taken.

She heard the whoosh of the arrow before she saw it. No matter though, because she stopped it in midair. One of the skills that kept her human. Well, a special kind of human.

Mila ran then, straight in the attacker's direction. She was faster than a normal human, because she was only half human, but she hoped nobody would ever figure that out. With the new Queen Regina, everyone who wasn't human was an abomination.

Twenty, thirty metres and Mila could make out the faint outline of a figure holding a bow. It was way too large to be Katrina. The figure loaded another arrow and Mila raised her hands, then the figure flew backward. Mila hoped that move would accomplish two things: the figure would figure out Mila was a threat, and she wouldn't be shot again.

Mila finally reached the figure and wished she hadn't thrown them so far. She threw the hood off of the head and hesitated. Not because she knew who it was, but because she had no idea who it was. It was definitely an elf, which made sense because they sometimes teamed up with Jorvik soldiers to kill nonmortals. Regina tolerated elves because they lacked magic. The only thing that seemed off to her was that the elf was hiding a folder in his cloak.

Mila took out the folder and flipped it open. "Let's see, contracts, propositions, agreements, Elyon Wynlee?" Now she was surprised. The same people who wanted to hire her just tried to kill her. Or it was all a plan to kill another fae.

Mila helplessly groaned out loud. How many people had found out that she was part fae? She hid it very well, and she didn't even have any of their magical abilities. Just the speed, strength, and agility, which she didn't think of as a problem at all. Her human side was more prominent, but even that side was screwed up. Humans weren't supposed to have powers, really only hybrids did. And Mila's story was complicated.

Then, Mila heard another rustle and froze. Crap, she thought, I made a fool of myself with all that talking. She instinctively raised her hands again, creating a mini force field around herself, but she couldn't identify which direction the sound was coming from, so she didn't know where to focus her power.