Chapter 1: The Origin

I am Aeden Breathnach and I had once been the archer for the clan of Nathair. We were an Irish Maritime War-clan and had: sunk many ships, left towns in ruins, and devastated many people.

November 17, 2017 was my first day as head archer because of my reputation in battle of firing down on many with my longbow named Tintreach (lightning) for its fast and strong firing power. Our clan accommodated twenty-five archers, fifteen swordsmen, thirty ships with multiple sailors, ten axemen, and our five clan leaders. Totaling it up, we had eighty-five clan members ready for war and willing to do anything for the clan, but no one could have anticipated what was going to happen on that day.

“Ships on the west bay! Seventy on the horizon!” I shouted as I grabbed my war-horn; this was a serious issue as our clan typically never saw any ships nearby. Seconds after I blew the horn, I heard the commotion down in the longhouses. I then looked up once more to see that this wasn’t one army, it was the seven nations prepared with huge longships. This meant that each nation had ten ships filled with soldiers ready for war. We knew why they were here and what they were after, our demise.

Our clan grabbed all their weapons as quick as they could. They sent the archers to the towers, the swordsmen and axemen to the front lines, and launched all thirty ships into the bay. We needed to protect the leaders of each branch of war, otherwise we would of had to surrender. After a few minutes of waiting, we heard the voices of a enemy ship.

“We are the seven nations of war, and we are here to diminish your clan. We will give you five minutes to decide your fate: surrender or die,” they exclaimed to us.

Even I had known what our answer was to that ridiculous decision.

“We shall never surrender to your armies. We have beaten you all more than once, we’ll be glad to do it again!” the clan leaders shouted toward the armies.

“So be it,” the opposing general said with aplomb. “Fire!” At that moment, flaming arrows rained down onto our clan.

“Charge!” yelled the war leaders of the axemen and swordsmen. I knew that what they were doing was not good. This was a trap that we set for ourselves. I suspected that something was odd as the arrows did not come from the ships, but from the mountains. As I looked up toward the mountains, I saw hundreds upon hundreds of archers aiming their bows down on us. I had to make a choice then: stay and defend the clan, or run for safety in the dark, grassy spruce woods of Dorchadas. I ran.

I jumped off of the tower and into the hay bales that once were used for target practice. I jumped on my horse Luas and charged for the woods. As I ran by, I saw the burning corpses of the citizens that were once peacefully harvesting crops that morning. Then I saw the clan leaders by their soldiers, but they were dead. I had to leave this place before I met the same fate of everyone else, but where would I go once I entered the woods? Dublin? Galway? Sligo? I just needed to run, and that is all did for a long time.

Chapter 2: The Forest of Dorchadas

I have been in these woods for three months now, running, hungry, searching for safety. I know that the seven nations will not stop until all Nathair clan members are killed, and I am the only one left to find. Food has been scarce, shelter is never permanent, and my luck is running out, but today I found a safe land. Wicklow, a small city on the western coast of Ireland. I quickly cleaned myself up and headed into town with my steed.
In town I looked very inconspicuous to hide myself from anyone from the seven nations. I had a red, torn hood covering my face up, a dusted leather jacket with burn marks from the battle months ago and tattered boots with a mud coating. As I passed a small shop, a small and thin man looked at me with an attentive stare. He then handed me a small bag containing a loaf of bread, a small bit of Coolea cheese and some salmon. Before I could even thank him, he was gone.

A few hours later I decided to sit down by a oak tree and enjoy my lunch. The bread was burnt on the bottom, showing that he was going to toss it out. The cheese had a bit of mold and the salmon was coated in dust. With one of my arrows I cut the mold off the cheese and cleaned off the dust and mold from the salmon.
After lunch, I headed back into town with a full stomach. I needed to find a place for me to settle down for a while before I headed to the town square. The loft would be the reasonable choice, I thought, but my funds are decently low. Perhaps the alleys would be good enough. As I turned the corner the head into the alleys, I heard his voice. The voice of the general at the battle for our clan. He was in Wicklow and I was right behind him.
“I feel that this is the town he would be in,” he said. “Tomorrow we send a search team out to find him. Then we will have destroyed that bleeding clan!”

“Oh no,” I whispered to myself, “I need to run.”

“Who goes there!” he said. I knew that this was going to be a bad day.

Chapter 3: Could this be the end?

In my mind I told myself to run, but in my gut I knew that it would only end horribly. I had to choose now, run or stay. I’ll die either way.

“I am Aeden Breathnach, the last clan member of the clan of Nathair,” I said with aplomb.

“I thought so. After all of these years, and you finally show up at my doorstep. Very bad luck for you,” he said with a tone of disdain. “I knew that you would end up here and somehow find me. How about we do this the easy way and just have you give in to our forces?”

“How about you just let me go and leave Ireland for good?” I said in defiance.

“We got ourselves a fighter,” he said as multiple men appeared around me. “Give us your bow Aeden. We don’t want this to get worse than it already is.”

“Never!” I shouted as I ran over people, running away.

“You can run but you can’t hide!” He shouted behind me. Would this happen again? Will I ever get away? So many questions were on my mind, yet I kept running.

Even to this day I have been on the run, and today is November 17, 2017. This all started on August 17 2016, being first caught on November 17, 2017, so this has been a very repetitive things for me. I run, they find me, I kill one and run. This has happened 27 times without an end. But today is it, I am on a boat headed for America. This is the end of my story, how about yours?