Chapter X

The men of Bird's Hollow get restless and a little stupid - so it's up to Rose to save them.

Chapter X

Mystery Archer

 

“Oh my, Super Girl,

I wish you’d need a superman.”

-        Super Girl by Super Junior

 

It had been chilly outside that morning, which wasn’t uncommon. I was falling asleep shortly after dinner and waking just before dawn. I was on my side, laying in the dark room that Rafe and I shared. When we first got here, he’d only stay until I fell asleep �" though I was never sure why. When I would wake, I’d see him asleep on the couch in the living room.

     Now, he’d dispensed with going to the couch. However, I knew he was awake behind me. His breathing wasn’t in the usual even rhythm. In knowing he wasn’t sleeping, it didn’t bother me to speak. “You used to go sleep on the couch. It’s only recently that you’ve stayed. May I ask why?”

     “You’ll be offended,” he warned. I rolled over, facing him. He seemed to take this as a cue to go on as he said, “I was sure you’d put a knife between my ribs in my sleep if I rolled over or somehow ended up… too close to you. I was trying to get used to sleeping in limited space.”

     I broke out into giggles, which seemed to surprise him. Shaking my head, I slipped from the bed and teased, “I think you were afraid you’d like having something warm to sleep next to at night.”

     “Rose,” he said matter-of-factly. “Any man lucky enough to have something warm to curl up with at night will go to sleep happy.” I raised an eyebrow and he gave me a sidelong look. “Even you must know that, Rose.”

     My response was cut off by a knock at the door.

     As a girl, I was often in front of men in little or nothing, seeing as some of the rituals performed on the island when I was a maid included partial or complete nudity. The older I got, the more often I would be a part of the rituals �" all of which included being as natural as possible. It was something about being closer to the Mother. That being said, I was liberal about being naked in front of other people. It just didn’t bother me. That was likely what made me so uncaring of being in a towel around Rafe �" I’d been in less before thirty or forty people.

     Upon arriving in Ethein, I quickly realized that the people were far more conservative. Though, to the dismay of almost everyone I’d met so far, I often forgot. Rafe called after me about it, but I ignored him, forgetting myself. I went to the door, in only my shift, and opened it. Five guards, fronted by a young blonde Lieutenant, stood in the door way staring down at me.

     They all seemed rather shocked to see, but it didn’t occur to me to be embarrassed. Rafe, standing close by, gave off an awkward tension that I didn’t at the moment understand. I greeted the guards serenely, “Hello, gentlemen. Can I help you with anything?”

     The Lieutenant had to have been rather young indeed, because his response was so littered with stammers that I had trouble translating the overall meaning. Rafe stepped up, gently but firmly pushing me out of the doorway as he ordered, “Spit it out, boy.”

     “The men are deploying, sir. I was told to inform you.”

     Immediately furious, Rafe slammed the door and headed for the room to get dressed. I followed, not quite understanding. “I thought you talked to John!”

     “I did,” he replied. “It apparently did no good.” As he went about throwing on his armor and grabbing his gear, he ordered me, “You’re to stay here. This might get ugly and I don’t need to be wondering where you are.”

     One problem I never got over as a child: I have serious authority issues. Being told what to do and how to do it has never gone over well. I tend to not only completely ignore the order, but to do the exact opposite for spite. Glaring, I said, “I’m not your wife, Rafe. I’ll go where I please.”

     He grabbed my arm, looking me intently in the eye as he said with a firm and unarguable tone, “You will stay here, wife or not.”

     “What are you going to do to me if I don’t, Rafe?”

     He paused in his movements for a moment, turned to me, and threatened with all serious intent, “I intend to beat the blood out of your skin.”

     A little taken aback, I asked, “You’d seriously threaten that just to keep me from leaving this hut?”

     “The phrase, ‘the men are deploying’ could mean that they left an hour ago, and if that’s the case, there’s likely to be hell. I want you out of the way,” he said simply.

     I didn’t reply, slowly following him to the door before saying just above a whisper, “Why do you care so much?”

     His back to me, he had the door open and didn’t look at me. Over his shoulder, he said a bit roughly, “damned if I know.” Then he was gone.

 

     I’d honestly intended to listen to him. For a bit after he left, I just wandered the hut and tried to keep from thinking about what might be happening.

That’s when it hit me.

It wasn’t often that I had visions anymore. It was something that happened almost constantly as a child, though. About the time I turned sixteen, they started coming in less and less until they were almost nonexistent. I had been okay with that, though. I didn’t like feeling responsible when I saw terrible things that I knew I couldn’t stop. The first one I’d had in a year had been of being tackled in the woods by Rafe�" and I still hadn’t managed to avoid it happening. I only barely kept Rafe from running into those guards (who I knew would come). I’d had a brief vision about men with strange birds and knives on their chests coming to take him away, because an infantry would know his face. That had foiled my attempts to leave him there.

Now, as I stood in the kitchen with my hands braced on the counter to keep from falling over, my mind flooded. I saw Rafe trying to reason with John and Spike (who were at the lead of the small seventy-man armor). I briefly wondered if John was healthy enough to be out there, but then the vision focused on what I was meant to be seeing; a man was hiding in the woods �" and he bore the odd crest I’d seen in my last vision. For a few moments, I debated how much I believed Rafe’s threat.

It didn’t take long to decide I wasn’t afraid of him.

I ran to the armory and stole some armor (after throwing on the old pair of men’s clothing I still had in my bag). It was easier than I expected to get in and grab armor, though it took me twenty minutes to get it on. It was archer’s gear at least, so arm movements were easy. I quickly scanned the bow-rack and grabbed the best one I could find with a quiver and at least thirty arrows.

     One thing I’d done in the past week between drills and sleeping was scouting this sector. I found a few different places where children climbed down the large trees and went to play in the branches. Wisely, no child was out today but that was alright. I used the branches, feeling ten years old as I hopped around on them as I had as child back home, I ran out on the largest branch I could find and continued hopping them, carefully, until I spotted the confrontation between Rafe and the other men.

     Rafe was adamant, trying to convince Spike and John to turn back. They were beginning to listen to him, too. Being high up as I was, though, I saw something before they did �" something I knew was there. I didn’t bother trying to warn them (because while I did disobey him completely for a damned good reason, I was a little scared of having Rafe find out that I was out here). I hopped four or five branches, getting into the shadows so no one would be able to see me when the arrow went flying. I had a wide view-range, just like I needed.

     The lead man that was waiting, I imagined for the right moment to strike the unsuspecting rebels, was standing out of sight of Rafe and the others �" but from a bird’s eye view, I could easily see him hiding behind the tree. I reveled in the back of my mind as I realized how much I missed the feeling of pulling back the bowstring. Carefully, I lined up… and took the shot.

     As I knew I would, I hit him. The arrow soared through the air and ripped through the man’s throat. His garbled yell alerted Rafe �" and the seventy some men standing before him �" and they were all ready on the attack. I hopped three branches, wanting to keep moving so they wouldn’t know just how many bowmen were out here. I also didn’t want to be obvious by staying in one place.

     I knocked another arrow, irritated that my hair was getting in the way. It was down, seeing as I hadn’t thought to put it up. I focused solely on my goal for now, aiming at an archer on the other side of the clearing who was aimed in Rafe’s direction. “Oh no, forget it,” I muttered as I took the shot. My arrow pierced the man squarely in the heart. The attack launched and I took thirty seconds to use the leather thong wrapped around my wrist to put my hair up in a tight ponytail. Once it was out of the way, I felt a bit more confident in my shooting.

     My boots had good grip on the bark, which was very good for what I was planning and I started looking for ways to lower myself down a few branches, even though that would put me in the line of fire if I was spotted. Biting my lip, I dared to reach for my magic. It didn’t take much to use a glamour on myself, but I felt even better about being lower down (where I could cover Rafe, Spike, and John) knowing that seeing me was almost impossible.

     I kept to the shadows, glamour or not. I had a bit of trouble keeping track of Rafe, Spike, and John. They stuck in the same area for the most part, though. I saw a man coming up behind John (who looked to be moving a tad slow for what I expected from a seasoned fighter) and shot him quickly. I was down to twenty seven arrows at this point. Though, frowning grimly, I spotted an archer in the bushes down below me and shot him through the top of the head. If I needed more arrows, I’d steal his.

     Back home, I’d never had to kill anything more than pirates who tried raiding the island. Even then, I didn’t have to kill very many of them for them to get scared. I could shoot a man (with my old bow, which was magically endowed) from a hundred feet with ease. The magic didn’t help my shot, but it did put more force behind the already lethal strength. Instead of just piercing a man’s chest, I could probably pierce most types of armor and send an arrow straight through a man’s chest at close range.

     My thoughts, I realized, needed to stay focused. A stray arrow whizzed past my face and I felt the light burn of the arrowhead grazing my skin. Shaking it off, refusing to allow my body to respond the way it wanted, I kept focusing on covering Rafe (who actually didn’t seem to need it that much), Spike, and John.

     I was covering John the most. His leg slowed him down, but I kept a wary eye out for anyone looking to aim at him. The guards, Rathbull’s men, didn’t have many archers thankfully. I had taken out most of them within a few minutes. I could hear Rafe yell over the din of swords clashing, “Where the f**k are all the arrows coming from!? I thought you said you didn’t have many strong archers!”

     “That’s what’s confusing,” John yelled back. “We don’t!”

     “You have to,” Rafe bellowed, cleaving a man’s head clean off with one of his two large swords. He scared me a bit with those swords. They were huge but he wielded them like sticks. “Someone’s been covering us since we got out here!”

     “Maybe the wood-spirits like us,” Spike half-joked as he (happily, might I add) went about cutting down the guards around him.

     At that moment, I shot my arrow (leaving me at fifteen by this time) to cover John from the left. Rafe took ten seconds to follow the arrow, but thankfully, I had my glamour up and I had just dropped down to steal the arrows from the man I’d killed earlier.

     I rushed to get back up, knowing there was a five minute period where John especially was wide open. Back into position, I glanced at the quiver I had sitting by my side. There were roughly forty, which only made me think aloud, “Back in business, boys. Let’s go.”

     In order to move fast and avoid being seen, I’d had to keep the glamour up, but I made clear eye contact with Rafe anyway. For a split second, I thought he knew I was there, but years of being in the temple (and nervously asking the women training me) taught me that he could not possibly see me. However, he could be aware of a presence. Taking that chance, I knocked back three arrows at once, taking down a few men that had been coming at him from behind. “Focus,” I muttered angrily at him.

     I dropped my empty quiver, taking the new one and putting it over my shoulder as I changed positions to make up for John, Spike, and Rafe moving to the right slightly. It took me a moment to be back in a place where I could shoot, but when I was ready, I went back to shooting.

     The fight was slowly dying, and I could see that we hadn’t lost anyone yet by glancing. I couldn’t know that for sure �" but I had what magic users called a sense. One of the reasons the men after me wanted me so badly was purely because of how much magic I could wield. Most women couldn’t handle as much as I can �" and the amount I can handle and use is serious. The women of the temple used to tell me all the time that I would be hunted one day for my power… but I never entirely understood why.

     I only knew that it had something to do with the tattoo-like dragon-mark that weaved around my torso. Its head rested over my heart and it winded down my sternum, curled around my belly button, and then the tail spiraled just over my right hip. Pure black with red eyes, I never knew what it meant �" and my mentor died before she could tell me.

     Another arrow (damn strays) grazed my arm and I winced before going back to my job. There was a man charging straight for Rafe but he was in a lock with another, one of the last men standing. I guessed, by looking around, that the infamous Rathbull didn’t show up for this. I couldn’t get a lock on the man charging from where I was but Rafe wasn’t turning around to see him. He was going to get that ax in his head if I didn’t do something.

     Leaping from where I was in the trees, I landed hard, rolling and coming to a crouch as I knocked an arrow, aimed, and shot the man in the forehead. His momentum made him crash to his knees and then fall flat on his face. He didn’t get up.

     Seeing as I’d had to drop the glamour to cushion my fall, I was in the open now. I whirled, four arrows knocked as I shot and stopped a few men who’d charged me. Rolling to change perspective again, I shot an arrow at a man who John hadn’t seen. I got to my feet, arrow ready to shoot, looking for my next target.

     Only to find that there weren’t any targets left; we’d won.

     A cheer went up that was so loud, I had yelped in surprise. I couldn’t help but laugh though, at the way all the men yelled, looking ridiculous as they cheered and dumped their canteens on their own heads in the excitement. In watching the men around me, I didn’t see Rafe. He grabbed my arm roughly and growled viciously, absolutely livid, “What were you doing out here, Rose? I told you to stay back.”

     I tried to jerk free but it didn’t really work. Glaring back, I said, “I’m the one who alerted you to the attack, Rafe! I came out here to help you!” Better to let him think that I’d been planning to disobey him the entire time than to try explaining my visions. People never seemed to take that very well. “You’d be dead if I hadn’t shot that first arrow!”

     He seemed to just realize that I was holding a bow and muttered, looking at me in disbelief, “You were serious. You really can use a bow?”

     “Yes, Rafe,” I said with irritation. “I’ve been shooting a bow since I was eight. Even the Isle had troubles, and I was one of the women trained to fight them with arrows. Pirates tried to raid us all the time. It was an island of women! What better score for a bunch of hard-up b******s?”

     His mind seemed to register something else, glancing back at the man I’d shot in the head. He looked at me, for a long minute, and murmured, “You just saved my life.”

     Seeing that he was calming, I replied softly, “Yes, Rafe, I did. You’ve saved mine enough. I figured it was time for a change.”

     Before he could say anything else to me, John and Spike both scooped me up into bone crushing hugs. I heard Spike say, “You incredible girl! You practically saved us!” He set me down, grinning ear to ear as he said, “Marry my son?”

     I could only laugh in shock as John said, hugging me as well, “Bull, she’ll be marrying my son if anything!”

     “No, lass, marry me,” another man called out.

     Wiggling free, I shook my head and laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes as more men went about professing their desire to marry me. It was unbelievable. It was like none of them had ever seen a woman fight or wield a weapon before! I turned to look at Rafe, trying to make him smile by asking, “Have men here seriously never heard of a woman who can fight?”

     He shook his head, looking almost sadly at me as he spoke, “Women here learn to use knives, at best, Rose. If you want your wife safe, you give her a dirk and teach her to use it. If you want your daughter safe, yes, you might give her a knife �" but women don’t fight.”

     “You were willing to teach me,” I pointed out.

     His eyes clouded with some memory and he said, “I’m trying to make up for sheltering another woman in my life far too long, I suppose.”

     “Another woman,” I said a bit breathlessly though I tried to make it sound like a question. Was he talking about a lover he’d failed to mention? Why did the idea of him having one suddenly make me feel so heavy?

     He didn’t seem to notice as he nodded and said, “You’ll remember my foster-sister, Ana.” My heart seemed to relax immediately as I nodded in agreement. “I never told her about anything. I let her father hide everything and we only ever taught her to use a knife when she should be able to fight more, like Beth. Bethany, my foster-mother, is the only other women I’ve seen take men head on like you did.” Frowning, he said, “She’s not nearly prepared enough for the dangers that stalk her name.”

     Seeing the men start to head back, I grabbed Rafe’s hand and said, “On the island, it was important that temple girls have a way of protecting themselves. I’ve been using a knife since I was fifteen at least. I just took to the bow when I was especially young. One of the soldiers saw me admiring a bow and decided to teach me.” I shrugged. “As it turns out, I have an affinity for using them. I’ve always been good at it, even when I was young.”

     He seemed to smile ever so slightly, almost like he didn’t want to so only one corner of his mouth tilted up. I liked it. “You never talk about your childhood,” he commented as we walked with the others to the lifts.

     “You don’t either,” I replied.

     Spike came up behind us and said, “Cheer up you two! We won! Drinks all around! Tell Maggie to get the fires going!”

     I laughed, beaming at Rafe. He smiled a bit more, putting an arm around my shoulders as he said, “Come on, comrade.”

     “Comrade,” I said confusedly.

     He nodded. “That’s what you call brothers �" or sisters �" in arms, Rose. You’re my comrade.”

     For some reason, just that three-word sentence alone put the biggest stupidest smile on my face and it would stay there for hours to come.

Author's Note

WRITERSCAFE REPLACES - WITH " - I KNOW. DON'T TELL ME. -- Tell me what you think.