A Test of Arrows

As Dannas and I were making it to the archery range, I saw that everyone in the crowd was still silent, almost all riddled with expectation, curiosity, and/or jealousy. I'd never seen the third aimed at me before, so this experience was definitely new. Despite my previous performance, my nerves grew stronger the closer I got to the range. Before I could be convinced to turn around, the captain and the man I never met stepped toward me. The man held a shortbow in his right hand, and a quiver with ten arrows over his left shoulder by a strap his left hand was holding onto. His hair was dark blond, messily slicked back. His forearm had visible ropes of muscles though he otherwise looked thin.

Along with everyone else, the captain looked at me. "This is our bowmaster and bowyer: Enrik Pollyn"

He took a long look at me, as if he was trying to gauge something. Before too long, he held the bow out to me. "This test is simple. You have five targets to hit and ten arrows to loose. You must hit each target at least once. The closer you hit to the middle of the targets, the better a bowman you prove to be, and the better you prove you are worthy of one of my bows." He then handed me the quiver. "Follow me."

He led me into the archery range. It was sectioned into five lanes, all of which had different lengths, and all a long rectangle of dry dirt with various kinds of targets in various placements. Each of them had trees scattered about in different spots. It was clear the rangers worked around the trees rather than removing them. He led me to the front end of the third lane. There was a tree at this end I used to stand my quiver against. In this lane were five targets. One was about five meters away, a little bit off-center to the left. One was ten meters away, a little bit off-center to the right. Further back were two more targets attached to tree trunks by ropes on opposite sides of the range. There were also long, wooden poles attached from something covered by the tops of the trees to those targets. There were two rangers holding long axes—one for each of those two targets. The last target was in the center, but further back than the last two by maybe ten meters.

Enrik lifted his right hand above his shoulder. "When those two targets are cut from their ropes and sway like pendulums, that is when you may start."

I nocked an arrow and stood at the ready. Focusing on nothing but the task at hand was the only wall I could put up to hide my nerves. I took one deep breath and Enrik quickly swiped his hand down. Suddenly, the two rangers cut the two ropes at the same time, and the targets swung. As I drew my bow, I noticed it had a much tougher draw than the one I used to have. Nonetheless, it was still very easy for me to draw. I aimed my bow and arrow to the first target and let loose. To my surprise, I hit the outermost ring on the target. I heard some light giggling behind me in the crowd.

Having loosed it now, I mostly figured out what it was like. It felt much better than my old bow. Now adjusted, I nocked my next arrow and let loose again at the same target. To my even greater surprise, the arrow hit just in the right edge of the bullseye. I nocked, drew, and aimed at the second target. After I released the arrow, it hit the top edge of the bullseye. I aimed at the first swinging target. I watched its pattern, noticing the other target swinging behind it at the middle point. I waited for the target to get close to the middle point and released the arrow. It missed completely, showing me I fired far too late. I drew my next arrow and watched the target for a short while. Once it was halfway to the middle point of its swing, I released my arrow. I hit it a little bit to the left of the center of the bullseye. Once I nocked my sixth arrow, I noticed both of the swinging targets were beginning to lose speed. I waited for the second swinging target to reach the highest point of the swing, realized I could've done this before, and released. It hit the right side on the second ring from the bullseye. I quickly drew another arrow and waited for the target to reach the same point. I released the arrow and watched it fly into the bullseye. I nocked my eighth arrow, drew, and aimed it. I wasn't too sure how high I needed to aim to hit the furthest target because of its distance. I used my prior knowledge from shooting the other targets and, once I felt confident enough, let loose. The arrow flew through the air until one of the swinging targets smacked it away from its trajectory.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.

I aimed my next arrow just as I did last time. I waited for the targets to swing away from their middle point, then released the arrow. This time, it pierced the bottom of the first ring from the bullseye. I readied my last arrow, adjusted my aim, and let loose one final time. The arrow made a loud thunk as it pierced the center of the bullseye.

I took one long moment to look at what I'd just done as the swinging targets spent more and more time passing eachother until they came to a rest. I turned to Enrik to see he was still staring at the lane, eyes wide, never blinking. I turned to the crowd behind me. Soras had a barely noticeable smile on his statue of a face. The captain had her usual cold and near-unreadable expression with her arms crossed, as though she was spending time for thought. Lili had her ever-confident smile, although this time, it held more pride. Yara looked shocked and somewhat amazed.

Just as I was about to look at Dannas, he threw his fists into the air yelling, "That's my friend, alright!"

He smiled as bright as the sun, looking as happy as could be. It somehow brightened my mood, while simultaneously making me want to find a cave to bury myself in.

Before I could get a focused read on the rest of the crowd, Enrick cleared his throat like a declaration. I looked to my left to see him changing his gaze between me and the captain. "I think it's obvious he did exceptionally well. He got eight hits out of ten arrows, five of which were bullseyes. He also had two misses. It's clear to me he has experience, but it is also clear he hasn't had experience with a real bow. He's definitely quick to adjust and faster at learning."

Soras scratched his chin. "He definitely seems to be better with a bow than a sword."

Enrik continued. "He can definitely use more training and perfecting, but I believe he is already worthy of one of my bows."

"Very well." The captain turned and walked to me. "It seems we can make a great ranger out of you yet. You will spend the next days, weeks, and possibly months training here, that is if you're willing to travel with us when it's time for us to move on. Once you've trained enough and we decide you are ready, we will give you your first mission. If you complete it, you will officially be named a member of the Midnight Rangers. If you fail, you will have to train more, work harder, and try again." She put her hand firmly on my shoulder. "I look forward to seeing the day you become one of us. I'm sure you'll make Abraxas proud."

After showing a brief warm expression, she turned around and walked away. The crowd parted to make way for her.

Just as talking and murmuring began to rise in the crowd, Soras announced, "That concludes the tests. Everyone go about your day as you will." He turned from the crowd to me. "Oh, and Ladon. Come to the training circles tomorrow morning. You will begin your training then."

He walked away, following the captain's path. I handed the bow and quiver back to Enrik.

"So how did you like my bow?"

"It was better than my old one."

He smiled somewhat narcissistically. "Well of course it is. I made it. Each of my bows are a work of art. Even this . . . bland training bow. They're like my children in a sense." Suddenly his expression turned serious. "If you ruin any of my children like you did that sword, I will kill you."

I took a small step back. "O-okay."

"Anyway, have a good day."

He walked away, heading toward his tent among the line of major tents. Yara gave me a smiling nod and, along with most of the crowd, left soon after to the mess tent.

Dannas ran up to me. "Gods, you never told me you were this good!"

"What do you mean? How would I tell you things I didn't know?"

"Don't worry about it. My point is, you're really good. There aren't a lot here who started off as well as you did. We're all skilled and trained, but we didn't start off that way."

"I'm not trained."

"Yeah, but you're skilled."

Suddenly, in my head, I heard Lili's voice. "Hour by hour, you prove to be evermore interesting, Ladon." I turned to my right to see Lili walking to me. This time, she spoke out loud. "I must say, you did quite well on your tests. I wish you good fortune with your training, although I doubt you'll need it."

"Thank you."

"And should you need help with your magic in the future, I do hope you'll feel comfortable enough to seek my aid."

"I appreciate it, Lili."

Dannas, louder than anyone, chimed in. "Wait, you can do magic?!"

"I'm a demidragon, Dannas."

"I know, but I didn't know you could do magic!"

"Most of my kind can."

Lili lightly nodded at me. "I will take my leave."

I lightly nodded back.

"What kind of magic can you do?"

"Fire. I can make and control fire."

"Is that how your arm got all messed up?"

"No."

"Can you make a fire right now?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's difficult and dangerous to do. I've only learned how to do it recently."

"Fine. But can you show it to me later?"

"Sure . . . I guess."

After a brief silence from the now significantly smaller crowd, Lon emerged somewhat nervously scratching his head. "Hey, uh, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Yeah, me too," said Roan emerging just after Lon.

"We were just pokin'. Didn't mean anythin' by it."

"It's fine. Just don't insult Abraxas again."

Roan adjusted his shirt. "Yeah, of course."

Lon took one step forward, putting on a sincere expression, though it looked like it was difficult for him to hold eye contact. "I-if you ever need a sparring partner or two, feel free to ask us."

"Sure."

"Good. Well, uh, see you later."

Roan waved. "Y-yeah, see ya."

They both walked away, heading where everyone else went.

Dannas stared with me. "Yeah they're assholes, but they're rangers too. We look out for eachother here. Even them. They might be scared of you though."

"I see."

I looked around camp, hoping my eyes would find something to do since training wasn't starting today. I looked to the sky to notice it was a little past midday now. I have to find something to do with my day.

"You know what?" I said.

"What?"

"Start a fire."

"Why?"

"I changed my mind. I want to see how well I can control flames. I didn't really get a good chance last time I tried. You can watch if you want, I guess. I need to practice anyway."

"Okay! Follow me then!"

Dannas led me to one of the dormant campfires laid around camp for the rangers to sit at. He used some flint and his dagger to drive sparks in a small bunch of tinder, blew on it to get a small fire going, then placed the burning tinder on the campfire. Before long, the firewood began to burn as it built up to its full strength.

"What're you gonna do with it?" Dannas asked, eyes wide and sparkling. "I've never seen magic before."

"I don't know. Stand back a little bit incase this goes terribly."

As Dannas took a cautious step back, I studied the fire's erratic movements. After a minute or so, I rose my hand like a blade, and without touching it, made a quick down-left slash. As that slash was traveling its course, I saw a narrow, fireless gap begin at the edge of the fire following my motion all the way through as if I cut through it myself. The fire swirled and flowed into the gap behind the slash as the flame was stretched in its direction until the fire reformed itself with ever new flames.

"Woah… Can you do more?"

I outreached my hand, then in a very fluid motion, raised and lowered it, allowing my hand to flow with the motion rather than be stiff. As I continued, the fire stretched and grew upwards just to compress back down following my hand. Using my hand and outstretched fingers, I continued to lower the flame until it was the same trickle of a fire that was used in the tinder. Quickly, I rose my hand up high, and the trickle turned to a roar as it burst into a flame larger than it had ever been. Before it could become a danger, I gradually shrunk the flame back to its natural size. Once that was done, I brought my hand close to the flame. Very quickly, so my hand wouldn't burn, I scooped my hand through the fire, stealing a chunk from it. Now with a small flame in hand, knowing it would die soon, I manipulated its shape down into a condensed ball, threw it outward, then made it come back to me like a boomerang. Once it was near my hand, I let it uncondense and threw it back into the slowly shrinking flame. I then pointed my finger at the fire, planning to pull some out. I moved my finger to the right of the fire, pulling a string of flame out with it. In very messy handwriting, I wrote out my name. Just as I finished the glowing n, the L dissipated, and the rest followed suit. Finally, my excitement and I ran out of ideas.

Dannas, much like myself, was awestruck. Now that I was done, we just sat there by the fire for a moment. Last time I tried this, I failed miserably. But this time, I realized just how easy it was. Not only did I have absolute control over the flame, but it also negligibly tired me compared to making fire. Creating heat and fire was definitely far harder than manipulating it.

"That . . . was . . . AMAZING!!! That was so cool! The fire did the thing, it moved around, then WOOSH!! Explosion! And then the ball?! And the letters!" Dannas paused for a moment to inhale and exhale. "That was really cool."

I was stuck observing the fire, still contemplating what I did. I need to tell Abraxas about this. I need to practice creation more.

"Didn't you say it was difficult and dangerous? You made it look so easy, like you've done it a hundred times."

"I've only tried once before. I got scared then. I guess it is easy."

"Well, if it's so easy, do you think you can teach me?"

"It doesn't work like that."

Dannas sighed. "I know… I just… I was hoping it was somehow untrue."

The wood now became spent as small fires pushed for life in a charred pile. I looked around and saw people scattered about, staring in our direction. I guess more people were watching. I saw Lili watching from the mess tent maybe one hundred meters away. She nodded with a proud smile and carried on with her day. Dannas stomped out the dying flame.

"You sure you can't teach me? It'd be really cool if I could have flaming daggers."

"Positive."

"Do you think it's possible for you to fight with fire?"

"I can envisage it. I'd rather not use fire on people though. Terrible way to die. Even worse if you don't."

"I bet."

We started walking around camp, since we were out of things to do, past other rangers and tents. Fortunately, the weather was rather nice today.

"Hey, that part you said about dying. It sounded like it came from experience."

"You said you wanted to know what happened to my arm, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'll make it short."

"Alright!" Dannas exclaimed, looking excited.

"I lived in an orphanage. That orphanage had a bunch of demidragons. Plenty of

humans too, just mostly my kind. One night, an angry mob came. They killed, burned, tortured, and probably even kidnapped everyone but me while they set the whole building aflame. I hid and watched it all. All my friends were killed. They didn't even stop to see if any of them were human. Granny tried to stop them, but it didn't take much effort to kill the sympathizer. Eventually, the flames got out of hand and the mob had to run out of the building. It all crashed down on me before I could escape. I woke up under the rubble and ruin in the morning with my burned arm. I crawled out of it and ran."

"Oh gods… that's terrible. I'm sorry I pried so much. Didn't know it was that bad."

"It's fine. I spent the next decade after surviving. Well, minus the last few weeks."

"That happened when you were six?!"

"Yeah."

Dannas's demeanor shrunk. "Yera above. No wonder you don't like fire. I wouldn't like it too if that happened to me."

"Yeah. There's been some nice people along the way in my life, but usually it's best to stay away from people. I apologize if I've been rude to you lately, Dannas. Being a demidragon isn't a good ingredient in baking a trusting person."

Sarcastically, he replied, "Ah, you're fine. I'm a naturally lovable person. Not annoying at all."

I let out a light chuckle.

"Was that a laugh I heard from you?"

"No."

"No no no, I definitely made you laugh a little just then, I know I did!"

"Nope." I started speed walking to our tent to sleep for the night.

"Hey! You can't hide from the truth forever!"