The missing arrow

Sylvia remained still, her head bent down and her gaze fixated on the floor.

Complicated emotions swirled within her eyes.

The next few minutes were nothing but a blur for her.

Loud laughter rang out and arrows whizzed past her face.

Some landed on the apple, accurately splitting it into two halves, while some landed on the wall behind her.

One particular arrow even grazed past her neck and very narrowly missed it.

Sylvia, however, remained silent and in the same position all throughout without even the slightest hint of movement.

Minutes ticked by and she finally heard a set of footsteps near her.

She looked out hesitantly and saw the two men walking towards her.

"Come on brother! Isn't this making things a bit too difficult? Wind tornadoes at both sides? You have gone crazy!" Nicolas loudly exclaimed.

But Mikel did not yield. "Don't tell me that you are backing out now?" He pulled his lips upwards.

"Of course not." Nicolas immediately got defensive.

Mikel chuckled, his baritone voice charmingly resounding.

"Don't kill my slave, Nicolas. Else, you will owe me a lot of gold. I am warning you."

"Tsk. Tsk. What a pain!" Nicolas grumbled and teleported back to the other side of the courtyard.

After setting up the wind tornadoes, Mikel as well was about to leave, but he met Sylvia's gaze momentarily before doing so.

Sylvia trembled. Even though he was looking at her, it felt as if he didn't see her at all. He saw right through her as if she didn't exist.

Watching the man disappear once again, Sylvia bitterly smiled. "That's right. I am nothing to them. I am no different than livestock."

This time, she didn't bend her head down.

She gazed at the tiny wind tornadoes dancing in front of her, kicking up dust. They looked beautiful.

A few seconds later, arrows again started to whizz towards her.

This time many of the arrows didn't even meet the apple of her head.

They mostly got deflected by the wind currents and hit the wall behind her.

But Sylvia kept watching the theatrics intently.

She watched and she watched until finally one arrow came directly at her throat, headed right towards her carotid artery.

Sylvia obviously didn't realize it since the arrow's movement was too fast for her eyes.

But at the very last moment, Mikel flicked his fingers and the arrow deflected, just merely grazing by her neck, rather than slashing it into a bloody mess.

"Oops. It looks like we have had a bit too much fun, brother. Let's stop here." Nicolas sulkily accepted his defeat.

He took out a thin tattered book from within his leather bag and handed it to Mikel.

Mikel nodded and accepted the book.

He still wore a casual smile on his face but there was a subtle twinkle in his eyes that betrayed his anticipation.

Nicolas, however, was too busy to pay attention to that small detail.

He swung his bow on his right shoulder and tossed a bunch of his arrows back into his quiver, leaving soon afterward.

Normally, he would have lingered around longer and chatted with Mikel, but today he was a bit too embarrassed about his defeat.

So he turned tail and ran away immediately. He left so quickly that he didn't even notice an arrow missing from his quiver.

Mikel gently placed the Grimoire on one of the tables in the courtyard. He then let out a long sigh of relief.

He was about to sit and search for the information that he needed when he remembered that a certain someone was still imprisoned by the vines.

He closed the book and walked towards the girl in white.

He squinted his eyes and curiously gazed at the woman. Her head listlessly hung down.

Mikel flicked his fingers and the wines imprisoning Sylvia fell apart and crumbled into dust.

She, however, remained pinned to the wall, standing still.

The man sighed lightly and flicked his fingers again.

This time the upper half of her dress ripped right down the middle and her tender skin was revealed.

But Sylvia still did not move. She just silently stood there.

Mikel inched closer and stood in front of her.

He brushed the silver locks away from her face and his hand trailed to her chest.

He cupped her left breast and moved it aside, inadvertently groping her.

But his attention was not on that. His attention was somewhere else.

His obsidian black eyes searched for the traces of the glowing crescent tattoo that he had observed previously.

But unfortunately, nothing of that sort was there.

Hmmm…

Mikel absentmindedly stared at Sylvia's chest engrossed deeply in his thoughts and his hand that cupped her breast gently squeezed the softness underneath, without the man intending to.

But right at this moment, the flawless soft skin revealed a small mark, a bright glowing crescent.

Mikel's eyes immediately flew wide in surprise and he looked up to see the woman when suddenly a sharp pain surged in his chest.

Sylvia's reddened eyes were glaring directly at him as she swiftly jammed an arrow right into the man's chest.