Rise and Fall [[BEING MOVED TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT]]

Chapter Twenty Two

Twenty Two

"Bull's Eye."

He's right. His arrow protrudes from dead center.

Tallan's laughing eyes crinkle, and he looks expectantly at me. I raise my bow, already in defeat, and let my arrow fly. It curves downward, and strikes the bottom edge of the target. Skittering into the dirt.

Tallan shrugs. "At least you're good with a gun."

Good?

Mediocre at best, and he knows it.

I throw down my bow.

"There's no way I'm ever going to be able to do this." My voice is low, and almost guttural. "I'm hopeless. Everyone knows it. I'm not good enough for this."

Tallan's bow connects with my head, and with a crack and a burst of stars, I fall. Rustling leaves as tears come to my eyes and my head throbs pitifully.

"Shit," Tallan says, and kneels to help me.

I sit up, and shove him away. Hating how my throat has choked. "You know, I'm getting REALLY tired of people hitting me when I don't say the right thing." My voice cracks, and I swear heartily.

Tallan grabs my shoulder and drags me up, despite my futile attempts to push him off. "I'm sorry, Al. I am." He cranes his neck to see the damage. He pokes where it's swollen, and I wince. His fingers come away bloody. "Damn. I'm sorry, Alek. I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

"Why'd you hit me at all?" My voice is high and childlike with disbelief. I bite back an addition: I thought you were my friend.

"Because you can't talk like that!" He holds up his hands in defense. "I know that's not right or whatever, but come on. You don't even see what's right in front of you. You don't see how good you are for this."

"Do you plan on enlightening me?" My voice drips venomously.

Tallan hesitates, and I can see I've hurt him too. I drop the front. I know he's fragile too.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

He pauses now.

"You're good for this because you aren't afraid. You have a clear vision of what you want, and I feel like you'll lay down your own life to see that vision through."

I shrug.

He's not wrong.

I do know where I'm going.

I just don't know how I'm going to get there.

I tell him so.

He smiles.

"That's what we're here for."

He motions for me to pick up my bow, and I do. He strings his, and directs me as I clumsily string mine to match.

"Look at the target," he instructs. "Down your arrow tip."

I do.

"Draw your bow to your ear, and close your outside eye if you want to."

I do.

"Relax, and release."

I struggle.

I do.

The arrow finds the fifth outside ring.

Tallan celebrates my small victory as my arm and cheek sting from the burn of the bowstring.

"Again!" he crows, and we work until the cold blanket of darkness descends upon the training forest.

In the end, we come away somewhat triumphant. My arrows are largely condensed in the second and third rings, and my arm and cheek are blue with bruises. Tallan throws an arm over my shoulder in camaraderie as we tear through the silence of the forest with our laughter, and beat away the darkness with our light.