LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 19: The range.
My brother Airsidh was the only member of my family besides my father that I wasn’t hesitant to spend time with, so I wasn’t scared when I heard his request. It still confused me though.
‘I guess I have no reason to say no, but what would he possibly want from me, it's not like I could help him with anything, and he's never taken interest in me before.’
He let out a soft snort, looking slightly away. “Follow me, only If you want of course.”
The cold was beginning to bite at my arms, melting and wetting my clothes. ‘It's not like I have any reason to refuse. I should probably warm up soon anyway’ “Sure.”
I stood up, brushing the snow off of myself and readjusting my dress. Since it was too big, especially in the upper body, it had a habit of sliding off one shoulder.
‘Knowing him there's only one place we could be going. It has to be the archery range.’
I struggled to keep up with his pace, as he started walking. Since I was so much smaller and had to try not to slip on the wet snow it wasn't long before I fell behind. “Hey– can you – slow down?” I asked, already running out of breath. ‘I guess I really do need time to recover…’
He stopped for a moment, turning to look at me. “Oh, sorry. I can do that.” He didn't stop, but his pace slowed considerably.
‘He actually slowed down?’ I paused for a moment. “And he… apologized?”
When I finally caught up I took one last big step, slipping on an ice slick and falling.
I grabbed onto the hem of his long tunic too, managing to catch myself as my feet slid apart.
He didn't say a word, just stared at me.
I quickly got my feet back underneath me, still holding onto his tunic with a death grip out of reflex. ‘He's so close.’ He gave off a similar presence to my father. It was different to be sure, but I couldn't place how exactly.
We were both frozen still, neither speaking. His body was turned towards me, and his hands were inches away from my body in the direction I was falling. ‘He was going to catch me?’ I felt chills go through my body. I had expected him to just let me fall.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, letting go and pulling my dress back up again as he averted his gaze. ‘It's not like it's falling down, why is he having such a hard time looking at me?’
A small sigh escaped my lungs. “What are we doing anyway? Did you need something?”
He looked back down at me, his eyes piercing through me, leaving me feeling exposed somehow. “Isn't it obvious, we're shooting?”
“Ok…” I stopped, letting my mind catch up to my mouth before I stumbled over my own words. ‘I guess that's fair, we're at the range.’ “Why though?”
His eyes grew distant again, but they never lost contact with mine. “Why were you lying in a snowbank?”
‘Good question… But why did you dodge mine instead of just answering it?’
“I guess… It was because I could.” My words were slow and filled with uncertainty. Honestly, I didn't even know.
He nodded, entering the door without another word.
‘What's with him. Even if he always acted like a statue it isn't usually this cold.’ It seemed like he was hiding something, but that fact would mean that he did care about something, and if that was true it must have been something extremely important. In all my time with him, he had never shown interest in anything.
I walked in behind him to feel the familiar quiet atmosphere of the room. He was the only one who specialized in archery, and even he rarely practiced. Even when he was there he was quiet as a dead man.
In other words, even if I wasn't alone there, it still felt like it. It was the perfect place to clear my mind.
“Grab a bow.” His words were directed right at me, but they still seemed so distant, like he was speaking to me from the other side of the river Styx, the river of the dead.
‘Airsidh… What's on your mind?... ‘ It was starting to make me nervous. Still, I grabbed a children's bow from the wall and strung it with a bit of effort. “Very well…”
I may have been confused, but he wasn't asking all that much from me. Even if I couldn't draw a normal bow very well, if all that mattered was that we shot together then that didn't matter.
A small part of me was worried he wouldn't like that I was using a children's bow, but it didn't seem to bother him. He remained unfazed and detached.
“Ok,” He continued, his voice remaining detached and cold. “One arrow in each target, points determine the winner.”
“Each target…” I muttered, my eyes fixating on the ones in the far distance. ‘That could be… Difficult.’ I knew the range like the back of my hand. The dojo where we shot from was small, and decorated with paintings and racks for bows. It had braziers for heat, and a soft tatami mat for footing. The firing lanes bled out from one side with 14 targets.
The part that was starting to get to me though was how long the lanes were. Hitting every target meant that I would have to shoot at 3 that were over a football field away.
He nodded, “Just do your best.”
His feet didn't make a sound as he walked to the back wall, grabbing his own custom-made bow from its pedestal. ‘He's really using that bow… But he only uses that for important things. He doesn't even use it in most monster hunts…’
it felt like I had brought a slingshot to a gun range… I heard the tension and power of his massive bow bending as he strung it. The wiry string screeched like a crane cable that was holding too much weight, and the limbs cracked, sending out a bone-chilling echo.
‘Is it supposed to sound like that?’ The cracking of timber sounded like a tree being torn apart by the wind, and it was just as loud.
Even after stringing it, it was well over his own height, and each limb looked like it was made out of the trunk of a young tree. It was intricately carved and treated, the soft blue and white wood almost emitting a faint glow as the limbs stretched.
He did a few arm circles with his right shoulder, cracking his neck before testing the string, giving it a small pull.
“I'll go first.” His voice was soft and quiet, but still left a faint echo as if it carried the power of the wind itself. My heart skipped a beat as he stepped up to the first lane and the wind blew through his long white and gold hair. I hated to admit it, but he looked so cool.
My thoughts stopped still as I watched him pick up an arrow with a tip as wide as my head and effortlessly knocked it into his bow, getting ready to shoot.
It was my first time ever seeing his custom bow actually strung, much less seeing him use it, and when he tightened his grip on the string and his muscles bulged from the intensity of the draw it sent chills down my spine. The match was on.
‘Here we go...’