Legon, who began to inspect it. “Looks good, Kovos. Thanks.”
Kovos and his father were amazing smiths, or at least they were in Legon’s opinion. He hadn’t seen much of the work of other blacksmith’s since Salmont only needed one. Kovos was not as good as his dad, but despite his insistence that he was not very good, everyone in the town trusted him with any project. Kovos was a hard worker and a perfectionist. He was also incredibly loyal. Legon knew that Kovos would stand next to him no matter what. He also knew that Kovos feared Sasha but would still defend her with his life just because she was Legon’s sister. This was not a fact lost on Sasha, and though she knew that Kovos, like most of the town, feared her, she was grateful for him. He was nice to her, and if she was on her own and saw Kovos, he would talk to her and escort her wherever she was going. Barnin had been that way too. Both Kovos and Barnin, while flawed men, had incredible character.
“No problem. Thanks for killing and butchering that deer for me. It was great.” He looked at Sasha. “Hey Sash, how are you feeling today?”
“How… how did you know I had an episode?” she asked, amazed.
“Easy. Legon didn’t come by yesterday, and he would only miss out on a new cleaver if you weren’t well.”
“Oh. Thank you, Kovos. I’m feeling fine now.” As she said this she looked at Legon and smiled inwardly. She was so grateful to have him in her life, and she was sad to think about him leaving.
Kovos looked at the buckskin tubes that Legon was holding and frowned. “I don’t think dad will let me go shooting today…,” he paused, “Unless…” Kovos shot back into the shop and came out a minute later. “Great, I’ll get my bow. You talked me into it.”
Legon laughed. There was no talking Kovos into it, but rather talking his dad into letting him leave for a few hours. Legon wondered how he did it, but when Kovos rejoined them he knew how, and his heart sank a bit. Kovos brought with him a large boy with the same black hair, though matted, who was wearing a pair of blue pants and a stained green shirt. Keither.
Keither also had on a look of annoyance. The two brothers couldn’t have been more different. Kovos was short and stocky and Keither tall and rather large. Kovos was leading, or more like pulling, Keither from the house. It looked like someone trying to pull a dog away from chasing a deer or a small child from his favorite toy. When they came out Kovos had two bows; one was his combat bow and the other Keither’s hunting bow. Keither didn’t have a combat bow. His family wouldn’t let him get one until he could shoot his hunting bow with some degree of accuracy, which Keither had yet to do. The boy hated going outside and didn’t like to shoot, but it was important to learn, so whenever Kovos was having a hard time leaving the house he would tell his father or mother that he would bring Keither and try and work with him. Keither never wanted to go, but Kovos was much stronger so Keither didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Sasha attempted to greet Keither by waving at him, but the boy only returned her wave with a glare.
They walked down the alley and got back on the street they were on before. They continued on the street until they got to a large field at the edge of town. On one end of the field was a line of padded targets with little flags that marked distance. Red was for fifty yards, yellow for one hundred, green for one hundred and twenty five, purple for one hundred and fifty, and beyond that were black ones for two hundred yards. On the other side was a line of white flags that marked where to stand while shooting. They walked to the line of white flags. At the moment the four of them were the only ones there. Everyone except Keither strung their bow and prepared to begin. Kovos hit Keither in the arm and the boy began to string his bow.
“Let’s just fire a warm up volley and then we can move two of the targets further back,” said Kovos to the others. They nodded their agreement and all knocked an arrow, pulled back, took aim, and fired.
The air hissed with the sound of the flying arrows and strings twanged. The arrows flew down the field and hit the targets with a thump-all but Keither’s.
Sasha looked around. “Why didn’t you fire?”
“I did,” said Keither with a bit of irritation.
“You… oh I’m sor… sorry about that, Keither.” Sasha’s face turned red. She looked away from him and began to fidget with her bow.
Kovos broke in. “Well, where did it go, then?” he asked, looking hard down the field.
“How am I supposed to know?” Keither said.
“Um, I don’t know, maybe because you shot it?” Kovos said sarcastically, holding his arms out in front of him with his palms up.
“Well, we’ve got lots of arrows, and I’m sure we can find that one. It couldn’t have gotten far,” said Sasha, trying to redeem herself. Then, in a hurry she continued, “Not that I’m saying you can’t shoot far. I mean… um, well you know that you probably only missed by an inch or so…” she sputtered.
Legon and Kovos laughed. “If we’re lucky we may find it later. Come on, Legon, let’s move the targets,” Kovos said. They walked to the targets and began to move them down the field. As soon as they were out of earshot, Kovos said, “Sasha is going to make a good wife, buddy. I’m happy for you, but it’s a little sick you went for your sister…”
He was cut off by Legon. “What are you talking about?” Then Kovos’ comment clicked in Legon’s mind. He reached out and punched Kovos in the arm. “Shut up, that’s sick.”
“What, you mean you’re not? Oh, I’m sorry man, I just thought with you two being so close and you being adopted…” Kovos was smiling. Legon hit him again.
“Ow! What? Stop hitting me! I mean, she’s a good-looking girl, and hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Ow!”
“You’re sick. I don’t know how your family is, but I’m not into my sister. You’re right though, she is good looking, but she would look better by your side.”
Kovos laughed. “Hey, I would, but I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for you my whole life.”
“Shut up and move the target.”
They made it to the targets and began to move them across the field. Kovos loved to give Legon a hard time about his relationship with Sasha. He knew that they were close as brother and sister, but that was it. Legon had to admit that they were unusually close; he suspected that it had to do with their situation growing up. They had supported each other, and at times they were almost like one person instead of two. Emotionally, there were no real boundaries between them. He knew that there was something odd about the relationship though; he didn’t know of anyone in town who needed to be with one particular person the way that he felt he needed to be with Sasha. Or anyone who had a strange sixth sense as they seemed to have with each other. Sometimes it almost seemed like he could predict what she would say or do. But never once had he had an inappropriate thought about her, and he knew it was the same for her.
His attention came back to Kovos, who was walking next to him hefting his own target. Kovos was still smiling but his voice was serious now. “Honestly, I think you’re going to need to take her with you. There’s no way you’ll be able to make the money for the taxes and get it here in time.” Legon began to open his mouth but Kovos cut him off. “It can’t be done, and don’t tell me otherwise. Take her with you. You can live in the same house and fall under the two adults rule for taxes. There’s a lot of people that do it.” His face darkened. “And I also don’t think she will be safe here when you’re gone. People worry about Edis but they’re terrified of you, and…”
Legon interrupted. “I know. I have a lot to think about, but not today. Let’s just shoot, ok?”
Kovos nodded.
Standing next to Keither, Sasha watched them go. She looked over at the boy who was slouching and didn’t at all look like he wanted to be there.
“So Keither… how are you doing?” she asked tentatively.
“Meh,” said Keither in a grunt.
Sasha was having a hard time thinking of what to say. She always had problems with Keither. He was a quiet boy and a bit socially awkward, or extremely socially awkward if she was being honest. He sighed hard and looked down the field at his brother and Legon, who were carrying their targets to the purple flags. He obviously hated being dragged along like this.
“So, have you decided on a trade to pursue yet, or are you still thinking about it?” asked Sasha.
“Ahh, I don’t know, I haven’t thought much about it. I think I’m going to go find my arrow before they get
