he took almost two days to come out of it.” Seeing her concern, he adds, “But we’ll not wait that long. If he’s not up by noon, I plan to wake him up. As you said last night, there could be more forces on the way.”
“I was thinking about that last night,” she says. “If they would’ve sent a rider to warn the forces by the fortress back when we first entered the mountains, then it’s possible they could’ve gotten to them in time to send the crossbowmen up here to block off our escape route.”
Nodding, he replies, “That would make sense. It did seem kind of odd that we weren’t pressed very hard in the mountains. They knew where we were going, or at least had a good idea, so they didn’t want us to move too quickly and reach here before their forces could get into position to greet us.”
“So that would mean,” she says, “whatever forces are near Kern, will be waiting for us.” After a moment, adds, “If they’re not already on their way.”
Nodding, Jiron gets up and says to her, “I’m going to check down the trail, just in case. Keep an eye on him, okay?”
“Sure,” she replies. She takes out what was left over from the rabbit last night and begins eating. She plans on saving what’s cooking over the fire for James when he wakes up. As she eats, she watches Jiron disappear down the trail into the forest. She thinks about the turn her life has taken the last few days. Glancing at James, she wonders what she’s gotten into and where it may lead her.
Once she’s done eating, she begins hunting through the woods for sticks just the right length. If one meets her needs, she picks it up and continues in her search for more until she has a dozen.
Returning back to camp, she takes her pack, along with the sticks, and settles down on a fallen log close enough to keep James in sight. Using her knife, she carefully carves off all excess protrusions and evens the stick out. If one is too long for her needs, she trims it with her knife until it’s absolutely perfect.
Two of the sticks have to be discarded after discovering flaws while she was trimming them. When the remaining ten sticks are arrayed next to her, she reaches into her backpack and pulls out a neatly rolled up envelope of leather. Unrolling it, she examines the feathers she acquired days before James and Jiron arrived. She already has them separated into sets of three, each set of exact length, breadth, and width.
She takes one set from within the envelope and sets them on the log next to her before picking up the first of the ten sticks. Using her knife carefully, she cuts slits into the wood at one end and slowly and meticulously inserts the feathers into the slits. Once all three feathers are embedded securely within the wood, she sets it down and picks up the next stick, repeating the process. One after another, she continues until all ten sticks are fledged.
Before rolling the envelope back up, she checks the remaining feathers and sees she has enough for a little over a dozen more arrows. Going to have to hunt for more soon.
Placing the rolled up envelope back in her pack, she then pulls out a leather pouch with a drawstring securing the top closed.
Opening the drawstring, she carefully upends the pouch and pours arrowheads out onto the log. She has many different types and styles, even some crossbow bolt heads which she could use in a pinch, though they wouldn’t be greatly effective.
Picking up one of the sticks which has been fledged, she finds a matching head which will work and then secures it onto the end. Once she’s made sure the head is secure and won’t fly off when the arrow is released from her bow, she sets it down and picks up the next one.
As she works on the arrows, getting them ready for what she’s sure will be a deadly run to Kern, she wishes she had acquired more of the heads when she had the chance. But how was she to even have known she was to be in such a situation as she finds herself in now.
Sighing, she just works on the arrows until she has ten lying on the ground at her feet. Putting the unused arrowheads back into the pouch, she closes the drawstring and replaces it in her pack.
She gathers the ten arrows and carries them over to her quiver where she places them with the ones already within it. Twenty two arrows are now in her quiver. She’d like more, but she made that mistake before. Grinning, she remembers a hunt with her father.
She had been so young and wanted to show him how well and how fast she could fletch an arrow. So she worked at it until her quiver had been jam packed with them. When she showed the quiver to her father, he gave her a smile and told her how good she was. Oh, she was simply aglow from his praise.
Then it happened. From out of the trees ahead of them, a wild boar had emerged and charged. She reached into her quiver for an arrow, but they were so tightly packed in there that it was hard to get one out. So she pulled hard on an arrow and suddenly, the entire contents of the quiver had come out, arrows flying in all directions.
Placing the single arrow left in her hand to her bow, she sighted on the charging boar just when an arrow from her father flew past and struck it in the neck, killing it. She can still remember the embarrassment at seeing thirty five arrows scattered about from where they had all been pulled from her quiver. The amused smile her father gave her at the time had brought her great embarrassment and shame. But later on, the experience became one of fondness and amusement at the little girl who had packed her quiver too tightly.
Oh how I wish you were here now, father. But that can never be, he was one of those who died when the Empire arrived that fateful day at Mountainside. Some of the men, her father included, tried to fight them off, but there were simply too many of them. If she hadn’t been on one of her solitary hunts up in the mountains at the time, she most likely would have died with him. There are times when she wishes she had.
Her mother she hardly remembers at all, having died when she was young. But from the stories her father told her, she must have been a strong woman. Had to have been to keep him in line as her father always liked to joke about.
She hears Jiron returning down the road and turns with a smile which quickly vanishes from her face. It wasn’t Jiron she heard but soldiers of the Empire. Three of them are coming toward her, their longswords out and ready. One of them says something to her in their language, most likely commanding her to ‘not do anything foolish’.
Screaming at the top of her lungs, “Jiron!” she quickly grabs her bow and an arrow out of her quiver. Backing up, she puts arrow to string and threatens the approaching men.
They come to a quick halt when the arrow points at them. Her quiver of arrows is now between her and them, all she has is the single arrow currently in her bow. She could easily kill one but the other two would be on her before she could do anything.
One of the men puts his sword away and holds his hands up in a non-threatening manner. His voice becomes soothingly as he begins inching his way closer to her.
Three? Is that all they sent from the forces by Kern? Can’t be, but there are no others behind them. A noise behind her causes her to quickly glance backward and she sees a soldier scramble over the edge of the cliff.
They’re climbing up from the valley below! What could possibly have forced them to dare such a treacherous climb?
Other men can be seen on the top of the ridge as well, moving toward where she holds the three men at bay. She glances from the three men then to the others approaching. Four others are on their way toward the standoff.
Suddenly from behind the three men, a fast moving shape comes out of the forest, and light glints off of a blade in each hand as Jiron stabs two of the men in the back, severing their spinal columns.
She lets fly her arrow and takes the lead soldier who had been advancing upon her square in the chest. The man flies backward from the force of the arrow and lands atop the other two men, dying on the ground.
“See to James!” Jiron cries as he moves to attack the others advancing upon them from the edge of the cliff.
She sees him, a man with two knives, facing off against four men with swords. Such courage! Moving quickly, she reaches the campsite and her quiver of arrows. Taking up position next to the still unconscious James, she slings her quiver across her back and puts arrow to string.
To her surprise, when she turns to aim at the men Jiron is fighting, one of his attackers is already lying still on the ground. Lining up another of his attackers, she releases her arrow and strikes him in the chest, spinning him around. Before he even falls to the ground, she has another arrow knocked and released, taking out another man.
Left with only one opponent, Jiron launches into a series of lightning fast attacks which the soldier is ill equipped to defend against. As his knives dance, blood starts flowing from many wounds until he manages to sink his blade into the soldier’s chest. Kicking out with his foot, he knocks the man off his knife then quickly turns and
