The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 57: The Three Arrows

Svenden was leaning a bit harder on Callyndia than he'd intended. He tried to bear his own weight, knowing that his body was too much of a burden for a small-framed woman who has half made of spirit stuff. But every muscle in his body felt like liquid, sagging and exhausted from that struggle with those dark vines.

Callyndia stumbled, and they fell together to their knees. Kithana rushed to their side, but hesitated to touch them, clearly still not sure if she would burn them. Leofric made a few gestures, and his cloud of motes floated over to help buoy Svenden up, taking some of the burden off Callyndia's shoulders as they stood again.

Finally, he was able to drop to the ground on the other side of that crossing. He immediately closed his eyes, quite wanting to go to sleep. Leofric and Kithana moved off to sit a few paces away, and Callyndia sat beside him.

"I just need a moment to catch my breath," he said, "I couldn't breathe in there." He opened his eyes long enough to briefly make eye contact with Callyndia. "Thank you. You saved my life."

"And you saved mine," she replied kindly, a warm, pretty smile brightening her face.

He swore he could see a glowing aura surrounding her, accompanied by a wave of bristling hairs along the back of his neck and a little flare of that ember in his heart.

He closed his eyes again and tried to imagine all his pain and exhaustion melting away. It didn't work very well.

"You were magnificent back there, Svenden!" Callyndia said.

He chuckled. "That seems a bit dramatic," he said nervously, closing his eyes again, "All I did was shoot some arrows."

"Stop doing that!" she scolded gently, shoving him lightly on his shoulder, "You were absolutely amazing! We might have all died without your archery skills!"

"Your mother's bow made a big difference," he said without opening his eyes.

"That's true," Callyndia agreed, "But you made a big difference too. None of us could have wielded that bow like that."

Svenden sighed. He was a little too weary to argue, but he couldn't help himself. "I'm sure it wouldn't take too much effort to pick up," he said, "The bow does the work for you."

He heard her moving around him. "Alright," she said, "I need some arrows."

He popped one eye open. She was kneeling over him, holding Silversprig's Arc in one hand. Her other hand was outstretched towards the lump of wood on his back, commanding it to yield up three arrows.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Showing you what you're too stubborn to see on your own," she said as she stood and took a couple of steps away from him.

He sat up and turned around to watch in interest. "You've been practicing with the bow?" he asked.

She was working to get the arrows lined up properly between her knuckles. It was a bit of a laborious process, and she'd clearly never done it before.

"I asked the dryads to teach me," she said, "Including Myndrith. I'm actually quite good at it."

She finally got all three arrows clutched firmly between her knuckles, and tried to nock the first one to the bowstring. Even with the magic of the bow guiding the nock, she took a second or two to set it, then aimed along the top arrow as she drew the string back. Her form was good, and those thin, delicate fairy arms were remarkably steady.

She released, and the arrow flew straight, stabbing into a tree twenty paces away, less than a handspan from the knot that was probably her target. It hit hard, with at least three times the weight she'd actually managed with that draw.

She tried to quickly nock the second arrow with the same fluid motion Svenden had mastered, but it took her several more seconds to finally get the second nock in, and in the process, the third arrow tipped downward and dangled from the crook of her smallest finger. It stayed there for a brief instant before falling from her grasp to the ground and disappearing in a puff of fairy magic.

For her second shot, she was trying to draw her bowstring too quickly, and she clearly hadn't ever nocked an arrow with her two middle fingers before. Even so, the arrow grazed the side of the tree, chipping off some splinters of bark.

He stood and walked towards her. "Here," he said, "I can show you the trick I use. You have pretty small hands, so I'm not sure it will work, but—"

She just looked at him with a knowing expression. "I'm not bad with a bow," she said, "But can you see how I simply can't compare to you, even with a magical bow that 'does all the work for me'?" She stared at him for a few heartbeats, during which he stopped walking towards her and got lost in her hazel eyes. "There's a good reason why my mother trusted you with this job. I truly wish you could see it." She pursed her lips. "I know I do."

He stood for another long moment, listening to the thumping of his heart in his chest. Then, he reached up and retrieved Silversprig's Arc from Callyndia's hands. "Just because I'm good with an bow," he said quietly, "Doesn't mean I feel confident that I can protect you. Especially since I'm really having a hard time knowing where you and I stand."

Callyndia kept her face low, but looked up at him, and he was almost sure she had intentionally placed her long eyelashes between her and him. "We're standing awfully close, at the moment," she whispered back to him.

He blinked and looked around, realizing that she was right. He cleared his throat and stepped back. "Sorry," he said softly.

She opened her mouth to reply, but there was a sound of snapping twigs and creaking wood behind and above them. They both turned to look over their shoulders.

High up on one of the nearby oaks, part of the trunk was bulging outward unnaturally. The bulge soon formed into the shape of a woman's face and torso, sculpted from gnarled wood. The woman leaned her face on one elbow and looked slyly at Callyndia.

"Myndrith!" Callyndia said.

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I made an error: I accidentally swapped this chapter and the next one, so that "The Dryad's Magic" was published before "The Three Arrows", when it was supposed to be the other way around. I've corrected it now, and now you get 2 chapters this week. Sorry for the confusion.