Evangeline

Chapter 17

"Do you want to shoot?" Henry asked.

"What?" I looked at him, a little startled by the question. I'd been watching the archery targets as we passed by them, and had, in fact, been wishing that I could shoot. It seemed like a nice way to burn off that frustration that was pressing on me since the guards were still hovering. Apparently, I couldn't even fulfill my obligations without supervision now.

Although, oddly enough, walking with Henry was feeling less like obligation and more like just taking a pleasant walk. And I suppose I should be grateful that the guards weren't on top of me like before. They followed, about twenty feet back.

"It seemed like you were interested." He stopped walking and motioned toward the targets.

Stopping with him, I smiled slightly, reminded that he was perceptive. "Well, I'm really not supposed to."

"Is there a law or something?" His tone said that he thought it would be stupid if there were.

"Well, not exactly, but..."

"So, come on." He took my hand and began pulling me towards the archery range. "I can show you how."

Smiling at the novelty of it, I allowed myself to be pulled along.

"Here," Henry said, grabbing a bow and handing it to me. "Hold this in your left hand." He picked up a couple of arrows and held one out. "And this goes in your right."

Keeping quiet about the fact that I already knew much more than that, I took the arrow from him.

"Now, you want to keep your back straight and your arms up nice and high," he began, picking up his own bow and illustrating what he said. "You aim, and..." He let the arrow go and we watched it sail to the center of the target.

"It probably won't go very far on your first try, but if you keep at it, it'll get easier."

Biting my lip, I looked around, feeling like I was doing something wrong and loving it. But Henry was right. There wasn't a law. My parents wouldn't even care. It was everyone else that would think it was inappropriate. But who cared about them? Besides, they already thought all sorts of unflattering things about me.

Feeling an unusual sense of freedom, I raised my arms, positioned the arrow and let it fly. Henry's jaw dropped when my arrow landed a few inches to the right of his.

"I sort of already know how to shoot," I said, smiling.

"You've done this before?" he asked, surprised.

I nodded. "My aunt taught me."

"Your aunt?" He laughed, equally surprised by that.

I nodded again and he looked thoughtful for a moment.

"The woman with red hair?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. Then feeling like sharing something, I added, "she's the reason that I was able to keep those men away."

Henry dropped his arms to his side and turned to face me fully. "I heard about that," he said. "Something about one of them not living long enough to reach the dungeon."

I watched him carefully, wondering what he thought about that. Practically everyone else would disapprove of the fact that I had actually fought back. They'd never come right out and say that they thought I should have just been a good little victim and done nothing, but it was considered vulgar for a girl to fight in any capacity.

Henry smiled though. "Good job."

Pleased by his praise, I momentarily glanced down. "The guards would have stopped them anyway," I said. "They reached me in a couple of minutes."