Dead Rainbow

Crossbow

Redwing was back in his tent whipping up a healing potion or at least attempting to. He'd broken his leg learning to land and was telling his raptor skull all about it.

"Flying has an amazing calming effect on your mind. I won't be able to get any more skills from Mazlovado it seems." He looked at the name scripted across his forearm. "At least not yet."

He sprinkled in the wrong amount of ground-up butterfly wings and the concoction exploded all over the tent. He re-read the notes in his potion book. 

"I'll have to learn the spell for this. This Necromancer is the one with real power. I must find out more about him."

He restarted the potion.

"Blast these notes. Why did I just write butterflies? How many am I supposed to add?" 

 "Three." 

His father had an uncanny way of sneaking up on him, which is why he hid his wings and returned to the tent in anticipation of his return. Redwing turned around with a wince of pain as he moved his body weight from bad leg to good. 

"I've never been the best with healing myself. I do know a good bone mender though." 

Melock walked up to the boy and dug his index finger into a nerve just to the side of his right shoulder. 

"Mend." 

"Whoa!" A dizzy Redwing fell forward into his father's arms. 

He woke up the next morning in his bedroom at the lighthouse. The fresh smell of salty sea air and clean comfortable sheets told him where he was before he opened his eyes. His leg felt stiff but was no longer broken. He looked over to his desk and his raptor skull stared back at him with a mouth full of pointed teeth.

He rolled out of bed, got himself together for the day, and after eating, headed upstairs to his father's lab. Melock had covered every inch of the work table with jars and vials and was hunched over a great volume of books when Redwing came up the stairs. 

"Ah, Nicholas, come, how's the leg?" 

"As good as new. I got used to Deirdra calling me Redwing over the last few years." 

"Like your mother called you. If you prefer. Now, let me see your arm." 

He held a vile of shimmering golden liquid. Redwing held out his right arm. 

"The other one, please, and roll up your sleeve."

Redwing hesitated.

"This is a resistance from evil potion. I suspect the warlock that took your dear mother left an evil mark on you and I'd like to free you from any conditions connected with it you may not be aware of." 

Redwing's mind flashed in a thousand directions; did he know about the wings, about Mazlovado, about the Necromancer? He raised his left arm and pulled back his sleeve to reveal the demon's name. 

"Ah, yes, that sniveling warlock was certainly in over his head," said Melock. 

He put one drop on the swirling script tattoo and rubbed it around causing the name to slowly vanish. Redwing was startled at first but then took on a look of relief. 

"It's not good for a person your age to have such a daily reminder etched into him. Here, you take this." Melock corked the vial and handed it to Redwing. 

Redwing accepted the gift and rubbed his arm. When he held it he felt the places on his back were his wings grew out of tingle. 

"Thanks."

"You'll need it. I feel you're old enough to go on your first mission." 

"What?" Redwing hadn't expected this.

"You can take Øregård with you, though he insists he has to trains you in a weapon of some kind first." 

Redwing put his hand on the dagger he'd found in the tent's trunk which was with his clothes when he woke up. 

"I agree with you a dagger should be enough but Øregård doesn't value magic as we do and well..." 

"I'd like to learn the crossbow," said Redwing matter of factly. 

Melock closed the book he was reading. 

"The Duke of Luki asked if I could do something about a pack of goblins or trolls or whatever they are that is stealing the livestock from farms near the edge of the western woods. Do you feel up for it?" 

"I do. Will you not be going?"

"I have other matters to attend to. This is your first mission, you take the lead but listen to Øregård. He's far more experienced. And do try not to kill everything. Encourage him into some diplomacy if possible. Head on downstairs, I'm sure he has a crossbow he can show you how to shoot."

Melock opened his book back up and began to read. 

"Ok. Thank you!" 

He awkwardly left the room and ran two steps at a time down the curving flights of stairs to Øregård's room. When he hit the ground floor there was the big green hulk sorting various weaponry. He was wearing his battle armor. 

"Melock says we're to investigate a disturbance at the edge of the western woods and that I should learn a weapon." 

Øregård turned holding a variety of blades, spears, and battle-axes in his muscled arms.

"I'd like to learn the heavy crossbow." 

Øregård threw all the weapons into a corner with a clanking crash and grabbed a crossbow off his weapon rack. He took one arrow from a quiver of bolts and tossed the rest to Redwing. 

"Good choice. Lots of stopping power." 

He loaded the bolt and led the boy outside. There was a straw man holding a sword that apparently Øregård had planned to teach him combat with. He aimed the crossbow with one hand and fired the bolt right into its heart. 

"There, you try. Aim well and squeeze." He handed Redwing the crossbow.

For Øregård massive self it was a onehanded weapon but for Redwing it was big and heavy and he definitely needed two. 

"Do you know how to load it?"

"I think so." 

Redwing stepped his foot through the loop at the end of the heavy wooden mechanism and pulled back the bow until it clicked into place. Then he loaded another bolt and lifted it up to his eye. The scarecrow was still swaying from Øregård's hit. 

"Aim down the arrow to your target. Lead it for a bit. Pick your moment, exhale, and pull the trigger gently."

Redwing looked down the thick bolt and waited for the swinging straw man to pass the point where he wanted to hit it. When he knew it would return back to the same point he fired. The bolt zipped across the yard and slammed dead center into the dummy's head. 

"Ha-ha! You're a natural. This will be a short lesson," laughed Øregård very pleased with his instructions and the student. 

Redwing loaded another bolt.