Crownless

Chapter 11

His word was good. As soon as the dishes were done, something Amaryllis demanded her husband to help with, they headed to a forest clearing outside the city. Darius had brought with him a bull's eye and hammered it into the wall.

"Now, Amy," Darius walked back to her side, "Take the pistol out, aim, then shoot."

"Just like that?" Amaryllis returned, reluctantly taking out the pistol. "No further advice on how to not kill the two of us?"

"None at the moment. I want to see what type of instinctual skill you have."

Amaryllis didn't feel like saying 'none' would quite cut how unqualified she was for holding this sort of weapon. But one could never say she didn't try. She lifted the pistol, took aim at the bull's eye, then shot.

The shot, however, didn't even touch the tree. Instead heading somewhere into the forest.

Darius asked, somewhat amazed, "You aimed?"

Amaryllis lowered the pistol and glowered at him.

"It's fine," Darius recovered with an indulgent grin, "This is what we're here for. We'll work on it."

"I'm sure," Amaryllis huffed. "So, help me get better."

Darius did actually help her quite a bit, first with her stance, then her aim, even explaining out the mechanism work to release the shot. She didn't know why he thought that would help but it did, and she appreciated it. She was getting somewhere when something flew by her ear.

It went through the tiny space that was between her and Darius, missing his neck by inches.

Darius didn't hesitate, pulling behind a tree for cover and loading his own pistol while searching for the assailant.

Amaryllis chest ached with how much it was pounding. "What's going on?"

"If I had to guess, I would say it's another attempt on my life." Another shot that forced Darius head back, behind the tree. "It seems to be happening quite often lately."

"Why?"

Darius shrugged, "Their reasons are hard to parse out when they'd rather kill me than talk."

"Do you see who it is?"

"All I see are trees."

"Wonderful. Keep getting shot at, please."

"Will do, wife."

Amaryllis peeked out from behind the tree while Darius kept their assailant's attention. She caught the trajectory of the shot. An immediate one didn't follow, so they were being wary of wasting their bullets. Amaryllis eyed the tree the bullets were coming from. In the windless, sunny afternoon, a branch bounced a bit too forcefully.

She aimed, Darius' tips still ringing in her ear, and shot. Even with her inconvenient position and still novice understanding of guns, she still managed to shoot into the tree. That startled a yelp out of their assailant was a good enough distraction, that it gave Darius a chance to jump into the open to shoot himself.

His shot hit flesh and was rewarded with a pain shout.

Darius stopped himself from surging forward, gun at the ready. He glanced around, then back at Amaryllis, who watched him warily to see what his next move would be.

He grimaced and roughly pulled Amaryllis to her feet. "Come on."

Amaryllis stumbled after him, struggling to keep up while being dragged along. "You're not going to make sure he won't be an issue anymore?"