2cnd of Spring 513 AV
The building was called "stories in the snow". It was the library of avanthal and Soren looked ahead of him to see maybe hundreds if not thousands of books. Shelf after shelf filled with leather bound pieces of knowledge. The Vantha at the front desk told Soren how to find books, aparently all the books were sorted by subject matter and then sorted alphebetically after that. Soren was looking for a book on basic archery skills to improve his skill with his shortbow. He walked downt he long halls of books looking for any sort of section that would go with what he was trying to improve. The archery section finally sparked some interest. Soren scrolled through the books with his eyes until he got to the book : Archery 101. Perfect.
The book was bound in black leather and it felt rough and cracked as he held it in his hands. The book was obviously aged though Soren didn't have any clue how old it could be at all. His father always said, when you don't have an instructor a book is the next best thing. Soren didn't have an instructor to teach him the ways of the bow, so maybe this book could launch him into a nice place to go toe to toe with Miria, if not completely surpass her. He gave the book to the young Vantha at the front to check it out, he looked at the book and opened it up turning to write several things down. "It is due in two weeks, sir."He said in something barely above a whisper and handed the book back to Soren. He noticed that the library was entirely quiet, as librarys should be. Maybe that is why the Vantha, who never gave his name, was so quiet. Soren exited the large and quiet building, he didn't enjoy being in there longer than it was necessary. Trekking through the snow which wasn't all that thick that evening, in fact it was very nice out. Sadly Soren would stay in the rest of the day, it being noon right now he thought that a good six hours of training with the bow would suffice.
Soren arrived at the Frostfawn hold and immediatly steered himself toward his own arvinta. He grabbed his normal equipment, his shortbow, his quiver of arrows which he attached to his waist. The only thing new was the book he carried under his right arm which he would soon study from in hopes of getting better at his weapon.
The archery ranges were almost empty this day. Only him and another young gentleman who was feverishly practicing as if it were his duty to do so. Soren thought nothing of this and began to read his book in hopes of understanding how to better wield his bow. The book guided him as such:
The bow is a wonderous device of untold power in the right hands. To wield it is to hold an artform in your hands. As such a great respect must be taken to whomever chooses this weapon as their own. The bow consists of the upper limb of the bow which should face upward when aiming and should be above where you grip the bow, a lower limb which should be below your gripping hand, a grip which is where you grip the bow to aim, an arrow rest and a sight window which is directly above your hand grip and allows the arrow to rest on a platform to stabilize it and for you to see the target above the arrow. The bow is also attached to a propulsion system, the string. The string consists of a single bow string with a middle piece known as the serving and a nocking point which is where the end of the arrow should rest when drawing the bowstring back.
Shooting and Aiming:
The archer should grip the bow in their non dominant hand. For example if one were right handed and wrote that way, they would grip the bow in their left hand and vice versa. Once the bow is in the archer's non dominant hand the archer should pick and an arrow and immediatly rest it upon the arrow rest, pointing down with the arrow head away from you. This will be non aiming position to safely maneuver with your bow and arrow without harm to you or others. When it is time to aim raise the bow so that the target is within your sights and is visible through the sight window. Once the target is in your sights pull the bow string toward your body with your middle three fingers and pull the bow string back. The arrow should be tucked between the index finger and the other two fingers and the back of the arrow should rest at the nocking point. Rather than just releasing the bow the archer should release the arrow in a flowing motion as to not jerk the string and cause the arrow to miss the target. Remember to aim small, if you aim small then you will miss small. The inverse is true as well. One should also always aim with his dominant eye.
Soren nodded to himself and copied the book. He took the shortbow into his left hand and riased an arrow out of his quiver sliding it to the arrow rest and placing the back of the arrow at the nocking point. He raised the bow from its downward position and staring out through the sight window with his right eye, target in sight he drew back the bow string holding the arrow firmly between his index finger and other two middle fingers. The bowstring was drawn taught to his anchor point which was the corner of his mouth on the right. His fingers flowed off the arrow, slightly jerking the string, his fingers gloved to protect them from the sharp string as it snapped back. The arrow flew through the air and the bowstring slapped back at his left forearm, shielded from the bowstring by his armguard. He heard the arrow meet the target that was ten feet in front of him before he saw it. Immediately before going over to the arrow he saw it was near the center. He walked over to the arrow to retrieve it. It was not a direct bullseye. It was on the bright yellow ring outside the bullseye mark. It was a solid shot by anyone's standards really.
Soren was a little bit of a perfectionist. He knew this because even though that shot was near the bullseye he went back to the wooden board and knealt behind it and shot the bow twenty more times just to get one bullseye. Each shot taken was close except for a few that were shot at the edge of the target. Now that Soren knew proper technique it was obvious that his shooting had improved from these minor corrections. At least fifteen arrows stood in various places around the bullseye some on the yellow ring around the bullseye, some on the red rings , some on the dark blue and the other five of the volley of twenty were on the black lines on the edge of the target. He lifted his bow again with a fresh arrow nocked to the bow string and set upon the arrow rest. Sweat poured off his brow as he aimed carefully dead center to the target and took his shot. The arrow flew with a kind of forceful will and purpose and hit with a sharp thud. It had found its mark and upon further inspection, it was dead center on the bullseye. Soren sighed in relief and gathered his arrows once more, putting them in his quiver. It was now late in the evening and the light was fading. The archery range would soon be shrouded in darkness and no one really shot arrows in the blackness of night since the sun's light lit up the ranges.
Soren gathered his gear when he noticed the Vantha gentleman still shooting. He smiled and offered a little advice to him."Hey, you won't be able to see soon so you might want to pack it up."The young Vantha looked up at him with sweat pouring off him and tired eyes and responded, his voice harsh as if he had been at this for days and had become a little ill. " I do not want to dissapoint Miss Maenes, I did not do so well in our last session and I need a lot of practice.""Who is Miss Maenes?"Soren inquired. The young Vantha then told him that Maenes was one of the greatest, if not the greatest archery instructor in Avanthal and he was one of her pupils. Soren's eyes became wide and he decided then and there, he would become one of the pupils of this great archer and teacher. He would surpass her and anyone who decided to go up against his skills with the bow. He would become the greatest archer ever to pick up the bow and arrow. |
by Soren Frostfawn on March 29th, 2013, 9:12 pm 
