Arrows at Dawn (Iasc)

[Guido Faragas]

Timestamp: 7th Day Fall 510AV

It was a bright and pleasant morning, as Guido Faragas made his way to the small clearing that lay a short distance from the main gates of his city. Strapped to his back was a plain quiver, stuffed full with white-feathered arrows and he was holding a rope and shortbow clasped in his right hand. Whilst the quiver was unremarkable, the bow was elegantly carved with a pattern of circular images and long swooping lines that decorated the entire bow.

The trainee archer frequently used the clearing to practice under the tutelage of his mentor – the huntsman, Cedric. However, today was different, for he had arranged to meet a new acquaintance, Iasc, who also had some skill with the bow. The two intended to have a light-hearted competition and hopefully pick up a few tips from each other in the process.

At the back of the clearing was a tall, skinny tree on which was carved a series of three concentric circles. Guido moved to the tree and tidied up the target, removing a few splinters of wood that had been created by the numerous arrows that had thundered into the bark. Satisfied that the target was tidy, he formed a loop with the rope and slung it around a long branch that extended form one side of the tree. Pulling the loop tight he glanced around the clearing until his eyes alighted on a thick piece of wood. Retrieving the wood, he bound it to the end of the dangling rope a few feet off the ground. Experimentally, he pushed the heavy piece of wood allowing it to swing from the end of the branch. He smiled: it would make a reasonable moving target.

He returned to the opposite end of the clearing and sat on a large, flat stone awaiting Iasc’s arrival.

[Iasc]

Iasc breathed in the fresh morning air as he left the castle and made his way to the clearing where Guido had told him to go. He was shaking slightly with nervous excitement as he recollected the directions Guido had laid out the night before in the Rearing Stallion.

He found his destination easily and managed to spot Guido through the trees, sitting on a stone. He seemed to be awaiting Iasc, who's nervous excitement was turning into just excitement. He couldn't wait to get underway. He stopped just before he entered the clearing to compose himself, so he didn't appear over eager, and then strolled casually in, greeting Guido with a nonchalant wave of his hand.

He took a second to look at the work the young man had done to get ready for the event about to take place. He had done a very good job setting up the moving target. A nice, simple contraption that would do everything that was needed. He smiled in approval and approached the man.

“Thats very impressive”, he said, pointing to the target and smiling. “So, shall we practice a bit before we get the competition underway?”

[Guido Faragas]

It was only a few chimes before an excited looking Iasc arrived in the clearing. Guido greeted him warmly. “Good morning, my friend, welcome to my practice ground.” The youth levered himself up from his seat on the flat stone and pointed at the tree.

“Perhaps we should practice a while at the tree before we attempt a moving target. You will see that there are three circles carved into the tree. The inner circle is the eye, the second circle defines the inner part of the target and the third circle the outer portion. I usually think of the areas as worth 5, 3 and 1 in turn.”

Taking an arrow from his quiver, he scratched a line in the earth to one side of the stone. “We can use this as our firing line. Perhaps we should start with five practice arrows each to get a feel of the distance.” He plucked a piece of grass from a clump that grew nearby and tossed it in the air. It fluttered directly back to earth.

“There is no breeze today, so that removes one variable that might affect the flight of the arrows. Well, you are my guest, so you may begin, unless you prefer me to take first shot?” He directed an inquiring gaze towards Iasc.

[Iasc]

Iasc approached the line on the ground without a word to Guido. He placed his quiver carefully on the ground and removed an arrow. “Relax, focus, concentrate.” He took up a closed stance, placing his left foot ahead of his right. He raised his bow and placed the notch at the end of the arrow into the string, making sure that the fletchings were aligned properly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax and visualize the path of the arrow. His excitement was getting the best of him, however, and he found it hard to focus.

As he opened his eyes, he drew his bow to half tension and aimed down the range. All he needed now was a quick, smooth release. In one motion, he drew the bow to full tension and let go. He felt from the moment it left him that it wasn't flying true. It hit the target just outside the second ring.

He stood a moment to analyze the shot. It took him a second to realize, “I forgot to follow through.” A nice lesson for the next shot. He turned towards Guido. “I assume we'll take it in turns”, he said as he stepped away from the line. "Unless you'd like me to go again."

[Guido Faragas]

Guido observed Iasc’s approach to shooting his arrow with great interest. In particular, he noted the stance that his companion took, with his left foot ahead of his right.

“I see you favour the closed stance,” he said, as Iasc moved aside to let Guido take a shot. “Or, at least that is what Cedric called the way you stand. Personally, I have been using the open stance”. He stood with his left foot ahead of the line and the right foot behind it but with the right foot extended further away from the body.

“I find that this stance helps me to avoid leaning backwards from the target,” continued Guido. “Which I had a tendency to do when I first began.” He nocked the arrow into the bow, ensuring that two of the feathers were aligned either side of the string and the third pointed directly forwards. Slow, easy and fluid. He repeated the mantra that he recited before every attempt at a target. He raised his arm slowly, drew back the string, sighted a few inches above the target, pulled the string back and let the arrow fly towards the target.

The arrow flew and hit the target at the outer edge of the second ring to the left of the centre. He grimaced, allowing his bow arm to fall a little. “The only problem with the open stance, is that it tends to make the body twist around and I always end up towards the left of the target. Maybe I should experiment with your stance.”

Guido stepped back to allow his companion the next shot. “Take a few shots together,” he said to Iasc. “Then, I can observe your stance for a while and when you have finished I will take several shots so that you can observe my technique.”

[Iasc]

This was the first time Iasc got a good view of Guido's bow. It seemed like a work of art rather than a weapon.
“That is a beautiful bow you have there”, he remarked. “Maybe when we have finished you could tell me how you came across it. I haven't seen anything like it in the Feathered Shaft before, which leads me to believe that you must have acquired it somewhere else.”

After admiring Guido's bow, Iasc addressed the man himself.
“I haven't observed or talked to a lot of archers in my time but never have I heard of someone standing like that. It seems to be a hybrid of two different stances. You must be very skilled to be able to pull it off consistently and still hit the target.” He walked back to the line and got ready for another shot. He mimicked his original shot, remembering to follow through this time, only lowering his arms when the arrow was well and truly stuck in the target. It hit about an inch closer to the bulls-eye, managing to just creep inside the second ring.

He turned back towards Guido. “Indeed, this is the close stance. It gives you good stability and lets you align bow and sight level but, unfortunately, it reduces the string clearance so it tends to strike against your body.” He demonstrated this last point to Guido showing how the string had a tendency to hit his chest causing poor shots.

“Here is the open stance that I was shown.” Iasc moved his feet so the right one was out in front and the left one back. “The reason I don't like it is because I find it hard to align my bow and sight level. It is just too awkward.” He tried to aim down the range but couldn't get a good view of the target. He loosed the arrow anyway and it buried itself in the tree, below the target.

“I must admit that the way archer stands is a strange interest of mine. It's just hard to believe that such small changes to the way you line up for a shot can produce such different outcomes.”

Turning away from Guido, he reverted back to the close stance and took three more shots, altering nothing in his approach or the way he loosed the arrow. Both arrows found their way to the second ring, each closer than the last to the bulls-eye.

By this time there were seven arrows in the target and it was starting to look cluttered, so Iasc walked up and took all the arrows, handing Guido's white feathered one back to him.
"You're up", he said with a smile and a wink.

[Guido Faragas]

“I obtained the bow on one of my archaeological digs,” explained Guido, glancing downwards at the elegantly carved weapon he held in his hands “It is a fine bow, well-balanced and made from high quality wood – or, so my tutor tells me. I’ll tell you the tale of how I came by it when we have finished practicing.”

The young archer listened intently to Iasc’s explanation of the advantages and limitations of the closed stance and kept his eyes on the shooter’s feet whilst he was firing the arrows at the tree. “The two stances clearly have their own benefits and problems. I guess it is largely down to which works for a particular person and the way that they were taught.” When it was his turn to practice, Guido mimicked Iasc’s closed stance for his first two arrows. However, he found himself leaning a little away from the target and tending to draw the bowstring back too far. Consequently, his aim was poor: his first arrow went wide of the tree and the second hit well above the target.

“I’ll need to practice a lot more with this stance before I can truly compare it with the open stance.” He laughed and reverted to the open stance. This time he was much more successful and buried three arrows between the outer and inner ring. He walked over and retrieved the arrows from the tree, replacing them in his quiver. “We are well matched,” he said to Iasc. “Perhaps we should have a practice at the swinging target before we have our competition". He strode over to the hanging piece of wood, lifted it to one side and set it swinging before moving to one side to allow Iasc to take his practice shots.

[Iasc]

After Guido had taken some shots, he went to set the moving target in motion and Iasc stepped up to the mark. He could see the path that it would take and tried to figure out where he would need to shoot in order to hit it. There was a tree that stood just behind the path of the target and he picked a spot to aim at, hoping that it would be enough for his arrow to reach it's destination. The only problem now was timing. This would have to come down to trial and error.

He was more calm than when he arrived and could focus his mind easier. It would mean a better shot, and that was all he wanted. Iasc readied his bow, waiting to strike. The target moved just as he had predicted, but faster. He loosed the arrow cleanly. For the split second it was flying, his heart was in his mouth and there was a bead of sweat on his brow.

The target zoomed by and a moment later the arrow buried itself in the tree behind. He had shot too late. He walked over to the tree, retrieving his arrow, which made a mark in the tree that he could now aim at.

His second practice shot nicked off the tail end of the target. Just a little earlier and he would have it. He knew exactly what he needed to do now. He took two more shots, both hitting the target towards the outer edge. He grinned, pleased with his work, thinking it only fair that the other archer should get his practice shots in.
“You can have a go now”, he told Guido, and move to where the youth stood. He waited for Guido to get ready before letting the target go.

[Guido Faragas]

This is a lot harder than it looks.

Guido’s first shot had missed the moving target by a long way. He had used his open stance and tried to judge the speed of the log as it swung underneath the tree. However, his bow arm had tended to follow the log and, inevitably, he had missed. He pondered the problem. The log was swinging through roughly the same arc on each swing, although it was losing some speed and not swinging as far to the left and right each time. The best strategy appeared to be to aim at the point at the bottom of the swing, for it would always pass through that point. Hmm... there was a problem – he would have to shoot at the point at the bottom of the swing whilst the log was in another position, to allow for the time delay. So, he would have to find a fixed point right behind the bottom point and aim there. Luckily, as Iasc has already discovered, there was another tree that could be used as a fixed point.

Taking his stance, Guido sighted his bow on the tree directly behind the swinging log. Having established this point, he need to judge the speed of the swing – a little trial and error was required. He loosed the first arrow, noting the position of the log as he did so. He was too late – the log swung by before the arrow reached the target. It was also a little low on the tree. He adjusted again, this time aiming the sight higher and letting the arrow fire whilst the log was at a higher position. This was almost a success – the arrow hit the edge of the log but fell to the ground failing to stick. Another minor adjustment and he finally buried an arrow in the log – not in the centre but still a pleasing shot.

He turned to Iasc. “Enough practicing, I think. Maybe a little competition will help us to concentrate more! Shall we take three arrows each at the fixed target using the scoring method I suggested and then three arrows each at the log. The moving target is more difficult, so let us say three points for a hit anywhere on the log and 6 for a score in the centre portion. After you...”

[Iasc]

Iasc watched as the log went back and forth. On the first swing it would reach a certain point off the ground and, with each successive swing, the distances between log and ground were getting smaller. He eyed the set-up suspiciously. “Why are you doing this? There must be some logical reason.” He could see it moving in his mind, back and forth, to and fro. As it passed the centre point on any particular swing it made an angle with the vertical line from the top of the rope to the ground. He also noticed that you could extend the ground upwards and create a right angle triangle. Ramisis' theorem rang in his ear. “In any right triangle, the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares whose sides are the two legs.” A real life application of one of the best known theorems in Mizahar. He started to get excited. Maybe he could figure out why the log moved in this trajectory and have his name on a theorem.

As he watched it move he tried to put the pieces together. But there was a problem. He didn't know where to start. Ramisis' theorem could only help him calculate lines and angles. He thought hard, with all the brainpower he could muster, trying to remember something he had heard or been told. Anything that could help him would do.


“Enough practicing, I think.”
Iasc was drawn out of his trance by Guido. He looked at the young archer strangely before realizing what was happening. He had missed Guido's practice shots but, judging by the arrows in the log, it seemed he had done well. “Good work.” There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.


Iasc followed Guido's lead and moved to the fixed target. He got ready for his attempts, taking his time and trying to get back in the mind frame he had been in previously. He lined up placing his feet purposefully on the ground. He gritted his teeth and focused on the target. He loosed the first arrow and it landed in the second ring. He took a deep breath and stretched his neck, in preparation for the next arrow. He took it out of the ground from beside his feet and nocked it. Keeping the same motion as he had done all day he sent it towards the target. It hit just outside the first ring. He tried not to think how he was doing, how many points he had or how well Guido would do. All that mattered was this arrow. He closed his eyes and imagined it going towards the centre of the target. He had been hitting to the right of the centre all day, so Iasc decided to aim a bit to the left. He nocked the arrow and drew it back to half tension slowly. When he felt the time was right he drew full tension and sent it flying. Within a second it had reached the target, going right where he wanted, just inside the middle ring.

He grinned as he looked at Guido. “That's eleven points, if my adding is up to scratch”, he said proudly. “Would you like to go here or will I continue to the next target?”