Taking Aim (Training)

[Tebridiar]

Day 15, Autumn, Year 510

Maybe this had been a bit of an impulse buy…

As Tebridiar walked out of the gates, she looked down at the weapon in her hand. Large, powerful… but she only had the faintest idea how to use it. She remembered someone giving her vague instructions, but she always did like teaching herself.

A longbow, a quiver and a few arrows.

In a capable persons hands, this could be a force to be reckoned with.

But in hers, it was like more than an ornament.

But she did have an urge, an instinct. A sort of in built skill… how to hunt. So maybe that would help her along a bit? She was pretty much clueless. She had her leather gloves on in case she damaged her hands in any way.

Now, it was time to get down to business…

How to use a longbow…

[Tebridiar]

She had a little bit of experience with tracking, and she wanted to use that to its full advantage.

She wasn’t going to be shooting down animals, however.

There was a very faint path which lead to a very old, gnarled lump of bark. It may have at one time been a tree, or maybe some travellers had lugged it there and then not had the urge to bring it all the way to the city.

It seemed others had, in the pat, made there way there. Tebridiar focused very hard on the faint path that her feet was following. It had been further strengthened by the fact some animals had obviously been using it, there were a few odd hoof-prints she could make out.

She really needed to learn a bit more about the feet of creatures, then she might know what was coming here…

Eventually she found the twisted hunk of wood, stubbornly anchored into the earth. She looked around cautiously, then satisfied that nothing was around, she clambered on top to have a look around. Standing up tall, she put her hand over her eyes to shield them.

She could see Endrykas not far away, a few Drykas guards milling around outside. But apart form that, it was just grass.

She was pleased, and she sat herself down on the wood, and took a good look at her weapon.

[Tebridiar]

She remembered what the man had said to her at the stall, about taking aim, about holding the longbow properly.

“You hold the bow, well, a bit like this.” He had said, demonstrating. “You hold it in the hand that’s opposite to your dominant eye, or just maybe if you feel more comfortable, use your writing hand. That’s going to be your bow hand. Now, the other hand is your drawing hand. Now if your right eye is dominant, hold it in your left hand. Your left side will be facing the target, with your sight towards the target. Then you can handle the arrow and string with your right hand!”

Tebridiar remembered him repeating it a few times, even showing her how to hold it exactly.

She practiced again.

Taking the bow in her left hand, she lifted it. It wasn’t too heavy, but it felt solid and a little bit flexible. She turned her body to the side, and focused on an imaginary target, pointing her bow at it. She had no arrow in yet, and she pulled the string with her right hand, pretending to fire.

Was she ready to try it with a real arrow?

She wasn’t sure.

She aimed a few more times, aiming down her sights, shutting one eye in turn, seeing which one worked better, trying both at the same time… seeing how long she could hold her arm straight, testing its strength.

[Tebridiar]

She continued doing that for about an hour.

She wasn’t too sure about the time, she knew she had all day, she now never had to worry about deadlines. In her life right now, there were none. And for the time being, that’s what she needed. Rest. Time away, time independent from other people.

Exercising her free will.

She reached round to the quiver on her bag, rearranging it slightly so the arrows were easier to get a hold on. She took one out, tipped with a little red feather she had put on to make it easier to identify it.

She lined the point of the arrow up to the edge of the wooden component to the bow, and she pulled back the string. She let go.

It didn’t exactly work. The arrow just sort of pathetically fell to the ground. She mustn’t be doing it correctly… She tried to rack her brains, remembering any archers she had watched, how did they do it?

People often practiced near Endrykas, she had seen them occasionally. They must have been doing something better than her… They must have actually known what they were doing, she sighed. But she wasn’t going to give up on this. She wasn’t a quitter, and she had only had the bow for a day…

She wouldn’t become amazing overnight.

[Tebridiar]

Eventually, after about half an hour pulling the string and arrow in various different ways, Tebridiar thought she had it worked out.

She twanged the string, flicked it, pulled it, twisted it. Put the arrow in, then shaking her head, took it out again... used different arrows, seeing if she should pull the string very tight or leave it slack.

She had to put the base of the arrow on the string, then pull them both together.

She lined her body correctly, not really focusing on a spot. She just had to get the arrow in the air, somehow. She made her arm straight, strong, trying to get it as stationary she could.

Then she reached over, grabbed the arrow from her quiver. She got the bottom of the arrow and pulled it back, along with the string. She had to let go of them at the same time. The force of the strong pinging forward should, in theory, force the arrow forward too?

So, hoping for the best, she released her light grip on the arrow and the string. She watched it, as if in slow motion, fly forward away from the string… It flew, it really flew! It curved in a neat little arch slightly above the bow, then it started to plummet to the ground, disappearing somewhere in the grass, even the little red feather whooshing away into the bush.

[Tebridiar]

With a little whoop of triumph, Tebridiar went off to collect her arrow. She couldn’t track it this time, so she tried to remember where it had been and she quickly found the red blot amongst the greens.

She picked it up, and admired it. This had been her first successful arrow, and she was very proud of it. After gazing at it for a few more moments, she put it back In her quiver and climbed onto the gnarled branch again.

She continued practicing. Yes, a few times it failed miserably, and a few times it worked great. And by the end Tebridiar was confident she could surely get an arrow to fly properly if she tried hard enough.

Now all she needed was to start using targets…

But she looked around, and the grass was still, and bathed in a light purple glow. The stars were starting to appear, and she decided to head back to Endrykas.

“Tomorrow.” She said to herself as she went through the gates. “Ill be better tomorrow!”