There she is! The deer was drinking calmly from a nearby stream, I had been following her tracks for hours and finally my pray was in sight. Stay calm, breathe slowly and focus... like he thought you.
My lungs slowly inhaled the fresh forest air and that lovely scent always made me feel at home.
The rain had left its mark and the raindrops where sparkling beautifully on the leaves and moss, but I didn't take notice all I could think of where my damp clothes and how tired and cold I was and all I wanted was to go home and warm myself by the fire.
But I really needed this meal. And the moment I had been waiting for all day was right in front of me.
I moved slowly, as quietly as possible to find a gap between the birch leaves. As I moved through the bushes I could feel small droplets of rain falling down the collar and running down my back.
My hand reached slow for the arrow, and as silently as possible I aimed the bow.
The rain clouds had passed and now the sun rays pressed down between the tree tops and hit the brown fur.
When I finally felt calm enough I slowly exhaled and the air warmed my frozen lips for a moment, I let the arrow slip out of my grasp and let it travel through the air towards its target.
Shit
Before the arrow flew halfway, I watched the animal move, frightened by a sound it lifted its head and before I could get a hold of a new arrow she was gone.
The hopelessness and irritation grew inside me and with a sigh I went out into the grove to retrieve the arrow. But I suddenly froze in my motion and stood quite still, I heard the sound again, it was a rider.
I took my time and examined the arrow and realized that it was whole, placing it back into the quiver among the others on my back before I followed the sound, people rarely came here and the rider sparked my curiosity.
Growing up in this forest I knew every single path and nook, usually I went here when I wanted to be at alone, because it was always calm and peaceful here.
As quiet as possible I snuck in closer. Hidden behind some big rocks , I studied the men. They had made camp and sat around a fire, eating and speaking low to each other. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but their faces told me it had to be something serious.
There were four of them, three wearing full armor with swords in their belts. Their thick deep blue cloaks hung heavily on their backs and on the ground stood three shields leaning against an old log. I immediately recognized the king's emblem on the shields, it was a black raven with a royal crown on its head. The black bird sat on a silver sword and it stood out against the white background on the round shields.
My gaze wandered toward the fourth man. He acted differently from the others and was not dressed like them either. His leather armor reminded me more of my own clothes than those of the knights. And if it wasn't for him wearing a blue cloak like the others, I would have taken him for a hunter. On his back he wore a large gorgeous bow and an even more beautiful quiver lined with silver fittings. His face was hidden by the hood of the thick mantle, but his posture felt more relaxed than the others.
Curious I wondered what the king's men were doing in my forest, they were far from home. But I knew I couldn't stay behind, so before anyone would discover me, I quietly snuck away.
Once on the path home I hurried, I knew Daniel was going to be worried sick and had to wonder why I took so long. But the forest was dense and it was already getting dark, I knew it would take time even if the darkness didn't worry me I wanted to avoid my brothers bad mood.
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of broken twigs in front of me. I stopped quickly and hesitated, for a few seconds I had my eyes fixed on the bush but nothing happened.
I was holding my breath and when I finally let the air escape between my lips a man stepped out in front of me blocking my path.
He was dark-clad with a hood covering his face. An uncomfortable feeling spread through my body as I studied the man and my skin crunched as he finally began to giggle nervously.
"Finally we found you!"
With an eyebrow raised, I asked the man "We?"
But before he answered, five similar, black-clad men had surrounded me. They all wore similar black coats, but the others showed their faces and shaved skulls with the same kind of tattoos on the forehead, but they were too far away for me to discern what that symbol was. On the other hand, I saw their eyes, they had a red glow that seemed unnatural and the sight of them made me shudder.
However, the man with the hidden face seemed very pleased with himself.
"Now we got you" he mumbled with a wicked grin on his lips.
As if the words were a signal, the other men drew their swords and slowly began to walk towards me.
With a sigh, I crouched down and laid the bow and quiver on the ground. I didn't have time to think, instead I grabbed the knife I had in the boot and threw it to the right, completely unaware of the attack one of the men fell to the ground with the knife's handle sticking out of his throat, blood pouring from his mouth on the moss beneath him.
I spun around, pulled the two short swords I had on my back and made myself ready, they would all regret that they attacked me.
With a blank look, I studied the men's movements and breathed calmly as they hurried toward me.
The first sword hit a thigh, I felt the steel pierce his muscles and scratch his bone before I pulled it off and spun around. Parried another sword, jumped back and aimed at a shoulder, I moved quickly, back and forth, around and to the sides.
Bone .. slash ... back ... slash ... spin, steel against steel .. duck! .. Slash, a new hit.
That's how my brother had taught me to fight, and the training had been worth it.
My swords were dripping with blood and I was breathing heavily as I stopped and looked around. Three men lay on the ground, but I bit my lip when I realized that the other two had sneaked up behind me.
I narrowed my eyes as my fingers clasped the handles of the swords and I was about to turn around when something flew past my face.
Surprised, I turned and saw the two men fall to the ground, both with arrows in their backs. With a trained eye I followed the direction of the arrows up into a treetop. Hidden by the leaves, a blue mantle appeared and a wide smile met my gaze.
"I'm not easily impressed."
I immediately recognized the man who jumped down from the tree and smiled at me before he walked up to the men he'd shot and gave the bodies a light kick.
"Dead" he noted.
I stared at him silently and my gaze followed his movements.
"Hey! Don't worry love, I'm on your side, I helped you, right?"
A charming smile played on his lips. He was the man with the bow bow riding along with the knights.
"He is gone!"
The voice came from the bushes behind me and I spun around. Three knights stepped out into the open space where we stood surrounded by dead bodies. The men stopped quickly and looked surprised when they saw the scene in front of them.
"Leon! What happened here?" one of them shouted harshly.
I realised he was the leader, his posture and his tone made every inch of me want to appose him, even with his icy gray eyes studying every inch of my body.
Annoyed I stared back, but I was still cold and I began to feel dizzy from the fight and lack of food, and when no one said anything, I finally got tired of it all and took a step forward and wiped my swords in the grass, put them back on my back and then walked up to one of the bodies and took my knife. I could feel everyone's eyes following my movements but tried to ignore them as best I could.
Leon began to speak, "Three were already dead when I came Sir" he said and winked at me.
"And if you had only arrived a minute later, all five would have been on the ground," I frowned back.
Leon laughed heartily, his eyes sparkled and there was a glimmer of admiration. "Certainly".
The older of the four, the one with gray eyes sighed as he turned to me.
"This doesn't concern you, Miss."
The other two stood silently behind their master, looking at me, was it admiration in their eyes? Had they never seen a girl fight before? Annoyed, I sighed and turned to Leon.
"Thanks"
Then I decided to go home, none of my business? Sure, they could sort this mess out themselves.
He gave me a big smile back and was just about to say something, but a quick look from the gray eyes silenced him, instead he gave me a flirty wink.
The road home went slow, in the mess I had forgotten my hunting bow and all the arrows in the grove and I knew Daniel would get really angry at me.
It was one of our daily discussions at home, how irresponsible I was and he often nagged that I was careless. In my defense, I had so much on my mind it was hard to remember everything, especially the boring stuff. It was not my fault that people in the village wanted to talk to me, as it was easy to forget my chores.
But usually his anger was about me leaving with Ren. We often hung out together training. And although Daniel agreed to train us both, he urged me to spend more time with girls rather then that tall young man.
We had gotten to know each other when we were young children playing hide and seek in the forest, but soon the day came when he had grown tall, broad-shouldered and had a dark voice and we stopped playing and started hunting instead. And when he suddenly kissed me one evening two years ago, it felt perfectly natural and even though Daniel didn't like it, we were inseparable. I giggled to myself and suddenly felt an incredible longing for him.
Daydreaming as I dragged my feet forward and well in front of the village I realized how late it was. The square was empty, everyone had gone home for the evening. There was only one cat sitting perched on the edge of the well, staring at me as I walked by.
I walked as slowly as I could, but it didn't take long before I arrived at the smithy where I lived, I took a deep breath as I put my hand on the handle, prepared for the yelling, and opened the door.
"Dan, I know it's late-.." I stated but soon fell silent. My older brother sat in front of the fire, he looked at me with calm and steady eyes.
As I entered the room I heard four surprised gasps and I quickly looked around, finding myself eyeing the four knights. They where all standing in my kitchen staring at me with wide open eyes.