Survival

A week later and I was so determined to not be so useless anymore. I had faith in myself. For so long I had known that I had a knack for fighting, and I was going to prove everyone wrong, including Tobias. Otto, Adara and Loukas had all spent time with me throughout the day to teach me the basics of their fighting techniques, and I had already learned so much. But it wasn’t enough. Especially once I was ordered to clean the spaceship this morning and subsequently lost a whole day’s worth of training. Even though it had tired me, I was still here, at night while everyone sleeps, practicing my archery.

Time after time, I aimed at the poor tree and sent an arrow flying at it. If I hit the circle, I’d take a step back, and if I missed I’d move a step closer. I wasn’t getting past ten steps, but I was blaming that on the fact I couldn’t see the circle once I was back that far. There was barely any moonlight and I hadn’t brought any artificial light because I was too paranoid that someone would spot it and investigate. Part of me said it wasn’t an excuse. The humans might decide to attack us in the dark, and I’d have to be prepared. This was good training for that.

I fired another arrow and missed the circle by a short distance. Damn! I withdrew another arrow from the quiver on my back and started to put it into the bow when I heard a rustling of leaves. My head snapped in that direction, noting it was the direction of the path that lead to the ship. It wasn’t the wind; it was a perfectly still night. Had someone realised I was missing? Were they out looking for me? There was no further movement, so maybe it was just a night animal. My nerves were getting the better of me, so I strung up the arrow and aimed it in that direction.

“Is anyone there?” I called out, doing my best to keep my voice from wavering. I had to seem powerful, especially if it was an enemy. The blood was racing past my eardrums and my breathing was starting to speed up. Oh no, what if it was Tobias? I gulped just as something moved in the shadows. There was something there! I squinted, trying to make out what it was. It was definitely a Kasien. Once they stepped out into the clearing, I recognised them as Otto. I breathed out and relaxed, bringing my bow down and taking the arrow out.

“It’s good to see you’re alert,” Otto said as he walked towards me.

“Why are you here?”

“I heard you missed all your training today, so I wondered if you were dedicated enough to come tonight. I was right,” he replied, making me smile. I was glad he believed in me. “I saw you take a few shots. Are you having trouble?”

“I’m only having difficulty with seeing the target once I get too far back. It’s dark, obviously,” I answered. Otto had reached me now, and he nodded as I spoke.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing towards the bow. I passed it to him and he took the arrow as well before facing the tree. Otto was at least fifteen steps away, and with what seemed like little aim, he let go of the arrow and hit the circle.

“H- How did you do that?” I spluttered, really amazed by his talent. It had seemed so effortless, yet I struggled as soon as I neared ten paces away!

“There’s more to it than just having a good eye,” Otto explained as he walked back to me and handed the bow back. “You need to be one with your weapon. In the dark, you should be able to sense where your target is.”

“Sense?” I questioned with raised eyebrows. I wasn’t magical!

“Yes, sense,” he repeated as he took my hands in his. Otto held up my hands so I was holding the bow upwards, as if I was shooting for the stars. “If you’re aiming here, where is the arrow going to go?”

“To the sky, silly,” I chuckled, having no idea why he was saying this.

“Okay, and here?” Otto asked, changing so I was pointing the bow to the ground.

“Into the soil.”

“And if you aimed here?” he said once he had moved my arms to a horizontal position.

“It’ll go straight…” I replied and Otto hesitated.

“Or will it?”

“Where else would it go?” I asked him, really getting puzzled by his lesson.

“Think about it. If you were to aim for me, the arrow would go straight. It hits its target quickly. But, if you were to aim for that tree’s trunk on the other side of the clearing, wouldn’t gravity pull it down?” Otto suggested. “It wouldn’t go straight. It curves and hits the roots…”

“And that’s my problem…” I finished for him, understanding his lesson. For some reason I was forgetting to adjust for gravity.

“You should be able to learn how to sense where the arrow will go, just by judging how far away your target is, and then taking into account gravity and wind. That way you’ll know exactly where to place your bow before you fire,” Otto explained and I nodded, finally grasping the concept. I would have moved had it been windy. That would have been obvious. But I didn’t realise gravity had such an effect. It was always there, and was something we Kasiens could overcome with our wings. “Try and hit the tree from where I was standing.” I moved to Otto’s past position, drew an arrow, took aim a bit higher than usual and fired. The arrow went too far down, as well as off to the left. That shot was pathetic.

“Argh, that was shocking…” I mumbled, hoping Otto couldn’t detect my embarrassment.

“You just weren’t sensing. Try again,” he told me as he walked over to me, taking a position behind me. I tucked my wings in as far as I could, and Otto’s arms came over my shoulders and held my hands. “Hold it about… here. Can you sense how that will go higher, but will drop? It will hit the middle of the tree…” His voice tickled against my ear, the warmth a rather comforting sensation in the slightly bitter night air. I focused on how we were holding the bow, then let the arrow go. We moved forwards and I saw it hadn’t quite gotten the target circle, but it was very close.

“It does work,” I smiled at Otto before going and collecting the fired arrows.

“It just takes some practice,” he grinned as I walked back to his position. “Come on, I’ll help you again.” I gladly took up his offer and enjoyed his rough hands upon mine.