I picked a different target since the post at the far corner reminded me too much of Seerin and his kisses and the bargains we’d made in the dark.
Instead, I leveled the bow at the opposite end of the enclosure, at a tall pole with a flag posted at the top. It was the image of a shield and a sword.
Holding my breath, I nocked the arrow. I adjusted my grip, though my fingers were beginning to tighten and freeze.
Exhaling, I released and the satisfying sound of the string snapping met my ears, followed by the satisfyingthudas the arrow bit into my target.
Success.
I nocked another. It hit.
Another…it hit.
I emptied the quiver into the pole, stacking the arrows up high until I wasn’t certain I’d be able to pull them down.
A voice came to my right.
“You are an archer?”
I cried out, startled, and whipped around…only to find a familiar warrior standing within the shadows of the weapons master’s tent.
I relaxed when I recognized him. The brother of mylirilla. The warrior who’d tried to get me warm after the fence had collapsed.
My heart was racing from the sudden disruption and my exertion from the bow. I watched as he stepped closer to the fence of the training grounds until he was just on the other side.
“An archer?” I asked softly. “No, I’m not.”
He frowned, looking back towards the pole, at the ten arrows lodged into it. “Yet you have the skill of one.”
“I was a hunter,” I explained.
Hesitant understanding dawned in his face. He was young and handsome, I noticed, his features strong. His hair was black, trailing to his waist. His eyes were ringed in red. He looked like how I’d imagined his grandfather, the weapons master, would’ve looked in his youth.
“That was why theVorakkarwhipped you?”
“You know about that?” I asked quietly. At his words, my wounds felt tight, though the flesh had already healed over. Would I always feel them? “Were…were you there that day?”
“Nik,” he replied, his lips pressing together at the prospect. “But the Dakkarilike to talk. You will find that soon enough.”
“Then yes,” I said. “He saw me hunting and did what he had to do.”
I didn’t want to talk about Seerin, especially since I’d come out here to escape him.
“There are not many skilled archers among the Dakkari hordes,” he said further. “How did you learn?”
My skill meant I ate or I did not, I thought, slightly irritated by his question, though I didn’t know why. Perhaps Seerin’s darkened mood had rubbed off on me.
“It was necessary to learn,” I told him instead, walking over to the pole, pulling out as many arrows as I could. But the shafts were icy cold and slipped from my grip. There were three that were too high for me to reach.
“Do you mind if I watch you?” the warrior asked next, leaning his forearms against the fence, looking as if he had no intention of moving.
“If you want to,” I replied. I stood a little farther back than I did last time and asked, “Why are you out here, anyway?”
“Why are you?”
A surprised laugh rose from my throat. Obviously, I wouldn’t tell him of what happened with Seerin, so I said, “I just didn’t want to be inside right now.”
He shrugged. “It is the same for me. I enjoy the cold season. Most Dakkari like warmer temperatures, but I always thought it was more pleasant in the cold.”
