“Do you know what this is?”
“An arrow?”
“Obviously. But do you know what’s special about this one?” I shook my head. “We call it thecry-for-war. Red—blood, silver—moon, blue—ocean. This arrow is not fired with the intention of killing. No, we aim it to the earth of our enemy as a warning for what is to come for them.We’re Ice, children of Boreas the tempest, and we come for bloodshed.”
The menacing words sounded enticing, familiar somehow. Then he bowed his head and offered it to me. It rested lightly on both of his palms as he extended his arms towards me. He appeared as if he was offering a gift to a god.
“For if we are ever to find ourselves in battle at each other’s side,” he added.
“I’m—” I didn’t know what to say. “You often leave me speechless.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He chuckled. I shot him a harmless scowl that ended with a reciprocated titter.
“Then I shall save this for another time,” I said, carefully setting down the arrow in the safest stall, the one flooded with books. Then I grazed my fingers along the bow’s string and asked him, “How about a friendly round of target archery?”
“Byfriendlyyou mean a challenge, right?”
“Mmm, perhaps.”
“Challenge accepted.” We shook on it—closest to target wins.
We shot three sets of ten. I won one, he won two.
“You’re both strangely and impressively good at this.”
“I lost.”
“True, but you lost against me, and not by much. I can tell you why you lost.”
“You can?”
He gestured for me to ready my bow. “You put too much effort into the firing bit and sometimes you take too long.Remember what I told you, do not let your mind take over before letting go.”
I nocked an arrow and lifted myself—arm out, pulling the string towards my face with the other. I stiffened as he grabbed hold of my elbow and my waist, adjusting my posture. “Relax,” he whispered. But he came so close—if anything, I tensed. His cool breath fanned against my neck, my own hitched. “Let go,” he murmured close to my ear.
I was about to do that when Eldric startled the shit out of me. My arrow flew off course, hitting sandstone. Aegir snorted.
“You missed big time there,” Eldric kindly pointed out.
“Yeah, thanks to you.”
“You can only blame yourself. Distraction is what leads men to their downfall in war.”
I scoffed at him.
“He’s right,” Aegir said, as if he wasn’t also the culprit of my distraction.
“I’m afraid Obstacle is going to have to wait,” Eldric said. “The king has invited us to watch the marble tournament with him and later join him for dinner.”
“Marble tournament?” Aegir asked, looking my way.
“It’s the most boring thing to ever exist. It goes on for hours and hours. You’re going to want to shoot yourselves with this,” I said, waving my bow.My bow.
“Sounds wonderful,” Aegir replied flatly. “This king is getting on my fucking nerves. He’s a stubborn mule—always inviting me here and there, yet he always finds some excuse to evade my questions. He’d better listen today cause this alliance is—”
Eldric’s bellow had me flinching. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
“What?” Aegir shrugged.
