Wielder's Awakening (43 page)

Traven shook his head as Blaize trotted off down the hall chuckling to himself.  He still liked to bring up the time that the two of them had run into each other months before.  Traven didn’t think it had been that amusing.  He did hope, however, that he would get a glance at her when she visited.  Just because she was engaged didn’t mean she was no longer as beautiful as the first time he had accidently stumbled upon her.  He dismissed the thought and returned to his bunk.  He was in a good mood.  Blaize had praised him highly and helped him out once again.  He would try to remember to follow Blaize’s advice in his next match.  He would also definitely remember to sleep in an extra half hour in the morning!

29

Kalista and Gavin pulled up along with their escort in the barracks courtyard.  Waiting for them was the large General Blaize.  As they dismounted, Kalista pushed back the hood of her thin cloak, allowing her golden hair to tumble out across her shoulders and back.  It was not as cold as she had thought it would be today.  Spring was definitely on its way.  As they had ridden across the fields to the barracks, she had noticed that almost no snow remained.  Soon the blossoms of spring would burst forth.  The coming march to Candus should not be too unpleasant.  After the normal greetings, General Blaize led them into the front room of the barracks.

“As we were crossing the field, I noticed that all of the soldiers still do not have full uniforms,” Gavin commented as they continued into the barracks.

“We do have enough uniforms ready, but we are waiting to issue the new ones until just before the march,” General Blaize replied.

“Good, good,” Gavin said, nodding his head in approval.

Kalista let her thoughts wander as Gavin and the general discussed what needed to be done before the march to Candus.  She looked around at the stone walls of the barracks while holding tightly to Gavin’s arm.  They had decided to wait until the summer to be married.  The rogue army would be crushed by then, and they would be able to have a peaceful wedding.  Kalista was excited for her marriage but maybe not as excited as her father.  He had been a lot happier since they announced their engagement.  He had even agreed to allow her to march to Candus with Gavin after only a few pleas.

Gavin and the general stopped as a group of soldiers marched across the corridor in front of them.  Kalista watched as the small troop passed.  Most of them were middle-aged, but there were also many that were younger.  At the back of the troop was the youngest looking of all.  He appeared familiar to her, and after a little thought, Kalista realized who it was.  The red armband triggered her memory.  It was the same young man who she had seen at the winter ball and when she had last visited the barracks months earlier.  She thought it strange that their paths crossed once again.  After the troop passed the corridor, General Blaize continued leading the way.

“That is one of our more advanced units.  Many of the soldiers in it are veterans and have quite a bit of experience.”

“What of the younger ones?  One of them in the rear looked like he could not be any older than the Princess,” Gavin questioned.

“Some of the younger ones lack a little discipline, but their training is going well.  All of the younger soldiers in the advanced groups can handle a sword adeptly in battle,” the large general replied.  “And the young one at the rear is one of the best swordsmen in the whole army.  He will be a blademaster soon!”

Gavin raised his eyebrows at the announcement, obviously surprised that one so young could already be a blademaster.  Kalista not only noticed Gavin’s surprise, but she noticed that the large general had made the statement with more pride than usual for a general complimenting one of his soldiers.  She would have sworn that he said it with almost fatherly pride.

When they had finished touring the barracks, General Blaize led them out the side of the building and past some of the training fields.  Kalista watched as a long line of soldiers fired arrows at targets that were set back a considerable distance.  Almost every arrow ended up in the bull’s-eyes.  The general commented that these happened to be the best archers in the army, which also meant they were the best archers in all of Kalia.

“General Blaize, did you know that the Princess is quite an accomplished archer herself?” Gavin stated.  “One of the best in Kalia for certain.”

“Is that so,” the large general said, looking at her.  Kalista could see in his eyes that he was weighing the truth of what Gavin had said.

“What is the matter, General?  Do you think that your Commander General is lying?” Kalista challenged.

“Why do you say that, my Princess?  I said nothing.”  Kalista grew even more upset at the denial of what he had been thinking.

“All right, I will prove it to you!”  And with that Kalista headed down on to the archery field.  “We will have an archery contest!” she announced for all of the archers to hear.  As they realized who was addressing them, they all dropped to a knee.  “Master archer,” Kalista said to the archery instructor.  “Pick your three best archers to shoot against me.”

“I beg your pardon, my Princess, but I don’t think . . .” the instructor stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed the look that Gavin was giving him.  “Yes, my Princess.”

Kalista took a bow from one of the archers and watched as the instructor called out the names of three of his best archers.

“General Blaize will explain the rules for the competition.”

The large general smiled with an amused look and began to set out the rules of the contest.  At General Blaize’s command, four targets were set up side by side.  Each archer would have five arrows.  The archers would take turns shooting all five of their arrows in a row.  The archer with the lowest rate of accuracy would be dropped from the competition, and the remaining archers would continue as the targets were moved back to a farther distance.  This would be repeated until the winner was the only one left.

As the first archer began shooting, Kalista noticed that a crowd was already beginning to gather at the side of the field.  She would show all of them that she really was the best archer.  Men always thought they were so superior.  She would show them.  Two of the three archers landed all five arrows in the bull’s-eye while the other had a stray arrow in the second ring.  Kalista smiled as she pulled back the bow and let her first arrow fly right into the center of the bull’s-eye.  Her smile grew larger as the crowd hushed with wide eyes.

* * * * *

“Hurry everyone!  They’re having an archery match.  The Princess Kalista is shooting against the archery masters!”

Traven watched as the younger soldiers dropped their swords and ran after their excited comrade.  The older soldiers smiled and followed a little more slowly.  Traven sheathed his sword and joined them.  This would be interesting to see.  He was also happy for the opportunity to see the Princess’ beauty once again.  He wondered if the master archers would lose on purpose so as not to upset the Princess.

By the time he reached the archery field, there was already a large group gathered.  Traven watched as the arrows were pulled from the four targets.  One of the archers walked away with his head down as three of the targets were moved farther back.  Traven watched as the two remaining archers took their turns.  The first left all of his arrows in the center of the target while the second had an arrow touching the thin black ring around the bull’s-eye.  He could tell the archers were not going to let the Princess advance another round.

Traven soon realized how mistaken he was as the Princess began her turn.  One arrow after another landed in the bull’s-eye.  He stood with his mouth open along with the other newcomers at the back of the crowd as the soldiers in the front clapped, nodding their heads.  The arrows were retrieved and two targets were moved back.  The Princess announced that the targets were still too close and ordered them to be moved back even farther.

The remaining archer took his turn first.  He released his arrows slowly, taking his time.  All five of his arrows ended up in the bull’s-eye despite the long distance to the far away target.  He smiled and stepped back from the shooting line with a bow for the crowd.  The soldiers clapped as the master archer backed off the line, and the Princess moved up to take her shots.  She also took her time and calmly sent arrow after arrow into the bull’s-eye.  Traven’s eyes widened at her accuracy.  Even with the great distance to the targets, he could see that her arrows were closer together than those of the master archer.  All of the other soldiers, however, waited in suspense as Blaize walked the long distance to the targets to examine the arrows.

Blaize returned, and after stretching out the silence, announced that the Princess Kalista was the winner.  The crowd erupted in cheers as the master archers bowed to the Princess with new found respect.  The Princess beamed and graciously accepted the bows.  The soldiers were about to leave, but the Princess stopped them with a raise of her hand.

“Who is next?” she asked in her melodious voice.

The crowd quieted down as the soldiers looked at one another to see who was daring or stupid enough to accept the challenge.  All of the master archers wisely declined to accept the offer.  Traven was sure that the challenge was going to go unanswered, but then a young haughty soldier looking for glory broke away from the crowd and picked up a bow.

Traven turned from the match while shaking his head.  He couldn’t believe that someone would challenge the Princess after seeing her skill with the bow.  He also couldn’t believe how good the Princess was with a bow.  He hadn’t imagined someone so beautiful to have such surprising other qualities.  He had heard many soldiers say they envied Commander General Gavin because he held her love.  He decided that he envied the Commander General even more now.

Looking around at the empty training fields, Traven noticed a bow lying solo, clearly forgotten by some soldier in all of the excitement.  He reached down and picked it up.  He hadn’t held a bow since he was young when he used to hunt with his father.  He tested the string and wondered if he could shoot at all anymore.  Looking around, he found several arrows that were stuck in the ground.  He walked over to them and pulled one out.  He fitted his arrow and looked down the shaft.  It did not feel like it would be too hard to shoot decently even though it had been so long.  Traven decided to try and looked around for something to shoot at.  His eyes came to rest on a tree that was not too far away.  He picked out one of the knots in the tree and casually let go of the bowstring.  He blinked in surprise and smiled as the arrow came to rest in the knot.  It was nice to know that he was still a decent shot if he ever had the need to use a bow again.

“Wait!  He wants a chance too!” someone yelled from the crowd.

Traven somehow knew that the soldier was referring to him.  He began to feel sick as he felt eyes on his back.  Slowly turning around with the bow still in his hand, his fears were confirmed.  The whole crowd was staring at him.  Traven stood speechless as the crowd opened up, creating a clear path to the Princess.  A young soldier clapped him on the back and began to help him down the path.  Traven tried to protest, but nothing came out.  He wanted to turn and run, but his shocked body continued to move slowly though the center of the crowd.  In the distance he could hear shouts of encouragement and shouts of ridicule.

Traven tried to make his face smile as his legs brought him closer and closer to the Princess.  After an eternity, he found himself at the shooting line next to his lovely opponent.  The Princess stared at Traven with a quizzical look, and he stared back with a weak smile.  After several moments Traven ripped his gaze from the Princess and found Blaize shaking his head with a sigh.  Blaize then bellowed out the rules.  When he was done, the Princess stepped up to the line.

“After I beat this soldier, I will have to stop so that you may all return to your training,” she announced.

Traven looked on as the beautiful princess gracefully knocked an arrow and pulled back the string.  He stared at her, mesmerized to see her graceful beauty up close.  With wisps of her hair flying in the afternoon breeze, the Princess sent arrow after arrow into the center of the target.  Traven watched in wonder as the arrows left the dainty hand of the enchanting princess and slid into the bull’s-eye, one right after the other.  The crowd was left in awe as the arrows were in such a tight cluster at the center of the target that some were even touching one another.  The Princess smiled triumphantly and waved with a smirk for Traven to step up and take his turn.