by Saxon Andrew
Joshua interpreted and he said, “No, this decision was made prior to you becoming our leader.”
“You’re asking me to send the woman I love more than anything to go out and confront that creature. Do you honestly think she can do that and survive? That is going to have to be proven to me before I allow her to face that danger outside our cave.”
Linnae put her hand on Andy’s arm, “I have to do it. Surely you can see I’m right.” Andy stared in Linnae’s blue eyes and she said, “Or were you not being honest about the women learning how to defend themselves?”
Andy looked at Maxus, who said, “If you order me on this, I will obey. However, would you send the one you love out that opening?”
Andy looked at Maxus, then at Linnae, and said, “That is exactly what I’ll be doing if this happens. However, I can’t ask you to do what I refuse to do. We’ll go out in two weeks.” Everyone in the cave heard Andy and they all turned and looked at Linnae who had tears in her eyes. Many of the women in the cave rolled their eyes and knew they had waited too long to make their move. Andy looked at Maxus and Togawa, “Go around the walls and see how many will open. Use people from each group at the doors to see it they’ll open for a different person. I want each group to select someone to be responsible for distributing the food in a rational fashion. No one may enter one of the rooms without the consent of the chosen tasked with rationing our stores.” The groups started talking among themselves and Andy yelled, “One more thing!” Everyone stopped what they were doing and Andy said, “We have to decide what language we’re going to use.”
Joshua said, “What do you mean?”
“We can’t be limited to only sending out teams from each group. We have to be able to communicate in one language. Discuss this among yourselves and be prepared to make a proposal this evening.” Andy looked at Linnae, “Come with me.”
• • •
Andy moved toward his place on the wall and entered the room with the compound bows. He looked at the stacks and smiled, “Good.”
“Good what?”
“These bows are different sizes and pulls. Come over here and try this one.” Linnae walked over and Andy handed her a bow. “Pull the cable.” Linnae straightened her left arm as she pulled the bow’s cord. “No, no, no. Hold the bow out from your left side with a straight left arm. Now tilt the top of the bow to the right.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I’m going to teach you how to shoot arrows at high speed. Keeping the bow perpendicular to the ground will give you greater accuracy but will slow you down. I’m going to teach you to fire them extremely fast into a small target area.” Linnae lifted the bow and Andy moved her arm and straightened her elbow. “Have your left hand level with your eyes.” Linnae moved her arm higher and Andy said, “Good. Now put the index and middle fingers of your right hand on the cable.” Linnae put her right hand on the bow and Andy said, “Put your right hand down and do it again without moving the bow out of position. I also want you to place your right hand on the left side of the bowstring with the back of your hand toward your face.”
“But my hand will be upside down.”
“That is the method you’ll have to learn so you can shoot fast. Now let me show you how to do it slowly.” Andy demonstrated the move and Linnae went thorough it twenty times before Andy said, “Now extend the bow and move your right hand to the cable without changing the position of the bow.” Andy stopped her before she had barely lifted her right hand. “Do it again. Do it again. Do it again.”
After an hour Linnae’s left arm was getting weary. The bow was lightweight but even small weights get heavy after a while. “Are you trying to run me away?”
Andy moved forward and pulled Linnae into his arms and held her tight, “I am trying to save your life. You have to develop muscle memory where you don’t have to think about what you’re doing. You also have to build up your strength so fatigue won’t be a factor. You are going to hurt more than you ever have in your life for the next two weeks. I’m doing this because I don’t want to lose you. I’m incredibly angry at you for suggesting this but we’re past that now. I do hope in the future you will discuss things with me before you do something this crazy.”
“Do you think I don’t have a chance?”
“I wouldn’t want to face an Allosaurus in the open.”
Linnae stared at Andy, “Did you mean what you said out there?”
“I don’t know if I love you, Linnae; it’s just too soon to know. But I respect your bravery and honesty more than you know. The thought of losing you frightened me.”
Linnae smiled, “I told you that you’d get to like me if you took the time to get to know me.”
Andy smiled, “You were right. I don’t intend to lose you without doing my best to prevent it.”
Linnae smiled as Andy stepped away and brought the bow back up; she moved her right hand to it without changing the bow’s position. Andy smiled, “Do it again.” After another hour Andy said, “Do it again..faster.” “Stop…start over.” Twenty minutes later, Andy called a break and took her by the hand out to the food room where they were given something to eat. Linnae could barely lift her left arm. Holding the bow out in a straight arm had taken a toll. The Japanese woman that was chosen to distribute the food, gave them their meal and they stepped away to eat. “Andy, I don’t know if I can lift my left arm.”
“We’re going to work on something else for the rest of today and tomorrow we’ll use your left arm again.”
“What is that?”
“Correctly pulling arrows out of a quiver.”
Linnae stared at Andy for a long moment and said, “I didn’t know what I was getting into, did I?”
“No, but it’s probably a good thing you didn’t. Let’s get started.” They went back to the room and Andy took one of the old wooden bows in with him. He used a sword to cut out the center of it. He handed the piece of wood with the leather grip to Linnae, “I want you to hold this in your left hand so that only three inches of it extends out of your palm.” Linnae took the grip and moved it so a short piece of wood was showing. While Linnae held the grip, Andy went and picked up a quiver of arrows and put it on Linnae’s back. He adjusted it and stepped back, “How does it feel?”
“How is it supposed to feel?”
“That’s a very good question. The important thing about wearing a quiver is that only the arrows are above your shoulder and it doesn’t slip up or down. Now, assume a shooting position and use your right hand to reach back over your shoulder to touch the arrows.” Linnae reached over her right shoulder and had to push hard to get her hand back to the arrows. Andy smiled, “Use your left elbow to push the quiver as you reach for the arrows with your right hand.”
“Hey, that makes it a lot easier.”
“Now, I want you to use your thumb and index finger to grip one of the arrows next to the feathers.” Linnae bent her arm and reached back over her shoulders and felt the arrows until she found one; she gripped it with her thumb and index finger. “Very good; now straighten your arm directly over your head, pulling the arrow out of the quiver.” Andy watched and said, “Very good. Now, I want you to pull every arrow out one at a time and drop them on the floor. Make sure you’re gripping them so that you can feel the fletching against your fingers.”
“Fletching?”
“Same thing as feathers.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very.” Linnae began pulling arrows and after three minutes she had pulled all twenty out. Andy picked up the arrows and said, “I’m going to hand them to you one at a time and I want you to put them back in your quiver.”
“How do I do that?”
“Take the arrow by the nock, that’s the piece that fits on the bow string, and hold it directly out in front of you. Put the head of the arrow on your shoulder and raise your hand directly over your head and release the arrow. Andy showed her the move and Linnae put the first arrow in the quiver, “That was easy
.”
“It always is if you use good form. Now remember the arrows you’re going to be using have razor-sharp heads on them. So put the arrowhead a little behind the top of your shoulder.” Linnae began dropping the arrows into the quiver, “Good, good, very good.” Andy adjusted the quiver and said, “Now take them out again.”
After two more hours, Linnae was exhausted. Andy saw her starting to struggle and stepped up to her and lifted her chin; he kissed her lightly and said, “I’m proud of you. You possess good hand and eye control. Now tonight…”
“TONIGHT? I CAN BARELY MOVE!!!”
“We only have two weeks.” Andy handed Linnae an arrow with the razor heads removed and said, “Take it and hold it in your thumb and index finger like I’ve shown you.” Linnae took the arrow. “Now, close your eyes and use your thumb to roll it along your index finger and tell me what you feel.”
Linnae rolled the arrow and said, “I can feel the feathers hitting my finger as I turn it.”
“Can you feel all three hitting your finger; don’t look!”
Linnae rolled it and said, “No, two of them are easy; the third one is not as easy to feel.”
“That’s because that fletching is curved slightly away from your finger. I want you to roll this arrow between your fingers without looking at it until you can get the curved fletching against your index finger. I want you to do this whenever you’re sitting down, walking around, lying down before you go to sleep. I want you and that arrow to become the same thing. Now roll it to that feather.”
Linnae closed her eyes and rolled the arrow around for thirty seconds and said, “I think I have it.”
Andy smiled, “Look at it.” Linnae looked at the arrow and saw the right fletching was against her index finger. Andy went over and picked up her bow and said, “Keep the arrow just like that in your hand.” He handed her the bow, helped support it in front of her and said, “Hold it in the proper position. Good. Now bring the arrow over the top of the bow, with the back of your hand facing you. Drop the head on your hand at the grip, and pull your thumb and index finger toward you.”
Linnae pulled the arrow over her shoulder, dropped the head on the handle just above her grip, and pulled the arrow back against the cable. The arrow slid perfectly onto the cable. Linnae looked at Andy and he saw her amazement. “Now once you develop the strength to pull the bow back handed, you’ll be ready to face one of those dinosaurs. Everything else we’re going to do is to get you to where you can do this without thinking. You’ve made an excellent start.” Andy took the bow out of her hand and said, “Let’s go out to the wall and I’ll rub your arms.”
“That would be wonderful.”
“Hey, don’t forget your arrow.”
“Slave master.”
Andy looked out of the room as they moved toward the door and saw one of the Samurai sitting outside the door watching them. Andy tilted his head and the Samurai stood up and showed his quiver. The Samurai reached over his shoulder and pulled two arrows and held them out to Andy. Andy nodded and smiled. He looked across the cave and yelled, “Akira, can you help me for a moment.” Akira ran across the cave and Andy said, “Ask him what he wants.”
Akira spoke to the young Samurai and after a moment said, “He saw you use the bow against the creature and he wants to learn how to use it.”
Andy looked at the short bow the Samurai was carrying and saw it had a heavy pull. “Ask him if he is a master archer.” Akira said something and the Samurai nodded. Andy was amazed. The Samurai Archers were some of the best in human history. Andy looked at the archer and stuck out his hand. The archer handed him his bow. Andy pulled it back and felt the tension. Andy looked at Akira, “Ask him if I can work on this.”
Akira spoke and the archer said something, “He wants to know what you’re going to do with it.”
Andy pulled the bow string on the ancient Japanese bow and then lifted a compound bow and pulled the cable on it. He made a swapping movement and the archer smiled and nodded. The archer left and Linnae said, “What was that all about?”
Andy tilted his head, “I’m good; but that archer is much better than I am.”
“What?”
“You’ll see, but first, language lessons.”
Chapter Three
Andy watched Linnae and Arashi, the Japanese archer, working on sighting techniques needed to accurately fire a bow. Arashi used the straightening of the left arm as the bow was drawn to fire, which differed from his technique, but actually helped Linnae pull the cable back to a locked position. She could now pull arrows out of the quiver and put them immediately on the bow cable between the guides ready for firing. Her speed was increasing every day. The last two days were going to be spent on improving her accuracy. She determined that her pull point was beside the right corner of her mouth. Once she pulled the arrow to that point, she released it. They found a bale of clothes in one of the rooms and Arashi had fashioned a target for her. She was really making progress. He had her walking back and forth along the back wall shooting arrows into the bale of clothes. She grouped the arrows in a two foot circle from twenty yards.
• • •
Andy listened to the people around him working on learning Latin. The Romans were initially happy Latin was chosen to be the community’s language. That changed quickly when they learned they were going to have to teach it. Joshua made the biggest difference. He led the classes each evening and the community was making great progress. His freshman Latin Course was quickly coming back.
Andy thought about the previous day when he and Arashi had the stone wheel rolled back and they walked out to the cave’s entrance. Andy looked north and saw an Allosaurus eating the carcass of a large dinosaur two hundred yards away. He felt Arashi tap him on the shoulder and he looked at what he was pointing toward. Circling high overhead was twenty or more Pteranodons. Andy shook his head and saw they were circling another Allosaurus that had killed a smaller reptile than the one to the north. He tried to determine what it was but there wasn’t much left. Andy stared at the legs and decided the prey had to be another carnivore that was much smaller than the giant Allosaurus. Andy heard a roar and saw an Allosaurus come rushing out of the trees toward them. Andy turned and ran into the cave with Arashi right behind him. As he passed the men at the entrance he shouted, “Roll it back!” The men pushed and the wheel fell into place blocking the entrance. They could hear the roar emanating from the other side but the wheel didn’t move. Andy backed away from the entrance and shook his head; it appeared finding a target for Linnae was not going to be an issue. There wasn’t much time remaining before they would go out to confront the monsters outside the cave.
• • •
Andy was rummaging around the room of compound bows and found a box that was different from the others. Most of the boxes contained hundreds of titanium hunting arrows, but this one was longer. He moved the boxes from the top of it and used an arrowhead to cut through the lid. He opened it and his eyes narrowed. He reached in and pulled out what looked like a small packet with blue and white material inside of it. He cut it open and found a form fitting jumpsuit that looked like it would fit a five year old. He unfolded it and saw that the long sleeves had an arm brace sewn in. It felt weightless. He pushed his arm into one of the sleeves and it stretched until it fit perfectly. He looked closely at the material and saw a weave that was unlike anything he had ever seen. He walked over and picked up an arrow. He took the razor sharp head and stuck it into the edge of the sleeve. The arrow didn’t penetrate. He shook his head and took the outfit and put it on an empty box. He picked up his bow, notched an arrow and fired it at the uniform. It bounced off. He shook his head at such a dichotomy of gifts; ancient weapons and futuristic uniforms.
He moved away from the doorway and put on one of the uniforms. It stretched out easily and fit him perfectly without any pressure. It was navy blue except for the front of the shirt, which was white with red tabs on the shoulders. Andy knew the tabs were for
locking the quivers in place. These uniforms were designed for archers. He had incredible ease of motion and it felt like a second skin. It actually felt like he wasn’t wearing clothes. The best thing about it was the form fitting pants had a sole sewn into the feet. He had arrived wearing flippers and the cave didn’t have a room with shoes in it. He had been given the sandals of the Samurai he killed the first day and they were incredibly uncomfortable. The sole on the bottom of the pants molded to his foot and made walking on the stone floor of the cave a much better experience. They also didn’t slip; his footing was greatly improved and the pain in his feet disappeared.
Andy also discovered that the bow cables had a feature that had to come from the future. He asked one of the Roman women to pull one of the compound bows and she easily pulled it back. He took the bow to another smaller woman and she also easily pulled it back. He pulled it back and knew it had the exact pull of the bow he used in the Olympics. He knew those women would not have been able to draw the bow he used. Somehow, the bowstrings matched up to whoever pulled them.
The Japanese Archer made the discovery first. When the new cable was put on his bow, he pulled it back and nodded. Linnae asked to see his bow and she also pulled the cable back and locked it. Arashi was astounded. He went and brought back a bow that had the original bowstring on it and handed it to Linnae. She couldn’t come close to drawing it back. He showed Andy the two bows and Andy pulled them. He shook his head. Andy went and picked out four of the ancient Japanese short bows and restrung them with the compound bow cables. He immediately changed Linnae’s training to using one of the old Japanese short bows. Her accuracy and speed immediately took a giant leap forward. The short bow was much easier for her to carry and handle.
• • •
Linnae came into the room after training with Arashi and saw Andy in the blue uniform, “My, don’t you look good!”
Andy flipped Arashi and Linnae a small plastic packet and said, “Put this on.”