Elise nodded sadly. “I understand.” A heavy feeling appeared inside her chest and sat there. She couldn’t shake it off. It troubled her that all these young, sturdy Fae were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to protect their kingdom, and she was sitting here being pampered and guarded, doing nothing!
This isn’t your fight, her mind whispered to her. This isn’t even your realm! But despite these reminders, her heart and conscience wouldn’t settle. She could not find peace.
“What’s that over there?” Elise asked, peering into the distance, and trying to distract herself from her depressing thoughts.
“You mean the archery?” Aiden asked, raising his brow as his eyes followed Elise’s line of sight.
“Yes. I haven’t noticed the archery classes before,” she remarked, her eyes lighting up with a spark of interest as she squinted to get a better look at the trainees standing in a far-off field, longbows in hand as they shot at targets, trying to hit the bullseye.
“Oh…that’s because they don’t hold them at the time you usually take your walk outside. Would you like to go over and take a closer look at the class?” Aiden asked, and Elise’s mood lifted almost instantly.
“Could we?” she replied, her eyes brightening as she looked at Aiden with a hopeful expression.
“Certainly. Why don’t we go over there now.” Aiden got up from his seat, and offered his hand to Elise. She took it without thinking, and she didn’t realize until much later, how much she had grown to trust the lieutenant…enough to accept his assistance without hesitation.
Dusting the crumbs off her dress from the pastries, she looped the drawstrings of the small bag over her wrist. Then, they leisurely made their way over to the archery field.
“Luthen!” Aiden greeted the Fae instructor as they reached the group of archers, each standing about ten or so yards away from each other in a straight line.
Luthen waved to them briefly in greeting from where he stood behind the line of trainees, but remained where he was, before turning back to supervise his students.
Elise and Aiden also stood behind the archers, watching as they let loose arrow after arrow, aiming for the targets over a hundred yards up ahead. Elise felt her veins thrum with excitement as she followed their fluid actions and traced the blur of arrows as they soared and arced in the air.
“Do you think I could try?” Elise asked, turning to look at Aiden. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. Her hands gripped the smooth fabric of her dress in anticipation, the material scrunching underneath her palms.
“My Lady?” he asked, wondering if he’d heard right, and Elise responded to his query with an earnest look.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt…” he said slowly, carefully eyeing Elise before looking over at the archers in front of them.
Elise gave a small jump of joy, and bounded over to a spare space at the end of the line where there was a quiver of arrows sitting in a small, cylindrical wooden bin. There was a bow beside it, held off the ground by a stand just taller than Elise’s hip.
Her fingers itched to grab the bow and arrows, but she held herself back, waiting for Aiden to arrive beside her. The lieutenant hastened his footsteps, worried Elise might start handling the equipment without proper instruction and injure herself.
“Have you ever shot an arrow before?” he asked as he stopped next to her.
“No, I haven’t. But I have shot a rifle before at the carnival—once…” She’d actually been a decent shot and hit about eighty percent of the ducks she’d aimed for. But they were at a much closer distance than the targets on the current archery field.
Aiden nodded his head slowly. “Then, we’ll begin from the start.” Picking the bow up and removing it from the stand, Aiden demonstrated to Elise the correct posture for holding the weapon and how to test and draw the bowstring. He then showed her the technique for nocking an arrow onto the bow, and how to aim.
“Here. You try,” he said, handing her the bow. It was just less than three-quarters her height, and being new to her, it felt awkward in her hands as she took it from him. Regardless, she tried her best to position it against her body in the way Aiden had demonstrated to her earlier.
She practiced pulling the string of the bow a few times, trying to get comfortable with its size, weight and shape. After a while, she became more confident and asked if she could try shooting with an arrow.
Aiden nodded and passed her one, then stepped back to watch her. Elise carefully and slowly positioned the arrow onto the bow, nocking it in place like she’d been shown. Then taking in a deep, steady breath, she held the air inside her lungs, and pulled the bowstring back…and released.
Elise watched as the arrow went flying for a few yards, then flopped to the ground, landing weakly like a poorly tossed dog stick. She puffed out her cheeks, blowing out the air slowly like a balloon being deflated, as her eyes narrowed on the offensive arrow sitting on the ground.
“Well, that didn’t go according to plan…” she muttered, feeling slightly annoyed at how horrible the shot was. “Can I try again?” she asked, turning to look at Aiden, and he nodded, giving his consent.
“You need to keep the arrow straight as it follows through and leaves the bow,” he directed, “and keep your position until its established its trajectory.”
Elise nodded, her brows creasing in concentration as she attempted the shot again. To her disappointment, the arrow landed miserably on the ground a few yards away—just like the first time! She groaned, pushing out a long-suffering sigh.
Narrowing her eyes at the target, she gritted her teeth, her eyes taking on a look of steely determination. She was going to master this even if it killed her!
“I’m going to keep trying,” Elise told Aiden, her voice stiff with resolve.
She continued to practice for the next hour and a half, until her fingers were sore and throbbing.
“Let’s call it a day,” Aiden said gently, moving to take the bow and arrow from Elise’s hands. She pulled back. “I can still keep going,” she replied stubbornly.
Aiden let out a small laugh. “I know you can, but there’s no point injuring your hands and fingers on the first day. This will take a long time to learn—you’ll have to be patient and keep practicing every day. You’ll see improvement over time.”
Elise huffed in annoyance, but knew Aiden’s advice was sound. Her hands and fingers were in a fair amount of pain, though she’d never admit the true extent of her discomfort to the lieutenant. Otherwise, he might try to dissuade her from continuing to learn how to shoot, and tell her to just give up.
Afterall, he had been instructed by Callum to ensure she didn’t get hurt while he was away…she also wasn’t altogether confident Callum would approve of her learning archery if he was here—particularly if it meant she was going to get practice injuries.
“We’ll need to soak your hands in some cold water when we get inside, and then put some salve on them to help ease the pain. They should feel a lot better by the morning,” Aiden told her, taking Elise’s red, swollen hands in his and examining her fingers. She grimaced.
“Once you build enough callouses, it’ll hurt less,” he assured her with an encouraging nod and smile. “Don’t be too disheartened. It’ll feel better with more practice.”
That night, Elise went to bed feeling completely fatigued. The muscles from her torso up, ached, and her hands and fingers felt really sore.
Aiden had applied some sort of herbal balm on her hands which had a distinct medicinal scent to it, but it wasn’t too bad, she thought as she sniffed it.
Despite the pain and discomfort, Elise was determined to master this archery thing. It was the first time in a long time she’d felt so excited to learn something new, and she was looking forward to practicing the next day.
As she settled in, nestling herself underneath the soft, warm blankets, her hand unintentionally brushed her forehead with her hand. She froze, her hand hovering in the air just above her head.
Suddenly, she remembered Callum’s unexpected kiss…she blushed a little at the memory, recollecting the warmth of his soft lips, finding comfort in this reminder of his presence even now that he was gone.
She wondered where he was now and how he was going…
Her thoughts of him soon trailed off as she drifted off to sleep, her mind at peace for the first time since she’d been spirited away to this strange, magical land.
❖ ❖ ❖
Elise continued to practice her archery skills each day, with Aiden supervising over her from the side. She practiced until her hands felt raw, and then some more.
Gradually, over the week, she saw noticeable improvements––her arrow no longer flopped to the ground, and flew straight when she launched it. Although it still didn’t go very far.
Aiden had moved the round target closer so it was now only about twenty feet from where she stood, and she was slowly finding herself able to hit the circle every so often.
Each night, she’d soak her hands in icy water to numb the pain, and then Melody would help her apply the healing balm, which miraculously would heal most of the achy soreness in her hand by the next morning.
She’d asked her once what the balm was made of, and Melody had replied saying it was a mixture of several potent herbs mixed with healing magic.
Elise had raised her brow at that and asked her to elaborate. “What do you mean by healing magic?” she enquired, looking curiously at the top of Melody’s head, whose dark brown hair was tied up in a neat bun. The chambermaid was bent over her hand, busy rubbing in the balm.
“It’s magic only healers have. They bespell their medicines and cures, imbuing healing power into them. Unlike ordinary medicine, a healer’s medicine is much more effective and powerful in curing illnesses and ailments.”
“Are healers common in this realm?”
“Oh—no, my Lady! They need to go through years of training as an apprentice before they can become a healer…and not everyone has the ability to wield healing magic either.”
“Are there any healers in the garrison? Apart from that man who was there at the lake that day…Darthum, I think his name was…?” Elise asked with a curious, yet thoughtful expression on her face.
“Yes, there are two others: Farron and Eustes. They’re often called upon to tend to the soldiers who are injured during training.”
Elise nodded, tucking the piece of information into the back of her mind. “Thank you,” she said to Melody as the chambermaid finished ministering to her hand. “It already feels so much better!” She flexed her fingers, testing the pain.
“My Lady, perhaps you should take a day off and rest…and maybe not train so hard...” Melody suggested kindly. “I don’t mean to overstep, but for the past two days, you’ve trained until your hands have bled, and I worry you might be overworking yourself.”
Something akin to friendship bloomed inside Elise’s chest, and she smiled at Melody and patted her hand reassuringly with her least injured one. “Don’t worry, Melody—it’s not as bad as it looks. But thanks for your concern and for taking care of me…I know it must be bothersome sometimes,” she grinned at the young girl.
“No, no!” Melody shook her head vigorously. “It’s never a bother, my Lady! It’s my pleasure to serve you...” and here she paused. “I know why Lord Callum chose you to be his wife…you are very kind.”
Elise blushed at the compliment. “I’m not really sure ‘chose’ is the right word for it,” she smiled wryly, her thoughts drifting over to the man who she hadn’t seen for over a week now. Her heart squeezed uncomfortably for a brief moment, almost as if she missed him…
She shook her head, feeling silly. Afterall, Callum had only been gone for a short while.
Sighing at her own conflicting feelings, she briefly shut her eyes. God, why were her feelings for the man so confusing?
Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but hope the mysterious and stoic Fae lord would return home soon.
❖ ❖ ❖
Disappointment and apprehension filled Elise’s heart as the second week passed by without any sign of Callum returning home, or any news from him.
Trying to distract herself and push her worry for him to the back recesses of her mind, Elise occupied herself with archery practice, working on her shooting skills religiously for several hours at a time each day.
During most days, she’d also spend an hour or so hanging out with Gideon and getting to know him better. His childhood had been pretty crummy from the stories he’d told her…
His father was a drunk who gambled away most of his meagre wages, and he’d often leave Gideon alone and underfed, providing him with little more than threadbare clothes.
From what she could gather, if it wasn’t for the charity of Gideon’s neighbors and other kind villagers, Gideon would have been starving and on the streets by now. Even worse, Gideon was well aware of this...the poor boy.
His father’s lack of care had left a deep impression on the him, and Elise’s heart sank as he told her about his life; her heart going out to him as it reminded her very much of her own dysfunctional relationship with her father.
It pained her to see how scrawny and underfed the boy was, and every so often, Elise would sneak some snacks from the kitchen and share them with Gideon. She also tried to make sure he had all that he needed—ensuring he had enough new clothes, shoes, and other necessities a boy his age would require. But she found she didn’t have to worry…it seemed Callum had already instructed his staff to take good care of Gideon. They’d provided him with new clothes and shoes, and a good wage—enough for him to save some of his money on the side for his future and education.
Elise had discovered quite early on that the young boy had never been taught to read, and took it upon herself after learning this to give him lessons each day, starting with teaching him the alphabet.
Wherever she was, whatever she was doing, Aiden was never very far. With each day, she was able to explore more of the barracks, with Aiden accompanying her and taking them down different routes. And every night before bed, she would add to the map hidden in her drawer before she went to bed—something that she continued to do more out of habit than anything else.
Half-way through the third week of Callum’s absence, Elise was out in the training fields shooting arrows with no one else around except Aiden, who was sitting down at a bench behind her. At this point, he was no longer worried she was going to accidentally shoot herself in the foot with an arrow, so was comfortable supervising from a short distance.
There was still no news of Callum and his troops, and unbeknownst to Aiden, Elise’s imagination was starting to run off in all sorts of horrifying directions which only served to exacerbate her nerves. Worry threatened to consume her mind and she couldn’t shake off the unease clawing at her gut with its sharp, spindly nails.
He’ll be alright, she tried to reassure herself as she concentrated on the target up ahead. Afterall, he promised he’d return.
She took aim. She was now shooting from thirty feet away, having proficiently mastered hitting the target from twenty feet.
Except people don’t always keep their promises, a nagging voice in her head said. Elise bit her lip, as an image of her father flashed inside her head, and she had to push out a deep breath to clear the negative thoughts trying to crowd her mind.
Concentrate on the target, she told herself, repeating the mantra inside her mind. She pulled in a deep breath and pulled the bowstring back…
“You need to relax your shoulders before you shoot,” a familiar deep voice unexpectedly interrupted her thoughts from behind her, breaking her concentration.
Startled, Elise gasped, her body jolting up in surprise. She lost her grip on the arrow. It slipped out of place, the tip skewing off to the side like a broken branch dangling off a tree, held together only by a thin strip of bark.
Bartered to the Fae Lord Page 9