A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) - John Gwynne Page 0,87
like the draw-attack from a scabbard, she thought. So many elements in one move, yet all of them made to look effortless. She took a deep breath, then nocked, drew and released, aiming a little high and to the right of her straw man’s heart.
It hit him in the shoulder. Better than she would have done with a yew bow. The bow was remarkably smooth to draw, feeling much easier than one of Drassil’s solid wood bows, and yet she had felt the power in the arrow as it had left the string, a rich thrum, and she’d known it would sink much deeper than from the bows she was used to using.
“Again,” Bleda said, “but this time, draw and loose a second arrow without waiting to see where the first one lands.”
Riv did. A deep, calming breath, then nock, draw, release, a slight fumble to nock the next arrow, then draw and release. She lowered the bow, saw the third arrow sink deep into the straw man’s thigh. The second was buried in its belly.
“It is a start,” Bleda said, “from which you can only get better.”
For the first time she could remember, Riv was glad of Bleda’s cold-face, knowing that he was probably disgusted with her efforts, but secretly Riv was just pleased to have not missed with any of the three arrows.
“I will teach you,” Bleda declared.
“A big auroch like her cannot master the skills of a Cheren bow,” a voice behind them said. Riv wheeled around to see Jin standing behind her.
“It’s a Sirak bow,” Riv growled.
“Cheren, Sirak, we will be one Clan, soon,” Jin said with a shrug. “Isn’t that right, my betrothed.” Her eyes stayed fixed on Riv.
Bleda grunted something unintelligible.
“Bleda, I have good news. Kol has just told me that my father is less than a ten-night from Drassil, come with much of my kin to celebrate our handbinding.”
“But Midsummer’s Day is moons from now,” Bleda said, a hint of emotion in his voice.
Panic? Riv wanted it to be panic.
“There is much to organize,” Jin said, her eyes still on Riv. And then Jin smiled at her, an expression that looked wholly alien on Jin’s normally stony face.
“Riv,” a voice called, and Kol beat his wings and took to the air, hovering above them. “Come, Riv, it is time for the Moot,” Kol called down to her.
Riv handed Bleda back his bow, then bent her legs and leaped into the air. She angled her wings and beat them harder than necessary to channel a blast of air at Jin, making her stumble back a step. Riv couldn’t keep the grin from her face as she climbed into the sky, looking back once to see that Jin was talking animatedly to Bleda. Then Riv noticed someone staring at her, a fixed gaze that followed Riv through the sky as she flew after Kol.
It was Erdene, Queen of the Sirak.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
FRITHA
Fritha stood watching the two crows descend into the ravine. She was hiding in a stand of alder and beech that stood on a plateau above the ravine, Morn at one shoulder, Gunil at the other, her Ferals and Red Right Hand spread out behind her.
Fritha muttered a curse.
Crows most likely meant the Order of the Bright Star were not far behind. She was tempted to rush them, knowing that Drem and his bedraggled companions were so close and unsuspecting of her presence.
“We should strike now,” Morn whispered. “They are so near.”
Morn had found them two days ago, returning to guide Fritha, but because of the wyrm, Fritha had not been able to move as fast as she’d have liked. Gunil had built the wyrm a cage, and two saplings had been cut down to make poles and a litter that they had tied to the girth and saddle of Gunil’s bear, a makeshift travois that allowed them to continue tracking Drem and his companions. The weight of the sickly wyrm and its cage was not a problem to Claw, but the terrain was. Fritha had had to scout a way that would not shake the cage to pieces, and so they were slower than Fritha had liked. She had thought about leaving the wyrm in its cage under guard, but it was so close to death that she had needed to spill her blood and chant her words of power twice since they had found the wyrm. If she left it, she knew it would die.