Melina

Chapter 2

Aim. Steady. Shoot.

Aim. Steady. Shoot.

One by one, her bow hit the bullseye of each target she aimed at.

Archery is everything to her. It helps her think, helps her clear her mind and helps lighten her mood. Much like the mood she was in right now.

In her mind, she thinks that her father was wrong to agree to a marriage without her consent. The only thing wrong with that thought is that he didn't. He has wished a husband for her for a long time, but Melina always seem to chase away all of her suitors. He feels partially responsible for this. He could have chosen to give her a normal girl's life instead of training her to fight like a man.

His decision to train his little girl will always be the same. Back then, she was right. Maybe if her mother knew how to defend herself, she wouldn't have been taken so easily.

However, Melina was always told that if she meets a barbarian to hide. Choose your battles. The words of her father. According to him, barbarians are the largest and strongest men our there. Picking a fight with them would mean death, especially for a woman. So he told her to run and hide if she was to ever meet one.

A distant scream could be heard from below. Clashes of metal upon metal. War cries from unknown warriors. The sound was so faint that the sounds were barely heard by Melina. She peeped and went to the edge of the cliff and saw the fires lighting up the light.

People were scattered below in her village, some fighting, some being taken away and some running for their lives. As she observed the intruders, she noticed how large these foreigners were. Barbarians!

And to her demise, her people were failing. "I must help them! But how?" She raised the bow in her hand and smiled at her new formed idea.

It would be challenging for someone to aim at moving objects at night, but it was nothing she couldn't do. She had trained for this all her life. She hid slightly behind a tree and aimed at the men below.

One by one they fell.

Low on the plains at the battlefield stood a warrior who noticed his men falling to the ground. His men who has trained harder than any other village or tribe. His men who stood larger and stronger than any other village man here. But still they fall. His eyes wandered until he found the source. An archer hiding from above a cliff. How smart.

As he fought his way through the crowds, he found a path up the cliff.

Melina did not notice the warrior making his way to her tree. At least not at first. For barbarians are skilled in fighting, but not in stealth. They do not care if they make their entrance with noise because they are confident that they will always leave victorious. She heard the crunching of leaves and twigs below his shoes as he was running towards her.

The warrior, Titus, saw not a village man emerge from the bushes, but a lady jumping down from a tree. But she was no damsel in distress, no. She was responsible for the death of his many men. But her sight did shock him.

Although she did not don a dress, he could still see her full hips and curvy hourglass figure through her brown leather pants, boots and blouse. It hugged her figure perfectly. Instead of her hair flowing flirtatiously on her shoulders, it was braided with small loose curls framing her face.

Meanwhile, Melina tried her best to out run this stranger. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!

Eventually she stopped in her tracks and hid behind a large trunk of a tree. Although her father warned her about facing a brute like him face to face, he did help her master archery. It is evident with the amount of kills she had tonight.

So she took out an arrow from her case, put aside her fear and peeped out to aim at the brute.

Wait, where did he go?

She felt two strong arms grab both her arms and placed them into a tight hold behind her back. The bow and arrow fell to the ground during her struggle with him. The only way she thought of escaping the hold was to turn her body to face him and kick him forward to separate their bodies. And so she did.

He was taken aback with her skills and impressed that she was still trying to fight him back but he quickly caught her back. Her struggles lead to him being tripped and landing on top of her. He heard her groan in discomfort from his weight on her.

Both hands were then held above her head so he could take his weight off of her. Their bodies were so close and she breathed heavily in his face from all the fighting.

"Give up" was all he said before closing with, "You are mine now."