A Familiar Foe - Book 5

Just Friends (VALI)

Feet spread apart to shoulder width. Check the arrow—straight. Nock the back. Pull the sinew. Now, take a breath.

The practice field was busier than usual, filled with recent soldier graduates who wished to join the ranks that would be changed tomorrow. It was their time, as it once was mine. I used their fading voices to gauge the wind's direction and strength as it carried their words to my ears. Because my time as a minor officer on New Asgard was spent mostly developing programs for defense strategies, it had been too long since I took up archery. I felt like a young child at play.

Like Father taught me, I gave all my anxiety, frustration, and tension to the arrow and sent it downfield. It whizzed forward, cutting the air cleanly, perfectly aligned with the center of my target.

Yet a competing shot knocked it off-course at the very end, sending it to the ground in an anti-climactic clack.

"You can beat me at daggers and magic, Lokison, but you will never land an arrow like I can." Ragfrieda, youngest daughter of Heimdall himself, walked to my right side with her bow still in formation. Not a moment later, she sent another downfield and landed it where mine had been headed.

"Shit, Riggs. You could at least warn me when you're about to ruin my record for the day." I smiled at her with the side of my face, trying to avoid showing her the heat rising in my cheeks.

She rolled her golden eyes, but satisfaction painted her expression, not annoyance. The deep ebony of her skin juxtaposed the light blue of New Asgard's clear sky, making her shine. Her hair, always done in what looked like thousands of tiny plaits, was tied in a bundle on top of her head with an ornate mustard yellow scarf, matching her armor's colored bits. She adjusted the yellow-gold breastplate of her armor and took another arrow from the quiver slung across her back. "Why would I do that? Did you bet with Astrid that you'd make that last shot?"

"No. I know better than to bet with her. She cheats." I winked at Riggs and took up another arrow of my own. She was right about her skills, of course, but that wasn't an excuse for me to slack with practice. "Can't blame me for wanting this last session of the training season to be fairly clean. Uncle Thor might be using it to decide which rank I've risen to, you know."

"Right. As if your destiny hadn't already been decided for you long before you came here today." Riggs shot two more arrows at the same time, parallel on her bow, showing off yet again.

"I heard my name," Astrid said. She strolled toward us with her head high, cocking a brow with the same attitude as her simper. The cut of her short auburn hair wasn't too different from mine, only her choice to keep it short was a matter of style and not a social statement. Unlike Riggs, she didn't bother with gussying up for attention and focused on performance whenever her feet touched the practice field. "Come on, spit it out. Why do my ears itch?"

"Lokison's upset that I killed one of his arrows," Riggs said, dragging her finger down her cheek to mimic a tear.

"And that's my fault somehow?" Astrid clicked her tongue and whispered something to Riggs. Despite us all being firmly in adulthood, the two of them never quite grew out of quiet gossip.

I shook my hair from my face, aiming once again. "I'm determined to finish this season with a victory."

"Oo, don't mess up," Astrid said, crouching over my right shoulder.

"Better concentrate, Lokison," said Riggs.

A waft of her pleasant soap came over me. I smiled quietly and used their tease to my advantage. Wind's that direction now. Better shift the angle.