Blood And Thunder

Chapter 4 - Nature and Rain

The morning fog felt wet and cool thanks to the small breeze coming from the forest; It felt relaxing but unnatural in an eerie way. I had learned when I was younger that the forest surrounding my village was far from normal, it was created by a mutant. Her name was “Mother”. She was able to grow beautiful flowers and plants just by whispering to them, or what I thought was whispering. I could never wrap my head around how she could grow them, just that she could. She grew the trees far taller than any normal tree could grow to, almost appearing to reach the heavens themselves. Mother also riddled the forest floor with dense shrubs and bushes to deter anything with ill-intent from getting close to our home. I always found it stunning how she was able to do such things.

“Areku,”  Axel whispered loudly but just soft enough so only I could hear him, “See anything yet?”

“Nope, just trees.” I replied in a normal tone. Ever since the fiasco with Z I've been stuck doing forest watch with Axel. My only bed was the branches and leaves, it wasn't comfortable in the slightest. Every now and again there would be a shift change, but it was only changing sectors instead of other people taking over our positions. It was very annoying, but it began to feel like home, if only a little.

“I wish something would happen right now, looking at the same trees gets boring”

“Should've thought about that before you ‘stood up’ to Z”

“I was trying to help you.”

“Lot of good that did” I joked, “jokes aside, I appreciate what you did.”

“You are quite welcome,” Axel joked in a posh voice, “are you having fun?”

“About as much fun as you can have while dangling from a tree for the better part of seven hours,” I remarked sarcastically, “why, got an idea?”

“Yeah, when I left for my post this morning I snatched some clay targets the soldiers were using for target practice.”

“If you're thinking of tying them to the branches of the trees, no, we can't leave our post.”

Axel shook his head, “no no, see, I was doing some reading about old world hobbies and I found one that I think would be both a good exercise and a good way to pass the time”

I was quite skeptical, I didn't really want to get into a load of trouble again. But I was quite intrigued by what his idea was. I turned to him to see him practicing a throwing motion.

“What's your idea?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Back before the war, people used to shoot clay disks that were launched into the air. It supposedly helped them shoot birds when they went hunting.”

“They hunted birds? Why? They're very helpful creatures. I mean, how would they send information to other people without them?”

“Beats me, bird hunting fell out of fashion when they almost killed all of them. When they ran out of one bird, they shot at the next species. I'm just glad the war happened, all the weapons were sent to the front lines. It didn't help with bringing the dead birds back though”

“They were sick and twisted, no wonder they all fought amongst themselves.”

“Anyways, my idea is one of us throws the target and the other has to shoot it with our bow, simple?”

I thought about it for a second, going over if it was a good idea or not. On one hand I'd be training to be a better shot, on the other hand I'd probably be labeled as an accomplice.

“Why not” I answered while knocking an arrow, waiting for him to throw one.

“Perfect, ready?”