The Arrow of Fate

1 THE MEETING

It was quite a warmevening though summer had already come to an end. Dry leaves rustledbeneath the horse's hooves and those that still remained on thebranches of old oaks, birches and maple trees made them look as ifthe trees were on fire. The air smelled of moss and mushrooms andDragan breathed it in with pleasure. It was peaceful and quiet exceptfor the usual sounds of the forest and he was thinking of the meetingof lords he was going to attend in Swindon, wandering whether lordHuntingdon will be there. Hopefully not, because the man used tooppose every single act prolonging the debate endlessly.

Suddenly a distant noisebroke into Dragan's reveries and he stopped short listening intently.Yes, he could hear it clearly now that the rustling stopped. Therewas shouting somewhere up the road. He could hear a frightenedwoman's cry and men's raised voices. Dragan didn't waste timedeliberating but spurred his horse and hurried along the route.

As he came out into abroader part of the road he saw a group of travellers ahead: threemen and two women and up the road a group of Normans speeding towardsthem, clearly aiming to attack. The men stood between the invadersand their ladies, swords ready in their hands. One of the girls wastrying to calm down her horse which was dancing with fear while theother one was standing calmly, a bow in her hand, the other armstrained back pulling the string. Before the Normans had a chance toget closer she shot two of them. Dragan didn't have time to payattention to her though. Assessing the situation in a blink of an eyehe unsheathed his sword and rising it in his hand he threw himselfat the closest of the raiders. The scene which for a moment seemed tohim frozen in time suddenly moved fast forward as it came to life. Asthe Normans reached the small group and weapons made contact therewas loud clang of steel, horses snorting and men shouting.

Dragan got rid of thefirst enemy, turned to another one and out of the corner of his eyecaught a glimpse of the archer girl once more. She was aiming anarrow again but a huge Norman drew his horse upon her with such forceand speed that her own mare reared up. The girl tried to hold on buther hands were occupied with the bow and she fell from her saddle tothe ground. The Norman raised his sword and Dragan froze for a secondexpecting the girl to put her arms protectively over her head whichwould not be any help of course. Instead she sprang back to her feetand ducked under the blade. The man turned around preparing to strikeagain. This time she would not be able to escape her fate: the manwas close and there was nowhere to hide. Dragan estimated his chancesbut he knew he was too far. The decision was subconscious and made ina fraction of a second. He threw his sword putting all his strengthin the blow. The weapon whirled and cut through the air with a loudswoosh before it pierced the Norman's chest. The man crashed downfrom his horse with a thud. The girl looked up and their eyes met fora short while. Dragan rode towards her and bending low from thesaddle he grabbed back his sword and turned back to fight.

With his help and thegirl's good eye the battle was soon over. Fifteen bodies layscattered over the road. One of the men brought back the stray horseand they all gathered in the middle of the clearing.

'Are you all right,Sophie?' One of the men asked the archer girl.

'Yes, I'm perfectlyfine.' She answered.

'You, Jenny?' The manturned to the other girl.

'I'm fine too, Richard.'Her voice trembled on the verge of tears.

'Thank you, stranger.'Richard turned to Dragan. 'If it weren't for you I don't know howthis would have ended. We are your debtors.'

'Don't mention it. Ican't imagine you wouldn't have helped if you'd been in my place. I'msure you'd have managed just fine anyway with such a great archer.'He bowed slightly in the girl's direction.

'Thank you, sir.' Shesmiled at him and though her face was streaked with mud herstrikingly blue eyes shone like two mountain lakes in sunlight, herdark blonde hair a tangled mess after the fight and the fall. She hada pleasant low voice and Dragan had to mentally kick himself to draghis eyes from her.