Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 11

Luna

"Competitiors, arm yourselves!" Cries Chiron in a tremulous voice, raising his arms in the air.  The two long tables fill with bows, arrows, quivers, and armour, even though there are only two competitors. Zack steps forward, takes a leather arm guard off the table, and starts lacing it up. When finished, he selects a golden bow with a matching quiver of arrows.

Now, the thing is, I have had absolutely no formal archery training, so as I walk towards the table of weapons, my brain is racing to try and figure out what I need. But now I'm there and I still haven't reached any kind of conclusion, I bet I look really stupid. Pretty much every camper and hunter in the camp has come out to watch the competition, and by the divide in the crowd, I can sort of see who's on who's side.

On what I think is my side are all of the hunters, as well as a couple of girls from what I'm guessing is the is the Ares cabin because of their brutish looks, a small crowd of satyrs, and the odd camper who just wants to get a good view in case I fail dramatically. On Zack's side is the entire Apollo cabin, whatever's left of the Hermes cabin that isn't waiting for me to fail, and pretty much the rest of the campers.

"Okay, Luna, what does an archer need..." I mutter to myself as I stare blankly at the table

Bow? I take the comb out of the back pocket of my trousers and tug it through my hair, activating it.

Arrows? I unzip the inside pocket of my jacket and take out the pencil case before activating that too.

Umm...what else? I glance over at Zack, ignoring how the Apollo kids snicker at the way I have no idea what else I need. Thankfully, the only thing I'm missing is an arm guard, and I take a simple leather one off the table before lacing it onto my arm.

"I'm ready." My tone is confident, and I try to look imposing.

"No you're not! Do you even know how to use a bow at all?" Sneers that jerk Hermes kid, Took, from the crowd. I glare at the boy who is leaning against a tree in a nonchalant manor like he owns the camp.

What an idiot.

Acting on impulse, I grab three arrows at once and fire them at him, two pinning his sleeves to the tree and one just centimetres above his head. I then stalk forward, the crowds parting like the red sea to give me a clear path towards, and take his own knife from a scabbard at his hip. "You were saying?" I growl menacingly, holding the knife to his throat. He swallows slowly, and goes cross-eyed in the attempt to look at the knife I am threatening him with. I suppress the urge to laugh sadistically at his expression, and turn back towards the crowds, who are as round-eyed and gapey-mouthed as they were when I told them I was Artemis's daughter.

I bet they believe me now.

"Can we start now?" I call at Chiron through the silence, walking back to my position in front on the target. Instead of answering himself, Chiron looks pointedly at Zack, who gives him a pleading look before turning to face me. He looks slightly scared, probably thinking I will do to him what I did to Took if he annoys me.

But for some reason, this makes me sad. Showing that I'm better to any other person... sure. Awesome. Fantastic. Stupendous. But to Zack... I don't want what I think may be my only friend other than Zoe is scared of me.

"Erm, Luna?" I smile reassuringly at Zack, and his expression relaxes. "Felix was actually right. You are missing something. Are you right handed?" I shake my head. Yep, I'm left handed. Just another thing about me that sets me apart from the norm.

"I thought not. In that case, you have to put the guard on the other arm." My mouth forms an 'O', and I start trying to undo the straps. But since it's on my left hand and I'm left handed, my fingers don't really co-operate, and I can't seem to even loosen a single strap. Zack comes over to assist me, and  a couple of moments later, we're ready for the competition to start.

"The rules of this competition are as follows:  the first camper to achieve five bulls-eyes will win the game. But keep in mind, after every bulls-eye, the camper must step one metre backwards before their next shot. There will be no harming of other competitors, and all magical items are allowed." Decrees Chiron. "Archers, to your marks!" I smirk and try to psyche myself up for the competition. 

You have to win this, Luna. You have to show them. Show those boys that you're better than them. Earn your reputation! I chant inside my head, and almost miss Chiron's cry of "Let the competition begin!".

The moment the words leave the lips of the centaur, Zach expertly fishes an arrow out of his quiver and fires it straight into the bulls-eye with a lightning-fast accuracy. He then steps back a metre, and does the same. I just stare at him, fascinated by his skill.

"LUNA!!! GET SHOOTING YOU HALF-WIT HALF-BLOOD!!!!" I hear somebody from my side of the crowd shout, and the rest of the crowd join in, chanting my name.

I look briefly at Zack, and realise that he has just shot his fourth arrow while I haven't even done my first. Well, he won't be ahead of me for long. I unceremoniously grab five assorted arrows (Chiron didn't say anything about only shooting an arrow at a time), fit all of them to the bow, and aim carefully. A glance in my competitor's direction shows me that he is also lining up for his last shot.

I've never shot five arrows at once before, but this had better work.

Barely a millisecond before Zack releases his arrow, I let fly all five of mine.

And what a sight they are to behold.

One of the arrows splits into three, one flies with a trail of stinking gas trailing after it, one has a grappling line flying behind it, one flies so fast it is first to hit the target, and the last one explodes spectacularly when it hits the target, blowing the marked board to smithereens.

For a moment, silence reigns, and satyrs, hunters, and campers alike stare agog at the smouldering remains of my target. All that's left are the arrows, which lie on the ground, unscathed before vanishing and reappearing again in my quiver.

And then the silence is broken by a single person clapping. I swivel around, and am surprised to see that the person is Zack, who is smiling his blinding grin and applauding me as if it wasn't just him I beat. Then another person joins in, and since the person is Zoe, the rest of the hunters follow her lead and start to clap as well. Before long, the whole camp are applauding me and Zack, and Zach bounds over to me, and with joined hands we do a theatrical stage bow.

"Well done, Luna. You did great." He says, "Blowing the target up... wow. Now that's entertainment. And what you did to Felix Took? Hilarious!" He is laughing, and I join in.

"MORE MORE MORE MORE!" Chant the crowd, and I look desperately at Zack.

"What are we supposed to do?" I hiss. But the son of Apollo just shrugs.

"The general rule of archery... just shoot stuff." He replies, before turning to the crowd and shouting enthusiastically, "You want some more? Well, what should we shoot?"

The crowd then start throwing random objects at us. Anything and everything from shoes to shields are thrown in by the crowd, and they oooh and aaah as I shoot exploding arrows at them, and the sparks resemble small fireworks. Zack also starts shooting stuff, and though nothing gets disintegrated or violently destroyed like with my arrows, everybody still claps and shouts and applauds for him when ever he skewers an object.

A little while later, Chiron breaks it up, and I realise quite how tired I am. As the crowds disperse in the direction of the mess hall, Zack and I trail after them, talking about archery and Greek mythology as the sun starts to sink below the horizon