Journey to be a Ranger

<Chapter Eight>

Early on a Saturday morning, Anna walked towards her horse's paddock, boots crunching in the snow. She opened the paddock and walked in, holding an apple out to Erak. Erak neighed happily, and trotted over, quickly eating the apple, and sniffing Anna to see if there was any more. Anna laughed and scratched his neck, "Just one today, Erak."

Erak snorted, which Anna thought was very coincidental. 'Halt isn't here.'  he seemed to be saying. Anna looked suspiciously at her horse for a moment. "You do things at strangely coincidental moments." She said aloud, and as if to agree, Erak tossed his head. Both of Anna's eyebrows shot up, "You're strange."

She set her bow and quiver to one side, and tied a rope around them. Mounting Erak with the other end of the rope in one hand, she pulled her bow and arrows up, strapping the quiver to her left hip. She untied the rope from the bow and arrows and tossed it to the ground. Anna held the reins in her left hand, and her bow in her right hand. Using her left hand to guide Erak, Anna led him out of the paddock. She led him a few minute's walk into the woods, and stopped him.

Anna released the reins, and drew an arrow out from her quiver. She nocked it, drew back, and fired  at a target she had set up a few days ago. It missed by an inch or two, but no later than Anna saw it was going to miss, she had drawn, nocked, pulled back, and fired in one smooth movement. This arrow thudded into the target, in the middle ring. Smiling in satisfaction, Anna fired two more arrows at the target, one hitting the outer ring, and one hitting the center circle.

Backing Erak up a few yards, she set him into a walk, guiding him so that he would walk past the target.

Clumsily, Anna drew an arrow from her quiver, getting bumped around by Erak's gait, and nocked it. Closing her eyes for a second, she remembered what had been taught in many of the Ranger's Apprentice books. Ride the motion. It had been taught when Horace was fighting on the bridge, it had been taught when Evenlyn was trying to get on the kayak, and it had been taught in many other places. Opening her eyes, Anna relaxed, riding the motion of her horse. She drew back on the bow string, using her back muscles as well as her arm muscles, aimed at the target and fired. It missed by several inches. Anna sighed, and backed Erak  up, repeating the process until she hit the target near the middle. Then, she urged Erak into a trot, trying the same thing over and over. The trot was harder, as it was a more uneven gait, and it took Anna a lot longer to hit the target while riding Erak. When she was hitting the target in a trot more consistently, she tried a canter. After successfully hitting the target a few times, Anna backed Erak up several meters away from the target, preparing to try to gallop. Unstrapping the quiver, Anna tossed it to one side, keeping only one arrow. Before trying to fire, Anna galloped Erak back and forth a couple times, getting used to his gallop.

Finally, she was going to try firing at the target. She swallowed nervously, "I can do this, I can do this." she muttered to herself, trying to believe it herself, knowing that if she thought that her shot was going to miss, it probably was. Halt had drilled this into his apprentice, Will. Straightening her shoulders, Anna took a deep breath, and urged Erak into a walk. Then a trot. Then a canter, and finally, a gallop.

Anna's eyebrows met in concentration as she tried to ride Erak's motion. She let go of the reins, and clumsily nocked the arrow. She saw the target coming up, and drew back on the bow string.

You have to fire in the split second that all of his hooves are off the ground. The ranger's horse trainer, had instructed Halt himself, and in turn, Halt had instructed Will.

Anna breathed deeply, and in the split second his hooves weren't touching the ground, she released.

And disaster struck. Erak stumbled on the uneven ground and Anna was flung off, managing to throw her bow out from her before falling heavily in the snow.

Hehheh, the chapter is 748 words looong.

Yah, this is the closest I'm gonna get to a cliffhanger in this book. ;)

I started an Eragon fanfiction, so if you wanna check that out, I would love it!

Tchau tchau puppy chow!

<Evara>