The four elements

Chapter ten. Fire arrows.

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We have been walking for many hours, the cold snow reaches over my knees. I look forward and see Raven and Flame walk next to the leaders giant white horse. Suddenly I stumble and fall into the cold snow. One of the guards rides up to me and Jay. "Get up!" He tries to drag me up on my feet, but I give the guard a cold glance. He turn his horse away from us. "Are you alright?" Jay puts his hand on my shoulder. "I'm cold and wet, my hands are tied, and there's idiots poking on me with spears. But except for that, I'm okay." I smile sad. "I hope you have a plan soon, and it better be better than mine." I try to brush away the snow from my dress, I wish I was wearing 20:th century winter clothes. "Well, I have a plan, and it's definitely better than yours." A guard looks suspiciously at us before he rides to the leader. I lower my voice and almost whisper. "We shouldn't talk about escaping when there's guards listens to every word we say." Jay looks around at the guards. "Good idea, we'll talk about it later."  The leader raises his hand, and I swear: if we don't find a way to escape soon, I won't be able to 'show respect' anymore.

The moon shines above us, giving some light in the cold winter night. The leader have decided that we don't need to have our hands tied, cause we won't be able to escape without the guards seeing us. Or will we? After the guards discovered my bad archery skills, I got the bow back. They think it's impossible to practice without arrows, but they're wrong. The last five nights I've practiced to stretch the big longbow, and every night I manage to stretch it more. Soon I'll be able to stretch it to full length. My arms are getting stronger, and stronger. The longbow has a pulling weight of 45-50 kilos, which takes some time to manage. But I'm stubborn, I won't give up. A guard comes and interrupt my thoughts. "How is it going without arrows, 'Forest archer'?" Oh, I forgot to tell you: I have been given a nickname. The guards have started to call me 'Forest archer', probably because they found me in the forest. But I'm not really an archer. Yet. "Answer me!" The guard seems angry, or just bored. "It's going alright, thanks." I sound calm. The guard starts to walk away, to Jay. "Well, I've heard you know how to use a sword." I look at Jay, who doesn't seem to be worried. "I know to hold a sword." The guard picks up two branches from the ground, and gives one to Jay. "I'll be the one to judge that." Suddenly he try to hit Jay with the branch. Jay raises his branch to defend himself.

"What are you doing?!" Jay tries to defend himself from the guards branch. The guard has more experience with swords than Jay, and Jay is about to lose. The guard hit Jay on the arm, and Jay drops his branch. That's enough. "Leave him alone!" The guard looks surprised at me. "What? Did the Forest archer said something?" He starts walk to me with the branch over his head, ready to strike. "I said leave him alone!" The guard stops, there's only one decimeter between our faces. "YOU SHALL NOT GIVE ME ORDERS 'FOREST ARCHER'!" He screams. I don't move, I just stand there, calm. The guard raises his branch. "Don't do that." My voice sounds calm and strong. The guard stops for a second, then he try to hit me with the branch. When he has his arms raised, his chest is clear. So I punch my fist on his chest. The guard looses his breath, and I get the opportunity to take the branch and wrench it. He lose his grip of the branch an I hit the guards knees, so he falls. The other guards comes to see what's going on. They get very surprised when they realize that the 'Forest archer' has knocked down one of the guards. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The leaders voice echoes thru the dark camp. One of the guards explain when the leader comes. The leader raises a eyebrow when he sees me with the branch in my hands, and the guard laying beaten up in the snow. "Who did this?" The leader looks around at the guards. The guard who explained, answers again. "It...It was the Forest archer, Sir." The leader looks surprised at me: the 160 cm, shy, stubborn girl. I put down the branch. Jay stands next to me, and takes my hand in his. The leader gives me a cold glance. "You should not have done that." His voice sounds angry. "I hope you have your plan figured out now." I look at Jay, who nods. The leader gives the guards a nearly invisible signal. They surrounds me and Jay. Then it feels like a storm brakes out. The guards attacks us, but we manage to get away. Then we run to the leaders giant white shire horse, where Flame and Raven are. Jay unties Flame and I try to help Raven. "What took you so long?" "I tell you later." After freeing Flame and Raven, we get our weapons. And then, as usual, Jay drags up on flame and we run away. Then I get a idea. "Jay make a little flame!" I take a arrow from my quiver and put it in the little flame from Jays hand. The arrow starts burning, and I stretch the bow. I aim at the tents, and then I let arrow hit the tents. "That won't make them any happier." Jay smiles. I shoot another arrow. "I know." We leave the camp behind us, heading for Sylas cabin.