In the depths of the jungle

Chapter twenty seven: The noble art of archery

JAMES

At one day I got up early, well I was more woken than voluntary. I usually slept in a little house made of grass mates and bamboo, like everyone here. It only had two rooms, a living room with a fire place in the middle. A shelf where medications and bowls made of braid grass and wood stood. The other room was my bedroom; there were hay mats and over them laid furs from animals. It was not actually something you can call comfortable but it was better than nothing.

Kira stood over me and called my name several times. I definitely was not in the mood for waking up. So I turned around. I whispered more asleep than awake "If you want, you can join me. I bet it's more comfortable together." I waited for an answer but I only heard some steps. Suddenly something icy cold splashed into my face. Unbelievable wet and shocked I got up and the only thing I could do for some seconds was to blink through the water and look surprised. "Are you out of your mind" I yelled staring at here angry. "Yes together it seemed really comfortable: You and the icy water, Revenge is sweet don't you think?" she said with a smile on her lips " I grumbled under my breath: "How can someone be such a beast?" With a satisfied look she turned around and went out of my house.

After I was dry again, I got my clothes and left the little house. She waited there for me."You look terrible." she said with an disparaging look. "Thanks, I know that I'm handsome." I answered not offended at all.

We walked through the village and passed the gate and walked down the path. After some several minutes we reached the begin of the forest. Now I realized that Kira was carrying two bows and some arrows. "Here" she gave me the other one "take it." after she gave me an arrow I aimed and shot on a tree around 30 steps away. The arrow hit the branch strong. "Nice shot" she looked at me aproved

"I haven't shot with a bow since I was twelve years old. We played with them." I shrugged "In the jungle a bow is a better weapon as any of your human weapons."

"I thought that. As your nice friends attacked my company, my soldiers died like flies. They hadn't any chance with their muskets." It hurts to remember what happened with me and my company. Perhaps we weren't friends but these ones were my fellows and I failed them. Their lives were lost because of my arrogance. " I am sorry for what happened to your soldiers. I have no friends who took part in it, I asure you!" she looked serious. "But we're not here to shoot at trees. I want to teach you how to hunt" "But I already shot with a bow" I replied. "I know how to kill"

"Exactly, how to kill, but not without hurting the animal. I heard the stories from Malvina that you told the clan, I know how you humans hunt. You make them suffer! " I heard the accusation in her voice and was automatically annoyed. I knew, if Malvina had told me that, I would not react like this, but I could not help it. "I don't want that we kill animals senseless and without need so I will first show you how to match the right point. She went to a big tree and grabbed under the roots where she put out a few not very alive animals. I looked at her questioning an eyebrow raised "They would have died anyway, they were all wounded," And really as I looked more closely I could see that some of the animals had a missing paw or foot. She laid the little animal, which looked familiar to a cat and a squirrel on the ground. „What kind of animal is that"? I asked her. „We call it lamura which means little monkey in your language." Suddenly I remembered that I had seen a picture of a familiar animal in a book when I was at school in Kurbridge. "Yes, we have such familiar animals which are called Lemurs, they are half monkeys." I explained "Why "half" what else are they"? She sounded amused and indeed she was smiling. I started to smile too because I had forgotten that she does not know about such things as science. I looked back at the animal, this time more closely. I noticed that its eyes looked somewhat creepy. Wide open and empty. They reminded me of the young dead soldier who was killed in the battle against the tribe from Kira. I shook my head and tried to get rid of the thought like that. "How is it that there are no wounds?" I asked trying to distract myself. „I snapped their necks so I can show you better." she answered.