Minecraft - A Novel - The Journey Begins

Chapter 4 - Practice

When it was time, Peter rushed to the training

He had found it once while exploring the castle, and if he was lucky, somebody was there for him to watch.

Watching them was fun because he saw the battles that took place. He had once even met a hero, Gerald the great. Gerald had been very kind to him.

When he saw the little figure of Peter emerging, he had offered to show him a couple of moves.

Peter tried, but used the sword with real difficulty, but was a very eager learner.

Peter had learned how to block, disarm, and slash with a sword. He used the practice wooden one, while Gerald used a stone.

"When can I be as good as you?" Peter asked, placing his sword down.

"Someday", answered Gerald, and he laughed, "Someday."

After a few more hours, Gerald took a drink of water. Peter sat down on a nearby bench. Gerald then looked down at his watch.

"Peter," he said, "It's getting late now." He watched Peter, smiling. "You should probably get back now," he continued. "I need to get going."

"Tomorrow?" Asked Peter, looking with wide eyes. "Maybe", replied Gerald, "Maybe".

These memories flashed through his mind like lightning. Swiftly, he continued going down toward the training room. Painting after painting he passed, Room after room. It seemed as if the hallway would never end.

Finally, he reached the training room, filled with weapons of all sorts, swords and bows, axes and sticks.

Before he entered the room, he heard whispers coming from inside it.

"Are you sure he is ready?" asked one voice, "I don't know", said the other, " but Alexander, we have spent too much time waiting.

"You may come now, said the voice.

Turning, Peter found himself face to face with his father. His mother was standing a few feet behind him.

King Rolfe grabbed a wooden sword, short compared to the other ones and handed it to Peter. Excitedly, Peter grabbed it.

Searching, King Rolfe then found a larger wooden sword and held it.

Peter waited top for his father to talk, and kept silent.

"Peter," he started, "Which weapon would you like to try first?"

Peter smiled. "The bow, father!" Peter said, pointing to the stack of bows. Taking one, he took the sword Peter had in his hand and replaced it with a bow. Then, he gave Peter an arrow hanger to go on his back, and placed a few arrows there.

Peter waited, wondering what would happen next.

King Rolfe then flicked a lever, and if by magic, one side of the cobble stone wall broke, revealing 3 arrow targets.

"Shoot then", he said, with a grin on his face.

Before doing so, Peter glanced at his mother, who was behind him.

She was also grinning, but unlike King Rolfe, she was trying to hide it.

What were they grinning at?, Peter wondered, and with that he aimed. His arrow was put to his bow, and Peter closed an eye. He did not shake, and the bow was very steady.

Like a missile, the arrow was shot so quickly that Peter did not realize he had done so. Peter had shot towards the end, which counted to 4 points out of 10.

Peter looked at his father. "It's okay," he said comfortingly," It's only your first try. You did pretty good being that this is your first shot ever.

Peter relaxed. He put another arrow to his bow and aimed. Peter was now expecting the speed, and did not tense as much.

The arrow hit towards the middle, but was not perfect. 7 points. Not too bad.

Peter tried again, with much confidence. He repeated the same movements, but right when he shot, he moved the arrow upward by accident and knew he had failed.

However, this did not happen. Peter, by aiming higher got 9 points. It was then when he realized his father was laughing.

His father must had known what he was doing the whole entire time!

"You do it then!", Peter said jokingly.

Reluctantly, King Rolfe did. "I always like a challenge", he said with a smile.

Taking the bow, he shot an arrow, he aimed. He shot the arrow with so much power the arrow pierced the target. 10 points.

He handed the bow back to Peter, who was still surprised.

Now his mother was laughing.

"Well," King Rolfe says, "Lets go back. I think this was enough for today" Queen Brianna nodded in agreement.

"That's all?", asked Peter, "Why, that was only 20 minutes!"

King Rolfe sighed. "Peter," he started,

However he was interrupted by Peter. "I can't take this anymore!", "You never let me do anything!" His eyes burned with rage.

"Someday, you'll understand", Queen Brianna replied, tears glinting in her eyes.

With that, she seized her husband's hand and walked away.

Peter stood there speechless, rage still swimming inside his heart.

He rolled his eyes. Well guess what? He thought, I do not think I will ever understand!

He threw the bow down, but hesitated the moment it hit the floor.

Did he feel sorry he had just acted that way, or was it anger. The ager that had consumed him a minute ago disappeared completely and his heartbeat slowed back to normal.

Now, he thought, how do I craft a bow? A crafty look shone on Peter's face.

The book he threw was a bad one, but he still had the arrows. How do I craft a bow?