Freelance Good Guys: The Perfect Shot

The Perfect Shot

[CHAPTER 1: A DAY IN MIDSUMMER]

SUMMER, 5973

In the tropical Midland jungle was a prosperous village called Uekoro. In Uekoro, the weather was always warm and the rain fell in a fine mist. Rocky mountains choked with greenery loomed all around the village, where colorful birds flitted around and sang their songs during the day.

As the proverb goes: There are always rainbows in Uekoro.

A waterfall poured down from the highest peak of ToucanMountain, just behind Uekoro's royal palace. Three children frolicked under it that afternoon. They splashed in the water and dived from the rocky face, caring not about ruining their clothes.

In the palace, they were two human princes and a servant elfette. But here in their secret playground, they were equals and the best of friends. A herd of dwarf tembo had joined them in the water, bristly little elephants without tusks. They stood only as high as the children's heads.

Itanya, the elfette, had beckoned the tembo with her magic. She could speak with beasts, but only when the princes took off the iron shackles that poisoned her power.

Lukas and Jelani Fanaka were twins, though hardly identical. Their complexions were smooth and brown, Lukas the lighter of the two. Dark hair bound in short locks topped Lukas' scalp, the rest closely shaven. Jelani's hair was left to grow free like a halo around his head.

Lukas was lean and agile like the panthers in the treetops. Jelani was solid and tough like the elephants in the bush. They fought and argued and squabbled every day, but despite their differences, they had one thing in common: their love for Itanya.

The elfette sat upon the back of a tembo, squealing with laughter as it sprayed water into the light with its trunk. Soft rainbows glimmered in the droplets. She leaned forward and whispered a suggestion in its floppy little ear.

Just a moment later, it was spraying Lukas in the face. Jelani cackled at his brother until he was sprayed too, with such force that it knocked him back into the water.

Lukas clambered up the face of the mountain, parallel to the waterfall. He scaled the stone just as naturally as walking until he was standing high up on a ledge. "Itanya! I bet I can flip three times!" he called.

Itanya giggled back, "I bet you can't!"

Doubt was all the motivation the boy needed, and he took a running start before leaping off the ledge. He managed two and a half flips before his belly smacked against the water. Dazed and disoriented, all the air was pushed from his lungs in an instant. White bubbles rose up as he sank down and down.

Then something wrapped around his wrist and pulled. Lukas surfaced with a gasp, the world slowly coming into focus around him. Jelani was pulling him to shore with a smirk on his face. "You flopped like a pregnant hippo," he told his smaller brother, and then he shoved him into the emerald grass.

Jelani began scaling the wall himself. "I'll show Itanya how it's done," he grunted, struggling his way up the rocks. His bare foot slipped and he clutched tighter, grasping for a new hold.

Itanya cupped her hands in front of her lips and called, "Be careful, Jelly!"

"I'm fine!" the boy insisted. He scrambled for better footing, struggled to hoist himself upwards as Lukas snickered from the shore.

Jelani was half-way to the ledge when a shrill voice pierced the air. "Boys! What are you doing out here?" it barked, startling Jelani and sending him splashing back down into the water. He quickly surfaced and the children turned their wide, fearful eyes towards Queen Moswen Fanaka, coming down the stone steps from the palace to the pool.