A Sword For Gold

Chapter 1 - Starfall

"You're buying the whole pie if you miss, Maraxus."

"Not a chance, Cora," Maraxus fired back, as he slowly aimed his nocked arrow towards the training dummy that he and his close friend, Cora, had set up in a clearing just along the outskirts of the small and quiet village that they lived in.

The training dummy was riddled with nineteen arrows squarely clean on the head of the dummy, ten of which were shot by Cora and nine by Maraxus. He needed to tie their score so that he would be able to get off the hook and spare himself the annoyance of having to treat his friend to food once again.

Maraxus then took a deep breath as he steadied his aim towards the head of the training dummy. As he let go of the bowstring, Cora attempted to startle him, shouting "Miss!" in his ear as he took the shot. Maraxus was unfazed, however, doing little to react to Cora's sudden attempts at making him miss, as could be seen as his arrow hit the dummy cleanly on the nasal area, tying the score, ten to ten.

"You were saying, Cora?" taunted Maraxus with a smirk as he walked over to the dummy and slowly retrieved the arrows that were lodged into the woodwork one by one.

It was the middle of a hot day, and both of them were sweating after a long, thrilling competition of marksmanship. Maraxus brushed his chestnut hair back as he wiped the sweat off of his freckled, fair face and rubbed his emerald eyes and stretched out his arms as he yawned after a grueling, scorching morning.

"Hey, we're not done!" exclaimed Cora as she stepped in front of Maraxus, who was about to place the arrows back in their respective container. "Five more shots each, then we'll see who gets to treat the other!" she said.

"Come on, Cora, I want to eat already," complained Maraxus, "We haven't had lunch yet, and I'm really hungry for a pie right now."

"Alright, fine," relented Cora, "We can settle the score later. Split the cost?"

"You bet," Maraxus agreed with a nod as they both walked together towards the tavern where pies were being sold, fresh out of the heat in the middle of the day. In the small but lively Starfall Village, it was always the best time of the day, where appetites were high and ready to be sated, and the cooks of Goley Tavern were selling their delicious lemon pies left and right, all while being friendly with the townsfolk as always.

"Hey, everyone make way for the Starfall Hunters!" certain townsfolk announced as Maraxus and Cora neared the tavern. Both of them, despite only at the young age of sixteen, were well-known by almost, if not everyone in the village. They were renowned as prodigies both in fighting and in marksmanship, because of their feats from before, such as taking down wild boars terrorizing their fields and driving away bandits who would come to bring harm to the village, and so much more. In fact, people from outside the village such as those from neighboring villages or from cities would come to their village seeking the services of the Starfall Hunters.

One could only imagine the look on their faces when they actually see for themselves what these famous hunters looked like: a young, chestnut-haired lean boy with emerald eyes who always carried a sword at his back wherever he went, and a silver-haired girl who always tied her hair in a ponytail, with eyes as blue as the clear sky, and a pair of naturally red rosy lips to compliment her fair complexion, who always had a bow and a quiver at her back and a pair of tiny daggers sheathed at her hips.

Anywhere this pair went around the village, they were always greeted warmly by any villagers they'd run into. Especially now, at the tavern, the moment they had arrived and sat down by one of the tables, they were immediately greeted by a pie, sometimes on the house, but other times the hunters were too kind to receive a pie for free, and such was the case today as both Maraxus and Cora already had five silver coins prepared in their hand, in case the owner of the establishment would want to treat them to another pie yet again.