Winter Waking

He turned back to me as I took aim, "I want you to hit the morning glory in full bloom."

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at his self-satisfied expression before turning back to my target. I released all the air from my lungs and steadied my body staring down the arrow shaft and feeling the slight wind pull my hair. I pulled the arrow back further until I was confident and let it go. I watched it fly through the air and knew before it landed that it was a clean shot.

Without a word one of the soldiers retrieved the arrow and handed it to him with a perfectly full morning glory skewered on it. "Now," I said as I held my hand out for my arrow, " tell me what I want to know so we can both continue with our day?"

He regarded me with amusement, hiding his surprised expression, "I know your brother," he began and I felt my body relax immediately when he said know and not knew. He was still alive. "We trained together for years. He should be about fifty miles east of here taking care of a border dispute in Newpoint. And based on the many stories he has told me about his family I would guess that you are Winnie," he grinned at me mischievously.

I glared at him, guessing where this was going, and it was nowhere good. Before he could continue I lurched forward, grabbed my arrow and dropped it in its quiver, and returned my bow to its resting position. I pulled Hail around to leave but stopped, "If you see my brother before I do I want you to warn him that I will kill him myself if he ever worries me like that again."

I glanced over my shoulder one last time before clicking my tongue three times to spur Hail into a full gallop. I didn't really need this man, whoever he was, to tell Alek for me. I had made up my mind already of what I was going to do. I knew Alek wasn't coming home anytime soon so I was going to him. Joining the army as a soldier was the easiest way for that to happen and besides, it had always been a dream of mine.

I was born to fight.