Eragos Feareborne (proscribed) wrote in adusta, @ 2008-11-18 16:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | eragos feareborne, knights, vera of beit-orane |
the targets that you strike (vera)
Eragos lifted the crossbow to his shoulder with a fair amount of trepidation. It was easier to say than to do when it came to weapons of this sort. He was never good with weapons of this sort. Mostly because he considered them to be wastes of time if not outright dishonorable weapons. Remembering how to make a repeating crossbow from a set of plans he'd seen and knowing anyone with the woodworking skills required was something else entirely. There were only four crossbows between them, and rudimentary designs at best. Every quarrel was worth its weight in gold by this time. He couldn't afford to miss the target, or to go digging through the snow for hours looking for it. So when he placed the stock against his shoulder and peered through the eyeslit Eragos knew he couldn't miss. But if he didn't miss, it was more luck than skill. Showing someone how to use the crossbow effectively was the work of a master, not of a knight who put all of his faith in his sword and was rewarded for it. Still, the snap was even and rewarding. That wooden dummy - nothing more than a bowl for a head, with rushes and sticks tied together as a body - suffered a blow to the body, and would have been dead if it had been real.
The Lady Cithia clapped more enthusiastically than she should have.
Ever since leaving the home of the old man they'd taken time every night to practice. The moon was especially favorable tonight. Eragos could see its unblinking eye above them like an ever-watchful opponent, but tonight the light was good. The Princess was growing more and more talented with the weapon every time, so that the men no longer feared a stray quarrel embedding itself in their legs. Now she was gaining enough skill that Eragos considered showing her how to shoot from the hip. It was a much more technical skill, but a skill that was worth having, and one he wanted her to know. In the saddle you didn't always have time to aim before the fight was on. Eragos hoped this was what the Lady Vera wanted. Did she even know what she wanted, or what she needed? He had to wonder. Not because of her age but because of her personal stake. It was personal to her. It had to be affecting her judgment. Then again, when he thought about going up against his own father, nothing that came to mind was in any way positive. And he doubted it would cloud his mind so much as he seemed to think it clouded hers.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
"You are quite good," the Lady Cithia pointed out politely.
"Luck more than anything else," Eragos told her sternly. "The most important thing is to keep your shoulders steady. Your body steadies the aim. If your hands shake you can overcome it. If your arms shake the quarrel will fly wild, and then you'll waste seconds reloading. The feeling of being rushed sets in."
Eragos took no time and no trouble reloading the crossbow for her. Instead he offered the Lady Cithia the unloaded weapon. She had to learn how to do it now or she wouldn't learn how to do it at all. A breath of cold passed through him as she stepped by, a breath of something distant and strange that was sucked into his lungs. Eragos did not know the feeling but knew the oddness of it. Something was strange with her. He was not a counselor or a personal adviser, so he did not ask. The Lady Vera wanted her trained in the crossbow. If she was to be trained, then the training would proceed, and that would be the end of it. Eragos was not attempting to make a friend of royalty. Nor would it be especially wise given the circumstances they currently found themselves in. One of the teamsters approached to help her aim and steady her weapon. Eragos, meanwhile, buckled his swordbelt back on before he stepped toward the impromptu conference between the king and the lady in white.
He had fire in his eyes. So did she.
"Master Feareborne, I'm glad you're here. You seem to be the only one that she'll listen to."
"A gracious statement, Your Majesty, but your words carry the most weight," Eragos deferred as politely as he could given the fact that he wanted to offend no one.
"She means to take us through the gate. Through the gate! No wonder you mean to give her weapons training, as well. What else are you planning, Vera? To raise an army from nothing?"
For his part Eragos merely kept silent. He'd discusssed it with the Lady Vera before, but since they had no way to get around the gates without being hunted like dogs by the army and their original pursuers, the prospect of trying to sidestep the gates had never come up. Eragos was still interested, all things considered, to see how she would handle this.