Dreamscape: Saving Alex (22 page)

The crowd grew
silent.

“On my count,” she
said, turning her attention to the stacked hay at the end of the field. “Three,
two, one,” she said, releasing the bowstring. Both arrows whooshed across the
field, striking the targets. Only one penetrated the inner circle.

General Tanner
bowed in defeat, wrapping one arm around his stomach and outstretching the
other towards her. “As usual, I defer to your talents.”

“One of these days
you’ll get the best of me, good sir. I have faith in you.” She patted him on
the back before turning her gaze to the crowd. “Now, for my prize.”

“A date, I believe,
is what you requested,” Tanner said, adjusting his armor.

“Yes, a date. But
not with you, dear boy,” she said, patting him on the chest.

He stumbled back,
his lower lip pouting, hand draped over his chest like he had been hit, until he
ran into the stacked hay bales. A deflated expression filled his face.

“I knew your offer
was too good to be true. Outplayed by your talent and wit again. I stand no
chance against you.” He readjusted his breastplate and bowed with a wink.

“Oh General,” she
laughed. “I outplay you here so no one gets the better of you out there. Think
of it as training.”

“By the master,” he
said.

“Would you want to
be trained by anyone lesser?” She walked along the outer edge of the field. All
eyes followed her, curious to see whom she chose. We didn’t have to wait long.
She stopped in front of Arrow.

Crap. I knew it. Of
all the people here, of course it would be him. I held my breath and waited.
She leaned in, whispering in his ear. Arrow tossed his head back and chuckled.
Melody brushed her hair off her shoulder and continued walking. I exhaled and
fought my growing smile.

“Time to choose my date,” she mused, still walking
slowly around the field, twisting the strands of feathers on her vest. Sighs of
disappointment came from each person she passed by. Whatever game she played
with them, she played it well. They all leaned forward in anticipation.

I glanced over my shoulder to where the ladder to
the bridge was tethered. Now was my chance.

“I choose you,” her smooth voice called out.

I looked up to see whom she had chosen, surprised
to see her only a few feet away, staring at me.

“What? Me?” I choked out. A lump grew in my chest.
“You’re joking, right?”

“I don’t joke,” she said gravely, and then the corners
of her mouth lifted. She held out her hand expectantly.

I looked over her shoulder at Arrow, who simply
shrugged, and then I skimmed over the rest of the crowd that eagerly awaited my
response.

“I don’t… I, uh, sure,” I said, reaching for her
hand.

“Don’t be shy. No matter what rumors General
Tanner spreads, I don’t bite,” she said with a wink. “Now come on in here,” she
insisted, pulling me into the field near the weapon barrels. “We don’t have all
day, and I don’t want to go back to work without a little fun first.”

“But, I-I don’t…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to have fun?”
She arched an eyebrow and let my hand drop. “I had higher hopes for the Golden
Hero.”

“Hey, wait, I didn’t mean that. I know how to have
fun. It’s just…” My words lingered as I looked around, watching the crowd
disperse. The spots that had been so crammed with people grew empty. It seemed
everyone else had somewhere to be. There was nothing I had to do, nowhere that
I needed to be. I sighed.

Melody watched me curiously, leaning against the
barrel of arrows. “It’s just what?”

“It’s nothing,” I said.

“That’s what I thought.” Melody flipped her dark
curls behind her shoulder and pulled out a handful of arrows, filling two
quivers.

Arrow approached from the other side of the field.
“Treat her nice, Melody,” he said. “We’ll need her later.”

“My prince, I’m offended at your suggestion.” She
batted her eyes and curtsied.

“No, you’re not.” He laughed aloud.

“Ah, you know me too well. As you wish. She’ll be
returned unharmed and in one piece. Care to join us?” she asked.

Arrow glanced between us and then over his
shoulder to the general’s tent. “I can’t. There’s some unfinished business with
General Amos I have to take care of.”

“Ah, that old man doesn’t know how to have fun.”
She pouted.

“This isn’t all about fun,” he said.

“Well this is.” She waved Arrow off and turned her
attention back to me. “Are you ready?”

“I, uh, sure,” I said, wiping my hands on my
tights.

Arrow reached for me, his hand sliding down my arm
and stopping at my wrist. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“What?” Melody jumped in. “I don’t think so. Your
precious hero will be fine. Go, off with you. Do whatever you and your generals
do in that tent. It’s my turn with her.” She pushed him away.

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll be fine,” I whispered. He shrugged before
leaving the field.

I watched him leave and sighed. When I turned back
around, Melody arched an eyebrow and handed me a full quiver.

“So what’s the deal with you and our prince? You
seem close.”

“I…uh…what?”

The smirk on her face grew as I fumbled for words.
“You don’t need to worry.”

“Worry about what?” I asked.

She kept her gaze low as she looked through the
weapon barrel. “About him,” she said, pulling out a black arrow.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, too quickly.
I bit my inner lip as she smiled.

“I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.”

Relief flooded through me, and I fought the smile
threatening to take over my face. “Oh, we’re not—”

She interrupted me with a hearty laugh. “Trust me.
He’s my cousin. I know every expression that passes across his face. He’s
interested, and I’d wager the same for you.” She pulled back on her bow,
focusing down the field. “You may be our hero, but you’re not a very good
liar.” She released a perfect shot.

He’s my cousin.

Three words never sounded so good.

“So what did you have planned for us?”

Melody leaned back against the barrel and ran her
fingers over the edge of the feathered shafts. “I thought we’d find out just
what you’re made of.”

“That’s not vague.”

She threw her head back in laughter. “I like you,
Alex. You’re not afraid to tell it how it is.”

I fought against the grin growing on my face.
“What can I say? It’s hard to be anything but blunt here.”

“You speak the truth, and you’re not afraid to
fight. No wonder they sent you,” she said.

“Look, not everything you’ve heard about me is
true.”

“I’ve heard a lot, we’ve all heard a lot, and I
wanted to tell you something. That’s why I chose you.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

She brushed her long hair off her shoulder and looked
me straight in the eyes. “Thank you.”

“Thank you?”

“You sound surprised,” she said, throwing me a bow
from the pile of weapons. I barely caught it before it hit the ground.

“It wasn’t what I expected you to say,” I
admitted, looking over the bow. “Most of my first impressions haven’t gone over
too well.”

“I’ve heard that, too,” she said, smirking. “None
of us knew what to expect when we heard of you. History and legend didn’t quite
give us a clear picture.”

“I can imagine,” I mumbled.

“But you’re here, and some of the men told me what
you did. Coming back to save them, and then those girls. That was nothing short
of heroic.”

“Who told you that?” I asked.

“Boris told me everything. Even grumpy old Cale
had something nice to say about you.”

“That surprises me.”

“Me too,” she said. “But those girls and our men
owe you their lives, and we owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“Is that what this is supposed to be?” I lifted
the bow awkwardly.

“Something like that. Do you shoot?” she asked.

“A little.” I hedged my bets. When my mom was late
picking me up from the gym after climbing, I’d tried archery a few times. I was
pretty good for a beginner, but I couldn’t do anything like what she had done.

She gave me a crooked smile. “This will be fun.
Head closer to the target, and we’ll practice a bit. You never know when it’ll
save your life.”

I followed her lead and mimicked her stance.
The smooth shaft slipped in my palm as I adjusted to
the heavier weight of the wooden bow. I hadn’t shot in months, and I wasn’t in
the mood to be embarrassed.

“Good, good,” she
said, looking me over. “Relax your shoulders and loosen your grip on the arrow.
This is supposed to be fun, not torture.”

I listened but
didn’t respond. Not everyone had gone back to work, and I felt their eyes on
me. My grip slipped on the bow. I readjusted my hands, ignoring the giggles
from the side.

“Don’t worry about
them. Block them out and focus ahead. On my count. Three, two, one, release.”

My arrow sliced
through the air. The fletching wobbled as it skewered the outer ring on the
target. It wasn’t a bull’s-eye, but it was good enough for me.

Melody ran to
remove the arrow.

“Looks like you can
shoot after all.
Let’s see how good you are.” She stepped back to where
she had shot earlier with the general. “Think you can hit it from here?”

I joined her and took my aim. Her competitive
nature was contagious. “Without a problem,” I said.

The awkwardness between us disappeared after that
next shot, replaced with something I had missed. She reminded me of Natalie. I
bit my lower lip. It was bittersweet, thinking about her. Of course, nothing
could be the same as my relationship with Natalie, but having a new friend felt
good.

We fell into a routine of alternating our shots. I
took her suggestions to improve my form, and my arrows began to land closer to
the center.

“How did you become such a great shot?” I asked.

“Do you want the short or long story?”

“Short, I guess.”

“Years of practice. I need to be good enough to
kill my father.” She released the arrow and it skewered the target.

I lowered my bow
and stared at her. “Okay, back up. I guess I want the long version.”

She sighed and brushed her hair over her
shoulders, pulling her leather vest to the side. A jagged scar stretched down a
few inches from her collarbone. “My father gave it to me for my fourteenth
birthday.”

“Your dad did that? How? I mean, why?” I asked.
Sure, my parents had stabbed me in the back before, but not literally. I
couldn’t even imagine.

She pushed her sleeve back into position, covering
up her collarbone. “I don’t think he wanted to kill me, just send me a
message.”

“What message was that?”

“That not even his daughter was more important
than the throne.”

“His daugh—” I covered my mouth. “Wait! Your
father’s Berkos?”

“Yup.”

“Oh my god, what did you do? I mean, I can’t...”

She shrugged. “Given the choice between running
away or being killed, I chose to run. Thankfully, Arrow found me hiding in the
woods while he was out hunting with his men. They took me in and taught me
everything I know.”

“They did a good job.”

Melody shifted her
weight and set her next arrow. “Revenge can be a powerful motivation. Look, I’m
not here to reminisce. The past is past. Done. I only focus on the future now.”
She fired her arrows off in quick succession.
All of them landed in a
vertical line, splitting the targets in half.

Whoa. She was one girl I didn’t want to mess with.

“All righty, then...Can you show me how to do
that?” I asked.

She appraised me and chuckled. “I don’t think
you're ready for that yet.”

I gave her an exaggerated pout and reloaded my
bow, taking aim down the field. My arrow missed the target by a foot.
I laughed as I ran to get the arrows.

“I guess you’re
right. So what else can you teach me? What do you do for fun?”

“Are you saying you’re not having fun?”

“No, no. I am,” I said. “But what else do you do
here?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged and released her next
arrow. “Probably the same as you. We hunt, weave, draw, explore, train.”

“Yeah, just like me,” I muttered.

“Oh come on, you know what I mean. We have fun,
but we don’t dare lose sight of our goal.”

“To save the queen,” I said.

“No, that’s Arrow’s fixation. For the rest of us,
it’s not just that. We’re fighting to save ourselves.” Her face softened. She
lowered the bow and looked at me. “The Grove is our home now, but before,” she
said, “before, we could go anywhere, do anything. We had opportunities, lives,
and loves. We fight to get that back. I’m not an idealist like Arrow. I love
the queen and want her to be safe. But I really just want my life back.”

I nodded and looked down at my quiver. I knew
something about not wanting to let the past go.

“Anyways, you’re not bad at this. With more
training, I’m sure you’d be my equal.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said. Then I added
more quietly, “I don’t think we have time for that.”

“Speaking of time, as much fun as this has been,
it’s getting late. What do you say we call it a night?”

I shrugged, looking up at the dim sky. Part of me
wanted to sleep, but I didn’t feel ready. I had a friend again and didn’t want
to let that go.

“If you’re up for it, I’d like your help
tomorrow,” she said, reloading her quiver with arrows. “There’s a lot to do
around here, and we could use you. That is, unless there’s something else you
have planned?”

“No, there’s nothing planned, at least not that I
know of.”

“Then we’re settled. Tomorrow morning I’ll come
find you. And, if you have any questions about anything or anyone, all you have
to do is ask.”

“Good night,” I said, watching her glide over the
hay bales with ease.

The short walk back to my tent did little to quiet
my mind. As I lay on my cot, looking up at the white ceiling of the tent, I
wondered if I would ever sleep through the night again.