The Silver Arrow (12 page)

It had been a week since their
travel to Bayshia, and things at the Wyman were back to normal. For
Elye, it was nice returning to his familiar surroundings and not
worrying about traveling anytime soon. Faray, on the other hand,
had been talking about a plan to go back to Bayshia. He wasn’t
going to wait for the next harvest festival now that he’d taken his
first serious step with Klair. He finally spoke up about it during
supper as the family sat around the table.

“I’m planning to take Klair as
my wife,” he announced.

Elye and Samuel eyed their
father.

“Are you sure she is the one?”
he asked.

“Yes, Father,” Faray replied
with an inflection of certainty in his voice.

No one said anything as their
father stopped eating to look at Faray.

“She is a fine girl and will
make a good wife,” Harold said. Their mother reached out her hand,
smiling with motherly pride, tears beginning to swell around her
eyes. She squeezed Faray’s hand, nodding her head in agreement with
Harold.

Since then, things in the
family in relation to Faray, though subtle, changed. Their father
spent more time with him, as did their mother, as if preparing to
send him off.

They were out in the field
working when Faray told Samuel and Elye he had to leave.

“I have to take care of
something with Father at Ruth’s.”

He was another farmer that
lived several miles from their home. He was selling his old plow;
Elye snorted under his breath, but Samuel heard it. He looked at
Elye but didn’t say anything until Faray was completely out of
earshot.

“What was that for?” Samuel
asked.

“You would think the wedding
was tomorrow, with the way Father and Mother have been treating him
lately. It’s not like a gift of proposer has been given yet.”

“True,” Samuel said,
understanding from Elye’s tone that his concern had nothing to do
with the wedding itself, just the change it was going to bring to
their family’s dynamic. “It’s not like it’s going to be happening
anytime soon, you know. A lot of preparation still needs to
happen.”

“Well…I heard Father talking
with Mother about going back to Bayshia at the end of the season,”
Elye said

“You did?”

“Yes,” Elye replied.

“I guess this means next year
or so, you’ll have two women fussing over you instead of just
Mother,” Samuel said teasingly. Elye face became flushed with
embarrassment. He walked over to Samuel and pushed him by the
shoulder. “No it doesn’t,” he tried to argue in his defense.

While there were the obvious
changes going on in their family, there was another one that was
more personal, brought on by their trip to Bayshia.

Even though Samuel had never
mentioned it to anyone, his encounter with Jayden had aroused
something in him that he could not explain, like the spark of a
kindling stick. Since returning, he had tried to rationalize what
happened to him as just a figment of his imagination, but he could
not dispute the reality of the emerald necklace. Something did
happen. He had held a power that was infinite and uncomprehending
that made everything else insignificant. The feeling was still
fresh in his mind after all this time, which was over two months
ago.

His challenge, now that he’d
agreed not to pretend it never happened, was determining where to
begin. “How do you find answers to something you don’t understand
yourself?” This was the thing that was running through his
mind.

It had been a long day and his
family had just finished supper. Elye was helping his mother clear
the table when Samuel announced, “I’m going to the lake and will be
back by sunset.” He waited to see if anyone else would be
interested in joining him, but no one responded.

When Celina, their mother, saw
that the others weren’t interested in joining Samuel, she spoke up
in that tone mothers use on their children, regardless of age, even
after they leave home.

“You know, son, that I don’t
like you boys going to the lake on your own and−”

“Let him go, Mama,” Harold cut
in, not worried about Samuel. He was old enough and able to take
care of himself. “And besides, the lake is lower during this time
of the season anyway.”

Before Celina could come up
with another reason why Samuel shouldn’t go on his own, Samuel
hurried to his room to get his bow and arrows. The conversation had
changed to something else as he made his way out of the house. He
headed for the woods, cutting through their farm to save time
instead of using the normal trail that led to the lake.

The clouds had been gathering
through most of the day. As Samuel made his way, he looked up at
the sky; from what he saw, he was confident that the clouds weren’t
substantial enough to cause rain.

At the lake, Samuel placed his
bow and arrows by a tree. He took off his boots and tucked his
stockings inside them. He then proceeded to roll up his trousers to
his knees and did the same thing to his sleeves, which he rolled
above his elbows.

He walked over to the periphery
of the lake, carrying his boots with him and placing them by the
edge of the water before dipping both his hands in. He washed the
exposed parts of his arms, face, and feet, which helped cool and
refresh him. Once clean, Samuel slid his socks and boots on and
returned to the tree where his bow and arrows lay.

This corner of the lake was
relatively quiet besides the sound of chirping birds, nestled or
fluttering about between the trees. This place always provided the
type of solitude he needed when he had to think.

Samuel stared at his bow,
really studying it for the first time. He remembered his bow, like
him, had changed as he ran to aid the young man called Jayden. The
bow was old and had scratches all over it. A word was inscribed on
it that he hadn’t noticed before. Written in silver, it read,
‘Lights Arrow.’

He took an arrow from its
quiver, stood up, and aimed for a wild fruit high on top of one of
the taller trees. As he closed his left eye to focus, he felt a
slight vibration underfoot. He stopped and looked around. The trees
gave no indication that anything had just happened.

“Hmm…must have been my
imagination,” he thought, so he returned his focus back to the tree
with the wild fruit, but the fruit was no longer there.

Perplexed by the fruit’s
disappearance, Samuel decided to do some exploring. He had at least
another hour of light, so he made his way into the woods away from
the lake.

Falling leaves of golden brown
and yellow covered the ground, making a crushing sound underneath
Samuel’s feet as he walked deep into the woods. He did not notice a
pothole and stumbled over it, almost falling over. Irritated by
what almost happened, he looked at the hole. “What sort of animal
could have made such a strange hole,” he wondered as he looked at
it more closely, brushing away the leaves around it. The hole, he
realized, looked more like a footprint. But what kind of animal was
it?

Bending down to investigate,
Samuel brushed his finger at the base of the hole. He looked at his
finger; it was black. He smelled it−ash.

Now curious, he walked a pace
from the spot, facing the direction he thought the creature or
thing would have headed. He found another print, but it wasn’t as
deep. Whatever made this was big.

Other prints could be seen
around the next one he discovered, but they were too numerous to
count. These newer prints were smaller and about the same size as a
regular person, even though they were dwarfed next to the last
print he found earlier.

Samuel noticed that the air
around the spot he was now standing had a hint of smoke and the
prints were still fresh, probably made less than three hours ago,
from his estimation. He realized then that whatever made the prints
could still be around and maybe even watching him. He casually
crouched down so if he was being watched, they wouldn’t notice any
difference in his behavior.

Samuel listened for anything
strange or out of the ordinary as he looked around. He quickly
moved behind a tree, still crouched down, and then slowly
retreated. Once he felt he had gone a comfortable distance, he
turned and started running home as fast as he could. He did not see
any prints on his way home.

The sun was setting when Samuel
arrived at the farm. He felt something wasn’t completely right, so
he moved out of the open field. The crops on their farm were knee
high, which made it easy for him or anyone to be spotted from afar.
So he stayed next to the boundary of the farm where there were
still trees.

Relieved that things looked
normal from his distance, Samuel stopped to catch his breath before
proceeding, meandering through the trees. A soft breeze in the open
field carried a charred smell that was distinctively different from
the one rising above their chimney.

They lived outside the main
town and had no neighbors for miles, so it was strange to smell
something burning that wasn’t around the farm. Besides, there had
been no lightning that could have caused a wildfire.

Wherever this smell was coming
from, it had to have traveled a long way, Samuel thought. While
things had looked normal far afield, Samuel could see, now that he
was closer to the house, that the horses and carriage were gone.
That was not the only thing he noticed as he spotted the shadow of
a creature too big to be a bird zipping overhead. He looked up to
see what flew by but it was gone, the shadow disappearing into the
trees.

As he was wondering what was
going on, something tapped him on the shoulder. Samuel leaped
backward, turning midflight to face whatever it was, in between his
wordless shrill.

“Shush…” his father said in a
whisper with a finger across his lips. “They can hear just as far
as they can see.”

“Who? What?” Samuel asked,
trying to compose himself after almost being frightened to
death.

“Come,” Harold said, leading
him away from the house.

Samuel followed as his father
made sure they stayed out of sight, using the trees for cover.

Still not sure what was going
on, Samuel stayed close to his father, who had a sheathed sword
hanging on the left side of his waist. This was a surprise to him,
as he’d never seen his father with a sword.

“There are two of them,” Harold
said softly when he thought it was safe enough to speak again. He
returned his focus overhead, eyes fixed on their destination, as he
continued to speak in a soft whisper. “They move in opposite
directions, going back and forth, scanning for people who are
alive.”

“
What kind of flying
creatures prey on people,”
Samuel wondered as he listened.

“They came from around the lake
and stormed the town, destroying everything along their way,” he
said, pausing for a minute, emotion weighing in his words. “My
first thought was you.” He didn’t have to say anything else; Samuel
understood then more than ever before that his father’s love and
desire for his safety was more important to him than even his own
life.

“The homes and shops in town
have been destroyed,” Harold said sadly. “Since most of the people
could not defend themselves against the strange army that came out
of nowhere, they took for the hills, and the bat-like creatures
that passed overhead have been picking people off.”

“An army,” Samuel said to
himself, stupefied. “Where is everyone?” he asked, referring to the
family.

“They are safe for now, and
your older brother is keeping watch,” Harold replied.

Harold looked up again to make
sure it was safe for them to move.

“Now!” he said, running over an
open field with wild vegetation. The grass brushed against their
legs below the knees as they ran and stopped under another tree
closer to the base of a hill.

Harold led the way as they
climbed up the hillside, using the trees along the way for cover.
The higher they went, the more sparsely forested and open it
became. The ground was rugged with an incline that required them to
climb on all fours.

There were boulders of every
size weathered from their long standing. Some of the smaller gravel
pricked Samuel’s once-clean hands as they moved.

They stopped several times
along the way, making sure they weren’t spotted by the bat-like
creature that scanned the hillside. “There!” Harold said, pointing,
but Samuel saw nothing.

The rays from the sun still
provided some light below the horizon when Samuel saw a narrow slit
on a slightly bulging hillside that most people would miss from any
other angle. It was a single boulder that hid the narrow entrance,
and they were standing at the edge of it.

Harold jumped down, raising his
hands over his head, his face inches from the wall as he landed on
a ledge. Samuel did the same, taking off his bow and quiver, and
not thinking about the drop at the edge of the ledge, which was a
rolling hill covered with jagged rocks that rose from the ground
like spikes.

They moved along a narrow gap
in the mountainside. For several minutes, they had to walk sideways
because it was so narrow. The air was heavy.

Samuel took deep breaths,
trying to calm his nerves while moving between two solid walls that
were a few inches apart from him. Their path was straight, even
though Samuel couldn’t see where they were heading in pitch
blackness.

A flicker of light appeared
overhead after a few minutes, to Samuel’s relief, and the wall also
opened up a bit.

Faray had his weapon drawn and
was relieved to see that it was Harold as he emerged inside the
cavern. He was followed a second later by Samuel, and Faray’s
expression changed into a big smile.

“Samuel!” he exclaimed
excitedly, his voice audible enough for the rest of his family to
hear, and they all ran up to meet him.