A/N: Sorry for any long delays coming up, I have big projects + traveling of various types now, so yeah. I'll try to do better when my workload has decreased. But, in my defence, this is a LOT longer than the last ones, so... yeah.
This would have taken a lot less time, had this actually saved when I hit save. Sorry.
"The first thing you always have to remember about shooting a bow is that you have to keep your arm steady if you intend to hit your target." Halt told us. We waited a couple of moments, but it was clear that Halt wasn't intending to say anything more until we had tried to shoot something, so we hefted our bows. They were a light beech re-curves, with a string made out of something that looked like catgut (the stuff they used to put together old string instruments). I reached awkwardly over my shoulder, fingers searching for an arrow. They were also made of a light wood, and was a perfect cylinder, looking almost like it had been made by a machine. It had a practice tip of course, but still. Even the fetching appeared to be exactly spaced, made of feathers so perfect they looked artificial. I nocked it on the string, just as I'd been taught at girl scout camp back home a couple years ago. Then as I placed the edge of the arrow against the wood of the bow, I frowned. "Where's the bridge?" I asked, confused. On every bow I'd ever used, there had been a small device upon which to rest the shaft of the arrow, so you'd know that it would stay in place while you shot it, and shoot in the right direction.
Will returned my frown, also looking confused. " Bridge?" he asked.
"Yeah, you know, the thing you rest the arrow on to make sure it shoots straight?"
"So ... your hand?" Halt replied, raising one eyebrow. God I wished I could do that.
"Oh, right." I said, pretending not to be phased. Sure, use your hand, why didn't I think of that? Eying the bow and my badly drooping arrow, i wrapped my hand around the bow and slid it up to the spot I though the bridge might normally be on a bow. Almost instantly, Halt reached out and pushed my hand down about an inch and a half, silently pointing out a small notch in the bow that showed where my hand was meant to go. Though I didn't look back at him, I could tell he had that annoying condescending look on his face. Sighing, I straightened my arm and pulled the bowstring back.
Wait, let me revise that. I tried to pull the bowstring back.
Unlike the re-curve bows from home, made of lightweight easy to bend plastics and woods, this was made of real, solid wood. I got it about halfway back, when my arm said "He-llo this is heavy!" and gave out, sending the arrow in a pathetic little arc to land a few feet in front of me. The effort require to pull back the string even that far must have been somewhere between fifty and seventy pounds; I could do push-ups well enough, so I could push a hundred something pounds down, but when it came to anything else related to arm strength I was a bit... weak. I could lift with my legs, I had pretty strong legs - I'd dragged four people pushing backwards behind me before - but the pulling part of my arms were pretty wimpy. Pull-ups: not a chance. I'm a writer, a pianist, a school-work-doer, not an athlete. So using those same muscles to hold a bowstring back long enough to aim; Uh uh, not gonna happen.
"Not quite what I had in mind." Halt said acerbically. He came closer, and stood behind me. "Ready your bow again." I did as I was told, nocking the arrow, then raising the bow. He rested his hands on my arms, one on my left arm at the forearm, one on the left upper arm. If he hadn't been like forty years older than me, it most certainly would have been awkward. "Now draw back..." I did as I was told, pulling with all the strength in the little muscle that I had. The string shot back the first couple inches, then became slower and slower as the resistance grew. I made it almost to the tip of my nose, before my arm collapsed again and my arrow when splat. Halt stepped back, looking at me critically. "I think I see what the problem is..."
I looked past him as I heard an "Ugh!" of frustration from Sarah. Two of her arrows lay on the ground as well, hers just a little further then mine were. Both of ours were meters from where the targets sat. Will was looking at the arrows, studying them critically. "Um, Halt?"
"Malcolm said they had lost muscle mass... He just didn't tell us they had lost this much muscle mass. I think that some strength training will be necessary before we can do anything." Halt wrapped his hand around my upper arm again, this time all the way around instead of just resting on top, and tightened his grip to the point where it came close to being painful, and would definitely bruise. "Get out" he commanded. I attempted to do as he said, straining against his hand, tensing the muscles in my arm to try and get away, and when this didn't work I started twisting my arm to get out, but this didn't work either. When I stopped trying, knowing I had been beaten, he released me. As I rubbed my upper arm, he said, "Yes, somehow their muscles just disappeared."
"So, we have to do what exactly?" Will asked
Halt smiled grimly. "Train them."
"You want me to do what?" I said incredulously, staring at Halt. "I don't think so."
"Why not?" He said casually.
"Because I'm gonna kill myself?" I suggested, backing away slightly.
"No you won't. Just try it."
"Just try it," I parroted with a scoff. "Tell me Halt, who's gonna save me if I break my neck?"
Halt looked thoughtful. "Don't break your neck." he said finally.
"Reassuring." I reply sarcastically, shuffling over to the edge of the cliff that we were standing beside. Who knew that Redmont had cliffs? Peering over the edge, I caught sight of glittering deep blue water that was a sickening distance down. Don't get me wrong - I'm not afraid of heights. I am afraid of falling from heights and dying. And so, it was not until I felt my feet lift the ground and then get tossed high up and out over the water that I started to freak out.
Apparently, Halt has some practice tossing people off of cliffs into lakes, because I was almost straight up and down, with my feet leading my way into the water. Through my haze of terror, I knew that this was a good thing. I also knew that having your arms pin wheeling when you hit the water was a horrible idea, because your arms would get torn from their sockets. It took all my will and brain power, but I managed to control myself to the extent that my arms were pinned to my sides. Just in the nick of time too, because within milliseconds of assuming the pencil position, I felt my feet smack very hard into the water.
It felt as if I had come to a stop the instant I hit the water, the impact jarring through my legs and into my spine. I didn't, of course, and kept plunging deeper and deeper into water, the light I could see through my eyelids becoming less and less. Knowing that trying to stop my descent at this point was futile, I let my momentum run out on it's own, without stroking upwards, and wasting my air. However, as I felt my momentum fade and I started stroking for the surface, I found myself cursing silently that I had just had to scream on the way down. As my lungs really started to scream at me, I opened my eyes, tipping my head back to see the surface, and how far away I was. So near, and yet so far, I thought, the phrase taking on a whole new meaning. The last few feet to the surface were a frantic thrashing of limbs, all my air gone, and my limbs starting to grow heavy. It was with immense relief that I felt my face break the surface of the water, and I gasped, my lungs greedily sucking in as much oxygen as they could. My hair was sticking to my face, and I brushed it away with one hand, using the other to tread water. "I'll get you for that Halt!" I screamed up at the cliff, but I'm grinning. Just like the first time I had been off of the high dive at Ranch Camp, it had been fun after I had gotten after the sheer and utter terror. Except this had been slightly higher. By like twenty or thirty feet. No biggie.
"I'm sure you will. Now get going." came his voice faintly from over the top of the ledge. I rolled my eyes but did as he said. I spun myself around in the water, facing the far side of the lake. It was quite a ways - I'm not sure just how far - but I wasn't worried. I've always been a good swimmer, though not competitive, and now that I was able to get air again I felt full of energy. Though I couldn't swim super fast, I could swim for a pretty good length of time. I could do the breast stroke for hours if I didn't try to go super fast. Other strokes I could probably have done too, but I knew that the breast stroke wouldn't make me exhausted. I fell into the familiar rhythm easily; pull, breathe, kick, glide, pull, breathe, kick, glide - a mantra that repeated again and again in my head. Pull, breathe, kick, glide, pull...
Every once in a while, I'd open my eyes to see just where I was going and make sure I was going the right way. Then, I'd shut my eyes again as I plunged my head back under the water. Pull...breathe... I was running out of steam. I pulled my head out of the water. Only perhaps two laps worth of distance left. Thank goodness. I shut my eyes again, concentrating on just keeping going, not letting myself sink. It seemed both a few seconds and an eternity when I felt my shoulders and torso dragging against the silty bottom of the lake. With relief, I pushed myself up onto my knees, pulling my upper body out of the water. I was breathing hard, and my chest heaved, searching for more space to hold air. I felt like I had just sprinted for a long, long ways. I looked back after a while, when I felt like I could breathe more normally. The cliff was small in the distance, and I wondered where that stamina had come from. I couldn't jog that far without stopping. Then again, I'd always been better at swimming than jogging. I lay back in the water, letting myself half float, half rest against the bottom. I wondered if Halt was going to come and get me or if I was supposed to walk back. I decided I'd just lay here for now and find out.
In a matter of minutes, I was asleep.
"Impressive. You didn't even cut corners."
I flickered my eyes open, squinting into the sunlight. Someone stood over me, only a shadow.
"Thanks Halt. Such high praise."
"Don't mention it."
I dragged myself out of the sun warmed water, first onto my knees, then to my feet. The water only came to the bottom of my shins, but it was still wet, and cool now that I was out in the air. I slogged to the shore, stumbling into the shade of a tree, before setting my wet self beside the trunk. My shirt and pants were soaked through - swim material hadn't been invented yet. Suddenly, I was amazingly grateful for the rough tank top like undershirt that I had worn under my long sleeved shirt. I peeled my top layer off, then laid it out on a flat stone so that the soggy cloth could dry off in the sun, before laying back onto the soft grass like plant that grew beneath the tree. It was really long grass - no lawn mowers remember - so it was like I was in a sea of green, the warm breeze producing ripples and waves.
"I hope you don't intend on staying there." Halt said dryly.
"I was thinking I could wait for my clothes to dry..."
"Your thoughts are noted. Now get up."
I groaned but did as he said. I scooped my shirt back up, but left it off in preference for the tank-top in the summer heat. "Now what?"
"Well I was thinking something along the lines of climbing." Without another word, he turned and began walking away. I followed, wondering what he meant. I love climbing, of any kind really - that is, until it comes to getting down. However, I said nothing we walked through the forest. As I brushed the dripping strands of hair out of my face, I wished that I had a hair tie, but, of course, elastic hadn't been invented yet.
We walked deeper and deeper into the forest, and I started to get a feeling for what it was I might be required to climb. I wondered idly what Sarah and Will were doing. Probably not being launched off cliffs, I thought unhappily.
"Remind me again why I'm doing this?" Sarah said darkly, before straining again against the wagon. The wooden cart was laden with stones, lots of them, and she'd been pulling at the cart for at least an hour now.
"To strengthen your legs." Will told her. He walked silently behind the cart and give it a small push. The cart moved a few inches, and Sarah let out a small cry of triumph as he quickly moved away. Hiding a small smile, Will remembered how he had done things like this when he was an apprentice. Well, not exactly like this - Will had always been a pretty strong boy - but doing things that he had truly believed he couldn't do. As he watched the girl strain behind the cart, he thought how much easier it was to train an apprentice who was eager to please. However, he was well aware that when someone eager to please was unable to, they could become very crestfallen, and the way he saw it, a discouraged apprentice was about the worst you could get. So, a push here, a tug there, and viola! Training in body, mind, and confidence. "That will be all for now, Sarah," he said, seeing that the girl's face looked about catch on fire it was so red.
Sarah sagged gratefully backwards, learning heavily on the cart's side. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she wiped her forearm against it. Will came over and patted her on the shoulder.
"You did very well." He told her, and she smiled slightly.
"Thanks." she said, voice hoarse from the heat. "Hey, you used my real name this time."
"Did I?" Will said mildly. When he had finally decided that the whole 'Sarah' thing hadn't been a joke, he had made a point to use the new name as soon as it was appropriate.
"Will!" It was Halt's voice, coming from a ways into the forest.
"What?" Will called back.
"Bring Sal and come join us!"
"Coming!" then he turned back to Sarah. "Perhaps Halt will take a bit longer, though." Sal-no, Sarah, nodded with a grin, and followed him into the forest.
As Will and Sarah entered the clearing, I tapped my foot nervously, drumming my fingers on my thigh. Though I love climbing, I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be quite like Planet Rock.
"What now, Halt?" Will asked jokingly.
"Climbing." Halt replied. He pointed to the huge tree in the center of the clearing. "Get going."
Sarah and I examined the mammoth of a tree, peering up at its towering top, which swayed in the wind. It was a great pine of some sort, and it towered over the surrounding trees.
"Um... that tree?" Sarah asked, pointing at the same one Halt was.
"Yes, that tree."
"Well, um, ya see, that might not work out..."
"She's afraid of heights." I told them, and Sarah nodded, slightly embarrassed.
"No, you're not." Halt said, "You just think you are. Now, get on with it."
"And what happens if we don't climb the tree?" Sarah asked, clearly trying to make an option cost analysis.
Halt looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying, "Well, I don't think you'll be getting any food for a while if you don't climb the tree."
"How long?" I know Sarah, and she was definitely willing to go for days to avoid climbing that tree.
He grinned wolfishly. "Until you climb the tree."
"Will?" Sarah pleaded, but he shook his head ruefully, smiling slightly.
"He still outranks me." Will replied, making Sarah groan.
"And I always will." Halt says, "Now you two stop stalling and get a move on!"
Sarah sighed and turns away, and together we went to examine our designated tree. It was as big as some of the smaller Sequoia's out west, marginally bigger than any I'd ever seen in Michigan. I guess that's what happens when you're forests are chopped almost to the point of disappearing. However, that was not the problem. The problem was that there were exactly zero branches between the ground and fifteen feet up. Even with a boost, there's no way we'd be able to reach that. I'm sure that their intention was for us to cling to the bark and skitter up like squirrels, but that was not at all likely to happen. So, instead, I began circling the tree, looking around for a nearby tree to climb up and jump to the tree that had been assigned to us. Unfortunately, it seemed that Halt had planned this all too well, as all the surrounding trees had no branches close to the ground either. The lowest one was perhaps ten feet off of the ground, and that's a big boost. Thoughtfully, I started fiddling with the closest thing to my hand, which was my knife belt. Slowly, as I registered what I was doing, an idea started to form. I meandered over to the tree with the lowest branches, and, pulling out my throwing knife, I gently tested it against the trunk of the tree, giving it a gentle jab. To my pleasure, even with minimal force, the tip sank into the tree, and it took more effort to pull out than put in. I called over Sarah, examining my throwing knife, and resting my thumb on the edge. I hissed, looking at the line of blood that welled from my finger. I hadn't even applied any pressure, and yet the blade had cut me. Smart one, that's why it cuts into the tree so easily, I chided myself as Sarah came over. "What's up?"
"I have an idea," I told her, and she gestured impatiently that she'd already gotten that part. "Well, what if we take our saxes, and drive them into the trunk one above the other, and we could use them like a ladder to get onto the low branch of this tree. Then, we could jump from this tree to the other one."
Though Sarah looked wary about the whole thing, it appeared that she didn't have any better ideas. "But you're trying it out first," she told me, to which I responded with with a slightly nervous laugh.
She gave me her saxe, as I would need mine when I'm already up on hers. Using the same technique I might with a punch from my karate class, I drove the knife deep into the wood, blade parallel to the ground so as not to cut downwards when we stepped on them. I could only hope and pray that the knife was well built enough to not snap into pieces when we stepped on them. I gave it a yank backwards, and found that it didn't move an inch. Though I was pleased with the result in the short term, I called over my shoulder to our mentors, "We may need your help getting these out." Then, with a boost from Sarah, I managed to step somewhat precariously onto the hilt of the knife, and wrap my arm about the trunk. Then, pulling out my own saxe, I repeated the process, if a bit less gracefully. It's only then that I realized my error in planning. How on earth was I going to get onto this blade without a boost from Sarah? Trying things out, I tried to swing my leg over it, but found that I wasn't that flexible when I had to balance on the hilt of a knife. So instead, I decided to combine techniques, and placed my palms on the hilt, with my arms slightly bent, and very very slowly pushed down, raising myself off the hilt of the last knife, and transferring my weight and balance onto the next one. Now, as if this weren't tricky enough, I then had to get my foot also onto that little hilt (not to mention that my weakling arms were already starting to hurt). Moving very slowly as not to lose my balance, I slowly leaned forwards, then back, then forwards again as I attempted to maneuver my foot onto the hilt. Unfortunately, when I did so, I also knocked my inside hand off of the hilt. I yelped as I felt myself start to fall, and quickly took my now free hand and grasped desperately at the trunk of the tree, my foot slipping back off the hilt so that my thigh was supported on it instead. Feeling my upper body slip further down, I abandoned the knife to my leg and used my other arm to wrap all the way around the trunk, so that I was supported by both my arms and one leg on the knife hilt.
"Don't worry!" Will's voice came from directly below me. "If you fall, someone will catch you!"
"Probably." Halt added.
His sarcastic response triggered something in my brain, and not in a good way. "Another kind word of encouragement from Halt!" I snarled, my fear making me respond in a way that I normally wouldn't. All was silent below me after that, and I slowly was able to catch my breath, and get my heart beat back to normal. Unfortunately, this also meant my arms were getting really tired, and I needed to get a move on by that point. I took my unoccupied leg and managed to get the foot onto the hilt, and used it to help push me up, so that I was mostly standing. When I was able to get my other foot on it, I was golden, and was able to slide into a standing position. I heard a soft but encouraging cheer from below me, and I smiled. "Thanks Sarah!" I called down, and she called back ,"No problem!"
To my relief, the next branch was at waist height, and the one after that at head height. I grabbed the top one, allowing myself to step up onto the waist high one. "Coming up?" I called down.
"Not 'till you get to the other tree!" Sarah informed me, and I chuckled.
"Fine, but won't you be jealous when I'm down by the time you get across!"
"It won't take me near that long you little-"
"Children!" Will yelled over us, and we quit our squabling. Sighing, I continue up a few more branches before I get to my destination.
From the ground, it had looked as if there were two thick branches that touched in midair. However, from up here, the branches didn't seem nearly as thick, or as sturdy. Stomach flip flopping, I stood on the branch like a balance beam, with my arms out to either side, holding a branch. I forced myself not to look down at the ground, and instead stared straight ahead, at the branch that was my destination. There were handrail branches on that side too, much to my relief, but there was a gap of maybe four or five feet that was just me and the branches, one overlapping the other. Slowly, I walked out onto the branch, each step making it dip further and further towards the ground. My ears were tuned for any sound even slightly like a crack, so that I could make a hasty retreat back towards the trunk of the tree. However none came, and I found myself at the end of my hand rails, staring at the gap between the two trees. I took a couple of calming breaths, before calling down, "Okay, I'm gonna go for it - catch me if I fall!"
"Probably!"
"Shut up Halt!" I yelled, forcing myself to forget about him, about the drop beneath me, about all my fragile bones which I had never before broken. Then, with a massive force of will, I took a step back, pulled with my arms to build momentum, and ran with all my speed across the thin walkway in sky.
I can hardly remember what happened - it's like my mind blocked out what happened. But next thing I remember, I was clinging to the branch I had been running on, my abdomen partially on and partially off of it, my legs dangling frighteningly over the ground. Slightly panicked, I swung my legs over the branch, using them to cling on as well until I felt steady enough to continue. I slowly scooted backwards, and used the trunk and nearby branches to stand up, leaning against the tree with shaky legs.
"Are you okay?" Came the call, and to my surprise, it was Halt.
"Y-yeah." I said, voice shaking from the leftover adrenaline. "Yeah, I'm good." I looked down, fighting the vertigo so that I could smile reassuringly at Sarah. "Piece of cake."
Sarah looked at me, then at the tree, then at Halt. "Would you actually let me starve?"
Halt nodded somberly. "Of course I would. I give you my word as a Ranger."
Sarah sighed, then looked up at me. "Fine. Here I come."
"Oh dear god," I muttered, as she stumbled and fell on her way to the tree.
She must have heard me, because as she stood, she glanced over her shoulder and said, "No worries, gravity still works." Then, leaving Halt and Will with that little puzzle, she began the same arduous process as me.
The last scene was a lot longer, but it's editing was completely erased after my little problem, so I re wrote it shorter for time purposes. If you would like, I can post a link to a less well written, but extended version of the scene.
I love it when people review, it makes me feel all happy.
And sorry for bad grammarness, late at night it is.
