Atop the tower

Shirou sighted another target. He pulled the Powerbow taut, the arrow aimed to take the target in the chest. He breathed out and before breathing in again he fired. The arrow found it's mark easily.

It was strange in a way. This bow was far more powerful than any bow he had owned before. He could feel through his fingers the magic, the Essence, that made up the Powerbow. He knew it's draw strength, it exceeded that which he thought humans could draw. It exceeded his own strength. So how was he doing it?

He felt his Essence flow into the weapon, attuning it. With each minute that passed it became easier to draw. It might even feel like no effort at all when it was done. It wasn't perfect, he could feel the fact that the Jade wasn't 'Meant for him'. As a Solar he sensed that a powerbow made of Orichalcum would have suited him better. Yet this bow was real in a way his projections just were not. It felt more right to him.

It actually felt like a pity he had not reforged any noble phantasm arrows yet. This was the perfect bow with which to test them. A project for later.

The ships had come into port and they were unloading soldiers onto the docks to swarm the city. Shirou shot at another defender who seemed to be directing the defense effort. The soldier just caught the arrow and tossed it to the side before glancing up towards Shirou. A dragon-blood then.

One of the Dragon-bloods who came to the tower with him ran up the stairs to him as he fired another shot at the soldier who seemed to be gathering forces to take to the tower. The Dragon-blood who came was the female one, her soldier came with her as well. The two just stood and watched as more arrows were fired.

"You know," the Dragon-blood started slowly "You are going to give yourself away if you use your essence so freely."

Shirou didn't look over as he readied his next shot "I'm not using any. I'm not a Dragon-blood after all." It was easier to hide the truth if they didn't see his eyes.

"Yes, we see that." The soldier deadpanned "That Caste mark burning on your forehead is certainly not the kind of thing a Dragon-blood would have."

Shirou looked over in surprise as the Dragon-blood tutted in disappointed "You dreadful Anathema, When we tell what we have seen today the Wyld Hunt will track you down and kill you... Unless of course you do what I say."

Shirou held his hand up to his forehead and saw golden light shining onto his hand. As he did the soldier whispered something to the Dragon-blood who just gave a short laugh before her eyes settled on Shirou "I assume you tried to attune the bow? Reckless thief that you are, you did it with your peripheral essence. Perhaps your personal pool was empty? Regardless that sign will show what a monster you are as long as it shines."

By this point her voice was less scornful and more sarcastic which confused Shirou but she continued right on in the same tone "If you, a horrible demon, wants to hide yourself from the eyes of justice you would be well suited to try and hide. That sign will keep shining though and nothing can hide it though so you might want to hide it by not letting any more essence slip into your Anima."

Again her voice shifted, from sarcastic to informative, Something like a teacher telling a student how to solve a problem "Your Caste mark will continue to burn brightly for about ten minutes and fade completely in another ten."

Her soldier whispered something to her again more angrily but the dragon-blood just looked back to her and spoke simply so even Shirou could hear "Cloaked Blessing, do as I tell you or, maidens help me, I will have you censured once for each time you have annoyed me since we arrived in the south."

The girl recoiled back as if slapped before stuttering "You, you don't have the authority."

The Dragon-blood smiled in a way that seemed too stretched "Oh I have a few favours that I can call in if forced to. Now shut up."

By this point Shirou was simply confused, he was fairly sure the two women's conversation meant something important but for the life of him he couldn't understand what. At last the Dragon-blood turned back to him and clapped her voice shifting back into sarcastic "Now awful monster, find a place to hide while you finish attuning that bow. Once your head stops shining so brightly put on a helmet and get back up here."

Shirou nodded quickly, what she said seemed like the sensible thing to do. He carried the bow down the steps and found a room to hide in.

It was some kind of storage room. He walked behind a box and threw a sheet over himself. The golden light that still shone from his forehead lit the underside of the sheet. It would be his messure to tell when the light had faded.

Somewhere below he knew the other two were holding the tower with choke points and traps that had been set up as he climbed to the roof. Hopefully the other two would join them while he recovered.

Essence then, He could feel the two pools. One was larger than the other but knew that pulling from it is what lit up his forehead. The smaller one was almost empty. It must have been exhasted by his fight with the dragon-blood on the roof and so his attunement pulled from the pool he still had. It was as the Dragon-blood said.

The one thing he didn't get was how she spoke. Nereth had told him about Anathema and he also knew a little from the Lunars in the south. Why had this Dragon-blood then tried to help him, even her soldier had seemed against the idea if he understood her actions properly. So why did she do it?

He would have to ask later.

He heard a rumble from down below. He stood up quickly. While his forehead was much dimmer now he could still see a little light. Hopefully it could be hidden now at least.

He left the room and headed into another nearby, this one was another storage room but for armour instead of materials. He quickly grabbed a helmet and put it on as he ran downstairs.

End of chapter.

I think I have trouble giving Shirou agency in this story. Where as Sakura is dealing with her demonic side and Rin is trying to help both of them, Shirou is just trying to fulfill the deal he made to the Dragon-bloods and so he just gets told what to do a lot of the time.

Also speaking, Shirou needs to do more of that. I just really can't think of things he would say a lot of the time.