The Archer
The wind blew softly in the afternoon sun. Shouts of laughter echoed all around the three acres of the medieval carnival. Under a tree, a small group was gathered. Upon the grass sat four young people, two of which sported flaming red hair. About them stood six adults in varying ages and degrees of contentment. Two were quite elderly, the woman leaning on a walking stick. She chattered away merrily with the couple who obviously belonged to the red headed youths. The elderly gentleman conversed amicably with a tired looking man who appeared to be in his mid thirties. Then there was the sixth figure, a surly male in dark clothing to match his dark hair and eyes. He stood apart from the group a scowl on his angular face.
"Well there is so much to do, come on lets go!" the boy with dark hair and glasses exclaimed as he rose.
His three companions followed suit and began to rush off towards to eating booths. They took no more than three steps when five adults surrounded them.
"Be careful and remember no magic unless absolutely necessary," the old man chided kindly.
The four teens nodded and rushed off. Unknown to the group of ten, hidden away within the bushes a lone figure sat, watching and waiting. Shrouded in a dark cloak the figure sat on her heels eyeing the loner. This task would serve to be far easier than expected. As the group dispersed, the eavesdropper slunk farther into shadow to make her preparations.
---
Several hours later, the group met up by the game fields. The archery contest was to begin shortly and they wanted decent seats. They managed second row. As the contest began the contending 12 archers took their spots. At the sound of the trumpet 12 arrows were fired, only 8 reached targets. Thus the second round showcased these eight. After two more rounds, two contestants remained, a young man of Anglo Saxon blood with light hair and light eyes, and a young female dressed in black, her face covered by a large hood. The man took his shot and made it within the bull's eye. The woman lined up her shot and fired, her arrow landing dead center.
"She's good," the red haired boy muttered unaware of just how good she was.
The group split up once again and went their separate ways. The adults made their way over to a comedy act of a fire swallower and magician. The surly man rolled his eyes in disgust.
"The idiot's going to burn himself and if that twit thinks he's doing magic then someone needs to knock some sense into his Muggle head," he groused.
The elderly woman with the walking stick slowly made her way towards the outhouses. At a safe distance, the cloaked winner of the archery contest followed. Before the old woman could utter a sound, she lay on the ground, an arrow protruding from her spine. She lay face down in the dirt.
Back at the comedy performance, the tired looking gentleman took notice of his companion's extended leave and looked around curiously. He had seen her leave towards the outhouses not ten minutes previous. He couldn't imagine it would take anyone that long to use the facilities. Being the kind and loyal friend that he was, he went in search of her. He came upon her body six steps from the outhouse. Tears welled up in his eyes at the horrific sight. He rose and backed away slowly. Suddenly, he felt eyes upon him. He spun in circles, his eyes glancing everywhere. But this did him no good. On his second spin around an arrow hit him in the chest. The shock caused him to stumble towards the nearby forest. He made it several paces into the dense mass of trees before he fell. As he landed, the arrow broke in two. The sender of the arrow stepped over the fallen body, paying it no mind.
---
The foursome of teenagers strolled along the outer boundaries of the carnival. It had been forty minutes since they had seen their chaperones but were not vexed in the least. They were enjoying the cool air and multitude of sounds and smells.
"You guys want to get some cotton candy?' asked the brown haired girl, a childish grin on her face.
"Food!" the two red heads exclaimed joyously.
After walking clear across the grounds, they found the vender. Unfortunately it would take ten minutes to make more of the sugary confection. The brown haired girl declared she would wait for it since she had suggested it. The others concurred and wandered off to look at the many tables of trinkets. The vender slunk behind a curtain to prepare the delight and she waited. Surprisingly, very few people seemed to be around. In an act of boredom the young female dug her hands into her pockets in search of money to pay for all four of the carnival favorite. Checking her watch, the girl noted that thirteen minutes had pasted and the vender had not returned. Neither had her friends. Worriedly she turned around to search the immediate vicinity.
"Guys? Where are you?' she called in a hoarse voice.
Out of nowhere, the air whistled as an object soared towards her. She opened her mouth to scream but choked as her jugular vein burst. She stumbled backwards into the table and slid down to the grass, a large pool of blood beginning to coagulate on her shirt. Only moments later her friends reappeared and stared in awe as the last threads of life were cut.
---
Meanwhile, the group of adults, now reduced to four began searching for their missing colleagues. Thinking they could cover more ground they split up. The red headed couple wandered towards the stands of the games field. They searched fervently amongst the clusters of people that milled aimlessly about but to no avail. Admitting momentary defeat, the couple turned and walked towards the antique booths. Out of the blue, the man's hand grew tense and then lax as he fell forward; an arrow clung to the base of his head. His wife stifled a scream at the bleeding wound in her husband's cranium.
She drew from within the folds of her long dress a slender stick. She turned it towards the sky and it shot out red sparks of light. Before she could place the signaling device back in her coat, an arrow to the head felled her as well. The remaining two chaperones stopped their search when they saw the red sparks in the clear sky. As the two men dashed to the source of the sparks they were intercepted by the three remaining youths. They all wore expressions of fear and terror.
"Where's our mum and dad?" the auburn haired girl questioned frantically.
"We're looking for them, hurry this way," the man with the long white beard and sparkling blue eyes answered.
The group of five came upon the fallen couple within minutes. Blood had begun to dry, leaving deep red patches around the wounds. The crimson locked siblings fell to their knees by their parents' sides. Tears poured like waterfalls from their eyes as they mourned their parents.
The surly dark haired man turned away from the group as a single tear slid down his cheek. The bespectacled boy and the bearded man moved away as well to allow the children some space. With the three of their backs turned, they did not witness the atrocity that struck. Each child slunk to the green earth, bodies paralyzed instantly. They too had suffered the same fate as their parents. The boy let out a muffled gasp as he fell across his sister's stiff form. The remaining three spun around at the sound to find not two but four corpses.
"How?" the boy sputtered.
"We would have heard it," the elderly man mumbled.
"Well its not safe here, let's move," the loner spat hurriedly.
---
The grieving trio wandered in no particular direction with no set destination. It just happened that they stumbled upon the fallen forms of the tired man and woman with the walking stick.
"We're the only three left," the old man muttered more to himself than to his companions.
"This is starting to remind me of Final Destination," the teen said with a shiver.
The dark haired man shot him a perplexed look but then shrugged it off. The younger of the two men began to walk away from the corpses of their fallen companions as the elder man knelt down next to the woman. A tear fell from his crystalline blue eyes and landed gently on her silver hair. As he stood up he let out a soft sigh. He stepped towards the duo but did not make it very far. Within half a minute he was immobilized, hanging limply to the tree directly behind him. The teenager spun around and almost choked on a sob as he took him his mentor, pinned helplessly to a tree by an arrow. He backed up slowly and bumped into the surly man.
"How...why...oh god," he sputtered.
"Come on, we can at least try to save ourselves," the only remaining adult said and grabbed the boy by the arm.
"But..." the boy cried, frantically trying to free himself from the man's iron grip.
"No. There is nothing we can do for him...for any of them," he shouted as he dragged the boy along.
---
The sky began to grow dim at the edge of the skyline as they stumbled through the grounds. They came to the cotton candy stand and found the nutmeg haired girl lying slumped against the booth, the vendor nowhere in sight. The boy tried to break away and run to his fallen friend but the granite-eyed man refused to stay in one spot. He knew they had to keep moving, making them less easy to be hit. After seeing the bearded man fall victim, the younger male knew there was little chance he and the boy would survive. They moved into an open patch of grass that was backed by a small line of maples.
"Where are we going?" the boy questioned nervously.
"I don't know but we can't stay here," the man snapped.
"Look out!" he added quickly.
Suddenly, the man's auditory and visual senses pricked up to a heightened intensity as he pushed the boy to the ground. He winced in pain as he felt his right shoulder being pierced. He looked down and saw it was an arrow. Subconsciously he was not surprised.
"Run!" he shouted to the boy.
The youth did as he was told. He scrambled to his feet and began running towards the wooded area. He stopped just short of the trees and turned briefly to stare at the man he'd left behind. This was a fatal error on his part because before he could move, an arrow pummeled into his forehead, landing in the center of a faded scar. He fell to the ground with a 'thud', his body stiff as a board.
The man watched as the boy fell lifeless to the grass. He knew now that the end was near. He turned slowly around and came face to face with the one person he should have noticed hours ago. It was the archer, the one with the flawless aim. Their eyes met briefly, granite on ebony. He took a step backwards and grimaced as he tried to move his arm. He turned his gaze to the rest of her cloaked body. In her left hand, she carried a slender bow. A quiver containing 2 arrows was slung across her back.
"You...whah!" he gasped as she swiftly sent an arrow into his gut.
He fell to his knees, his pale hands covered in the slippery red substance that oozed from the wound. As the pain coursed through his body, he fell gracelessly onto his back. He stared up at the figure above him, wondering what on earth would possess someone to commit such an act.
"Why...why us?" he asked, as he felt blood slowly beginning to work its way up his throat.
Instead of answering she shot another arrow at him. This one landed several inches above the other, in between his hands. He tried to scream but no sound passed through his vocal chords. He began to see black at the edges of his vision and knew he was fading fast. He had never been in this much pain in his life. He would have gladly taken torture over this. Before his vision dimmed completely, she spoke.
"Devil worshippers. You do not deserve to live. This world will be more wholesome without the likes of your dark witchcraft," she snarled in a deep tone.
Then from out of nowhere, she produced a final arrow. This one was different from the rest for it had only 2 feathers at its end. One was blood red and the other was onyx black. She aimed carefully and with the gentlest flick of her index finger, the arrow found a sheath in the man's chest. He was gone within seconds. With a grim smirk, she turned her back on the man and began walking towards the sunset and vanished.