I am Reborn through Revenge

Simon lost

I could see the men slowly reducing their voices. “C’mon snitches, are you preparing breakfast? Bring it on!!!” Nightwinder shouted from behind. The men began their chants again. This time, even louder. Simon said something to me, but I didn’t hear him.

“What? You said? Louder please!” I told him, narrowing my eyes.

“I said, what type of game would you love to play?”

Now, I heard him. I saw Simon coming forward to where I was with bruises on his right thumb. Solutions began to flow in like air to my head. Since he was wounded on his thumb, I was sure that there was no way he could shoot an arrow perfectly with that kind of open flesh.

Oh!

I didn’t mention that I already noticed that he was right-handed; I noticed that from the way he handled the Warhammer. Shooting with a bow was one of my favourite fighting skills and even if Simon was a mastery of this skill, there was no way he could easily defeat me at the moment with that sort of wound he had on his thumb, I thought.

“We’ll use a bow instead,” I said.

"What?"

"Yes."

"Oh! C'mon. That's not the agreement," he said.

"There's no agreement," I said. “Listen, at three hundred yards apart, we will shoot to kill each other.” His eyes widened, but I continued anyway, ignoring his expression. “You will shoot and then I shoot and we will do it for two rounds. Now listen, no one gets to move an inch away from an incoming arrow. You are free to have your eyes closed in case you are scared but you don’t get to move. If you move, you lose. Understood?”

He couldn’t answer me for few seconds. I guess he was checking the odds. When it seemed like he had thought my deal over, he smiled. “You are crazy, Prince. I love this game.”

“Are you delivering babies there? What’s taking so long?” someone among the knights asked. Then other voices too followed, asking different questions. Questions I won’t be able to answer.

“The Prince said that sword fighting is very boring. He wants to take this to a different kind of new level” Simon shouted, replying to the men. Then everywhere suddenly became quiet. Maybe they were eager to see the new game I wanted to bring, I thought.

Simon went to the stakes and collected two bows and arrows. He came to me and gave me one bow and then shared the arrows. He now brought a hankie and tore it. He wrapped his wounded thumb with a torn hankie.

Hell! I wasn’t expecting that. Now he had covered his wound, I was unsure of what he could do. I regretted asking him to shoot first and I was sure as hell regretted telling him that it was going to be a shoot to death game. Maybe I overestimated my confidence and at this point, there was no way I could tell him to let it slide. I wasn’t a man of monkish virtue and care too much about my integrity so backing down was no longer an option. If not for anything, at least for my dignity, I won’t do it. I dropped the arrows on the ground and then kept the bow upright, supporting it with my knee. I placed my hands on my forehead and then gently slid them back. I packed my hair and knotted it. I didn’t want any interference. I picked my arrows and bow again, then began to walk back. I didn’t bother to look, I just continued walking back without even looking at where I was going. And Simon did the same. Maybe both of us didn’t want any surprises. When we were three hundred yards apart, then it seemed like the knights realized what we were up to, they suddenly began chattering and shouting again. I looked at Simon’s position, with my left shoulder facing him and my left hand holding the bow. I looked at him again and I realized that three hundred yards were farther away than I thought. Though I had practised several times with this range but it was almost rare to hit a target perfectly or almost impossible to wound or kill an opponent that far. I would have given a lesser span to Simon but I had no idea how good he was. I didn’t want to shot myself in the foot and that was why I choose three hundred yards. At least it would be fair to both of us, I thought.

There was a wicked smile on his face as I saw him picked up his bow and arrow. When he placed the arrowhead on the bowstring, the smile developed into a smirk. The men again started chanting and shouting his name. The crown Prince was also carried away by the thrill, I didn’t blame him. I blamed myself for coming there in the first place.

Simon stretched the string with a ferocious look on his face. I could read his intention. He wanted to shoot to kill. I realized the knights knew nothing about our agreement, so I needed to make it known to everyone because I want no funny games.

“Anyone that evades the arrow loses the match,” I shouted. I made sure everyone heard me though I couldn’t confirm it from their faces but their chants told me they heard me. Even for a second, I didn’t want to take away my eyes from Simon.

Simon lowered his bow when I was speaking and when I was done, he raised it again with the same look he had before on his face. The way he stood, showed me he wasn’t too good as an archer. For a good shooter to deliver a clean shot, there will be a need to stand with your foots apart from each other in such a way that one foot is brought forward and then the other foot pushed backwards. But for Simon, he stood with his foot wide apart like he was playing a game.

He then finally let go of his arrow after taking a considerable amount of time aiming it at me. I held my breath, watching the travelling arrow. As fate may have it, the arrow fell on the floor, just three steps away from where I stood. I then released the breath I held.

“Woo. . .ah!!!” the knight’s yelled in unison. That was so close. If he had added more force to it, more strength then it would have landed somewhere in my chest. Now, it was my turn. I wanted both of us to make it to the second round. I wasn’t planning to kill him but I want to make sure that I leave him with a scar somewhere in his body.

I picked my bow and aimed the arrow at him. I made a careful calculation. I aimed it at his right shoulder at a spot the silver armour didn’t cover. I released the arrow but it deviated may be due to air pressure and it travelled towards his neck. When the arrow was about to pierce through his neck, he bent down and rolled on the floor and the arrow flew past him. There was a surprising shock on everyone’s faces. I could count up to five or six men that their brows furrowed in consternation as Simon rolled on the floor. It was a good thing I had announced the agreement publicly, I thought. I didn’t need to remind anyone that Simon had already lost the game.

“I think the Prince deserves a round of applause,” Nightwinder said, clapping. The knight's watching began clapping for me too except, of course, Simon, who was still on the ground. He probably didn’t want to stand up just yet. He chickened out and as a knight, he wasn’t supposed to do that. If he had honoured our agreement, then there will be no need to keep his face on the floor.

I saw Nightwinder coming close to me, smiling and nodding. “Brother,” he said. “That’s wasn’t bad.”

Brother? That was new.

“I didn’t know you were good with the bow. Where did you learn that from?” he asked me.

“Oh! That was nothing” I said. “It was just, luck.” I heaved in a sigh.

“Luck?” he asked, raising his brow at me.

“Yes.”

He kept silent for a while and then suddenly busted out laughing.

“I see Anon. I see.”

I didn’t give him what he wanted to see and I was sure that there was no way he could set me up with another opponent to fight with, without my permission.

“I think I need to go now. I kind of have something I want to take care of. It’s urgent, Night.”

He then nudged in both lips inside his mouth and then nodded at me. I turned and was about to go.

“Wait,” he ordered. “I don’t know if you have heard,” he said.

“Heard what?” I asked, without turning around.

“In two days, the royal hunting ceremony will take place and as a Prince, you ought to be there. I don’t need to tell you about it nor remind you how it’s done. Huh?!”

The hunt? That’s one of the most important ceremonies for the royal family members in Zahrin. But why would Nightwinder remind me of it? Why would he even want me to be part of a ceremony that is so revered? A ceremony that could help determine who the next ruler of Zahrin would be? Something wasn't just right.

I turned to him. “I would love to but. . .”

“No buts, just don’t miss it, Anon.”

He turned with an unpredictable expression on his face and then went back to his men. Two days? I think that’s a whole lot of time. But in the meantime, there are more important things I would take care of.