Journeyman Assassin by Brian Keller

Author:Brian Keller [Keller, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brian Keller
Published: 2019-03-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

For the last several months their routine had become mostly the same, yet everyday was something different so it never felt tedious. In the morning, while the boys put some food together to eat, Utsef would prepare the memory game. They’d get a glimpse of the items after eating breakfast and then spend an hour or two working on their bows. The majority of each day would be spent stalking each other or hunting for food. During the winter months, food became as much the focus as the training aspects of the process. Then the late afternoon hours would be spent in some combination of ‘managing their pantry’ as Kolrem started calling it, and sparring. Then over dinner, Utsef would ask them to describe as much as they remembered of the memory items, or some days he’d wait and ask them the following evening. Every day was a little different.

The boys became quite proficient with darts and throwing knives, even becoming fairly skilled with employing them while sparring. It took considerable concentration, but it became rare that they ever failed to catch their blade and immediately resumed fighting. It was even rarer that they ever missed.

The boys had spent a couple hours every day for several weeks trying to put cords together that could be used as bowstrings. To be able to withstand the force of the draw and the snap of the release, all while propelling an arrow was a lot to expect from a string of twisted and woven fibers. With Utsef’s guidance, the boys settled on soaking some lengths of deer gut in a tanning bath, then twisting and stretching them each day before leaving them to hang with a weight suspended to keep them taut. Once their bows were complete, the boys strung them with the lengths of gut, then tied them off and trimmed the strings to length. Their bows appeared to be slightly longer than Utsef’s but the curves didn’t appear to be as severe. Utsef explained, “The shape may still adjust a little as time passes. If it does, all that should be needed is an adjustment to the length of the bowstring.” The boys learned that with their more powerful bows, they needed to adjust their point of aim. After they’d retrieved the first few arrows that had flown well above the target, they had it figured. It wasn’t long before the target needed to be replaced. The new bows sent arrows forward with devastating effect. Utsef’s only comment was, “Finally, now with your bows complete, we’ll have a couple more hours each day to train. You boys need all the time you can get.” From that time on two things became a certainty; Utsef no longer needed to hunt for food, and they were never without fresh meat.

They’d observed the trees go from bare, to showing buds and then later forming leaves to catch the sunlight. The boys noticed that life in the forest changed dramatically as the leaves appeared.

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