While Alex ate he spoke with Darlanta thanking her for letting him put Shadow in a stall and for providing food for him. Then he went on to tell her he was going to teach Jeremy archery and then asked if he could use some of the things he’d seen around the barn, telling her what he had in mind, to set up some archery targets. Darlanta said he could. He gave her his most charming and fetching smile then thanked her for the delicious supper. He left her home and went to barn to collect a plank which he placed between two trees and tacked a bullseye target to. Then he got a few melons intended for the animals and placed them around an area that was a safe distance away from where Kato had built his fire. Once he had the targets set up he activated one of the mage lights then called Jeremy over.
“Now then Jeremy, I bought a bow, some arrows and the materials to make a quiver for you just before we left Moltare. I will teach you how to fletch your arrows, put your quiver together and carve, decorate or add whatever you want to you bow later. Fletch means to equip something with feathers as in adding feathers to a shaft of wood to make an arrow which are meant to help guide it better. But right now I need to teach you how to string your bow. Now please watch carefully.”
Alex placed one end of his bow on the ground and put a foot between the string and the wood to brace it. He then bent it forward slightly and slipped the string over the edge. He lifted the now straight bow and removed the string from the other end. He showed Jeremy the notches at both ends of his bow explaining that the string fit in the notches. He then replaced the bow string on one end of the bow, placed that end back on the ground and bent it slightly then placed his foot on the end of the wood inside the bow and string to brace it then slowly and carefully bent his bow until he was able to slip the other end of the bow string over the other end of the bow and fix it in place in the notched area. Alex set his bow aside and gave Jeremy the bow and the string he’d purchased from the villagers.
“Now you try stringing your bow while I watch. Place one end of the bow string in the notched area then place the bow on the ground and brace it with your foot there,” and he paused to indicate where Jeremy was to place his foot to brace the bow. “Now bend it slow and easy. If you don’t take care in bending it you could break the bow. Go ahead and try.”
Alexander watched as Jeremy worked at stringing his bow giving him gentle instructions and a little help when needed until he finally managed to get it strung properly. Then he asked Jeremy for his bow and pulled back on the string a few time as if he were aiming an arrow. He smiled and gave the bow back to Jeremy.
“You have a good bow Jeremy. Now lets continue your lesson. Place one hand here in the middle of the bow on the guard.” and he touched the spot were Jeremy was to place his hand. “Grip that spot firmly. Now place your fingers on the string and pull back on the string. Practice doing that for a few minutes until you get the hang of it and feel comfortable.”
Alex remained quiet for the next few minutes watching Jeremy closely making corrections when needed. When he felt Jeremy had the hang of pulling the bowstring back and might be more comfortable he had him look at an arrow indicating the notched end and instructed him to place the notched end against the bowstring and the shaft on the lip of the hand guard.
“Now Jeremy, once you’ve notched an arrow then you sight down it’s shaft toward whatever you want to shoot. In this case that bullseye I’ve set up against the trees over there. Here I’ll show you.”
Alex picked up his bow, drew an arrow, notched it then slowly pulled back glancing at Jeremy to see if he was paying attention then sighted down the shaft to the bull’s eye and released the bow string. The arrow sailed through the air and slammed into the center of the bull’s eye with a dull thud. “Now watch one more time then you can try. I’m going to aim for the white circle around the red bull’s eye this time.” He pulled another arrow from his quiver, notched it, aimed, sighted down the shaft and let go of the bow string. The arrow sailed through the air embedding itself in the white circle next to the bull’s eye.
Lowering his bow he looked at Jeremy and smiled. His smile and with the way the near distant firelight and the mage light were playing about his features he appeared more handsome than normal. Alex withdrew an arrow from his quiver and handed it to Jeremy. “Now then, Jeremy, you try hitting the target.”
