Chapter 5

"We're going to start with the basics," Ethan told me.

I had made my way back to the other side of the forest from my home and Ethan had met me halfway. We chatted on the way here and had tromped through the woods until we found an area of semi clearance from the brush. Ethan brought his bow, minus the pack this time, and picked it up. I did the same with my own, pushing the stray strands of hair behind my ear.

Ethan's eyes went to a huge oak about thirty feet away where he had carved the bark off of a small area of the tree earlier. I would guess it was no bigger than my hand but from thirty feet away that was a pretty fine print target. No matter though, I had shot animals as small as a squirrel from this distance, so I wasn't too worried. What I was worried about though was not being up to his expectations. It gave me a feeling of dread to let him down which I blamed on our teacher apprentice arrangement…

"You see the target? Now, in situations where we have to get people, we're going to need to be able to hit our target even from a good distance away. We have to keep the distance so that when said target is hit, we have time to escape," Ethan explained.

It made my stomach do a flip-flop as he was talking about it, about real people. I tried to ignore it for the most part and swallowed the lump in my throat. "No more explanation is needed. Just hit your target," Ethan said with a smile.

I nodded, raising the bow to my normal position. I aimed, holding it strongly with my arm and part of shoulder. With a deep intake and exhale of breath I released the arrow strongly, sending it sailing towards the target. My fingers were a bit shaky for some reason so I missed, hitting the tree a good foot above the actual spot.

Ethan didn't say a word as I loaded the bow again, repeating the process and getting closer this time, but still just a bit above the spot. I loaded the bow for the third time and aimed it, taking a deep breath while I scrutinized the target with narrowed eyes.

"You're thinking too much," Ethan said.

The next thing I knew I felt hands on top of mine where they were positioned on the bow. Ethan was standing sort of to the side and behind me, which surprised me greatly at first, though I couldn't say I minded it for some reason. The pit of my stomach was alive with the feeling of butterflies and I fought to keep it down.

"If you don't mind…" He said, jolting me from my wandering thoughts as he released my death grip on the bow.

He placed my left hand just a bit higher than it originally was and wrapping our hands around the bow. Then he moved my right hand, holding the string, and raised it up a bit higher on the cord.

"Alright, now that you're more square, take a deep breath," Ethan instructed.

I did as he said, taking in a deep inhale of breath and releasing it slowly. "Now keep your eye on the target, and release," he whispered in my ear.

He mirrored my every movement as I released. The arrow landed perfectly, dead center of the scratched off bark area. I couldn't believe it that I had hit dead center! I turned to face him with a smile. He grinned broadly as well and released his hands from on top mine and shoved them back in his pockets. There was that weird feeling again…but I just tried to push it away as usual.

"Just the littlest tweaks can make the biggest of differences. Now I know you didn't need that help, you're just nervous. You had it perfectly back in the forest. I'm not going to judge you whether you hit dead center every time or not. All I'm asking is that you focus and do your best to meet your mark," Ethan told me with a nod.

I returned the nod with a small smile and pushed the hair out of my eye, pulling out another arrow and loading it to the bow. I pulled the string back, aiming the bow and adjusting my grip on both the string and the bow itself. With a deep breath and my eyes glued to the target, I let the arrow fly. This time it hit just above the dead center where the other arrow was still stuck in the tree, which satisfied me since it was still in the target area. Glancing over at Ethan, who gave me a thumbs up, filled me with smiles it seemed.

For the rest of the morning until about mid afternoon we shot. He hit his target every time, which amazed me. While aiming the bow he had such strength and rhythm with it, like falling back into sync with an old friend that you haven't seen in a while. I could easily say that he was better than me but then again he had all of those years with Morland to train, which I didn't have a teacher. That was other than my father, when he was alive that is.

It was late in the afternoon before we took a break for something to eat. It was a good thing because I was starving! I sat down on a tree stump to the left of the tree that we were using as target practice. It was now filled with several holes from where our arrows pierced it, which I'm sure wouldn't hurt it too much.

Ethan grabbed his backpack and sat down beside me, pulling out a large white cloth. He was just about to open it when he shook his head.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Nothing…I- I just have a better idea. Follow me if you please," he said with bright eyes.

I shrugged, following him through the forest. It was completely unclear as to where he was going since it was a forest after all. I was curious as to what he was talking about, because surely we were going to take a break after a whole morning of shooting. Needless to say I didn't question it and adjusted my bow over my shoulder, ducking under a branch to follow his tall form through the trees.

We continued this way for way for a while until we came to an area where the ground began to slope down. Ethan slowed down to where he was about an arms distance in front of me. The ground was now fully sloping down, some of the trees roots now visible from where they were coming out of the hillside, so there were a lot of things to trip over if you weren't careful.

"Not much further now," Ethan assured, walking at an angle down the side of the hill and then veering sharply to the right.

I could hear water running through the sounds of my feet crunching leaves and branches so I knew we were close to some river. I wasn't aware there was one that ran around this area, but then again it wasn't my territory, so how would I know? I was now walking about even with Ethan, trying to keep myself balanced on the surprisingly uneven ground. With my luck as usual I could feel the ground loosening beneath the soles of my shoes. My left leg slipped and I just about fell down the steep hill if it wasn't for a strong hand that clamped onto my arm.

"Whoa there. You need to be more careful," Ethan said, steadying me.

With big eyes I nodded, "Yeah… I'm not the most coordinated sometimes."

He just chuckled, pulling me by the arm over to the other side of him, "I think that's better."

I nodded, stifling a nervous laugh. This hill didn't like me. Though my luck began to change as the ground became firmer and rockier further down the hill. Ethan passed a huge tree when he turned back left again. Ahead of us was this one little spot of rock that stuck out over the side of the hill. He pulled my arm again, leading me toward this little overhang.

We came to the edge and he sat down, pulling me down on the left side of him. Our feet dangled over the edge, down at least 30 feet to a riverbank where beautiful crystal blue water was moving swiftly. I couldn't believe the view, so beautiful!

"Amazing isn't it?" Ethan smiled.

"It is! How did you find this place?" I exclaimed.

Ethan got the cloth back out of his pack and revealed several strips of dried meat and fruits. There was also a bit of cheese and bread, enough for us to split it all. "I explore a lot when we have time to kill. There are actually some pretty neat places around here. I've found an animal cave or two, this place, and a hollowed out tree," he explained.

I smiled, "Perfect place to eat lunch I do say."

"I figured you'd agree," he said, passing me some of the bread and cheese.

I graciously accepted the offer, nibbling on the bread and looking out over the water below my feet. We sat in silence for a while just listening to the water and peacefully eating our lunch, taking in the beauty of the view. I wasn't too objected to this and was thoroughly enjoying being here with him, just enjoying the landscape and thought.

"You should come with me sometime," he said, looking in my direction.

"Hm?" I mumbled.

"Exploring this area. When we have some off time that is," Ethan clarified.

It sounded pretty interesting, because I had always been interested in wandering the land. After all, it was one of the main reasons that I loved hunting so much. It was a chance to become almost one with the environment. You got to experience the beauty of being alone with nature and all that inhabited it, which I found strangely interesting.

"That sounds nice," I replied, munching on some fruit.

Ethan looked back over the water, back in thought. We didn't really say much for the rest of the time, finishing our lunch in silence. After that we ended up hiking back to the training area to grab our stuff. Ethan decided to call it a day, which I didn't mind, and we headed back to the base.

I had left mother a note earlier this morning to let her know I probably wouldn't be back that night because of a hunting trip. Though I felt bad for lying to her, I knew that it was in her best interest to not know about this just yet. In fact it was partly true because Ethan was trying to teach me some more skills to improve my archery.

We arrived at the house and I adjusted the bow on my shoulder, brushing some loose hairs out of my eyes.

"You're heading back I suppose?" Ethan asked.

I shook my head, "Nah…I was just going to stay here tonight if that's alright."

Ethan chuckled and seemed to not mind idea, "That's perfectly fine. Morland won't mind and Lee will get over it."

He held the door open for me as we entered, finding the house empty except for Lee who was sitting in the chair in the corner like usual. Ethan nodded to acknowledge him and locked the door back up nice and secure. I sat my stuff down by a cot in the corner that seemed like a neutral spot to sleep for the night.

"That's my cot, but I'll let you use it for tonight," Ethan said.

"Oh! I'll move, I didn't know it was taken-" I said, starting to move my stuff.

He shook his head, "No I insist, you're the guess miss Vinny. We've always had an extra lying around in the corner…where Shia used to sleep, so I can just set that one up."

"Alright if you say so. Thank you."

I got up from where I was sitting at on the cot and joined Lee by the fire, sitting down on the loveseat like couch. Ethan took the spot beside me and Lee just looked at us.

"She's staying here tonight I'm guessing," Lee said plainly.

"Yes. I'm sure Morland won't mind," Ethan said making small talk.

Lee just looked off in the other direction, seeming irritated, but not saying anything more. I sort of felt guilty…because I didn't want to impose on the people who had given me a job. If Ethan insisted it was okay though...maybe he was just too generous.

"We're about due to have a job aren't we?" Ethan questioned.

Lee met his eyes; "Word from Morland is that we're getting something in the next couple days. He said this could be big."

I got a bit nervous just thinking about it. I was hoping I could manage to pull it together enough to do my job and kill whoever it was. Hopefully Ethan had a lesson planned around that type of thing.

"Hm, sounds pretty interesting. Maybe we can get Vinny some first hand experience on the field. Put some of this practice to use if you know what I mean," Ethan said.

My stomach dipped again at the mention of it, maybe this wasn't the best job. Taking a deep inhale of breath I pushed all the negatives away, putting the most important thing right now in place of that. I knew that getting us out of here was going to keep me going no matter what.

"Sounds pretty interesting," I replied, plastering a smile on my face.

Ethan grinned, "I think you're going to fit in just fine."