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dreamstormdragon · 6 years

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Elemental Archer: Chapter 1 Preview

On this Hallows Eve I’ve decided to share since it comes out December 15th, the next chapter for Elemental Archer: So, please enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Huntress Routine

The forest was quiet. Only the sounds of the birds and squirrels greeted the hunter as she entered it.

Vala looked around, listening closely, her left ear twitching a bit as she did so, gazing at the dirt, spotting tracks leading farther in.

Kneeling down, she examined the tracks, seeing they were recent and moved onward.

The young elf kept her gait careful and steady, ensuring she would not alert her prey that she was approaching and intending to take it out.

It was not long before she found what it was.

A deer grazed at a patch of grass, its ears twitching, listening for any approaching predators.

Steady Vala. Make no sound.

Vala swiftly drew her trusted bow off her back, lining an arrow up, taking aim.

She took a deep breath to relax herself, letting it out slowly before releasing the arrow as it flew swift and true as she always knew it to.

It was over in an instant.

And so another hunt ends.

It always seemed to take forever though to drag her kills home. It would take longer if she had cut down the deer first but she didn’t feel like getting covered in blood and it would take too long anyway. Either way she looked at it, more time was wasted and she had no interest in that.

She wrapped the deer up in the tarp she used for her bigger kills and moved onward, leaving no evidence she was ever there aside from one less deer.

The forest gradually faded into houses, spaced out enough to give one another privacy and room to grow their gardens as most Earth Tribe elves did.

A few of her neighbors greeted her. Some whistled at the size of her latest kill.

“How many did that take you?” One known as Sabra asked as she passed.

Vala hid the pride that she felt.

“One.” She smirked a bit.

“Very good, young huntress. Onward with you now.” He grinned.

This was her life. As part of the Earth Tribe, she was a hunter ever since she was old enough to hold her bow. There were other hunters, plenty of them but she still took pride in it. Aside from hunting for her own family’s needs, she also sold the meat she brought in. Everything was used up in respect of the animal that it once was.

The horns would go to a Fire Tribe elf known as Etu who was a skilled blacksmith. The man seemed to be able to turn almost anything into a weapon. The hide, they’d tan themselves at home and make use of it as a blanket or if it wasn’t enough, new boots for the winter.

Vala adjusted her grip on the wrapped up deer, trying to keep her focus.

Two goals were in mind:

Get the thing home before her mother started dinner.

Take a nap for a solid two hours before being enlisted to help break down the animal. For as much as Vala loved hunting and bringing home the meat they consumed, it didn’t mean she liked butchering it.

As she grimaced, feeling the weight on her shoulder, something picked up the slack as she felt considerably less of the load.

Glancing back behind her, she groaned. Clad in hunter's garb and a sword on his back was a boy she knew all too well. From his black hair to his green eyes that seemed to always have a look of mischief in them and the way he towered over her.

“Well hey there, cutie.” He greeted, a playful grin on his face.

Vala gave an audible groan of dismay, trying to move faster in hopes of dislodging him.

“Niiick, what do you want?”

Nick gave a hurt look, flattening his ears, easily matching her stride. “

What? I’m just being helpful.”

“No, you want something.” The shorter of the two retorted, scoffing a bit. Nick smirked as he took note of a few glances they were getting.

“Mm-hm. Not like we haven’t known each other since we were little. Trained together. Hunted together. Vala, we’re practically made for each other.”

He could see her tense up, practically able to see the irritated look on her face. Those were the rumors that flew around their village. It all started ever since they were children, even if a good chunk of the time it was rough housing and making trouble for the adults.

“I swear, one of these days, you're going to go hungry cause I won’t sell you ANYTHING.” She rolled her eyes, momentarily hoping they’d fall right out of her head so she’d have an excuse to leave him there.

Nick laughed, throwing his head back, letting his grip on the tarp slip a bit as Vala stumbled from the sudden weight.

“Mm-hm. Sure shorty. Sure.”

At that, the girl froze and Nick felt a sense of dread.

Maybe that was a bad thing to say.

And do.

Vala slowly turned to him, an eerie grin on her face, her eyes holding a look he couldn’t quite read.

“Five seconds before you join the deer in the tarp.”

“I would. In fact, I really want to run right now. But…” Nick gestured to the load they were carrying. “I’d be a real jerk to leave you to carry this. Since you're so small and all.”

She growled in response, saying nothing else.

It wasn’t long, however, until they were able to get it to her house and around the back where the door to the ice cellar was. Vala looked in the tarp to be sure the horns were still intact before easing it down into it.

Nick leaned against it once the door was closed, giving her a genuine smile.

“You know I mess with you because I care, right?”

She rolled her eyes, not returning it.

“You know I don’t like it when you do that. It’s annoying.” She murmured, kicking the dirt a little.

Nick gave a shrug, closing his eyes, enjoying a breeze that passed through.

“Is it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Vala gave him a cross look.

“It is.” She said flatly. “And right now, I don’t wanna be around other people.”

Vala did tend to be more of a loner at times. Especially when she was hunting. Very rarely did she join the hunting parties, unlike Nick. They were very different in that regard.

However, it didn’t mean she hated being around the others.

“You mean so you can take your earned luxury of a long nap?” Nick smirked, elbowing her a bit.

She did the same back to him.

“A long nap and then, when I wake up, I’ll go to the bakery and grab some rolls to go with dinner tonight.”

“Mm-hm. Totally not so you can stare and fantasize about swimming in a lake made out of the custard tarts in the window.”

“I do not have a sweet tooth.” She denied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“You’ll court me one day.” He called to her as she walked away.

“Not on your life!”

oooooo

As she had told, Vala did spend a good few hours resting before being awoken by the sound of the bedroom door opening.

“Mm…?” She yawned, rubbing her right eye, her ear on that side twitching a bit.

There was a younger girl in the room, her hair cut just above her shoulders, a light golden brown compared to Vala’s dark brown hair. Her green eyes had an amused look in them.

“Hi there, Sister.” She giggled. “You up, finally?”

Vala nodded, stretching.

“Yeah, I’m up. How long have I been out for?”

“Enough that Mom already started on that deer. We’re having stew tonight… Which means…” she smirked. “You get to go get the bread that goes with it.”

“Why me?”

“Because I help with dinner. You brought it home.”

Vala scrunched her nose up, sighing. She also knew if her mother was already out there working then she better get out there herself.

“Aireth, I wish you would let me nap more.” She remarked, grabbing the clothes she had worn the day before, not wanting to get her hunting garb dirty. It was just an undershirt and a pair of worn in slacks she usually slept in but it would do.

Aireth giggled, giving a shrug.

“I would, but then I’d have to do it.” She said, giving a cheeky look.

“Yeah, no. No baby sister of mine is butchering a deer.”

Vala didn’t take too long with getting dressed before hurrying out behind her house.

The home her family resided in was a bit more out of the way than the others mostly for the amount of space they had. Vala’s tribe, the Earth Tribe, had connections with nature, which manifested in their magic and their gifts.

Due to this, Aireth was able to create an expansive garden that looped around the side of the house, parted only by plants making a living trail of vines the fourteen year old had been working on for years. At the back of the house were several rigs for drying meat out and a device made for canning food safely.

Vala spotted her mother, Enya, smiling when she saw her. Her mother was hard at work, her nearly white blond hair piled into a bun on the back of her head.

“Mother!” She called, shoving on some gloves she had grabbed, picking up one of the knives laid out. “So, what do you think?”

Enya looked over to her eldest, a smile coming to her face.

“It’s worthy of selling the meat on its own. We’ll keep a small portion for ourselves but this will be perfect for selling or trading.” She responded. “Now, you ready to help me with the worst part?”

Vala cringed. She was not. She would rather go back to the woods or go to the bakery but it was part of her responsibility.

“Yes, Mother.”

“Atta girl.”

Vala and Enya got to work, keeping quiet, neither wanting to talk while doing this task.

Normally, Vala wouldn’t be doing this. It was a new normal. Usually, her father would’ve been doing this with Enya and helping portion off the meat.

The girl frowned, remembering him.

Dad…

“Vala?”

She looked up, seeing Enya giving her a concerned look.

“What’s on your mind?”

Vala chewed her bottom lip a bit, not wanting to answer.

“Nothing of importance. Not right now.” She murmured.

Enya raised an eyebrow but decided now was not the time for this kind of discussion.

After it was done, Vala got cleaned up, getting ready to head out.

“Aireth, I’m going to the marketplace. You wanna come with? I know Markus wanted some of your blueberries for his muffin recipe.”

Aireth hurried to catch up, a basket in hand with said fruit, an excited smile on her face.

“Of course! C’mon, Sis!”

Vala couldn’t help but smile, hurrying to keep up with her sister and doing so with ease.

The marketplace was full of different shops of all kinds from seemingly every tribe.

From weapon shops, to fish mongers to the bakery Vala wouldn’t admit she loved visiting.

“Oh, it smells so good here.” Aireth sighed happily as she looked around them. No matter how old she got, it was still nice to visit and see anything new the shops had to offer.

Vala nodded in agreement, biting her lip as she saw a small child being picked up by their father.

“Hey, Aireth… Do you still think about him?”

She gave her sister a weirded outlook before it seemed to click. She looked down, her stride slowing a bit.

“Trying not to…”

Vala cringed, feeling guilt crop up. She hated seeing Aireth like that.

“I’m sorry. I know you and Dad were close too.”

“I miss him… but we don’t know for sure if he’s gone for good.”

It had been almost a year since their father Aiden went into the woods for a night time hunt and never returned. It was hard on the girls and their mother… but as much as it hurt them and how much they missed him, they had to carry on. They still had to help out and they still had to live.

Vala nodded, sighing heavily, kicking a pebble out of her way, perking up as she saw the bakery come into view.

She saw a young man around her age removing a loaf of bread from the oven, a content look on his face.

“And Markus is working his magic as always” Vala licked her lips, practically running in.

“Hey! I’m the one delivering something here!” Aireth called after Vala, hot on her heels, the sisters nearly slamming into the counter.

“Oof!”

Markus laughed, his blue eyes alit with amusement at the sight. He set the bread onto a cooling rack, taking off his oven mitts.

“And so comes the Lennox sisters barreling in like a stampede of kelpie.” He remarked, propping his chin up on his hand. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Aireth held out her basket.

“You wanted these, right? They’re finally ripe.”

“I just want to stare at the custard tarts.” Vala added, her eyes already trailing to the dessert she could see cooling next to the rack the bread was on.

Markus chuckled, looking the berries over, nodding in approval.

“These will do perfectly, thank you.” He looked to Vala and nodded to one of the tarts. “You take that as payment. I think it’d be torture to send her out of here without one.”

Aireth nodded, giggling.

“I’d hear about it all the way home for sure.”

“And we can’t have that. What else?”

“Either some good hard rolls or something really crusty. It’s to go with stew.”

Markus nodded as he filled a sack with several well sized rolls and wrapping one of the custard tarts in a paper satchel, tying it shut tightly.

“Your mom’s famous stew, huh? I hope you’ll sell some this time when you set up your stand during the Moonlit Bazaar.”

Vala and Aireth shared a laugh.

“We’ll see. If we can convince her to part with more of this catch than the last.” Aireth said.

“I’m sure finding another deer wouldn’t be hard.” Markus smirked. “If your sister accepts help dragging one home instead of doing it herself.”

Vala felt her face heat up as she put her money on the counter, taking their food.

“Oh be quiet, Markus. I get plenty of help. I made use out of Nick, didn’t I?”

“Use? Or making him think you needed help?” He teased. “Wouldn’t want him to think you're a pansy, right?”

“I know I’m not one. Markus, you can admit it to me if you are though.” Vala teased back.

“Mm-no. Now begone with you two!” He gave a dramatic wave of his hand. “And bring me some stew!”

“Maybe.” The sisters laughed hurrying out.

Vala held their groceries close, not wanting to drop anything.

“Markus is really nice - even if he thinks that.”

“Thinks what? About the stew?”

“No. About…” Vala trailed off, seeing Nick in one of the weapon shop windows. He took notice of her and grinned, blowing her a kiss dramatically as she growled audibly. “HIM.”

“Vala, he’s not worth it.”

Vala grumbled to herself the whole way home.

“If he shows up during the Moonlit Bazaar he’ll set up right next to ours if we get there early.”

“He won’t. Nick never does.”

“Yeah. Across from us is more likely.”

Aireth sighed as Vala ranted to herself.

This was nothing new.

oooooo

The woods were silent. Not even the songs from the birds could be heard.

Vala moved slowly, following the tracks in the dirt, her eyes shifting from the ground to the area around them.

“Sister.”

She turned around, seeing a face poking out from behind a tree.

“Aireth?”

What was she doing here? Aireth didn’t like hunting that much. She preferred to forage or garden.

The girl disappeared behind the tree.

Vala walked briskly over to it, peering behind the tree, seeing nothing was there.

“Sister.” Called the voice of her sibling farther away, Vala seeing the same glimpse as before.

“Aireth, cut it out.”

Vala picked up her pace.

“I mean it!”

The younger elf disappeared as Vala heard movement just behind her, whirling around, catching a glimpse of a figure moving oddly across the way. It looked a bit like her sister… but it didn’t look like her all the same.

“Ssssiiissster…”

The creature disappeared once more, prompting Vala to draw her bow and arrow.

It wasn’t Aireth.

It wasn’t.

She felt something behind her as she froze, feeling fear start to crop up.

She heard something whisper in her ear.

“Vala.”

ooooooooo

And that’s all for now. Final preview chapter will come out next month. Stay tuned!

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