Practice your archery here. And maybe after a few training sessions we can have an archery competition!

*grabs bow and arrow and shoots* I missed! Blast! *tries again* It's in the target, but still not even close to the bulls eye. I guess I'd better continue practicing.

A pretty small girl walked in with a anxious expression on her face. This is what she always had wanted, why was she so scared now?
For years she had wished to learn more fighting skills. She had her magic skills, of course, but...
Her right foot stepped onto the soft soil, and with it came the sound of a snapping twig. An immense screaming reached Kari's ears, and before she could do anything, the arrow of a long bow was pointed into her face, just a few inches before her.
She screamed too, but stopped when she recognised the archer's face.
'Renate!' she said. 'It's you!' She suddenly felt very excited. It had been a while since she had seen her friend, and now she met her again in this archery range! Unbelievable!

Renate was shocked to see Kari standing next to her. She hadn't seen her in years.
'Oh, my Elves! I almost killed you, Kari! I'm sorry. I just didn't expect to see you here. I was just about to shoot when I saw your face. You confused me. Not that I'm blaming you, of course. I should practice aiming a bit better, that's for sure,' she apologized.
She put another arrow on her bow and took aim. She let go after staring at the target intensely for several seconds and the arrow was close to the bulls eye this time.
'You're pretty good at this,' her friend, Kari remarked.

Renate seemed pleased by the flattering comment and put the long bow on her back again.
Kari smiled vaguely. 'Ah, well, I was wondering... The reason why I came here... Well...'
Renate laughed heartily. 'You want to learn to use the bow, don't you? You don't have to be so shy.'
The girl opposite her also laughed and nodded. Her hands were on her back, and she looked exemplarily. 'That's true. It's just... I can't always rely on my magic, you know. Sometimes I am that stupid to use the wrong spells and stuff... But I remember my childhood very well, my father teaching me how to aim well. I was a very good aimer. But I'm afraid I can't do that anymore. I want you, as the Expert Archer, to teach me.'

Renate grinned. She was hardly an expert archer. She had only been practicing for a few days now.
'Well....' she began, not really knowing how to explain.
'It's all about aim. You just have to concentrate. Don't let go of the arrow too quickly. Give yourself time to aim properly. Try to visualize the arrow hitting the bulls eye,' she said, wondering if she made sense at all.
Kari listened carefully.
'Right. I'll try it,' she said and grabbed her bow eagerly. Renate stood behind her and watched as she took aim.
'Don't let go yet. Take your time,' she suggested.

Kari focused on the tree with the red painted aim on it. She felt the heavy bow pulling her arm downwards and found it hard to bear. This was way harder than when she was little, but her father had given her a child's bow, of course. She heard Renate telling her what to do, but she didn't really listen to it. It was all about concentrating. Concentrate, concentrate. Her finger slowly let go of the arrow, and at the moment it wooshed through the air, she knew it was wrong. She had been too early. The arrow missed the bull's eye and hit the tree just above it.
'Ow,' she sighed, lowering her shoulders. 'I'm crap.'
Renate shook her head, giving her a new arrow. 'Nope, you're not. You'll manage, just practise and you'll see.'
Kari raised the bow again and took a deep breath. Okay. For God's sake, look at the bull's eye and-
A large shriek startled them both.

Renate turned around. 'What was that?'

Kari pricked up her ears, trying to find out what had made that sound, and saw Renate whirling around her, raising the point of her arrow into every direction, as if to protect her friend.
Kari also raised her bow and looked around.
'Ah well, it was probably a bird of some kind,' Renate said. 'I'm just overreacting.'
Kari kept looking around but then also gave up. 'Yeah, maybe...'
Before they could say 'pan' another shriek echoed through the forest, and this time, they did see something. A flash of a grey hairy creature, shooting past them.
Kari screamed when she felt an immense flare of pain in her arm, and when she looked down, she noticed that there was a big cut in her robe which showed a bloody wound on her skin.
'Oh, are you alright?' Renate yelled frightened. Another flash passed them by, this time to throw them both on the floor.

Renate kicked at the animal and it moaned in pain. She grabbed her sword and run the creature through. Kari watched as her friend slayed the monster. She now remebered why she had chosen Renate to train her. She was fearless and everything she wanted to be.
'It's dead,' Renate said coldly and put the sword back in it's place.
'Right,' Kari said, still terrified.

She was still trembling from the shock, but felt much comfortable now that the threatening beast had been slain.
'Thanks,' she whispered.
Renate nodded and smiled. 'You're welcome. This forest is filled with the most horrible creatures. It's good that you got here to train.'

'We will start your training immediately,' Renate insisted.
'Do you wish to learn archery alone or sword-fighting as well? You'd have to own a sword, though? But if you don't, I can lend you one.'
Kari thought for a while. She wanted to learn as much as possible. She wanted to be a strong warrior like her mother had been.
'I would like to learn both,' she said with a determined look.

'But I don't have a sword yet. I'm short at money at the moment, but I do have this dagger.'
Kari showed Renate the small golden Elvish Dagger she had bought recently. 'But I doubt it's useful in a sword-fight?'

'Yes, it's a bit small for sword-fighting. I can borrow you my sword,' Renate said and gave Kari an old, rusty sword. 'It's old, I know. But I wouldn't want you to break a million pound sword, would I? And it's perfect for practising. I'll get you a better sword after a few lessons.'
Kari grabbed the old sword eagerly and slashed it through the air. Renate watched and grinned unimpressed. 'This is going to take a lot of work,' she sighed. Kari her smile faded and a grim expression appeared. She thought she was quite graceful with the sword, but she had obviously been mistaken.
'Are you ready for your first lesson?' Renate asked her. She nodded. Kari was ready for action.

'So... what's the first lesson about?' she asked with a hopeful expression on her small face. 'Are we going to track demons, or participate in wars?'
She knew there was a war going on at the moment, somewhere in the far west. Gods, Goddesses and normal beings gathered there from everywhere to help regaining balance on the plains. She wasn't really eager to fight with them for she wasn't really powerful yet. And as always, she feared to run into her arch rival, Myssandra Ytarimus, the evil hag. She shivered when she recalled the memory of the dark sorceress. Her evil smile, her long black hair, waving in the wind, her dark eyes, reflecting the fear of everyone who looked at her. Her pale skin was covered with tattoos of old rune scripts, demons and death marks. She was the one who wanted to suck all life out of Kari, who wanted to drink her blood and use her spine as a decoration for her burned trees...

'No, if you participate in a battle now you will die within the first minute,' Renate joked and grabbed her sword.
'We will begin with sword-fighting. You can't fight a war without being able to hold a sword properly,' she explained and showed Kari how to hold your sword. You shouldn't hold it too tight, but you shouldn't hold it too carelessly either. Kari followed Renate her directions.
'No, stand like this,' Renate said and showed Kari the fighting position. Kari put her feet and arms in the same position.
'Repeat after me: en garde,' Renate said and Kari repeated her. 'First, we will have a bit of fun. I will attack you very slowly and you will block my attacks. This way I know what you need to learn,' she explained.
Kari nodded and Renate let her know training had commenced. Renate attacked Kari slowly and she blocked the attack with ease. A few launches followed and Kari defended herself well. After two minutes they stopped.
'Quite good. You defend yourself well. I will teach you the perfect attacking technique now,' she announced.
Kari got more curious by the minute about her training. Renate stood in perfect position and showed Kari how to launch perfectly. Kari proved to be a quick learner and after several minutes her technique had improved quite a bit.

Kari wiped the sweat off her forehead. 'My, that was something. You surely are a good teacher!' she remarked. She laid the rusty sword in the grass and fell backwards herself, folding her hands behind her head while watching the sky.
'I love watching the sky. It tells us things we do not know yet,' she started.
Renate lay next to her and she continued her story.
'I have read many prophecies out of the clouds, and they all came true. I forsaw one's bag being stolen once. Alas, I didn't know what it really meant at that time, otherwise I could have prevented it.'
She sighed deeply. 'Always pay attention to the clouds, wherever you are. They don't just tell you what weather you are going to get.'

Renate stared at the clouds. She had never looked at clouds in that perspective. She would pay more attention to them from now on she told herself. 'I didn't know about that,' she admitted.
'How long have you been reading clouds then?' she asked.

'Not a long time,' Kari replied. 'Just before the accident with the bag. I saw the region in which it happened in the sky, and a bag-shaped cloud. I didn't know it was a bag at first, but when it actually happened... Another mystery.'
She grabbed her mage's staff and lay still for a moment, seemingly praying to something divine and unseen. When she opened her eyes again, she seemed to have regained some of her strength.
'What will we do now?' she asked. 'Where is the second lesson going to take us? These woods are the perfect place to train. I'm up to doing something more difficult, I think.'
She gave Renate a begging look.

Renate smiled. How could she resist a look like that. 'We can move on to archery for a while and continue sword-fighting next week. Would you like that?'

'Oh, sure!' Kari replied.
Suddenly, something underneath her shirt started moving, and Renate raised her head in surprise. 'My Elves, what's that?'
Kari laughed and slid her hand underneath her clothes. When her hand came back into sight, a small rat squirmed between her fingers, trying to escape from her grip.
'This is my domestic rat, Keri Moon,' Kari explained. 'Ain't she a cute little thing?'

'I guess,' Renate lied. She didn't like rats. One bit her badly once when she was young. She automatically stepped back.
'Why don't you get your bow? You do have one, right?'

Kari blushed slightly. 'No, I don't have one, actually. And I don't have the money to buy one either.'
She pointed at the long wooden staff in her right hand, the golden Elvish Dagger at her belt. 'These are my only weapons. Plus these, of course.'
She raised her hand and an orb of light sprouted from her fingertips. When it had faded, Kari murmured another spell and this time, fire sparkled from her hand.
'My precious weapons in the fight versus evil,' she sighed. 'I know it's not much.'

Renate had a lot of respect for Kari. She was very brave. Renate herself owned two huge swords and a bow. She was a real warrior and Kari was a real mage. That was fine, too, of course.
'I'll give you mine for now,' Renate said and handed her bow over to Kari.

Kari smiled gratefully. 'Thanks. I see you have two beautiful swords with you. Someday I'll have a good weapon of my own. I'll just stick to my dagger now, and the power of my own mind.'
They walked through the forest, towards the archery. Kari didn't know where it was situated, but she assumed that Renate would know it. She was an archer, after all.
'Have you ever wanted to disappear at once?' she asked at once. 'Just with a single poof?'

Renate didn't know what to say. 'Sure. I think everyone would like to be able to do that,' she said and they walked deeply into the forest. After about fourteen minutes they arrived at an archery territory.
It was a huge training area filled with bows, arrows and targets. 'You can also use one of those bows if you like. But they seem rather old. They have been used by a lot of people as you can see,' Renate said and looked at the old bows with a disgusted look. They were older than the sword Renate had borrowed Kari. And that was saying something.

Kari folded her hands before her belly and smiled.
'I really appreciate this, Renate, you must know. If you don't want to train me, then you'll just say it and I'll disappear. Not with a poof, alas. But well.. What is our next goal? Aren't there any other archers to compete with?'

'Yes, there are. But they haven't arrived yet. It's only 5 o'clock. Daily competitions start at six. I thought we'd practise first to see if we're good enough to enter today. Of course it's your call. If you'd rather not enter, we can practise some more first. But this is the next step,' Renate said and waited for Kari her approval. She didn't want to force her to compete but it would be perfect training.

Kari thought about that for a moment and then nodded. 'Okay. I guess I'm ready. I need to be ready. Myssandra can strike every moment. I need to strengthen myself for that.'

She looked up to the sky. 'I wish other archers to compete with. Bring them here, my Goddess.'

Renate and Kari practiced archery for an hour and Kari had really improved. Her aim was much better than in the beginning and she concentrated more as well. A few archers entered the archery territory. Renate looked at them.
'Robin Hood,' she addressed one of them.
'I'm glad to see you. I'm here for today's competition. I also brought a friend of mine, Kari Firestone. It's her first competition.'
Robin looked at Kari closely and shook her hand. 'Nice to meet you. Don't worry. Everyone loses their first competition. So don't get nervous.'
Kari didn't exactly feel relieved after hearing that and Renate gave Robin a push to let him know he shouldn't have said that.
A man in uniform walked over to them. He was holding a form. 'Everyone who is competing in today's competition, write your name here. The prize for today is a golden ring,' he said.

Kari quickly scrabbled her name down on the paper the man was holding and gave Renate nervous looks.
'I'm so not going to make it,' she said worrily.
Renate smiled at her. 'Don't worry. Me neither. Robin Hood's a real master archer. He shoots arrows at the same place.'
Kari grinned. 'Well, the prize is only a golden ring, isn't it? That's not too wonderful, right...?'

Renate nodded. 'It's not really about the prizes. They only have prizes because some archer make their living with these competitions. They also compete at the world championships. These are in three weeks. There you can win all kinds of magickal artefacts.'
Renate also signed the paper. Robin, Renate and Kari walked across the training area to the competition area. There was a crowd gathering to see them compete. They were all cheering for Robin.
'Robin Hood! King of the Forest! Robin Hood! King of Archery!'
Renate gave Kari a 'it's okay, we're here to learn'-look.

Kari took a deep breath and wiped off her sweaty hands on her trousers. This was her first real competition. She felt very nervous. She always was, for everything and nothing. There really was no use to feel like this. She wouldn't win. Renate still stood a better chance against Robin than she did. But as Renate signed her, they were here to learn, not to win the prize.
The three of them stood exactly at two meter from each other, and before each stood a tree in the distance, with a small red and white striped aim on it.
They held their bows tightly and took their arrows.

The archers took aim and waited for a sign from the boss of the competition. 'Archers - go!' he said and the archers let go of their arrows. Kari and Renate their arrow hit the bulls eye and they were through to the next round. Robin Hood's arrow hit the middle of the bulls eye but that was expected.
Four archers left the competition and four were left for the remaining three rounds.

'That went pretty well!' Kari panted while smiling broadly. 'Don't you think?'
She saw the complete crowd walking to Robin Hood and embracing him. He sure had a lot of fans. Ah, well, she thought. Maybe I'll have fans too one day.
A short break was allowed and Kari and Renate enjoyed a drink before they started again. When they returned, the crowd stood back at its place and still was cheering for Robin.
'Are they never getting sick of him?' Kari asked. 'I mean, don't they never want a newer hero? Robin's been here for ages, it sure hasn't done him any good, look at those wrinkles!'

Renate laughed and almost dropped her bow. 'I don't think they care about his wrinkles. Those old bats just need their hero, that's all. Just think of all the young hot men out there looking for a heroine to fall in love with and stalk for years to come.' Kari grinned at that grim prospect.
'Archers - get ready,' they heard the boss say and they once again took aim. They concentrated on the target and tried to picture the arrow hitting the middle of the bulls eye.
'Go!' the man said and arrows filled the air. Kari and Renate their arrow hit the middle of the bulls eye and they cheered with happiness. One archer failed to hit the middle of the bulls eye and he was out of the competition. The finale was between Kari, Renate and Robin Hood.

'Oh, I'm really getting nervous now, why is it going so well?' Kari cheered. 'The Gods are watching over us!'
Renate grinned. 'We're almost as good as Robin! Maybe we'll even have fans after this match!'
'Or enemies,' Kari added while pointing at the growing crowd of fans surrounding Robin. 'It's too weird.'
The finale was about to begin. They all took aim and focused once more on the bullseye which caused their eyes to blur right now.
'Ready - GO!'

Renate and Kari let go of their arrow, unable to see clearly. They were too nervous. They looked at their arrow. It was very close to the middle of the bulls eye. Of course Robin his arrow was textbook perfect. His fans cheered and started screaming his name again.
Kari smiled. She wasn't disappointed. She had done well for herself even though she had been extremely nervous. Next time she might win, she told herself. Renate was thinking the same thing.
'Well done, Kari. I'd say we might have a future in archery. Too bad you're so keen on destroying this woman or you could be a new archery legend.'

'Yeah... Destroying Myssandra is my main goal,' Kari replied, lost in her thoughts. They both watched Robin getting the prize he deserved, and as usual, he gave it to a poor orphan who was standing close to him.
'I want to be a hero too. I want to mean something to people,' Kari said. 'I want to save the world from all evil. Will you help me?'

'Of course I will. It's a noble goal. And I too would like to be remembered. I believe we all wish to be a hero. Some in a small way and some in a big way. I just want people to know I'm here to help them.'

Kari smiled. It was good to have a friend. Before she had met Renate, she was only on this world. She had no one around her except for her cousins, who weren't always good company.
Robin Hood and fans were leaving the archery, and it became very quiet and peaceful in the forest. The sun started setting and threw cool shadows on the leave-pattern floor.
'Will we leave now?' Kari asked. 'Or is the lesson not over yet?'