The Silver Arrow (7 page)

As Harold, Faray, Samuel, and
Elye rode in past the outer wall, Samuel thought there were fewer
tents this time than the last time they were at the festival. It
did not seem as crowded inside the outer wall. Maybe it was just
him; besides, three years was a long time ago, and a lot had
changed, including his own perspective now that he was older. As
their wagon rolled along with the crowd into the inner wall, the
sound on their approach steadily grew, like entering an arena
filled with people. Visitors could not help but be consumed by the
sense of jubilation.

Even though the inner wall was
also crowded, it wasn’t as bad as the last time Samuel remembered
attending the festival—they had to push their way through the
crowd. This didn’t mean that it still wasn’t crowded and loud as
they celebrated the season. They just didn’t have to push their way
through as much this time.

Guards stood at every
intersection, keeping watch as usual, and the shops were still
packed with people. Street hawkers moved about, displaying their
goods as they cried out to get people’s attention. Along one of the
streets were young girls and boys with painted faces and
bright-colored costumes performing juggling acts and acrobatics,
trying to draw the crowd to their show.

An assortment of conflicting
musical instruments was playing all around them, mixed in with the
sound of the crowd itself; it was an exciting time. These outdoor
shows were only allowed during the harvest celebration.

“Boys, be at Stone Hog before
dusk,” Harold said as Samuel and Elye jumped off the wagon, eager
to explore.

“I will stay with Father to get
Mother’s provisions; good luck on the competition,” Faray said to
Samuel as they rode off, disappearing into the crowd.

Samuel and Elye made their way
through the sea of people toward the eastern corner of the city,
where merchants outside the city had their goods on display. The
vast area had hundreds of booths, and it was claimed that during
the harvest festival, you could find anything you were looking for,
from clothes in their varying styles and fashion in the four
Kingdoms to livestock that included exotic animals not found in
these parts. Herbs that merchants claimed could cure any ailment,
to ointment, tools, and endless kinds of jewelry.

The lively sound of chatter
filled the air as they walked, viewing the different items on
display. Samuel, who was a tall young man for his age, could see
from their position the two-story tent with its rainbow of colors
that was the site of the magic show five booths away.

“I don’t understand what you
find so interesting about magic shows at fourteen, but…they’re your
coins.”

Elye did not respond to
Samuel’s rhetorical question; his excitement was still the same as
the first time he saw the show.

“I’ll join you once I’m signed
up for the competition,” Samuel said as Elye stood in the growing
line and others joined him, waiting to get in.

“I won’t wait for you if you
are not on time,” Elye said as Samuel turned left, disappearing
between two tents. He made his way down several makeshift footpaths
created to accommodate the traffic.

After several minutes, Samuel
came to the familiar booth with the name “Ramthon Flight” carved on
a painted plaque above.

Adam, a skinny man with a
narrow face who was past his middle years, was watching the street
when Samuel walked up.

“Ah…the young man that took
second place…oh, I’m sorry,” Adam said. “I mean, almost made first
place,” he said with a smile, which caused Samuel to blush with
embarrassment.

“It’s good to see someone who
is persistent and will not quit when he wants something. The
competition is going to be harder this time, though, with some new
and old competitors like yourself trying for first place.”

He continued talking as Samuel
placed four coins in front of him.

“It starts in an hour,” Adam
said, “so listen for the bell.” He pointed to two well-built and
armed men to his right. “The entrance is over there. You know the
routine; show them your ticket.”

Once he verified the paid
amount, he handed Samuel a ticket.

“See you in an hour,” Samuel
said just before turning to leave.

“Good luck,” Samuel heard Adam
say as he shifted his bow, which rested across his chest, to place
the ticket inside his shirt pocket before heading back the way he
came. Taking his first side street, he was surprised by a group of
horsemen who almost ran him over. He barely made it out of their
way as the boot of one of the riders brushed him at the shoulder as
they rode by. The sounds of their horses’ hooves had been muted by
the noise of the crowd.

He was lucky they had been
moving at a canter and not a gallop; even though with this crowd,
it would have been impossible to ride at any other pace without
running over people.

He was about to rebuke the
riders when he noticed the black and green uniforms with the golden
seal at the back; they were the king’s guards, and he kept his
peace. The riders did not notice him, either, as they seemed fixed
on getting to their destination.

Samuel leaned over to nurse the
pain in his right shoulder when a sudden sensation he could not
explain overcame him. It was that warning feeling you get in an
imminent danger just before it happens; he spun his head from right
to left, but saw nothing.

The feeling did not go away as
he tried to discern the cause of this sensation that was growing.
That was when his eyes were drawn to four figures kicking something
on the ground. It was in an alleyway some distance away that led to
a dead end. Without thinking, Samuel started running toward the
four men, pulled by some unknown force.

His heart began to race as he
ran; suddenly, something inside him that he could not explain was
ignited. The sensation grew until it completely consumed him with
an unexplainable rush—not the kind that comes from facing an enemy
in battle, but something more.

Afraid of what was happening,
Samuel tried to stop himself, and like a dream, he could only watch
as things unfold in front of him. The surge that ran through his
body began to change him, and within a short span, he suddenly had
clarity of mind. At the same time, the physical manifestation of
the internal change left a silver hue around him.

His vision became sharper and
he could see more than what regular sight would permit. He could
pick out little details around him as his consciousness was
expanded. Taking off his bow and one of his wooden arrows, he
pulled on the string.

“
A’shar-ta-nara
,” he
said in a voice and language alien to him and released the arrow.
Once fired, the arrow changed midair into some form of silver,
splitting into four straight pieces.

The arrows struck the four men
at the same spot on their thighs, and one of them screamed with
pain, followed by the others who grabbed their legs in like manner.
One of them glanced at Samuel, who was now about thirty yards from
them, and the other three looked in the same direction.

Struck with fear of the
approaching bowman with silver eyes and hair, they hobbled as fast
as they could away from the scene into the crowd, holding onto
their legs.

Samuel stopped where the men
once stood, looking like a cat ready to pounce on any prey that
passed by. Just as it had started, the strange energy that coursed
through him dissipated, leaving him weak. The essence of life he’d
felt had slipped out of him like a leaky clay pot.

He stood stunned, trying to
gather his thoughts together when he heard someone groaning.
Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw a young man crouched
down.

“They are gone,” he said as the
stranger took his hands from around his head that he had been
protecting from being kicked.

“Are you okay?” Samuel
asked.

“Yes,” the young man replied in
a raspy voice, trying to clear his throat.

Samuel reached out his hand,
and the young man took it and he pulled him to his feet.

Once on his feet, the young man
started brushing off the dirt on his worn-out trousers. With the
care he took cleaning himself off, it was obvious he didn’t have
much, that being his first concern.

His head was level with
Samuel’s nose and he seemed surprised, looking into Samuel’s eyes
as if noticing them for the first time. He took a step back.

“I’m not going to hurt you,”
Samuel said, taking a step back too, to reassure the stranger he
wasn’t going to cause him any harm. “I’m Samuel Wyman, and you have
no reason to be frightened of me,” he said.

“What is your name?” he asked
in as friendly a tone as he could make it.

“Jayden,” the stranger replied
in a steadier voice as he returned to brushing off the dust on his
shirt.

Jayden was of medium height and
build, and roughly the same age as him, seventeen, Samuel
thought.

He could not help noticing how
guarded Jayden was of him, even though he had accepted his help. It
was obvious from his appearance that the young man was destitute;
his clothes were worn out and old. But what was odd about his
appearance was what he was wearing, gloves. Leather gloves on a
warm day like this.

Jayden had a black spot on the
side of his cheek where he was kicked. The bruise was not
pronounced on his light-brown skin. There was sand in his jet-black
curls and blood on his lower lip that was cut.

Using his knuckles, Jayden
pressed his gloved fingers against the swollen area of his lips and
brushed his tongue over the cut to temper the swelling.

“I don’t mean to pry, but what
did those men want with you?” Samuel asked.

“Those thieves,” Jayden said in
a vile tone, “and they claim to be guards. One of them took an
interest in me when I came through the inner gate at dawn. Scanning
my cart, one of the guards looked at the other, giving him what I
think was a signal that I was alone before telling me to go on. I
could sense…I mean, I saw both of them a few hours later following
me, hiding behind the crowd, hoping I wouldn’t notice.

“I was cornered here by two
strangers, and as I turned to flee, the two I recognized were right
in front of me. Too close for an escape, I stepped back. They must
have reckoned that the noise from the crowds along the side street
would mute my attempt to scream for help, and I knew it, too. My
only option was to try to talk my way out of the situation.

“‘Where did someone like you
get the items you are selling?’ one of the men asked, pushing me
against the wall. ‘I know you folks along the delta don’t have
things like this,’ he said squeezing my shoulder against the wall.
I was about to speak when another cut in.

“Does it matter? He obviously
stole it from some high Lord, with all the thieves that swamp the
city at the time. We’ll seize the rest of your stolen goods and
pardon you this time, since we are fair-minded people here in
Bayshia, but you will have to leave the city.

“Even with the covetous look in
their eyes, I had to see if I could talk my way out of the
situation, but it fell on deaf ears,” Jayden continued. “They
wasted no time as one of them struck me hard on the back of my
head. Flashes of color blurred my vision as I staggered forward,
and another punched me in the stomach. I fell to the ground, trying
to catch my breath as a succession of kicks fell on me, and I tried
to protect myself. One of them must have taken off the tarp on my
cart and discovered that it was empty. He kept asking, ‘Where are
the items?’ But I said nothing, still on the ground trying to
protect myself.”

“It’s all over now; they are
gone, and you should be safe,” Samuel said as Jayden walked over to
his cart. “You know, you are welcome to join us—that is, my father
and two brothers—if you’d like.”

Jayden was silent as Samuel
continued, “You know the roads can sometimes be just as dangerous
out there as they are inside the city.”

“I do,” Jayden said
regretfully. “I do.” His voice was laden with the sad reality of
that fact. “Thank you again for your help, but I must go,” he said,
excusing himself.

Samuel wanted him to come with
them, but didn’t know what else to say, so he said the only thing
that came to his mind. “We are at the Stone Hog Inn, if you change
your mind, and you can have anything you want to eat,” he said
aloud as Jayden made his way toward the crowded street.

As Samuel watched him leave,
pushing his cart in front, he thought there was something peculiar
about Jayden that he couldn’t put his finger on. It wasn’t that
he’d never seen a youth from the delta before, even though mainly
older men leave the island to trade for the most part.

It seemed like he’d known this
stranger all his life, but that was impossible, since they had just
met. So why did he feel they were connected somehow? This was the
first thing he didn’t understand. The second thing was how open he
was with this stranger; Jayden had stirred something inside him
that he couldn’t explain. He had felt strong and more alive during
that short time than he had ever felt in his life.

Even more than that, he thought
almost in disbelief, the bruise on Jayden’s face and the cut on his
lip was fading away like they had never happened.

“No, people don’t heal that
fast,” Samuel thought, trying to convince himself that it must have
been his imagination.

While Jayden’s attackers fled
in fear, Jayden did not appear surprised or afraid—just shocked
that someone had come to his aid, even though he didn’t call out
for help. As these thoughts ran through Samuel’s mind, he started
walking back in the direction he came. As he took his second step,
his eyes fell on an object that reflected from the ground.

Samuel picked up the object; it
was an emerald ring on a silver necklace. He brushed his finger
over the ring’s smooth surface. It was the spot Jayden had curled
on the ground as he protected himself, Samuel thought. He must have
dropped it.