Lewis had always loved Fir Forest during Frost. It hadn’t been until now, after not being here for a couple of years, that he realised how much he had missed the sight of the snow-covered fir trees.

Early that morning, while Emily had still been sleeping, he had taken his bow out into the forest in search of breakfast. With the blanket of snow on the ground, it hadn’t taken him long to track down a pair of rabbits. Aside from a few mint leaves, which he had found in the overgrown vegetable patch at the side of the house, he had managed to find the rest of the ingredients for a simple rabbit stew in the house.

He had been on the verge of going to wake Emily up when she appeared, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. While he had finished preparing the stew, she had sat herself down at the Guard board and begun trying to play against herself.

After they had finished their soup the night before, he tried to teach her to play. Although she had been getting there in the end, the game had still taken the better part of two hours before it had ended.

Now, with the stew eaten and the Guard board left inside, he had taken her out into the forest with his own bow and an old one he had found in the house slung over his shoulder.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked as she shivered slightly beside him.

‘Before I joined the guard in Tristan, my father used to take me out into the forest to practise with a bow he had made,’ Lewis said. ‘He set up a little target practise in a small clearing not far from the house. I think it would be best if you learned to use a bow as well. Just in case.’

Silently, Emily nodded as she followed Lewis into the small clearing. On the far side stood half a dozen fir trees, slightly further forward from the rest of the treeline. In the past, they had all had patches of bark scraped off at different heights, with the scars still visible.

‘I haven’t been here in ages,’ Lewis said as he set the spare bow down on an old tree stump and looked up at the tall firs. ‘It must be five years at least.’

Pulling his bow off his shoulder, Lewis notched an arrow, taking aim at the middle target. Releasing it, it zipped across the clearing, landing in the centre of the target.

‘Show off! Emily muttered when he turned to her.

‘Just lots of practise,’ he replied as he notched a second arrow and fired it at the target on the left of the one he had just hit.

‘How long have you been using a bow?’ she asked as a third arrow found the third target.

‘I think my father first brought me out here when I was six, so it must have been nearly twelve years,’ he said thoughtfully without breaking his rhythm as he pulled another arrow from the quiver on his back.

‘When’s your birthday?’ she asked, changing the subject as the fourth arrow found its target.

‘Frost 2nd. Why?’

‘You’re older then,’ Emily said as he hit the fifth target perfectly.

‘When’s yours?’

‘The Sky Fire and Harvest Transition Day,’ she said.

‘I’ve never met anyone born on one of the Transition Days,’ Lewis said. It must happen, he thought, but there are only five Transition Days in a year.

Between each of the four seasons, there was one Transition Day, except for between Harvest and frost, when there were two. The Transition Days were public holidays when all but essential workers would be given the day off. He didn’t know when it had happened, but there had always been a second Transition Day between Harvest and Frost to celebrate the year’s Harvest.

‘It’s pretty rare, I think,’ Emily said. ‘Sebastian said he had only ever known one other person who was born on a Transition Day.’

Firing the sixth arrow at the final target, he watched as the metal point embedded itself in the soft wood. ‘Did you know King Vandemark well? You talk about him a lot.’

‘Quite well, he was sort of like a father figure to me. Apart from him, Lillian was the only one who really spoke to me. She’s one of the princesses,’ Emily added to Lewis’ blank look when she mentioned the name.

‘I don’t know why none of the others spoke to you,’ Lewis said as he moved forward to retrieve his arrows.

‘I do,’ she said. ‘It’s because I was an orphan. I’m not from their higher society, which means so much to them.’

‘That’s stupid!’ Lewis said as he began pulling the arrows out of the tree trunks. While he had been training for the guard, he had come across a handful of people who felt they were entitled to everything because of their families. ‘Just because they had the good fortune of being born into a rich family doesn’t make them any different. We’re all the same in the end.’

‘I guess so,’ Emily said with a weak smile as he turned to face her.

‘I’m sorry, I came across some people like that when I was training for the guard. I can’t stand it,’ he said, picking up the second bow from the tree stump. ‘You’re a far better person than them.’

‘Thanks,’ she muttered sheepishly as she took the bow that he held out to her. Whether the colour rising in her cheeks was from the cold or what he had said, he didn’t know.

‘Have you ever used a bow before?’ he asked as he handed her one of the arrows in his other hand.

‘A couple of times,’ she said as she notched the arrow slowly. Lifting the bow, she pulled the arrow back. When she released it, the arrow flew across the clearing, shooting between the two trees on the left and sticking into one on the edge of the clearing.

‘That wasn’t bad,’ he considered as he held out another arrow.

‘I was aiming for the one in the middle,’ she admitted as she took the arrow from him, notching it slightly quicker than last time.

‘I see,’ Lewis said as he bit back his laughter. When the second arrow disappeared between the same two trees, he couldn’t help but laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her turn to him with a frown on her face. When he looked at her, it was only a couple of seconds before she dissolved into laughter as well.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

‘Can we make that one of the targets instead?’ she asked when their laughter began to die down.

‘I don’t think so,’ he replied as he handed her a third arrow. ‘Here.’

‘What am I doing wrong?’ she asked as she notched the arrow and took aim at the middle tree for the third time.

Stepping over to her, he placed his hand over hers, where it held the bow. Tucking his right arm around behind her, he held her hand over the end of the arrow to stop it from releasing. With her red hair in his face, he moved her aim slightly to the right.

‘You need to relax,’ he said as he felt her shoulders tense against him. Slowly, he felt her relax, her back pressing against his chest. With one last look down her sightline, he took his hands away and stepped back. ‘Okay, now.’

A moment later, she released the arrow. Unlike the first two arrows, it zipped across the clearing much faster, burying itself in the middle tree with a thud.

‘I got it!’ Emily said excitedly as she lowered the bow and turned to him.

‘You did. Now see if you can do it again,’ he replied as he handed her another of the arrows. ‘Don’t forget to relax,’ he added as she notched the arrow and took aim. At his words, he saw her shoulders relax visibly.

After a short pause, she released the arrow, watching as it shot across the clearing, striking the target on the tree a couple of inches to the left of the arrow he had helped her line up.

‘It looks like you’ve got it,’ Lewis said as he handed her another arrow.

‘It’s a lot easier than Guard,’ she said as she took aim at the middle target again.

‘You keep practising,’ Lewis said as he put the spare arrows down on the tree stump next to his bow. ‘I’m going to see if I can find some dry wood for the fire.’

Leaving Emily to practise with the bow, Lewis headed to the edge of the clearing, searching for any dead wood that hadn’t been covered in snow.

Between glances back at Emily to see how she was doing, he snapped off a dead branch that was hanging down so that it was almost touching the floor. For someone who had only used a bow a couple of times, she wasn’t bad. Perhaps King Vandemark had taught her when she had been living in the castle. He wondered what else he had taught her while she had been there.

Breaking the dead branch into several pieces over his knee, he stacked them up in his arms, turning back to the clearing. Despite being thrown into a world that she knew almost nothing about, she was managing okay, he thought as he watched her put the bow over her shoulder before she went to retrieve the arrows.

‘I think I’ve got the hang of this,’ she said when she saw him walking towards her with the wood.

‘That’s good,’ he said with a smile. ‘We can come back later after we get something to eat.’

‘Alright,’ she said as she picked up Lewis’ bow and the rest of the arrows. Despite the disappointment in her voice, she matched his stride as they followed their tracks through the snow back towards the house.

‘Who taught you to use a bow?’ Lewis asked, pushing one of the low fir branches aside so that Emily could pass.

‘Sebastian,’ she replied. ‘He taught me a lot of things, really. I never really thought I would need them.’

‘He did a good job,’ Lewis said as he awkwardly pulled the key to the door from his pocket. They had come out of the forest about a dozen paces from where they had entered it earlier.

‘Let me,’ she said, taking the key from him before he dropped the broken branch that he was carrying.

‘Thanks,’ he said appreciatively when she held the door open for him. Dumping the wood down beside the fire, he used one piece to prod at the dying embers of the fire that they had left behind earlier. Chucking on a couple pieces of the dead branch, he watched as the flames tentatively licked at it before they decided to bite. ‘I need to get some more wood,’ he said as he noticed that the wood basket beside the fire was nearly empty.

‘I’ll help,’ Emily said as she set the bows and arrows down on one of the chairs.

‘You don’t have to,’ he said as he stood up.

‘It’s alright; it’s nice to actually do something for once. At the castle, they normally just send a servant to do it. Besides, I feel like I already owe you too much not to help,’ she said as she followed him outside.

‘You don’t owe me anything; we’re both in the same situation now,’ Lewis said as he rounded the corner of the house to find the old wooden lean-to that covered a stack of chopped logs. ‘At least neither of us have to deal with it alone.’

Grabbing a dozen logs from the top of the pile, he stacked them up in his arms just like he had with the branch he had brought back from the clearing. When he had all that he could carry, he paused while he watched Emily try to stack the logs in her arms like him.

‘Just take what you can manage,’ he said when one slipped out of her arms.

Leaving her by the log pile, he headed back to the door, sighing with relief as he felt the heat from the growing fire on his face. Dumping the logs into the wood basket, he heard heavy footsteps in the doorway.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked without looking up as he stacked the wood neatly.

‘A lot better than you’re going to be Hargrove,’ a gruff voice replied. A voice that he had hoped he wouldn’t have to hear again.

Spinning around, he found Commander Redmond standing just inside the doorway, the snow on his broad shoulders slowly beginning to melt in the heat from the fire. Backing away, he felt the edge of the wood rub against the backs of his legs.

‘This is a nice place you’ve got here; I wonder why you never mentioned it,’ Commander Redmond said as he stepped forward, his hand reaching for the sword that was sheathed at his waist. ‘They say that very few people can bear to witness the execution of someone who is sentenced for high treason, but I promise I’ll do my best. It’s supposed to be the most excruciating pain before they finally kill you.’

‘Sorry, we’ll have to pass on that,’ Emily said as she appeared in the doorway behind him.

‘There you are!’ Commander Redmond spoke triumphantly as he turned to face her. However, before he could react, she had dropped all the logs in her arms apart from one and lunged at him, smashing the piece of wood into the side of his head.

For a split second, he staggered backwards before he collapsed to the floor with a loud thud, a trickle of blood rolling down the side of his face.

The silence that followed was broken by Emily dropping the bloody log that she was holding. ‘Is...is he dead?’

‘I think he’s just unconscious,’ Lewis said as he stepped forward. ‘We need to get out of here before anyone else turns up.’

‘How did they know we were here?’ she asked without moving as Lewis started stuffing all the supplies he could find into his bag.

‘They probably looked at my file and saw that I used to live here,’ Lewis said as he stuffed the last chunk of bread into his bag. ‘It doesn’t matter; we can’t stay here any longer.

When his bag was packed as tightly as possible, he grabbed a piece of rope that he had found in the spare room the night before. Rolling Commander Redmond onto his stomach with some difficulty, he pulled his huge arms behind his back, tying the rope tightly around his wrists.

‘Go in my parent’s room and grab as many of the thick clothes as you can carry,’ Lewis said as he used the rest of the rope to bind Commander Redmond’s ankles together.

Without a word, Emily hurried into the bedroom that she had spent the night in, leaving Lewis standing over the unconscious, hogtied body of Commander Redmond.

‘Can I borrow this?’ Emily called to him. Stepping over Commander Redmond, he hurried to the doorway, checking to see what she was talking about. Standing beside a pile of thick fur coats, Emily was holding up a thin golden chain in one hand and the amulet that the bounty hunters had tried to take. ‘The chain on the amulet Sebastian gave me got broken by one of the bounty hunters the other night.’

‘Sure, take whatever you need,’ Lewis said as he grabbed the pile of coats, carrying them back into the main room.

‘I found this as well,’ Emily said as she hurried after him. Turning, he saw another bag in her hands.

‘Thanks,’ he said as he began stuffing the clothes into it. ‘Put this on,’ he added as he threw one of the thicker ones at her.

Picking up the bag with the supplies in it, he put it over his shoulder. Next, he took his bow and slipped it over his other shoulder so that he could get at it if he needed it quickly.

When Emily had finished attaching the amulet to the new chain, she put it around her neck, tucking it down the front of the coat and out of sight. Making a mental note to ask her what it was later, he passed her the other bag. Scanning the room for anything else that they might need, he grabbed the quiver of arrows from the seat where Emily had left them. ‘Let’s go,’ he said when he was satisfied that they had everything.

It seemed that they hadn’t been ready a moment too soon, as Commander Redmond groaned quietly. Beckoning for Emily to follow him, he headed for the front door, pausing to make sure that there was no one waiting for them outside.

‘Let’s go,’ he said quietly as he slipped out the door, heading for the cover of the forest a short way from where they had entered it earlier. Hopefully, the two sets of tracks in the snow might throw Commander Redmond off. At least until they were far enough away, he hoped.