Beneath The Ashes- Chapter 1

Ashyrn set her foot down on the forest floor as silently as possible. Quickly glancing around to make sure she was close to being in good position, she stepped forward silently edging towards the bush that would give her some cover. Her heart was racing in her chest, and her fingers gripped the hilt of her dagger harder. She would have to be quick and silent so none would be alerted to her presence. She was ready. This is what she had trained and sweated for month after dreary month. She darted to the bush, and stared through the leaves towards her goal.
Looking around, all she saw was the surrounding forest and nothing out of the ordinary.

Then she saw it, a flash of brown, like the color of a bull hide coat that blended in with the forest, invisible to all except for Ashryn’s trained eye. She kept her eye on the part of the forest where she had seen it, slowly so as not to draw attention to herself, she drew an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow back silently. Sighting down the arrow she focused on keeping her breathing even and visualizing the path of the arrow to its target. Ashryn pulled her bow back a little bit farther until her fingers were even with the corner of her lips, taking a deep breath she—

A loud, vivid crack suddenly rent the air as if a large tree branch had snapped and crashed to the ground.

Keeping her bow drawn, Ashryn spun around to find what had interrupted her kill shot. She glanced over the area until she saw the cause of all the commotion and the interruption and sighed.

“Seriously Leo, what was that for? You know better than to disrupt me at this point.” Ashryn huffed and slowly released the draw on the bow and put her arrow back in her quiver as she looked up at her twin brother clinging to a large tree.

“Ash, I was just practicing, and you know better than to get all huffy unless you want Morden to yell at you,” Leo explained mockingly. He leapt down from the tree and casually picked up the limb he had broken on his climb up the tree.
“Anyways Ash, how did I do?” Leo asked in a cocky voice.

“Leo, you broke a branch as you were climbing a tree while I was actually working. You did not do anything impressive except embarrass me by your utter lack of grace and decorum you are supposed to use.” Ashryn sighed and started walking away from her brother, Leo, so she could practice in silence without him interrupting her yet again. It was useless to stay here now. Leo had probably scared everything in the vicinity away with his noise and carelessness.

“That’s not what I was talking about, Ash. I was talking about that,” Leo explained as he pointed to Ashryn’s target.

Ashryn spun around to where she was going to shoot.

“No! Leonor, why did you do that? You know you can’t keep doing stuff like this! Morden is going to kill you!” Ashryn yelled when she saw what Leo had actually done other than just break the stupid branch.

On the forest floor lay the sika deer Ashryn was about to shoot with the hilt of Leo’s hunting knife sticking out from its lower shoulder. A perfect kill on nearly all levels, except for the fact he was forbidden to hunt, and it was rightfully Ashryn’s kill. If Leo went home with the sika deer, he was sure to be punished and his ban on hunting would probably be extended, as well. He might even have his weapons taken from him, which would be the ultimate humiliation. It meant you could not be trusted with weapons, were unworthy of any title and had to wait until everyone else was done eating before you could eat seeing as you had not helped with the kill. You usually ended up getting only a mouthful of food, and it was usually tough and stringy with no flavor.
Ashryn walked over to the sika deer, and thanked Gaia for the bounty of food as was tradition. Bending over the deer, Ashryn pulled out Leo’s knife and was grateful that only a little blood leaked out to mar the wound. She then pulled an arrow from her quiver, and set the tip against the wound and plunged it into the deer noting the depth it would take for it to look like an arrow had killed the sika deer. Standing up Ashryn stepped back, and tossed Leo’s knife on the ground behind her as she studied the animal. The arrow protruded from the deer at a believable angle, and little blood was visible which heralded a perfect killing shot.

“Thanks, Ash. Sorry for messing it up for you,” Leo said, sounding contrite and apologetic.

“I know that you’re sorry, but that does not cut it. You really can’t keep doing this. It is dishonest, and I am not going to keep covering up for you. You have to work to earn back their trust after the last time, otherwise, you are never going to be respected, and you will become a joke.” Ashryn explained as softly as she could avoiding hurting Leo too badly, but harsh enough that he understood the danger he was in.

“Ash, you of all people, know what really happened last time. It was not my fault!” Leo said, raising his voice in frustration as he ran his hand through his dirty blond hair messing it up.

“Exactly, Leo, which is why it is even more important for you to behave. They believe you are trouble. They don’t know trouble follows you. We have to be patient in order to find who really did it, and catch whoever set you up,” Ashryn exclaimed, softly as she wrapped her arm around Leo’s shoulder giving him a hug to help lighten up the feelings of seriousness and fear that clouded Leo’s eyes.

“Ever think we are looking for what set me up, rather than who?” Leo mumbled almost incoherently. Ashryn just barely caught what he said and had to stop herself from telling Leo he was probably only too right. Ashryn’s head spun trying to think about what had happened, and who or what would have had any motive to kill in cold blood and not for food.