Dragons, Dystopians, and Denial

"I know," Jerica answered, forcing her voice to be gentle as well. Me too. She kept that part to herself. "You keep trying to control Mellie, instead of work with her. You are -- quite literally -- just along for the ride. If you relax it goes better..." She turned away from him and smirked. "And hurts less when you fall."

After he successfully cantered by himself, he slowed to a stop and looked back at Jerica with a grin he so obviously tried to suppress. He cleared his throat, relaxing his posture.

"I, ah... I did it," he announced with pride in his voice.

"You did it!" She grinned at him, thankful that he seemed proud of himself. Finally. Maybe this meant he'd be motivated to actually get good, eventually. "Okay, we'll vary our pace now when we're traveling. Get you some practice. But, let's walk for now. Give you both a break." And me.

She swung back on top of Evan, grateful to get to go back to riding instead of running next to Elias for most of his lessons. She had them stop a bit before sundown that night so they could get started with archery lessons. He was... trying... with swords. Maybe bows would be easier for him.

"Alright, here's how you string a bow," she said, pulling it out of the tube. "The important part here is to keep the string waxed. If you get it frayed you're screwed. So then you just pull the string taut like this, and loop it over the end like this."

She held up her bow as an example, then slid Elias's bow tube towards him. "Your turn."

He watched her with a questionable look, but then grabbed the bow tube and tried to mimic her actions. "Like this?" he asked, but the string tension appeared to be too high.

"Uh, yeah, close." She reached forward and fixed it for him. "Alright, now you never, ever, ever fire the bow unless there's an arrow on the string. You can break the bow if you do. So if you draw your bow, and you don't have an arrow, you have to let the pressure off gently."

She stood up and pointed at a sapling. "Now..." She hesitated and pointed at a downed log instead. Less chances of missing, and less distance to walk when he missed. "We're going to be aiming for that lichen patch on the log."

"We do what I call the 1-2-3." She relaxed a bit as she picked up an arrow. Bows were, quite literally, her thing. She'd trained hundreds of recruits with bows at this point. "Your one is notching an arrow, like this. Just put it in the center of the string, where the string is between that little notch."

She waited for him to mimic her.

"Two is drawing the bow," Jerica said. "It's going to be heavier than you expect, so hold on to it tightly. Hold your fingers like this to keep the arrow in place, then pull the string back."

She was impressed when he actually managed it smoothly. Most of the people she trained had to take a few tries to get it right. She slowly let the weight off her bow so she could gesture for him.

"You have to find your anchor point. Basically find a comfy place here on your cheek to rest your thumb. You have to find this anchor point every. single. time. you shoot." She let him play around with where to rest his hand, then, "Now look down the length of your arrow and line the tip up with your target. It helps if you close your left eye so you can really focus."

"Three is to focus on your breathing," she said, drawing her own bow again. "Take a deep breath, let it out, and focus on your target. Another deep breath, readjust your aim if you need to, then let your breath out again. You can do it as many times as you need. But when you're ready to fire, let your breath out, and don't breathe in again until after you shoot."

She took a deep breath, let it out, then loosed her arrow, striking the lichen squarely in the middle. Elias buried his in the dirt well in front of the log. She talked him through each step, occasionally tweaking his posture or hand position. They got him... close enough, and he didn't seem to be as frustrated with learning with this as much as sword or horse training. When they finished, they set up camp.

The next day was more or less uneventful. Jerica made him practice his horsemanship and was pleasantly surprised when he didn't fall off this time, even though his posture was enough to make an equestrienne sob.

They stopped for lunch.

They didn't really have time to set up a fire for real food, but she was getting tired of being in the saddle, and this was a nice, peaceful little cove with a lot of shade. There were also a lot of boulders, which was less than ideal, but after a quick lap around the perimeter she decided it was reasonably safe for no longer than they were going to be there.

Jerica flopped down with a deep sigh, resting her back against one of the trees. She pushed the hilt of her sword out of the way so it wouldn't jab into her side, then tossed a roll over to Elias.

"You're doing better with riding," she commented, leaning her head back to rest on the trunk of the tree behind her.

"Thanks," Elias said back, inhaling his roll like a starving child and then laying down in the shade of the trees. He bent his arms and rested his hands behind the back of his head, staring up at the breezey leaves with the small rays of lights shining through it. "I have a pretty okay teacher," he said after a long pause to chew and swallow.

She smirked a bit. "Lucky you."

"I don't think the teacher is as lucky though," he mused out loud. "The student is a little slow to learn."

Jerica laughed. "Well... I honestly don't know much about teaching horsemanship. It's one of those things that I can do but don't really know how I do it, you know?" She took a bite of her roll and continued past the mouthful. "Now bows? I'm good at teaching that shit."

Elias tried to shrug, but it came out looking like a twitch since he was laying down with his hands behind his head. "That works, since I prefer bows more anyways. I think it's easier to fight from a distance. Rather than, you know, getting up close and personal with a sword. Or having to control a big animal."

"Yeah..." Jerica sighed, thinking a moment. "I mean, there's pros and cons to everything. It's stressful when you're running low on arrows. And, you get shot at more than swordsmen do." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know, 'cause no one wants to deal with an enemy archer. So they try to take you out."

She shrugged, taking another bite of her roll.

Elias seemed to hum this over. "Not unless you hide real well," he said thoughtlessly.

Jerica laughed. "Man, why didn't I think of that."

"Guess I'm teaching the teacher something," he said with a smirk.

Jerica laughed again when he entirely missed her sarcasm. Again. "Well, hopefully we'll get your archery skills up to par soon. Never know when we're gonna need them next."

"We've got plenty of time."

As if the universe were playing a sick ironic game with her, there was a sudden shuffle and hiss behind her. Jerica immediately turned while Elias sat up straight.

Jerica's eyes went wide as she stared at the creature. It almost looked like a giant scorpion -- easily the size of their horses -- with a giant stinger that was bigger than her entire head. But it's head more resembled a cat's, the neck stubby but leading up to a pale-colored fur and a house filled with dozens of razor-sharp teeth. Its pinchers seemed like each one was as big as she was tall. But it was the feet that were most unsettling to her. There were six legs, like a normal scorpion, but the ends were like an eagle's talons.

"The fuck--?" Jerica was on her feet in an instant, drawing her sword as she stood. Her gaze flicked from the beast, to the horses, to Elias, assessing her options. The likelihood of them both managing to get to the horses, and Elias managing to mount and run, didn't favor them.

Jerica stepped forward, putting herself between Elias and the beast. "Get to the horses. And run."

She couldn't be bothered to look at him to bully him into obeying, but she heard him scramble to his feet, presumably to follow her orders. If he knew what was good for him -- which, he probably didn't -- he'd get himself to safety. And she'd take on the beast, then go find Elias, whereever it was that he fell off Mellie. Again.

Jerica rolled her shoulder and strode forward and to the left, drawing the attention of the beast away from Elias and the horses.

The beast hissed at her loudly, baring its fangs.

She screeched back. She could hear Elias calling her name, but there was no time to pay attention to him. She had to focus.

The beast recoiled a bit, then rushed forward. Jerica stepped forward, swinging her sword up to block its claw as it tried to bring it down over her head. She grunted under the force of its blow. It was surprisingly strong.

She made a pass at its side, but the hard exoskeleton made her blade glint off. The beast whirled around again, swinging its claw at her. She blocked the first one, then realized it was making a pass at her with its other claw too. She threw herself backward, its claw whizzing just over her chin.

She rolled the instant she hit the ground, the beast's talons landing where she'd been moments before. She staggered backward as she got to her feet, just out of range of the beast. It started towards her again.

Her eyes flicked across it, looking for a weakness. Anything. Its head seemed fleshy, but she wouldn't be able to get near enough to attack it there without its pinchers getting to her. Head - vulnerable, but inaccessible. Pinchers - armored. Body - armored. Legs - armored.

Then the beast threw its stinger forward, straight towards her middle.

"FUCK!" She threw herself to the left at the last moment, landing heavily on her side. She tried to roll, but the beast's talons landed in front of her. She twisted towards the other side, but the beast's talons were there too -- straddling her. She had three rows of razor sharp talons boxing her in from her shoulders all the way down to her knees.

The beast roared.

"Fuck! You!" She yanked a dagger out of her belt, realizing there was a narrow strip between each of the armored plates on its abdomen. She sank the dagger up to its handle, then yanked it as far as she could reach.

The beast screeched, stumbling backward in agony. One of its taloned feet caught her arm, still clasping the dagger. It ripped her right forearm open with several long gashes before the beast fell onto its side.

Jerica sprang to her feet, grabbing her sword. She stumbled to the side one step, then caught her balance and started towards the beast. It was writhing on its side, still hissing and growling. She stepped forward swiftly and drove the tip of her sword into its neck, right where it morphed into fur instead of exoskeleton.

The beast spasmed, giving a blood-curdling screech. She ducked under its claw, then stood up just as its front leg came at her. She didn't have time to dodge. The talons sank into her left side, tearing open her flesh, before it collapsed fully. Black sludgy blood poured from its wounds, making a huge, smelly puddle that rushed towards her. She yanked her sword from its neck and then stumbled away, well out of its range if it thrashed again. Her gaze snapped around the entire area around them to ensure that there wasn't any other threats. Then they landed on Elias.