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After almost two days of descending, we were only an hour or two from the bottom when the sun started to go down. Instead of hiking down steep slopes in the dark to reach the bottom, we camped one last time on Shadow Peak. The next morning, we finally finished the descent. I could have kissed the ground, I was so elated.

Elias let me rest when we reached the bottom. He must have noted my exhaustion, and I was grateful. “You don’t even look tired,” I said as I took my boot off and shook out some loose gravel. “Have you climbed Shadow Peak before?” I sounded out of breath, even as we sat resting.

“I have,” Elias replied amusingly. “A few times, actually.”

My jaw practically dropped to the dirt. “No wonder you have such a good physique.”

He must have been one hell of a bounty hunter, to scale this mountain more than once. And there he stood, with muscles on top of muscles to prove it.

Elias began to laugh, but I watched as he stopped suddenly and his head darted to the left. I froze. “What is it?” I whispered. Elias put his hand up and I silenced myself for a moment.

He stepped over to where I sat and put a hand out for me to take while he used the other hand to put a finger to his lips. I held my breath as I took his hand and let him help me up. He gently guided me towards the direction he had been staring.

“There,” he whispered softly. “Through the trees.” He pointed ahead of us and I squinted my eyes, but saw nothing but dense forest.

“What is it? I don’t see anything,” I muttered back.

“Look just beyond the oak tree with the broken limb. To the right,” he added.

It took me a few seconds but I found the tree he was referring to, and glanced behind it and to the right. Then I saw it. A doe was grazing on a patch of foliage just behind the tree.

My eyes widened. A deer would be more than enough to fill our bellies nicely compared to the scraps we had been eating for the last few days.

“You got this,” I heard Elias whisper in my ear. I turned to him, confused. A smile reached the corners of his mouth. “Get your bow out, little archer,” he chuckled. And then I understood.

“I could miss and we could lose it,” I countered. “Don’t you want to take the shot so you can ensure we actually eat?” I slowly pulled my bow off my shoulder and began handing it to him.

Elias looked into my eyes and didn’t even glance at the bow. “You need to have more faith in yourself,” he asserted. “Remember whatTrybe taught you. Steady yourself, and take your time. You can do this.”

I narrowed my eyes and reluctantly readied my bow. “Fine,” I muttered. “But if I miss, don’t complain to me that you’re hungry.”

“Do I ever?”

He didn’t. I had never heard him complain about anything. In fact, I was the one who usually mentioned hunger, more often than I wanted to admit.

I let out a huff, and put the bow in position, with my left hand on the grip and my right reaching back to grab an arrow from my quiver. I nocked the arrow as Trybe had taught me, and pulled back on the bowstring until the tension forced it to stop. The next step, which was the hardest step, was to aim.

“Where do I shoot it?” I asked. The deer was slightly facing us, and had its neck bent down as it munched on the low bush in front of it.

“The heart,” Elias replied. “It will be an instant kill if hit just right, but won’t damage too many of its organs or destroy the meat.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes, as I didn’t want to lose sight of my shot. “Well I don’t really know where a deer’s heart is. Behind its chest, I’m guessing?”

“Yes,” Elias said with amusement in his voice. “But the best way to hit it from this angle is to aim just behind its shoulder.”

I stared at the deer, and focused my eyes on the spot behind its shoulder, per Elias’s direction. I steadied my shot as best I could. I took a deep breath in and out three times, hearing Trybe’s words in my head.

Take your time. The target isn’t going anywhere, she had said to me during our one practice session. She was right of course, and each rushed shot I took were the ones I missed. But this deer could take off at any moment.

I took another deep breath.Take. Your. Time. Trybe’s voice wasassertive.

With two more deep breaths, I felt I was locked in on my shot, and released the arrow. It went flying, and within a split second, hit the deer only inches from where I intended. The deer jumped up like it was going to take off, but only made it a few yards before falling to the ground with a thud. Even though the shot wasn’t the instant kill I was hoping for, it was enough to kill her nonetheless. The deer’s life ended fairly quickly, with minimal suffering.

Elias patted me on the back, and I lowered my bow. “Great shot,” he praised, and I couldn’t help but smile. “I told you, you should have more faith in yourself.”

I gave him a crooked smile.

I actually did it. I shot the bow at a live target and hit it. Two months ago, I would never have pictured myself even holding a bow let alone shooting it and striking. I had come a long way from being the trapped princess in Rimor, and I couldn’t help but feel proud.