Chapter 32 : A Short Fight

It was Sam. He was already leaning against the metal bar of Wilder's cage door.

"What's wrong?" I frowned, demanding a reasonable explanation.

"You know Wilder is female and pregnant, right?" , Sam said with his right index finger pointing at Wilder's belly.

Suddenly my eyes widened at Wilder and I took a few steps back like a baker who accidentally cracked a rotten egg on his cake batter.

"Are you sure, Sam?"

Sam nodded, "Isn't his big belly enough to be clear evidence? Oh no, wait. Did you think of her as a male all this time? Wow, you're so lame. Take a look at the bottom of her ass once in a while. Do you find anything hanging there? Or is there something long coming out from under there?"

"Nothing," I said, "There's just-" , my eyes widened then turned to Sam, "You're right. She's a female."

Sam smacked his lips and snorted, "Apparently you don't know your horse yet, huh."

***

As promised, after Sam taught me riding, I would teach him archery. Sam is basically a smart guy- or is it because I'm a great teacher, it didn't take long for him to understand the techniques I taught him.

There's really no special technique, it's just a matter of archery with breath. Keeping the breath under control will greatly affect the performance when archery. If Sam says horses can understand the emotions we feel, then I told him that the arrow shows what's going on inside your head.

It's not a cliché, but it's real.

How far and how precisely our arrows hit the target depends on our breath concentration and focus. If the mind is not in a calm and hurried state, then you can be sure that it will keep missing the target. That's why all I taught Sam was how to catch his breath and he was able to shoot right away, although it took a few tries for him to successfully shoot an apple that I placed on the fence of the riding arena.

"Want to try archery while riding?", Sam asked suddenly with sparkling eyes.

Suddenly I glared at him and brought my face closer to his, "The loser will clean the room for a week, agreed?"

A grin appeared on Sam's face signaling that he was both very interested and challenged by my offer, "Deal."

After a brief discussion given that we didn't have much time until the evening training, we decided that the game would only have one round where the results were immediately visible. An apple was placed on top of one of the iron bars that formed the foundation of the equestrian area fence. The rules of the game were very simple, whoever managed to shoot down the apple while on the horse that was traveling around the arena, then he won.

At first, Sam and I took positions, where we were facing each other but far apart. Our horses' turning paths will be opposite each other. I set up on the left side so that I would turn to the left, while Sam starting on the right side would turn to the right.

To signal the start, Sam threw a piece of cloth. When the cloth fell to the ground, that's when we started. I found it difficult at the start because Wilder didn't seem to be in a good mood to run, so I made two turns first before finally starting to pull the arrow from its place on my back. Unlike Sam, within the first round he was ready with his arrow. Unfortunately his first attempt didn't succeed in dropping the apple.

We crossed paths and I could see his grin. He was enjoying this and underestimating me at the same time. Sam's second attempt was still unsuccessful and on the third attempt, his arrow actually came close to hitting the apple.

We only had five arrows each. Sam had already finished three of his arrows in a hurry and he stopped archery, giving me the opportunity to shoot.

I kind of regretted that Sam didn't continue until his arrows were gone. That meant I had to work just as hard as him instead of just enjoying the victory without putting in any effort if Sam finished his arrows in one go.

The universe was not on my side today. I released four arrows and none of them hit the apple. To be honest this was a bit embarrassing for me, considering I was Sam's teacher in archery.

"What's wrong, Miss? Your bow's crooked?", Sam asked when we crossed paths again.

Damn Sam, his smile, and his sarcasm.

"I don't care if you're giving in to me. Unfortunately that doesn't impress me at all."

I chuckled bitterly. He really underestimated me. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a lot of enemies out there. Every word that came out of his mouth created animosity naturally.

"Alright, alright. I'll be serious this time. I hope you keep your promise. Clean the room, for 1 month." , I said defensively.

"My pleassure." , he replies.

After spending two rounds just talking, I was ready with my last arrow. I slowed down a bit from Wilder and started to draw my bow when I was almost parallel to the apple on the fence.

My eyes squinted to lock on the target and then held my breath before finally shooting my last arrow. Just a split second before my arrow hit the apple, something hit the apple first and it fell to the ground.

"Crap!"

With a disappointed face, I approached the apple and immediately got down when I saw that the thing that hit the apple was something very familiar.

"You made it? Damn, I should have shot my arrow first." Sam commented coming up behind me.

"No, it's not. That's not me." , I said as I showed Sam the apple.

"What is it?", Sam jumped down from his horse and approached.

"My dagger."

"Dagger?"

I pulled my dagger out of the apple with a smug face then looked around and saw someone walking away. It must be Gerard.

"Here. A present for you." I said as I gave Sam the apple and jumped out of the arena.

I ran a little after Gerard with a happy face. It felt like there were butterflies fluttering in my stomach, though I didn't understand why I was so happy just because Gerard returned my dagger.

"Did you see that? Since when did you pay attention? You saw that I can already ride, right? What do you think?"

I immediately bombarded him with endless questions. It reminded me of the first time I managed to swim. My dad challenged me just like Sam did and I was so pumped. It took me three days of learning to swim in the river until I could finally cross it. My dad watched me from the side of the river with pride and my reaction was exactly what I was doing to Gerard.

Gerard's steps stopped and his right hand came up to his temple, "You ask too many questions." , he commented looking unhappy.

Unfortunately, Gerard's reaction wasn't the same as my father's.

The smugness on my face faded and was replaced with a faint smile, "I can already ride. Are we still practicing tomorrow morning?"

" It is up to you." , he said briefly and walked away.

"What's wrong with him? I understand he's just a foster child, but do you have to show your suffering so clearly? Tcih." , I grumbled softly as I watched Gerard's back move away.

***

The next morning still with the spirit and excitement left in me, I woke up early like yesterday. Even so, I still couldn't beat Gerard. It felt like when I closed my eyes last night, Gerard was in his bed, it felt like the time we fell asleep wasn't that different. But every time I open my eyes, Gerard's bed only has Sam in it.

It took me less than five minutes to get ready, now I've arrived at the field. There were no more troops to reprimand me. It was as if they had gotten used to my presence. Wow, I felt a little proud of that.

Just like yesterday, I didn't find Gerard anywhere. Even though there was only a small chance that Gerard was in the stables, I still came looking. Sure enough, he wasn't there. The only place I could think of was a small path of bushes behind which there was a barbed wire fence as the border between The Vigilante Union's area and the forest.

Part of me forced myself to go check there. At least behind the bushes. But another part of me warned me not to interfere and make trouble. I hadn't made a decision yet, I was surprised by Gerard who actually appeared from there like someone who had just been thrown out of another world.

I almost screamed in shock, and so did he who was just as shocked as me. I stared at him while covering my mouth, while he stared at me while signaling me to be quiet by placing his right index finger in front of his pursed lips.

The next minute we were running around the field in our usual formation. I was behind him. Gerard didn't say anything while I continued to be tortured by curiosity. My mind kept forcing itself to ask questions. There was a part of me that said I had a right to know where he'd been until it was too late for our practice- or was I just too quick? I didn't care.

"I know you have a lot of questions in your head." Gerard said ahead of me, opening his voice.

Then his footsteps slowed down to a leisurely pace and he stopped, turning around to face me, who also stopped.

"I'll tell you. When the time is right." , he said with his chest puffed up and then deflated.

My forehead scrunched up in confusion. Why did he provoke my curiosity even more.

"You know what? There's never a right time. Just like tomorrow never arrives."

Gerard shook his head, "I mean it. I will tell you for sure. When the time is right, and maybe even then, will be the last time you see me."