Chapter 3 Archery Training

Soon after, Pierre bathed and got dressed in a boyish clothes; trousers and a navy blue sleeve, she followed Tania to the training ground which she would be taught archery and also practice it.

They arrived at a large hall which had various weapons hung up on its walls. Daggers, bows and quivers with a bunch of arrows in them, swords of different sizes and shapes, battle-axes, you name it.

The sound of metal been scrapped caught both their attention and they turned towards the direction of the sound and saw a muscular man with brown hair man and beard; he sat on a stool and he was sharpening a dagger.

The man suddenly stopped when he noticed their presence and so got up from the stool, sheathed his dagger and walked up to them.

On getting to them he greeted, "good morning, prince Pierre, I am Aaron a humble archer and I-"

Pierre didn't let him finish his statement, "Let me guess, you would be the one to teach me archery right?". She questioned with a raised brow.

"Prince Pierre, it is rude to interrupt someone when they're talking". Tania reprimanded.

Pierre rolled her eyes, "My mum does that to you all the time and you've never tell her that what she does is rude, so why am I an expectation?". She shot back before staring at Aaron with an expectant look.

"Well?". She demanded with a raised brow

"Your guess is right, Prince Pierre as I would be the one to teach you archery". Aaron answered with a smile that reached his black eyes.

"Alright, I would be taking my leave now, train well Prince Pierre". Tania said before exiting the training hall, leaving Pierre and Aaron behind.

-*-

"In archery, there are ten basic steps in shooting a bow and arrow and they are, one; checking your gear and equipment, your bow string must be tight and not lose alright?".

"Alright", Pierre replied fingering the string of her bow to check if it was tight.

"Is it tight?". Aaron questioned.

"It is". Pierre replied after confirming.

"Great, so we would be moving on to step two; getting the correct shooting stance", Said Aaron."Getting a correct shooting stance is very important in archery, and with my personal experience I would say it's the most important step in archery because your stance is what determines whether your shot would hit the target or not". He explained.

"So, what's the correct shooting stance in archery?". Pierre asked raising a brow.

"Well, actually there are three basic orientations for your stance in archery and each one can be modified to suit your body type, they are square stance, open stance and close stance". Aaron replied taking a single arrow from his quiver.

"Okay, so among the three you mentioned, which one is the best?".

"Well, the three stances are good but I personally prefer the open stance because that's what I've been using for years, and it has never failed me".

"Alright, teach me the open stance then". Pierre demanded.

"Hold your horses, Prince Pierre, one step at a time". Aaron said with a chuckle. "You know, you remind me of my little boy Finn, always eager to learn new things".

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble sir Aaron but you're wrong, because I'm not eager to learn archery, instead I just want to get it over with".

Aaron happy expression suddenly melted off his face,"why is that?".

"Well it's because archery is simply a waste of time!". She exclaimed in agitation.

Aaron expression suddenly turn hurt, "WHAT?!"

"You heard me, and I'm not repeating myself". She replied with a sneer.

"No, you're wrong Prince Pierre, archery is a beautiful and wonderful art and it's fun too". Said Aaron, trying to make Pierre see reason.

"You're only saying this because you're an archer and also, just because you like archery doesn't mean every one is gonna like it too, especially me". She said as she held an arrow tight in her grips, placed it on her left knee and ruthlessly broke it.

Aaron winced like he was slapped when he saw what Pierre did and so he sighed. "Prince Pierre, I don't really understand why you hate archery so much, I mean archery is a wonderful thing so why on earth do you not like-".

"You want know why?", Pierre asked." Alright, I'll tell you why; it's because one, I am here not of my own will and two, archery is boring, I mean what's with the stupid steps by the way and ten steps?, Are you kidding me?, who's going to-".

"That would be enough of it, Pierre". Aaron said calling Pierre with out honorifics and that was because he was annoyed".

But Pierre was stubborn and wouldn't listen. "No, you can't tell me what to do, and I won't listen to you and like I said, archery is a waste of time and effort!".

"It isn't!"

"It is, I mean look at the target board, it's miles away!". She exclaimed. "How do you expect me to be able to shoot at that?".

"No is not, it's just a few metres away from you Pierre". Aaron countered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Archery is a waste of time, I wish I was being taught something cooler like swordfighting, not archery!". She said in frustration.

"You like swordfighting?".

"No I don't, I love it and it's so much better than this stupid archery I'm being forced to learn".She said as she burst into tears of frustration and anger, surprising Aaron.

"Your highness are you alright?", Aaron asked in worry.

"Of course I am", Pierre said with a sniff. "I just got eyes in my sand,um, I mean sand in my eyes". She added as she she cleaned her eyes harshly with the back of her hands.

Aaron chuckled at her attempts to hide the fact that she was crying and so he crouched down next to her, making himself have same height as Pierre.

"Prince Pierre, I understand you don't like archery but if you don't try to let your dislike of it get the best of you, you'll find out that archery is actually fun and not a waste of time like you thought". Aaron explained.

Pierre sniffed but said nothing.

Aaron sighed. "Actually, there is a easier way to learn archery without the many steps". He confessed.

That seemed to get Pierre's attention because she looked at him sceptically. "Why didn't you say so before?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, I just wanted to be professional and so decided to teach you step by step". Aaron explained.

Pierre rolled her eyes. "Well, you've started teaching me the steps already, no need to stop been professional, sir Aaron".

"Alright your highness", Aaron replied with a small smile that reached his black eyes.

"So where were we?".