Chapter Five: Lady Of The Bow

A woman crouched down in a cluster of trees, skinning her recent kill. She had long brown hair, green eyes, and tan skin. She wore a cuirass, and a skirt made from animal hide. She had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back. And a wooden bow laying next to her. As she finished she looked up and saw a figure coming down the hillside. It was moving towards the city known as Weylok. It was covered from head to toe in steel armor. But not any armor she's seen before. It's design was very different from that of the many types of armor that the soldiers and mercenaries of this land wore. It was also carrying a sword and a shield. As she observed the anomaly she suddenly heard a light roar to the left of her. It slowly became louder and louder. As she turned toward the noise a massive bear rushed by. She soon realized it was heading straight for the steel armored figure. She thought surely the figure would hear the bear coming and defeat the beast. Unfortunately the armored figure did not hear the bear, and it was quickly knocked to the ground. As the armored figure fell to the ground, its sword dropped out of its grasp and its helmet flew off, and clattered away. It quickly brought up its shield and put it in between it and the bear. It then tried to reach for its sword but to no avail. The armored figure yelled out in struggle. The woman grabbed her bow and ran towards the scuffle. She stopped a few feet away and grabbed an arrow from her quiver. She brought up her bow and slide the arrow next to it. With the arrow in place she pulled back the string and fired. The arrow flew through the air and impacted into the neck of the bear. The bear roared out in pain and turned toward its attacker. The woman grabbed another arrow and pulled back the string and fired. The arrow impacted into the bear's head, right between the eyes.

The armored figure pushed the bear off and stood up. When it did the woman saw that the figure was a man about the same age as her. He had short brown hair, silver eyes, and light skin. She blushed slightly as she had never seen such a beautiful man in her lifetime. "I appreciate the help," the man said, "You saved my life." The woman turned away embarrassed. She knelt down to the side of the bear and started skinning it. "It was nothing,"she replied. "Well it was something to me," the man said, "I owe you." The woman finished skinning the bear and stood up. The man stretched out his hand toward her. "My name is Jethro by the way," the man said, "Jethro Ironguard." The woman stretched out her hand to meet Jethro's and their two hands shook. "My name is Martha Valenwell," the woman replied. "Pleasure to meet you Martha," Jethro said, "If there's anyway I can repay you, let me know." Martha pointed to the bear she just skinned. "Could you carry that into the city for me?" Martha asked, "I can then carry its hide." Jethro nodded and quickly walked over to where his helmet was and put it on. Then he walked over to his sword and put it in its sheath. He then walked back over to the bear and grabbed it with both arms and him and Martha walked into the city of Weylok.