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Evil Targets: Chapter 1

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Literature Text

Title: Targets of Doom: Chapter 1
Fandom: Ranger's Apprentice
Genre: Horror, Cheese (is that a genre? It should be)
Word Count: 634
Rating: PG
Pairings: None
Warnings: None
Summary: When a ranger gathering goes horribly wrong and all the senior rangers go missing or are found dead, it is up to the apprentices to save the day... And hopefully themselves.

The bow string bit into my fingers as I struggled to hold my aim as long as I could. My muscles started to burn and I asked myself again why I was doing this. The answer came immediately: I could not miss. All day I had been missing or breaking my arrows on the target when I did aim true, which until recently was a nearly impossible feat for me. For some reason, however, even aiming wasn't enough to hit the target. And this was not good for me. Not at all.

I had recently arrived earlier that day at the ranger's gathering with my new master. I had only been apprenticed for two seasons when he thought I was ready to give it a go at moving on to the next level before the customary year had passed. That was a lot of faith on his part weighing down on my shoulders.

I had been willing to wait another full year before my assessment, even though this would put me behind the other apprentices by a few months. They had all joined the previous spring, but myself being the acceptance had only been chosen six months ago. Half the time. I was supposed to be in battle school right now but one attempt at pranking the ranger of my fief changed all my life plans. And to think that my father was fine with me leaving battle school!

I must admit, however, that training to be a ranger was far more enjoyable than training with young, and somewhat unintelligent, brutes. My school mates weren't all like that, just the ones that "communicated" with my on a daily basis.

And so two dead pigs, a scarecrow, and a rough trip for me into a lake later and here I was apprenticed to be a ranger. Horrible aim, and heavy footedness didn't deter my master from keeping hope in me. Don't ask me what's wrong with his head, I don't think I'll ever know.

I took a final deep breath, exhaled, and released the arrow. It sliced through the air heading straight towards the large hay stack, struck it, and then shattered.

I frowned as I walked over to retrieve the wooden shards. I bent over to pick them up and took a moment to stare at the target. Something was off about it; there seemed to be an unnatural hue to the hay, and almost purple gleam...I bent closer, reaching out my hand to touch it when someone shouted my name.

"Colin!" I turned around to see my mentor calling to me. He waved from where he was standing underneath the shade of an oak tree, beckoning me to come over.

"Yes, Garth?" I dropped the broken arrows in a pile near my quiver; evidence of how ill prepared I felt and was for the assessments.

"It's time to go listen to a lecture on cartography," he patted me on the back as he pushed me towards the camp. "You will always need to know how to map an area."

I mood lightened a little at this, I was always good with direction and found geography to be interesting. Maybe this was something I could make up for my lack of archery skills with. "And after that?" I asked.

"We'll take some time to sharpen up your knife throwing," he then pointed to a group of apprentices seated in a circle with a tall and lanky ranger standing in the middle.

I settled down next to one of my new friends and readied myself for the hours of learning I had ahead of me. After I was done with Garth I was going to head back to that target and find out what was really going on.
A/N: Hello all! This story was inspired by a water color my friend drew of a demon target that ate arrows and broke its victims into little bits. And it really exists. So, without further ado, here is my first multi chapter in years and my first RA fic. Enjoy!

here's the "official" illustration/inspiration: [link]

Disclaimer: There once was a fan who owned no rights, ee-i-ee-i-oh! And she had an idea that came at night, ee-i-ee-i-oh! With a fanfic here, a fanfic there, here a fic, there a fic, everywhere a fic, fic! There once was a fan who owned no rights! Ee-i-ee-i-oh!
© 2011 - 2024 GAClive
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