Heir to the Empire

25. The Lions Den - Erdudvyl

There was a thump followed by an echo of unenthusiastic clapping around the courtyard as the Emperor lowered his bow to examine his latest shot into the straw target approximately a hundred yards away.

"It looks like you hit him in the knee, Your Majesty" one of the Emperor's valet's commented as unenthusiastically as the clapping that continued to echo in the courtyard.

The Emperor grumbled under his breath recalling the foolish wager he had posed towards Loldirr when she mentioned she had done a bit of archery. One gold lion to the person who fails to miss the target, a twenty-yard increase on every three shots.

Loldirr took her position, placed and arrow carefully on top of her left hand. She lifted the bow and drew back on the string.

She could have quite easily had released the arrow straight away, but for appearances, she paused to give the impression she was finding her range.

Placing the feathers against her cheek, taking a deep breath, she released the arrow. A small smile appeared as she listened to the swoosh and twang of the arrow and bowstring performing their tasks. With all the stress that had gone on, she had forgotten how much she missed those sounds.

It didn't take long for the arrow to make a thump, deep in the supposed heart of the straw figure.

There was a more enthusiastic clap this time, which seemed to irritate the Emperor even more.

"Lucky shot," he mumbled, his face red in frustration.

Loldirr knew it was a risk to keep playing like this, but she was competitive by nature, refusing to hand this man any sort of victory. With each shot she made that took her one step closer to a gold lion, it was one more victory over the usurper who sat on her throne. She smiled once more as her next shot hit just to the left of her previous one.

"You could at least look like your struggling," Erdudvyl commented quietly towards Loldirr.

"Yes, I could," Loldirr responded before releasing another arrow.

Thump! This one hit just below her previous two.

"You are playing a very dangerous game, Loldirr," Erdudvyl commented as Loldirr smiled towards her.

As Loldirr was begrudgingly congratulated by the Emperor, Erdudvyl took a quick scan of the other patrons within the courtyard. Most of them were reluctant nobles who were there simply to make an appearance and gain favour with the Emperor, one or two of them were political refugees from the Isovine and Ruvia war.

Then there was Nimue.

Taking shelter from the blistering heat, she had positioned herself, with a large retinue of serving girls, within an archway of the castle. It was obvious she had no interest in the archery but had a vested interest in the Emperor's affection towards his archery opponent.

Erdudvyl watched as Nimue's mouth moved as if she was speaking, but considering none of her serving girls was responding, she had obviously caught someone else's attention.

Elven courts were much different from the intricacies of human courts. In an Elven court, everyone had a clear role to play and attempting to change that role would be considered extremely disrespectful. Within the few times, Erdudvyl had been present in a human court, she had observed and was disheartened by how every single person would be attempting to further themselves, either by painting themselves in a good light or painting others in a dark one.

This often left her feeling constricted and breathless within the setting, knowing that every word and action was being heavily scrutinised.

Nimue appeared to be a master of the human court and Erdudvyl couldn't help but admit she was slightly intimidated by her.