Carnhain sat in his saddle. He was still, letting the afternoon sun bake his bare shoulders. Horsebow in hand and broadsword balanced by full quiver, he waited for the day's student.

 

He watched patiently as Rurak approached. As Carnhain had requested, the man had brought his weapons and horse, ready for the day's training session.

 

"How well do you shoot from horseback?" cried the Lieutenant to the Archer.

 

ooc: what kind of bow does Rurak use? and what are his other weapons?

OOC: well I use the two rivers longbow, but obviously that can't be used from horseback. I believe Rowul gave me a horsebow of his. My other weapon that I use is the quarterstaff. I've also had a bit of sword training and hand to hand, but other than that, nothing else.

 

IC: Rurak walked out of the stables where he kept his horse and led it by the reins to the grounds where the cavalry practiced their maneuvers. Rurak wasn't especially pleased to be continuing his work with horses, but it was a must for band members, and so he was just gritting his teeth and bearing it. As he neared Estel, the man shouted out"How well do you shoot from horseback?" "About as well as I ride the flaming fatherless son of a spavined goat! A man was never meant to shoot a bow from a bloody horse!"

 

All of this was all too true. He had had some training from Rowul with using the horsebow, but he had never had to use it from the horse, and he had gotten some basic horsemanship from arinth, but he was still far from at his ease when atop a horse.

*bump*

Carnhain's laughter filled the clearing with a sense of joy, nearly forgotten since the horrors of the latest Emond's Field battle. He grinned and motioned the man over to him.

 

"Come here and I'll show you. Mount up." As they did, Carnhain took his own bow and hefted it. "Right, first things first, I'm going to teach you to shoot standing still. Stand up in your stirrups, watch you keep your balance."

 

Rurak did so, hesitantly at first, so Carnhain gave him a minute or so to get used to the position. "Now, bring your bow up shoulder high. Make sure you tilt it so you're not looking through the bow. Now you can shoot."

 

The blonde man pointed to a set of targets roughly fifty paces away. An easy shot for one of Rurak's skill, but things had to be taken slowly. No sense rushing through them, learning them wrong and then wasting time learning them over.

OOC: sorry for the long LOA, I had to leave for a couple of years and didn't get a chance to finish these. Hope we still can.

 

IC: Rurak inwardly laughed at the thought of a horseman teaching him to shoot, but that all ended when he got up on the horse. It wasn't a particularly graceful mount...a man was never meant to ride on another animal in his own opinion, but he needed some teaching, and he was determined to learn all aspects of archery. He quickly found out that shooting from the ground was a lot easier than shooting from something that wouldn't stop moving. It started out all right at first, though his groupings weren't quite up to par. He got frustrated at that, and slapped the animal to get it to stop moving....unfortunately that set it off into a run that definitely spoiled his next shot and caused a few minutes of turmoil until he brought the horse back around. Rurak glanced, ashamed, towards Carnhain and hoped he wouldn't say anything. After four sets or so Rurak finally found his balance and had his groupings close to as tight as he wanted them. Not  nearly up to par, but good enough all things considering.

 

"Well this is all well and good, but how am I supposed to shoot this bow from a thing that bloody well won't stop moving?! I could barely control my shots with it just sitting there!"