Page 106 - KCN 2020

The Lone Archer
Joyton Fu Hung Li
Drawing his bow, Jamal felt someone’s gaze boring
into his back. He turned back and saw a tall, white-
bearded man. “Don’t shoot me, please, I mean you no
harm”, the old man said nervously, seemingly frightened
by his appearance. Jamal shot an arrow at him anyway.
The old man managed to evade it unscathed. Jamal, per-
turbed, shot another arrow and injured the old man. The
ensuing pain was unbearable, and the old man groaned
as if something was burning his leg. Jamal soon realised
why the old man had come to him. A horde of barbar-
ians was closing in on their location. Jamal fled as he
knew that he was far too weak to handle all of them.
As he was preparing to set off, he saw the old
man groaning pitifully, trying to hide behind some sparse
bushes. “Should I save or leave him?” Jamal hesitated
for a moment. Suddenly feeling remorseful for his ear-
lier, impulsive actions, he dashed towards the old man,
hoisting him onto his steed and rushing away. The bar-
barians signalled for a troop to capture them, as their
orders were to kill anyone suspected to be from the
village they were pillaging. Knowing that the barbar-
ians would show them no mercy, he sped away, faster
than before and as quick as his old horse could go.
After a few days of travelling, they arrived at the
northeast. It was desolated, bleak and strange. There were
isolated houses, dehydrated corpses as well as dried riv-
erbeds. Life seemed to have shut down there. Even the
sand lost its lustre as it was covered by ashes. Soon, a
small village appeared within Jamal’s sightlines. “Alright,
this is my village. Thank you for helping me,” the man
said. This was the first time the old man had spoken to
Jamal as Jamal was at best curt to him. Jamal nodded,
letting the old man disembark and rushing away.
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It didn’t take long for Jamal to spot a disorganised rabble marching towards him. Jamal
gasped. The barbarians. They’d come back for more, or possibly, for revenge. He knew he was in
grave danger. It was only a matter of time before they discovered his presence. However, it was far
too late. Jamal couldn’t combat thousands of people all by himself. He was bewildered and lost; he
didn’t know what the best course of action would be.
All of a sudden, a volley of fire arrows rained down from the surrounding cliffs. Tons of
immense rocks rolled down the cliff as if thousands of huge waves were crashing into the walls of the
cliff. Amidst the mayhem, Jamal was able to get himself out of the battleground. As he was about to
escape, he saw the old man he previously rescued battling one of the barbarians. As the fight between
the villagers and the barbarians escalated, Jamal decided to fight alongside the villagers. The vil-
lagers’ army successfully impeded the barbarians from marching forward despite some minor losses.
Though they were worn out and exhausted, they didn’t plan to retreat as they knew that this was their
final chance to stop the brutal and monstrous barbarians from seizing control of the entire desert.
Since the beginning of the battle, the old man had been fighting bravely against the barbarians
despite his injury. Jamal had forgotten about it long before they arrived at the village. Nevertheless, it
didn’t take him long to realize that the man couldn’t continue the fight, or even defend himself. After
dodging the first strike from the barbarian soldier, the soldier countered him with a strike from his
blade’s hilt. Seizing the opportunity while the old man was off-balance, he fatally stabbed the feeble
old man through the torso as Jamal watched in horror beside him. Out of abhorrence and animos-
ity, Jamal rushed towards the barbarian immediately and stabbed him with his blade. Cradling
the old man, Jamal carried him away for the second time while escaping from the battlefield.
“There is a letter in my pouch. Take it,” the man requested. Jamal shook his head, not want-
ing to accept the man’s death. Jamal’s own actions had caused the death of this man. It wasn’t
just the arrow; no, Jamal’s own choice to ignore the pillaging and war around him for this long had
caused the barbarians to gain power. With his last bit of energy, the old man fished the
letter out of his pocket and pressed it into Jamal’s hands before taking his final breath.
Jamal shed a tear, knowing that the only way he could atone for his wrong doings was to
rebuild his village and deliver this letter for the old man.
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