Cshooter's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Cshooter wanted to lead the elite guard of Amberfall, but the guard captains would not even shake his hand. He stood tall and tan in the training yard, and the other soldiers stepped away from him. They always did. His face scared people before he said a word. He had joined the guard to protect the weak, not to frighten them. Still, every time he passed, the whispers started. "The cold one," they called him. Captain Harwick ran the yard that morning. He watched Cshooter land every strike clean and fast. Harwick frowned anyway. "You fight like a killer," he said. "I want men my people trust. Not men they hide from." He turned his back and walked off. The other captains agreed with him. Cshooter's skill meant nothing. His reputation blocked every door. That night Cshooter climbed the stairs of his narrow tower home. Candles glowed in the stacked windows. His dog met him at the top, a gray pit bull with bright, watchful eyes. The dog pressed against his leg and leaned there. Cshooter knelt and rubbed the broad head. His hard face softened completely. "They think I'm cruel," he said. The dog licked his wrist and did not pull away. Then Cshooter heard shouts from the street below. He looked out the window. Flames crawled up the wall of a house across the way. A child screamed from an upper floor. The captains who feared him were nowhere near. Cshooter ran. He reached the burning house first. His dog stayed at his heels. Smoke poured from the doorway. Cshooter tore his cloak off, soaked it in a rain barrel, and wrapped it over his mouth. He went inside. The dog barked at a stairway, then bolted up it. Cshooter followed the sound. He found the child trapped behind a fallen beam. He lifted the beam with both arms and his muscles shook. The child crawled free. Cshooter carried her out as the roof caved behind them. A crowd had gathered. Captain Harwick stood among them, pale. He had arrived too late to help. He watched Cshooter set the child gently into her mother's arms. The dog nosed the girl's cheek until she laughed through her tears. The people who feared Cshooter now stared in a new way. Harwick came forward slowly. "I was wrong about you," he said. He gripped Cshooter's hand at last. "Report to me in the morning. I'll recommend you for the elite guard myself." Cshooter went home with soot on his skin. On his shelf sat a small heart-shaped keepsake, gold and red, made for the person he loved most. He touched it and thought of them. He had won the captain's trust tonight. But Harwick's recommendation would put him before the commander of the elite guard, and that man answered to no one.