Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Ultimus Chapter Twenty-Nine: Lies

Erica, Freya, Jonathan, and Andrew had been waiting for what seemed like several hours. And Erica was kinda bored out of her mind, surprisingly Andrew hadn’t asked anything of Erica. Which was a surprise. He had been looking through all of the data files Jonathan had scribbled down on all of the creatures that he had seen on the Arks and down here. And with Jonathan, that could bore someone for several hours. She sighed to herself, if Sylas were here, he would’ve made some super old reference about how long it had been. But he wasn’t here. Which also drove her mad. Out of everyone here, why her? Why did she have to stay with Andrew and translate for him the other two’s words? It didn’t help that Jonathan was refusing to speak English. But for right now, Andrew was content, Jonathan was off investigating some giant caterpillar, and Freya was hacking at some tree for some reason or another while her Rex guarded the near vicinity. Which was giving her some peace.

It was like raising children with two of them, while living with a roommate with the other. At least Freya could handle herself with nearly anything thrown at her, Jonathan would just kite something towards them to be a sadist. And she didn’t trust Andrew out of her line of sight out here, did she? She looked back at him looking through Jonathan’s summaries. He didn’t even seem like he had an interest in leaving them. She was just staring at him wondering if that’s all he wanted. Did he just want their company?

She noticed how fast he went through each of the summaries, he just looked at them for a moment and then flipped to the next one. He just kept doing this. She chuckled softly to herself, probably like the rest of them, he was unable to read Jonathan’s French writings. But he seemed awfully interested in the art that came with them. She wondered if she told him that it was her art, would he compliment her?

Erica then noticed how quiet it had gotten, she couldn’t hear Freya’s axe chopping against the tree anymore. Erica wondered why she stopped, her Rex would have roared if there was danger, and Freya would have either screamed or chanted a battle cry if she was in danger. So she must’ve finished cutting the tree.

“What are you looking at?” Freya stood behind her holding two cylinders of thatch over her shoulders. Erica screeched, scaring Andrew from looking at Erica’s art in Jonathan’s notes.

“Damn it, Freya, don’t do that.” Erica spat,

“Sorry, just wanted to know if you wanted to do some target practice with your bow?” She said dropping both of the thatch rolls on the ground. Erica smirked. She loved to use a bow; and it was always soothing to her when they had these types of friendly competitions with Freya.

“Sure, I’d love to join in.”

“Great!—” Freya said, she looked over at Andrew and saw that he seemed to be curious about their conversation. “—Could you also ask if Andrew would like to join in? He does seem to prefer a bow, and I can make him one easily with some of the scraps of the tree I cut down.” She continued, Erica kinda glared at Freya. She didn’t want to have the intruder join in on her way of relieving frustration. But Freya gave a sort of judging look.

“If you won’t I will Erica.” Freya said, Erica groaned.

“Fine—” Erica whispered. “Hey Andrew, would you like to join us in target practice? Freya will make you a bow so that we can accurately and fairly judge your shooting.” Erica asked, Andrew looked with surprise.

“Really? Uhm, sure!!” Andrew said excitedly, Freya smiled before picking up one of the thatch target rolls.

“Erica, can you grab that other one please? I’m gonna put mine out over there if you can put yours out there with mine?” Freya asked, Erica sighed, and grabbed it.

“I’m right behind you.”

They went and got the targets out where Freya wanted, about twenty-five meters out from where they planned to shoot from. Freya then went and grabbed a few scraps of the dead tree she had cut down to make a bow for Andrew. Erica joined her for the moment just to get a few extra minutes without Andrew. Though she knew it was just delaying the inevitable. As Freya gathered up the resources needed to make a bow. She looked back at Erica.

“So why are you so adamant that Andrew is not good? Why are you so distrustful?” Freya asked, Erica looked at her with frustration.

“If you're so adamant to know why, then I have a question for you. Why are you so trusting?” Erica retorted. Freya smiled and shrugged.

“It’s easy once you learn what to look for and what to expect from someone who isn’t trustworthy.” She said as she sat down on the stump, Erica looked at her.

“Yeah right, not unless you have years of training like you.” She said sarcastically.

“Maybe, or maybe let go of your fears and just watch how someone acts, how they stare at you. See what their eyes tell you... Something that my years of training taught me, is that fear is a sword with no handle. It can be a powerful weapon in your arsenal. But with no handle, the more you grip it, the tighter you hold on— relying on it more as your weapon. The more it hurts you and makes you bleed.—” Freya said, “If you let your fear become your drive, the more you will only see your fears around you rather than the truth. And that fear can turn you into something else than you are, and it can turn you into a monster if you let it control you.” Freya continued, she looked at Erica with soft eyes. Erica stayed silent for a moment, then she looked away.

“So why do you distrust people?”

Erica sighed, “Almost everyone I have ever known in my life either lied, betrayed, or was distrustful to the bone. And he…” Erica stopped, her hands began to shake. She closed her eyes and began to breathe shallowly. She opened her eyes and looked at Freya. “So my entire life has been nothing but people who’ve tried to hurt me in some way or just are not trusting at all. Twenty-four years of my life Freya. What do you think that turns you into? If fear can turn you into something else, then I have been something different since I was about eleven years old. So is that what you wanted to know: that I have had issues with trust since I was a kid thanks to the people around me? Then there, you got everything you wanted.” Erica answered. Freya just stared for a moment.

“You said twenty-four years, not twenty-five years.” Freya said, Erica stayed silent.

“Does that mean you trust us, Erica? Me, Paul, Sylas, and for all his trust is worth Jonathan? If you have found trust in us, then all I can say is that Andrew deserves the same type of trust you give us.” Freya said, but Erica still stayed silent.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to-” “Offend or hurt me? I know… but it did. And you aren’t sorry for asking why I’m distrustful… Are you done with his bow?” Erica interrupted. Freya solemnly smiled.

“Just about, it’ll only take a few more minutes.”

“Good, I’ll be over by the range when you're ready to practice.” Erica said before storming off away from Erica. As she did, she took a glance back at her. Freya looked at the bow she had made and she slumped for a moment. Then after a second she picked herself back up and carried on to finish her work. She felt genuinely bad, and Erica knew she did. And the truth was Freya was right about some of what she said. They were some of the most trustworthy people she had met in a long time. And she was right about how fear works, especially how it can make you into something or someone else.

She waited a few minutes with Andrew close by, he was pacing in particular areas and back to where they were going to shoot from, then to the targets and back. Counting quietly as he went, but mouthing the numbers. He seemed to be judging the distances of the targets and landmarks near the targets. It was impressive, though she guessed it was something he had to learn being twelve years alone. Freya finally appeared with Andrew’s new bow, she handed him his bow and smiled.

“I hope you like it.” She said, Erica noticed that Andrew didn’t understand what she said, but he nodded and smiled back.

“Thank you!” Andrew said happily,

“So are we gonna keep talking or are we gonna start shooting?” Erica said brashly, she noticed she was beginning to sound like Jonathan with how she said it. Which made her kinda gag in her own throat. Freya smiled, she pulled about twenty arrows out of her implant, sticking them into the ground. Then did that about two more times.

“Yes, we can. Each bundle is for each of us.” She said, Erica pulled an arrow out of the ground and took her first aim. She took a moment to breathe, focusing her aim. Then she fired her arrow, hitting the outer part of the bullseye of the left target. She smiled, she was still a good shot with a bow, though she was a better shot with her rifle.

“Nice shot!” Freya said as she grabbed her arrow.

“Yeah, very nice!” Andrew also replied, Freya drew her bow and waited for a moment. Erica noticed the grip she took with the bow. It was Mediterranean grip. With her ring and middle finger below and her index finger on top of the arrow nock. Something she found interesting. While she saw many on the Ark take this grip. She didn’t think Freya would. With how she acted, she thought she might take a different style, maybe like Erica’s use of reverse grip, or Mongolian Grip. But it didn’t matter, if this was her style, then it was her style. Freya fired, her shot hitting the right target, on the right side of the outside ring of the bullseye.

“That’s very good!!” Andrew said,

“Yeah, it is! Although you didn’t account for the wind gusts. Just aim slightly onto the opposite side of the wind gust so you hit your target.” Erica added, Freya smiled.

“Thank you for that advice, Erica!” She said, Andrew was up next, Erica watched as he grabbed one of the arrows sticking out of the ground. He put the nock on the bowstring and then pinched the nock between his thumb and index finger’s knuckle. Erica rolled her eyes in embarrassment. It was like a child’s grip on an arrow, not a real grip. It was too easily unstable when shooting when drawn back to shoot. But she remained quiet as she watched. He stood there undrawn with his bow in hand. He stared at the targets, breathing slowly yet deeply for a moment. Before taking a deep breath as he drew his bow.

For a moment, Erica held her breath too. His stance and even his grip seemed unmovable, completely different from the stance he had held when speaking to them just moments ago. His eyes were completely focused on his target. He didn’t seem to be the same somewhat timid, or child-like curiosity he had before. But a determined man to hit the target in front of him. He released the arrow, holding his stance for far less time than either Freya, or herself. His arrow flew, hitting the left target dead center in the bullseye. Erica and Freya were both surprised, Erica was especially shocked. She wasn’t expecting him to shoot well, let alone outshoot her. He used a Tek Bow, Tek Bows had auto aim and were easy to use. She didn’t expect to even hit the target.

“Very well done Andrew, you are well in depth with a bow I see!” Freya stated, Andrew smiled, and then looked at Erica. Waiting for a translation, but she was too caught her own thoughts. She didn’t like being outperformed in anything. Freya nudged her.

“Huh?”

“Andrew wants to know what I said. I said that his shot was very good, and it seems he is very experienced with one.” She said, Erica rolled her eyes.

“She said you are great. Was that just lucky or are you actually that experienced?” Erica asked, Freya frowned seeing she was cutting out her other comment. Andrew looked confused at Freya for a moment.

“No, I was asking that. She just simply said you were great.” Erica said,

“Oh, ok. To answer, no, that was all experience. I have been shooting a bow before I ever went into cryostasis. But I practiced when I got the chance, which is a lot. I’ve had to make some makeshift bows with how many broke on me. This bow is a lot better than the ones I made though. Thank you, Freya!” Andrew said, Freya smiled and bowed her head in thanks. Erica huffed with a small smirk on her face.

“How about a small friendly competition? In a more old-fashioned style, we use your arrow sticking there, and we try to split the shaft. Let’s see if you're telling the truth.” Erica suggested, Andrew chuckled.

“I mean we can, but that’s not likely to happen like you want. But let’s make it more interesting. Let’s actually go with what that mythos is based on with your idea.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I read in a history book, that the splitting of the arrow shaft most likely came from the idea of shooting at a stake or stave. So we shoot at a similarly sized piece of wood with an arrow in it. The first one to hit the arrow out of three arrows wins. If no hits the arrow, then the closest shot wins.” Andrew added. Erica thought about this for a moment.

“Alright, deal. But you have to stand a few meters behind where I shoot. If you're as good as you claim, that should make things fair.” Erica said, putting her hand out to shake. Andrew agreed and shook on it.

They took a few minutes to get everything set up, Freya found the right-sized branch from the tree she had cut down earlier that would work for their stake. Therefore, she trimmed away any of the branches that were in the way, stuck in the ground near the other targets, and stabbed an arrow into the center of the stake.

As Freya walked back, Erica looked at the target, again about twenty or thirty meters away, though it was a lot more difficult with your target being a three-inch target, especially since that was a consolation target if none hit the 4-6 millimeter target sitting in the center of the already difficult target. She looked over at Andrew, and he seemed nervous. She wondered if he was scared to go against her, or if he just wasn’t as good as he said. For a moment she thought this could be the case, but it didn’t seem like him. He wasn’t one to worry when bluffing or to lie, so what was this about?

Freya finally got out of the shooting range, she walked past Erica and then Andrew before finding a rock to sit and watch the competition. Jonathan had finally arrived back from investigating his weird inflating bug. Erica then heard him sigh overexaggeratedly, saying.

“What is she doing now?”

“Shh, they’re about to have a competition to see who is the better archer.” Freya commented, Erica looked back to see Jonathan shaking his head as he stood over Freya. His tall physique was nearly bent in a sort of cartoonish stance, at least to Erica.

“Yes, I can see this with my own two eyes… but what is the point? And why aren’t you in there? Aren’t you the weapons expert when it comes to older weapons?” Jonathan said,

“The point is to see who is the best in marksmanship. Something you obviously don’t care about, Jonathan.” Erica remarked.

“I didn’t simply because I am not good enough for this type of competition, but I am very excited to see who wins this.” Freya said, Jonathan rolled his eyes as he turned around.

“Well, Erica is indeed right about something about me for once. This is definitely something I’m not too intrigued by. Rather, it seems lackluster and childish for your style Erica. Though what to expect from a woman who has to be number one at what she’s good at. This is why I carry a shotgun over a rifle or bow; it has the best probability to kill an animal in one shot. Tell me if they start competing in chess, or cards… then it would become an interesting match.” He said in arrogance before walking away. Erica rolled her eyes. Andrew seems to take note of this too.

‘I hope his papers are all jumbled and messed up. Let’s hope Andrew did cause disorder… or that an arrow ricochets back at him.’ She thought with an evil grin.

“Well, are you ready? Or have you decided to forfeit?” Andrew said smiling, he started nervously chuckling. Erica huffed arrogantly as she stared at him. She grabbed her three arrows as she got ready. Andrew did the same. She had colored the arrow’s fletchings blue for his, and red for hers by using the berries that grew from the shrubbery around them. That way they could see roughly where their arrows hit so they didn’t have to go out and look at each arrow shot.

“Alright, so are we taking turns between each arrow or just shooting them all at once?”

“Let’s just shoot them off.” Andrew said, Erica smiled.

“Alright then…” She took a few steps forward, keeping to their agreement that she would. She stuck the other two arrows away as she drew her fist shot, aiming for the tiny spec of an arrow she could see. She fired, watching the arrow fly and graze the left side of the stake. She cussed under her breath, she didn’t account for the wind. She grabbed her next arrow, adjusting her aim for the wind. She fired again, hitting the stake about two to five inches under the target arrow. She bit her lip. The weight of her arrow dropped faster than she expected. She grabbed the next arrow and set the nock on her string, raising her aim. She noticed her aim was getting jittery as her nerves started getting to her. She lowered her bow and loosened her pull on the string. She needed to win this, she couldn’t lose to the new guy. She closed her eyes and took slow, deep breaths as she prepared for the next shot. She could feel herself calm down as she did this. She then drew her bow again, opening her eyes as she began to find the right position where she needed to aim. She found her mark, held it for a moment, holding her breath as she did. Before releasing the nock and letting the arrow fly out. It barely missed the arrow, no more than an inch away from the target, maybe even less. Erica smiled as she looked back at Andrew, being smug about her shooting.

“Let’s see how you do against that..” Andrew sighed, he tried to act professionally in this moment and not quip back at her remark. He looked back at Erica and smiled. His eyes showed genuine kindness.

“Is it okay if I ask you to move back behind me? It’s not safe with you in any part of the firing range.” Erica's smile slowly disappeared as she went behind him. She kinda felt like she put her foot in her mouth expecting some small comeback like any of the others would. But he didn’t, and his smile didn’t help her feel any better. His smile was so innocent.

Andrew began to control his breathing as he stood in his shooting stance. Breathing slowly, and deeply. He drew back his bow, aiming quickly and releasing the nock, hitting just below Erica’s second shot. He stayed calm as he set the next arrow on the string, and he repeated the same thing he did before. Drawing the string back and firing it immediately. The arrow flew and stuck between the two arrows Erica shot before, with his arrow being closer to last than her second. She was beginning to get nervous about his shooting, his shooting was more accurate and had more precision than hers, though she wouldn’t confess it to anyone.

Andrew then just stood there for a moment, he looked at the target intensely. Erica wasn’t sure what was going on with him, his stance had even changed. It was less confident and professional than it was before. Was he getting jitters? What was going on?

He shook his head, his stance getting more confident, he set the last arrow on the string before starting his breathing, Erica watched intensely as he started to focus. She noticed his breathing was different. It was rapid and a little shallower than his previous breathing. He then drew his bow back and aimed. His hand stayed steady for a moment as he held his aim, which was odd compared to his shooting before. Then his hands began to shake. His aim began to jitter as he released his last arrow, missing the stake entirely. Erica sighed in relief, for a moment she thought he was going to beat her. She looked over at Freya who seemed deep in thought over something. She patted her on the back as she gave a nervous chuckle. She got up and walked over to Andrew who was silent.

“Good competition, you’re a really good archer.” She said smiling, patting him on the shoulder. He looked back and smiled.

“Thanks, you or an excellent shot yourself! You should be proud of yourself.” Andrew said, he seemed calm and accepting of his loss. This kinda raised a red flag for her. She didn’t know many who would accept failure lying down, not to mention when it was their own fault. But he was different, maybe he was just like this. Still, it was weird, and it was making her feel awkward.

“Well, I'd better be going. I gotta… go… check on Ajax. To see if he has food.” Erica said bluffing as she started walking away. She heard Andrew say “Oh, okay… see you later!” as she walked away. For a moment, she wanted to smile. Maybe he wasn’t so untrustworthy… maybe.

~

Andrew stood there watching Erica leave, he sighed as he turned around to see Freya staring at him intensely. Andrew let out a small scream as he didn’t even know she had gotten behind him.

“Oh, Freya. Hi! What are you doing still here?” Andrew asked, but he wasn’t sure why though. She could understand him, but if she tried to respond back he wouldn’t understand anything she said. She said nothing though, she just stared with extreme intensity. Like she knew something. Andrew was getting nervous as Freya stared into his soul with those eyes; seeing every moment of his life.

“Well, what do you know. It looks like I got to… Ah, go. Feed Knight Sky. Catch you later.” He said handing his bow to her as he turned and started walking away. But Freya wasn’t done with him yet. As the next thing he knew he was lying on the ground after Freya tripped his feet. Andrew spun around onto his back and looked up at Freya.

“Hey, what was that for?!” He asked, she said nothing as she lent a hand to help him up. He reached out and she quickly set him on his feet. Then she handed his bow back and three new arrows. She then pointed to the stake with the six arrows sticking out of it.

“Skyte.” she said with a much more serious tone. Andrew let out a nervous chuckle, he could only guess she wanted him to shoot again.

“I don’t follow. Why do you want me to shoot these arrows?” He said nervously with a smile on his face. Freya wasn’t smiling though or her usual kind self. She was being colder and more serious to Andrew at this moment than ever before.

“Skyt som om du virkelig mener det, Andrew. Vis meg hvordan du faktisk skyter, ikke hva du tror vil få deg på Ericas gode side.” She said again, pointing to the stake. Then over towards the direction Erica went. Andrew’s smile dropped. While he didn’t know exactly what she said, she made it clear what she was accusing him of. Andrew sighed, he could feel his cheeks blush from embarrassment.

He walked back to where he was standing before and began to breathe slowly and deeply like he did with the first two arrows, taking in the hot air around him. He focused only on the target ahead as he set the first arrow on the string. He continued to breathe deeply until he drew back and fired once he made aim. The arrow flew and landed between the target arrow and Erica’s last arrow. Almost leaving no room for another arrow. He looked back to see if this was enough for Freya, but it wasn’t as she pointed to the target, indicating that he should continue shooting. He sighed as he looked back, and put the next arrow on the string, drew back the bow, and fired again. Hitting right next to the arrow. He repeated this with the last arrow and again it hit next to his other arrow. All three outdid Erica’s last shot. Andrew turned around and looked at Freya who seemed to be very observant.

“Happy? You just proved I rigged it so Erica would win over me?” Andrew said, he sorta sighed with a hiss in his tone. “I just wanted to be nice… she seemed like winning was so important to her. So, I let her win. It doesn’t matter if she thinks she’s superior to me. I used to have to do that with my best friend with stuff like that, so I got used to it. I just… want her to trust me. So please don’t tell her I let her win, she seems like the type to hold a grudge if she’s deceived. And I don’t want her to hate me forever.” He continued. Freya stood there for a moment, she gave a smile and nodded. Then she walked over to him standing right in front of him.

“Jeg hadde aldri planlagt å fortelle henne det ... Jeg så at du holdt deg tilbake, og jeg ville vite hva du egentlig var i stand til. Og nå har du vist meg at du er en sann kriger med bue.” She said as she patted him on the shoulder, and walked past him. He looked back to see Freya walking over to the targets. It looked like she was going to clean up their mess. He guessed that meant she wouldn’t say anything, and he sighed in relief.

He started to walk away but he stopped again. He shouldn’t leave her to do all of the work, that wasn’t right. He turned around and began to walk over to help. He saw that she had already taken the stake out of the ground. He really didn’t want her to have to clean up the mess he made.

“Hey, do you need me to help clean up this stuff? We probably don’t want it to be here when—YAH!!” Andrew shouted as Freya turned and threw back a stack of arrows at him, he caught most of them. Dropping a few of them on the ground. She smiled and chuckled a bit.

“Rydde opp? Hvorfor skulle vi det? Vi skal fortsette å øve på skyting. Jeg må bli bedre i bueskyting hvis du og Erica skal fortsette å ha disse konkurransene, slik at jeg kan bli med. Og du trenger de pilene hvis du vil øve sammen med meg.” She said as she walked passed him with arrows in her hand. Andrew didn’t understand a single word, and he was totally confused at what she wanted with him.

“So, do you want me to clean this up by myself?” Andrew asked, Freya looked back and shook her head.

“So you're going to help me?” He asked, Freya laughed. She pointed to the arrows he held and then pointed to her bow, she put one of her arrows on the string and pulled back, and then returned the string to its resting place. Andrew looked at her confused.

“You want to continue practicing, again?” Andrew asked kinda shocked and confused. She nodded smiling.

“Ja, selvfølgelig.” She said, he caught her saying yes, and smiled.

“You sure you want to practice with me?” Andrew asked, she nodded again in confirmation.

“Hvem andre er bedre å øve med enn den beste bueskytteren her?” She said, he didn’t catch anything, but he presumed it was some compliment… or at least he hoped it was. He shrugged.

“Alright then, I’m still up to practice!! Let’s go!!” He said as he ran up beside her and they both walked back to where they would shoot from.