I am not a queen because I rule. I rule because I am The Queen.
Birthed in my heart. Alive in my veins…
****************
Nadezhda readied her weapon and quickly fired at the masked man who had briskly turned from the soldier to her.
She was clearly the one he wanted.
Her fletched arrow hit the tree the man had dropped from, missing him.
The soldier tried to grab a hold of the man but another masked man dropped from the tree and held both his hands to his back. Now there were two of them.
She fleetly plucked another arrow from the quiver at her back and loosed the arrow toward him, but his body moved like someone born to narrow escapes- his limbs coiled and released with the precision of a frog’s. He sprang upward, dropped low, and vaulted again.
Nadezhda tracked him, exhaled, and fired as he landed- but he was already in the air again. She aimed too late. Her shot went wide.
As he descended, her gaze locked onto him.