Knight's Elder Wood Short Bow

Knight's Elder Wood Short Bow rests on a sun-warmed table, its curved limbs carved from elder wood with a grain that seems to breathe under light. The finish is a thin, amber lacquer that brings out the ring of each growth, and the grip is wrapped in soft, cracked leather that smells faintly of rain and pine. Brass rivets trace the limbs, and along the belly runes—simple sigils of protection and endurance—faded yet legible. The string is a whisper-tight sinew, tinted gold where it has warmed against skin, and a notch at the nock hints at many practice sessions in the keeping of a patient archer. It is not flashy, and that restraint is part of its story: a knightly arm meant to be trusted, not flaunted. Within its wood lies a lore that most travelers only guess at. The elder wood itself is said to come from the revered grove near a battered fortress, where knights swore oaths beneath leaf-filtered light. This bow, marked Knight's, traveled with a squire-turned-warden, then with a ranger who defended a border outpost against raiders who moved in shadows and rain. The sigils on the grip tell of oaths kept and orders that never quite broke, even when the fabric of the world was tested. To an observer, the bow is more than weaponry; it is a signpost—a reminder that courage can be compact and quiet, that the most certain shot can be taken from a kneeling posture, that patience yields precision. On the field, the Knight's Elder Wood Short Bow favors speed and stealth rather than brute range. Its light frame lets a wearer step between cover and light, drawing a bead with a flick of the wrist, then releasing a string of precise arrows that pierce a foe's guard before they fully register the threat. Players speak of it as a weapon suited to scouts, skirmishers, and those who prefer to whisper through ruins rather than shout across battlements. Enchantments etched into the grip—coral frost or ember runes depending on the smith—shape the shots into quick, clean lines, rewarding patience and aim over draw and hold. In story terms, it is a companion for those who mend officers' mistakes and slip unseen into the wrong side of a patrol, a tool that helps turn a tense night into a narrow path back to daylight. Markets tend to hum around this bow, and traders at the Saddlebag Exchange keep watch as the sun slides. A well-kept Knight's Elder Wood Short Bow holds its value not merely in its wood and wire, but in its history. At the Exchange, it can fetch a respectable sum—enough to feed a group of scouts, or to buy a scribe's detailed map of a contested pass—depending on the wear and the sigils still visible. For the right buyer, the bow becomes a trusted partner in dawn patrols and whispered negotiations, the kind of purchase that silently reshapes a campaign's rhythm. Its legacy, like an arrow's trace through air, lingers long after the shot.