Mak's Contest

As the sun broke the cheers for the festival began again in the streets, the smell of food filtered through the air as we all approached the arena to watch Mak's fights. When we split from Mak our group got broken up so Ash and Phyora went on ahead leaving me behind. They both went to the main stands to sit and watch the fights. As I wondered around searching for them I bumped into the Royal Family and quickly gave my respects. They all just barged past me except one who curtseyed back to me and moved on, then as soon as I could turn to move away the trumpets started blaring as the first fight began.

In the background I could hear a voice scream "STAVN!", turning quickly to see Ash standing ushering me down to where they were. The first fight was Mak against a woman called Auria Leony, the fight began when the second blast of trumpets played and they both went at it, steel against steel as Mak slipped and dodged her fast attacks, he quickly hit back with a flurry of attacks that were quickly parried and countered by Auria. The two seemed balanced for the most part of the fight, the clinking and clanking of steel echoing through the arena who all remained silent, not a sound being muttered. The crowd was entranced in the two individuals fighting, then the hammer fell, with a good parry then dodge Mak found himself behind her, and quickly gave a swift end to the match.

As the dust settled the crowd was silent for a moment before bursting into a loud cheer as Mak moved over to help Auria up, the two seemingly had a conversation before Auria smacked Mak's hand away and trudged back off to the staging room. There was a small break between the matches, so Phyora and Ash both went away to get a drink, in the meantime I remained to keep our seats. Out of nowhere a beautiful woman sat next to me in a lavish silk dress, coloured a navy blue with gems encrusted on its collar.

"Are you enjoying the festivities?" She said in a hushed tone, her hands kept proper on her lap.

"Somewhat." I replied glancing at her every now and then. She had long brown hair that went past her shoulders and curled near the ends. Her eyes were diamonds in colour, a luscious clear blue with turquoise mixed through it. She seemed to be quite small, well smaller than I was and was unusually calm.

"I see. Well I thought you looked alone so I came to sit next to you. I hope you don't mind." She retorted as she turned her vision onto me. She quickly scanned me up and down before turning back to the arena.

"Well... that's where a couple of my friends are sitting..." I said quietly not trying to offend this highborn lady.

"Ah, well I won't be here too long, anyways where are my manners, I haven't introduced myself. I am Lady Astrid Iloyt, at your pleasure." She got up and curtseyed in front of me.

It was here where I realised that this was the same person I had bumped into before, I hadn't taken much notice of what she looked like or what she was wearing, so I was quite astonished that I was here talking to royalty. Quickly I got up and bowed back to her,

"Stavn Forsberg, my lady." I said quickly hunched over. Sharply after I sat down again, before she budged closer to me.

"I saw you the other day when you were at the entrance ceremony, I wish you luck in the tourney. You looked to be quite entertaining." She whispered in my ear, her face nearly touching mines.

"Thank you, I'll do my best to win." I quickly replied, taking a nervous gulp due to her being so close.

"If you win, I hope to be seeing more of you in the palace." She quickly got up and began to walk away and as she did she gave little wave. Leaving me in pure disbelief at what had just happened.

The next fight rang out and Ash and Phyora returned, the pair carrying drinks of mead and some meat to eat. Again the battle began but this time it was far quicker the two fighters seemed completely outmatched. One was incredibly tall and the other incredibly small, and as the tall man swung at the smaller one, the smaller one ducked under the swing and pushed forwards to knock him down. Yet during this the tall man just simply kicked at the man and cast him aside, knocking him out cold.

"That was rather quick." Phyora said, me still sat there with red cheeks after what had just happened, beginning to slowly nod at her retort. The herald came out and declared the smaller fighter to have been killed due to his fall and would no longer continue the fight. Then another break, and as we waited patiently we talked on how Mak could fight that behemoth of a man. Suddenly the trumpets blared out again and Mak entered with the behemoth, both of them took up fighting positions and with a second blast the fight ensued. Mak quickly moving around the taller mans slower attacks and pushing to find a weakness in his defence, the pair locked into an unnerving fight. Then swiftly the taller man moved in, quickly trying to take advantage of his height, Mak swiftly dodged the attack pivoting around the man and striking him in the back of his leg. The man was brought to a knee and as his knee hit the ground there was a massive thud.

Quickly Mak took control of the fight, continuously dodging the mans attacks and knocking him down, before the man could get a swing in. It wasn't long till Mak had the man done for, and slowly the towering figure fell to the ground, the fight was over Mak had won. With this win Mak had secured his place in the bracket and we all got up to celebrate his victory as he himself celebrated in the middle. There was a long break to give the tall man a chance to recover, then out came both him and Auria. The pair locked into combat, but this time Auria moved faster and swiftly cut him down. There was a weird silence in the crowd, the fight had been quite underwhelming then a massive roar as the crowd began to cheer after her victory. With that Auria and Mak has moved on to the bracket.

As I returned to my room early, all I could think about was Astrid's words, voice and appearance. In that moment I felt different, more different than I had been with any other person I knew. Yet I couldn't understand what, I went to sleep that night and all I could think about, was her.