CHAPTER NINE ( A TEST FOR THE THRONE)

"Look at my daughter's beautiful and all-grown-up." King Bajju said with a smile when the princesses came to his chambers to greet their father and to also seek his blessing before the commencement of the competition.

"Yes, Your Highness, our daughters are so beautiful." The queen chipped in with a proud smile on her face.

"Not beautiful, strong. We are strong mothers." Mamma disagreed with the queen.

"Hah, you are truly your father's daughter." The queen said and chuckled.

"She should have been born a man." King Bajju said and they all laughed.

The princesses got dressed in battle clothes and also wore armor to protect them from their powers in the fierce competition. Though they are powerful, they are girls after all.

The competition began with a show of their talents in handling weapons.

First was the arrow shooting competition. Nenma was very skilled in using the arrow but when it came to the sword competition, Memma beat her at it, she was a skilled swordswoman.

King Bajju watched proudly and felt good to see how skilled his daughters were. In the present time, parents forced their daughters to train and become warriors just like men even though only a few could endure the hardship they go through during training and his daughters have shown how strong they are by enduring it all.

They competed against each other using other weapons as well and each won in the part they were good at.

After that, they were given thirty minutes of rest before resuming again for the hardest tasks.

The chief announcer stood up and explained the three-course competition to the girls.

"First, you will have to run swiftly for a three-kilometer race before getting to the first course that is known as the Thorn of Flash. The thorn of flash is the big pile of thorns you will have to pass through quickly enduring every pain. After getting out of the thorn, you will run to the next course known as the shred of teeth. In the Shred of Teeth course, there will be a small pond in which you shall find forty tiny electric fishes, you will have to swim past these fishes as fast as you can to survive and not faint from the excessive electric shocks. The third and final course is called Climb the Demon. Climb the demon is a brick wall ten feet tall, you will have to climb up and climb down the other side using the support of a rope. Here are all the courses, I hope the princesses are ready."

After hearing about all these dangerous courses, the girls had doubts in their hearts as to whether they could win this and not die on the way. Even King Bajju was scared for them and the queen placed her hand on her heart as if she was going to collapse.

The girls took off their armor and stood at the starting line. The crowd that filled the whole palace arena cheered them on including the crowned prince who forcefully came along with his father to secretly cheer for Princess Nenma.

The bang on the drum was the signal for the race to begin. The princesses dashed off at the same pace but soon Memma who was much lighter in size than her sister spread past her and ran into the thorns first. A sharp pain gripped her as several thorns pierced her body, even Nenma had to stop in her tracks at her sister's cry.

Memma wasn't the type to let such pains hold her back and so she continued moving taking in the pain of the thorns and shutting her mouth closed so that she wouldn't cry out again.

The princesses were both bleeding when they finally made their way out of the thorns at the same time.

They ignored the pain and dashed off. They both jumped into the water at the same time and received head-spinning electric shocks from the tiny fishes.

They were both fast and had quite an extraordinary enduring spirit inside of them and so they both made it out at the same time again.

Memma was getting a little bit furious by this, she didn't want to be getting the same grade or score as her sister but at the end of the courses, they both came out victorious.

And so King Bajju decided that the heir to the throne and the winner would be decided the next day after both the princesses got a proper rest and treatment.

They were both badly injured and even the crowned prince shed tears after seeing his beloved princess hurt and bruised all over. Sharp thorns were almost buried in her skin, she looked terrible and her hair all scattered from the electric shocks she received.

The maids took both of them away to their chambers.