Disclaimer: I own nothing.
When word spread across the land that Lord Gabriel of Smallville was searching for three young men to fight for the right to wed one of his beautiful daughters, citizens near and far eagerly discussed the challenge with their opinions held high. Lois, Gabe's oldest and therefore first prize to the victor, made a bit of noise of the chauvinism of it all, but secretly adored the idea that she was considered the best and therefore would receive the most talented of husbands. Lana, the middle child and second prize, found the idea romantic though she could never explain exactly how, but she was eager to be fought over and for by numerous men. Chloe, the youngest and accordingly third on the list to suitors, abhorred the idea; pleading to her father than she wanted to meet and marry her own choice of husband and not be given as some consolation prize. Gabe was sympathetic to his youngest's plight but simply saw no other way to ensure that all of his daughters married worthy suitors and continued with his plans.
Strapping young men all around the Lord's land planned to enter the challenge and hoped they had everything needed to win one of the daughters' hands. One such man was a knight from the land of Luthors named Lex. He had on occasion met Lord Gabriel's daughters and knew immediately which young lady he wanted to marry, so he set forth a plan to ensure his triumph. The first and easiest step was to guarantee that some other man would win the entire challenge. Luckily, his young friend Clark had chosen to enter and Lex knew that with his strength and talents he would easily squash all competition. Now all Lex needed to do was make sure none of the other gifted suitors outdid him.
The set up of the challenge was that points were awarded for each round; Lex knew he was capable of placing himself within the top three of each round as long as the favorite was knocked down to last. And he would not take any chance that pure luck would create such providence.
A knight by the name of Oliver was rumored to be an ace with a bow and arrow, and was known to have a bow so balanced to his arms that he could make a kill shot blindfolded and a thousand yards away. For his cunning, Lex had sought out Oliver weeks before the competition was due to commence and gained an opportunity to study the weaponry. On the day of the archery contest, he replaced Oliver's bow with one near identical yet off in ways unseen to the naked eye so that when it came time for Oliver's turn, the arrow barely managed to hit the wooden stand where the target was adhered.
When the time for the challenge of wrestling came upon them, Lex was certain that Clark would win the task with minimal effort so the only competition he worried about was from the young Whitney who was heard to have easily taken five men in a fight. His secret was a special tonic that he drank every morning to keep him strong, but with a slight change in ingredients on this fair morning, yon Whitney was more interested in relieving himself than winning any fight.
The next task was a round of jousting where a brave knight by the name of Davis was rumored impenetrable from any hit of the lance. However, Lex showed no fear of loss, he merely added to the weight at the end of his lance and Davis was easily taken out of the running.
Next was a simple horse race where a confident young racer named Pete was determined to win. Too bad for him our Lex had made sure Pete's steed threw a shoe during the race. The cunning knave might have worried that Pete could have been seriously injured from the fall, but there was simply no place for sympathy when the heart of the one he loved was on the line.
For the final show of strength, the remaining competitors (those not recovering from the plight of mysterious accidents) were involved in a foot race. Large amounts of money were placed on the youngest of all participants, a silly rascal named Bart. He was said to run so quick, he could be gone in a flash. However, only one man could predict that ravenous Bart would be distracted by a stand where a proprietor was selling delicious meals including something that resembled tacos.
Lord Gabriel's intentions were for his daughters to marry well-rounded men so not only must they exhibit a show of strength but that of artistry and intelligence as well. All suitors were instructed to paint each of his fair daughters. Lex paid the most attention to detail of one of the daughters but the others' paintings were merely passable at best. For the first time in the competition, Lex feared that Lord Gabe might be on to his intentions, but if he suspected anything, he only acknowledged such with a nod of his head and moved on to declare the winner of this round. Alas, the painter known as Jimmy was the victor.
To prove their intelligence, the contestants were to express their knowledge of alchemy and the various complex symbols attributed to the science. Only one other man known as Jason was as well versed in those symbols as Lex, and he might have fared well if Lex had not taken him out for a drink or seven the night before.
Lord Gabriel knew knowledge meant very little if the owner was unskilled in the ability to use it to his advantage, so to that aim he offered two final tests. The first was a card game which relied not only on knowledge but the aptitude to fool an opponent into believing you had the better hand. Lex knew his only competition was his young half-brother Lucas who could bluff just as well as he. And while he was certain that Lucas would cheat his way through the round just the same as him, by the end of the game, he was obviously the far better cheat of the two.
Just as Lex suspected when he came to the final round, Clark had all ready faired way better than him and the remaining champion Jimmy, who had unwittingly gained from all the damage Lex had done. All that was left was a final game of chess to determine who would marry Lana and who would wed Chloe.
By all accounts, the game appeared to be evenly matched, each man gaining as many pieces as he lost. As the challenge neared the end, the onlookers watched helplessly as Lex mistakenly left his king unprotected against Jimmy's queen.
The contenders shook hands and congratulated each other on a competition seemingly well fought. Each new bride to be was presented to her future husband. When Chloe stood beside Lex, she commented on how distraught he must feel to have come so close to finishing in second place.
However, Lex the mastermind informed her, "I won the exact place I was aiming for…by your side."
The End.