After eating breakfast, each clan was outside eager to hear King Allister announce the final task.
Lord Maxwell stood impatiently, his arms crossed.
"Good morning Clan Munro and Clan MacIntosh!" King Allister bellowed. "I will be presenting the final task to win my daughter's heart!"
Angus and Torrance stood on opposite sides, facing each other.
"The last task will be sword fighting. There will be three rounds and whoever wins two out of three wins my daughter's heart. I chose sword fighting since I want to see who has the better skills with their sword. I need to know who can better protect Enya when there is trouble."
Lord Maxwell smirked. This should be easy for Angus. He's a master swordsman.
Angus and Torrance both pulled their swords out of the sheaths.
"Begin round one!"
Angus got ready and watched Torrance's moves.
Torrance charged at him and their swords clashed.
"Come on Torrance!" Lord MacIntosh cheered.
"Come on Angus!" His clan cheered.
Their swords clashed again.
Angus stepped back and swung at Torrance, who staggered back.
When Torrance was on the floor, Angus pointed his sword at him.
"That's it! Round one is over! Angus wins!"
Lord Maxwell smirked.
Torrance stood up and dusted himself off before getting into a fighting position.
Their swords clashed again and Torrance fought harder, realizing it could be the end if he lost. He can't lose to Angus.
Torrance swung at Angus but his eyes widened as blood sputtered out of his chest.
Enya gasped.
Angus staggered back and held his chest, blood trailing down his body from the crack of his fingers.
"That's it! Round 2 goes to Torrance! Someone get the nurses!"
Torrance just stood there. He dropped his sword and he felt as if he couldn't move. Everything happened so fast: Enya running over to him asking if he was okay; the nurses coming to Angus' aid; his father running over to him to see if he was okay. His father…he didn't even look concerned. It's as if he was almost…mad.
Torrance was taken aback.
What the hell? His father should be worried. Why does he look mad? On top of that, Angus could have dodged that attack…but he chose not to and decided to get hit. Why? What the hell is going on?!
"Torrance."
His father's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Angus is okay, you don't have to be shocked. It was an accident." He reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Torrance just nodded. "Y-yeah…okay."
Xxx
Because of Angus' injury they decided to postpone the final round until tomorrow. Thankfully it wasn't severe and they were able to stop the bleeding. The nurses had told Angus to rest for a few day but Lord Maxwell had told them that Angus was going to be fine, that he dealt with worse and that they should not postpone the final round for too long. To heal his injury, the nurses told Angus to rest in his room and not to do anything drastic that could open it up again.
After eating lunch, Angus was walking back to his room with Enya, who was all over him, making sure he was okay.
"Are you sure, Angus?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry." He smiled at her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll be alright."
Lord Maxwell appeared. "Hello princess." He greeted with a bow. "Thank you for staying with Angus." He gave her a smile. "Now, I will take care of him."
"You are very welcome, Lord Maxwell! Take good care of him."
"Of course."
Enya gave them a smile before walking off.
When she was out of sight, Lord Maxwell's smile disappeared, turned to Angus and dragged him into the room and slammed the door.
"What the fuck was that?"
"What was what?" Angus asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer to.
"That…FIGHT ?! That 'round 2' that happened this morning, why in the fuck would you let him win?!"
"I didn't let him win." Angus replied, "I didn't have enough time to react."
Lord Maxwell smacked him. "BULL-SHIT. You put yourself in danger by going next to him and getting slashed by his sword! I'm not stupid!" Now he was yelling. But Angus was used to this. "You're a master swordsman! How could you let him win?!"
"Father please-" Angus held his cheek.
"No! If you won, I would have gotten the throne earlier!"
Angus' eyes widened and he looked over at him. "…What are you talking about?"
Lord Maxwell sighed, irritated. "Fine." He looked up at Angus. "The King is in debt to me and promised my son, his daughter's hand in marriage. So when you two would marry, you would rule the kingdom." A grin appeared on his face. "But he doesn't know that I plan to kill or send off the princess so I can be the ruler of this kingdom!"
"What about the King and Queen?!"
"I'll kill them too." He replied, simply. "Or have them sent to jail, I don't care."
"What about the guards? And our clan, do they know?"
"Yes, I told them. They're all going to fight against the guards as I do what I had told you."
"And me? I'll be chosen as the King."
Lord Maxwell scoffed. "Oh please, you don't even want to be here in the first place."
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew, I'm not stupid."
Angus clenched his fist. "…Then I'm going to forfeit."
"Excuse me?"
"If I forfeit, I'll lose."
Lord Maxwell grabbed his collar. "If you forfeit, I swear I'll-"
"You'll do what, father?"
Lord Maxwell released his grip and chuckled. "I'm not your father."
