Chapter 2

Later that morning, Odette decide to go for a walk by the lake. She wanted to have a little alone time for a while. She didn't mind that people wanted to make her birthday special, but a girl can only take so much attention. She walked around the lake for a while when she hear the sound of arguing in the bushes close by. They voices sounded familiar so she walked close to find out the problem. When she came close enough to see who it was, she giggled a little. It was her animal friends fighting with one another, or Puffin and Jean-Bob arguing with Speed and Whizzer standing by watching.

"We have to help set up for the surprise for Odette, and you think that you don't have to because you think you a prince?" Puffin said with his Irish accent.

"I know I'm a prince and yes I don't have to do anything of the sort," Jean-Bob shouted back. "A prince will not degrade himself in public like that. If you commoners want to do that, then leave me out of it."

"But Jean-Bob," said Speed in his slow, relaxed voice. "This is for Odette. Can't you put your pride aside for this one thing for our best friend?" Odette was about to say something but decided against it because she wanted to know what they were talking about. So she stayed hidden behind the tree.

"Absolutely not!" Jean-Bob shouted. "A prince like me has his pride. And I will certainly not lower myself so that this Birdbrain can have the satisfaction of making me look like a fool."

"You won't be the only one doing it Jean-Bob," Puffin stated. "We'll be doing it along with you, so you won't have all eyes on just you."

"I don't care," Jean-Bob said. "A Prince does not do the-"

Whistle.

Everyone's eyes were now on Whizzer. Puffin was about to say something when he noticed Whizzer's eye motioning towards the tree behind him. Puffin turned his head only slightly to catch a glimpse of blonde hair at the corner of his eye. This caught them off guard. But Jean-bob saw it as a way out of this mess.

"Well, if you peasants don't mind," he said cheerfully, "I'll just be on my way now." This caused Puffin to glare at him, but then had an idea on how to work with this. He looked over at Whizzer, who didn't know what to do, and nodded over to the little frog. It took Whizzer a moment to get what Puffin was trying to say and nodded in agreement.

"Well fine," he said in his pretend disappointed voice, "I guess we have no choice but to-" his sentence was cut off when he grabbed Jean-Bob's left arm and Whizzer grabbed his right.

"What are you bird-brains doing?!" Jean-Bob shouted. "Let me go this instant!" But Puffin and Whizzer just continued to drag him away to a different spot. They were determined to give Odette a wonderful birthday present and they weren't going to let Jean-Bob ruin it. And so, with their free hands (or wings I should say), flew into the air, carrying the grumpy frog to a new location. But they made sure to keep a slow enough pace for Speed to keep up.

Odette didn't bother to follow them, she kind of got the hint that they knew she was there and that following them would be pointless. So with a smile, she continued her walk around the lake. She walked for a half hour until she came to the spot where she and her animal friends lured Derek to when they first brought him to Swan Lake.

Odette faced the lake as she remembered that time. She also remembered all those times she was forced to spend her days as a swan. Boy was she glad that those days were over. She began to think of the wonderful life she spent here after her marriage to Derek. She was so focused on her happy memories that she almost didn't hear the trumpets in the distance. She looked across the lake and saw flags in the distance, flags that were the color red and had white dragons on them, the symbol for King Jacob's kingdom.

Although it was a far distance, Odette could see the large escort company for the king. There were at least sixty soldiers and twenty knights surrounding the large carriage that surly contained king Jacob inside. Odette was so excited to see Jacob that she almost tripped a few times running to the castle to meet him.

Derek and Rogers waited outside the main castle entrances to greet King Jacob when he arrived. They wanted to greet the king properly, but not overdo things as they promised.

They saw Jacob's banners approaching in the distance and Rogers told the band to be prepared to play. Rogers couldn't resist the urge to make the Jacob's appearance a grand one, but only got a smaller band to perform.

Jacob's carriage was quite large indeed. It was twice the size of any carriage and was covered with a layer of gold around the edges with a solid dark red color between them. As the carriage approached, the twenty knights rode ahead to castle entrance to form two lines across each other, ten knights in each line with their lances pointed seventy degrees towards the sky. As the carriage pulled up in front of the castle, two servants rolled out the red carpet from the castle doors, between the knights, to the carriage.

Once the carpet was rolled out, the carriage driver lifted from his seat and made his way to open the carriage door for the king. Once he began to open the door, Rogers gave the signal for the band to play. Derek and Rogers watched as King Jacob stepped out of his carriage.

King Jacob was indeed a man worthy of his stature. He stood around six-foot five, and had dark brown hair, with a touch of grey on the sides, that reached down to his shoulders. He was very built in frame, twice the size of Derek. He wore large brown boots that reached almost to his knees. He also wore a big, dark red shirt with is white dragon insignia on it that reached down to his mid-thighs, and black pants and was kept in place by his golden belt. His red robe with yellow fur on the edges reached down past the knees and hung open. He also bore a black fur cloak. His golden crown sat high on his head. When Jacob stepped out of his carriage, he looked around to observe his surroundings taking in a big breath of fresh air.

Nothing seems to has changed here, he thought to himself with a smile. He then noticed the music that was playing in the background. He looked over at Derek and Rogers and shook his head.

Still have to make it a big deal don't you guys, he laughed to himself. Even though he was the richest king in the world, he never liked it when people made his arrival a big deal. Derek and Rogers approached the king and bowed in respect.

"Welcome King Jacob," Derek said. "It is a great honor to have you here with us."

Jacob shook his head and smiled. "The honor is mine Derek. And no need to be so formal, just call me Uncle Jacob like I've told you to." During his first visit to Swan Lake, Jacob insisted on them calling him their uncle.

This time Derek shook his head and smiled. "I don't know sire, it doesn't feel right with me."

Jacob laughed. "Well anyway, where is the birthday girl? I came all this way to see her." As if on cue, Odette came out of nowhere and hugged Jacob from behind.

"Hi Uncle Jacob," Odette said cheerfully. "It's great to see you again." Jacob, after recovering from almost being knocked to the ground, turned around to return her hug.

"It's great to see you too." He pulled away a little. "How have you been? I hope your birthday has been great so far."

Odette smiled. "It's going to be even better now that you're here, Uncle Jacob."

Jacob turned to Derek and gave him a smug look. "See? She calls me Uncle Jacob." Derek's face got red with embarrassment. Jacob chuckled at the sight and looked back at Odette. "So when is the party going to start?"

Rogers stepped forward and spoke. "The festival grounds are fully prepared for the celebration and there will be a grand ball taking place tonight as well."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jacob shouted. "Let's get this party."

Everyone at the festival grounds were having the time of their lives. The servants were hosting games and the town's people where playing all sorts of them. Even Jacob was having fun, if not the most. Being the very busy man he was, he rarely had any time to enjoy himself. This was one of those times when he could just have fun.

He played at almost every stand that hosting a game. He played at the stand where you threw darts at balloons, hitting all of his targets, and he played dunk the clown, the clown being Bromley. He played all sorts of games; he even entered into a few contests they were holding, winning all of them. He entered into a sack race, horseshoe throwing, log tossing, javelin throwing, and even a pie eating contest.

Odette watched as Jacob was having the time of his life. She was so glad that he could get away from the weight of being a king and just enjoying the time he has. Plus being over fifty years old, all he really wanted was to feel young again. This was something she would have to remind herself with when she gets older.

As Odette watched Jacob consume the last blue berry pie that made him the victor when she felt a strong hand slip into her own. She turned her head to see Derek smiling at her.

"He seems to be enjoying himself," Derek said as he watched Jacob standing in victory.

Odette nodded. "He certainly is," she said. "He's won almost every contest and game that he's come across. The only thing one left is the archery contest."

Derek grinned at this. "Well he's going to have a tough competition then."

Odette turned and raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. "And why is that?" she ask, but she knew very well the answer.

"Well," Derek said. "I happen to be the best archer in the kingdom and have won every archery contest that we've had."

Odette giggled. "Don't get too confident," she said. "We haven't seen him shoot an arrow yet. And he's been in plenty of wars to add to that."

"That may be true, but I've been using a bow since I was four and have always hit my target." Derek said proudly.

"Including that drawing of me in your room when we were younger?" Odette said with a devilish grin.

Derek's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He had no idea how she found out about that and was at a complete lose for words. He tried to speak but no words came out.

Odette couldn't hold it in any longer. The look on Derek's face was too much and she completely burst out laughing. Once she finally calmed down, she leaned up and kissed Derek on his red cheek. "Relax honey," she said while still giggling a little. "I've know about that for a long time."

"How did you know anyway?" Derek asked, his face still red.

"You left your bedroom door open once and I saw it hanging on the wall," Odette answered.

"Well, if it makes things better," Derek said. "Mother told me to take it down a long time ago."

Odette smiled. "Don't worry Derek," she said. "I forgave you a long time ago." She kissed him again, this time on the lips.

Odette pulled away. "By the way," she said. "Where is Uberta anyway?"

Derek thought about this for awhile. "I don't know," he finally said. "But I'm sure that she'll be here in time for the ball. She rarely misses one." Odette agreed. It was not like Uberta to miss anything she could make a big entrance on. She had a big habit of that.

"Hey Derek!" Both Derek and Odette turned to the source of the voice and saw Jacob waving them over. "The archery contest is about to start. Care to give me at least a little challenge?" he said with a smirk.

Derek smiled and called back. "I would but I don't want to make things too challenging." He let go of Odette's hand and started walking towards Jacob.

Jacob laughed. "You couldn't give a child a challenge!" he replied.

Derek smirked. "I could say the same thing about you Jacob." Odette just stood there smiling and shaking her head at them while giggling.

"Oh, you're going to play that card aren't you?" Jacob said smirking. "Well let's see who is the better man is, huh?"

"Sure," Derek said. "Just let me know when you find one."

Jacob laughed and wrapped his arm around Derek's shoulder as they made their way towards the archery range. "You youngsters these days have no respect for you elders." He looked over his shoulder and called back to Odette. "Odette, come watch while I beat your husband to the ground!" Odette smiled and began to follow the two.

"How are you so sure that I won't beat you to the ground?" Derek asked.

"Like I said," Jacob replied as he put Derek in a small head lock. "You couldn't give a child a challenge." Derek pushed Jacob off and they both ran to get their bows to begin the contest, leaving Odette shaking her head at them.

"This is going to be fun," she said.

A/N: Ohh, a little archery competition. I tried to make so that it seemed like something that Derek wouldn't turn down a challenge to. I hope you like it. The exciting part is coming soon. Please leave a comment on what you think of it.