On the day of the tournament, the excitement and nervousness in the air were palpable. All the riders were nervous, as were their trainers. While the men were occupied with their horses, the women were hoping to attract a prospective husband and were dressed in their finest finery. However, out of all the women present at the tournaments, the most stunning, perhaps, was the Lady Cecelia Isabel Marguerite De Lewes, who, after all, was looking for a husband in no one less than the Crown Prince himself. The competition was just as fierce among the women as it was among the riders, everyone wanted to find a rich husband and settle down and not have a thing to worry about later.

Lily, however, had more important things to worry about and was on the grounds, the only one of the fairer sex there. She was giving Augustus some last minute suggestions, just like most of the other trainers. But Lily had more on the line – her bet with the Prince. If Augustus lost to the Prince, she felt she would be shamed for life, and therefore, it was vitally important that he win. She was only now starting to doubt her faith in the young man before her, after all, the Prince had done this a lot of times, how could anyone defeat him? She was even desperate enough to promise Augustus things she would never normally have agreed to (even to cut him some slack in his training!) if he won the tournament.

The tournament was split up in three parts. The first part was to be a jousting contest; with the theory being that only the strongest would survive, thus eliminating the weaker competition. It was indeed the most taxing match in the tournament, requiring not just brute strength but also remarkable horsemanship and concentration. Lily didn't know much about Nicholas Dawson, but jousting wasn't one of Augustus' strengths. He wasn't completely useless at it either though, and he was certainly capable enough to get through it.

Soon the trumpets sounded to signal the official start of the tournaments and Lily hurried back to the stands, wishing Augustus the best of luck one last time. Once the trumpet calls had finished, the King himself stood up to address the riders and the spectators, but Lily was unable to decipher a single word of it as the racket surrounding her drowned it all out. But it didn't matter as she had been coming to the tournaments ever since she was a little girl and almost had the King's speech memorised.

Once the King had sat down and raised his hand as a signal to start, the ruckus around Lily seemed to increase ten times. The first couple of riders stepped forward, bowing first to each other and then to the spectators, showing off the flamboyant costumes and armour of both their horses and themselves. As soon as they took their positions on the opposite sides of the grounds and readied their lances, the crowd fell silent in anticipation. But Lily knew from experience that this was the calm before a storm. And sure enough, there was an explosion of sound, from both the gentlemen and the ladies, as the horsemen raced towards each other, lances poised to strike.

Although Lily had seen the tournament so many times before, she couldn't help but get excited as the metal from lances and shields clanged and a rider was unhorsed. The victor sent a wave to the spectators, and undoubtedly to a maiden in the stands, before turning his horse around and exiting the grounds for the next two riders. And so it went for the first few riders, but other than the couple of injured riders there was nothing extraordinary. Then the herald announced the next riders and the excitement in the stands rose. Even Lily's father rose along with the crowds to cheer for one of the riders.

Lily couldn't hear the announcement, but she recognised the coat of arms of one of the competitors – it was the Lord of Oldham, Sirius Black. The women in the stands seemed to be all but swooning at the sight, although no one could see the young man as he was so completely clad in armour. Lily had seen him in action before and knew he was certainly one to be watched and watch out for and she thanked her lucky stars that Augustus didn't have to face him in the joust. And the young Lord certainly lived up to her expectations. He and his horse raced through the ground as though they were one. Looking for all the world as if he were out for a midnight ride in the woods, he hit his lance square in the middle of his opponent's shield, effectively knocking him off his horse, and breaking his own lance, in one clean blow. At this, Lily rose along with the crowd to cheer and congratulate the young rider for his win, greatly impressed by his skills.

After acknowledging his win and waving to the audience, the Lord of Oldham left the grounds and the next riders entered. One of them bore a Coat of arms that Lily was able to recognise – it was a mix of the Evans and Dawson coat of arms – It was Nicholas Dawson, one of their riders. She remained standing, along with her mother and father and the other staff from the household, to show her support for him. He bowed and, at the signal, raced along the ground steadily towards his opponent. Just like the Lord of Oldham, he was able to knock off his opponent in one clean hit, albeit without breaking his lance like the Lord had done, but a win was a win. Lily and her family cheered him on along with the crowd as he took his last bows and exited.

The Evans rider was followed by two newcomers into the tournaments. Their match left one man severely injured and one three-legged horse. Some of the onlookers laughed but Lily felt appalled – if they didn't know how to use their lances they shouldn't have entered the competition in the first place! After all, they couldn't have possibly thought they could win, with horsemanship like that and hardly enough strength to even hold their lances upright!

Her bad mood was made even worse when she saw that the other Evans rider was entering the grounds. Although Augustus' face was completely covered by his helmet, Lily fancied that she could almost tell how he felt just by watching his movements on the horse. He seemed to be shifting the lance in his hand every so often but otherwise seemed quite comfortable, so she guessed he was a little tense but knew there was no reason to be. He looked around in the crowds, trying to spot the Evans but it was impossible, so he bowed and took his position. Once the start was signalled, he let the horse work up into a gallop and aimed his lance right at his opponent. At the last moment, his challenger seemed to lose his nerve and somehow managed to drop his lance altogether. All in all, it was a pretty easy win for Augustus – at least comparatively.

Mr. Evans and Lily had expected him to win, but a win this easy surprised even them. Lily supposed it was lucky for everyone that Augustus looked so fearsome on his horse, dressed in his rather imposing red and white armour.

The next matches went by in a blur without any more incidents until it was the last match of the competition. Traditionally, the last match was always played by the Prince…and another rider unlucky enough to have been paired with him. Also traditionally, the Prince almost always won (mostly he won from his own merit, but sometimes, rumour had it, the Prince's opponent would be…coaxed into losing) and won with ease. This year was to be no different – the Prince managed to unhorse his opponent looking like he could do it blindfolded and with one hand behind his back.

With the Prince's win, the King rose and once again addressed the assembled, both the riders and the audience, before officially declaring a close to the first component of the tournaments. The crowds withdrew; the family of the fallen riders went to help them while those with the winners left to prepare for the next part of the tournaments. The Evans family and staff also headed off to help and congratulate their riders.

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Both the Evans riders were to be changing their horses for the next part of the tournaments, as using a tired horse would hardly be conventional, and all riders able to afford more than one horse would also be doing the same.

The second element of the tournaments was to be a circuit of sorts, with the first ten riders to plant their banner on the other side would make it through to the last leg of the tournaments. The idea behind this being that only the riders with the most endurance and deliberation, and also the better horses, would be able carry on to the next round, as a rider couldn't just race through a circuit and hope to make it through – to be able to pass through, a rider would need to be fast and cautious, and obviously skilled. However, this didn't necessarily work. Most of the poorer rider would almost certainly be eliminated, regardless of their skill, because they would be forced to use the same horse they did for the joust, and the animal would be far too drained to perform its best.

While Lily had once felt anger at this unfairness, she had grown used to it, knowing she couldn't change society anyhow. And now she just thought it was all for the better as Augustus would have less competition to worry about out there. But she had no reason to fret, the circuit had always been his strength – he could breeze through it and his spot in the next round was virtually held in reserve.

An hour after the jousting competitions, all the horsemen still in the tournaments assembled at the edge of the woods, ready for the King to signal the start for this next part. Once again, the King addressed the gathered, assumedly wishing them the best for this leg of the tournaments before raising his hand, signalling the start. The riders, about 60 in all, bounded forwards, eager as ever to get a good head start seeing as only the first 10 would be able to make it through to the next part.

From where Lily and her family were standing in the crowds, Lily was able to see that Augustus had managed to get a very good start, in front of most riders and behind only a few. Nicholas seemed to have gotten an even better head start and was definitely among the first 5 riders. However, once the horsemen had entered the woods, it was impossible to see them and the spectators moved to the other side of the forest, to the finish line. The only news they got of the goings on inside the woods was when a medic would come out with an injured rider and tell them who was winning and who wasn't. This year, only a couple of riders got injured in the circuit, which was an achievement in and of itself, although it meant that less news of what was happening inside would pass through to the audience.

Jousting was exciting in that the viewers would be able to see what was happening and cheer and make noise for one party or the other. The exciting thing about the circuit was that the spectators had no idea who was doing what and there was mystery in the air until the moment all the 10 riders crossed the finished line. Sometimes, Lily knew, even if a horseman managed to make it into the next part of the tournaments, he would be far too bruised and battered to be able to continue and would have to give away his hard earned place. So it was important for the horseman to try his best, but not so much that he would finish in pieces.

A few hours later, there was anticipation in the air as hooves could be heard from the woods. The noise, which had been almost non existent until then, reached a point where it was impossible to hear anything else. However, it turned out to be a false alarm as it was just another medic, returning with a rider so bloodied even his coat of arms was too bloody to be recognisable. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife – everyone worrying that it was their rider. The unfortunate man seemed significantly injured but was well enough to be able to salute the King before he was led away, no doubt trying to be chivalrous.

As the afternoon wore on in wait of the horsemen, everyone started getting anxious. However, finally, hooves, shouts, swords and other sounds that could only be the horsemen could be heard and the anxiety immediately turned into excitement. Soon two riders could be seen, each locked in a race to the finish line and trying all they legally could to make the other fall behind. It was most spectacular, the two men rode and duelled at the same time in perfect coordination, and yet none could possibly be called better than the other. As the men came nearer, Lily was able to recognise their Coat of Arms. It was the Prince and the Lord of Oldham. Their duel continued right until just before the finishing line, which the Prince appeared to cross first, if by less than even a second.

The crowds cheered and cheered, excited because of the duel between the Prince and his best friend. After that, it was only a matter of minutes before more hooves could be heard and some of the other horsemen came into view. Soon both the Evans riders could be seen racing towards the finish line, locked in battle with some of the other riders. They fought together and before long unhorsed one of their opponents and crossed the line soon after. The whole Evans household was on its feet and cheering for their horsemen who had once again made it through to the semi finals of the tournament. In the next couple of minutes or so the first ten riders had all crossed the finish line and the excitement died down significantly until only those with the remaining horsemen were the only ones that remained to wait for them.

The winners' friends and families were heading off to check on their horsemen to see how badly the circuit had left them. Both Augustus and Nicholas seemed to be relatively uninjured and didn't require much attention. So after taking proper care of the horses and the weapons and armour, the Evans household, including the two riders, left to rest and recuperate before the third and final part of the tournaments started.

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(Author's Note: I'm SOOOO sorry about how long it took for me to update!! I just couldn't find any time bcoz i had soo many assessments! BUT, in case you haven't noticed, i made this chapter extra long to make up for it! ...er...never mind that i sorta mixed two chapters up...

About the story..well, this chapter's pretty clear, so nothing to clear up. And to all those ppl who were shocked by the last chapter - YAY it worked! lolz

As always, a VERY BIG thanx to all my reviewers, you rock guys! Unfortunately i don't hav much tym n so can't put everybody's names up here :( Anywhos, keep reviewing everyone, you know i luv reviews! Enjoy!!

PS, Noc007, I will definetely check out your story as soon as i get tym!)