The last leg of the tournament was swordplay. While this wasn't as hard and taxing as the jousting or the circuit, it was certainly more challenging as the competition was so good. While it was a display of strength and skill, it was also about the prosperity and wealth of the competitors. Some men had been known to lose simply because their weapons were too blunt. The health and physical condition of the contestants would also be a very contributing factor and that was where quite a few men lost as they would be much too bruised and battered from the first two components of the tournament.
All the participants were allowed to make use of a shield and two swords, or a sword and a dagger. Use of any hidden weapons would result in instant disqualification, as would unchivalrous or dishonourable behaviour. Swordplay was the part of the tournament that probably saw the most unchivalrous behaviour of all. While the men didn't do it purposely, mostly they couldn't help it as the obstacles in the first two components of the tournaments would leave them so out of sorts. Lily had heard the Prince was known to get quite ungracious if put under much pressure and was hoping for exactly that.
Once the men were on the field, they had exactly a half hour from the first clash of the sword to finish the duel. Most duels finished long before the time limit, but any that went over the half hour would be declared a draw where either one of the men accepted defeat or they would both be offered military ranks but wouldn't be able to win the tournaments. Lily's father had once told her about the time when a duel had gone over the half hour and it was the last match of the tournament, none of the contestants were willing to accept defeat and it was unlikely that a Champion would emerge. In the end, the King, to no one's surprise, declared the Prince the Champion and gave his opponent a high yet empty title.
Once again, the King rose to address the assembled and the start was signalled by the sound of trumpets. The men were called out in pairs to honourably fight each other. They were so covered in their ornate armour that only their colours and banner gave any indication of their identity. Almost always, the ten men left so far in the tournament were all nobility or from rather affluent houses. This year was no different; there was the Prince, the Lord of Oldham, the two Evans riders, three riders from the house of Kendall, the Earl of Buckinghamshire and the two sons of the Lord of Roybury.
As expected, the duels were all exhilarating to watch as the men were all very highly skilled and all the duels were over long before the half hour awarded. The competition was fierce and the competitors seemed to rain blows on each other. But all the men were so completely clad in armour that it would be very difficult for anyone to be injured. And yet, the Lord of Oldham managed to hit the younger son of the Lord of Roybury so badly that he had to withdraw. But then again, Lily had always heard about how very aggressive the young Lord was and thought his opponent was lucky to be alive after the way he had provoked him at the start of the duel. That he was provoked was probably the only reason, apart from being close friends with the Prince, the Lord had not been immediately disqualified for such unchivalrous behaviour.
The next contest was between Nicholas and the Prince. Because of the bet, it was arranged so the Prince would fight the two Evans riders before anyone else. Lily knew Nicholas was a very good swordsman, and yet the Prince was very good too. He was, probably, one of the strongest opponents in the tournaments and so there was no doubt their duel would be interesting. As their swords clanked, Lily reminded herself that it was anyone's game and Nicholas had every chance of winning. The Prince seemed to be very zealous and attacked Nicholas with fervour. Nicholas had no choice but to block the attack with his shield, not wanting to damage the blade of his sword by direct contact so early into the duel. Only when his shield was too tattered to provide any protection did he use his sword to attack, expecting the Prince to block him with his shield. The Prince, in a surprise move, counter-attacked and threw Nicholas off-balance. After that point, it seemed very unlikely that Nicholas would be able to recover, at least not in time to win the duel.
The crowds, of course, loved it. But then they loved anything, thought Lily. Soon the Prince had Nicholas cornered and unarmed and the duel was called to an end. Lily could tell that Nicholas was disappointed, but he took his loss graciously, considering. The Prince was then given a few minutes to recover before his duel with Augustus. Lily could just imagine what Augustus would be doing at that moment – he'd be pacing his tent and muttering words of encouragement to himself.
Before long the next duel was called and the Prince and Augustus came onto the field and bowed to each other before taking their positions. Once again, the Prince attacked first and Augustus was forced to block it with his shield which soon fell into pieces. Without his shield, his only defence was to attack, and so Augustus retaliated ardently and was blocked by the Prince's sword. Unlike Nicholas, Augustus had expected the counter-offensive and was not thrown off balance. What followed was some expert swordsmanship and some good old ducking and blocking. The duel lasted quite long, and may have even gone overtime if the Prince hadn't, quite literally, jabbed one of his swords into the side of Augustus' leg and taken advantage of his diverted attention to disarm him. While it was a rather crude move, it was permitted and the Prince won again.
As Augustus bowed to the crowds and left the field, Lily sensed her father looking at her as if to reprimand her again about accepting the Prince's wager. She knew what awaited her back home – a lecture about not making such important decisions in the heat of the moment and just what a grave thing it would be to owe the Prince a favour, especially a Prince who was so…unorthodox. But she watched the rest of the duels with just as much enthusiasm as before the two Evans men lost to the Prince, because the tournament was an occasion of fun and entertainment, and besides, what would be the worst thing the Prince could ask of a commoner?
In less than even a half hour, the Prince and the Lord of Oldham were the only men remaining in the tournament. As soon as they entered the field, the crowd almost went wild, which was most certainly expected, even from the gentlemen and ladies. The Prince and the Lord were both known to be among the best in swordplay and each year their duels would attract huge crowds, and each year they used some new technique or other which would dazzle the crowds. Once the start of their duel was signalled, both men chose to attack, and it seemed they had forgotten their shields, only using them when they couldn't defend with their sword. Before long, sparks were flying at every clash of the swords and soon the blades were too damaged to be used properly. Lily knew that neither the Prince nor the Lord were dense, and yet it seemed to her to be incredibly stupid of them to destroy two perfectly good swords just for the sake of 'entertainment'. Of course, the crowds loved it regardless.
Even with just one sword left, the two men managed to stretch out the duel almost all of the allocated half hour. Yet only in the last few minutes did it seem as if either of them were even trying to win. The level of skill they had displayed in the course of the duel was quite high, but it seemed to reach a new height entirely in those last few minutes, with their swords moving so fast they could hardly be seen. In the end though, all it took was one of the Prince's harder blows to hit the Lord's shield, with his sword getting jammed and refusing to dislodge. With the Prince unarmed, the Lord of Oldham's victory was quite easy.
It was obvious the Prince wasn't happy to have lost the tournaments to his best friend, especially since he'd never lost before. Yet he was ever the gracious loser and congratulated the Lord on his victory before waving at the cheering crowds and retreating from the field. Once the Lord of Oldham had been properly rewarded and congratulated, the King and the royal attendants retreated to the Palace, no doubt to prepare for the evening feast. After the King and his party had exited, friends and family of the participants went on to see them and pass on their best wishes.
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Lily went with her family to see Augustus and Nicholas, rather hoping she could avoid a meeting with the Prince. She was lucky, it seemed, for the Prince was nowhere to be seen. They met a few other participants and greeted them properly, congratulating or consoling and wishing them the best for the next year. As they got closer to where the two men were, they saw Nicholas helping a very pale Augustus to take off his armour. Only then did Lily remember that he'd been hurt in the duel, and she rushed to his side.
Lily's father checked Augustus' wound and pronounced it to be a very severe. It seemed that the cut was so deep it almost went down to the bone and Augustus may never fully recover unless he got immediate help. Of course, the medics there could help him, but their expertise was in first aid and it would take a doctor to properly tend to the cut. Mr. Evans gestured for Nicholas to leave and tend to his own equipment before beckoning Lily to his side.
"Do you think you can help him? Its rather deep, by the time we get him to a proper doctor it might be too late…"
"I'll try." Lily answered solemnly and gently cleaned the wound with warm water.
Once the wound was clean, Mr. Evans went to stand outside the doorway and head off anyone who came their way.
"Augustus?" Lily whispered, "I'll need you to hold still for a few moments."
There was a muffled groan in response that Lily took as a 'yes' before proceeding to try to heal his leg.
Lily had only ever tried healing once before, and that was on a mare with a bad ankle. She kept on reminding herself that the mare's ankle had healed completely and so should Augustus' leg. Of course, there were slight differences, such as the fact that the mare was, in fact, a mare and that Augustus was actually the man she was to marry…but she put those things out of her mind and focused all her attentions on the wound in front of her.
Even as she touched the wound, she could see it closing up – if only slightly. She continued focusing on the wound with all her strength and within a few minutes the wound looked quite less ghastly. In no time at all, the wound was a shallow cut and Augustus' face got back some colour. Feeling drained, Lily asked her father to call the medics and left to get some fresh air so she wouldn't faint. As she was leaving, she thought she saw a flash of black around the corner, but, looking back, realised there was nothing and thought, jokingly, that perhaps she was losing her mind.
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(Author's Note: I am SOO sorry guys!!!! I know there is absolutely no excuse I can possibly give for taking this long to update so I hope this chapter is good enough after you guys waited this long! There's a bit of shocker at the end but I guess most of you probably think its about time a bit of magic was finally mentioned.. And yes its a bit of a cliffhanger but I PROMISE I won't take this long to update again.
Also, as always, a VERY BIG GIGANTIC THANX to all my reviewers! If it weren't for you guys, I'd probably have given up on this a long time ago - Keep reviewing everyone!!)