Chapter 8
It was finally time for the Quad School Games! All of the school participants, and their fans had arrived at Royal Prep, looking forward to the festivities.
King Roland gave a short opening greeting, flanked by Queen Miranda, the three fairies and Sir Gillium.
"Welcome one and all to the inaugural staging of the Quad School Games! This year we added another school to the list of participants: the Dunwiddie Village School! I hope you all enjoy the competitions and good sportsmanship that will be exhibited during these games. Thank you for coming, and LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"
Before every event, the rules were reviewed with all participants, especially the one about no magic. With the fairies, along with the sorcerers that serve each kingdom that attends Royal Prep, watching each event closely, any use of magic will result in an instant disqualification of the participant in the individual events, in a turnover to the opposition in the Dazzle Ball competition, and in a rider disqualification in the Flying Derby competition.
The first event: 100 meter dash. James and Zooey represented Royal Prep, Van and Berg represented the Junior Knights, Lucinda and Karl represented Dunwiddie Village, and Wanda and Carol represented Hexley Hall. At the disappearance of the Starter Ribbon (Miss Merryweather doing the honors), the racers were off! They were pretty well bunched together at the 25 meter mark, but they started to achieve some separation at the half way point, with Van holding a slight lead over James, and he holding an even smaller lead over Lucinda! Wanda was just behind Lucinda as they approached the 75 meter mark, but just as the racers got to the finish line Wanda used magic to make a small root spring up and trip Lucinda!
"The winner: Van, of the Junior Knights. second goes to James, and third to Wanda. But wait! There is a foul flag being displayed by Mister Greystroke. We'll have to see what that is about."
Mister Greystroke then conjured up a vision of what had happened just before the finish line to Lucinda. It clearly showed Wanda employing a small wand and causing a small root to trip Lucinda before the finish.
"Based on the evidence, Wanda is disqualified for using magic and all of the racers behind her will be moved up one place, resulting in Lucinda finishing third! So the final order is Van, of the Junior Knights, getting the first place Blue Ribbon; James, from Royal Prep, getting the second place Red Ribbon, and Lucinda, from the Dunwiddie Village School, getting the third place Green Ribbon!"
Needless to say, Hexley Hall supporters were a little bummed out about the decision, but the vision showed the violation very plainly. The decision was correct, but they still didn't like it!
The second event was bowling. It was a very close, and magic free event. After the last ball was thrown, Ben, of the Junior Knights, claimed the Blue Ribbon with a 187 game; Karl, of the Dunwiddie Village School, claimed the Red Ribbon with a 182 game; and Jun, of Royal Prep, claimed the Green Ribbon with a 180 game. The best score for Hexley Hall was a 170 by Syl, which was good enough for fourth.
After the second event, the overall standings showed the Junior Knights with 20 points; Dunwiddie Village School and Royal Prep were tied with 10 points; and Hexley Hall hadn't cracked the ribbon count yet.
The third event was going to be the Flying Derby Race. Vaughan and Vance of the Junior Knights were feeling a bit cocky.
"Looks like the Junior Knights are going to win these games too, Vaughan, just like we always do!"
"You are so right Vance! And after we win this event, we'll pretty much have an insurmountable lead. After all, that Dunwiddie Village School probably can't even RIDE flying horses, and Royal Prep was lucky to beat us for the Flying Crown!" added Vaughan, with a smirk.
The race was modified a bit. All four schools would race in one large race. The fairies had doubled the width of the track, the number of bridges and the number of bell towers, so each team had an equal chance. The team horses were put in the expanded starting gate side by side, next to one another.
Sofia and Hugo would be in post positions 3 and 4; Jade and Ruby were in post positions 7 and 8. Hexley Hall pulled starting positions 1 and 2 with the Junior Knights in 5 and 6.
And they were off! As anticipated, the Junior Knights raced into the lead, followed by Royal Prep, Hexley Hall, and Dunwiddie Village. At the bridge, the Junior Knights executed a Flying Block on Royal Prep, as did Hexley Hall on Dunwiddie Village. But the results weren't as anticipated. Royal Prep used an Over the Top move to jump over the surprised Junior Knights. Jade and Ruby executed their pass surprise as well, using a Wing Blast to power Ruby diagonally by the startled blocking Hexley Hall riders. The Junior Knights urged their steeds ever faster, only to have Hugo and Sofia employ the Royal Slingshot to push Sofia and Minimus well ahead, while Hugo blocked the Knights. Once again, Jade and Ruby tried to use a Wing Blast to power Ruby diagonally past the Junior Knights, but they had caught what they had done to Hexley Hall and effectively blocked Ruby, using Hugo's block to aid them. As they came to the bell towers, Sofia and Minimus flew through the left tower, while the Junior Knights sped through the right one. Ruby and Jade still held a nice lead over Hexley Hall, as they flew through the left tower. The finish wasn't really close for first, as Sofia and Minimus crossed the line a good 7 lengths ahead of second. But the race for second was tight! The Junior Knights continued to just employ the raw speed of their horses as they approached the finish line. Once again, Jade gave Ruby a Wing Blast, and she was closing fast on the Junior Knights. As it turned out, the Junior Knights just nipped Ruby and Dove by a nose, for second. Dunwiddie Village came in comfortably in third, with Hexley Hall bringing up the rear, a good 10 lengths back.
"I don't believe it! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! We came in THIRD, JADE!" exclaimed an exuberant Ruby.
"We sure did!" added Jade as she hugged Ruby.
The Junior Knights were in a fog. "How did Royal Prep beat us AGAIN?" asked a stunned Vance.
Ruby and Jade then went over to Hugo and Sofia.
"Congratulations, Hugo; Sofia! Great race!" exclaimed Jade.
"I'll say," responded Hugo. "You almost caught the Junior Knights at the finish!"
"Well, we had good friends to train with!" stated Ruby, as she smiled at Sofia and Hugo.
"I'm glad you two did so well!" a happy Sofia stated as she hugged her two village friends.
The final official finish of the Flying Derby Race was, Royal Prep, Blue Ribbon; the Junior Knights Academy, Red Ribbon; and the Dunwiddie Village School, Green Ribbon.
That result tightened the overall standings a bit. The Junior Knights still led with 27 points, but Royal Prep took over second, now with 20 points, and Dunwiddie Village School was in third with 13 points. Hexley Hall was starting to get frustrated, as they has yet to win a ribbon, and they usually won the Red Ribbons (with a little help from magic). Without magic, Hexley Hall was flummoxed.
The fourth event was Dazzle Ball, and this was modified as well. All four teams would play on a field double the size, with four goals and two balls in play. Ribbons would be awarded based on total points scored. The game would start with a double jump ball at the center of the field.
It became quite apparent that Hexley Hall was bent on trying to use magic to score, but their attempts were frustrated throughout the entire first half, resulting in a turnover to the team they 'scored' on. They didn't use magic in the second half.
With two balls in play, the goaltenders had to be extra vigilant, as two shots could be coming at the same time! Raymond was a blur in the Dunwiddie Village goal, only allowing one score: Ben (Knights). Zandar was equally fantastic, as he also only allowed one goal on Royal Prep: Jade (Dunwiddie). Butch wasn't so lucky in the goal for the Junior Knight, surrendering four goals: Jade; Sofia; James; Lucinda. Elliot was totally out of it as he allowed six goals: James; Sofia; Meg; Peg; Berg (Knights) and Ben (Knights). So at the half it was: Dunwiddie 5; Royal Prep 4; Junior Knights 3; Hexley Hall 0.
In the second half, the Junior Knights tried to dominate the ball, but the speed of Royal Prep and Dunwiddie Village stifled that strategy. Jun, Sofia, and James notched second half goals to give Royal Prep 7 at game's end. Meg, Peg and Jade scored for Dunwiddie Village giving them 8. Van and Ben put in goals for the Junior Knights giving them 5. Hexley Hall finally cracked the scoreboard with three tallies of their own by Elliot, Amy, and Kurt. So the final finish was Dunwiddie Village School, Blue Ribbon; Royal Prep, Red Ribbon; Junior Knights, Green Ribbon.
With these results, the junior Knights still led the overall score with 30 points, followed by Royal Prep with 27, and Dunwiddie Village School with 23.
The final event was archery. The Junior Knights knew that a win in this event would sew up another Games trophy for them. Even if they came in second and Royal Prep came in first, they would still share the Gold Trophy. Heck, all they needed was a third place finish to get the Silver Trophy, so they felt like they had this competition in the bag.
They also noted that Zooey was looking a little fatigued after the Dazzle Ball event. They then noticed that Royal Prep's other archer was in a wheelchair.
"Portis! We got this! That one participant is tired and the other a cripple! We can't lose!"
"Got that right, Vaughan. They're really scrapping the bottom of the barrel with a contestant in a wheelchair!" And with that the teams of Junior Knights and Hexley Hall let out a roar of laughter.
An angry Zooey walked over to Trudy, and said, "Don't pay any mind to them, Trudy! We can beat them, and you're going to lead the way!"
Trudy smiled and replied quietly to Zooey, "All that does is sharpen my concentration, Zooey! We'll show them!"
And an angry Meg and Peg walked over to Trudy as well.
"We'll turn that laughter into tears" stated Meg emphatically.
"...after this event!" finished Peg.
Trudy smiled at her friends and stated, "Don't put undue pressure on yourselves! All they have done in increased my motivation!" Meg and Peg smiled. They knew that Trudy could be nearly unstoppable when her dander was up.
Zandar remarked loud enough for the Junior Knights and Hexley Hall to hear," We'll see who's laughing AFTER the event!"
James added loudly, "You have that right!"
Hugo agreed loudly as did all the rest of the Royal Prep and Dunwiddie Village contestants.
The first target was at 10 meters. After the first four archers, Zooey led with 27 points, followed by Peg with 26, Vaughan with 26 and Amy (Hexley) with 24. Trudy was the last archer. Of the remaining 3, Meg scored 27 points, Elliot (Hexley) had 25 and Portis (Knights) had 28.
"Beat that, cripple!" remarked Portis smugly to Trudy.
Trudy did, and all of the sudden it got very quiet in the Junior Knight and Hexley Hall camps. Trudy scored two 10 point circles and a 9 point circle putting her in the lead. She let a small smile come across her face, which her team and Dunwiddie Village saw, and both also smiled.
The second round target was at 20 meters. There was no trash talking this time, as Trudy again led all archers with a 27 point round, and an overall total of 56 points. She was followed by Portis and Peg with 52 points; Meg and Zooey with 51; Vaughan with 49; Elliot with 46; and Amy with 43.
As the third round was about to begin, it was plain that Zooey was very fatigued, but she again refused to withdraw as she felt she may place as high as third, even as tired as she was.
The Junior Knights took notice of Zooey. "We have to stop that cripple!" said Butch.
"Yeah! Royal Prep can't finish higher than third, and we have to win!" added Van.
Ben said, "I've got an idea!" and he walked over to Hexley Hall's participants. Some type of agreement had been reached, as he returned to his own team. "All set. That cripple won't beat us." And he then explained what the deal was. His teammates smiled snidely as the third round was about to commence.
The last target was at 30 meters. Once again, because she led all archers, Trudy would shoot last. Zooey. Meg, Peg and Portis would precede her. The fatigue was starting to affect Zooey, as she scored 18 points. Meg followed and did pretty well, scoring 22 points. Peg also did pretty well, scoring 20 points. Portis didn't take into account how he would handle the pressure though, as he only shot an 18, so currently Meg led the overall with 73 points, Peg had 72 points, Portis had 70 and Zooey had 69. Still, even if they came in third, the Junior Knights would claim the Silver Trophy and beat Royal Prep.
Just as Trudy came to the line, a brisk crosswind started to blow, thanks to Carol (Hexley). That was the deal. Hexley Hall couldn't win any ribbons, so they agreed to help the Junior Knights 'save face' by making sure they didn't lose to 'a cripple'. The magic was detected by the Hexley Hall judge, but he chose not to report it.
Trudy didn't mind. She just smiled, as she got ready to shoot. Her first arrow got fully caught by the wind and only hit the four point scoring circle. Her teammates let out a groan, but Trudy was undeterred. She used her first arrow to perfect her adjustment for her remaining two arrows. The second arrow curved from right to left, hitting the 10 point circle. The crowd loved it and applauded wildly, as the Hexley Hall and Junior Knight teams stood there with their mouths hanging collectively to the ground. Trudy's last shot was just as good, as she hit the 10 point circle again.
She had done it! Trudy had won the archery ribbon, and with that, secured Royal Prep's first ever Gold Trophy finish! The final archery standings were: Trudy with 80 points, Blue Ribbon; Meg, Dunwiddie Village, 73 points, Red Ribbon; and Peg, Dunwiddie Village, 72 points, Green Ribbon.
The final overall standings showed Royal Prep, Gold Trophy, 37 points; Dunwiddie Village School, Silver Trophy, 33 points; and the Junior Knights Academy, Bronze Trophy, 30 points.