A/N: So I'm back with the second chapter of A warrior's heart. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I got a great response to the first chapter. This chapter kind of got away from me and it's kind of long.

Anyway please read and enjoy.

Holly and her father took their seats as the warriors lined up along the outside of the arena. There were 150 of them there to compete. There would be six events and in each one the warriors would be competing against themselves and each other. In each event the competitors would get points based on how well they did. Then after every event the competitors at the bottom would be sent home.

The first event was set to be archery. The warriors would be called up in groups of 10, making 15 rounds, meaning 30 competitors would be kicked out of the competition. The groups had been randomly pre-selected. Each of them would be given 10 arrows, they would be lined up facing a target. They would start 10 yards from the target and with each shot they would back up five yards. The warrior with the most bulls-eyes would get 10 points and the warrior with the least would get one point. Then the two competitors from each round with the least points would be sent home.

"I think I'll put my bet on that young man down there." King Brian said pointing to a male around 25 years. He was tall and well-built with the face of one much younger. He stood in the brown leather ¾ pants that the rest wore, and he wore no shirt. He had a serious look on his face with his arms crossed over his broad chest. The king's most trusted guard stepped forward, "That is young Christopher. He is a great warrior. A stickler for the rules and always eager to please. If I may make a wager your honor?" He asked. When the king nodded he pointed across the arena to a tall woman with short black hair. She wore the pants and a dark green top that stopped just below her breasts and bound her chest down tightly. "Her name is Hayden. She lives just minutes south of here with her family. She is an incredible warrior, and I believe the only things that will give her trouble will be the stealth and weapons competitions. She is decent with a sword, but is much better with knives that she can throw or fight with up close." He informed the king. "Would you care to make a wager on that?" The warrior looked at the king nervously. "I have heard you say that your wife is a great lover of literature. Well if your warrior makes it to the race, she may have free reign to borrow any two books she would like, and the same for you, from my personal library. Then to give you time to read those books you will be given a trip to the eastern shores, on me, for a week. If your warrior wins I will double the entire offer." The warrior's face lit up. This was why the citizens loved their king so much. He knew what they liked and paid attention to their lives, and he was always willing to do things for them. The king held out his arm and the warrior grasped his forearm sealing their deal.

Holly rolled her eyes at their antics. Finally the warrior groups were being called out. "Christopher, Nicholas, Abigail…" Holly stopped paying attention as a small stone-faced woman stepped forward. She wore the same pants as everyone, and a green shirt as short as Hayden's had been but hers had brown sleeves that went down to her elbows. She walked out with a glare more fierce than any Holly had ever seen. That wasn't what had drawn Holly's attention. Nor was it the short, extremely blond shock of hair on her head or her incredible beauty. No it was in fact the large tribal designed tattoo that ran from the base of her neck, over her shoulders, down her spine, to finally wrap around her hips. It was an interesting design. Not many elves had tattoos, and even the ones that did had tattoos that flowed smoothly with curves and soft edges. This tattoo was dark and ended in sharp points and turned with sharp corners. Definitely not an elven design.

Before Holly could ogle any longer the arrows began to fly. Abigail, Nicholas, and Christopher all made perfect bulls-eyes. Ten shots were fired by each competitor. Gail's final shot had gone just high of the center circle. All of the others had practically been on top of each other. That miss cost her one point as all of Nicholas' shots had been bulls-eyes. Christopher got five points. And when Hayden's group got up she got ten points.

30 elves were sent home, mostly the older warriors who could not see as well as the younger warriors. That left 120 of them.

The next round was hand-to-hand combat. The warriors were counted off by twos. The elf closest to their left side with the same number would be their partner. This round was extremely important. Winners would receive ten points while the losers would receive none. This meant that if a competitor lost they were out.

Holly held her breath as she saw Abigail was to face Nicholas. There were ten small rings set up in the arena. Each fight would last for five minutes. If one warrior was knocked unconscious then the other automatically won. Other than that there were three other warriors at each arena to keep score. One point for a body shot, two for a head shot, and three if you knocked your opponent to the ground.

The first competitors stepped into their rings. Abigail and Nicholas were right in the middle of the arena. As soon as they were allowed to begin Abigail dropped down into a low circle sticking her leg out. As she spun her outstretched leg hit Nicholas' legs causing him to fall to the ground. Within seconds of the beginning of the fight Nicholas was laying on his back on the sand gasping for air. He glared up at the blond and began to get up. When he was on his feet Abigail moved again. Quick as a flash she placed two jabs into his stomach before jumping back out of the way.

"Father, do you see this fight in the middle?" Her father had indeed not taken his eyes off of it. "That is Abigail, she prefers to go by Gail. Her father is the honorable William Peck who was injured fighting for our people in the human war. She was dropped off at the training grounds at a very young age and was raised training. She is an excellent fighter." The same warrior from before said. "She has an attitude problem and never mentions anything about her family unless prompted. She is a great mystery to us all." He continued.

Back in the ring Gail had just dodged under a punch Nicholas threw and placed two of her own punches into his stomach before grabbing his legs behind the knees and forcing him to the ground. With only a minute left in the fight it was obvious that Gail was going to win.

As all of the fights reached an end Gail was declared the winner of her fight. She turned and bowed to the king as did every other winner. As she straightened up Nicholas wrapped his arm around her throat and began to choke her. With a bored look on her face Gail leaned forward at the waist and dropped down to one knee. Nicholas not expecting this was thrown forward. He managed to tuck his chin at the last moment to avoid landing directly on his head. Nicholas was sent home immediately for his actions.

The next round included Christopher who was set to fight a young man by the name of Dov. As soon as the match began Christopher ran at the other man. He grabbed him around the waist and tackled him to the ground. Then he delivered one punch to Dov's face that knocked the smaller man unconscious.

The third, fourth, and fifth round held nothing too interesting. Then the sixth round found Hayden facing off with a woman named Traci. This fight was more interesting because the two women were evenly matched. Hayden's more laid back defensive style was good against Traci's offensive technique. Hayden blocked Traci's attack waiting for an opening. Every punch that Traci threw was blocked expertly. Unfortunately for Traci her defense was lacking. Hayden managed to get in a few good strikes, but her defense was not perfect and Traci got a few blows in as well. When the fight ended it was declared a tie. The king was given the choice to let them fight on or send someone else home. King Brian decided to let them fight on and the next point would win.

The two bowed to the king before resuming their fighting stances. As soon as the fight resumed Traci threw a flurry of punches. Hayden dodged by making small movements that took her out of the path of Traci's fist. Then she jumped back a few inches to be out of range. When Traci stopped punching Hayden moved forward again. As she got closer to Traci she threw a kick with all of her strength. Traci brought up her arm to block the kick but she put all of her attention on that foot. Hayden kicked off of the ground on her left leg. She dropped her right foot back to the ground while her left connected with Traci's ribs, hard. This ended the fight with Hayden winning.

There were only 60 warriors left as they moved on to weapon combat.

The same arenas were set up and new partners were chosen. There were four choices for weapons: sword, dual swords, axe, and staff.

Gail stepped into the third ring and into the opposite side of the ring stepped Hayden. Hayden held a single sword while Gail had chosen the dual blades. She held one pointing out in her right hand while the one in her left hand ran parallel to her forearm.

The fight began and Gail swung her right arm around. Hayden blocked the strike but kept an eye on Gail's left arm. She became confused when Gail made no move to strike with her left. Instead she just pulled her right arm back. Hayden thought she had found an opening so she struck out. Gail's left arm shot out blocking the strike. That was when everyone realized Gail's strategy. She would use her right to attack and her left to defend.

The two danced around each other only able to leave small nicks and bruises, but no real damage that would stop the fight. Hayden's moves with the sword were calculated, but also very sloppy. She knew how to use a sword, as did every other elf warrior, but she preferred long range attacks like the bow and arrow or close range hand-to-hand combat without weapons. Gail's moves looked like she was dancing. She was better up close using her weapons they seemed to be a part of her arms. Her moves were not all that different than if she were fighting without the weapons.

After 20 minutes King Brian signaled for the match to stop. The two women were both breathing heavily. Gail had a cut on her cheek and one on her upper arm. Hayden had one on her arm, a shallow cut on her stomach, and a small cut on the middle of her left thigh.

"Both of these women have fought hard. For that reason they shall both remain in this competition." He ordered. The women straightened for just a second before dropping into bows. They stood and grasped forearms in victory.

"The next two challenges will be combined. One of my personal guards has hidden in the forest to the east. You must find him without being caught by the other guards that will be sent in to find you. If you are caught then you are out. If you do not get caught, but you do not find your target then you will receive ten points. If you can find you target without being caught then you will receive 20 points. You will have one hour to complete this task."

The warriors were escorted to the edge of the eastern forest. Gail had put a black hat on to hide her hair. Then they were set loose. The other warriors would give them a two minute head start before they went in after the competitors.

There were three groups of people in this competition. The first group, which included Hayden, spent the two minutes tracking. That way by the time the warriors entered the forest they would be close enough to the target there would be a very slim chance of them getting caught. There were three in that group. The second group had ten members. They were the group that obviously had no clue what they were doing and were caught straight away. The final group, which included Gail, were very good at hiding. They found cover in those two minutes and for the most part the guards ran right passed them. When the guards were far enough away from where she hid Gail would track for a bit before finding a new hiding spot.

Tracking definitely wasn't Gail's strong suit, so she got turned around quite a few times. Finally just before the hour was up she ran into a clearing where the target was waiting to be found. It had been a total accident, not that Gail would ever admit that. She had messed up and left her hiding spot slightly too early and was being chased by a guard. She was running in search of new cover when she stumbled upon the clearing and the target.

At the end of the event there had been a total of 15 competitors who got caught. From there another five were asked to leave because of low scores. That left only ten people to run the race. Gail was one point behind Hayden so she steeled herself to run faster than she had ever run before. She had to come in first otherwise she knew she would get a lecture from her father. She only hoped that tying for first would be good enough to avoid an all-out lecture with yelling and extra training included.

All of the remaining warriors lined up at the start, which just happened to be the far end of the clearing that they were in. They would have to run to the southern edge of the city then turn around and run back to the arena. In total it was about five miles, three to the woods and then two back to the arena.

Gail made sure to line up next to Hayden so that she could be sure that she was keeping pace. The horn was blown for the competitors to begin and Gail and Hayden pulled into the lead within the first two hundred yards. They continued to run in stride with each other all the way to the border. As they made the turn though, Hayden's foot slipped on some leaves and Gail pulled ahead. She was only about a yard or two in front of Hayden and she prayed that it would be enough. That was until they got to the entrance to the arena. They were both breathing heavily, but Hayden began to sprint. When she heard Hayden's steps speed up Gail began to sprint as well. That gap that Gail had created was slowly closing. She just had to make it to the far end of the arena and she would win. Gail dug deep and used the last reserves of energy that she had to propel herself forward. She crossed the finish line one single step before Hayden did.

Everyone turned to the score board and saw that with the way the race had ended the two women were tied for first place both with near perfect scores. "Enjoy your vacation" Brian said grasping forearms with his guard who smiled and nodded.

Hayden and Gail were congratulated and sent to prepare and rest up for the next day. They would report for a formal introduction and tour of the palace at noon the next day. Everyone else was thanked for coming, congratulated on making it so far, but ultimately sent home.

A/N: So what did you think? I hope you enjoyed it, but even if you didn't please let me know what you honestly thought of it. I can't get better without people telling me when/ if I suck. Also I am going camping this coming weekend. I will be leaving Friday morning so I will try to get the third chapter up before I go away, but I make no promises.

Until next time
Hold the Line and Don't Look Back