Hey guys! I can't believe that this story is already over halfway posted! Like, how did that happen? I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Why am I up at 12:14 AM? I'm at a sleepover, ergo you get this chapter really early!
-owl
The second day of the tournament started just the same as the first, other than Ziva getting dressed in a ceremonial dress instead of her fighting clothes. She watched as Tony, meanwhile, dressed in loose clothing, getting ready for the second day of the tournament, in which he would be participating.
The sun shone strongly into the room and Ziva smiled at Tony.
He turned around to see her expression. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I am looking forward to watching you fight in the tournament today."
Once both of them were dressed they walked arm in arm through the castle and to the tournament arena. When they arrived, the stands were already half full, even though the tournament would not be starting for a while yet. Ziva looked up and saw the royal box was so far empty.
With a quick kiss, Tony left Ziva at the stairs to the royal box as he made his way to the waiting area for the participants. Ziva climbed the stairs and entered the royal box to see Princess Grace standing at the front edge, looking over the arena.
"What are you doing up here?" Ziva asked in a soft voice, trying not to startle the young girl. "Does your father know where you are?"
Even so, as Ziva spoke, the princess jumped almost a foot into the air as she whirled around to face Ziva. "Your Majesty!" she exclaimed as she curtsied quickly. "Dad and Uncle Steve are arguing about who was going to win the last match from yesterday. They argue a lot."
Ziva narrowed her eyes. "What do they argue about?"
Princess Grace shook her head. "Nothing major, they've just always shown their brotherly affection by arguing about dumb things."
"Why are you up here?" Ziva asked again.
The young princess shrugged. "I thought it was really cool yesterday and I couldn't wait for Danno to be ready."
Ziva didn't get the chance to respond because Prince Daniel ran into the royal box at that exact moment.
"Monkey?" he asked, his voice a mix between relief and anger. "You cannot go running off like that. I told you that I would meet you in your room. Then you weren't there!"
"I'm sorry, Danno."
The prince nodded, pulling his daughter into a tight hug.
This time, Ziva gave the beginning of the game speech. "Thank you all, once again, for attending, either participating or watching. We all saw how yesterday's brackets went, and today we will get another champion that will battle yesterday's victor at noon tomorrow."
Then the official came out once again and started the tournament. "Round one will be Sir Nicholas Torres of DiNozzo against Sir Bartholomew of Investigatii."
Nick was a good fighter, Ziva would give him that. However, he needed to work on thinking through his movements before following through with them. And, yes, it was a battle and there would not be time to truly think about what to do, but Nick could be doing better. Even so, he had more skill than Sir Bartholomew.
"Round one goes to Sir Nicholas Torres. Round two is Earl Sam of Hanna against Sir Percival of Investigatii."
Sam used his larger size to his advantage, much like Lord Grover had been doing the previous day. Ziva had to wonder who would win in a fight between the two of them. He didn't have much time to muse, though, because suddenly Sir Percival's sword went flying towards the stands, falling into the dusty ground.
"Round two goes to Earl Sam. Round three is King Steve of Buidheann against Sir Wallace of Investigatii."
The knight had no chance. Almost as soon as the fight started, King Steve had won.
"Round three goes to King Steve. Round four is Sir Callen of Operacje against an anonymous entrant."
There were hushed mutterings at those words, and Callen was joined in the arena by a hooded figure half a foot or so shorter than him. Blonde hair could be seen curling out from the hood.
They were evenly matched, but there must have been something about the way the other fighter's cloak whirled around as the pair fought, because it wasn't too long before Callen was disarmed.
"Round four goes to the anonymous entrent. Round five is Lady Kono of Noshimuri against another anonymous entrant."
Lady Kono was joined by a man with short dirty blond hair. Though the man was god with a blade, Lady Kono was able to get a lucky hit on his upper arm pretty quickly, letting an arc of blood hit the ground.
"Round five goes to Lady Kono. Round six is Sir Reigns of Buidheann against the third of four anonymous entrants."
Sir Junior and the other man, short with dark brown, almost black, hair, fought for a while. They knew nearly all the same moves and seemed to be similarly skilled. Abby was just making a bet with Kate on the outcome when the short man's sword was knocked out of his hands.
"Round six goes to Sir Reigns. Round seven is Sir Quincy of Investigatii against the fourth anonymous entrant."
The knight from Investigatii was joined in the arena by a tall figure in a long cloak that was the same style as the first, blond, entrant had been wearing. The knight didn't last too long, unfortunately.
"Round seven goes to the anonymous entrant. Round eight is King Anthony II of DiNozzo against Sir Theodore of Investigatii."
Ziva leaned forward in her seat, so as to see better while Tony walked to the middle of the arena, his sword at the ready. Tony was clearly older than the knight, the latter of which looked like he could only have just finished his qualifications to become a knight. He fought well, though, and held his own. That was until the knight tripped on a rock on the ground and went stumbling forwards.
Tony approached the downed knight and held his sword loosely to the man's throat. A few words were exchanged softly before Tony removed his sword and offered his hand to help the knight up from the ground.
"Round eight goes to King Anthony. Round nine is Sir Nicholas Torres of DiNozzo against Earl Sam of Hanna."
Nick and Sam nodded to each other as they walked out of the arena. Both fought well, but as Nick tried to use his smaller size to his advantage like some of the other contestants, there wasn't enough of a difference to be able to secure the win.
"Round nine goes to Earl Sam. Round ten is King Steve of Buidheann against the first anonymous entrant."
The cloaked figure with blond hair joined King Steve in the arena and the fight began. Behind her, Ziva could hear Prince Daniel and Lord Noshimuri making bets on the winner of the round.
"Ten doubloons on Steve," Prince Daniel said in a low tone.
Lord Noshimuri answered in an equally low tone. "You're a prince, that amount of money doesn't matter to you. Whatever, I'll take that bet."
As soon as Lord Noshimuri agreed to the bet, there was a horrible screeching sound before the cloaked figure was knocked to the ground and their sword flew halfway across the arena.
"Damn it."
"Don't swear in front of my daughter!"
"Round ten goes to King Steve. Round eleven is Lady Kono of Noshimuri against Sir Reigns of Buidheann."
The pair from Buidheann were both clearly good fighters, though it was quite obvious that they had never trained with each other. They fought well, giving as much as they took, though, eventually, Lady Kono was nicked on her cheek and the round was over.
"Round eleven goes to Sir Reigns. Round twelve is the fourth anonymous entrant against King Anthony II of DiNozzo."
Tony was very good with a blade, but something about the anonymous entrant had thrown him and he lost his grip on his sword fairly quickly.
"Round twelve goes to the anonymous entrant. Round thirteen is Sir Nichloas Torres of DiNozzo against King Steve of Buidheann."
The foreign king was quite interesting to watch, Ziva mused, as he fought Nick. the blades flashed through the air, sunlight glinting off them. Round thirteen was well matched, it took a while before either could get an edge over the other. Unfortunately it was King Steve that eventually knocked Nick's sword out of his hands.
"Do you think Uncle Steve is going to make it to the finals?" Princess Grace asked.
Prince Daniel responded. "I think there is a fair chance of that, Monkey."
"Round thirteen goes to King Steve. Round fourteen is Lady Kono of Noshimuri against the fourth anonymous entrant."
Round fourteen was over quickly, in Lady Kono's favor.
"Round fourteen goes to Lady Kono. Round fifteen is King Steve of Buidheann against Lady Kono of Noshimuri."
Now, if this tournament would have been in a perfectly fair world, the fight would have been even, or at least, very close to even. However, as Ziva watched the countess and king duel, she could see that the previous match had drained Lady Kono to the point of a disadvantage. She fought well, working for every hit and swing, but in the end, Lady Kono's sword was flung from her grasp.
"Round fifteen goes to King Steve," cried the officiant. "Tomorrow King Steve of Buidheann will fight Queen Ziva of DiNozzo for the chance to be crowned victor of the DiNozzo Summer Tournament! The fight will begin at noon tomorrow."
The audience went wild, hooting and hollering as all the entrants who had lost already filed out to the arena and bowed to the royal box. Ziva gave them a solemn nod and they returned to wherever they had been.