Ceaser left Ivan's side and he didn't go too far. He stood and then prepared his bow and arrow and released without much thought or calculation. The wind stilled and Ivan took the opportunity and run to stand on the right spot to take a hit. When he raised his bow he glanced at Ceaser and then at Crow and Ceaser the two smiled devilishly and the wind resumed. Ivan's knees felt weak as he looked at his master.
Ceaser half lifted his hand and made a shoo signal to tell Ivan to go on. Ivan mouthed back 'I can't' making his team mates frown at him collectively. His eyes shifted to Ian, his twin brother, and the latter gave him an assuring smile. Ivan nodded his head and closed his eyes and released the arrow. He waited for a sound so he could know what he had done exactly but it was as quiet as a cemetery at night.
'Are they too shocked to gasp? Maybe my arrow is still in my hands?'
Ivan opened one eye and looked at his hand and indeed the arrow was still there. He rolled his eyes at his own incompetence. He should have listened to Clause when he had taught the others archery. He remembered the day when Clause had woken them up early in the morning by splashing freezing water on them. What did the old man say to them?
' The wind is an archers enemy if he thinks so but the opposite is true.' Clause had said,'In the same way that an artist changes angles to get the right stroke so does an archer to take the right shot.'
An image of him standing in front of a canvas flashed in his mind and he saw himself changing the angle of his hand to fill in a detail of an almost dark background with gray paint. In his mind he saw himself make a light stroke and then he heard the crowd cheer him on. When his conscious returned he looked at his brothers and saw their smiles and even Crow smiled while Ceaser applauded him.
"I hit it!" Ivan declared excitedly when he went to stand next to the others.
"We have eyes you know." Crow said sighing.
"We knew you could do it. You're just lazy." Ian said to Ivan.
"What's the next thing?" Crow asked turning everyone's attention to the main event.
"Can't you just congratulate me properly?" Ivan asked sullenly.
"I wasn't born to to waste my life on petty things like these." Crow answered with a fake yawn.
Ivan glared at Crow and they all walked back to the crowd. The next item was running. To make it more difficult they were paired up and their feet binded together. Gray and with Roosevelt, Crow and Ceaser, Ivan and Ian, Benjamin and Veldet, Briceaus and Pascal. It was alright if only one man crossed the finish line but only if their partner was still tied to them. Once a team won they would compete with the next pair until only one pair was left.
The first teams were Benjamin and Veldet against Gray and Roosevelt. Roosevelt fell down as he couldn't match Gray's speed and Gray made no effort to continue after that. Roosevelt was too fat for him to drag along with him and carrying him was out of question. Benjamin and Veldet hugged each other and found a rhythm as they jogged and they finished the race. The next pair was Briceaus and Pascal and they competed with Benjamin and Veldet.
"Ready to lose to us?" Benjamin joked.
"Of course not!" Briceaus was quick to answer.
"Yes." Pascal said shocking Briceaus,"Good luck you two."
"What are you saying? We are saying?" Briceaus asked his partner who wasn't even looking at him.
"I have a leg injury." Pascal lied. touching his left leg which was bound to Briceaus' right leg.
"Why didn't you inform me before we paired up?!"
"Go!" Julius announced.
Benjamin and Veldet were quick to start moving while Briceaus struggled to get Pascal to move.
"Don't you want to win?" Briceaus asked confused when Pascal didn't moved,"Sir Mendel?!"
"No." Pascal answered.
"Why didn't you fail in the previous game or the first?"
"In the first game I did nothing but won because the team won and in the second I did it for my master, prince Ceaser."
"Make some effort! You can at least take five steps with me before the race ends."
Pascal said nothing and Briceaus thought he would start moving but he didn't and kept on staring ahead of them. When Briceaus was about to speak Pascal broke into a sprint, dragging Briceaus with him. They reached fifty metres and then Pascal stopped.
"Why didn't you move?" Pascal asked deliberately looking down at Briceaus who was on the ground and dirty.
"You....How dare you do this to me!" Briceaus thundered embarrassed.
"I thought you wanted to win so I did my part and you made us fail. I tried." Pascal retorted with a grin as he looked down at the king.
Benjamin and Veldet reached the finishing line and when the winners were announced, Pascal removed the bind from his foot and extended his hand for the king to take but Briceaus slapped it away making Pascal laugh. Pascal made a fake and exaggerated bow to the king and walked away. Briceaus watched Pascal walk away with gritted teeth and then when one of his men came to help him up, he got up on his own from the embarrassment.
"What was that Pa?" asked Benjamin to Pascal.
"Don't shorten my name like that." Pascal said to Benjamin slightly annoyed with his brother,"That was me trying to socialize. Where is Veldet?"
"He hurt his leg while celebrating at the finish line so he and I have been disqualified. Which means...you and Briceaus get to move on.....in our stead." Benjamin said in a taunting manner with a silly smile on his face.
Pascal frowned and turned away from Benjamin only to see Briceaus walking to him with rope to tie their feet together. The pair they would be up against was the twins, Ian and Ivan. Pascal knew that the two cooperated well and they would certainly win and they did. This irked Briceaus and he walked away from everyone to hid himself.
"I'm sure that you will win sire." Ian said as Ceaser and Crow come to stand at the starting line.
"He still has me to fight you idiot." Crow said smiling.
"We all know that you are terrible at hand to hand combat and even sword fighting. You'll definitely lose." Ivan said to annoy Crow.
Crow's eyes narrowed down to scrutinize the twins while delivering a silent warning. When the race started, Ian and Ivan took the lead and they slowly progressed. When they were ten meters from the finish line, they heard the loud thud of two sets of footsteps approaching them from behind. Before they could turn to look at their competition, Ceaser and Crow run passed them at great speed, running like their legs weren't tied.
"What...?" Ivan breathed the word as he and his brother stopped jogging and watched Ceaser and Crow cross the finish line.
The crowd went wild from excitement as they looked forward to the match between the prince and his advisor.
"Shocked much?!" Crow asked the twins in a slightly raised voice because of the cheers erupting from the crowd.
The twins just nodded their heads in sync because they failed to speak.
"I thought you knew you were losing." Ceaser said.
"We...we didn't expect to lose in that way." confessed Ivan.
"We wanted to make sure you lost in style." Crow teased them.
"That's not nice." Ian sulked.
Crow and Ceaser chuckled and walked away to prepare for their match leaving the twins glaring at them. Julius ordered the servants to serve people some refreshments before the match started so they could eat and watch. When everyone was served and seated comfortably, the match started. Ceaser and Crow stared at each other while everyone waited for one of them to move.
'Think of me as your enemy for now sire. I won't be offended.' Crow communicated to Ceaser.
'Think of me as the man who beheaded you. Good luck.'
Crow smiled briefly and then run toward Ceaser with a deadly look in his eyes. Ceaser was startled as he hadn't expected Crow to make the first move. Crow had a golden staff in his hands that Genevia had made for him. It had magic gems at it's apex that each had different purposes and he chose to use one of them to temporarily blind Ceaser. Ceaser chose to use his grandfather's sword as it could deflect magic and he avoided Crow's first attack by lifting the sword to his eyes. Crow smiled when he saw this and used his other hand to attack Ceaser by using his metallic scales which could be considered cheating. To the audience it would look like a dagger so he wasn't concerned about them knowing who he truely was.
Ceaser's eyes widened when he felt the blade-like feather graze his skin but he recovered quickly and placed his free hand on Crow's back and sent an electric shock through his body. Crow hissed at the pain and fell to the ground feeling numb. Ceaser moved a distance from Crow and touched his side were his blood was oozing out slowly.
"You cheated." Ceaser said with narrowed eyes and in a low voice.
"Didn't the cheating begin when we chose magical weapons sire?" Crow answered.
Ceaser smiled at his friend and then waited for him to get up.
"Besides sire...all is fair in love and war." Crow said when he was up.
"And in our case which one is it?"
"A little of everything. You are like a son to me and at the same time you are the grandson of my greatest enemy."
Saying this Crow moved forward again using the staff as a decoy while he used his nails to dig into Ceaser's side. Ceaser grimaced from the pain and used the sword as well as a spell he learnt from Genevia to push Crow away and burning the skin of his chest. Crow fell with great force and while Ceaser was distracted he threw the feather, aiming for Ceaser's injured side but Ceaser caught it and threw it back at a greater speed. The feather pierced and went through Crow's thigh and he cried internally while his face only showed anger.