Roshan saw the look in her eyes, once or twice, he had caught her staring with desires swirling in her jade blue eyes and he could only hope it wasn't what he thought it to be, he sighed deeply before leaving to watch the fight.
Roshan and the members of the High court and officials watched the fight from the stadium as the opponents came into view.
Rama stood at the middle of the fighting pit barehanded with no weapons as she awaited her opponent.
Jafar came into view, walking towards her with a weapon in his hold. Her eyes narrowed to the sword in his right hand and she scoffed in disbelief.
'What a coward!" She muttered under her breath, it seemed like he was determined to win at all cost even if it meant a bit of cowardly act.
"You call yourself the future king, yet you can't stand against me with your fists." She taunted and she saw Jafar's teeth clench, his eyes glinting with hate as he glared at her.
"I don't wield a sword because I can't defeat you with my fist, I wield a sword so I can behead you with it." Jafar spat out as his grip on the hilt of the sword tightened.
The fact that he wanted her dead for the throne, proved the fact that he most certainly had a hand in her Father's death and at that moment, fury engulfed her entire being.
He charged at her, swinging his sharp sword towards her neck to take her head off but she dodged it skillfully, she moved like the wind in an effortless and precise manner.
She was fast and calculative, she dodged him without attacking until she was familiar with his movements and could play his next move in her head, fortunately he wasn't such a skilled fighter and she could take him down in her sleep.
After familiarizing herself with his movements, she got ready to finally attack. She would make sure to give him a good beating before taking his head off with his own sword, after all she had always anticipated beating his smugly face to a pulp.
He was about to lunge his sword at her, his movements were uncalculated and irrational, it was obvious he fought with strength and not skill as he was muscular.
She dodged it yet again but this time around she planted a hard kick to his right calf with immense force, they could hear his muscles splint and his bones crack.
He grunted in pain as he fell on his left knee and the sword fell out of his hold as he panted with heavy huffs of breath.
She kicked the sword away from him with her foot before driving her knee into his chin, his head flew back as blood spurted out of his mouth before slumping down on the ground with a soft thud.
At witnessing the new development of the young princess effortlessly manhandling Jafar, the High court members sprouted out of their seat in bewilderment, eyes widened and mouths hanging open.
Jafar's mother was about to run into the fighting pit and interrupt the fight but she barely took a step when she heard the menacing voice of Roshan.
"Don't take a step forward or I'll cut off your legs." The woman swallowed in fear and in silence she obeyed as she meekly sat back down, not wanting to anger the werewolf alpha king.
Rama's eyes glinted with excitement as she saw the pain etched on Jafar's face but she wasn't done yet, more was to come.
She slammed her foot viciously against his face as he lay on the floor grunting in pain and a shrill cry of pain escaped his lips as her foot collided with his face.
His face was already swollen with a dark blue bruise forming on it, only one eye was good as the other had been shut close with a dark bruise forming around it.
She had drawn the first blood already, he was bleeding from the injury she inflicted on his face but she wasn't satisfied yet, she wanted his head separated from his shoulders.
She moved towards the sword that lay on the ground and picked it up, staring at it for a second before charging towards Jafar who could not move from his position as he was weakened.
She saw Jafar's eyes pleading for mercy as she lifted the sword upward, ready to end him and she felt her conscience prick her but when she saw the life fading from her Father's green eyes, fury burned through her jade blue eyes and she immediately swung the sword across his neck, ready to take his head off.
The sword was about to slice his head off when a strong arm grabbed her hand wielding the sword, restricting her from taking his head off.
She whipped her head to the side to meet Roshan's hazel eyes.
"What..."
"You already won, you drew the first blood, it'll be a useless kill." Roshan said and her eyes narrowed to the High court and officials coming her way along with Jafar's mother who rushed to her injured son.
"How could you try to kill your cousin for the throne, you know he's all I have left." She heard her aunt's croaked voice as she slumped beside her son, taking him in her arms.
"The feeling is mutual, he wants my head, I want his." She said with a hard, unfeeling tone, her eyes void of remorse and emotion.
"As you can all see, I drew the first blood meanwhile your incompetent spineless prince couldn't defeat this princess." She said with a mock filled tone.
"Regardless of you winning a physical match, it doesn't guarantee you to seat on the throne, we don't need a King who can fight, we need a wise King who will lead it's people to prosperity, so our decision still stands, Jafar will be coronated as the King." One of the High court members said in a tone of defiance and her brows creased itself in anger.
"What? We agreed for a fair fight, whoever draws first...." Her sentence was interrupted as another High court member chipped in nonchalantly.
"We cannot let a woman rule, Jafar will be King, he's the male heir of your family it's only right he rules. The safety of the Empire should be our first priority, if the other Kingdoms gain news of our Empire being ruled by a woman, no doubt they'll make war with us because we would become weak in their eyes."
"As per the agreement, she won so she will rule." Roshan's voice deepened with a trail of danger in it.
"I mean no disrespect your highness, but this is our Kingdom's matter, I'll kindly suggest you focus on yours." Another Official chipped in, obviously scared but he summoned the courage to speak.
Roshan wanted to speak but Rama raised her hand to convey silence.
"You're all absolutely right, the Empire needs a King who has more than just physical strength, we need prowess and wits, bravery and wisdom." She stated and everyone shot her a shocked look as she agreed with them, thinking she was ready to accept defeat.
"That is why I've come up with a better solution, we shall both venture into the black dragon's lair, luckily he won't die by my hands."
All eyes widened at her suggestion, it was an old tradition that had long been used, as per the tradition when two brothers or two heirs fought for the throne, they would both venture into the black dragon's lair and whoever the black dragon had spared was said to be the true ruler of Saba Empire.
It was said that the black dragon had chosen the rightful heir fit to rule and with it came it's perk as the rightful ruler would have the ability of controlling the black dragon which in the process helped them win war and secure their Empire from foreign attacks as the black dragon was a powerful beast.
"Rama.." Roshan called but she was quick to interfere, knowing he wanted to talk her out of her suggestion that sounded more like a suicide mission as none had laid eyes on the black dragon or even ventured close to it's lair in decades.
"Only a coward and the wrong heir would refuse, if you're a man you'll get up on your feet and accept my challenge, stop cowering behind the back of the High courts and your mother." Her words came out sharply as she shot her gaze fiercely at him and Jafar immediately sprouted up on his feet, ignoring the sharp pain that came with it.
The embarrassment of losing against the young princess half his size clouded his judgement.
"I accept!" He growled beneath his breath, body trembling in anger and he could see a wicked smile reach her lips in satisfaction.
"Good, we'll start off tomorrow morning, clean yourself up and get ready." Rama said and without waiting for a reply, exited their presence, once again she had not only defeated him with her words but her fists.
The High courts and his mother were left speechless by the new turn of events but they couldn't do anything about it as both parties had agreed to venture into the black dragon's lair, the thought of them venturing there made their blood curdle.