The Unknown Princess

Chapter Twelve

"I can't believe this," I muttered as we found ourselves back at the inn discussing the predicament. It seemed as if half of the citizens in the city had come up to me, alternating congratulations and heartfelt sympathy to me depending on what they knew of the competition. Hell, I didn't know the first thing about it myself.

"I'm so sorry!" Imogen cried, pulling my seat closer to me so she could hug me. "I knew that Heartrun had a challenge maybe forty years ago, but the challenge had been issued by the Duchess of Valella, and she wasn't required to join. It never dawned on me that the rules would be different for the archduke."

I just leaned into her, letting her strength seep into me. She'd always been the one to calm me down, and today was no different. I mean, I could always just lose the first challenge and then leave. Not all of them were to the death, right? "What are the challenges?"

She leaned back, her eyes closed. "You'll be good at them. Well, the first two anyway. The first is a horse race, usually a hundred miles long out to a monitor and back. You're not an expert rider, but you'll be much lighter than the other competitors, so your horses will have better stamina. The race is so long that most racers bring two horses and switch at the halfway point. That winnows down the field before the second one. That is an archery contest, which you would most likely win. After that there are only two competitors, and then they have a duel. It is supposed to be a fight until someone draws first blood, but it almost always goes to the death."

"So, if I just lose one of the first two events, then we can let everything play out?" I asked hopefully.

"It sounds that way to me," Alba replied.

"I think that is the most prudent course of action," Jana agreed.

"Me too." Imogen smiled down at me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I doubted most contestants would enter, and then lose on purpose, but I never intended to enter, so to me this was different. The worst thing was that I thought I could be a good ruler, and would have several amazing advisors to help, but that didn't seem to be the likely outcome. I didn't want to say that I was perfect, the gods knew I wasn't, but I also knew I wasn't greedy, and I wasn't going to put anyone down or force them to marry. I'd also rather have the duchy run like Shroudwood, where everyone chipped in and were happy together. I was lucky enough to know that I wouldn't understand everything, and that I could ask for help, so that would help too.

Plus, I had the biggest scaly guard in the land if anyone wanted to mess with me and a pair of bears!

"I guess we can relax for the next few days then." I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that I didn't have to truly compete. Tybalt was always destined to be the archduke with Arthur not producing an heir, so this was just hurrying things along. If he became archduke, and the fighting stopped, then all was well, and I would have saved some lives.

And had the circumstances not changed, then that is what most likely would have happened. But then, in the middle of the night, there was a frantic knocking on the hotel room door. We were all sharing a large room, and Imogen and Alba quickly were up, weapons drawn, while I averted my eyes from their nakedness. Hey, I couldn't fault them from getting snuggles in!

I raced over to the door, listening carefully, only to hear stifled, high pitched sobs. Carmen! I pulled open the door, and the small girl launched herself into my arms, with tears staining her face. "Hey, hey, you're okay." I squeezed her tight and carried her to my bed while Alba secured the door. "Nothing will get you, okay?"

She curled up against me, trembling as she cried, and the others hovered about trying to find out what was wrong. I didn't ask, I just waited for her to relax, which still took several minutes. She was cold to the touch, having come all the way from the castle and into the city in nothing but her nightshirt.