Adriaan's P.O.V.
The sun shone brightly through the crack in my tent door flap. The bright and blinding light illuminated my room. Today was the day, the day of the tournament. I felting the jitter bugs doing back flips in my stomach. I felt like running around the town on my hands. I was to excited, too pumped up, I tried to stand up from my fur bed only to loose balance and tumble to the hard floor. I jumped back to my feet and continued jumping. Today is the day. Today is the day. Today is the day. Today is the day. Today is the day. Today is the day.
I kept repeating that short sentence over and over in my head as I headed out for breakfast. Today is the day as I opened the tent flaps and practically skipped out I bumped into a very tall strong shoulder. Today is the day. I was slightly confused at first, I even lost my balance and almost tumbled to the ground. Today is the day. Then a strong hand caught me and pulled me to my feet. Today is the day it was Prince Ulf, he’d come to meet me outside like every morning.Today is the day.
"wow, wow, wow, Adriaan, are you alright?" Today is the day. Ulf laughed at my jittering form. He could probably see all the muscles in my body twitching to the beat of their very own song. Dancing under my skin. Today is the day. I looked up at his quizzical eyes. Today is the-
"Adriaan, you need to calm down, you'll wear yourself out before you even get the chance to fight." I now noticed I was literally jumping up and down in the same spot smiling like a lunatic. He was correct though, I needed to calm myself, but I couldn’t. Today was the day I could finally show the woman that- wait, nay, I mean today’s the day I take a proper win against Prince Seff. Right? I was this excited because I was about to win against Seff in a tournament. It wasn’t because I would be fighting in front of the Lady from yesterday. Right?
"Adriaan, come on lets go take a seat and break our fast." Ulf clapped me on the shoulder and pushed me inside to grab a table. I needed to calm down. I definitely wont be having any coffee. Tea would be a good way to calm down, and maybe some sugary cookies to keep my energy levels up. I couldn’t let myself get to worked up. I might wear myself out before I even get a chance against Seff. I needed to be calm and collected, I wouldn’t let the Lady get to me. Wait- did I just admit that it really was the lady doing this to me? By god, women really do make just men wicked.
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I was standing in the heated sun, fully dressed in leather Armour, glad that participants were not required to wear metal armour. This games announcer was strolling off a long listed speech casually, unaware how uncomfortable all today participants were today, standing in a small tight space burning under the sun. I was ignoring the words being spoken, i was only looking for one thing, well person actually. Where was Snow? Shouldn't she be here by now. I looked to the empty spot she sat yesterday, and it was just that, empty. Where was she? Was she okay? Why was she not here? For some strange reason, I couldn’t take my mind off her, she seemed to fill my thoughts. And she also seemed to fuel the jitters in my body.
Then I saw her, she looked slightly sick, walking very slowly with her three blankets from yesterday to the same spot she'd occupied yesterday too. She laid all three blankets atop each other in the one spot. My jitters ceased as I saw her. I became calm again. Why was I acting so strange? Especially over a woman whose name I did not know. But then we made eye contact from across the small field and she slowly lifted her hand slightly and shyly twinkled her fingers in a small wave in my direction. The pure gesture filled my heart with confidence. I will win today for her. Wait hold up! I just told myself id win for her? Am I acting like a love-sick fool? What’s wrong with me? I only met her yesterday, there no way I’ve already got feelings for the chit? Dam it all to hell.
I commotion in the royal stands soon tore my attention from the young lady. Prince Ulf was standing in the royal box cat calling and waving his arms like a maniac screaming rather loudly “Do us proud you filthy pile of pig muck!” and next to him hold a large sign on a stick, sitting still with a dull expression was my other best friend Sebastiaan. His rather crude sign had a painted pig and a pile of poop with bold letter saying ‘Take them down Pig Muck!’. The sign was rather comical which suited Sebastiaan. He may seem rather uninterested in everything and come across as dull, but he is actually a young genius who is so smart finding things to entertain him is rather hard. And even though he comes across as humourless he is actually quite the jester once you get him talking. But keeping him interested in things is rather hard for he seems to find things too ‘drab’ to bother applying himself probably. He is an expert in all weaponry, he would hands down defeat all the veritas princes if he applied himself, but he finds fighting to much of a drab way to entertain himself so he never comits any energy towards it. I’ve tried challenging him to many a mock duel for practice and he’s only ever agreed twice in our year of friendship.
I turned my attention away from my wayward friends as the announcer began to announce the beginning of the tournament and asked that those not fighting at the moment take a seat in the undercover seating area they’d made for the participants. As soon as I was out of the sun I felt a small chill from the icy wind. It was time to take deep, calming breathes and await my turn. There were over a hundred participants today. At once there could be twelve separate fights on the grounds at once. So there were twelve observers who watched over the fight waiting to see which person would lose and be disqualified. This system worked out that if you lost even one fight you were cut from the tournament. You had to fight in pairs until one pair was left, the winner of that pair won the tournament. The rules were simple, but dire. I could not afford to yield even once. I wanted to fight Seff but it worked out that if I wanted to fight him, I would have to make it to the last pair. That was my aim, my drive. I will make it to the last round, and I will fight Seff. I just had to aim for that.
********
Time was beginning to slow down. I’d fought three rounds now, we were already past the half way point. If I won this next round then only sixteen participants would remain. It was about two in the afternoon and it was time for a break form the games for the onlookers and participants alike to have a long over due break and devour some food. the kitchen servants had prepared food for the participants so we didn’t get to leave our seating area unless to relieve ourselves. I used that as an excuse once to go see Snow but she wasn’t in her spot when I went to see her. But once I’d sat back down and looked to her spot she was returning as well. It frustrated me that she seemed to leave when I tried to find her.
At the start of each fight all the contestants names were read out before they began fighting. Maybe she had heard my name and for some reason it scared her from seeing me. Was she really avoiding me? Maybe she was from a low line noble family, maybe she was afraid to get close to a Duke and the rumours the gossiping ladies of society would create. Mayhap she was a cautious Lady. Darn it! I’m still thinking like a fool! It was probably just coincidence. My frustrations were boiling over when I flicked my heated gaze in her direction and met eye to eye with Snow's peculiar eyes. She smiled slightly at me and gave me the same small wave as earlier. I felt my heart begun to rest its raggard pace as I smiled widely back at her.
I now felt ready to continue the tournament, somehow just her smile gave me the energy I needed to fight. She’s been watching me. She’s seen I can fight well. I was ecstatic that I could show her my skill. I wanted her to focus on me. I wanted her to only see me. Her small acknowledgement earlier gave me the confidence I needed. I stood and calmed my thoughts as the announcer called to continue the games. I was ready. I could do this. I will do this. I tried to stay calm and collected as I entered the fighting grounds to my fight area. I stood directly in front of my large opponent and tightened my grip on my dull edge sword and readied my body into position and awaited the signal to begin.
