3. The First Duel
3
The First Duel
T he duel would occur in the royal arena in the next two days.
Her grandfather, as furious as he was at the king over the arrangement for Astoria’s marriage, agreed to be the master of ceremonies. He even said he would have fought in her place if this weren’t a magical duel. If he had, there was no doubt he would win. Though seventy-three, he still had the stamina of someone half his age and attended tournaments across the unconquered kingdoms.
After finalizing the stipulations of the duel with his help, Astoria submitted them to her father. He informed the wizard who had been staying at the castle. Wizard Orion agreed to the terms.
Emmett saw to the preparations in the arena. Marcia insisted on inviting the entire court and sent out the invitations. Astoria trained with Jasper day and night at Emmett’s insistence. Her brother was still reluctant to accept what Skylar said about her powers, and Skylar was annoyed with him.
On the evening of the duel, Astoria stood at the entrance of the arena, obscured in the shadow of the archway as she watched the noble families take their seats on the stone steps. Emmett had left for the top box after wishing her good luck, saying that he believed in her despite all his concerns. Surprisingly enough, Silas had come to wish her good luck as well, rather rigidly. And Astoria nodded her thanks just as rigidly.
“Is the princess warrior ready for her duel?”
She turned and saw her grandfather approaching her. He wore resplendent robes, and Skylar was perched on his shoulders.
Astoria tried to hide her anxiety with a smile. “As ready as I will be for a duel that holds my fate in its hands.”
Grandpa Cassius chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “The duel doesn’t hold your fate, my dear child, the Creator does.” Then he sobered. “Shall we begin this?”
Astoria inhaled deeply and nodded.
Skylar reached out his paw and Astoria touched him. I won’t hesitate to strangle the wizard if he wins, too bad he won’t.
She laughed. No one had the same confidence in her to win this duel other than him.
Grandpa Cassius walked out into the open arena with Skylar. He gave a brief welcome and announced Wizard Orion into the arena, his voice amplified with an enchanted stone. The wizard of Arden emerged from one of the tunnel-like spaces opposite hers, and the courtiers clapped for him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you our beloved and beautiful Princess Astoria of Daliston!”
This was it. Astoria was going to prove to everyone in the arena who she truly was. She drew strength from her grandfather’s rather dramatic words, adjusted her midnight- blue cloak, and walked into the golden sands of the arena, lifting her chin.
The crowd erupted into cheers.
She reached the center and locked eyes with the wizard’s mocking gaze before turning towards the royal box. The king and queen sat rigidly on their thrones, neither smiling nor frowning. Emmett stood next to his throne on the king’s left as though he couldn’t bring himself to sit. On the queen’s right sat Silas, leaning forward in his seat. She looked away from them and searched for Jasper among the crowd and smiled a tad as she saw him sitting between his parents. He gave her a thumbs-up.
She turned back to her opponent. Wizard Orion watched her intently. She glared at him, causing him to smirk.
Disgusting man.
Finish him off, my Princess, Skylar said.
Her grandfather began his speech. “The rules of the duel are simple. While this is a duel of testing power and skills, neither participant shall unleash serious or harmful spells upon the other. But of course, harm aside, they can engage in influential combat to prove themselves.
“Let it be known that there shall only be one round of the duel. And the victor shall be the one who proves themselves worthy through skill and cunning. Should Wizard Orion emerge victorious, he shall claim the hand of Princess Astoria in marriage, for the princess desires to marry only the one who bests her in a magical duel.”
Grandpa Cassius met Astoria’s eyes. “But I have every confidence in your abilities, my dear,” he said, before raising his arms. “Let the duel begin!”
Astoria turned back to Wizard Orion and clasped her hands delicately in front of her.
“Before we begin, Wizard Orion,” she spoke up, “I have a question for you, given the fact that should you emerge as the victor, you are going to be my husband.” She concealed her disgust at the word husband with a calculating look.
Wizard Orion gave her a curious glance. “And what shall it be, my princess?”
She closed her eyes. “Since the first day of our encounter, every time we came face to face, you have complimented my beauty and my appearance. So, my question for you is curious and simple.” She paused before asking, with a smirk playing at the corner of her lips, “What is the colour of my eyes?”
Through Skylar’s mind, Astoria saw his face switch between various emotions, even though it was only a side-profile display. Surprise, bewilderment, panic, frustration, and at last, annoyance.
She suppressed a laugh. This was going to be delightful.
“Come on, Wizard, what is taking you so long? Is it that hard? You have seen me every day for the past three or four days.”
The wizard looked irritated. Her amusement grew. Murmurs rose in the air and people glanced at each other, probably wondering what the princess was doing.
The princess was trying to humiliate her intended, what else?
As unromantic as she was, a certain poem she had read years ago always stuck out in her mind. It was about a man complimenting the eyes of the woman he loved, saying it was the first thing he noticed about her and what lured him in.
The other night, she came up with the ridiculous idea of asking this to the wizard in front of their audience. The poem had been all about the woman’s eyes, and recalling the lines made her want to gag. But this was pleasant—watching the wizard squirm in front of her family and her father’s courtiers.
“What is she doing?” Her father’s impatient voice floated down to her.
“I am testing his mental ability, Father, before I test his powers,” she called back to him. “Come on, you cannot be mad. How can I marry someone who compliments my beauty yet fails to notice such a simple detail about me? It is simply ridiculous.”
Someone laughed, and a few snickers followed. Skylar projected the reddening face of her father, the scowl of her stepmother, and the highly amused face of Emmett. Even Silas looked entertained.
She smiled, pleased with herself, and redirected her attention to the wizard. “Wizard? Do you have your answer?”
“Green,” he gritted out, fuming.
Laughter bubbled up to her lips and she pressed her fingers to them to stifle it. “Green?” she asked aloud so no one would miss his answer. “Are you certain? Should I open my eyes now?”
“I am certain,” he grumbled again.
Astoria opened her eyes with a grin, and seeing the wizard’s jaw drop flabbergasted, it widened.
“Blue,” he murmured, pink dotting his cheeks. “Your eyes are blue.”
Astoria withheld the urge to roll her eyes and stomped towards him. She stopped only two feet from him and pointed to her eyes. “Do these look blue to you?”
The man seemed to have lost his tongue for a moment. Seeing the sweat beads on his brow, she realized she had succeeded in putting him under the perfect amount of pressure.
Then he blurted out, almost breathlessly, “Purple.”
“That’s what I thought too.” She marched back to her place. “I declare myself ready for the duel!”
Astoria flicked her wrist and summoned a gust of wind. It swirled around her, lifting her hair and cloak in a dramatic display of power as she readied her stance.
The wizard did the same, his hands at the ready, the vulnerability long gone and replaced with a dark look. Vengeance. “You are not ready for this, Princess,” he sneered.
“Oh, please.” She grinned. “I was born ready.”
Wizard Orion struck first, sending a smoky-grey blast her way.
Astoria blocked it. “ Smoky-grey? Is that all you’ve got, or are you saving the other colours for the final display?”
The wizard sneered again. “Unlike you, Princess, some of us don’t create rainbows with our powers. We use them against our enemies.”
“Ouch. Did I touch a nerve?” She laughed. “Honestly, Orion, you are second most powerful to Emperor Cyrus, and I am only the third, yet you cannot produce colourful magic as I do?”
“ Wizard Orion,” he corrected her with a glare, ignoring her question.
“I did touch a nerve.” She giggled in delight.
His composure faltered. “Can we stop the verbal sparring and focus on the original combat we are here for?”
“Was about to, since you lost that one already.”
Wizard Orion let out a cry of rage and sent a flurry of blasts her way, but Astoria blocked them all. She laughed. He reminded her of Silas throwing tantrums when they were younger.
“Keep laughing, Princess, and you will be the laughingstock after this duel.”
“We shall see whose fate that is going to be.”
She sent out colourful flurries and swirls towards him, and they danced around him, blocking his view of her. But it didn’t last long as the wizard’s smoky-grey magic cut through them like a blade. He emerged through them and sent blast after blast at her.
Astoria spun and twirled as she countered them with barriers and sent a gust of wind in return. The wizard stumbled backward but didn’t lose his footing. She pushed her hands harder to strengthen the wind, but something tightened around her wrists and tugged her back.
Her focus faltered as she dropped her gaze to the vines sprouting from the ground and encircling her arms. They began to curl around her ankles as well. She growled and unleashed fire on them, but they remained unburned.
She sensed dark magic. Of course, it had to be. Without it, all he would have was energy projection and telekinesis. Just like every other Mage.
You have to make his focus falter, Princess! Skylar said.
Astoria launched bolts of lightning and struck the ground with them. The ground shook, and the vines fell from her. Before she could clear them out of her path and launch her next attack, a jet of blinding white light came her way. She was too late to dodge or summon a barrier; the light hit her with great force.
Someone yelled her name, and Skylar screamed in her mind.
She was thrown backwards, but with a flick of her wrist, an ice pillar sprouted from the ground and steadied her before she could fall. Determination anew and eyes flaring, she straightened herself and struck the ground with lightning bolts, one after another. But the wizard held his ground, unshaken, a smirk curling at his lips.
You don’t suppose his boots are enchanted, do you, Princess?
Then I just have to aim at them.
Astoria sent another wave of colourful flurries and swirls to dance around him, ten times stronger than the last time. Magic flowed from her fingertips like water and surrounded him.
Wizard Orion began cutting through them, walking forward as he tried to emerge from the waves of magic she kept sending. Each time he cut through them and their eyes met through the clearing, he smirked, like this was a silly game he could play all day and win every time.
She kept her glare in place. The distance between them lessened with each step he took to emerge from her colourful show. And then, with a flick of her wrist, she grew vines between them.
This time, when she saw his smirking face, she smirked back.
“I must say your rainbow show is rather impressive, Princess, but we are here to—” A gasp of surprise cut off Wizard Orion’s words, and the next moment, he was on the ground on all fours. “What the—” he began, but stopped short as he saw the single vine he had tripped over.
“You!” The wizard’s head snapped up to her. “You tripped me!”
“You fell, ” she corrected, a slow smile rising on her lips. “Which means…” Her smile grew as she turned to her grandfather, who stood behind the magical shield, observing.
Grandpa Cassius pulled himself out of his stupor. “Our winner!” he hollered, fisting the air. “Our winner!” he shouted again, as though he couldn’t believe it but it was the most joyous moment of his life.
“She tricked me!” Wizard Orion retorted, trying to stand up. He shook an accusing finger at her. “She tripped me!”
“You fell, Wizard.” Astoria rolled her eyes.
“Because you tripped me, you stupid girl!”
“Yes, and you fell, so I won.”
“I disagree! We need another round!” He turned to Grandpa Cassius, seeing as he was already marching towards Astoria. Astoria cleared the vines from the ground as he approached her in his haste to declare her the winner.
“That wasn’t in the stipulation, Wizard Orion. You fell, you lost. Princess Astoria is the victor,” he said.
“Sir Cassius, I believe another round is in order!”
Astoria whirled towards the commanding voice in disbelief. “Are you serious, Father?” she shouted and stomped towards the steps leading up to the royal box. “Or do you so desperately want me to marry someone who doesn’t watch his steps and doesn’t know the colour of my eyes?”
Emmett was with her in a blink and hugged her to his side before he turned and looked up at their father. “Can’t you accept that your daughter has proven herself powerful enough to beat the second most powerful Mage in existence, and by doing so, she has somehow become the second most powerful herself?”
The king rose from his throne and glared down at them. “Merely tripping him doesn’t mean she is, by any means, more powerful than Wizard Orion!”
“Fine!” Astoria stepped out of her brother’s arms. Her eyes swept around the arena at the audience who sat behind the protection barriers that Wizard Orion had provided. “One more round, and you, our esteemed guests, will be the judges this time.”
“Stor.” Emmett grabbed her arm as she turned to walk back to the center.
She met his eyes with a determined flare. “I’ve got this, Brother.”
He let go of her hesitantly, and Astoria walked back to her place. She asked her grandfather, who kept protesting she was the victor, to return to his safe spot. Then she faced her opponent again.
“You asked for this, Wizard. Go on.”
Two balls of light formed in the wizard’s hands. He swung his arms back before releasing them towards her.
Astoria immediately remembered something she had read from the Prince of Lark last night. She could defeat him with his powers. She had never done this before, but she was more than willing to try. No better time than now to see if the trick the nameless Prince of Lark used to backfire at his enemy would work for her too, just like most of his other tricks did.
Instead of dodging or creating a barrier, she brought her hands in front of her and caught the wizard’s balls of light in her hands. The wizard kept throwing at her, and with each catch, her collection grew.
Realization mixed with apprehension and then horror crossed his face. He stopped at once. Astoria took the chance and released all the energy she’d gathered towards him, along with a blast of her own.
The wizard cast a barrier in front of him, but the magic crashed through it and sent him flying to the ground.
A deafening roar arose in the arena.
Astoria tore her gaze from the fallen wizard and looked around her. Everyone was on their feet, clapping and cheering her name. But what caught her attention most was the howler that came from the royal box.
Emmett.
She gaped at him as he hollered and punched the air like not even his reputation as the stoic Crown Prince of Daliston would stop him from being her cheerleader.
Astoria grinned wide.
He then hurried down the stairs and ran towards her, crushing her against him in a hug. Astoria felt the immensity of relief radiating from him and melted into his embrace.
“I am so sorry I doubted you, little one. I promise, never will I ever doubt you again.”
Astoria squeezed him. “I know you were merely concerned for me. But thank you, Emmett.”
She pulled apart from him and stole a glance at Wizard Orion who was barely pushing himself back to his feet. Then she looked back at the royal box. Silas clapped lazily, a smirk tugging at his lips that said he was impressed. She smirked back and glanced at her father. He sat like a statue.
“I believe you accept me as the victor now?” she called out to him.
“Victor and second most powerful to Emperor Cyrus!” Grandpa Cassius declared from behind them, in his master-of-ceremonies voice.
Uh-oh. He shouldn’t have said that last bit in front of so many people, or at all.
Shut up, Sky. You cannot deny he isn’t wrong. Astoria smirked at her best friend, who was still on her grandfather’s shoulders.
I am proud of you, Astoria. Skylar’s mouth curved upward into a smile, with the gentle lift of his whiskers and the soft tilt of his head.
Grandpa Cassius grabbed her wrist and lifted it in the air, his face glowing with pride. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the victor of both rounds of this magical duel—Princess Astoria of Daliston!”
Amid the cheer of the courtiers that wasn’t as loud as at first—blame the women who glared at their husbands and sons with disapproval for forgetting their station and shouting like the peasants would—and the embraces from her brother and grandfather, Astoria looked back at Wizard Orion.
No one spared him a glance, and he had his eyes only on her.
He sneered as their gazes met, his lips curling into a smirk. “You win this time, Princess!”
“There won’t be another time, Wizard,” she called back to him with a laugh, cuddling Skylar to her chest. “Good luck with your life as a laughingstock!”